Vincent Kompany as Tottenham Hotspur Manager, A Football Manager 2023 Experiment
Tottenham are in disarray, but could Vincent Kompany be the manager to fix them? I ran a simulation in Football Manager 2023 to find out.
Tottenham Hotspur are currently a mess. Having seen Antonio Conte depart from the manager role in March, and his former assistant manager, Cristian Stellini, taking charge of the club, there is little in the way of knowing what the long-term plan is for Spurs. With so much disruption surrounding Tottenham, I became curious how well the club would have done this season with another manager in charge — and what the future would hold if that manager had been appointed for the long-term project.
Thinking of potential candidates for Tottenham’s next managerial role, Vincent Kompany — current manager of Burnley (who just won promotion to the Premier League) — came to mind as a possible coaching hire. Kompany represents one of my personal top choices for the vacancy at Spurs and I was curious how well he would lead the club into the future, and how well Spurs could’ve done this year with Kompany in charge.
So, I appointed Vincent Kompany as the Tottenham boss in Football Manager 2023, and simulated a few seasons to see how well he would do in-charge of Spurs.
A few caveats to add:
- Within the database, only the top four leagues of England (Premier League through League Two) will be active in the simulation.
- The game will start in the 2022/23 season (this current year in progress) and will be simulated forward from there. While the Champions League group opponents in year one cannot be exactly replicated, it does have Spurs in the competition for this season start.
- The database will be with the current rosters from the most recent January 2023 window in real life (FM 23.4.0 database). The Tottenham squad for the full first season in the simulation will be that from its real life January 2023 window — for those players present at the club or out on loan.
- I have cleared the current coaching staff in the base game, meaning the entire coaching staff for Tottenham would be Vincent Kompany’s own decision.
But let’s dive right into the simulation and see how Tottenham would develop under Vincent Kompany!
Season One (2022/23)
Kompany used a 4–2–3–1 tactic for his time in charge of season one of Spurs, a marked difference from what Conte and Stellini had been running for the team in real life.
The transfers made during the year were quite interesting as the club was able to bring in the following four players to the club: Leonidas Steriou (St. Gallen, Center Back), Ricardo Horta (Braga, Attacking Midfielder), Alexis Saelemaekers (AC Milan, Attacking Midfielder Right), and Alex Scott (Bristol City, Midfielder). The only major outgoing move was Davinson Sanchez leaving the club for Ajax, on loan in January.
In the league, Tottenham ended up with a fifth place finish, but they exited the domestic cups early in the competition — losing in the Carabao Cup quarterfinals to Manchester City, whilst exiting the FA Cup in the fifth round to Everton. Though it was an up and down campaign in the league, Tottenham’s results in Europe would be a much different story.
Kompany managed to pull off the unthinkable in the Champions League, guiding Spurs not only to the final, but winning the entire competition! Spurs would hoist the trophy after defeating Bayern Munich on penalties, 1–1 (5–3 on PKs). New transfer signing, Alexis Saelemaekers scored Spurs’ lone goal of the final, with Cristian Romero’s goal being the clinching score of the shootout for Spurs.
In the entirety of the season, three players would end up with a combined 52 goals scored across all competitions — Dejan Kulusevski (18), Heung-Min Son (17) and Harry Kane (17). New signings Horta and Saelemaekers would each score five goals apiece as well during the campaign. It would be Pedro Porro who would rack up the most assists on the club with 10 on the year too. The prowess in attack of the tactics Kompany has built for Spurs cannot be overstated for his success with the club in year one.
After a resounding success in Europe ending in silverware for year one, let’s see what season two has in store for the Kompany era of Tottenham.
Season Two (2023/24)
Kompany began to leave more of his mark on the club, starting with many of the transfers made during the summer of 2023, improving the club’s defensive players. The big money move would be for Diogo Costa, GK brought in from Porto for $74m. Elsewhere, the likes of Merih Demiral (center-back) came in from Atalanta for $40m, Stefan de Vrij (center-back) signed a free transfer from Inter Milan along with Jose Campana (midfielder) signing on a free from Levante, and Josip Sutalo (center-back) joined from Dinamo Zagreb in January.
