Cornish Crusade | Part 23 | Trevelyan’s Truro Journey: Semi-Pro To World Champions

Semi-professional Truro City sat in the Vanarama South, having never previously played at a higher standard of football in June 2023. But the arrival of hometown hero Perran Trevelyan marked a significant shift in fortunes as they blazed their way through the English football system to become the greatest club in the world over the next 24 seasons.

Trevelyan led Truro into battle 1,267 times in his 8,362 days at the club. Of those games, he won 690, drew 294 and lost 283, scoring 2,121 goals and conceding 1,341, departing the club with a 54% win ratio. He lifted 8 league titles, secured 5 promotions and won 13 cup competitions. During that time, Trevelyan spent £528m on 144 players and accrued £306m for 118 players. His biggest signing was left back Bruno Veloso for £60m in 2043 and his biggest sale was midfielder Dieter Peterson to Inter for £77m in 2045. And he departs Truro having earned a cool £22.5m.

Trevelyan’s Epic 23-Year Truro Journey

Trevelyan took control of Truro back in the summer of 2023 and immediately led his hometown club to the Vanarama National League South. Truro received a tycoon takeover led by owner Richard Mukherjee in the second half of their first season in the Vanarama National, and three seasons in the fifth tier followed before winning promotion in the third season as Champions. That saw Truro become Cornwall’s first-ever Football League club, and they consolidated that position by finishing 15th in their first season in League Two, then got promoted in 2nd place. They settled nicely into League One, finishing just outside the playoffs in 8th place then qualifying for the playoffs in 6th but lost 2-1 on aggregate to Wimbledon in the semis. But they built on that to secure promotion in 2032, finishing 2nd in League One.

Trevelyan continued to secure the best-ever league finishes in club history by finishing 16th then 9th in the Championship. They regressed for the first time in 2034/35, dropping to 13th, but improved again to finish 4th the next season, losing to Hull in the playoff final. The Truro dream was boosted by Mukherjee completing the construction of the Truro City Stadium in 2036. A 5th-place finish followed in 2036/37 and Truro lost 2-0 to Southampton in the playoff semis. But they removed the playoff heartache the following season, charging to win the Championship by 5 points from Leicester.

That saw Truro become Cornwall’s first-ever Premier League representatives, and they embraced the step up in style. They wrapped up a comfortable 9th-place finish in season one, then finished 8th in 2039/40. Trevelyan continued to blend homegrown talents, and they went close to a title in 2040/41, just missing out to Newcastle. But they went one better the following season, as a stadium expansion to a capacity of 34,961 preceded Truro becoming Cornwall’s first national champions, winning the Premier League by 7 points from Aston Villa.

That began the start of a dynasty in Cornwall as Truro went on to defend their title by 2 points from Man UFC, racked up 97 points to win a third from UFC. Their most dominant title followed as they won the league by 16 points from UFC in 2045 before a fifth successive crown with 100 points in 2046.

Away from league matters, Truro won their first domestic cup by beating Southampton 1-0 to lift the Carabao Cup in 2043 and won it again three years later as they defeated Stoke by the same scoreline. They also won a solitary FA Cup in 2044, beating Leicester 2-0.

But Truro also enjoyed success in continental football, even though they oddly only ever played in the Champions League. They lost to UFC in the quarters in 2042, then reached the Final four years in a row. They won the first by beating Newcastle on penalties, then lost to Real Madrid on penalties and UFC in 2045. But they crowned Trevelyan’s final season by beating Real Sociedad 2-0 in his final game in management. Earlier that season, they’d conquered the world by beating PSG 2-1 to win the Club World Cup. In total, Trevelyan led Truro to:

• 1 Vanarama National League South
• 1 Vanarama National League
• 1 Isuzu FA Vase
• 1 Bristol Street Motors Trophy
• 1 Isuzu FA Trophy
• 1 SkyBet Championship
• 1 Emirates FA Cup
• 2 Carabao Cup
• 1 UEFA Super Cup
• 5 Premier League
• 2 Champions League
• 1 Club World Cup

Trevelyan’s Truro Legends

The current Truro team wouldn’t be where they are without some of the historic legends of the club. The likes of homegrown winger George Bartley, who still plays for Stuttgart aged 33, and, a little oddly, Jack Bartle, who retired five years ago, remain in his all-time 11 along with former left back Vanderson Pereira, who just left Al-Ittihad after earning a pretty penny in Saudi. Homegrown captain Sammy Raybould, who remains the club’s record league appearances holder with 402, make the bench along with the likes of goalkeeper Tom Wooster, who retired 7 years ago aged 34 after a spell in Australia, striker Jaden Williams, who retired when he left the club aged just 27, and midfielder Bernard Touré, who’s still in Saudi.

