Epic Champions League run. Porto will be a challenge but seems you are up for it!
 
January 2021 - Transfer Update

January 2021 - Transfer Update

In

Sergio Pereira
- Portuguese left back brought in as cover to Jomo Shelton for 30k, has decent potential and I want him to push and try to make the lb role his own.

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Javi Torres - Uruguayan center back with dual Spanish nationality signed on a free after being released by Montevideo Wanderers. Already rated at a similar level to my first choice center backs and has very good (4 star) potential. I've very high hopes for this lad. Oh, and he scored a towering header on debut.

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Macit Sahin - English center midfielder with dual Turkish nationality signed from Manchester United on a cut price 65k deal as his contract was expiring at the end of the season. I see him as 1st choice deep lying playmaker alongside Dindone in center midfield however he needs to improve his marking and tackling stats. Hope to see him getting some Turkish caps in the future if he fulfills his potential.

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Out

Simon O'Brian - A product of our youth academy who has been very solid for us over the years but I felt it was time to move him on with Pereira coming in which would have moved him to third choice left back. Moved to Notts County for a decent 100k so made a profit over the two left back deals in January.

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David Atkinson
- Used mainly as backup during his time at the club and I felt he was not needed anymore due to the arrival of Torres. Signed on a free and sold to Morton for 95k.


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s
Will update with the Champions League Knockout round(s) tomorrow as I have not played the Porto games yet. Thoughts on our incoming transfers??

 
Season 9 - Champions League Knockout

Champions League First Knockout Round

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1st Leg - FC Porto 2 - 0 Aberystwyth Town

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Poor result in the first leg but completely deserved. Porto were the better team and deserved their victory, and the lack of away goals left me with very little hope of progression...

2nd Leg - Aberystwyth Town 1 - 0 FC Porto

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Well at least we went out fighting. Kevin Conn's 52nd minute goal gave us hope of forcing the game into extra time, but ultimately we couldn't get the second goal and we crash out of the Champions League. The major disappointment for me is the fact we can't sell out a 14,000 capacity stadium in a Champions League knockout match, even when the opposition bring around 5,000 away fans haha. Overall we have improved yet again in Europe and the target for next season must be to finish in the top two of our Champions League group (that's assuming we actually qualify) but I wouldn't be overly unhappy to finish third as we have a better chance of getting through some of the knockout rounds in the Europa League. Also, really hope another Welsh club can finally qualify for Europe, but that's unlikely...

Youth Prospects (Latest Youth Intake):

Owain Humphreys:

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Guy Jones:

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Next Update will be an end of season review and Spoiler Alert! I did not get a domestic treble.... :O


 
Season 9 - Review

Season 9 Overview

Welsh Premier League - Winners (30 wins, 1draw, 1 loss)

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Welsh Premier League Cup - First Round

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Welsh Cup - Winners

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Champions League - 1st Knockout Round (Won Group with 4 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat)

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League and Club Improvements

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Some great improvements here yet again, not least the fact we moved up to 38th in the latest European club coefficient rankings. The league has jumped to a two and a half star competition while the Welsh cup has jumped to one and a half stars. Also, we are getting tantalizingly close to a second Champions League spot for the League, which can only be good news!

Next update will be a season 10 preview, including Champions League qualifiers and transfer news, one piece of which was a major blunder on my part in terms of transfers!

 
Season 10 - Pre Season

Season 10 - Pre-Season

Transfers

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Outs

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Was quite happy to sell Mc'Stravick for nearly £1,000,000 as he had become backup right back to Liam Brace and I saw a Brazilian right back who I could bring in to be back up with decent potential and Mc'Stravick was moaning about moving to a bigger club. Mc'Donald's departure was a major mistake by me as I had forgot to renegotiate a new contract to remove his £150,000 foreign clubs release clause. He had good stats but never really performed as well as I hoped. Still, I was disappointed to lose him because I was hoping this would be his season to kick on! Overall, made an 800k profit from transfers and have a stronger squad after it so I fell it has been pretty successful.

Ins

Tulio -
Decent young Brazilian right back with the potential to develop signed on a free. Replaces Mc'Stravick in the squad.

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Andreas Gahleitner -
A signing in a similar mold to that of Tulio in the sense that he will start as backup to the 1st 11 but has some decent potential and I hope to see some improvements from him. Signed for £140,00 from FK Austria Wien.

