It’s May 2031, and everything has come down to these final five matches for Shama Deadman and his Basel team.
In case you missed the previous chapter, Basel are still leading the Swiss Super League as they check back-to-back titles. They have also made it through to the Swiss Cup Final.
Can Shama end his Swiss sojourn with a domestic double? And what does the long-term future hold for our journeyman coach? Let’s read on…
MAY 2031: TITLE SHOWDOWN
So here’s the situation. Four games to go in the Swiss Super League season. Basel are ten points clear at the top and need just one more victory to successfully defend the title. Could we hold on… or would my time at St Jakob-Park end in the mother of all screw-ups?
Our first game of the run-in was a potential decider against 2nd-placed Young Boys, who had beaten my Basel team in all my previous three visits to the Wankdorf. If we changed that and came away with at least a point, we’d be confirmed as champions with three games to spare. If not, YB would be back to within seven points.
Having beaten YB 5-0 at St Jakob-Park just three months earlier, we were confident about taking the game to our rivals again. Within eight minutes, we had made the perfect start. Turkish right-winger Hikmet Gökmen produced yet another impressive assist, bravely cutting inside before setting up a tap-in for top scorer Sanel Ibric!
Unfortunately, having taken an early lead, we then got sloppy midway through the first half. A slack throw from left-back Vegard Larsen led to a counter-attack which ended in Portuguese striker Julien Salvi levelling the scores. He then put YB ahead just two minutes later, burying the rebound after Gianmarco Nesti had made an unconvincing save.
Our nerves weren’t exactly eased when an offside flag denied Jean-Pierre Bodin an equaliser just before half-time. Once former Fulham defender Xavier Benjamin headed in a third goal for YB after the break, the game was decided. We’d blown our first chance to wrap up the title.
YB would then thump our Swiss Cup Final opponents Lausanne 4-0 to cut our lead to just four points. That put us under real pressure to get a victory at mid-table Sion – and secure the championship just in time for our next trip to the Wankdorf.
After a miserable goalless first half, we were slow to get going in the second. Sion hadn’t launched many attacks on our goal, but when ex-Basel midfielder Giovanni Pedrini volleyed home after 53 minutes, they turned the heat right up.
As Hikmet had sustained a calf injury late on against YB, it was up to our other right-winger to save the day. Matteo Santarsiero ran onto a backheeled through-ball from Ertan Yalçın – who’d found form again since being moved to an attacking midfield role – and lashed in a cool finish that at least saved us a point.
We now needed just two more points to retain our crown… but now it was time to focus on the second half of a potential domestic double.
2031 SWISS CUP FINAL
14 May 2031. Wankdorf, Bern.
Basel were in the Swiss Cup Final for the 30th time – and looking for a 16th victory, which would put us just three behind Grasshoppers’ record of 19. Standing in our way were mid-table Lausanne, who lost on penalties to Zürich in last year’s Final and were desperate to finally end their 32-year drought.
I selected most of my best XI, with a few exceptions. Philipp Köhn got the nod in goal ahead of an out-of-form Nesti, who didn’t even make the bench. Sead Hakšabanović was also struggling, so Bodin filled in at left-wing again, while Santarsiero continued to deputise for Hikmet on the right.
Santarsiero immediately made his mark at the Wankdorf. Barely eight minutes into the Cup Final, his corner was headed in at the back post by midfielder Raul Quevedo, who was delighted to score just his second goal of the season!
Our fantastic start continued in the 15th minute. This time, it was Bodin who justified his selection by cutting the ball through Lausanne’s defence to Ibric, who never looked like missing his one-on-one with the keeper. 2-0 to Basel!
All right. You know what I’m about to say. [Sigh] What could possibly go wrong?
In the 21st minute, our centre-half Haralambie Despa made a clumsy tackle just outside our penalty area. Lausanne’s first chance led to their first goal, as Ignacio’s free-kick curled past Köhn and into the net, halving our lead to 2-1.
From that point, the momentum shifted. We still had the upper hand at the interval, but our defence looked very shaky through the second period. Lausanne started creating some excellent opportunities, but Köhn constantly bailed us out with some strong saves.
Meanwhile, we continued to play a positive attacking game right up until injury time, when we started to play it safe. Too safe. Substitute Max Oskarsson attempted to run the ball into the Lausanne corner but was stopped by a defender, who kicked off a quick counter-attack. Within about 15 seconds, a square ball into our penalty area had found an unmarked Eric Gonçalves, who tapped in a gut-wrenching equaliser.
