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They're like London buses these trophy things...

After winning our first league title in season 58, we've only gone and defended it and added a first league cup win this time around to secure an Irish league and cup double.

That makes it sound a lot more straightforward than it was though, just 2 points separated the top four going into the final day, and we were set to finish 3rd until an 86th minute winner against title rivals Olympians put us top. We actually finished on 7 fewer points than last season, but have to say it's been our most successful season to date.

We also reached the quarter finals of both the Inter Cup and Super Cup, our best ever run in both of those competitions. We were eventually knocked out of the Super Cup yesterday, taking Yanjing Dragons to extra time.

Squad still needs strengthening though, can't help but feel we're punching above our weight a little.

All in all, certainly can't complain with how season 59 has gone!

You were outclassed in both.

Psh big talk, come and say it to my face next season

Treading water kind of season for me, no good in the league or cups.

Maybe next season.

Season 60

Most of our seasons are over now, so how did you do?

It's been a bit of a mixed bag for us this season. 8th place in the League represents a decent season, our away form was the best it's ever been since reaching Serie A, but our home form really suffered with some very dodgy results. We only took 1 point off Euro but finished 3 points clear of them which I'll take Ironically we ended the season in exactly the same position and with the same number of points as last season! The cups were slightly disappointing (especially since a good run could have powered us closer to 6501) but what can you do when you get drawn away to top 10 and top 40 clubs?

Financial results aren't great either as we bought 2 goalkeepers in (one as a stop-gap to cover injuries, one as a medium-term first-choice) and so we're sitting at -8M, our first loss since Season 53. We're still sitting above the 100M club value so it could be worse. I broke my own self-imposed challenge of not spending over 10M on a single player but it was worth it... club rating has improved from 6165 to 6373 (hopefully a little higher by the end of the season) and average squad rating went right up to 75 from 70 meaning that a kind fixture list at the start of next season could get us to the magic 6501. Adverts are already out just in case...

The squad is training up nicely and many players are now at or close to their peak, and the youth academy continues to make slow progress, 8 youths aged between 14 and 16 rated between 55 and 90 who should be ready to promote as soon as we get to 6501.

Next season has that singular target- get to 6501. We'll either need that lucky fixture list or a top 6 finish and some good cup runs to achieve it, but the squad is ready and we now have strength in depth to give it our all. If we don't quite make it, getting close enough to make it at the start of the following season instead is the aim. Some of my older players will be retiring in just under 2 seasons time and the youths will be turning 18 so it's now or... well, not never, but probably several more seasons!

The third time I've made it to fourth, it's becoming a habit at the same time, the clubs 6th-10th are presenting more and more of a challenge so I can't stop looking over my shoulder yet. Cup-wise, I'm just going to stop mentioning it until I make a quarter-final again.

Promoted a couple of good youths and an average one, but selling him and a couple of older players paid for another stand - just two more to go now. It's taken some patience with the scouting but every player in the youth academy has potential to reach 85+ rating, most of them 90+

I also achieved my ambition of regularly having an 83 matchday preview and with some top quality young'uns reaching the end of their training this should only go up next season. Is 85 possible?

I should come out just about even or make a very small loss, which is fine. Once the stadium is built I shouldn't be making any big money purchases for a while.

Second team...won the league, and now into the Campeonato Serie A. Promoted my first world-beater and got the reward in a big payday. I think I should spend it all on stands and players by end of the season to come out with a smallish profit. Another 90+ rated youth to promote early next season and the rest are all looking in good nick.

I might aim low and settle for sixth or seventh next season, then save the big push for 6501 for season 62.

This is more of a 4 and a bit season review as I began on game 35 in season 56

S56-when I first took control and renamed the club, I didn't realise the importance or co-relation between money in the bank and club rating etc so stupidly I instantly expanded the stadium on the first day, from 17,800 to 21,800

S57- After becoming a student of IAG and reading in depth many old and new forum threads I realised fixed attributes on a player were the main thing to look for and sold my only player who had these "Gherardo Gamboa" was his name and I got 40million for him... With that money I purchased a few players to give myself a chance of competing very good in the lower levels of the Italian leagues, I found good tactics to play against the clubs without any manager and became champions of Serie D in my first full real season and draw the clubs finances to how they were before I expanded my stadium the previous season, also found a few half decent youth players to join the academy

S58- was lucky to find a youth who was progressing rapidly "Varmar Fornisson" and won the Inter Cup whilst finishing second in the league to an experienced manager who I have been tip to toe with ever since

S59- found an elderly gem of a player for just over 3 mill "Chaves" rated 82 at the time which helped me win the lega pro 1 in style, 38 wins out of 38 and attain the +5501 staff but only reached the semi final of the Inter Cup as I got knocked out by a much stronger "Norfolk N Chance" coming to the end of the season the youth coaches told me "Fornisson" won't progress anymore so I promoted him and timed the sale to land at the beginning of season 60 so I didn't have loads of tax to pay

S60- got the finances for my current record sale which boosted my club rating to approximately 6250,, bought a couple of cheapish elderly players to boost my overall average player rating to 67-68 that along with winning nearly every game and overcoming all my real manager rivals in the Inter Cup got me +6501 and the staff at the half way point of season 60, and further expanded my stadium to a soon to be finished 26,800 all without technically spending a penny since the very first day I began playing IAG (infact made a slight profit),, since then I went on to win Serie B and added a few more elderly players with at least a few years on their contracts, ready for the challenge ahead in the top flight

Now is the tough challenge of competing in Serie A next season and trying replace my elderly stars before they retire to keep my average player rating up, and even further improve that and my finances to reach the 7501 milestone,,, I'm guessing with a bit of luck and good management, I will get that 7501 milestone between 5 to 15 seasons from now ??? Hopefully closer to the 5 lol

I knew there was something I wanted to come back to this thread for outplayed by ten men eh, how do you like them apples?

Mate, you're going to be lucky to break into the top 14 clubs in Serie A with the squad you have. 6th or 7th is a major struggle even if you're previewing at 80 up here. Methinks 6501 is a lot further away than Season 62!

I wondered how long it would take you to comment on that nothing wrong with aiming high eh

Runnymede Rangers finished a disappointing 9th in the Bundesliga. Those mid-table clubs are getting harder to play and Guardians, Flying Squirrels and dare I say Surfers Locker are getting better and better!

In the cups, we didn't make the Inter Cups last season and got knocked out at R3 of the German and Super Cup

Got a good profit this season so will be splashing out on a new stand (only 4 more to complete) and have transfer listed 2 decent young players to get a cash boost at the start of next season.

Most gutting thing was missing out on 6501 by 15 so hopefully we'll achieve this in S61!

Bit late to the party for my season 60 review due almost entirely to preparing for a trip to New York... extraordinary weather they had too.

We arrived to be met by summery weather of 21C, but we spent most of the week encountering strong wind and single digit temperatures, only to come back with that type of weather following us across the pond. It was wall to wall sunshine throughout each day though.

My team excelled in season 60, by winning both domestic competitions. However, the tests are getting sterner as the players are getting older, so my grip at the top may gradually get weaker if I can't get the right players in.

I feel personally that after many seasons of average performances, we are punching above our weight class now and that may lead to our downfall without the gems we generated from our youth team after season 50 or so. It has become a lot harder to get players to the top level, but it has been good while it lasted.

Where we go from here is down to the RG i guess...