Ex Pro Turned Manager; Just like Lamps, Stevie G, Thierry and Sol

[FM_TNSSO]

Ex Pro Turned Manager; Just Like Lamps, Stevie G, Thierry and Sol

Over the past year, we've seen some of the household name players that a lot of us grew up with go into the coaching side of the game and start their managerial careers. Frank Lampard took over at Derby, Steven Gerrard at Rangers, Thierry Henry at Monaco and more recently Sol Campbell at Macclesfield. On top of that, the likes of Joey Barton has taken up the manager's job at Fleetwood and John Terry is Assistant at Aston Villa. I for one am keen to see how all of these guys progress as managers over the next few years and am interested to see how far each of them will go!

So I've decided to do a story following in their footsteps and have installed myself into FM19 as an ex professional football with international experience at continental level, like Lamps, Gerrard, Henry, Terry and Campbell. I would only really consider Henry to be at global level as he was the only one to win any major international competitions with his country.

As far as coaching badges, when I searched through the game, the managers varied in what badges they have but are all between Continental B License and Continental Pro License. So I've gone in at the bottom end and given myself the Continental B as well.

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So why did I do this type of save...well a couple of reasons...

1/ I felt very disheartened after my sacking only 4 1/2 months into my most recent save as my beloved Gillingham and after numerous games on this year's edition of FM, I am a little fed up of starting with absolutely no badges or playing experience and commanding zero respect from my players from day 1.

2/ I have done a couple of lower league management saves already with proper **** clubs and **** players and wanted to start this one a little higher up the ladder.

3/ The main reason I did this type of save is I think it's most closely matched to real life. I mean, hardly any managers will ever be given a job with no badges, and most will have some sort of foothold in the footballing world already as an ex player. So I think this is most realistic.

I am starting the game as unemployed and will see where my experience and badges land me a job. With the above mentioned players landing sizeable clubs like Derby, Rangers and Monaco, I'd like to think I won't be starting my career in the National League South!!

The aim of this save....well in all honesty it is to see me right through the next 7 months to the release of FM2020. I really don't want to be starting any more games after this one and with the flexibility of the save meaning that even if I get sacked I can pick myself up and carry on somewhere else. But obviously, the aim is to do as best as I possibly can and build my career up to become a top worldwide manager, hopefully working my way onto the hall of fame at some point too! That could turn out to be with just 1 club during my whole career or I could end up moving around clubs and countries depending on opportunities that come my way! Oh, and as a sideline, I'll be quietly competing with the above managers trying to do better than them over the coming years!

We kick off the save with leagues from England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Scotland and Spain loaded up. So let's get going and see where I end up first!

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[FM_TNSSO]

Job Hunting

Job Hunting


On the day I finish my Continental B License coaching badge, I immediately turn my attention to the job market and see a few managerial vacancies being advertised. For now, I've decided not to apply and see if anyone comes in for me!

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The word is out that Chris Ball, ex England international, is on the lookout for a job, and it doesn't take long for the first club to come knocking. League One's Bradford City invite me to interview for the vacant manager's job, but this one isn't for me if I'm honest and I decline the offer.

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All the other jobs were quickly filled with none of the club's showing an interest in me, and it was the first week of November before the first round of sackings and jobs started becoming available again. One of those was Middlesbrough after Tony Pulis was relieved of his duties and I was heavily linked with the post.

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One of our headline managers for this story, Joey Barton, is also sacked as early as November, with Fleetwood sitting 22nd in League One.

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All of a sudden, there was a whole host of jobs available and my CV was sent off to Middlesbrough, Bristol City, AS Saint-Etienne and Union Berlin.

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AS Saint-Etienne and Middlesbrough are quick to react to my applications and I attend interviews with both clubs!

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I was offered both jobs; Saint Etienne wanted me to avoid relegation with them currently sitting 18th and were willing to give me a transfer budget of £500k. Middlesbrough wanted me to finish in the top half with them currently 17th and were offering me a transfer kitty of over £5 million. With Middlesbrough also offering a salary of £7k per week more than the French side, it was a no brainer for me to start my managerial career in my home nation of England! As part of me taking over the role, I requested that the club clean house with a load of the staff, to which they duly obliged!

