Dan McConnell's Managerial Rollercoaster

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Dan McConnell

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Hi there and welcome to my first attempt at writing a story on FM Base.

I've been inspired to do so by some wonderful stories on here over the past year or so that I have been silently following.

Now, before I start, I am not exactly a computer whizz so I imagine my layout and presentation won't be as detailed as some other stories on this forum, but I hope I can entertain you all with a few humorous comments and a few pictures to keep the story flowing nicely. So please bear with me if updates are relatively slow as I work full time and have plenty of other commitments outside of work also. I'm sure you'll understand.

I've decided after playing FM16 since it's early BETA release in November at lower league clubs so far, I'm going to treat myself and play as a Premier League club for now and have some money to spend, hurrah! Also, here I am :)

View attachment 201038 (I like to look smart for the ladies)

Now, without anymore ado, I'll start with some screenshots and get this show on the road! Thanks for reading in advance!
 
POCHETTINO SACKED!!!


The now former Spurs boss was sacked this morning due to a disagreement with owner Daniel Levy over a well publicised transfer policy. Pochettino's sudden departure has left the door open for relatively unknown hopeful Dan McConnell who is the odds on 1/2 favourite to take over at White Hart Lane.

One fan outside White Hart Lane said;

"We need someone who's going to play the Tottenham way, fast, decisive, attacking football, the way we played under Harry Redknapp. That way clearly works as we were in the Champions League, since he left, we've been nowhere near. If this Dan McConnell takes over then that's what I expect to see again."
 
View attachment 201025

Tottenham have today announced unknown manager Dan McConnell as the new manager of the club. Daniel Levy said in a press conference;

'We are delighted to announce Dan McConnell as the new manager of Tottenham Hotspur. We are extremely impressed with the vision and clear path that was presented to us by Dan and are confident in his ability to deliver the goal of Champions League football as quickly as possible back to White Hart Lane.'

It's considered another risky appointment by Spurs who are used to appointing managers with a lack of experience in the Premier League. McConnell has managed at semi-pro level in the past but never a club the size of Tottenham. It'll be interesting to see how he handles the somewhat distraction of the Europa League and whether it'll effect their league form as they strive to bring back the holy grail of Champions League.
 
View attachment 201018

So let's have a look at the background of Spurs.

The won the league back in 1951 and '61 and have had moderate success throughout the decades with 8 FA Cup wins, the last of which coming in 1991. They also won the League Cup back in 2008 thanks to a late Jonathan Woodgate goal in extra time to beat Chelsea at Wembley.

The facilities are what impress me the most with Spurs. Both the training ground and youth facilities are rated at 5 stars with good youth coaching available at the club. That could be one thing we can look to improve as Spurs are well known for bringing through very good talent. The current squad is littered with academy graduates like Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb and of course, the talismanic Harry Kane.

The current squad is also another thing that impressed me with Spurs. Mauricio has left behind a very talented group who I believe can more than challenge the Champions League spots this year. I do believe we could possibly require some more cover upfront in case something happened to Harry Kane, but I think if we can keep him fit and if he can repeat the heroics of last season from the off we could well be in for a good season.

View attachment 201015


 
So after a meeting with Daniel Levy to discuss budgets for the season, here is the outcome.

View attachment 201012

I've told the board I believe the squad is good enough to qualify for the Champions League and that we can reach reach the second knockout phase of the Europa League.

With those expectations I've been given a transfer budget of approximately £20m and a remaining wage budget p/w of approximately £400k. With such a large wage budget available to me I'll be able to adjust it if and when I need to, depending on who's available to sign towards the top of the pitch as that's where we're at our shortest in my opinion.

Also, a meeting with the playing staff to introduce myself took place and I informed the players of my expectations for the season, to which the vast majority agreed with. Champions League football is a very realistic aim for the club for this season and despite some minor resistance within the squad I believe we're all singing from the same hymn sheet ahead of the start of pre season.