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Ricardo Davis - Davis replaces Paul Burrows as back up right winger who has returned to Swansea after his two year loan spell. He can also play center midfield and attacking midfield so is a nice versatile midfield option for the bargain price of just 1k. Also, has plenty of international experience but I have just realized when writing this, he is absolutely tiny at just 164cm.

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Almin Sejmenovic - Bosnian winger signed for 150k as a replacement for Josemar Mc'Donald, also from Austria Wien. He has had a great start in the Champions League qualifiers, putting in the performances Mc'Donald never seemed to. He needs to work on his dribbling but is just 23 so I feel his has plenty of time to improve and become a quality winger.

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Champions League Qualifiers

2nd Round

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3rd Round

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Playoff Round

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So... we successfully saw off the Macedonian, Polish and Austrian champions on our way to qualifying for the Champions League group stages for a third year running. We were actually a 3rd seed in our Champions League group for the first time, and were drew into Group A...

Champions League Group A

Olimpique Lyon
Chelsea FC
Aberystwyth Town
Dinamo Zagreb

TNS in Europe!

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Finally we have another Welsh team qualifying for Europe with our main domestic rivals and the only other professional team in the league TNS getting through to the Europa League group stages. They actually got 2 big upsets in the 3rd qualifying and playoff rounds, beating two Portuguese sides that were, on paper, far better than them. Even if it is only a one season thing I am very happy as it should help the European coefficients at the end of the season and the competition rankings.

So... the next update will be of our Champions League group fixtures and I will also post screenshots of how TNS get on. Hoping I can get out of the group after how it went last season but we will just have to wait and see I suppose!


 
Absolutely loving this thread, mate. I'd love to start a game with a low reputation club and work my way to the top, but I lack the tactical nuance. I'll just have to live vicariously through you :)
 
Champions League Group Stage (Season 10)

Champions League Group A


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Match Day 1 - Aberystwyth Town 1 -
3 Dinamo Zagreb

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Very poor way to start the group as we fell to a 3-1 defeat in what looked, on paper, the easiest game in the group.

Match Day 2 - Olimpique Lyon 2 - 3 Aberystwyth Town

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This is more like it! We bounced back from our poor Match Day 1 performance with a brilliant 3-2 win in France, with goals from Javi Torres, Kevin Conn and Danny O'Brian.

Match Day 3 - Aberystwyth Town 2 - 1 Chelsea FC

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We followed our win in France with a 2-1 victory over a very strong Chelsea side, with both first choice strikers Doyle and Conn grabbing a goal each. For some reason we seem to save our best performances for the strongest teams.


Match Day 4 - Chelsea FC 2 - 2 Aberystwyth Town

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4 points from the 2 games against Chelsea is a brilliant return. A Lewis Doyle brace was enough to ****** a draw and if we could win in Zagreb on match day 5 we would qualify from the group for a second year running.


Match Day 5 - Dinamo Zagreb 1 - 1 Aberystwyth Town

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Another disappointing result against Zagreb and I find it funny how we can only gain 1 point from our two games against Zagreb yet we take 4 points of Chelsea and 6 points off Lyon!
XD However, the result was enough to qualify from the group as other results went our way.

Match Day 6 - Aberystwyth Town 2 - 0 Olimpique Lyon

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Finished the group with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Lyon, with goals from Torres and Doyle meaning we topped our group for a second year running. So we awaited our First Knockout round draw...


Champions League First Knockout Round


Aberystwyth Town VS Real Madrid

Couldn't have asked for a better tie in the first knockout round. Whoever we come up against were probably going to be better than us so why not get the club with the second highest reputation in the world. We are likely going out in the 1st round again but we'll give it our best shot!

TNS in Europe!

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Not much to say here unfortunately,they picked up 0 points and only scored 2 goals while conceding 16! Still, at least another Welsh team actually qualified for Europe for once!

Next update will be a review of our Champions League Knockout Round(s), I have a feeling it may be a short one...
 
Champions League First Knockout Round


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1st Leg - Real Madrid 4 -1 Aberystwyth Town

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A big defeat was suffered in the 1st leg but I can't really fault the lads too much. Real Madrid came out of the blocks flying and scored 3 in 20 minutes to go 3-0 up and I feared an absolute battering but Will Ilderton notched a header from a corner in the 38th minute and I hoped the comeback was on! However, Real Madrid scored again straight from kickoff and to be honest I was quite happy for the game to finish 4-1 as they could and should have scored more.


