shen

Same in Denmark. The reasoning, as I've heard it, is that roads are public access areas and that no parking is allowed in front of driveways and to secure uniformity, this is how it's interpreted. Officers or stewards have no way of knowing if it's the owner's car or if there are certain arrangements made between locals, so it's a universal thing.

Sure, but Sven was also the one that misled him, getting him to sign a new deal at Man City only to then dump him in favor of Hart. It was probably the right call for Man City ultimately, but Kasper had to rebuild from there.

In what way and why was it too much? I struggle to see how such a vital cog in the club's most successful era ever could have 'too much power & influence'..

Also gotta love the steward-to-spectator ratio here...

Sometimes FM is just gonna "FM". It's often a tricky decision whether to stick or twist.

I would be surprised if he is there yet mentally. Not even sure he has the coaching licenses done. I'm sure we'll see him back at the club in some capacity in the future, but I'm hesitant to get him back when we are rudderless. But on him retiring, what an unbelievable career he's had. He had enormous gloves to fill and constantly had to shrug off comparisons to his old man, but I felt pretty early on in his career that he was something else. His desire to win was maybe even bigger than his dad's and I'm convinced his aura was a big part of our fairy tale journey together. The impact of losing him to Nice was as black and white as things get. We've never looked remotely the same since. For Denmark, we've been spoiled with solid/great goalkeepers ever since I was born. He had to bide his time to get a chance, but once he got the nod, he never looked back and 120 caps (top 5 of all time) is seriously impressive. He performed on the big stage more often than not and Denmark owe him a huge thank you for his part in reaching four major tournaments, which is never a given. His enduring legacy will be the way he put himself forward, protecting his teammates after the Eriksen episode, and wearing his heart on the sleeve in every game - notably against Portugal, where he got the injury that's led to his premature retirement, and finally against Scotland where his painful scream in agony is quite a vivid picture. Hero for club and country!

Good spot!

The surprising aspect is not that they won this year, where FC Copenhagen have been historically bad and Brøndby appointed Cooper ('nuff said), while Midtjylland have just dropped the ball time and again despite their Europa League heroics. It's that it's taken them 40 years to do so. I've never understood how the biggest club from the second-largest city, with a football-crazed fan base, a large-ish stadium and some proper players, never ever looked like contenders for much of the past few decades. Nah. Because one (clueless) punter thought they'd get relegated doesn't make it remotely close to our story. This is more akin to Spurs I feel. I mean, this could easily have been a European playoff game judged by the size and pedigree of those clubs!

VK hasn't been in the Denmark squad for some time anyway...

