I livestream this challenge most nights from 7PM GMT, please feel free to drop in anytime and quiz me about the finer points of this, as its more of an overview.
So as some of you are aware, the “Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge” is a challenge where you sim the season up to November the 6th, take over the team in 19th position, and try to replicate the great mans achievements over 27 years.
I will be doing a slightly abridged version for my stream, by trying to win the League cup, Fa Cup and Premier League Title in my first 5 1/2 years, as Sir Alex Achieved.
I ran the league with the LFCMarshall january update, and disabled first transfer window spending, before starting the league.
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Season 1 round-up & Season 2 Preview
Stream #1
So, on 6th November 2014, Swansea City were in the unfortunate position of finding themselves in 19th position after 10 games. The team was ravaged by injuries, and obviously missing Wilfried Bony. Goals were an issue, as was defence, and the teams morale was in pieces.
I tried to implement a free flowing, attacking, posession game, as is Swansea tradition, and pressed on.
The first couple of games were a sobering experience, two defeats back to back, and the team seemed to be spiralling.
I just wanted to get in a slightly more comfortable position and strengthen in January, as mentioned before the team was in pieces due to injuries, and needed bolstering.
Come January 1st, we wound ourselves in 15th position and moving the right way. A lot of the injuried players had returned, and i felt that with a couple of key signings, we could continue our upward curve.
I brought in Chris Martin from Derby for 7m to play as my F9 striker as none of the offerings at the club were cutting it in front of goal, and brought in Aidy White from Leeds as backup for Neil Taylor. Budget spent.
At the end of February we were still 15th on 27 points after a tough run of games, but getting better as we went along. A tough 2-0 loss to liverpool saw out the end of the month. But now out of both cup competitions, we could concentrate on doing well in the league.
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Stream #2
With two months and 11 games to go my goal was to just try and get as high up the league as possible and give myself a spingboard for a positive start for the next season.
This included a horror 4 game run in against Man City, Chelsea, Everton (who were challenging for the title) and Arsenal. We put across a good impression, including a 4-3 loss to Champions Chelsea, and a 5-0 closing day whitewash of arsenal at home. I was delighted.
We finished 12th in the league in the end, above Stoke on goal difference (thanks to the thrashing of Arsenal) and pretty happy with how the first 6 months went.
Our final league stats were 14 wins, 4 draws, 20 losses (ouch) with 52 goals scored 58 conceded. Certainly a basis to build on for the second season.
Standout performers for the season were Gylfi Sigurdsson as my top scorer, Ashley williams as my rock and captain at the back, with a notable mention jor Jefferson Moreno on the wing, he was inconsistent at times, but was a match winner on more than one occasion.
The goal for the Summer and preseason was to ship out the dead weight and players i felt couldn’t offer what i wanted in my team and style of play. I also wanted to lean towards a british base of players for this save.
I felt the squad had a decent spine with a good base to work from. My midfield 3 of Jack Cork, Jonjo Shelvey and Gylfi Sigurdsson was the trio i wanted to keep as my first choice and just bring in better backup and younger more promising talent to back them up. My ins and outs were fairly hefty, i got rid of all the players i didnt think could offer anything any more, but also lost a couple to big offers from bigger teams, I luckily managed to persuade Ashley Williams to stay for an extra year after a lot of interest from bigger clubs.
I managed to get a couple of players in on a free, as well as some bargain squad bulk and future prospects from the transfer market. I ended up paying a little over the odds for Mihcael Keane, but after a lot of experience with him on past Man Utd saves, i believe he will be a worthy investment.
My full transfer incomings/Outgoings were as such:
I also brought in a couple of new coaches and scouts, just to alleviate the burden on my current, small in numbers, staff.
Preseason was basically tactic and fitness training tour of belgium, getting the new players as up to speed as possible, we lost 4-2 to Barcelona in a TV friendly too, not a bad performance though.
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So preseason is over, and first game is against QPR, who beat us home and away last year… lets see how we get on.
Join me on Twitch.TV evenings from 7PM GMT, please give me a follow on twitter if you’d like to be notified of when i go live.
So after a less than spectacular preseason, we get the season underway, and in some style!
With an ‘easy’ first few games, we find ourselves up battling over first sport with Man City… We’re playing some lovely attacking football, and taking names while we’re at it! I never envisioned a start like this!