2nd Leg - Aberystwyth Town 0 - 1 Real Madrid

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Well we put up a much better defensive effort in the second leg but in the end class told as Real Madrid scored a 56th minute winner to take the tie 5-1 on aggregate. Another good run in Europe this season and I hope we can continue to progress next season and to get through the group stage again must be our aim! Although I sort of want to finish 3rd in our group as we will have a far better chance of getting through a few of the knockout rounds in the Europa League.

Transfer Update

Ins

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A few decent signings here I believe. Jung Sung-Ryong was available on a free and was listed as a South Korea legend so I thought I would bring him in as a player/goalkeeper coach in the hope of boosting our reputation in Korea and maybe bringing in some revenue from Korea. Remi Da Costa is a french winger who will be battling Danny O'Brian and Ricardo Davis for a spot on the right wing, this signing means I may move O'Brian or Davis on in the summer if I can get decent money for them. Pietro Zavetta is an Italian left winger who isn't of the same quality as Da Costa but has good potential and will start as backup on the left wing. I am waiting for a work permit for the El Salvador striker Oscar Armando Quintanilla (Will be referred to as OAQ for ease in the future
:p) who will replace Uros Karanfilovski, who is on his way out, as our backup poacher. I am very interested to see of he can push Kevin Conn for a place in the first 11 as Karanfilovski never really did and I want to keep competition for places in the squad high.

Outs

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​I was very happy to receive £1,000,000 for Uros Karanfilovski as although he did score a few goals in the Welsh league he never pushed Kevin Conn for a starting role and with OAQ on his way in I was happy to cash in. There may be more movement with sales in the near future as there is a couple of squad players I am looking to move on!

Next update will be the end of season review and we're hoping for a nice jump in the club + competition rankings!

 
Season 10 Review

Welsh Premier League - Champions (30 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses)

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Welsh Premier League Cup - Winners

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Welsh Cup - Winners

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Champions League - Lost in 1st knockout round to Real Madrid (Won our group with 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss)

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Club and League Improvements

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Some brilliant improvements here! First of all we have got the Welsh Premier League up 17 places to 28th in the competition rankings and the club has moved up 27 places to the 28th position in the European club rankings. Hopefully this may mean we are the second seeds in our Champions League group next year... but probably not. Finally, the best piece of news here is we have been awarded a second Champions League place for the league, therefore the team who finish 2nd in the league will enter the Champions League in the best placed 3rd qualifying round.

Next update will be a season 11 preview, including any transfers and possibly our last ever year of Champions League Qualifiers :D


 
Season 11 Pre-Season

Transfers

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A very quiet transfer window in terms of transfers into the club, with no players coming into the club as of 4 days before the end of the transfer window. A few players were allowed to leave the club, including academy graduate Stuart Jackson to our main domestic rivals TNS, a move which will surely have him put down as a traitor in the eyes of the Aberystwyth Town fans.

Champions League Qualifiers

2nd Round - Aberystwyth Town
vs Loughgall


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3rd Round - Aberystwyth Town vs FC Sion


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Playoff Round - Aberystwyth Town vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv


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Champions League Group F

Machester City
PSG
Aberystwyth Town
Sparta Prague


So we qualify yet again for the Champions League and surpass the Northern Irish, Swiss and Israeli champions on the way to doing so. The group we have been rewarded with is a pretty difficult one as Man City and PSG are both very rich clubs however we hope we can pull off a few shocks and get through the group stages for a third year running. If not, a third place finish is essential to guarantee European football after Christmas...


Next update will be of the Champions League Group stage games, if there are any screenshots people want then just ask and I will put them up!


 
very impressed with what your doing I am trying to do the same with TNS keep up with the good work
 
Champions League Group F


Manchester City
PSG
Aberystwyth Town
Sparta Prague

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Match Day 1 - Sparta Prague 2 - 1 Aberystwyth Town

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Match Day 2 - Aberystwyth Town 1 - 3 Manchester City

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Match Day 3 - Aberystwyth Town 0 - 1 PSG

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Match Day 4 - PSG 0 - 1 Aberystwyth Town

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Match Day 5 - Aberystwyth Town 2 - 1 Sparta Prague

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Match Day 6 - Manchester City 2 - 0 Aberystwyth Town


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So, how did these results leave the group...