Having been just seconds away from glory, we were frustrated at having to play on for another 30 minutes. By contrast, Lausanne were well up for extra-time, and when Morocco winger Hicham Kharbouchi chipped Köhn in the 97th minute, their comeback was complete. 3-2 to ‘Les Bleu et Blanc’.
But it wasn’t quite over. Substitute attacking midfielder Jesper Sjögren broke free to fire in Ibric’s first-time pass and get us back level at 3-3 just before half-time. Even so, after an anti-climactic second half, I wasn’t feeling confident at all about our chances in the penalty shoot-out.
Both teams held their nerves early on, scoring each of their first four penalties to effectively take the shoot-out to extra-time. Lausanne then scored their fifth, leaving right-back Damiano Manzella with the unenviable task of having to score ours to extend the shoot-out. Italians are good at penalties, right?
Not this one. Manzella hit the post. Lausanne had snatched the Swiss Cup from our grasp.
Losing my first Cup Final with Győr in 2028 was painful, but that didn’t hurt as much as this defeat did. We were 2-0 up after 15 minutes! We were still leading after 90 minutes! And yet we threw it all away!
MAY 2031: THE FINAL TWO GAMES
Some of the players were still hurting after that heartbreaking loss, but it only made Ibric even hungrier. As vice-captain, the Bosnian striker was determined to make things right when we had our third shot at Super League glory – at home to Luzern, whom we had never failed to beat under my management.
It soon became obvious just how much Sanel wanted to lead us to another title. After finishing a Larsen cross in the 16th minute, he then snuck behind the Luzern defence to convert Vincent Barbier’s midfield through-ball just before the break.
That gave us a 2-0 half-time lead… but Ibric wasn’t finished, completing his hat-trick from another Barbier assist in the 67th minute. His reign of terror was then ended by a twisted ankle (Deadman’s law again), but it didn’t matter.
Sjögren completed a 4-0 demolition, an unbeaten home league campaign (14 wins, 4 draws) – and, most importantly, confirmed us as back-to-back champions.
At last, it was time to celebrate! The season ended with a humdrum goalless draw at Zürich, where I focussed on giving opportunities to our younger players.
Basel were Super League champions once again, and I was Manager of the Year for a second time… but my goodness, did we have to fight for this!
Having finished nine points behind us last term, Young Boys really did push us all the way, coming within five points of overtaking us. Indeed, they’d become so much more clinical and consistent that their points tally would have beaten us to the title in 2029/2030.
Switching to a 4-2-3-1 in the second half of the season was vital to staving off their challenge and retaining our title. We went from scoring 30 league goals before the winter break to scoring 44 after. Yes, our defence did concede more goals, but when you finish the season undefeated at St Jakob-Park with EIGHT consecutive home league wins… you can’t really complain, can you?
2030/2031 SEASON REVIEW
| Fans’ Player of the Season | José Emiliano Cruz |
| Young Player of the Season | Haralambie Despa |
| Signing of the Season | Gianmarco Nesti |
| Goal of the Season | Sanel Ibric (vs Neuchâtel Xamax, 19 October) |
| Top Goalscorer | Sanel Ibric (24) |
| Most Assists | Sead Hakšabanović (13) |
| Most Player of the Match Awards | Sanel Ibric (5) |
| Highest Average Rating | Haralambie Despa (7.23) |
Now there’s a turn-up: José Emiliano Cruz was our Player of the Season! I might have had my doubts over the Spanish left-back’s big-game mentality, but he responded resolutely with some more consistent performances, while also contributing more going forward. Larsen’s arrival – and the emergence of teenager Srđan Petrović – have no doubt spurred him on too.
Defence was clearly a strong point. Despa won our Young Player award after cementing his place at centre-half with some brave defending, but also some very solid passing, completing 95% of his passes. In that sense, he was only surpassed by his regular partner – our evergreen skipper Alessandro Buongiorno, who had a 97% pass completion rate!
New goalkeeper Nesti was particularly excellent in Europe, where his cat-like reflexes and strong decision-making got us to the brink of the Europa League Quarter Finals. Surprisingly, he was a bit less dependable domestically – his 74% save ratio was actually only the 9th-best in the Super League (Köhn was 2nd, on 81%).
Further forward, Ibric realised some of his potential in his full season with us, hitting 24 goals. 18 of those were in the Super League, where he just missed out on the Golden Boot to Lausanne’s Kharbouchi.
For much of the season, I used the Bosnian on the left wing, as he apparently had the pace and technique to be an inside-forward. However, he often struggled to make an impact out wide, and it wasn’t until I moved him back up front that the goals started flowing consistently.