Having met my staff separately, they identified Graziano Pelle of Southampton as a possible target to bolster our attacking options ahead of the season. I'm not 100% keen as Pelle is touching the wrong side of 30 now and, despite an impressive first season in England, I'm not entirely convinced he'd accept playing second fiddle to Harry Kane when he is a guaranteed starter at his current club.

Of course, there are the usual suspects when it comes to transfer rumours, with Manchester United supposedly interested in the club's prized asset Kane. I have absolutely no intention on letting Kane go for any fee at the moment. It would take a world record to see him leave us right now.
 
According to my staff, this is the best starting 11 available to me at the club.

View attachment 201001

I have decided on a similar 4-2-3-1 formation that Mauricio liked, but I have slightly tweaked with the tactics. Kane will be more of a target man and I expect him to be scoring more goals with his head as we have two wonderful wingers who love to cross the ball, and are good at it to boot. Despite good crossing ability for both Son and Lamela, I will be putting them both on individual training regimes to help improve that part of their game to help supply Kane.

I know a lot of this seems to be pinning a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of young Kane, but I expect him to carry on the wonderful form of last season to help us push for the Champions League. It's what this club needs and if we can get the likes of Lamela and Dembele, who have been somewhat disappointing so far in their Spurs' careers', firing on all cylinders, we could unlock the true potential of the team and achieve the goal we so desperately want.

I've been hounded by the media in my first press conference about the future of Kane, to which I've defiantly responded saying he's going nowhere.
 
Good start! :) I have in FM14(well transfers are 2014-15 season) Spurs save now! Try Eriksen AP-A. He is been in very good form for me in that role 10 league games 7 goals and 4 assists! Average rating 7.78
 
The rumours regarding Kane just wouldn't go away, and I had to respond to a bid from them.

View attachment 200971

They offered £28.5m upfront with clauses adding up to an eventual £41.5m. Having spoken with my assistant, we agreed the offer didn't reflect Kane's true value, especially when during the same summer we saw another young English talent in Raheem Sterling move to Manchester City for just shy of £50m.

Kane had a wonderful season last year scoring over 30 goals, therefore we believe he should definitely be worth more than Sterling in what is a toxic market when it comes to young English talent.

Upon hearing the news of the rejected offer from Manchester United, Kane was quick to respond.

View attachment 200969

I understood his complaint but I have to think about Tottenham and nothing else. He is an integral part of what we're trying to do and can find the success he so desperately craves with us if he gives us a chance. He knows he'll get the chance here, whether he would at United is another matter, something I've asked him to consider too.

Speaking of young English talent, my director of football has concluded a very good deal for the club in bringing Demarai Gray from Birmingham City after activating the release clause of £5m.

View attachment 200967

I'm very happy with the deal. The lad is on a very good contract for his age but I believe he will come good when given a chance at the highest level. He'll spend the majority of the season on the fringes of the squad and may even possibly be sent out on loan as we do already have good options out wide, but I expect to see him develop well in the very near future and expect him to carry on being selected for the England youth sides.
 
Nnicod55 said:
Good start! :) I have in FM14(well transfers are 2014-15 season) Spurs save now! Try Eriksen AP-A. He is been in very good form for me in that role 10 league games 7 goals and 4 assists! Average rating 7.78
Click to expand...


Thanks Nnicod55! You're my first reply!

I've played a couple of friendlies with Eriksen at AP - S with rating of 6.4 so I'll definitely give AP - A a go and see how he does in the remaining friendlies. I'll also post a pre season report tonight.

Thanks again :)
 
Pre-season

In a nutshell, pre-season was a bit of a disaster.

View attachment 200934

We failed to win a game, drew 3 games and lost the other 3. I put this down to an obscene amount of travelling. Whoever planned this pre season did not have a clue about team fatigue. Our first match against Shakhtar was at home, fine, we had no qualms about losing our first game of pre-season against a very good side.

