Using the mighty simulation powers of Football Manager, I will be putting together a history of the next decade of football as it plays out in the universe of my save. I will add backstory wherever possible, and try to fill in gaps as realistically as possible. If you’re curious about the fortunes of a single club or country, just reach out to me on Twitter (@Carlos77Verde) and I’ll write up a brief on your club’s next decade.
Before we begin, let’s take a look at the ‘Football Manager 2025 Save Realism Checklist’:
- Celtic have captured all ten Scottish Premiership titles thus far in this crystal ball experiment, winning the league by an average of 16 points. They are yet to progress past the Champions League group stage. Check.
- Tottenham have joined Bayern Munich, AC Milan, and Real Madrid in an elite group of the world’s most popular teams. (Meh, I guess with success and more targeted marketing towards the American audience, it could happen). Check.
- Croatia won the 2022 World Cup, which did indeed take place in Qatar. Turkey finished as runners-up. (Considering most of the Western world might boycott the event, it’s possible). Check.
- New Caledonia won the Oceania Cup in 2016, knocking off New Zealand 2-1 in extra time in the final. (New Zealand are hardly Germany in real life, so it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility). Check.
- Cristiano Ronaldo played — and contributed — for Real Madrid until age thirty-eight, retiring in 2023. (Well, he is a physical freak). Check.
- Not to be outdone by Ronaldo, Lionel Messi also stuck around until 2023, also staying in La Liga, though he did tail off more sharply than Ronaldo towards the end. Check.
- Toronto FC have failed to make it past the first round of the MLS play-offs in a decade. Their all-time ‘Best Eleven’ includes one-hit wonder Jermain Defoe and failed Designated Player Gilberto, so that’s pretty much how things have gone there. Check.
Saturday, May 24th, 2025.
The last vestiges of sunlight shimmer across the roof of the New Wembley, the entire world’s attention focused on West London’s cathedral of football. Tonight, the English national side’s stadium is playing host to European club football’s greatest spectacle, the UEFA Champions League final, for the first time in twelve years. Adding a special aura to the evening’s proceedings is the presence of one of London’s own clubs, Tottenham Hotspur, in the final. The local flair to the continental final has sent the city of London into a frenzy in the days leading up to the penultimate match of the season. Spurs are gunning for their second Champions League title in three years under Portuguese manager Paulo Fonseca, but in their way stand an oil-rich Paris St.-Germain, led by Brazilian wonder kid Ley. The two sides met two years ago in Lisbon’s 2023 Final, on a night in which Fonseca’s Spurs emerged famous 2-0 victors.
But how did we get here…
2015-16
Premier League: 5th
FA Cup: 5th Round
Capital One Cup: 4th Round
Europa League: Finalist
The first year of the crystal ball simulation bore little difference from the real-life Spurs. Despite a waltz through the Europa League group stage, a pair of 4-1 drubbings suffered on back-to-back weekends against Arsenal and Chelsea forced Mauricio Pochettino out at White Hart Lane. Bernd Schuster came on as his replacement, leading an embattled Spurs squad to a fifth-place finish in the league. Spurs also bowed out early in the Capital One Cup (a fourth round defeat at Norwich) and were knocked out of the FA Cup in the fifth round by Man City.
In terms of players, Erik Lamela and January acquisition Alessandro Florenzi led the way creatively for Schuster’s team, with the latter being the lone Spurs player to earn a Premier League XI nomination.
Ultimately, Spurs were not up to the challenge in 2015/16, losing its only important match of the season, the Europa League final, 3-0 to Athletic Bilbao at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao.
2016-17
Premier League: 4th
FA Cup: Semi-Finalist
Capital One Cup: Fourth Round
Europa League: Round of 16
Schuster’s first full campaign in charge of Spurs brought improved Premier League results, with Tottenham vaulting over Man City and into a Champions League position. The $27m sale of Kyle Walker to Liverpool allowed Schuster to open his pocketbook, and open it he did. Douglas Costa joined from Shakhtar on a $10.5m transfer, while left-back Gotoku Sakai cost a cool $15m from Bayern Munich. Josip Drmic was bought from Leverkusen for $9.5m to provide firepower up front, though he delivered just four goals in 37 matches.
The season would be defined by an ugly Round of 16 Europa League match-up with Swansea, in which Spurs were beaten 6-1 on aggregate and sent into a tailspin which would nearly see them crash out of the top five by the end of the campaign.
On a saddening note, Harry Kane suffered an ACL injury which he never fully recovered from towards the end of this season. He would try to hang on as a squad player at West Brom, before tumbling down the English football pyramid. He eventually retired in 2024, age 31, with Wrexham of League Two.