But at the end of the transfer window, Everton show some interest in my captain, Ashley Williams, and he wants to go to play some European Football, but they never actually make a bid. All this does, is turn his head away, and THRASH my teams morale, as they think he should be allowed to leave, i manage to muddle to some victories.
I make peace with the fact he’s going to leave in January and just aim to get as much out of the team before its undoubtedly weakened by his absence in January.
We carry on playing some good attacking football and taking some massive scalps along the way including a 2-1 victory away over Man Utd, and a 3-2 victory away at Chelsea.
December was not a good month for us, suffering a couple of humbling defeats to Man City and Champions league competitors Everton, 4 draws, and only two victories, one being an impressive 5-1 win over West Ham. We never make it past the 3rd round of the League cup after a 2-0 defeat to a very good Norwich side, but we see out December in the top 4 and the season is going very well so far.
So, after the shocker that was December, i was determined to start out the new year better.
We have our FA Cup 3rd round tie against Liverpool, and if we manage to get past them, i’m going to make a real fist of winning the Cup.
On comes the game, and we manage to win a convincing 2-0 victory, even lasting 30 minutes with 10 men, thanks to Neil Taylor (Grr), so thats it, we’re looking to go as far as we can in the FA cup this year. i will cover this in its own right separately.
League run in: So, its safe to say that the second half of the season doesn't go as well as the first. Way too many draws as my players seem unable to consistently finish their chances, we’re still creating gilt edged chances, but hitting it over or straight at the keeper way too much for my liking!
Nothing ever comes of Evertons interest in Ashley Williams, and even though he still has an issue with not being allowed to move, the rest of the team have forgotten about it. Bayern Munich show some interest in Gylfi, and i make my peace with the fact he will go, as long as they match my valuation of him (at least £25m) but again, nothing ever comes from it!
We only manage 6 Wins out of the final 18 games, but only lose 5, drawing 7, way too many draws for my liking, i’d almost rather lose trying to win! A lot of those losses are down to individual errors by my reserve left back Aidy White, and Fabianski. I decide to see in the end of the season with Sam Johnstone in goal.
Even though we suffer some tough defeats, especially then 5-1 away to Southampton, 5-3 away to Chelsea and a gutting 2-0 loss at home against Norwich (again).
We manage to finish in 7th in the premier league, which is a great position on the whole, but the fact we were in the top 4 for over half the season, its a bit gutting nonetheless.
FA Cup: Welcome, to my nightmare… This is the single most stressful, heartbreaking, exciting, and incredible cup run i have EVER had in my Football Manager career, i’ll try to do it justice, but i never will.
So after our great 2-0 victory over Liverpool, we get Bournemouth in the cup, avoiding a lot of the big names, I’m happy… I shouldn't be.
Our continuing inability to put the ball away aven after DOMINATING the game is causing us problems, but we manage to take them back to the Liberty Stadium.
Again, we boss the match, but struggle to come out on top. They take it to penalties and we manage to squeeze through. I feel like im going to have a stress related brain embolism at this moment. We land Peterborough in the next round, and i’m relieved, this can’t offer as much heartbreak as the last round… can it!?
We start the game well, but they come back to tie it we go down 2-1… but manage to pull it back and win out the game 5-3, an absolute cup tie epic. After this game is where i decide to switch to Sam Johnstone in goal til the end of the season due to some SHOCKING errors by Fabianski. Fabianski actually injures himself in training a few times, so this was actually a lucky move.
So the draw comes out, and we get Man City… the team that are absolutely running away with the league. Theyre 10 points clear at this point and completely unbeatable. What chance do i have?
Well… ****… We manage to keep a clean sheet to take them back to the Liberty. But Chris Martin, my only decent forward choice from a bad bunch, none of my strikers have delivered all year, and i’ve actually played Gylfi or Nick Powell up front for some games due to poor performances.
So we bring Man City to the Liberty, and brace for an epic meeting.
We go at it, trading shots like Rock Balboa and Apollo Creed, my players are playing out of their skin and we’re matching them blow for blow. We manage to keep them at bay until extra time, and thats when my players come alive, we absolutely dominate the next half hour and pepper their goal. Gylfi scores a penalty but thats not enough for these players, we see out extra time on the front foot. Well, you know what they say, the best for of defence is attack!
And we’re through to the semi’s, we’re going to Wembley to face… our bogey team… Everton! ****!