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It's not quite the £25k per week salaries of Frank Lampard and John Terry in this league, but I bag my first 2 year deal on a decent £18k per week!

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​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Middlesbrough FC

Middlesbrough Football Club are based in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. They were formed in 1876 and turned professional in 1889. The club's traditional kit is red with white trim.

Middlesbrough FC - Taking Over

So, time to familiarise myself with my new team. Middlesbrough are a club with a surprisingly small trophy cabinet considering the perceived size of the club, with 4 Championship titles and 1 League Cup to their name! We have a good foundation for the future though with superb training and youth facilities and an established youth recruitment network!

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As I take over, the club sit 17th in the Sky Bet Championship despite pre season predictions of a top 10 finish and odds of only 9-1 to win the title! It's easy to see why Pulis was sacked! Frank Lampard is doing a decent job at Derby and his side sit in the playoffs at present!

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The club forked out some cash in the Summer as well, with the likes of George Saville, Paddy McNair and Aden Flint all joining the club for fees in excess of £5 million! But the signing of John Obi Mikel on a free was probably the marquee one! Some of the money spent was recouped with the sale of Dael Fry to Southampton for just over £10 million!

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The squad I inherit is far too good to be labouring in the bottom half of the table and I'm hoping the lads will be rejuvenated by my appointment and we can quickly get this season back on track!

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Despite a number of players who are largely underachieving, one who isn't is Adam Clayton who has one of the best average ratings in the league so far this season!

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It's hard to see why we have one of the worst defences in the league with top class defenders like Daniel Ayala in the squad as well!

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It's a sorry state of affairs so far though and a look through the fixtures list makes for grim reading! We're already out of the Carabao Cup as well!

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As far as my own expectations go, the board want me to get us into the top half of the table and make the 4th round of the FA Cup!

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​

 

[Yeti01]

Looks good mate - fingers crossed for more success than the Gills save.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

December 2018

Middlesbrough's home is the Riverside Stadium, which was opened in 1995 and has a capacity of 34,000. It has the provisional planning permission for expansion to 42,000 if required in the future.

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December 2018


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 20 - Bristol City (Home)
Won 3-1

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A perfect way to kick off my tenure as manager with a comfortable win and a dominant performance in front of our home fans! However, we won't get too carried away just yet as Bristol City are below us in the table! Marcus Tavernier, who was only used sporadically by Tony Pulis, scores two on his first start under my management!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 21 - Wigan Athletic (Away)
Lost 2-0

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Still plenty of work required as proved by this result against relegation battlers, Wigan. Two penalties were our undoing here and although Leon Clarke missed the first one, he banged in the rebound!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 22 - West Bromwich Albion (Home)
Won 2-1

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Now that's more like it as we beat top of the table, West Brom, inflicting only their 4th defeat of the season on them! Britt Assombalonga was sensational today and took both his chances with expert precision! We withstood the late rally from West Brom as well to hold on for all 3 points!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 23 - Rotherham United (Home)
Won 3-1

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This was our most complete performance so far in the 4 games I've been in charge, with us dominating possesssion, scoring 3 good team goals, and limiting Rotherham to only a couple of decent chances in the whole game! Marcus Tavernier bagged another two goals, again begging the question as to why Pulis wasn't playing him before I arrived!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 24 - Hull City (Home)
Won 2-1

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We were well on top for the entire game so it was disappointing to go into the final 5 minutes of the match 1-0 down! However, my substitutions worked a treat and both Rajiv van La Parra and Jonny Howson netted to give us the victory!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 25 - Preston North End (Away)
Drew 2-2

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Another inspired substitution, this time in Ashley Fletcher, as he came off the bench to score 2 as we fight back from 2-0 down to earn a well deserved point. We should have won the game really, but our defending from set pieces was a shambles and Preston punished us.


Sky Bet Championship Table

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Player of the Month
Marcus Tavernier

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How was this lad not getting played under Pulis's management!! And at 19 years old, he still has plenty of developing to do...we have every reason to be excited about this kid!


Other News


I brought in Joao Mario as my number 2 this month, after having the previous assistant sacked upon my appointment!

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We've been handed possibly the toughest tie possible in the 3rd round of the FA Cup next month as we invite Manchester City to the Riverside!

