9.2 – Idler’s Dream

Welcome back. Bill Shankly, one Champions League trophy down, enters his Cape Town City FC team in the African Champions League. Its the middle of the 2023/24 season.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1

We left you last time after 14 wins for the opening 17 games to start the season as the major force in South Africa, also keeping hold of the Super 8 Cup for the second year.

It’s February and this is where the little boys kick off the African Champions League campaign, in the Preliminary rounds. First up, and easily dispatched was Costa do Sol in a 9-0 aggregate destruction, continuing the winning form that sees CTCFC dominate domestically.

It also sets a club record for a six game shutout at the back.

Personally, I’ve hit the 100 game mark in South Africa, quite some time since I picked up the continental trophy in China. We’re halfway through the season in SA and cruising along nicely in the league, clinching the title at the beginning of May.

CTCFC finished the season losing just once to Kaizer Chiefs to ruin the run in, but still managing to win ten of the final thirteen games to romp the division including spanking second place rivals Sundowns, 6-0.

Picking up my first Manager of the Season in Africa for finishing top of the league for the second year running, winning an impressive 24 games from the 30.

A clean sweep in the more important Champions League group at the end of the 2023/24 season meant next season would surely see us into the knockout rounds.

 

Join us next time for a go at the African Champions league, on our quest for 5 major continental titles.

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Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

9.1 – Bonehead’s Bank Holiday

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. Season 9 and Cape Town City FC take on the 2023/24 season as Champions of South Africa.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2

Its my second full season in charge of CTCFC and I’m expecting great things from this campaign.

We finished with a 16 game unbeaten run to end the previous season so I think with the new signings, we can kick on and retain the title with a decent shot at the African Champions League. As South Africa is the only playable league on the continent, and we won the league by 13 points, I fancy my chances to close off the second prong of the Pentagon Challenge.

Whats very odd about the African Champions League is that it doesn’t sit in line with the South African Premier League. This basically means that although we’ve qualified, our Preliminary Round games won’t kick off until February 2024, halfway through the league season. The first six months are basically a holiday.

So let’s crack on with the league campaign, and retaining my first domestic title.

Six really decent signings are brought in.  Three, Ouattara, Amamoo and Zwane are for the future, with the others ready to slot into first team football. Minimal outlay for them all means there is also minimal risk to the club. I like to leave a legacy.

First up in South Africa is always the Super 8 Cup. The top eight teams from last season compete for the cup before November.

The defending champions win again! Bill Shankly picks up his sixth career trophy with another win against the old rivals Ajax CT in extra time. They must hate me.

The first half of the season in the league starts off as we ended 2022/23 with three high scoring wins.

The next twelve games to take us to the halfway point in the seasons end in W10-D1-L1 to keep the domination of the Premiership table.

Ajax CT did get their revenge on me though, by beating me in the SA Knockout Cup final 1-0. Pretty annoying as I dominated the game and missed a hat-full of chances.

Please join me next time for part two of the season. Coming soon.

 

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Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

8.2 – Force of Nature

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. Bill Shankly is in charge of his 3rd team of the Pentagon Challenge. Season 2022/23 in Cape Town and its mid-season break time, January 2023.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 8.1

So left you in 8.1, top of the table after nine games. A great start and a seven game winning run that ended straight away with a 2-2 draw against SuperSport Utd. Three wins and a draw from the next five games took us into the winter break in a great spot atop of the South African Premiership.

After this great start in South Africa, the national team came calling.

Sorry chaps, I’m not taking it – Cape Town need full concentration.

So in January 2023, after a superb start (W10-D3-L2) I have the second half of the season to secure the African Champions League qualification.

Time to go on a run.

Twelve wins and three draws in the final half of the season and I smash the division by 13 points from rivals Ajax Cape Town. Champions League qualification is ours! I did lose in the SA Knockout Cup somewhere along the way though.

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I was still in the South African Cup, with a second final beckoning vs SuperSport. On for the treble. Now this is luck:

A very close game, in which you could say I deserved to lose. In extra time, their boy Mayo missed a penalty, and then he also bottled it in the shootout.

So a ridiculously successful first full season in Africa, securing the domestic treble and qualification to the continental tournament I need next for the Pentagon.