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We couldn't get through our group for a third year running as we finished in third place behind Manchester City and PSG. Not actually too unhappy as I want too see how far we can get in the knockout rounds of the Europa League. If I remember correctly we have managed to reach the quarter finals twice so our target must be to get at least to the quarter final this year. We have been drew against Dynamo Kyiv in the first qualifying round who have a pretty strong team but I hold hope that we can get past them if we play well. The winner of that tie will play the winners of the Marseille vs Hajduk Split tie.

Next update will be either a January transfer update (depending on whether we have much activity) or a Europa League knockout round review...



 
Transfer Update

Ins

Theofanis Gagas - Young German midfielder with Greek dual nationality who was actually brought in just after the window close in August on a free transfer. He has played many games this season and with 19 for determination we have already seen some very good development from him so far.

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Andre Elana - Brought in to add extra competition in the full back area but has only made a couple of performances for the 1st team.

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Douglas Altamirano - Our only signing in the January window was a club record singing of a massive £1,000,000 in Honduran center half Altamirano from Real Espana. He is a very solid center half and had made a very promising start to his career at Aberystwyth!

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Outs

Pierce Sweeney -
Veteran center half Sweeney was allowed to leave on a free transfer as he had been pushed down to 4th choice center half, however he had a 'match highest earner clause' in his contract so he was on far higher wages than I felt he deserved based on his current role in the squad. He was a very good player for us over the years and has put in many man of the match performances in Europe.

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Youth Intake 2023

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A really good youth intake this season as there are a few players who could potentially become squad/back up players at the club. However, I do have higher hopes for one player in particular...

Glyndwr Lewis - I personally think Lewis could be the best player to come out of our youth academy so far in this save and, to be fair, we there have been a few decent ones. He has some very good stats for a poacher to build upon and I feel as though as long as his physical stats improve with age he could be Conn's long term successor as first choice poacher. Only 3 and 1/2 star potential by my assistant manager, however I'm hoping it jumps up when he signs a full time contract.

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Next update will be a review of the Europa League Knockout Round(s)!



 
Europa League First Knockout Round (1st leg) - Aberystwyth Town 0 - 0 Dynamo Kyiv

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A tightly contested first leg in Wales where we had more possession however it was Kyiv who probably created the better chances. However, I'm always happy when we are at home in the first leg and don't concede an away goal...

Europa League First Knockout Round (2nd leg) - Dynamo Kyiv 2 - 2 Aberystwyth Town

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The second leg of the first knockout round was a real roller coaster ride! We took the lead in the third minute through Australian international Kevin Dindone however by the 65th minute we found ourselves 2-1 behind and heading out of Europe. That was until French winger Remi Da Costa went on a weaving run and slotted home an equalizer to make it 2-2 and send us through on the away goals rule. This set up a second knockout round game against Marseille of France...

Europa League Second Knockout Round (1st leg) - Olimpique Marseille 2 - 1 Aberystwyth Town

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Marseille absolutely flew out of the blocks in this first leg tie, with two goals from Cedric Bakambu putting them 2-0 up inside the first 10 minutes. However, we regained our composure and grabbed a crucial away goal on the 18th minute mark through a great Macit Sahin free kick.


Europa League Second Knockout Round (2nd leg) - Aberystwyth Town 1 - 0 Olimpique Marseille

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Just as Marseille made a great start in the first leg, we were able to make a similar start in the second leg by going 1-0 up after just 24 minutes through a Kevin Conn strike. Conn then missed a great chance after a slip up in the Marseille defense and I thought we may be made to pay for this miss. During the second half we were able to restrict Marseille to creating just one chance, where luckily their striker hit the bar from 8 yards out with a header! So... we won the tie 1-0 and therefore once again progressed on the away goals rule. The draw for the Quarter final has pitted us against Ukrainian champions Shaktar Donetsk and if we are to get through that tie we would set up a semi final tie against the winners of the Rome derby in one of the other quarter finals. Here is how the tournament is looking...

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Next update will be of the Europa League quarter final... and hopefully the semi final!
:p


 
Europa League Quarter Final (1st leg) - Shakhtar Donetsk 0 - 0 Aberystwyth Town

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A brilliant defensive performance in the first leg of the quarter final saw us leave the Ukraine with a 0-0 draw to take back too Wales. I can't remember either side creating a clear cut chance to be honest, so I would have to say a draw was a fair result.