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Manager's Diary


Well my first month in charge has been a good one and I'm delighted with the lads and how they have responded to the changes in formation and tactics! They've embraced my philosophies straight away and we've seen a positive effect immediately with 4 league wins on the record this month and only 1 defeat! Clean sheets are still proving hard to come by, but it's not too much of an issue at this stage if we can continue scoring 2-3 a game!


​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

January 2019

Steve Gibson is seen as a legend in terms of Middlesbrough Football Club. The club's owner is a British entrepreneur with a net worth of around £165 million! He is a lifelong fan of the club and joined the board as the club's youngest ever Director at the age of only 26! He helped the club avoid liquidation in 1986, bought shares in the club in 1993 and officially became chairman in 1994 with around 90% shares in the club.

January 2019

Transfer News

Rudy Gestede hasn't even made the bench for me yet and was becoming frustrated with not playing. After a meeting, I agreed he wasn't part of my plans and accepted his transfer request. Only a day later, Swansea were in with a bid of £3.1 million and I'm more than happy to move him on for that!

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With Rudy Gestede leaving the club, I wanted to add another striker to the side, although I wasn't keen on making a permanent signing at this stage. Instead, I have brought in 18 year old Barcelona prospect, Abel Ruiz, who has made 1 appearance for the Spanish giants this season and scored in that game! We'll pay all of his £5k wages as well as a £100k per month fee to Barcelona to keep him until the end of the season.

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Out on the right side, Stewart Downing has not been the most impressive player since I joined the club and with limited options in that position, I wanted to add a right sided inside forward to the team. Welcome Tahith Chong, who looks like a really exciting prospect at Manchester United, and he joins us on loan for the rest of the season! He has some fantastic pace about him and plenty of flair too, so I'm hoping he can excite our fans over the coming months! We'll pay half of his £18k wages for the duration of the loan!

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My final loan signing of the window is centre back, Konstantinos Mavropanos! The Greek prospect joins us from Arsenal for the rest of the season and will bolster our defensive options for the 2nd half of the campaign. We will contribute half of his £7k per week salary during his stay with us!

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I turned down a deadline day bid from Atalanta of £6 million for Britt Assombalonga.

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Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 26 - Norwich City (Away)
Won 4-3

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We were a bit out of sorts at the back here, but it was to be expected with Ayala and Jenkinson both missing from the starting lineup due to fatigue. However, their introduction at half time helped tighten things up and we went on to get the win! The lads showed great resilience to keep going and Jonny Howson scored another important goal from the bench as he did only a couple of games ago against Hull.

FA Cup
3rd Round - Manchester City (Home)
Drew 0-0

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If you're going to play Man City, what you really want is for them to have a player sent off in the first few minutes to even things up a bit...and that's exactly what happened for us here as Danilo saw red on 9 minutes! It meant we could compete, but unfortunately we still couldn't get the job done and have to settle for a replay at The Etihad which will be really tough...it feels a little like an opportunity missed for us to knock out one of the favourites here!

Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 27 - Blackburn Rovers (Home)
Drew 1-1

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We had to settle for a draw at home to Rovers, when we really should have won the game. We were the better side but didn't take our chances today and it cost us a couple of points!

FA Cup
3rd Round Replay - Manchester City (Away)
Lost 5-1

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As expected, the Premier League champions were just too strong for us on their own turf. We simply couldn't live with them, but at least we gave our travelling fans a consolation goal to celebrate!

Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 28 - Nottingham Forest (Away)
Won 2-0

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Nottingham Forest are the most negative side we have played so far since I took over. They look from the outset like they will be happy to take a draw, with a deep defensive line and 2 DMs as well as a lack of attacking flair! I feel sorry for their fans, and am pleased to have got the win here! My lads really had to dig in and grind this one out and it was good to see young Abel Ruiz coming off the bench to bag his first goal for the club!

Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 29 - Swansea City (Home)
Won 2-0

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A Britt Assombalonga double secures us victory over struggling Swansea! We were brilliant here and Swansea didn't get anywhere near our goal for the entire 90 minutes!

Sky Bet Championship Table

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Player of the Month
Britt Assombalonga

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The striker has scored some important goals this month and seems to be thriving off of the service of our new on loan arrivals.


Other News

George Friend picked up an injury just before the Blackburn game which will keep him out for just under a month!