I tell Ashley Williams to keep Lukaku in his pocket, and he does a decent job. Lukaku scores a goal, but is no way near as devastating as he has been in past games against him. My wingers come through, scoring the two goals that see us through to the final… We’re there, the dream is alive!!!
We’re in the final against Tottenham, who won the league cup.
Final day comes around, i decide to play Gylfi up front and bring one of my wingers into the centre midfield, playing as a deep central winger (think di maria at Real) to attack them from the middle of the park.
Neil Taylor comes back from injury to play in the final, which i’m delighted about as Aidy White has cost us way too many goals throughout the year… But he scores an own goal after 14 minutes. Christ.
“Screw it!” i think, and i encourage my players to get forward and encourage them to play their game.
We get a goal back… Gylfi finishing off a ball rattling around the Spurs penalty area after a decent build up.
Nathan Dyer is having a mare of a game, so he gets hooked for Chris Martin on the 73rd minute. Dropping Gylfi back into midfield and bringing Jesse Lingard out wide. What an inspired sub…
I try and offer some inspiration from the sidelines and tell them to attack… We’re peppering the box and camping in their half. It gets to the 91st minute of the game, and i’m preparing for extra time.
Enter the man of the hour… Chris Martin. The on again off again striker from derby.
Tottenham have sent everyone up for a last minute corner, but i’ve left my two wingers up the pitch. We manage to get it away and hit them on the break, racing free, he exchanges a one two with Jonjo Shelvey and SMASHES the ball in the back of the net with the last kick of the game!
I’d like to thank the huge amount of support, viewers, followers, and tips that were given during the stream last night. It all added to, honestly, my greatest ever experience in this game i love so much.
Please make sure you come and join me nightly from 7pm at [url]www.twitch.tv/VikingDan[/URL] you can also find updates and notification on my twitter @VikingDanTV
Fantastic stream last night Dan with a very fitting ending.
Couldn't stop laughing trying to imagine a manager just singing Sandstorm to his players during a half-time teamtalk. Occasionally turning and saying a players name to get their attention before continuing
So… After our vastly successful second season in the Premier League, and our phenomenal performances to take the FA cup. We need to push on… The aim… The Champions League!
So we need to push on with strengthening our squad, and moving on some of the dead weight. Priorities were to bring in a good striker, a top class keeper to replace the incredibly error prone Fabianski, and generally bolster and strengthen the squad depth!
We spend a total of £37.8m, recouping £11.25m from player sales.
We bring in: John Ruddy - £9m - Brilliant premier league goalkeeper a needed upgrade Cauley Woodrow - £12.5m - Fulham wouldn’t budge on the price, but at 21 has a long career ahead of him, a great strong targetman type player, but with good ball playing stats. Should fit my style perfectly. Andrew Robertson - £4.1m - Great young LB prospect from Hull Paul McKay - £6.5m - Very young CB from Doncaster, fantastic prospect Scott Sinclair - £5m - Bringing him back, solid rotation wing option with good finishing Callum Macmanaman - £700k from wigan, backup as a winger We also loaned Jordan Rossiter from Liverpool
We let go: Kyle Bartley - Free - Was a massively disruptive influence John Guidetti - 4m - Big disappointment, never put in a string of performances Nathan Dyer - 5m - After sinclair coming back, surplus to requirements Aidan White - £250k - After the arrival of Robertson, he is surplus to requirements
plenty of u21’s that werent up to much
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Preseason goes pretty well and the squad is looking pretty solid. I’m happy with my upgrades and ready for a hefty schedule after getting into the Europa League.
We play Man City in the charity shield and suffer a 4-1 defeat that brings us down to earth with a bang. We take notes and move on to the first games of the season.
Season Start
We have a tough start, to the league but manage to struggle to a decent start. We win 5, draw 4 and lose two against Chelsea and Man Utd. Credible performances include a 2-2 draw at home to Man City and a 3-0 win against Tottenham at the Liberty. But we’re disappointed with draws against Everton and Southampton.
We also get knocked out of the champions league by Liverpool and go to 1-1-0 in our europa league group.
As the season progresses, our performances improve and we make it to January 1st in 6th position, Our record is 8-5-6 , So not terrible, but not brilliant but we’ll need to improve to put ourselves in a strong position to make a push for the Champions League spot.