Season just finished five minutes ago, here's the update: With qualification to the latter stages of the Conference League confirmed, it was full focus on the league and keeping the squad fit and ready for a tough last five months. I made a single free signing in January, getting Anayo Iwuala in as a desperately needed speed merchant on the left wing. My options on the left wing had been particularly weak all season, to the point I felt compelled to change formations and use two central AMCs instead, so getting Iwuala in would give me some tactical flexibility. We continued the good form in the league with some steady, if unimpressive home wins, sprinkled with a couple of solid defensive showings away at KAA Gent and surprise package OH Leuven. The defence in particular was a highpoint this season - after 28 games in the Pro League we had only conceded 13 goals while we had just conceded 4 goals in the ECL league phase. Things picked up with great wins at home against Anderlecht (2-0) and away at Club Brugge (0-1). We smashed four past Antwerp and relegation threatened Zulte Waregem in the lead up to our round of 16 tie with Brann Bergen. To be honest, they looked like a very solid team and they played a style that totally did not suit us. A tough 1-1 draw away and everything finely poised for the return leg. We snuck in a very 2-1 win at home against a resurgent Genk who were the form team this second half of the season - one that would prove crucial as lept to the top of the table for the very first time. The only blot at this point was that our top scorer Djenairo Daniels had completely stopped scoring in the Pro League, so I made the bold call to rotate him with our loan signing from Copenhagen, Viktor Dadason, a weird striker with 20 jumping range (yet decent pace but no strength), who would be our main striker in the league going forward. We welcomed Brann at home and looked comfortable, without really threatening them - 0-0 at HT and a pretty nervous manager. Should I stick or twist? I stuck to it deciding I would switch it up at 60 minutes if there was no change. Then came the pivotal moment - a fortunate penalty to us in the 56th which our big game player Koba Lein converted. And thus it all fell apart for Brann. Twenty minutes later we had scored two more and were cruising to the quarters. Job done. Then came the sticky patch I had feared would come once we relaunched the European campaign. Three straight draws away at STVV and Charleroi and at home to Standard, who are turning into the bane of Diegem. We conceded 7 goals in total in that run and conceded late equalisers in each one of them (91st, 82nd and 86th minute respectively). Dadason, our backup striker, scored six of our seven goals though, so at least we solved the striker issue, but to see our main strength - our defence - desert us so badly and inexplicably, was a tough pill to swallow. We had lost touch with USG who were now 5 points ahead with four games remaining when we had been 1 ahead with seven remaining... But before the last of those draws, we played against St Pauli in the quarters of the ECL and boy did we put on a superb performance! Our right back, Douglas Borel chose the perfect time to score two of his three goals this season as we took a 3-1 lead back to Belgium in what was easily the performance of the season up to this point. If it wasn't for a late St Pauli goal, it would have been tie over after 90 minutes. We finished the job at home with another superb performance where Eliyas Strasner, our German on-loan left back from Hertha Berlin, repeated Borel's trick from the first leg and scored two absolute stunners in another 3-1 win resulting in a 6-2 aggregate rout of the Bundesliga team. My biggest regret was not acting sooner with Strasner, whose contract expires at the end of the season. FM26 showed up again how useless the bugs are as I got no message that someone had offered him a contract. The useless plonker chose to agree a deal with Dynamo Dresden, my hometown German club, of all clubs. Bugger. He looks the real deal as well and could've been my main left back for years. Then came a weird break with no league game which meant my very next game was against AZ in the ECL semis, who themselves knocked out pre-tournament favourites Brighton. Roma was still in it as they dispatched Charleroi in the other quarterfinal and were up against Panathinaikos in the other semi. This AZ side was no joke. Yoanne Wissa, Leon Bailey, Thomas Lemar, Leif Davis, Andreas Skov Olsen, Amine Adli, Troy Parrott, Peer Koopmeiners. All household names really. We played them at home first in a fantastic tie, where I went super analytical and found that they were trapping opponents outside. So I chose to play with my attacking wing play formation and boy did it pay off. Iwuala, our January LW signing, had a stormer and assisted both goals as we went 2-0 up and cruising. AZ were pinned back and I was so stoked that I didn't change anything. Which was probably my biggest mistake of the season... AZ came back with a poorly defended backpost header from Skov Olsen on 78 minutes and then equalised on 88 minutes through Parrott - both of them subtitutes. Their Japanese LW Kodai Sano was just unplayable and assisted both goals. Deflated, we had to quickly summon some energy to stay alive in the league with a game three days later at Westerlo. It was only here that I stopped and realised that we were actually oin an incredible unbeaten run stretching back to the Roma game in my last post. There had been no news or comments about it, but it sure boosted my confidence again and lo behold - Westerlo were promptly dispatched 3-0 with Dadason scoring another brace and securing a Champions League spot for next season. SWEEEEET!!! And what's that?! Cercle drew USG 0-0? Surely we couldn't... Our last three games are away at Cercle, at home to USG and at home to Beerschot. USG were playing Club Brugge at home, us and finally Antwerp away. Maybe, just maybe, if Club Brugge would show up, we could turn it around if we beat USG at home... But USG had only dropped points in 7 out of 31 games, so this was just FM toying with me, surely... ---- Then came the defining game of the season and of this save - the return leg at AZ. Defeat and we