But the exodus of many players away from Spurs was surely noticeable this season. While some left on loan deals — such as Ben Davies (Leicester), Japhet Tanganga (Roma), Pape Matar Sarr (Almeria), Harvey White (Vitesse) and Joe Rodon (Lyon) — there were quite a few players who left on transfers. The most valuable transfer was for that of Emerson Royal, who left for Sevilla for $19m. Elsewhere, Sergio Reguilon left for Al-Ittihad for $15.5m, Gio Lo Celso went to Benfica for $3.1m, Davinson Sanchez moved to Bologna for $3m, and Djed Spence left for Leeds for $2.5m.
Kompany would stick with the 4–2–3–1 with much of the season, as new signing Sutalo would feature prominently in the defense, alongside last year’s star transfers Scott and Saelemaekers and new arrival Destiny Udogie featuring heavily throughout the year. Heung-Min Son would lead the team in goals with 20, as Harry Kane (16), Dejan Kulusevski (14), Troy Parrott (12), Ricardo Horta (7), Alexis Saelemaekers (7) would represent the top goal-scorers of the year.
However, the Premier League season was another disappointment as the club could only record another fifth place finish, missing out on the top four by just a point behind Chelsea.
The club would lose in the Carabao Cup fourth round to Southampton, and despite making the FA Cup semifinals, lost to Manchester United in that round. While domestically, Spurs have been disappointing, the same can’t entirely be said for Europe.
Kompany managed to guide Tottenham to a second consecutive Champions League final, however losing to PSG on penalties on this occasion at Wembley, in a thrilling match that saw six goals. Kompany has helped Spurs become European specialists, as this was his second appearance in the final with Tottenham.
Harry Kane, Troy Parrott and Richarlison would each score three goals, but a red card to Rodrigo Bentancur made things especially difficult for Tottenham. PSG clawed their way back into the game and Spurs needed a Richarlison equalizing goal at 86' to extend the match, which went all the way to PKs. With only one converted goal in the penalty shootout for Spurs, it would be PSG who lift the European Cup in Spurs’ own backyard of London.
Below are the results game-by-game of the 2023/24 season:
Two seasons in charge of Tottenham, can Vincent Kompany earn a better finish than 5th in the Premier League or any success in the domestic cups in year three of the simulation? Let’s move into the next year.
Season Three (2024/25)
Spurs were relatively inactive with incoming transfers in the summer of 2024, only welcoming in four new players in the summer — Lawerence Vigouroux from Luton for $140k (goalkeeper), Marco Carnesecchi from Atalanta for $10.75m (another goalkeeper), Evanilson from Real Madrid for $53m (striker and apparent Harry Kane heir) and Joao Mario for $31.5m from Porto (right wing back). Isaiah Jones would later join for $11m from QPR (right wing), along with Lucas Torreira joining from Galatasary for $11.5m (defensive midfielder), and not to mention, a former Arsenal player…
The club did see numerous notable exits this summer, with many long time Tottenham names leaving the club: Ben Davies to Leicester for $14.25m, Harry Winks to Watford on a free transfer, Eric Dier to Atletico Madrid for $21.5m, Richarlison to Roma for $23.5m (quite the loss on the $60m transfer he made to Spurs) and Japhet Tangana to Barcelona for $13.75m.
The likes of Pape Matar Sarr (on loan to Schalke 04), Ryan Sessegnon (Real Sociedad for $21.5m) and Tanguy Ndombele (West Ham for $13m) would leave the club in the January window.
It was another fifth place finish for Vincent Kompany and Spurs in year three of the simulation, this time missing out on top four on goal difference alone. Each year Kompany has been in charge, Tottenham have finished in fifth place of the league, still competitive for Europe, but not quite top four or even challenging for the league.
