Fans of Truro City had become accustomed to trophy celebrations, but nobody in Cornwall could surely have expected to see their heroes parading the famous European Cup around the country. Yet that was the case in the summer of 2043 as captain Alejandro Silva and manager Perran Trevelyan led yet another opentop bus tour and the mother of all parties.
After joining in the festivities for a few days or so, Trevelyan took a little time to reflect before knuckling down to work on how to defend his recently completed quadruple. The manager knew he wouldn’t be at Truro forever and, if he was honest, the change of pace at the club was beginning to become a little galling. Players were demanding ludicrous wages and the fans and board now expected nothing less than winning the Premier League title. In short, little Truro had become too bigtime for Trevelyan’s liking. That said, he vowed to defend the latest successes with one eye on becoming world champions in the summer of 2045.
The current summer began with £332m in the bank and a transfer budget of £174m. They lost left back Vanderson Pereira, who swapped his £36k a week for £750k a week in Saudi at the end of his contract after seven years and 256 league games in Truro. Trevelyan replaced him by splashing a huge club record £60m on Benfica’s elite full back Bruno Veloso, who was a massive upgrade. He also decided to spend £55m on Man UFC’s wonderkid striker Stuart Wilson, mostly out of spite to weaken his nearest rival and to add depth to the attack.
Truro Target “Threepeat”
Truro began the 2043/44 season with more silverware, battering Liverpool 7-2 with star striker Maurício Genofre scoring 4 to defend the Charity Shield. Ten days later, Genofre was at it again, bagging a hat trick to thrash Man City 4-0 to win the UEFA Super Cup.
The bookies now fancied Truro as second favourites to defend their title with 10/3 odds only bettered by Man UFC’s 15/8. And they showed why as they dominated newly promoted Bristol City by 16 shots to 0 in a 3-0 opening day victory. They had too much firepower for most teams, but suffered a defeat at Aston Villa and drew an entertaining clash 2-2 at home to UFC, which saw the top two separated by just six points with 10 games remaining. The title could hinge on a big trip to Old Trafford in mid-March, which was unsurprisingly a terrible game in which exciting young midfielder Terje Gronningen’s late strike nicked an undeserved point.
Genofre’s hat trick led a 4-0 thumping of Arsenal and Ilja Isbouts’ double downed Forest by the same scoreline. Isbouts, Genofre and Silva earned an easy 3-0 win at relegated Oxford and Enzo Parra and Genofre secured a 2-1 win at Liverpool to complete a third successive title! They went on to rack up their best season yet with 97 points and just 1 defeat, scoring 89 and conceding just 25.
First FA Cup Final and Champions League Defence
The only trophy now evading Truro was the FA Cup, in which they’d lost in the semis in 2041 and 2043. Rotated teams eased past Ipswich, Rochdale and Southampton before defeating Spurs 3-1 in the quarters in between the Champions League second leg and the big UFC league clash. They then drew UFC in the semis and Genofre and Joao Paulo strikes either side of halftime earned a tight 2-1 victory. That teed up Truro’s first FA Cup Final against Leicester. It was a pretty poor game but Truro took the lead as Genofre teed up Isbouts to strike from 10 yards before homegrown midfielder Kane Atkinson drilled a beauty from 25 yards.
Truro’s Champions League defence began with a draw at Benfica before setting a new record 11-0 win over surprise Scottish champions Cove Rangers, led by Genofre’s five-goal haul. However, they drew four of their eight group games to drop into the playoff round, in which they eased past Midtjylland 3-1 on aggregate. They edged past Spurs 3-2 in the last 16 before obliterating Inter in the quarters as Genofre and Sascha Ablinger braces inspired a 6-1 home win. More Italian opposition followed and got the same treatment as Parra’s early double began a 5-1 home rout of Juventus.
That teed up an epic Champions League Final as the holders faced 17-time winners Real Madrid at Barcelona’s Camp Nou. The two teams played out a dire game that carried into the penalty shootout as both missed their first and Truro missed their second. So Madrid won their 18th European Cup.
The star of Trevelyan’s 21st season at Truro was arguably Genofre, who smashed his own club record for most goals in a season with 46 in 55. But he was pushed close by Paulo’s 24 goals and 11 assists and Isbouts and Ablinger, who broke the long-standing club record for most assists, held by Scott Burgess with 20 since 2024/25, with 24 apiece as wel as 17 and 4 goals respectively.
Chasing More Silverware In Season 22
Trevelyan sold underperforming defender Marin Borko to Barcelona for a new club record £50m, which was subsequently smashed in January as wantaway Dieter Peterson joined Inter for £86m. Borko was replaced by Eddy Riviere at the end of his contract from AZ, while a few promising youngsters, led by wonderkid midfielders Mihai Marius Andries and Martín Larrosa, were promoted. The manager also toyed with moving to a more offensive 4-3-3 approach to shoehorn Gronningen and Paulo into the same team, but eventually settled on retraining Gronningen to play deeper.