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January onwards:
In the January window we manage to do a little bit of business, bringing in Cristian tello for the bargain price of £3.5m and he starts like a rocket scoring 3 goals in 2 games. Then getting injured, tearing his calf muscle, and being out for the rest of the season… Sigh…
We’ve sold Jefferson Montero for 5m as he is severely inconsistent. So we bring in Angel Correra from Athletico until the end of the season to cover him, also bringing in Jack Robinson on loan as cover as Neil Taylor has been ruled out for two months through injury.
We start the year in fantastic fashion, beating Man City away 1-0. Then going on to score 12 goals and concede 1 in the next 3 games. Morale is sky high and the team are playing fabulous football.
We make it out of the group stages of the Europa League, but get knocked out to the eventual winners, Arsenal. Our Fa cup run ends in the 6th round too, with a humbling defeat to Liverpool in the 6th round, after beating Man City 2-0 in the 5th round, its a bit tough to take. Being out of the cups, we can concentrate on the Champions League push!
So we see out the end of the season with some FANTASTIC performances. And manage to push up the league, finishing in an astonishing 3rd position!
We pull an amazing 13 victories, 5 draws and only one defeat between Jan 1st and the end of the season. Some great results such as a 2-1 Victory vs Man Utd, and a 4-0 Victory vs Arsenal.
We see out the last game of the season with a 3-1 win over Villa, allowing us to jump over Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool to claim 3rd position behind Man City and Chelsea. Phenomenal!
We have some phenomenal performances from our players, including 18 goals from Cauley Woodrow in his first season with us, 15 goals from Gylfi Sigurdsson from midfield, and some fantastic defensive performances from Ashley Williams and Michael Keane. Big mentions to Jonjo Shelvey and Jack cork for bossing the midfield all season too! Honourable mention to Chris Martin too, scoring 10 goals, and some BIG goals, mainly from the bench.
So we’re in the Champions League boys, and moving in the right direction. To have a successful next season, we’re going to need to strengthen with a few choice signings and make sure we concentrate. But we’re aiming for a title push at least!
I’m actually half way through the 2017/18 season right now, and you can keep up with all thats happening by tuning in Sunday-Friday @ 7pm GMT on [url]http://twitch.tv/Vikingdan[/URL]
So after our brilliant season, managing to finish 3rd in the league, we’re on our way to the Champions League. The fact we dodged 4th means we don’t have to go through qualifying, which is handy and means we don’t have too hectic a start to the season. But our squad is going to require some serious strengthening if we’re going to make a fist of it on all fronts. And boy do we manage to bring in some fantastic players!
First of all, we have to let a few players go, a few of them were unhappy with the small amount of gametime they were getting, so i decide to let a few players go out the door.
Danny Baath - £5.5m to Blackburn - Was a competent backup player, but never managed to solidify a spot in the squad. Now in his mid 20’s, he wants to be playing much more than he was, so we let him go for what we paid for him.
Callum Macmanaman - £2m to Ipswich - Again, a peripheral figure, he did a great job for the £700k we paid, but is never going to be a mainstay.
Lukasz Fabianski - £1.5m to Blackburn - Hass been wallowing in the u21’s since his shocking spate of goalkeeping errors two seasons ago, now i see my Arsene got rid.
We also let Will Keane, Matt Lowton and Alex Samuel go, along with a host of u21 players.
Now the interesting stuff happens. We manage to get a couple of ridiculous bargains, relatively speaking.
Adnan Januzaj: This lad has bags of potential and is still only 21. He’s been playing a lot of u21 football at United due to their wealth of attacking talent, and has become unhappy with the situation. He’s valued at £14, so i put a cheeky “test the waters” bit in for £10m, expecting Ed Woodward to laugh us off his phoneline… but they accept it! The lad is after a hefty signing on fee, along with £88k a week. MASSIVE wages for our club, but for what i think could be the next level for our club, we agree on a contract, and he signs a 5 year deal! Wow!
Phil Jones: Another Man Utd prospect gone awry, he was sold to Arsenal first season for £14m, but has had to make do with cup and sub appearances, at 24, he doesn’t look like he’s going to turn into the player Sir Alex thought he would. Valued at £10m we put in an offer for £7m, surely this cant go through again… Accepted! And he’s not asking for monstrous wages… I snap his hand off and we have another great bit of transfer business done.
We also manage to steal back the Mighty Joe Allen from Liverpool at the end of his contract, and bring in the hurricane, Harry Kane. He moved to Man City for £25m and has languished in their u21 side for a year. As a result, his stats, especially physical, have taken a hit, but i’m confident with game-time and training, we can get him back to his best!
