FM2006 - season 2025/26

I've been spending a lot of time on FM06 lately (the missus has been hogging the TV so I can't get any X360 time in).

Liverpool
I've just completed season 2025/26 and, as usual, won the Premier League and the Champions Cup. However, unlike prior years, the season was a little hit and miss. Over the last couple of years, my priority has been to bump up my club's bank balance and develop young talent at the club. Although I've succeeded, the cost has been that my squad hasn't been as strong as it could have been - and this really showed in a couple of matches. The biggest statistical indicator of my difficulty has been the fact that I only scored 70+ goals in the premier league this season (I normally score over 100).

The upside is that I had tons of money in the bank. Seeing as the squad was weak, I decided to spend all my money!

Over the course of the summer, I spent GBP97 million in buying new players (not all of it planned). Before your eyes fall too far out of your head, I should mention that the 97m is a result of 2 years transfer budget.

In the second half of the 2025/26 season, I signed Marcio, a Brazilian DM in the center of the park (Van der Linden was getting old), on a free transfer. I also bought Danielle Galli (AM RLC) for GBP12 million and Carlos Sanchez (ST) for GBP45 million. This was initially going to be enough but during the summer, Dave Roberts (my superstar GK) decided he wanted a new challenge and requested a transfer. This really left me in a pinch and I had to spend GBP40million buying another GK.

The end result is that I've probably got the strongest squad I've had in a long long time.

Italy
Unfortunately, I didn't do so well with Italy. After winning Euro 2024 with Italy, I had high hopes for the 2026 World Cup. Unfortunately, I didn't count on my top ST retiring.

Although I qualified for the World Cup with ease, I struggled in the early stages and didn't qualify for the knockout stages till the final group game. Two games later and I came across England who promptly knocked me out. The only consolation is that England went on to win the World Cup (and have done so 3 times in a row now!).

Part of the problem was that all of my players were unfit (with the exception of the 3 players who played in the premiership). After such a poor showing, and coupled with the frustration of unfit players, I decided to bring my international career to an end and quit the Italy post.

The Italian FA begged me to stay (I had been there 6 years and won Euro 2024 along with some minor cups) but I held firm and rejected them along with all the other International job offers )got offers from Germany, France and Spain). At this moment, the only way I will reenter the International job market is if England become available.