FC United of Manchester - Non League to Champions League

[MrCoopz]

This is the first time I have started a story on FM, I thought I would start as one of the newly promoted teams, into the BSN/BSS so I went on holiday for a season and cracked on from there. I chose FC United of Manchester basically because it was the first I saw. I'll keep it updated on a monthly basis. Lets see how things pan out.

Edit: I'm already Mid august so ill play catch up

 

[MrCoopz]

Breaking News: Matthew Cooper Signs as FC United of Manchester Manager

Pre Season 2013/14

So, i about to crack on with my first season in the BSN. i have never played with a team with such a low reputation and low budget wise. first things first establish the talent and staff at the club. well players wise there maybe 1 or 2 players that look to have promise, a RB named Ricky Hulson being the pick of a sodden bunch. major rebuilding to be done at this early stage. Now to look at the staff, of which there is none. a Chairman and Myself as manager. First things first is to hire the staff.

Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget : £3.14k

Staffing

View attachment 299771

i decided to go for new, youthful staff for my team, Jimmy Bullard (Assistant Manager) Mamadou Seck (Coach) Neil Mellor (u18s Manager). i also chose ex-footballers to give the players that extra experince of the modern game instead of a 60/70 year old. also hired a couple of scouts.

Squad

Now for Rebuilding the squad. I deciced to start from scratch and build a completely new team, this took extensive searching through the free players database (which was very limited due to the small stature of the club). in total i signed 16 player a whole new squad but i have 0 outgoing player (i did this as they were all on £15/20 pw contracts and thought they couldn't be of any harm if i kept them around (just in case). Underneath is a list of my transfer activity up until mid August.

View attachment 299773

Pre-Season Friendly's

FC United of Manchester 0-1 Sparta Prague B
as expected a loss, was a pretty close game McKenzie missing a penalty in the 88th Minute!
MOM: Ryan Hopper

FC United of Manchester 1-2 OM reserves
Lead from a early goal up until the 70th Minute where a sending off a the back gave them space to come back and end up winning
Goalscorer: Phil Lewin
MOM: Phil Lewin

FC United of Manchester 0-1 PSG Reserves
lucky too escape with only 1 goal being conceded, a drab performance from the team against a far better opposition
MOM: Ricky Hulson

Bradford City 4-0 FC United of Manchester
very surprised at this result as i've been performing pretty well against much better opposition. not much else to say about this result only that its pre season and its a place to build from.
MOM: Jarvin Singh

Comments: pretty happy pre season that i have just been through. been performing pretty well and a good starting place to build from. Really happy with the signings of Ryan Hopper and Leon McKenzie as they have both performed really well in pre season and look to be very useful signings indeed.​

 

[MrCoopz]

August 2013 Review : 2013/14 Season

so the season begins, in what i feel has been a very successful month for my newly promoted side, 5 games unbeaten and only shipping in 2 goals! the one down side to this month is that at the very beginning of the month i lost Leon Mckenzie to injury for 3-4 weeks up step Whinchop for your chance to prove. I decided to go for a 4-1-2-2-1 shape of tactic to give my defense a bit of a safeguard as in previous games i usually rely on the tactic of 'we'll score more goals than you' but i don't feel as confident in this with the lower league underdogs.

Here is the Formation and Team tactics i have been using.

View attachment 299797

i have made myself determined to not chop and change the tactics that i am using as it never seems to do me any good.

Fixtures

Lowestoft 0-2 FC United of Manchester
a solid first performance of the season. looked solid at the back only giving the opposition of a few shots on goal and making out massive possession make the difference.
Goalscorers: Cowley, Gilroy
MOM: Blossom - an absolute rock at the back for me this game, didn't put a foot wrong

FC United of Manchester 2-0 Worcester
another solid performance similar to the previous game with the same line up. produced the same result.
Goalscorers: O'Connor, Winchop
MOM: O'Connor - great performance at the back chipping in with the goal up the top aswell, looking to be a great summer signing from the first two games.

Bradford Pa 0-0 FC United of Manchester
the starting 11 were all suffering from fatigue approaching this game so i decided to rest the lot of them and put a complete different eleven out to face Bradford PA. very even game with not much between the two teams and happy with the draw.
MOM: Russell

FC United of Manchester 1-1 Hednesford
a draw i am very disappointed took the lead early on too give it way in the dying embers in the game that should have been put too bed before half time.
Goalscorer: Hopper
MOM: Hopper - maestro in midfield, run the middle of the park unfortunately, didnt have the clinical edge in front of him

Altrincham 1-1 FC United of Manchester
this game saw the return of Leon Mckenzie to a tough game against the early leaders and top goalscorer Reeves in the league with 4-0-0 record and 7 goals to himself. A a bore first half conceding juts before the half hour mark due to a Reeves goal. second half we came out flying with Gilroy pulling level on 56 minutes. we peppered there net for the final half hour but couldn't find the all important goal.
Goalscorer: Gilroy
MOM: Gilroy - tore them apart on the wing in the second half. full back couldn't handle him

League Table

View attachment 299802

as you can see, currently sitting 5th in the table just inside the playoffs, unbeaten start to the season although there still a long time left yet.

Comments: overall i am happy with the start of the season that i have achieved. having an unbeaten first month is always good. the defense is looking solid only conceding 2 goals in the 5 games but only scoring 6. i can see that the lack of clinical finishing could lead me to problems later on in the season. maybe a couple of loan signings later on could bolster my attack if the form of the strikers does not pick up.​