With the return of Cristian Tello after missing 5 months with a torn hamstring, and the squad we had already assembled, we have a strong squad capable of challenging on all fronts… Or so i thought.
We have a solid preseason, knocking plenty of goals in, looking solid, and even beating a strong Real Madrid side 3-0. All is looking well.
That is until the inevitable happens. After our barn storimg season last year, some big teams come knocking on the door of our top performers. Ashley Williams, Kyle Naughton, Michael Keane, Jack Cork, & Jonjo Shelvey are all being tapped up by Man Utd, Liverpool, and ...Blackburn…
The players, one by one, all request transfers to bigger clubs in the Champions League, i remind them that they’re under contract and ask them to give me an extra year to challenge for the title. They accept it, but their morale is ruined, and manage to get the rest of the playing staff irked in the process. A team meeting is had to try and resolve the situation… but its essentially a sticking plaster on a terminal illness.
Nonetheless, we have a solid squad, and i think “if we can get a good run of form, morale will improve, and the players will forget about it.”
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Season Start
We have a rough opening few games, Opening the season with a 4-1 defeat away to liverpool, and a 2-0 defeat to Southampton… 2-0 wins over Crystal Palace and Villa dont mask the fact that we’re not at the races, the players seem uninterested, low on confidence, and performing poorly. The shining light is the imminent return of Harry Kane from a knock he picked up in preseason.
Our debut in the Champions League goes prety well, beating Olympiakos 2-0, then coming back to England to record 3 back to back wins, Harry Kane starting to impose himself in the games.
The victories, though decent performances, dont show off the belief and swagger of previous seasons, a severe lack of intensity and pace is apparent and we’re just not at the races.
Between then and the first of January, its more of the same. Some scrappy wins, and draws snatched from the jaws of victory. I try to fix relations with a few players through individual and team meetings, but can't seem to get through to them.
The one saving grace of this half of the season is a fantastic 1-0 away win over Bayern Munich, allowing us to top the group and make it through to the last 16. Our European form belies our home record, and i'm hoping that this can springboard us onto a decent push at the end of the year.
On the contrary, our from only drops. Slipping to 4 defeats and a draw before the end of December. I take out my frustrations on the team post match after a particularly poor showing against QPR, most of the team seem to take it the right way, and get a bit of motivation to turn things round… Apart from Jonjo Shelvey, who leaks to the press he’s unhappy with my team talks and forces an issue in the dressing room. This is the last straw!
The last thing I need in the dressing room after a tough first half of the season, is more disruption. I immediately put him on the transfer market, and hope that i can liquidate my asset.
Due to our good performance in the Champions League, Huw Jenkins has offered up some funds to strengthen the squad in January.
I manage to bring in James Ward-Prowse for £19.5m, a fantastic midfield playmaker who can fit in anywhere in my midfield. Southampton are languishing in mid table, and he jumps at the chance of European football.
At the same time, Jack Cork, my midfield enforcer for the past 3 seasons has some interest, and wants a new contract because of this. I remind him that he’s playing poorly and needs to buck his ideas up if he’s going to earn a new deal. He grudgingly accepts this and we move on. I can already tell his mind is elsewhere.
After another humbling 3-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool, the new year seems to be going the same way as the last. I try to hype the players up with a team meeting, and manage to get a bit of a rise out of them, Jonjo Shelvey aside, who I’m still trying to find a new team for. Lost of interest, no bids. This whole season, none of my midfield three have performed, defending lazily, and not getting up to support our front men, a change is needed.
I switch up from the midfield mainstay trio of Jack Cork, Jonjo Shelvey, and Gylfi Sigurdsson, bringing Phil Jones into a DM slot, he will bring tons of energy and drive, and having a newly fit Joe Allen (he had been missing most of the first half of the season with a torn calf), and new signing James Ward-Prowse… We look better… Not perfect… But better!
a 2-0 win over Charlton in the FA cup, leads us into a 6 gam winning streak, scoring 13 and conceding only 2. Its against lower table teams, but a shot of confidence right when we need it.
We’ve been flitting around 5th position all season, behind the ‘Big 4’ of Man Utd, City, Liverpool, and Chelsea all season, and at this point we’re in touching distance of Man City in 4th. a few good results for us, and a few bad ones for city who have a tough run playing the top 3 in the next few weeks, would see us back in the Champions League positions. Not to mention we face them third from last game of the season.