Europa League Quarter Final (2nd leg) - Aberystwyth Town 3 - 0 Shakhtar Donetsk

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Into the semi finals we go! We followed our draw in Ukraine with a clinical 3-0 victory over Shakhtar which booked us a place against Roma in the semi final. It was actually quite an even game despite the scoreline, however we were far more clinical and created the better chances. We are starting to dream that we could actually win this competition now since we beat Roma twice in the Champions League group stage two years ago, although they are significantly stronger now!

Europa League Semi Final (1st leg) - Aberystwyth Town 2 - 0 AS Roma

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Get in! Another great performance from the boys puts us in a very commanding position in the tie as we are two goals ahead and Roma do not have an away goal to their name. A goal each for the dynamic duo of Conn and Doyle up front was enough to secure the 2-0 victory, although I still feel we may have to score in the away leg in order to go through.

Europa League Semi Final (2nd leg) - AS Roma 1 - 1 Aberystwyth Town

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We're heading to de Kuip in Feyenoord for the Europa League final! I took a slight risk and rested a center half, a center midfielder and a center forward who were all one booking away from a suspension but it did not matter as a goal from our back up target man, Croatian international, Ivan Cirjak in the 12th minute left AS Roma needing 4 goals to go through and they were only able to get one so we are in the final. Never imagined I would be able to get this far in a European competition but now we are there we might as well go and try to win it! We play FC Schalke 04 of Germany in the final, who have went past Dnipro, Besiktas, Liverpool and Fenerbache on route to the final. They have a strong squad by the looks of it but not particularly stronger than that of Roma!

Next update will be the Europa League final, will this be the year a club from the Welsh league wins a European competition and more importantly Aberystwyth's first European success!


 
Europa League Final 2023

Europa League Final 2023 - Aberystwyth Town vs FC Schalke 04

Preview:

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Routes to the final:

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We have certainly had a more bumpy route to the final compared to Schalke, as they have only lost two games all the way throughout the tournament.

Pre-Match:

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We have a near full strength team to choose from, with only right winger Remi da Costa who is potentially a first choice missing out through injury. Turkish international striker Ozgur is one of the top scorers in the competition, so we will have to keep him quiet in order to get anything.

The Match:

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06 - CHANCE - A straight forward goal kick forward is flicked on by Lewis Doyle and Kevin Conn shoots wide from a narrow angle, promising start for Aberystwyth.

11 - CHANCE - Pagani swings in a cross from the right and Jozy Altidore heads wide from point blank range, a serious let off for Aberystwyth Town.

51 - GOAL - The ball is worked to Macit Sahin on the edge of the area and his strike towards goal takes a massive deflection which wrong foots the Schalke goalkeeper and puts the minnows 1-0 ahead in the Europa League final!

67 - GOAL - Brilliant build up play from Aberystwyth as they work the ball well in the Schalke half before Kevin Conn lofted a ball into the path of marauding full back Liam Brace who nods the ball down to Lewis Doyle to strike home from the edge of the area to put Aberystwyth. We immediately take off one of our strikers for a center half and go to a defensive 5-4-1 formation in the hope of holding onto our lead.

75 - CHANCE - A Schalke corner whipped in from the left causes a scramble in the box and Joel Matip finds himself being denied by Alan Gannon from 6 yards out with a brilliant reflex save.

90 +4 - FULL TIME - ABERYSTWYTH TOWN HAVE WON THE EUROPA LEAGUE

Post-Match:

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Well what can I say? I honestly never expected to be winning a European competition in just my 11th season in charge but somehow we managed to do it. Similar to Chelsea's Champions League win last year it just seemed to be destined to happen. We scraped through a couple of rounds on away goals and in other ties we seemed to just have a knack of being extremely clinical with the chances we created. Hopefully this win will give us a nice boost in reputation during the pre-season and we will also have the honor of competing in the European Super Cup in the Pre-season. I fell we are still a million miles away from winning the Champions League but hopefully this can act as a platform to build and improve the club as a whole.


Next update will be a season 11 review, and then we will have an interesting pre-season ahead in terms of the European Super Cup and seeing if our Europa League win can persuade a higher quality of player join the club.


 
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