Game Deadline and Story Update

With the imminent release of FM12 (due October 21), seeing that that date will probably signal the end of this game, I will try to hurry proceedings a bit by going on holiday for most of the unimportant parts of the year, that is, essentially, all domestic games (i.e. league and cup), since it is almost a given that we will win every match by a scoreline of 4-0 or more (most of the time!) Thus, I will only take care of the Champions League and, obviously, transfers and scouting. This way, the game may progress a bit more rapidly, with the slight possibility of winning the Champions League before the next sequel of Football Manager is released.

In terms of the Mdina Knights story, two seasons have passed since my last blog. In 2026-27, we finished second in a Champions League group containing Manchester City, AC Milan and Eskisehirspor, only to fall again at the next hurdle, losing 3-5 on aggregate to Bayern Munich. A great achievement during this season however, was that my top striker (Tony Taiwo) managed to win the European Golden Boot. This was only realistically possible after Malta rose up the rankings enough to earn its league a 1.5 points per goal weighting.

Meanwhile, in 2027-28, we were dumped from Europe completely after finishing last in our Champions League group stage, including Marseille, holders Dortmund, and Steaua, a poor result indeed.

There is barely any need to mention that the domestic clean sweep continued, and now reads at nine consecutive Premier League and FA Trophy doubles.

2025-26: A Maltese Improvement?

Last season's Champions League heroics were a tough act to follow, and with three of our best four players leaving over the summer, it was time to start rebuilding.

With mid-July came the start of a new season, and after a disappointing 0-0 home draw against Skonto, we then trashed them 1-5 in Riga. A 5-0 aggregate win against Cyprus' Limassol followed, before we bowed out of the Champions League after losing 2-0 on aggregate against M. Tel Aviv.

The Europa League proved a mixed bag, where wins against Atletico Madrid (3-0h) and FC Groningen (0-1a; 2-1h), a couple of disappointing draws against H. Be'er-Sheva and an inevitable loss to Atletico Madrid saw us finish second in our group and set up a tie with English Champions Tottenham. However, it was a tie to forget, losing 0-5 at home, and then, while trying to chase something out of the game, losing 7-1 at White Hart Lane.

The real eye-opener of the campaign, however, showed up in Malta. Having gone almost 4 season without being beaten (108 games), we ended up the season losing 3 times (including a humiliating 0-3 home defeat to Tarxien), and although we ended up winning another Premier League and FA Trophy double - for the 7th consecutive year - this was our lowest points total and highest goals conceded in those 7 years.

Could this indicate an improvement in the other Maltese clubs? If so, it is certainly a much needed one if the Maltese Premier League is to ever reach the quality of the top European Leagues. What's certain is that no talent whatsoever is coming up through the youth academy, a real disappointment.


Last year's Maltese Premier League drop in the rankings proved to be a minor blip, as this year saw it rise 18 places, up to 55th. Mdina Knights are now ranked the 44th best club in Europe, a 12 place improvement on last year.

2024-25: Group of Death Champions

A couple of poor seasons in the Champions League were avenged for this season with a stunning run which saw us topple some huge teams in the process.

It all started way back in mid-July, with a 4-1 aggregate victory over Albania's KF Tirana, shortly followed by a hard-fought 1-0 win over Swiss champions FC Basel. The playoff proved to be a bit easier, where we booked our place in the group stage with a 6-1 aggregate victory over Cypriot side Anorthosi Famagusta.

So far so good, but what was to follow was out of this world. Being drawn against English Champions Manchester United, Italian Champions Inter Milan, and Scottish Champions Celtic would be a daunting task for many a top side in Europe, let alone a Maltese side. However, a trip to San Siro to face Inter Milan in our first group match turned out to be a walk in the park, easily beating the Seria A champions 0-2. This was then followed by another 2-0 victory, this time at home to Celtic.

A double header against Manchester United followed, and after we were brought down to earth with a massive crash after losing 4-1 at the Theatre of Dreams, we fought back at the Mdina Knights stadium to emerge 3-0 winners on the night. When Inter then came seeking revenge, they found out we were no pushovers, and we emerged 2-1 victors in what was a tough match.