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Paddy McNair picked up an injury in the game against Nottingham Forest and will miss about 4 weeks of action!

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Aden Flint is likely to be sorely missed over the next couple of months as he is one of my first choice centre backs!

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Manager's Diary

An unbeaten month sees us pick up 11 points and move to within 4 of the playoff spots as we're up to 8th in the table. My appointment is looking like a good one all round and the board and fans seem well happy with me. We can now turn our attentions to the possibility of making the top 6 this season as a realistic target!


​

 

[marsden1234]

loving it mate.. I do miss the Bournemouth game though but this is going to be a good read. Are you going to be loyal to any clubs?

 

[WeArePalace]

Amazing turnaround all ready. Quality loan signings as well. Looks like the play-offs could be reached!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

loving it mate.. I do miss the Bournemouth game though but this is going to be a good read. Are you going to be loyal to any clubs?

Cheers mate.....at the moment I really don't know. I'd like to take Boro up and achieve something with them first and take it from there....it would be nice to win something before moving on but it'll be interesting to see what job offers come up along the way.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

February 2019

Juninho Paulista had 3 spells at Middlesbrough during which he played 120 games and scored 27 goals. It was a surprise when he signed for the club in 1995 for just under £5 million as he'd been tracked by some of Europe's biggest clubs. He left for Atletico Madrid in 1997, but returned to the club on loan for a season, before resigning for Boro again in 2002! He was nicknamed by the Middlesbrough fans as 'The Little Fella'.

February 2019


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 30 - Ipswich Town (Home)
Won 1-0

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We made over 600 passes in this game, completing 85% of them and that was the difference between the two sides as we completely dominated the possession ensuring Ipswich couldn't get anywhere near scoring. A single goal from Abel Ruiz was enough for the win although it would have been nicer to get one or two more!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 31 - Brentford (Away)
Lost 1-0

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Brentford are flying high in the league this year so we knew this was going to be a tough test! It was a close game, and although both teams had a fair few shots, the game lacked real decent chances, and was settled by a single penalty in favour of our opponents.


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 32 - Sheffield Wednesday (Away)
Won 3-0

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Solid away performance away at Wednesday and another 3 points on the board! Although Britt Assombalonga was at his goalscoring best and took the match ball after his hat trick, it was George Saville in the DM role that caught my eye here making over 100 passes with a 98% completion rate...that's pretty incredible for a Championship player and he will likely be deployed in this role for a few more games to see if he can replicate this kind of performance!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 33 - Derby County (Home)
Lost 1-0

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My first game up against one of the other 'pros turned manager' ends in defeat as Frank Lampard gets the better of me with his Derby side! We were always in the game, but just didn't take our chances, whilst Derby managed to find the back of the net with one of theirs which was enough to give them to take the spoils.


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 34 - Bolton Wanderers (Away)
Won 2-0

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Bolton are bottom of the table and 13 points adrift of safety, so I'd have been disappointed if we hadn't beaten them here. But there was no reason for disappointment as we did a professional job and got the result we needed.


Sky Bet Championship Table

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Player of the Month
Daniel Ayala

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A string of consistent performances from my main man at the back!


Youth Intake

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Not the greatest of intakes, although there are a couple of players with potential to one day play a part in our first team squad.

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Manager's Diary


Despite a couple of defeats this month, we remain in contention to challenge for the playoffs which is still a fantastic achievement considering where we were 3 months ago when I took over the job! A big month coming up now with fixtures against the likes of Aston Villa, Leeds and Millwall who are all in the top 6, will determine whether we can make the playoffs or not!


​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

March 2019

Colin Cooper had two stints at Middlesbrough spanning a total of 15 years, during which he made nearly 350 appearances for the club! Playing predominantly as a centre back, he was just as useful as a full back as well, and he scored 11 goals for the club during his career. Cooper has held multiple coaching roles at the club since he retired from playing, including Reserve Team Coach, First Team Coach and Assistant Manager. He spent just 4 days as the Caretaker Manager when Gareth Southgate was sacked in 2009.