Full League Season Results

 

Join me next episode continuing my journey with Cape Town City into 2023/24.

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Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

8.1 – Full On

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. One ACL Cup win down. Season 2022/23 begins in Cape Town – my first full season at the club.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1

A respectable 8th after six months at CTCFC last season and time to put a Shankly sized stamp on the team.

Straight into the transfers. I knew we had some good players from last term, but they could so easily be improved. Limitations on foreign players are a maximum of three, so the scouts had been given the last six months scouting the local area and had unearthed a few boys I wanted to bring into the squad.

Mashishi, Percy Kunene and Jones looked like future gems.

As the league season kicked off, in South Africa, the top eight teams from last year compete in the Super 8 Cup – very early on in the season. I’d been drawn against local rivals Ajax who were suitably dispatched 1-0 before I destroyed Orlando Pirates (best kit ever in real life 2017 by the way) 4-0.

A final was set versus my new foes, Kaizer Chiefs. I’d lost to them last time around in the SA Cup final so I asked the players for immediate revenge.

We got it, winning comfortably 3-1 with Kunene, my new summer signing closing the game out in the 83rd minute. My first trophy, by October, in South Africa and third overall for Bill Shankly – great for the reputation!

Nine games had elapsed in the league campaign, nearly 1/3rd of the way through and after an awful start, losing vs Ajax and drawing with the Sundowners, I am on a seven game winning streak. Goals from everywhere is helping this as I’m regularly scoring three or four a game – usually in the first half which is killing teams.

Top of the table after nine, with a game in hand.

Join me next time for the rest of the season.

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Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

7.1 – A Quick Peep

Welcome back. 2021 ended with Bill Shankly’s Chongqing lifting the Asian Champions League trophy, step one on this immensely interesting Pentagon Challenge. Check out the previous episodes below.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

Looking back, it’s taken two seasons to build the squad needed to compete in the league, one to gain entry to the ACL and then one to win the ultimate continental trophy. I’m still short a league title but for this challenge, who cares!?

Life so far, just the two manager of the month awards!

Now my time with Chongqing comes to a natural end – where to next?

2021 ticked into 2022, and after I got over my New Year’s Eve hangover, I decided to scout South Africa for jobs. Only a couple were on offer – Baroka FC and Cape Town City FC. Neither looked to have a decent reputation, but CTCFC did offer a 64,100 seater stadium, as well as, well, being in Cape Town. Who can turn down that beautiful spot?

After a quick formal interview where – as I mentioned in 1.1 – I basically just ask for nothing and agree to everything, CTCFC offer me the role.

Well they would have, had Chongqing not asked for a massive payoff, so I have to ask them to drop their price. Two pieces of silverware meant they were very honest, and let me go.

Into the Cape Town City hot seat. It’s a beautiful area of the world and Bill is excited to try out the wineries in the area on his days off.

 

I land in Cape Town halfway through the season, with the boy sitting in 12th from 16 teams. Their record is W4-D4-L7 and that leaves us with just 16 points from the 15 games.

I bring in a couple of players, including Mopedi (Jan) & Mfodolofo (March) as the window in SA seems to be open for a few months which is great news. My standard process of improving the backroom as much as possible with better coaches and scouts gets underway straight away, and the CTCFC even allow me to expand the coaching team – something I’m always doing at every club – key to improving the young potential stars.

We start the Shankly era in true style, winning the opening two games. The next eight games sees CTCFC pick up 13 points from an available 24, taking us up to 8th with 35 points.

A hit and miss last five games sees just one win and two draws.  I only score one goal which is a concern I’ll need to address going into the next transfer window. We finish a respectable 8th.

The South African Cup run is something to be proud of though. A great few results in the rounds, beating a very strong Wits team, as well as massive Cape Town rivals Ajax in the semi-finals took me all the way to the FNB Stadium!

Lucky Khoza nudges us ahead after just two minutes before the Kaizer Chiefs pull one back just on half time. The game peters out and goes to penalties. We lose.

Not bad for the first six-months though, and a good showing from the mainly inherited squad.

Join me for the next part as we jump into pre-season and a first transfer window for Bill Shankly in Africa.

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Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s