The domestic cups were more of the same, as Spurs lost in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup to Brighton, and then eventually lost in the FA Cup final to rivals Arsenal on penalties. Former Arsenal player Lucas Toerreira would even miss the final PK for Spurs in this final…
The misery for Spurs would continue in Europe as, despite another deep run in Champions League this season, Tottenham lost to Arsenal in the Champions League semifinals, 4–2 on aggregate, just to add onto the rivalry of the year. Luckily, Bayern Munich would beat Arsenal 3–2 in the final.
Below you can find the match-by-match results of year three of the simulation.
After another year of finishing 5th in the Premier League, and two heartbreaking cup competition exits to their bitter rivals, Vincent Kompany and Spurs will be looking for a redemption season in year four of this simulation, but will Kompany risk the sack this year with a lack of top four finishes and domestic silverware? Let’s dive into the next season.
Season Four (2025/26)
For the fourth consecutive year of the simulation, Kompany has guided Spurs to yet another fifth place finish in the league. While the consistency has been great for the club to remain constantly in European competitions, the lack of any progress to a top four finish has been concerning.
This year for transfers was almost reminiscent of the Summer of 2018, as Spurs would sign just one player this season, Pepe, a left midfielder who moved from Porto for $42.5m. Elsewhere, two notable departures were Alexis Saelemaekers — the goal-scorer from the year one Champions League final for Spurs — to Barcelona on loan, and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg leaving to join Manchester United for $32m.
The cup competitions featured more notable runs, only to come up short in both domestic cups and the Champions League. In the Carabao Cup, Spurs would lose on penalties to Manchester United in the quarterfinals (though this defeat would kick-off a span of 14 consecutive games across all competitions unbeaten). Spurs would later exit the Champions League knock-out playoff round to AC Milan, before losing in the FA Cup semi-final to Manchester City.
Can Vincent Kompany finally get Spurs into the top four, or will another fifth place finish occur? Can he replicate the success he had in year one that won the club the Champions League, earning silverware in this year of the save? Or will a lack of results this season not be enough to save his job?
Season Five (2026/27)
The summer transfers brought in a few new players to Tottenham: Luca Pellegrini from Juventus (left back) on loan, Florentino Luis from Benfica for $37.5m (defensive midfielder), goalkeeper Ivo Grbic from PSG for $1m, Dimitris Roukos from Olympiacos for $14.25m (a Greek regen, attacking midfielder), Adam Hlozek from Inter Milan for $22.5m (attacking midfielder, who would then be loaned to Real Madrid later in the season), and Sergey Pinyaev from Lokomotiv Moscow for $19.5m (left wing). New regen wonderkid Vuk Saric would join Spurs from Serbia in January for $2m.
This summer saw a major exit of players from the club though. Departures from Spurs saw the likes of Bryan Gil leave for AC Milan on a free transfer, Joe Rodon moved to Fiorentina for $10.75m, Pape Matar Sarr went to Udinese for $14m, Evanilson moved to Manchester United on loan, alongside Troy Parrott who left for Manchester United for $34m. Ricardo Horta made the switch to West Ham for $9.25m. Finally, Merih Demiral (to Everton for $31m) and Destiny Udogie (to Real Madrid for $55m) departed from the club’s defense.
After some potentially questionable moves made in the transfer market, it will be interesting to see how Spurs push for top four this season.
At the end of the season, Tottenham would finally finish in the top four, only for Arsenal to win the Premier League by a point, ending a long streak of Premier League titles by Manchester City. This entire simulation has seen a slow process of building a team for Tottenham under Kompany and its another season that ends without success in the cup competitions.
Spurs would exit the Carabao Cup in the third round to Leicester, before another exit in the Champions League playoff knock-out round to Napoli. Finally, Spurs would see an exit in the fifth round of the FA Cup against Liverpool. While the consistency in the league has been enough to keep Spurs in the hunt for Europe every season of this simulation, the lack of silverware since that Champions League final in season one — which is beginning to look more like a fluke — is an increasing concern domestically.