March 2019


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 35 - Aston Villa (Home)
Won 1-0

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This was nothing short of a brilliant victory for us!! Don't get me wrong, this won't have put much of a dent in Villa's title challenge with them 6 points clear still, but for us it is a huge 3 points towards making the playoffs!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 36 - Millwall (Away)
Drew 1-1

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The Den is never an easy place to go and get a result, so we have to be happy with a draw against a Millwall side that are also chasing the playoffs! We were the better side, with much more of the possession and creating double the amount of chances, but a lot of our shots were outside the box efforts as Millwall limited the space behind their back line and made it hard for us to create anything clear cut.


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 37 - Reading (Home)
Drew 0-0

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Reading have properly been let off the hook by us here. There's absolutely no way we should have drawn this game as we squandered a host of good chances, failing to put a single one away!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 38 - Leeds United (Home)
Won 1-0

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Considering Leeds came into this game 1st in the form table and 2nd in the league, we absolutely battered them! They were never in the game and never looked like scoring, whilst we probably should have had 3 or 4! Still, a single Tahith Chong goal was enough to take another big 3 points!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 39 - QPR (Away)
Won 5-2

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We were 2-1 down at half time and the lads needed a firm kick up the ****. It did the trick as we were soon back on level terms, before a flurry of goals in the final 10 minutes gave us a much more comfortable scoreline than the game actually warranted.


Sky Bet Championship Table

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Player of the Month
Daniel Ayala

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Another 5 games where Ayala was ultra consistent. That's now 12 games in a row that he has a match rating of 7.0 or higher!


Other News


John Obi Mikel picked up an injury in training after the Villa game which will see him miss just over a month of action.

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Transfer News


I have agreed a deal to sign RB Leipzig's 17 year old defensive midfielder, Tom Krauss, at the end of the season. He will sign for an initial £3.8 million with another possible £500k in add ons. The young midfielder already has some great mental attributes to grow into a very good player and at 6ft tall, he will have a good presence in that DM role in my formation. I'm looking forward to welcoming him to the squad in the Summer.

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Manager's Diary


Considering the difficult run of games we had this month, I'm delighted that we've managed to go unbeaten and pick up another 11 points over the past 5 games. We kept 3 clean sheets along the way including against both Aston Villa and Leeds who are both chasing the title! Goals were slightly harder to come by this month before the thumping we gave QPR, but I suppose it doesn't matter too much when we're keeping clean sheets! With only 7 games remaining, we are now only a point away from the top 6 and if we can win 5 of our last 7 matches I think it'll be enough to make the playoffs!


​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

April 2019

Current England manager, Gareth Southgate, has a rich history with Middlesbrough Football Club. Not only did he play 160 times for the club between 2001-2006, but he then went on to manage the club for 3 years as well! During his playing career, he became the first Middlesbrough captain to lift a trophy in their history winning the League Cup in 2004.

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April 2019

Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 40 - Sheffield United (Away)
Won 3-2

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Despite dominating most of this game, we found ourselves behind twice in the match! However, the lads showed great character to fight back twice, before Britt Assombalonga came off the bench to net us a winner with 7 minutes remaining! One that we had to work very hard for, but a very good victory again!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 41 - Stoke City (Home)
Won 1-0

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Stoke fans will be bitterly disappointed with their teams performance this season as they sit 18th in the table coming into this game, and we inflicted another defeat on them here! Tahith Chong has hit a rich vein of goalscoring form lately and continued it with another goal which turned out to be the winner here!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 42 - Birmingham City (Home)
Lost 3-0

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This was one of them games where you just walk away as a manager and go 'what the **** just happened?' Totally out of the blue, we suffer a good hiding from a pretty weak Birmingham team!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 43 - Bristol City (Away)
Drew 0-0

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We followed up the defeat to Birmingham with another lacklustre performance here and have to settle for a single point against mid table Bristol City. We could have won it late on with a couple of good chances but couldn't find the back of the net!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 44 - Wigan Athletic (Home)
Lost 1-0

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After spending half the season getting ourselves in contention for the playoffs, are we now bottling it right at the death?!


Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 45 - West Bromwich Albion (Away)
Drew 1-1

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With us sitting just above West Brom by only a point at kick off, the most important thing here was that we didn't lose! That goal was achieved and a draw was fair on both sides in a very even game, although we were a little lucky that Jay Rodriguez blasted his 86th minute penalty over the bar!