But the bulk of that 11 are still at the club and have developed into some of the best players in the world, so we’ll take a quick look at some of the best players in the legendary Truro squad of 2046.

The State of World Football in 2046

Truro’s rise had seen them jump to 3rd in the world rankings, only behind PSG and Man UFC and ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona. PSG striker Brayden Petrie, who came through the Everton academy in 2031 before a £100m move to France in 2038, is considered the best player in the world. He’s ahead of Madrid’s Brazilian superstar striker Paulo César, who came through at Botafogo, and Man UFC midfielder/striker Efraim Cayatte, who came through Sporting’s academy, with Veloso 4th and Villarreal centre back Lothar Loder, who came through at Mainz before joining Bayern and a move to Spain five years ago.

This save has seen some of the most expensive transfers I’ve ever seen in FM. The biggest transfer was Belgian striker Pasquale Baert moving from Spurs to Man City for a ludicrous £367m in 2033. He stayed there for 12 years and scored 182 in 344 games, and is still a superstar over in Saudi. City were also responsible for the next two biggest transfers, signing Pedri from Barca for £316m in 2025 and Eduardo Camavinga from Real Madrid for £273m in 2024, and the fifth and seventh biggest, signing Endrick for £180m in 2029 and Luciano Brunello from Villa for £167m in 2037. Frankly, it’s easy to see how the club fell into financial decline.

Below is an overview of how Europe’s top leagues stand in 2046:

England: Truro are the current champions ahead of Man UFC, with Newcastle, Tottenham, Villa, Southampton, Reading and Chelsea qualifying for Europe, with Stoke, Brighton and Brentford going down. Disappointingly, there’s not much more change through the leagues, but Bury have risen to League One and Bolton are the big disappointment, just getting relegated out of League Two.

France: In no surprise to anyone, PSG have won every single French title during this save – that’s 26 in a row! Furthermore, they’ve only lost three times in the last seven seasons with four unbeaten campaigns.

Germany: Bayern haven’t dominated at all in Germany, winning the first three before two for Leipzig and then Dortmund became the main force with 12 titles since 2031.

Italy: Napoli are the current Scudetto holders after three successive titles for Inter. AC Milan dominated the 2020s before Inter dominated the 2030s.

Netherlands: Ajax have bossed the Dutch league with 14 title wins, but PSV won the latest title after a first success in 14 years for Feyenoord.

Portugal: Benfica have won the last four titles after exchanging wins with Porto, who won eight titles through the 2030s. Sporting won the second title in this save, but none since.

Scotland: Strange things have happened in Scotland, with Celtic’s dominance ending in 2035. Hibernian won two titles before two titles apiece for Raith Rovers, Cove Rangers and Dundee United, before Celtic and Rangers, who are Truro’s affiliate club, won the last two.

Spain: Real Madrid are the dominant force in Spain, winning three of the last six titles with one for Villarreal and two for Barcelona, who dominated the 2030s.

Brazil and France are currently the joint top-ranked teams in the world ahead of Argentina, England, Spain and Netherlands. During this save, France won the first World Cup in 2026, followed by wins for Spain, Brazil and Argentina, before France won the most recent in 2042, with the 2046 World Cup about to kick off. Germany won the first Euros in 2024, followed by France and Netherlands, two more France wins, before Switzerland beat Portugal in the 2044 final.

Thank you for reading this Cornish Crusade series as we clambered from English non-league to the very top of European and world football. We’ll be back with FM26 content shortly as we welcome in the new era of the world’s greatest video game next month!