Bearing in mind i had told Huw Jenkins we would finish in the top four, i‘m hoping we can be the masters of our own fate.
Predictably, we go on a horrid run of 2 wins in 12, drawing only 2. It cripples our season, but we somehow are clinging onto 6th by our fingernails. Harry Kane’s goals and performances have dried up and the team look devoid of ideas. We’re still bossing games, but have no cutting edge in front of goal. Something needs to change in the off season.
Things are looking grim and we’re dropping like a sorority girls knickers at a frat party. Then… Somehow… From somewhere… We manage a smash and grab 2-0 victory over Tottenham. Cristian Tello has found his shooting boots again, James Ward-Prowse is earning his move, and a great performance from the forgotten man Cauley Woodrow, setting up the two goals.
Harry Kane, after his early season heroics, has gone well and truly off the boil scoring only 5 times in his last 20+ games. Woodrow is coming back in for some fresh ideas, and to continue is development. I want him to play a big part next season, and some end of season confidence will go a long way.
We’re facing Man City next, and again, manage to pull out a bigperformance, we mug them off and get a 2-0 win… WHY COULDNT WE PLAY LIKE THIS ALL SEASON!? Granted, it was a bit of a dead rubber, they were finishing 4th whatever the weather, but our battle with Arsenal for 5th is alive and well.
We have two games to play and Arsenal are level with us on goal difference. We struggle to a 1-0 win at home against Norwich, scoring in the dying breaths. We then end the season on an absolute epic. a 4-2 win away at QPR, a goal-fest. Two from tello, and one apiece for Ward-Prowse and Woodrow. I’m starting to feel a little more confident about next season, we still have the spark.
We’re a massive 10 points and +15 goals behind City, but nick 5th place from Arsenal by 4 points, with a much worse goal difference.
The end of the season showed some flashes of encouragement, but there are big problems at the club. Some big earners have failed to perform all season and have caused disruption at the club… its going to be one **** of a summer for sure…
This entire challenge is being broadcast live from 7pm GMT on http:[url]www.twitch.tv/VikingDan[/URL] please check @VikingDanTV for updates.
Once again, massive thank you to the hundreds of people that turn out for the streams, we’re pulling around 80 people regularly now and the community is a toxic-free, friendly, informative, and fun place to be. YOU guys have made it that kind of place and I wouldnt be able to do it without you!
So after the shocking season just gone, where we somehow managed to end up 5th, and make is to a champions league quarter final.
Theres a **** of a rebuilding job to be done, theres a lot of disarray at the club, big players jostling for moves away from the club, and some dire performances from the big earners.
We need a freshen up, most notably in midfield, where we just weren’t at the races all season. The only player that wasn’t poor was Gylfi Sigurdsson, and even then, he never really hit his brilliant best! He’s going to be staying, along with January £19.5m import, James Ward-Prowse.
I have a few players on my radar, and some ideas of how i want to rebuild the quad. Theres going to be a lot of ins and outs, but i’m hoping we will come out of it a lot stronger. We missed out on champions league, so are probably going to have to pay a little over the odds for some players.
Huw Jenkins offers me a massive £55m warchest, plus 100% of any outgoing transfers.
The players I’ve identified that need to leave are Jonjo Shelvey, Jack Cork, Nick Powell, Jesse Lingard, Chris Martin and Kyle Naughton.
These are players that have massively underperformed all season, and/or caused backroom issues with demands for transfers, wages, or other team related issues. In the case of Chris Martin, he’ll always be the legend that won us the FA cup, but he played a handful of games last season, and its not fair to let him rot down the pecking order. He’s too similar to Cauley Woodrow, and i want to bring in a foil for cauley, a player with pace and skill to beat a man.
We manage to move on Jonjo Shelvey to Sporting Lisbon for £10.5m, Jack Cork to Stoke for £10m, Jesse Lingard to West Ham for £9.75m, Chris Martin to newly promoted Leeds for £7.5m, and Nick Powell to QPR for 6.5m.
We also get a £15m for Paul McKay that is just too good to turn down! He’s young and talented, but i think there are better options out there for less. Leaving us with a cool £115m to rebuild our squad from top to bottom.
I have sent my scouts far and wide over the past few years, bringing in reports from the lower leagues and abroad, and I have identified a few players i want to bring in. As always, aiming at the young, talented, technically proficient, home nations players.