would've wasted our best chance of a European trophy. Victory...well... This time I chose to start with my cautious double-AMC formation which had proved a reliable tactic away from home and we kept our own, creating decent chances first half, even looking on top. We were without Strasner this game, due to suspension, which was a massive blow, so Waem, one of our stalwarts at the back had to replace him, but he's no forward threat at all. 0-0 at HT and some word of encouragement with a superbly motivated squad.... only for disaster to strike almost immediately. In the 47th minute, a calamitous and frankly unbelievable mistake at the back happened when Milo Roekarts, our stable goalkeeper with great passing skills, chipped it out to right back Morsi Machmoum (that Tunisian prodigy that bizarrely arrived on loan out of the blue) but the ball bounced off his head like a rubber band and Sano, that Japanese LW from the first leg, picked it up the loose ball and fed Parrott in front of goal for an easy tap in. Before I had time to react, disaster struck again. Machmoum clumsily tackled Sano (again!) and gave away a penalty on 52 minutes. Before I'd even seen the VAR check, I immediately hauled off Machmoum, Boonen (our waning LW captain) and Dorival one of our skillful DMs and subbed in Borel, Willy (our starting striker two seasons ago in the Challenger league) and skillful attacking playmaker Carvalho. Back to the wing play formation of the first leg. AZ scored the penalty and this was looking grim. Then - straight from the kickoff, Iwuala gets the ball and flies down the wing to feed it to Daniels and we pull one back! Two minutes later, Iwuala gets the ball as we tiki-taka it around their box, he dribbles back inside from the byline and finds Willy at the far post who's made a late run from his deeper position and boom, 2-2, and we're still only in the 55th minute!! At this point, I'm thinking it's all or nothing. And then came the killer - a long range goal from Scipioni in the 82nd minute that surely killed all hope. One last throw of the dice with Dramé, a talented young wingback from the academy, replacing our leader at the back, Waem. A bit of encouragement and a prayer. And then it happened. Iwuala - again - did some magic on the wing and finds Koba Lein with a cut back, who rifles it into the top corner on 87 minutes. Pure elation and disbelief. Full-time. 3-3 on the night, 5-5 on aggregate in an unbelievable tie where both left wingers have carried their teams. A nervewracking ET played out with my team shattered from the high-pressing tactic just trying to hold off AZ. Roekarts pulled off some strong saves as we were swarmed. But we held on for penalties and we went first. I truly couldn't bear to watch as one flash, two flash, three flash... all flashes, all square with one taker left for each. Willy steps up, Rangel guessed right, head in hands... heart sinks as the final kick from Skov Olsen flashes. The adventure over. But what an adventure this was. FM when it's at its best and at its most exhilarating. A brilliant campaign, but now we had three games in the league which we had to win to stand any chance of winning the title. Our game against Cercle started out fantastic. The first highlight on 18 minutes and boom, Koba Lein (not for the first time) scored a crucial goal. Incredibly there was only one more highlight the ENTIRE game where both sides had just four shots and a single one on target in what is easily the worst match I've seen in FM26. How fortunate that Lein chose to score our only chance. And what's that?!?!? USG lost at home to Club Brugge!? This meant we went equal on points, but with a worse GD. Oh I could not believe my luck! Then came the big one. I even got different training advice screens in preparation for this game (nice touch SI). I decided to go with the formation that got a good performance away at USG earlier in the season, where we probably should've won - a cautious 4-3-3/5-2-3 with wingers. And boy oh boy oh boy. Straight from the kickoff, Dadason scores the fastest goal in Diegem history after just 11 seconds! Unbelievable stuff! We smother their attack and then Boivin, our promising right-sided inside forward just dribbles and dazzles to create a magical second goal on 38 minutes. We are flying, soaring. What a beautiful team and performance. Until USG reduce the arrears out of nowhere on 78 minutes. Suddenly, nerves kick in, several players have red faces looking anxious. I make some tactical changes and only sub in my captain for Boivin in the dying minutes. .. ... A chance for USG. Just please don't. Don't do this to me. Shot comes in. BLOCKED!! Waem hacks it clear. FT whistle blows!!! We've done it, we've turned it around!!! All hinges on our final match against Beerschot and my mind is racing as I struggle to decide what the best approach is. Try to blow them out of the water and then switch things around and control things? What if I don't blow them out after thirty minutes, then my players will have tired a lot and then we may just lose to a wayward attack? I decided to stick to the trusted formation that got us the result against USG. Another fantastic start as we get a penalty on 14 minutes, which Koba Lein, our midfield maestro, dispatches coolly. Let the celebrations begin in front of the full crowd. Then FM strikes again. Wonderboy Yani Segers, who I will do everything I can to sign if I can, bursts through the middle and equalizes 20 minutes later. We were NOT comfortable at all and had to rely on Beerschot missing a one-on-one to go into HT level. 1-1 at HT and I rip into the players. Beerschot are no mugs, but come on, wake up guys!! We just need the one point, don't throw it all away NOW! The players respond and Dadason, our saviour in the league, is played through on 54 minutes and four minutes later Dorival scores a belter into the far top corner from the edge of the box. This time, there would be no slip up. Diegem are Belgian Champions 2028/2029 after an incredible season with one of the wildest rollercoaster seasons I've experienced. The disappointment of the early cup exit, the fantastic but ultimately heartbreaking run in the ECL and the unbelievable comeback in the league to steal it from USG at the end. Oh FM, I do love you

