This save was only supposed to last for 10 years at most. I really thought by now that I would be getting stuck into Football Manager 25, and leading Arsenal to back-to-back Women’s Champions Leagues. But here we are… still on FM24, and still at Nacka FC.
The 2033 season was not a happy one at Nacka, as we narrowly missed out on qualifying for the main stages of the Conference League… and I had yet another goalkeeping crisis. Seriously, are there ANY decent keepers on this bloody game?
I also received a tempting offer to leave Swedish football behind and return to an old stomping ground. Would I let my head overrule my heart?
I’M NOT LEAVING!
In truth, it wasn’t that tough a decision to stay at Nacka. Rennes might have offered to quadruple my salary to come to Ligue 1… but even after a decade at the Fisksätra, I still had a lot more left to achieve here.
Having now established ourselves in the Allsvenskan, my next step was to develop us into a team who could seriously challenge for Swedish football’s biggest prizes. But if we wanted to consistently compete with the nation’s elite, we would need to generate more revenue of our own – and not just live off prize money and sponsorship.
The Nacka board shared my ambition, having announced plans to build a new stadium. It would still be a while before they could get the planning permission and the funding to begin construction, but that was an important step forward at least. In the meantime, the president also agreed to invest a big chunk of last year’s Conference League money into upgrading our youth facilities again.
I would also have at least £1million to spend on new players… but first, it was time to say goodbye to midfield workhorse Hadi Noori, who left on a free transfer after seven years. We also raised around £250,000 through the sales of centre-back Erik Melin, winger Elias Mohammad…
…and goalkeeper Marc Popów. After starting his first year at Nacka like Superman, and finishing it like a Polish clown with two left hands, I had rage-sold Popów to Piast Gliwice for an initial £50,000 – possibly rising to £75,000. That was extremely stupid and narrow-minded in hindsight, but at the time, I thought, “We have four months to find an instinctive agile shotstopper who can also catch the ball without dropping it. That’s plenty of time. What could go wrong?”
Quite a lot, it turns out. There often comes a point in an FM save where you struggle to attract players who would significantly improve your squad… and those few players will only come to you for obscene salaries that would break your wage structure.
I don’t care if your name is Morgan Gibbs-White; I’m not signing anyone for more than £2,000 per week while our stadium and gate receipts are still pitifully small. Maybe I’m a stubborn old mule, but sustainability has always been an important part of this save.
Anyway, the point is that I only made six first-team signings this winter.
First in was the experienced anchor man Sigge Jansson, whom I first tried to sign last year. He chose Kalmar instead at the time, but now we will finally get to see him in a Nacka jersey. Please ignore the orange arrows.
After a solid season-long loan from Landskrona, the energetic and consistent carrilero Allen Smajić has joined us on a permanent basis. He will now face competition from French journeyman Noah Lahmadi, who is… a footballer of some description.
We roped in a couple of exciting young loanees from the Bundesliga. Our new left-back is the pacey and technically-skilled Croatian youth international Ivan Balaban, whom I have nicknamed ‘Black Betty’ for obvious reasons. Up front, we persuaded Dortmund to lend us Abdoulaye Guillaume – a master finisher who can also hold up the ball and create chances – without needing to pay any of his salary.
That left us only needing a new goalkeeper. Despite hunting higher and lower than Morten Harket, and even sourcing the advice of the Sports Interactive forums, I still couldn’t find any decent sweeper keepers with high Reflexes and Agility… or at least anyone with realistic wage expectations.
So, on deadline day, I panicked and signed Daniel Strindholm – just another jack-of-all-trades goalie who “dreads big matches”. I might as well have kept Popów instead. Great job, Christopher.
Mind you, I did also sign four promising talents for our Under-19s. One of them is a 17-year-old goalkeeper who has great shotstopping attributes and is already a full North Macedonia international. He’s not yet ready to be part of our first-team, but remember the name – Vladimir Lazarevski.