First of all, there are a few free transfers available, Nathaniel Chalobah is released from his contract at Chelsea, Ander Herrera leaves Man Utd, and Bojan leaves Stoke. I decide against Chalobah as he is after huge money, with no history of performing in the premiership. Herrera decides to join Stoke over us as they offer him more money, but we snap up Bojan on a cheap as chips contract. He will provide adequate cover up front and on the wings.
After a lot of bartering, we end up with the following players coming in.
Lewis Cook - £27m from Leeds: This lad was expensive… but for good reason. Possibly the most complete young centre midfielder in the game, good pace and physical ability, great technical prowess, and mental stats that bely his young age. I’m sure he will form a formidable partnership with James Ward-Prowse that will last a long time!
Josh Murphy - £22m (Kyle Naughton p/Ex) from Norwich: Norwich want daft money for this kid, but their interest in Kyle Naughton allows me to talk the price down. We still end up paying a lot for him, but he has real talent. Lightning fast and determined, he can beat a man and is a tidy finisher. His ability to play either out wide or up front makes him incredibly useful, and at 23, he is just about to grow into his full potential. I believe this kid will become a very very good player, and with that in mind, we art with a big chunk of cash.
Jordan Rossiter - £20m from Liverpool: He’s back! After a good loan spell in his teenage years, the 21 year old is back in swansea, but this time for good. Liverpool decide to cash in on their youth product, and he is a fantastic all round midfielder, he is a terrier in the tackle and has plenty of energy to get around, but with the ball playing ability of a much more cultured player. He will anchor our midfield very well i think.
Ryan McLaughlin - £11.75m from Nottingham Forest: I think we paid a little over the odds for this young wing back. But he has plenty to his game, and the ability to play anywhere up the right flank makes him a fantastic option. Good defender with attractive attacking traits, he will compete with Sam Byram for the starting berth at right back,
Regan Poole - £11m from Hull City (Tigers): Another young player, at 20 years old has all the hallmarks of a top quality defender. Still plenty of years in him, and will provide competition for our two more established defenders in Phil Jones and Michael Keane. Again, possibly paid a little too mcuh for this lad, but I have not once regretted spending £11m on Michael Keane, and this young lad looks every bit the player he is.
Gabriel Jesus - £9.5m from Palmeiras: This is my only foreign import this season, he offers the pace and trickery to beat a player, and the deep lying ability i like in my strikers to include others in buildup play. Highly reccomended by my scouts, he could be a real world beater if he lives up to his ability.
Jack Rodwell - £5.5m from Sunderland: Brought in for a song and on performance based wages due to his history of injury problems. But comfortable anywhere in midfield and even able to cover at centre back should we have injury problems.
Patrick Bentley - £250k from Ipswich: A young player picked out by my scouts, they think he could be something special in the future. He has gone straight into the development squad!
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This entire challenge is being broadcast live from 7pm GMT on http:[url]www.twitch.tv/VikingDan[/URL] please check @VikingDanTV for updates.
Once again, massive thank you to the hundreds of people that turn out for the streams, we’re pulling around 80 people regularly now and the community is a toxic-free, friendly, informative, and fun place to be. YOU guys have made it that kind of place and I wouldnt be able to do it without you!
So, after a frantic transfer window, where we bring in over £100m of young talent. We’re ready for a strong season. Theres a lot of new players, so trying to get everyone fluent in our current system will take a while, but i’m confident in this young group of players.
Our preseason friendlies go well, we have a tour of the US, followed by the Ashley Williams Testimonial game vs Zenit. We go undefeated and are showing some signs of quality.
Unfortunately Cauley Woodrow gets an injury before the start of the season, so we’re going to have to throw Gabriel Jesus straight in first game.
Our first couple games end in a 0-0 draw, we’re bossing the game and creating chances, but just not finishing them off. I get the players working on their attacking movement and make a couple of tactical tweaks.
A bit of an improvement with against leeds, but then a 3-3 draw with Celtic in the europa league, and a 2-0 loss away to Newcastle show that there is a lot of work to be done.
I give my players a bit more creative freedom and attacking licence and they respond perfectly. We go on a 10 game unbeaten run, drawing only 2 games. Only one in the Premier League.
Our new signings are starting to gel, and the huge money paid for Lewis Cook is looking like a fantastic outlay as he is leading the league in assists, and absolutely BOSSING midfield.