Sky Bet Championship Table

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Player of the Month
Jonny Howson

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A good month for our box to box man who scored himself 2 goals and bagged 3 assists along the way. Plenty goes through Jonny in the middle of the park so it's good to see him maintaining decent pass completion rates and chipping in with some key passes in virtually every game.


Other News


****...this is a blow! If we do make the playoffs, we won't have our main man at the back, Daniel Ayala, for them!!

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Manager's Diary


Although it's been a pretty average month for us, we still managed to climb to 5th in the table and put us in prime position to qualify for the playoffs with only one game left. Our final match is away at Rotherham United and we can't take them lightly with West Brom and Preston right on our tails and ready to leapfrog us should we falter. Although things are in our favour as West Brom and Preston play each other in their final match, so the only scenario that sees them both finish above us is if they draw and we lose by 2 or more goals.​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

May 2019

George Camsell is Middlesbrough's all time record goalscorer. The striker played for The Boro between 1925 and 1939 and scored his 325 goals in just 418 games! Incredibly, he also scored 18 goals in just 9 games for England....possibly the best England striker you've never heard of?

May 2019
Sky Bet Championship
Matchday 46 - Rotherham United (Away)
Won 2-1

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A draw would have been enough to ensure our place in the playoffs, but we went one better and got the win to ensure we finish in the top 6!


Sky Bet Championship Final Table

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Sky Bet Championship
Playoff Semi Final 1st Leg - Leeds United (Home)
Won 4-1

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The aim here in the first leg was to win the game and get an advantage going into the away tie. However, I wasn't expecting to win by such a large margin, but we were sensational in front of goal here and were ****** good value for the big scoreline too!


Sky Bet Championship
Playoff Semi Final 2nd Leg - Leeds United (Away)
Lost 3-1 (Won 5-4 on aggregate after extra time)

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In the regular 90 minutes, Leeds staged the excellent comeback that I had dreaded and took the game into extra time with a 3-0 lead in the tie (4-4 on aggregate). All the momentum was with the home side going into the extra period, but on 107 minutes, it was us who scored through Rajiv van La Parra to take the advantage again. Leeds then piled men forward in search of a goal to take it to penalties but despite the increased pressure, we managed to hold them off! We're off to Wembley - a day out at the national stadium in my first season as a football manager...happy days!


With this whole story being about ex pro's turned managers, it was probably written in the stars that we'd be taking on Frank Lampard's Derby County in the Playoff Final in my first season!

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Sky Bet Championship
Playoff Final - Derby County (Wembley)
Won 2-0

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Marcus Tavernier, the young lad that was barely given a chance by my predecessor Tony Pulis, turns out to be the Wembley hero with 2 goals which see us promoted into the Premier League! What a day for the 20 year old lad...one nobody can ever take away from him...and from me for that matter!


We've done it! An incredible achievement after being 17th in December when I took over at the club, we've had an amazing 2nd half of the season and winning the Playoffs means I'll be a Premier League manager next year!!

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Always good to get a bit of praise from the England boss!

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Following confirmation of our promotion, Steve Gibson writes to me to let me know he'll be making a whopping £41 million available for me to improve the squad this Summer!

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​

 

[WeArePalace]

Amazing stuff and excited to see what you can do with that massive transfer budget

 

[FM_TNSSO]

End of Season 2018/19

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End of Season 2018/19


It actually surprised me slightly that Carl Jenkinson took the fans award for player of the season. Since I've been here, I'd have to say the best players have been Britt, Howson, Ayala and Tavernier for sure, but I wouldn't have even had Jenko in my top 3!

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Our season review shows our league positions throughout the season with the steep decline under Pulis, before the gradual climb back up the table since I took over!

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The board are 'very pleased'....I think the board should be absolutely ******* delirious if I'm honest!

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Jonny Howson made the Championship Team of the Year!

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The club's financial situation looks pretty comfortable at this stage with over £23 million safely tucked away in the bank!

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And the commercial summary shows that everything is on the rise! Although, again I was shocked that it's Paddy McNair that is selling the most shirts for the club!!