Maybe your club could become pioneers in having one manager for each half?

And yet they still lost against the Saudis, which I imagine didn't go down well in Qatar. Either way, football history is littered with corruption and cheating - or "home advantage" as it was often called - so we cannot be surprised about it. Just looking at how Qatar "won" the bid for the WC in the first place, blatantly and openly acting corrupt, should tell you that such practices are entirely normalized. This WC will likely be no different.

It also glosses over the fact they cheated to get themselves into the position of being in the playoffs and in a final in the first place. In that regard, I think there's an argument they should be stripped of all the points from those matches (I know didn't win against either Oxford or Ipswich, but an investigation would probably find they cheated on more occasions) or even get relegated by default. I mean, if they can get expulsed from the play-off, they could technically be expulsed from the main competition as well.

Their chief exec does have a point though, a bit like us and our sanctions: The big clubs get away with it or get a slap on the wrists at worst. It doesn't condone what Soton did, but it's likely common practice throughout the league pyramid. Some will just do it more covertly. The lesson is don't cheat, unless you can do it competently or with minimal risk of severe sanctions.

@moore_94 Yeah, that Gastaldi looks genuinely world class. Great personality and good traits (unsure about knocks ball past opponent when his dribbling and technique are so good).

get rekt Israel

BOOOO! Go get them Bangaranga!

Totty votes should win them this, right?

Ahahahahaha Such a joke!

"587 points for Israel!"

Let's visit Romania while we're at it...

Let's all go to Moldova!

*deep 60-second answer to what "Bangaranga" means*

Diegem half-season update: So far, things are going swimmingly. In the Jupiler Pro League, we've been keeping pace with USG, getting some convincing wins, but also six tight 0-1 wins relying on our defense (only conceded 7 in 18 games, two less than USG and eight less than Anderlecht) and hoping we're sharp with our 2-4 chances we create per match. Our only two defeats have been away to Standard and Antwerp - we should've drawn or won against the former and the other I was tactically too confident. This is despite a major injury crisis where we played five games without three of our four DMs (my formation consistently uses two DMs). We were fielding six central defenders at one point. We got a brilliant 0-0 away at USG which was a pretty even game with the league's two best defenses showing their mettle. Unfortunately, USG have won their last two games with an 11-0 GD, so we're effectively 5 points behind them with a game in hand. OHL are the surprise challengers, while I expect to stay ahead of Club Brugge at this point as they're nine points behind us. In Europe, our first Conference League is going way above expectations. We finished third in the league phase, behind Roma and Brighton who won all their games. We only narrowly lost 3-2 away to Roma. The defeat could've been avoided if I had been more tactically astute as all three goals came from through balls through the middle. We convincingly beat APOEL, Molde, IFK Gothenburg, Flora Tallinn and Borac (never heard of these, surprisingly strong players!) and we're potentially the only Belgian side in the knockout rounds in all European competitions if Charleroi don't make it past the playoffs. I will say that the luck of the draw makes this feel almost unfair. Viktoria Plzen in fifth had fixtures against Shamrock Rovers, Ljungskile SK, Randers, Brøndby, Buducnost and Pyunik... The target now is to cement second place, keep the good form going, cross fingers for no major injuries and dream about a deep run in the ECL. The money received so far is a major bonus for next season. We're basically investing the money into infrastructure to help increase our reputation, but the board still won't let me take coaching badges, so I'm still absolute trash on the training pitch Edit: Completely forgot the cup! I had the worst possible draw getting Union SG away as the first tie. Literally the hardest fixture possible and in the middle of my injury crisis. Even game, but I lost 2-0 as they had superior finishing. Bitter as I really wanted to push on and increase the reputation of the club.