That is bad news for Ertan, who couldn’t build on last season’s 33 goal contributions and only managed 23 this time around. There’s no doubting his creativity or intelligence… but perhaps he’s not the out-and-out scorer I thought he was.
If I was to stay at Basel for a third season, I would probably convert Ertan to an attacking midfielder, with Sjögren as his deputy. It shows just how badly Alexandre Jankewitz has struggled this season (largely because of injuries) that he has gone from a key player to our third-choice midfield creator within 12 months.
I would also love to see how Hikmet would thrive over a full season with Basel. Since arriving in January, the Turkish winger made 17 goal contributions in just 13 Super League matches (that’s four more than Hakšabanović got in 25 games!). Unsurprisingly, his 7.62 average rating was comfortably the best in the league! At just 19, this boy looks destined for a glittering career at the highest level.
In midfield, Quevedo was a bit disappointing, failing to record a single assist after getting seven last year. To be fair, assists aren’t everything for a deep-lying playmaker – and Raul did at least keep us ticking over with his reliable passing and relentless work rate.
PLAYER-BY-PLAYER STATISTICS
THE END
A lot has changed in 11 years. Back in 2020, I was a newly-retired semi-professional striker taking my first step on the coaching ladder in the Welsh second division. Now, I’m regarded as one of Europe’s most promising managers, with a reputation as a tough disciplinarian who builds young, high-pressing teams.
I left a decent legacy at my first club Cambrian & Clydach, who won promotion from the Cymru South after my departure midway through the 2022/2023 season. Cambrian lasted just one season in the Cymru Premier before being relegated, but they would return in 2028, only to go straight back down again.
Now, though, the Cam Army are back for yet another crack at Wales’ top flight. This season has seen them pip Llanelli by one point to win a third Cymru South title. While their financial situation is ‘insecure’ and nobody expects them to stay up for long, it’s great that they had continued where I’d left off.
Sadly, Espinho have not come close to being promoted from Portugal’s Terceira Liga since I led them to 3rd place in 2024. The Tigres’ fortunes have fluctuated since my departure a year later, with various finishes between 6th and 21st. They made a terrible start to this season and were rock-bottom after 15 games, but eventually stabilised and ended up in mid-table.
Meanwhile, Győr are now established as one of Hungary’s top sides. Despite only finishing 8th in 2029/2030, the season after I came within one goal of winning them the league, new manager Lewis Ellis launched a fresh title challenge this season.
At one point, ETO were SIX points clear at the top… but unfortunately, they stumbled late in the season and had to settle for 3rd behind a resurgent Ferencváros and last year’s champs MTK. I know how you feel, Lewis…
The major European leagues are largely unchanged from when I went into management. Liverpool have regained the Premier League title, where the ‘Big Six’ and the top six have been one and the same for a decade now. Atlético Madrid, Bayern München, Juventus and PSG all topped their leagues, and Real Madrid have just retained the Champions League – their 15th European Cup in total.
Now that I’ve made my name as a back-to-back league champion in Switzerland, you’d think that this would be the perfect take a crack at one of the bigger leagues. A chance to see if I could consistently compete with elite managers like Pochettino, Flick, Simeone, Pedro Martins… er, Frank de Boer (yeah, he’s at Arsenal now!).
But… I actually think it’s time to quit while I’m ahead. These last two years at Basel have taken a lot out of me mentally, and there’ve been a couple of particularly dark days where I came very close to just jacking it in.
Journeying across Europe managing various teams over the past decade has been an experience I’ll remember fondly, but now I just feel exhausted. I just want to go back to Guernsey and enjoy a long ol’ break from football.
Auf wiedersehen, Basel.
SHAMA DEADMAN AT BASEL
28 June 2029 – 24 May 2031 (695 days)
Played: 113. Won: 70. Drawn: 25. Lost: 18. Win Percentage: 61%.
Goals For: 212. Goals Against: 82. Goal Difference: +130.
Competitions Won: 2. Awards Won: 2.
SHAMA DEADMAN CAREER STATS
And so, after 11 seasons, it’s all over. I really hope you have enjoyed reading through this Football Manager 2021 adventure, whether you’ve been here from the start way back in March or have only come in more recently.
I will post another blog post some time next week, where I’ll explain in more detail why I’ve decided to end the save here. I’ll also give my final thoughts on FM21, and discuss the future of this blog as we look ahead to the release of Football Manager 2022.
Thank you for reading.
Fuller FM 
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