We suffer a late goal against Arsenal and slip to a 2-1 loss at the end of November,a nd follow that with a poor 2-2 draw at home to West ham. A 4-0 home victory against Celtic and a hattrick for Gabriel Jesus manage to get the players back on the right track and we win the next 3 games, including a 6-0 drubbing of aston villa.
A couple of tough away losses to Bournemouth and Man Utd bring us back down to earth with a bang. We have a real tough end to the year, and i’m not looking forward to losing ground on the league leaders. We’re sat in 5th position, and i’m starting to regret telling Huw Jenkins that we’ll finish in the top 4, i cant fail two years in a row.
Miraculously, we manage to take 3 points off Everton, Chelsea, Man City, and Tottenham to give us a great end to the year/start to the new. And we’re in first position… FIRST BOYS!!!
January So, with the emergence of Lewis Cook, who is absolutely SLAYING all in front of him. Leading the league in assists and player rating. Gylfi Sigurdsson isn’t playing as many games as he would like, and tells me he wants more game time. With a busy schedule ahead in the FA cup, Europa league and Premier league, i’m confident that he will get enough gametime to keep him happy, but i need to keep an eye on that.
I seem to have a constant struggle with players complaining that they aren’t playing enough games. Even with a heavy rotation policy, it might be time to ship out a few of the elder statesmen in the summer.
So after out great end to the year, a 3-1 win in the FA cup over Wycombe takes us through to the next round. We then go on an impressive string of victories, that takes our winning run to 9 games on the bounce.
A poor performance against Newcastle brings it to the end with a 2-1 loss, just after we beat them by the reverse score in the FA Cup.
Its about this time, that Gylfi raises his issues with the team, and they turn against me. The morale is RUINED but i manage to convince them in the right, but our glorious morale and run of form are worth pretty much nothing. I hope we don’t take as drastic drop in form as we did last year.
We continue the season with DECENT form, but not amazing form. We see ourselves slip to 2nd behind Liverpool, who are on FIRE! We also make out way past Troyes and Hoffenheim to make is into the semi finals of the Europa League. We also do impressively in the FA Cup, taking the team past Bournemouth, Hull, and Norwich in the Semi-Final. Setting up ANOTHER FA Cup final appearance, this time against Chelsea.
Our League Cup run ends with a 3-2 loss against Man Utd, at the quaretr final stage.
We go out of the Europa League after an epic two leg tie, a 4-2 loss away to Stoke, followed by a home 4-2 win at home, takes the game into extra time. After peppering their goal for the extra half hour, it goes to penalties. it goes to 4-4, and our keeper, Declan Rudd steps up, lets inflict some humiliation… He hits it straight at the Keeper… Well, the humiliation wasn’t supposed to be showered on us! For a competition that was played by exclusively second string players, I’m pretty happy with how far we went, but gutted that it ended in such fashion.
At least now, we can concentrate on the league and a very tough run in.
A 3-0 win away and a 5-0 win at home to Bournemouth are the perfect way to get started. Playing some good football and we’re starting to believe that a title push is on… but no…
2-0 loss away to Man City and a gutting 2-1 loss at home to Chelsea end the dream, and leave us worrying that we will drop out of the Champions League places. An away 1-1 draw against Everton is a pretty uninspiring way to end the season in 4th.
We also take a humiliating a 3-1 defeat in the FA Cup final against Chelsea. They’re down to 10 men with 30 minutes to go and 2-0 up, we push forward like Napoleon, but can’t finish our chances, a constant problem. We get hit on the break, and concede, then get a consolation goal via Gabriel Jesus.
Its been a pretty gutting way to end the season, and I’m feeling completely deflated. I need to remind myself that we’re Swansea, and making the FA Cup final, and mounting a legitimate title chase, in our 5th season, is pretty phenomenal!
Next year, our young players will be one year older, more used to each other, and more comfortable in our system.
A bit of strengthening in the summer, a new centre back for the now retiring Ashley Williams, and a replacement for Gylfi Sigurdsson who will be leaving in the summer, i’ll be gutted to see him go, but his disruption could have cost us some achievements this year, and i won’t stand for it.
Our general squad performance has been phenomenal, with Lewis Cook being the best performing player in the league with an average rating of 7.83, and bringing in the most assists with 19. Michael Keane comes in 2nd on performance ratings with 7.5
Our best 11 ratings are great, and we obviously have a great base to build on for the next season, but will need a couple of improvements.
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