By the end of the 2026/27 season, the following current, real-life, Tottenham players are still at Spurs after the five seasons of the simulation: Dejan Kulusevski, Harry Kane, Dane Scarlett, Heung-Min Son, Oliver Skipp, Alfie Devine, Pedro Porro, Rodrigo Bentacur, Will Lankshear, and Cristian Romero. Son and Kane are the two oldest players left at Spurs, at 34 and 33 respectively, and their loyalty has been a welcome constant in this simulation, as has Vincent Kompany’s continued role as Spurs manager throughout the five years in charge. It has been refreshing to see a manager stick around as Tottenham boss for multiple seasons as the club looks to build on their current progress into season six.
Season Six (2027/28)
Something remarkable happened this season:
A big summer of smart transfers for Tottenham, headlined by the signing of Kvicha Kvaratskhelia from Napoli on a free deal! Romulo, a center-back regen, joined from Palmeiras for $21.5m. Jan Lukacevic, a striker regen from Croatia, moved to Spurs for $9.75m. Right-back James Justin, at 29 years old, moved from Leicester to Spurs for $38.5m. And yes, you read that right, the Loris Karius, a 34-year old former Liverpool GK, made the move to Tottenham for $1.4m. Outgoings in the summer included Evanilson to Manchester United ($32.5m) as the only permanent deal as a whole host of players left on loans, most notably Pepe to Real Madrid. January’s tranfer window saw Ryan Gravenberch join from Al-Shabab for $16m and Lucas Torreira leave on loan to Bayer Leverkusen.
I was going to simulate from the end of the January transfer window directly to the end of the season, but then something caught my attention, the Premier League table.
After a 26 games played, Vincent Kompany’s Tottenham Hotspur sat atop the Premier League table by six points, just 12 games to go. Spurs had only lost three league games all season, and despite a third round exit of the Carabao Cup to Manchester City, they were still competing in the FA Cup and Champions League. Can Vincent Kompany’s Tottenham finish off the impossible, and actually win the Premier League?
Wow, with four games to go, Spurs are still atop the Premier League, but their lead is by only one point as Manchester City and Arsenal are in pursuit. Tottenham’s fairytale season is further highlighted by advancing to the Champions League semifinal, to face Chelsea. It’s actually an all-English semifinal, as Manchester City and Arsenal face-off in the other semifinal.
With the below matches being Spurs’ run-in of games until the end of the season, can they really do it this season?
In the end, Spurs’ title run would fall just short as Manchester City beat Tottenham in their match at the end of April as Spurs finished second.
A wonderful season of progress, but one that still wasn’t enough for the league title.
Chelsea would end up knocking Spurs out of both the FA Cup (quarterfinals) and the Champions League semifinals. Truly bitter ends to both competitions for Tottenham against another London rival.
Kvararskhelia, Kulusevski and Saric would record a combined 50 goals, with Kane not too far behind on 12 goals scored. A truly potent attack this season as 17 different players found themselves on the scoresheet. Kvaratskhelia put in truly remarkable player of the season performances himself as this was possibly Kompany’s best squad he had assembled at Tottenham.
Questions remain for the future though, as Kane and Son both reach their mid-30s, will Kompany ever deliver on a domestic trophy for Tottenham during his tenure? After a season of triumph this year only to come up short once more, has Kompany taken Spurs as far as he can take them?
Season Seven (2028/29):
The summer of 2028 brought in some huge spending for Spurs, the headline signing being an $81m move for Yasper Asprilla, a 24 year old right midfielder from Watford. Ben Chilwell joined in January from Chelsea for $29.5m, while regen players of Mariano Buccheri (left wing from River Plate) and Carlos Medina (defensive midfielder from Independiente) made notable additions to the club.