SQUAD REPORT
Of the 23 players currently in our first-team squad, only eight are Swedes – though four of our imports have been trained at the club for at least three years. Whoever the Swedish Nigel Farage is, he must absolutely hate our guts right now. [You’re probably thinking of Jimmie Åkesson, mate. -Ed]
In terms of ability, we can now name a starting XI full of Allsvenskan-level players for the first time, and most of the backups can also hold their own in the top flight.
It’s already been a landmark year for our star widemen. Prolific inside-forward Ahmed Fouad scored for Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations this winter (sadly, they crashed out in the Group Stage), while explosive winger Mohammad Rasoulzadeh joined the fast-improving centre-back Mohammad Alipour in the Iranian national team. They have all signed new four-year contracts and committed their long-term futures to Nacka.
There’ve been a few tweaks to the 4-3-3 since last season. The main changes are that we now try to be more patient on the ball instead of rushing into things, and that we’ve toned down on the high pressing just a tad. I found that we were tiring ourselves out late in matches, and that triggering a press too often would leave our defenders out of position.
I’ve also been experimenting with playing the left-back as a Full-Back on Attack, rather than a Wing-Back on Support. The idea is that the FB will start off deeper than a WB and can get back into position more quickly when we’re on the defensive. But maybe I’ve just overthinking things after becoming hopelessly addicted to watching The Deep Lying Playmaker…
And then there’s the Plan B that I’ll turn to when we’re chasing a goal. Daniel Ulvestaf isn’t the most natural attacking midfielder in terms of position, but this can still be a pretty potent tactic. It’s certainly the first 4-2-3-1 I’ve created since FM17 that doesn’t make me want to tear my hair out.
Despite achieving consecutive top-half finishes, the Nacka board haven’t got too big for their boots just yet. They’re aiming for us to be at least mid-table, while the media reckon we’ll finish around 9th or 10th. Relegation shouldn’t really be a concern anymore.
Once again, a top-four finish in the Allsvenskan will be enough to qualify for Europe – with the top two entering the Champions League. Swedish teams have had some encouraging results in European competitions in 2033/2034, not least IFK Göteborg reaching the Quarter Finals of the Conference League… before getting spanked by Chelsea.
Though we failed to qualify for Europe via the league last year, we did have one more route back into the big time. This year’s Svenska Cupen winners would enter the 2034/2035 Europa League in the Third Qualifying Round… and I now believed we had a realistic chance to claim those prizes.
CUPEN
We were the only Allsvenskan team in our Cupen group – drawn with two Superettan teams, and another from the Ettan Norra. Although we won all three matches, we hardly made them easy for ourselves.
It started with a tricky opener at newly-relegated IFK Värnamo, where Fouad’s first-half double had put us in control. But then we lost our heads in the second half and gave away TWO penalties – luckily, Värnamo only scored one of them.
After battling past Vänersborg, we had a major scare at third-tier Gefle – falling 1-0 behind before eventually winning 3-2. It could have been much more comfortable, but we had THREE goals disallowed for offside!
Nonetheless, we were safely through… and with only two other Allsvenskan teams in the Quarter Finals (Halmstad and Malmö), I fancied our chances of going all the way.
Those hopes were raised when we were drawn at home to Ettan Norra part-timers Hudiksvall, who had somehow won their group with a negative goal difference! Our attacking threat proved far too much for them, though we still demonstrated our complete inability to defend by conceding twice. Whatever, we were into the Semi Finals.
Next up was another trip to Malmö, who had knocked us out en route to winning the Cupen last year. Though Malmö broke the deadlock, we put up a real fight before Raz equalised. The match was still delicately poised at 1-1 in the 89th minute, when the hosts won a corner… and THIS happened.
Yet another clutch goal from nerveless Noel Sergel had fired Nacka into their very first Svenska Cupen Final! Only the Allsvenskan champions Halmstad now stood between us and immortality.
Two months later, on 13 May 2034, we travelled to Halmstad on the south-west coast for our date with destiny. If we could prevail, we would lift our first major trophy and book a place in the Europa League qualifiers. If not, then IFK Norrköping would get the Europa League spot, AIK would enter the Conference League… and there would be NO continental football for us at all this summer.