A Manchester United loss to Inter in the final round of matches meant that we would top the group no matter the outcome of our match against Celtic, since we had a better head-to-head record against United. The final match was a bit of a disappointment, losing 4-1 in a snowy Celtic Park, but it did not dampen spirits at all, having proved our worth by finishing top in the toughest group of them all - the Group of Death.

Hopes were high after we avoided the big names in the Last of 16 draw, and they were even more so after we defeated our opponents Sampdoria 0-1 in their own back yard. But perhaps in the end lack of experience and a touch of overconfidence proved to be our downfall, succumbing to a Sampdoria onslaught and losing 0-3 to end our magnificent run against Europe's big boys.

No need to mention, domestic tradition was respected, as we bagged a sixth consecutive Premier League and FA Trophy double, reaching 100 unbeaten league games in the process, although a 45 match winning streak was ended in mid-november with a 1-1 draw at home to Msida SJ.

Despite all these recent successes, Mdina Knights is still considered a small club, and thus, we are still not attracting big names to our club, having to resort to scouting the globe for young talent, and then waiting for them to develop, only for them to leave for want of greater glory. Such was the case when, following this season, we lost three of our four best players; two of them on a free transfer, not wanting to sign a new contract, and the third had just one year left on his contract, so I decided to cash in on him since he also did not want to renew.

In the rankings, the Maltese Premier League dropped 11 places to 73rd, while Mdina Knights bore the fruits of the successful European campaign, soaring up 105 places to 56th. Malta also rose in the Nation Rankings, up 9 places to 19th.

02-04-2025: Unbeaten in 100 league games

A routine 4-0 win over Sliema Wanderers has marked Mdina Knights' 100 unbeaten league game, a run starting on the 2nd October 2021, and still going strong 3 and a half season later, on the 2nd April 2025.

With the Maltese Premier League rising up the rankings, it is quite probable that this rise will slow down until the rest of the Maltese clubs catch up with the standard that we have set, having also just confirmed that we will be champions for the sixth consecutive year.

 

However, this season was all about the Champions League, but that's a story for the end-of-season blog.

2023-24: European dumps, Domestic perfection

If last year's European campaign seemed uninspiring and disappointing, this season's was infinitely more so. Although things looked bright after emphatically disposing of Faroese side HB 10-1 on aggregate, a tough draw against Croatia's Zagreb followed. Going to Croatia leading 2-1 on aggregate, we needed just a draw to qualify. However, it was not to be, as we went down to a harsh deflection and a penalty.

However, not all was lost, as there was the safety net that is the Europa League. But fate did not smile down on us, as we were drawn against Turkey's Besiktas, who, depite all our efforts, beat us quite comfortably 1-4 on aggregate.

Although it did not really make up for this disappointment in the end, our domestic form was perfect. In 28 league matches, and 5 cup ties, we won all 33 (thus winning a 5th consecutive Premier League and FA Trophy double), scoring a massive 126 goals, and conceding just 9. The two major happenings of note here being a whooping 11-0 victory against bottom club Zurrieq, and a 1-0 away win at Msida, despite having two men sent off before the hour mark with the score still 0-0.

In the rankings, the Premier League moved up 26 places, meaning it now occupies the 62nd position, while Mdina Knights only moved up 3 places (obviously due to the poor campaign) to 161st.
The youth academy is proving to be a massive flop, with absolutely no talent at all, and with the board telling me that my youth recruitment network is the best a club of our standing can have, my hopes of producing some world class Maltese talent are somewhat diminishing.
However, I'll just focus on my first target of winning the Champions League for now. See you next season :)

2022-23: A Learning Curve

In contrast to the previous season, where we had a relatively untroubled route to the Champions League group stage, and even almost made it to the Europa League knockout stages via a third-placed finish, this season was a totally different story.

Even as early as the Second Qualifying round, we struggled against FC Zürich of Switzerland, going through on penalties after drawing both legs 1-1. In the next round against Slovan Liberec, we again drew on aggregate, winning 1-0 in Rabat, before losing 3-2 in the Czech Republic, thus going through on the away goals rule. The playoff stage, however, proved too tough yet again, losing 0-1 at home to Belgian side RSC Anderlecht, and then only managing a 1-1 draw away.