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Looking over the squad stats for the season, it's good to see a few players finishing with average ratings above 7.0 considering the poor start to the season that the club had! Britt Assombalonga just reached the 20 goal mark and was our top goalscorer by some way, although Ashley Fletcher did well to get 10 goals with only 5 starts this season. Excellent returns from Marcus Tavernier who chipped in with 8 goals and 10 assists, whilst Jonny Howson showed he still has plenty to offer as one of the oldest members of the squad (with 8 goals and 6 assists). Our Arsenal loanees Carl Jenkinson and Konstantinos Mavropanos both did well for us this year and it will be a shame to see them return to the Emirates!

View attachment 16808


End of Season Ex Pro Turned Manager Comparison

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 800, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]Manager[/TD]
[TD]Current Club[/TD]
[TD]Current Salary[/TD]
[TD]Career Stats[/TD]
[TD]Win Ratio[/TD]
[TD]Trophies[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Chris Ball[/TD]
[TD]Middlesbrough[/TD]
[TD]£18,000 p/w[/TD]
[TD]P32; W18; D7; L7[/TD]
[TD]56%[/TD]
[TD]Middlesbrough; Championship Playoff (2018/19)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Frank Lampard[/TD]
[TD]Derby County[/TD]
[TD]£25,000 p/w[/TD]
[TD]P56; W29; D16; L11[/TD]
[TD]51%[/TD]
[TD]None
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Steven Gerrard[/TD]
[TD]Rangers[/TD]
[TD]£15,000 p/w[/TD]
[TD]P50; W27; D12; L11[/TD]
[TD]54%[/TD]
[TD]None
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Joey Barton[/TD]
[TD]Unemployed[/TD]
[TD]£0[/TD]
[TD]P21; W5; D2; L14[/TD]
[TD]23%[/TD]
[TD]None[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sol Campbell[/TD]
[TD]Macclesfield[/TD]
[TD]£1,400 p/w[/TD]
[TD]P53; W15; D13; L25[/TD]
[TD]28%[/TD]
[TD]None[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Thierry Henry[/TD]
[TD]Unemployed[/TD]
[TD]£0[/TD]
[TD]P0; W0; D0; L0[/TD]
[TD]0%[/TD]
[TD]None[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]





​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

June 2019

Tim Williamson is Middlesbrough's record holder for appearances for the club. He played 602 games for the club between 1902 and 1923. Although he played as a goalkeeper for The Boro, he still managed to score 2 goals. Williamson was nicknamed 'Tiny' due to him barely being 5ft 10" tall, naturally quite small for a keeper!

June 2019


Transfer News


Incoming Transfer (Future Star?); Tom Krauss completed his move to the club as the window opened. The deal that was done a couple of months back now with Leipzig see's the 17 year old join us at Middlesbrough for nearly £4 million.

View attachment 16797


Incoming Transfer (One For The First Team); The next player through the door is central midfielder, Roberto Gagliardini, who comes in from Inter Milan for an absolute bargain price of £8 million. We will pay £4.5 million up front and another £3.5 million when he has played in 50 league games for us! Gagliardini was only bought by Inter last Summer for just under £17 million, but after failing to break into their first team he was transfer listed by request and I quickly snapped him up! He immediately becomes one of our best players at the club and is likely to be a huge part of our bid to stay in the Premier League this season!

View attachment 16795


Incoming Transfer (Loan Turned Permanent); An opportunity was presented to us to take Carl Jenkinson on a permanent deal after his loan spell with us last season! Considering he was the fan's player of the year and one of my best players in the squad, it was a no brainer to snap him up for a measley £3.8 million from Arsenal!

View attachment 16794


Incoming Loan; My first loan signing of the Summer was to bring in FC Bayern's 18 year old prospect, Oliver Batista Meier to the club for the season. I enquired about signing him on a permanent deal but the German giants were only willing to consider a loan move, so I bit their hand off. The young German can play down both flanks and has bundles of potential to go on and be a world class player in future years to come...hopefully we can get him to fall in love with us this season and then look to make his deal permanent within a couple of years...although I do expect his price tag to rise considerably.

View attachment 16793


Incoming Transfer (Future Star?); My next signing was definitely one for the future. I've forked out £2 million to bring 18 year old Romanian midfielder, Andrei Ciucur, to the club from FC Viitorul. Likelihood is that he'll go straight out on loan this season.