2017-18
Premier League: 4th
FA Cup: Sixth Round
Capital One Cup: Fourth Round
Champions League: Quarter-Final
Schuster’s £30m move for Lyon striker Yassine Benzia turned out to be a coup for Spurs, as the striker netted 23 times in all competitions. Erik Lamela returned to his blistering form, earning a team-of-the-season nod alongside Benzia. Meanwhile, the quickly-deflating Josep Drmic became an out-of-form attention magnet and was promptly dumped off to lowly Spezia of Serie B.
In Europe, Spurs enjoyed a solid if unspectacular run in the Champions League, topping a group which featured Napoli, Sparta Prague, and CSKA Moscow. A pair of excellent performances against Shakhtar saw Spurs through to the quarter-finals, where they were overpowered 4-1 on aggregate by PSG.
Spurs finished nine points off title-winning Arsenal, but other than the extra sting of derby undertones in the Gunners’ title, had a solid campaign which resulted in Champions League qualification.
2018-19
Premier League: 5th
FA Cup: Third Round
Capital One Cup: Semi-Final
Champions League: Semi-Final
Poor Premier League and Champions League results early in the campaign doomed Schuster, who was sacked in early November with the club adrift in eighth and bottom of its European group. Leonid Slutsky was brought in to put out the fire, which he did admirably.
Young centre-back Motoki Kurihara was brought in from Marseille in January, stabilizing Spurs’ defence in the absence of the recently-retired Jan Vertonghen.
Benzia bagged another 28 goals in all competitions, while Lamela was once again superb. Florenzi, now in his third full season with the club, served as the rock in the heart of the midfield in Slutsky’s 4-4-2 diamond.
A deep Champions League run was only stopped by fellow Londoners Chelsea, who downed Spurs 4-2 on aggregate in the semi-final en route to lifting European club football’s greatest trophy.
2019-20
Premier League: 6th
FA Cup: Fifth Round
Capital One Cup: Finalist
Europa League: Round of 32
In a move eerily similar to Gareth Bale’s some seven years before, striker Yassine Benzia’s departure to Real Madrid left Spurs rudderless. While all of Benzia’s $75m transfer fee was reinvested back into the squad by Slutsky, things didn’t click and Spurs dropped their first six games of the Premier League season.
A disappointing exit from the Europa League at the hands of German upstarts Stuttgart left Slutsky’s job in question in mid-March, and a 4-0 drubbing suffered the following week at Wembley against Chelsea in a cup final doomed him to his fate. With the season already a loss, Slutsky was allowed to stay on through May, at which time he parted ways with the club.
The departure of Benzia to Real Madrid cast the club adrift, seemingly undoing the progress of the past two seasons. The mind-boggling thing is that Slutsky didn’t even attempt to replace his best striker, instead opting to $35m on centre-back Steven Caulker and $15m on young Russian wingback Anton Aslanov.
2020-21
Premier League: 4th
FA Cup: Fifth Round
Capital One Cup: Third Round
Europa League: Round of 32
After four years at the helm of West Ham, Roy Keane took the managerial reins at the New White Hart Lane in May of 2020, shortly after Slutsky’s departure. His term lasted all of six months, as he was sacked in mid-November with the club sputtering in ninth place.
The sole piece of sound business from Keane was the $33.5m deal he made with Udinese for mini-maestro Bernard. The international Brazilian star netted a team-high 21 goals, followed closely by the timeless Lamela (20), who himself was quickly becoming the face of the club.
Steve Bruce took over and, placing the focus on domestic football, managed to guide Spurs to an improbable Champions League berth, sacrificing European and domestic cup results in the process.
2021-22
Premier League: 2nd
FA Cup: Fifth Round
Capital One Cup: Fourth Round
Champions League: Round of 16
Though six points off of Chelsea at the top, Spurs truly established themselves as a Premier League threat in Bruce’s first full year at the New White Hart Lane. A league-high 15 draws and a league-low four losses speak to the defensive tactics Bruce used when playing away.
Spurs went undefeated in the final three months of the campaign, and had Chelsea not been so dominant at the top, could have made a real race of it.
In Europe, Bruce’s side finished second behind Dortmund in a group which also included Olympiakos and Swiss side Grasshoppers, before bowing out respectably to Real Madrid in the first knockout round.
In the transfer market, Spurs made a pair of extravagant signings, bringing in Brazilian strikers Rodrigues (Wolfsburg) and Otininho (Flamengo) for a combined $44m. The result was a more balanced attack, as Bruce’s Spurs side had five ten-goal scorers in Lamela (17), Bernard (13), Otininho (12), Shelvey (12), and Rodrigues (11). That’s right, Jonjo Shelvey.
This season is fondly remembered by fans as the turning point when Spurs became a consistent Champions League club and genuine title threat in the domestic league.