Season 22 in Truro began with more silverware as Genofre’s early brace saw off UFC 2-1 to win a third successive Charity Shield. Truro remained second favourites for the title with 5/2 odds behind UFC at 2/1, while Riviere joined Parra, Veloso and Genofre in the media dream 11. Elsewhere, Man City went into administration and were docked 9 points before the season began.
Truro picked up a few injuries, but Genofre nicked an opening-day draw at Liverpool before scoring twice as they crushed Man City 5-1 and scored a late equaliser to secure a point at Old Trafford. Their lethal form continued, led by the deadly Genofre, who scored the openers in vital wins over UFC and Spurs to move Truro 14 points clear in early February. And Truro went on to wrap up a fourth successive title in mid-April, becoming the joint-10th most successful English club ever.
They went on to rack up 94 points and win the title by 16 after 29 wins, 7 draws and 2 defeats, scoring 82 and conceding just 26. Genofre won his second Golden Boot with 25 goals in 33 games, after winning it with 21 back in 2039, and was the 3rd-best player in the league with a 7.38 average rating. Gronningen won the PFA Young Player of the Year, Trevelyan was Manager of the Year and five players, Parra, Euan Whyte, Veloso, Paulo and Genofre, made the Team of the Year. Elsewhere, West Brom set a new low of 9 points while City were relegated on the final day.
Three Successive Champions League Finals
Truro lost on penalties to Bristol City in the Carabao quarters and 2-1 in a replay against Arsenal in the FA Cup fourth round. But they eased through the Champions League group in 5th, then a superb 4-2 win at Barcelona set up a 5-2 aggregate success, while holders Madrid exited to Leipzig. Paulo earned a 1-1 at Dortmund before Genofre scored the only goal at Truro City Stadium. That teed up a semi against Leipzig and Genofre’s brace inside half an hour secured a 3-0 home win, then a 2-1 loss in Germany sent Truro into a third successive Champions League Final.
Unsurprisingly, their Final opponents were UFC, who dominated Inter 4-0 in the semis. 70,000 fans from Manchester and Cornwall descended on Greece as the two sides faced off at Olympic Athletic Center of Athens. Trevelyan had Isbouts just about back from injury but only ready for the bench, so lined up:
Navalón; Parra, Whyte, Riviere, Veloso; Atkinson, Silva; Paulo; Ablinger, Gronningen; Genofre
Subs: Beeney, Kasong, Edilson, Larrea, Wilson, Andries, Johansen, Caro, Larrosa, Isbouts, Byrne, Guilherme
UFC came out flying, scoring twice inside 15 minutes and racking up 15 shots in the first half. Parra got a goal back out of nowhere from a free kick, and Trevelyan laid into his side at the break. But that didn’t work as UFC got a dubious penalty, which Truro answered 18 minutes later as Genofre was fouled and Riviere slammed it into the top corner. But, despite pushing for an equaliser, nothing else happened and they lost back-to-back finals.
Building A Dynasty At Truro
In addition to winning four Premier Leagues on the bounce, Truro legend Trevelyan had won a Champions League, a UEFA Super Cup, an FA Cup and a Carabao Cup. Furthermore, Truro’s growing reputation was proven as Parra came 3rd in the 2043 World Player of the Year behind two Barca wingers, including Lamine Yamal. David Navalón defended his World’s Best Goalkeeper crown, Veloso joined that pair in the World XI of the Year and Gronningen won European Golden Boy. The next season, Veloso came 17th in Goal50 with Genofre 26th and Parra 33rd, before Genofre came runner-up to Real Madrid striker Paulo César in the World Player of the Year, despite scoring 8 more goals, Navalón made it three consecutive World’s Best Goalkeeper awards, and Isbouts, Navalón, Veloso and Parra were in the World XI, which oddly didn’t include Genofre or the supposed best player in the world. And Genofre’s latest goalscoring exploits saw him become Truro’s first winner of the European Golden Shoe.
Genofre was again the star man with 33 goals and 8 assists in 49 games. He’s scored 79 goals in the last two seasons, now has 155 in 269 in all competitions and sits 32 goals behind Stewart Yetton’s all-time club league record of 159. Paulo again excelled with 19 goals and 6 assists Isbouts led the way with 15 assists followed by Gronningen’s 12.
Trevelyan was delighted with what he’d achieved in 22 seasons but, with his growing concerns about the bigtime nature of the club being highlighted by Genofre now earning £400k a week, he had his eye on one final campaign at his hometown club. June 2045 would see Truro head to Australia to take part in their first-ever World Club Cup, so he had his eye on trying to win that before targeting a fifth Premier League, adding another domestic cup and making it third time lucky in the Champions League.
Could Trevelyan add more silverware in his 23rd and final season at Truro City? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
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