After the dullest goalless first half in history, I decided to freshen things up at the break. Sergel was struggling with a fractured arm and made way for Guillaume. Meanwhile, Hazem Reda was replaced by box-to-box midfielder Lahmadi, who had done precious little for Nacka…
…until he scored this goal three minutes into the second half! Ulvestaf then doubled our lead with a long-range screamer, before our unusually rock-solid defence shut Halmstad down.
Final score: Halmstad 0, Nacka 2. We had WON the Svenska Cupen!
There it is – my first major trophy with Nacka FC, which has finally elevated me to ‘Icon’ status. What do I have to do to be a legend around these parts?
And I just love the board’s reaction: “Yes, this tiny club from Stockholm has just lifted the Gustaf VI Adolfs Pokal for the first time in its history. Whoop-di-doo. Now put down the brännvin and get back to work.” I swear to Albin Rickborg’s ghost that if this pointless buzzkill of an inbox message hasn’t been completely removed for Football Manager 2042, I’m going to throttle someone.
Eh, who cares? We’re going on another Eurotrip! Bring on the fluggelgleckheimlen!
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this chapter, folks. Please come back next week, when Nacka FC kick off their first ever campaign in the Europa League… er, hang on a minute. Haven’t I forgotten something?
WHAT ABOUT THE LEAGUE?
Oh, yeah… the league. It’s been a VERY weird start to the Allsvenskan season, even by our standards.
In our first three home matches, we were slow to get going before eventually running out comfortable winners. In our first three away matches, however, we just weren’t at the races – hardly creating any serious scoring chances at all. But hey, at least Strindholm wasn’t leaking goals as readily as Marc Popów!
Our next road trip was to IFK Norrköping – the only team in the Allsvenskan that we had NEVER beaten. So obviously we beat them 2-1, with Sergel carrying his impressive cup scoring form into the league.
And then our erratic Allsvenskan form continued. The week before we beat Halmstad in the Cupen Final, we almost defeated them in the league… only to concede an equaliser in the 96th minute. Malmö then got their revenge for losing to us in the Semi Finals, before Raz and Sergel outclassed Elfsborg to end our spring campaign on a high note.
6th place after a dozen matches. Considering that we are usually in mid-table at around this stage in the season, that’s not too bad. While our city rivals Djurgården and Hammarby are already starting to pull clear, a top-five finish definitely looks obtainable.
The Allsvenskan’s mid-season break will be longer than usual (seven weeks!) because the World Cup is taking place this summer, in the famously super-rich, sponsor-friendly Asian nation of Saudi Ara… Japan.
Rasoulzadeh and Alipour will both be flying the flag for Nacka, having been selected in Iran’s squad. While they’re in the land of the rising sun, their team-mates will still be in training, and playing friendlies to keep their match sharpness up.
Playing in the Conference League last season absolutely ruined our league form over the summer, as we didn’t really have the depth or the stamina to sustain such a heavy schedule. Now that we’re in the Europa League qualifiers, I’ll want to avoid a repeat this time. I’d like to think we’ve got better cover for our star players now, which gives me more freedom to rotate the squad when necessary.
In terms of personnel, I don’t think I need to make too many changes over the summer. I’m open to letting Alexis Fonteneau leave, as we have more than enough central defenders already, but our financial situation is pretty stable. There’s no need to sell any of our top players – at least not unless they get any ridiculously big offers and/or are desperate to leave.
But why would anyone want to leave Nacka? Team cohesion is Good, the club atmosphere is Very Good, and everybody is getting along with one another…
Yep. Only six of our players are struggling to connect with the captain, who in turn is struggling to connect with the vice-captain… but other than that, we’re just one big happy family!
And now I will leave it there. I’ll be back next week, when we enter the Europa League qualifiers for the first time.
In the meantime, don’t forget to hit the ‘Follow’ button below to be alerted when a new blog post goes live. You can also find me on Threads and BlueSky, where Nacka’s fans have been wildly celebrating our Cupen victory…
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