2022-23
Premier League: 6th
FA Cup: Fourth Round (replay)
Capital One Cup: Quarter-Final
Champions League: Champions
Aged 32, Erik Lamela endeared himself forever in the hearts of Spurs fans, scoring ‘the goal’. In fact, the club legend scored both in a 2-0 Champions League final victory over PSG. He also claimed Premier League Player-of-the-Year and bagged 19 goals in all competitions.
Domestically, the season wasn’t as much of a ruin as sixth-place would suggest: Bruce’s side finished just five points off the top in a ridiculous title race which featured six clubs and a three-way tiebreaker to decide the title. Ultimately, Man City (70) had a better goal difference than Liverpool (70) and Arsenal (70), allowing Frank De Boer’s Citizens to claim the title on rather shaky terms.
Spurs surprised many by advancing through Group B in the Champions League group stage, finishing in first with 12 points, ahead of Monaco, Real Madrid, and Rapid Wien. Incredibly, Madrid lost out on the head-to-head and were sent packing to the Europa League. Spurs advanced on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate draw with Lyon in the Round of 16.
A first leg 2-0 defeat suffered at home to Spanish giants Barcelona left few Spurs supporters hopeful heading into the second leg at the Camp Nou, but soon-to-be club legend Erik Lamela had a surprise in store for them. The Argentine netted a brace in the opening ten minutes, levelling the tie, and set up Otininho for a brace of his own in the second half, handing Spurs an unlikely 4-2 aggregate quarter-final victory over Barca.
A pair of wild matches in the semi-final saw Bruce’s club progress past Manchester United, 6-3 on aggregate. Again, Lamela had three goals and assisted on two others in what was quickly becoming a season to remember.
The final in Lisbon was a sloppy, rain-filled affair, with neither side mustering a shot in the first half. The breakthrough came in the 52nd, as Lamela latched onto a pass from Otininho before firing home, sending the thousands of Spurs supporters into a frenzy. An 89th minute breakaway saw his 32 year-old legs churning as fast as they could towards Salvatore Sirigu, before chipping the PSG ‘keeper and securing an historic victory.
2023-24
Premier League: 3rd
FA Cup: Fifth Round
Capital One Cup: Fourth Round
Champions League: Round of 16
Club World Cup: Champions
2023-24 saw Spurs in a position the club had never been in before: one of consolidation. As defending European champions, they had a large bulls-eye on their backs from the get-go in Steve Bruce’s third full season in charge.
Spurs’ Champions League title defence got off to a superb start, as Bruce’s side cruised through a group involving Inter Milan, Lyon, and Ajax.
The fairytale campaign ended shortly thereafter, as the 64 year-old Bruce abruptly left his post amidst health concerns. Portuguese journeyman boss Paulo Fonseca would step into the role in early-December, and Spurs promptly rattled off seven consecutive victories under his guidance.
During that seven-match winning streak, the club laid claim to its first bit of international silverware, as it pummelled both African champions Orlando Pirates and Asia champions Al-Ittihad en route to a FIFA Club World Cup title.
Things became bumpier in March, as Spurs were bounced from the Champions League unceremoniously by Monaco, 4-1 on aggregate, in the Round of 16. This, coupled with an FA Cup defeat against lowly Charlton and four consecutive losses in the league, resulted in a winless month.
2024-25
Premier League: Champions
FA Cup: Third Round
Capital One Cup: Third Round
Champions League: Champions
Well, a truly incredibly double for Fonseca’s men. Spurs have morphed from an overspending, underachieving team a decade ago, into a dominant force in English and European club football. Fonseca’s men literally could have walked through the final few matches of season, finishing atop the Premier League table ten points ahead of second-place Manchester United.
At 33, there is no doubt that Erik Lamela is on the decline. But you better believe the Argentine, whom they’ve now monikered, ‘El Gran Spur’ at New White Hart Lane, showed up for the Champions League final at Wembley.
After a season of sporadic appearances on a talented squad, ‘El Gran Spur’ played all ninety minutes against PSG, scoring the winner in the 66th minute and taking an individual lap of honour with the Champions League trophy upon full-time.
Times have changed. Erik Lamela and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris are the only names that remain from the middling teams of a decade ago. 21 year-old Swedish superstar Peter Bergstrom is the new Harry Kane, while Slovak trequartista Frantisek Pekar electrifies crowds at the 80,000-seat New White Hart Lane.
Worth a reported $1.34B, Spurs are the sixth-richest club in the world. With the third-largest wage budget in England now, they are expected to compete for multiple trophies on a yearly basis. To think that, a mere decade ago, Spurs fans were satisfied with battling annually for fifth-place and Emmanuel Adebayor starting up front. How the times change.