In the Europa League Group stage, we were faced with familiar opposition in the form of Atletico Madrid, with the group's two other members being Metalurg Zp from Ukraine, and Dinamo Moscow. After losing the first match 0-3 home to Atletico Madrid, hope was restored with a 0-1 away win against Metalurg Zp. A 2-3 home loss to Dinamo Moscow was quickly redeemed by another 2-3 scoreline, this time in our favour, to exact revenge at their own back yard. There was still hope, even after losing again 2-0 away to Atletico Madrid, however, it was quickly extinguished with a poor 1-2 defeat at home to Metalurg Zp.

After a tough Qualifying campaign, and some mixed fortunes in the Group stage, we again bowed out of Europe in the Group stage.


The domestic tradition of a Premier League and FA Trophy double was successfully extended, with the only incident of note being the amount of goals scored, thumping in a massive 94 goals, compared to our previous record of 78. The season was again ended unbeaten, with the current unbeaten League run currently reading 51 games.


Meanwhile, the Maltese Premier League has continued on its impressive climb up the rankings, moving another 19 places up the ladder, to 88th position. Mdina Knights, on the other hand, also rose, by 20 places to 164th in the European Club Rankings.


On a final note, the Mdina Knights Stadium has been further expanded, and now houses over 20,000 spectators, while the youth academy has been thoroughly disappointing in its first two seasons, with no local prospect of note cropping up in the youth squad.

2021-22: First Date with the Champions League

After a couple of flirts in previous seasons, coming as close as the Playoff stage, this season the final barrier between us and the group stages finally succumbed to our efforts, and after beating Slovenia's Domzale (5-0 agg), Ireland's St. Pat's Athletic (5-1 agg), and finally the Slovakian side MSK Zilina (2-0 agg), we ended up in the hat for the Champions League draw. At this stage we were by no means expecting an easy draw, and we were pitted against Tottenham, Atletico Madrid, and CSKA Moscow.

The campaign went off to a blistering start, controlling the whole first game, and dispatching CSKA easily with 2 goals to nil at our very own Mdina Knights Stadium. A tough tie followed away to Atletico Madrid, where, after going down 0-1 and battling valiantly by throwing everything we had at them to try and restore parity, we eventually conceded again late on, to lose 0-2. Another home tie, against English Premier League runners-up Tottenham followed, and it was another vibrant display from a young Mdina Knights side, coming twice from a goal down to go in 2-2 at half-time. However, a second-half burst from Tottenham saw us concede again, after which we simply could not find another reply.

The second legs saw us fall slightly off the remarkable pace we had set in the first three games, first losing 2-0 at White Hart Lane in London, then another 2-0 in -6°C Moscow against CSKA, and finally another 0-2 defeat at home to Atletico Madrid. So it was that we finished bottom of our group, however just one point behind CSKA, who went on to compete in the Europa League knockout stages.

Meanwhile, besides our European endeavours, domestic affairs were all coming up roses again. Although an early loss to Tarxien saw us end a 48 match unbeaten League run, we then went on to set record amounts of points garnered and goals scored with 77 points (beating the previous 76) and 78 goals (beating the previous 69), although we did concede 10 goals, four more than the previous year. The FA Trophy unsurprisingly found its way back into our ever-growing trophy cabinet.

On the rankings side: the Premier League moved up yet another 35 places to 107th, while Mdina Knights moved up 76 places to 183rd in the European Club Rankings. Malta is now rated 28th from the 53 European Nations, still some way off having a team qualify automatically in the Group Stages, but a massive improvement from the 49th of 2017.
A slight improvement in the quality of the Maltese Premier League that I have noticed is that whereas I was awarded £7K for winning my first title, the prize money has been gradually increasing, having been awarded £31K this season.

Yet another expansion in the summer now sees the Mdina Knights stadium hold a massive 16,000 at full-house, turning in somewhere in the region of £400,000 for a Champions League match, which when added with the £7M awarded for participation in the Champions League group stage, have now expanded my bank coffers to £17M

Although this would be enough to buy several star players, this is by no means yet possible, as still only few players have the desire to ply their trade in Malta, and thus we are still resorting to a lot of unknown African players, most of whom would be seeing us as just a stepping stone for greater things elsewhere possibly. However, after building a youth academy, and always improving the youth facilities, I am hoping to have some prospects from within the club in the next few years, and thus also start building for the National side.