Exiting the team saw the likes of wonderkid regen, Vuk Saric leaving for Dortmund for $61m. Dane Scarlett moved to Watford for $21m, with numerous outgoing loan deals completed as well.
With this being year seven of Vincent Kompany’s tenure, one interesting thing occurred in the first few weeks of the season, Daniel Levy left his role as chairman of Tottenham Hotspur.
I actually cannot believe it. After seven years under Vincent Kompany, Tottenham Hotspur have actually done it. Kompany has made Spurs the English Premier League champions in the 2028/29 season!
After a back and forth challenge for the league title all campaign, Spurs would beat rivals Arsenal 1–0 on May 5th, 2029 to take a lead atop the Premier League. Regen right back Tomislav Markovic, who joined Tottenham in 2024, would score the lone goal of the derby match as Spurs took the lead atop the table, a lead they would hold for the final two games of the season and clinch their first league title in 68 years on the final day of the season!
After years of anguish in coming so close, especially season three of this simulation (2024/25) that saw the shortcomings happening against Arsenal, to beat them to the Premier League title this season is nothing short of incredible.
The results of Tottenham in other cup competitions would not bring additional silverware to the club’s league winning campaign, as they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup quarterfinals to Newcastle on penalties, lost in FA Cup semifinal to Everton and lost in the Champions League semifinal to Manchester City. However, Spurs would go their final 13 league games of the season unbeaten, to clinch the league title. Vincent Kompany has guided Spurs to Premier League glory!
This year was also a big season for Mr. Tottenham himself, Harry Kane, who would pass Alan Shearer’s long-time Premier League goals record, scoring 262 Premier League goals across his entire career. The club captain, who had actually switched to #9 this season (as Kulusevski took over as the #10 shirt) would finally lift the Premier League title at 35 years old for his hometown club.
This year was also the final season for Heung-Min Son at Tottenham (who made the move to the #20 shirt, as Kvaratskhelia took over the #7 shirt) as the South Korean player would be retiring at season’s end. What final season for an absolute club legend and vice-captain.
It would be Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Dejan Kulusevski leading the goal-scoring charts for Spurs this season, the two brightest players of the season, representing the future for Tottenham. Harry Kane, Ismael Enrique and Pepe would also rank highly on the season’s goal tallies.
Just seven players at Tottenham right now in real life, stayed onboard long enough to lift the Premier League title: Harry Kane, Dejan Kulusevski, Heung-Min Son, Oliver Skipp, Rodrigo Bentancur, Cristian Romero and Pedro Porro. What a remarkable end to the save, Vincent Kompany has delivered a Premier League title to Tottenham!
Vincent Kompany’s Tottenham Era
Having joined in 2022, Vincent Kompany’s seven years in charge saw him with a record of 233–91–87, 56% win ratio. He would deliver Spurs the Premier League title in 2029, won a Champions League in 2023 and the UEFA SuperCup the same year. Though there was not as much progress towards winning any of the domestic cups, I imagine most Spurs fans would absolutely take a Premier League title instead.
Under Kompany, the Tottenham best XI had a mixture of current stars and signings made during the course of the simulation:
Vincent Kompany himself would win the English Premier League manager of the season award in 2029 for his efforts to bring the title back to White Hart Lane. It was a long seven years, but Kompany finally brought Spurs back to the top of English football!
The World Around this Simulation — Results
I thought I would share the screenshots of the other cup competitions won during the course of the seven years of this simulation for those who were curious:
Premier League:
FA Cup:
Carabao Cup:
Champions League:
Europa League:
Europa Conference League:
I hope you have enjoyed reading this simulation of Vincent Kompany as Tottenham Hotspur manager in Football Manager 2023. Following along with the highs and lows of Kompany’s tenure in charge of Spurs was fascinating to see play out in real time and I can’t think of a better stopping point for this simulation than with a Premier League title for Tottenham.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this article, you can find me on Twitter at @ILM_Ryan.
