{"id":8304,"date":"2026-11-01T20:58:20","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T20:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/?p=8304"},"modified":"2026-11-01T21:02:49","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T21:02:49","slug":"the-football-kat-football-manager-part-six-going-down-going-up-up-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/?p=8304","title":{"rendered":"The Football ‘Kat: Football Manager: Part Six: Going Down, Going Up Up Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last time out<\/a>, I\u2019d referred to feeling burnt out. I\u2019d played a lot of Football Manager<\/em> by this point and, as with all things, there can reach a saturation point \u2013 I had done well with Liverpool, pretty well with England, but with AC Milan\u2026 eh, I felt as though I\u2019d hit a wall. However I wasn\u2019t ready to call time on my managerial career, so I kept the file running, moving it forward every so often, waiting for that spark to reignite my interest. It would happen via the most unlikely of sources \u2013 League Two and Chesterfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2026\/27 Season<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t recall exactly when I began my adventure in League Two, but I do<\/strong> remember that Chesterfield were in a little bit of trouble, flirting with relegation and certainly not looking like a side that could be promoted. I had my work cut out for me \u2013 there was no big budget, I had to use what I had and use it wisely if I were to avoid relegation and aim any higher. I began to turn results around, sticking to the tactics that had yielded me so much success in the past. It pleased me to see the team respond and to climb the table \u2013 as they did, they appeared to be inching closer to the playoff places, which had seemed unlikely earlier in the season. A strong run of results (with a couple of defeats thrown in, just to make me nervous) saw Chesterfield squeak into the playoffs, whereupon they would dramatically impress me by going on to actually win<\/strong> the playoffs, earning promotion to League One for the following season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

27\/28<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m quite proud of this next season, for a couple of reasons. The first half of it saw my Chesterfield side at one stage go on a thirteen game unbeaten run to put them firmly in the race for promotion yet again<\/strong>. It was a tall order to expect two consecutive promotions but the team was playing well and getting results, making it a possibility \u2013 only it would not be one I would end up seeing out. I had a call (metaphorically of course \u2013 this is a game) from a club I just couldn\u2019t turn down \u2013 one of the world\u2019s most famous names, a club steeped in history \u2013 Real Madrid. They had dismissed Laurent Blanc (who had led them to mid-table mediocrity) in November, approaching me to replace him. It was in the end, if I am being completely honest with myself, an easy decision \u2013 not completely without regret, for my brief time at Chesterfield had restored my enjoyment of the game \u2013 to become Real\u2019s new boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That big run of green results (wins)? Yeah, that was me. Not to brag, but I managed to turn Real around from a side that looked off their game, into one that ruthlessly hunted down La Liga\u2019s leaders Barcelona. I enjoyed a fantastic 4-1 away win against them, which set me up nicely and seemed to knock them off balance. From at one stage looking like Real would not even qualify for the Champion\u2019s League (unthinkable for a club like Real), to winning the title with games to spare, was an epic feeling. I don\u2019t think I\u2019d ever felt more satisfied with a title win than at that moment \u2013 but, there was still more football to come, with a Champion\u2019s League final against a familiar foe \u2013 Liverpool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last time I\u2019d met Liverpool in a Champion\u2019s League final they had handed me my ass. 8-0 in any cup final is virtually unprecedented, least of all in the final of Europe\u2019s premier club competition, so I was going into this with a certain measure of wanting revenge. Alas, it was not to be. A thrashing it was not, but the game finished 5-3 to Liverpool, after extra time. Still, I had done a league and cup double, humiliating Barcelona on more than occasion along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On to Part Seven<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Football Manager<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last time out, I\u2019d referred to feeling burnt out. I\u2019d played a lot of Football Manager by this point and, as with all things, there can reach a saturation point \u2013 I had done well with Liverpool, pretty well with England, but with AC Milan\u2026 eh, I felt as though I\u2019d hit a wall. However […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","category-sport"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/pexels-photo-18798601.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8304"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8330,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8304\/revisions\/8330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}