View attachment 16792


Outgoing Transfer; John Obi Mikel wasn't a first team regular for me last season in the Championship and with new arrivals in his position, he is likely to play even less this year! I have therefore decided to move him on and he joins Krasnodar in Russia. We will get £2.4 million up front with another £600k in potential add ons.

View attachment 16791


Incoming Transfer (Transfer Record Smashed); My big marquee signing of the Summer window is Bournemouth midfielder, David Brooks, who will fit into our side on the right side perfectly! He does join for a whopping £27 million fee (£12 mil up front and £15 mil over 3 years), with another £4.5 million in add ons, however I think he is worth it as at the age of 21 he has already become a first team regular in the Premier League and still has all his best years ahead of him! It was also essential that we brought in a decent player to replace the ageing Stuart Downing who will be leaving the club on a free when his contract expires!

View attachment 16790


Incoming Transfer (One For The First Team); I needed a striker who was proven at scoring goals in the Premier League and although he isn't the most prolific, he has been there and done it and scored goals...I'm talking about new signing Jordan Ayew who joins from Swansea for a fee of £11.5 million with another £1 million in add ons. Hopefully, between him and Britt Assombalonga they can score the goals required this season to keep us up!

View attachment 16789


Other News


BREXIT has happened!

View attachment 16788


The fixtures for the new season have been released and we kick off our campaign at home to Watford! Spurs and Chelsea come nice and early for us and David Brooks will get an early opportunity to return to Bournemouth.

View attachment 16787


​

 

[Dejak47]

Nice read! Jenkinson for 3,8 mil is a bargain

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Nice read! Jenkinson for 3,8 mil is a bargain

Cheers mate....yea Arsenal had him transfer listed and that's all they wanted. It was an absolute no-brainer for me considering he was one of my best players last season and the fans clearly love him!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

July 2019

Brian Clough had a ridiculous goalsoring record for Middlesbrough in his playing days! He managed 197 goals in 213 games for The Boro and makes their list of all time top goalscorers in 3rd!

July 2019


Transfer News


Outgoing Transfer; I'm about £100k over the wage budget going into July, so need to out players to bring it down. The first to leave is Polish winger, Pawel Wszolek, who moves to Amiens for half a mil!

View attachment 16723


Outgoing Transfer; The next to go was Ryan Shotton, who struggled for game time for me last season at a lower level. He was creaming £30k per week on the wage bill, so although I've agreed to still pay a 3rd of this for Leeds, it does save us nearly £20k per month by offloading him....and puts the £800k fee we got for him in the bank as well.

View attachment 16722


Outgoing Loan; Martin Braithwaite is on a massive £54k per week, so being able to offload him on a season long loan to Fenerbahce with them paying all of his wages is a massive relief on our own wage bill.

View attachment 16721


Incoming Loan; After freeing up quite a bit of cash on wages, it allowed me to turn to the loan market myself to improve the squad. First of all, I added Chelsea's Kenedy to the team and we'll pay £10k towards his wages for the season. Although the wide attacker has been struggling for game time at Chelsea, he is likely to get plenty with us this season!

View attachment 16720


Incoming Loan; Another area of the squad that needed more numbers was the full back positions, so Kyle Walker-Peters coming in on a season long loan from Spurs is perfect as he can cover down both sides. A young English talent with plenty to offer our newly promoted squad, there is a good opportunity for him to progress at The Boro this season!

View attachment 16719


Outgoing Loan; Paddy McNair has had the right arsehole on all Summer because I've signed a couple of players who can play his position! I tried to sell him off but nobody was willing to get anywhere near his transfer value of £12 million, so instead I've allowed him to join Cardiff who will pay all of his wages and a monthly fee of £180k for the whole season and another £300k bonus if they avoid relegation! It could work out to be quite a profitable deal for us!

View attachment 16716


Other News


New signing, Roberto Gagliardini will miss most of pre season and maybe the first 1 or 2 games of the league campaign after picking up an injury against Grimsby!

View attachment 16718


Our pre season campaign is going perfect so far with 5 wins from 5 games, the highlight being a 2-1 victory over Leipzig! We have one more friendly to play against local side, Darlington, next month before the serious stuff begins!

View attachment 16717​

 

[WeArePalace]

Good business so far. Gagliardini looks a bargain and it will be interesting to see if Brooks can do well.