The next day, we travelled to the US to begin our pre-season intensive training camp. We set up base in Dallas for our first game and would then move on to Philadelphia. But for some unknown reason, after the Dallas match, which incidentally we drew, we flew home as that was the end of the camp. Very strange. We then flew back out to the States just 3 days later for the Philadelphia game, then flew back to Europe to face Deportivo at the Riazor. Then came the long train journey into Germany to face Stuttgart, followed by another long flight to the west coast of the States to face San Jose in our final friendly match, just 5 days before the start of the Premier League season.

I believe all of this travelling is down to bad planning and has severely impacted our preparation for what is going to be a long season. One of the very few positives in pre season was the form of Erik Lamela. He started 2 matches from the beginning, was man of the match against Shakhtar and got on the score sheet in both.

View attachment 200921

View attachment 200922

Overall, I'm disappointed with pre-season and expect the lads to drastically improve ahead of our opening day match again Leicester in front of the Spurs fans at White Hart Lane.
 
Tough pre season but I'm sure you'll turn it around once the league begins :)
 
Tottenham v Leicester

So our first game of the season was upon us, and we had a cracking first half. Kane carried on where he left off at the end of last season and Nacer Chadli got himself on the score sheet within 9 minutes of the restart. I was happy with our performance up to the 55th minute.

But within 3 minutes of going two up, Jamie Vardy powered in a close range header to halve the deficit and we started to lose confidence quickly, which was very concerning. Leicester started to dominate and before we knew it they'd pulled level again thanks to Vardy notching his second of the day with another close range header.

We will face less difficult tasks this season in the Premier League, but I definitely see this as 2 points dropped as opposed to one gained. Plenty of time to put it right though.

View attachment 200913
 
Dan McConnell said:
According to my staff, this is the best starting 11 available to me at the club.

View attachment 997202

I have decided on a similar 4-2-3-1 formation that Mauricio liked, but I have slightly tweaked with the tactics. Kane will be more of a target man and I expect him to be scoring more goals with his head as we have two wonderful wingers who love to cross the ball, and are good at it to boot. Despite good crossing ability for both Son and Lamela, I will be putting them both on individual training regimes to help improve that part of their game to help supply Kane.

I know a lot of this seems to be pinning a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of young Kane, but I expect him to carry on the wonderful form of last season to help us push for the Champions League. It's what this club needs and if we can get the likes of Lamela and Dembele, who have been somewhat disappointing so far in their Spurs' careers', firing on all cylinders, we could unlock the true potential of the team and achieve the goal we so desperately want.

I've been hounded by the media in my first press conference about the future of Kane, to which I've defiantly responded saying he's going nowhere.
Click to expand...


He is been in very good form for me

o.png
 
Ouch! Rough pre season!

I think the Spurs defense is the main part to sort out
 
Average Joe said:
Ouch! Rough pre season!

I think the Spurs defense is the main part to sort out
Click to expand...


Personally I think the defence should perform a lot better than they are currently. I will be tweaking some things over the next few games personal wise and tactically.
 
1180

Just a quick update as I'm currently at work, there will be no updates tonight as it's my work's Christmas night out! There will be more updates throughout the day tomorrow as I intend on having a proper FM session!

Also, I have one little piece of news, Harry Kane has signed a new contract with us. Hopefully this will stave off interest (for now at least) from the big boys in the Premier League and allow him to fully focus on the task in hand at Spurs.

I'll post the screenshot when I'm back on my laptop tomorrow.

Dan:D
 
An Abrupt End

To anybody who was following this thread I must apologize.

Unfortunately my laptop at the time completely died and is beyond repair according to numerous technical friends of mine, therefore I've invested in a brand new laptop and will be starting a brand new story tonight.

Once again, apologies to anybody following, I will be sure to start another story as soon as possible, hopefully tonight!

Thanks again,


Dan
 
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