From Derby to Manchester

[MUFC_19]

So the journey all started at Derby County FC...
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My objectives where to compete for the play-off's, but I knew straight away that I could turn this side into title challengers!

The season started well beating Man City in a friendly (Okay okay they put out the reserves), but with that result we never looked back!

Fixtures
In fact looking at the results up until the new year we had only lost 2 games
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As you can see we had some huge results, a few of my favourites include...
7-0 v Charlton
6-0 v Ipswich
7-0 v Nottm Forest
6-1 v Cardiff
5-4 v Bournemouth (amazing game!)

The FA Cup become a bit of a strange one in terms of form...
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We managed to go to a replay 4 times, eventually losing to Tottenham 2-1 in the 6th round replay.

The rest of the Championship results are below
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End of Season Table
We finished 1st breaking all kinds of records in the Championship!
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Awards
We scored a total of 175 goals in 46 games, breaking the previous record (something which I have never achieved before in any FM series)

We also broke the most points record.

I won manager of the year.

Jesse Lingard (on loan) won player of the year, with 15 goals, 20 assists and an average rating of 7.83 from the MR position.

Top goalscorer went to Johnny Russell, even though he was injured for about 15 games!
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And young player of the year went to Fraser Aird who I purchased for £110k from Rangers, now worth £2.9 million.
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Here is my full transfer list for that season (I also added in Tom Ince through the editor as he went on loan to Derby in real life)
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I managed to get the legend David Trezeguet on a free 6 month deal, played 7 games scored 3 and got 2 assists.

Tactics
For the tactics I have to credit Zero Sea, who's amazing 343 tactic worked so well! I did adapt it for some games and went for a 3-4-1-2 tactic at times but the screenshot below is the what I played with the majority of the season.
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So as you can see it was somewhat of an amazing season, probably the best I have ever done.

 

[MUFC_19]

This is where it got interesting, I have Manchester United as my favourite club, my reputation however is still only National.

Manchester United 14/15 finished like this
Premier League - 2nd
Fa Cup - Winners
Capital One Cup - Winners

At the end of the season Louis Van Gaal stepped down.

Now it was always my goal to eventually take over but I didn't expect to be able to do it so soon!

I applied for the role (not thinking I would even have a chance)
Got to the interview stage, managed to say all the right things, I also said I would be happy with a lower transfer budget and agreed that I wouldn't make any back-room changes to the staff. (not sure if this is what really helped my application)

I accepted the job offer (at this point I also saved the game so I could later continue with my Derby career)

Money
In terms of money I was literally given nothing, this was due to Van Gaal signing the following
- Falcao £46.5 million
- Kovacic £36 million

Transfers

Here are the transfers from the 14/15 season when Van Gaal was still in charge.
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The transfer revenue was originally set at 30%, I did however request to the board to increase this and they eventually increased it to 50%.

The wage budget was over by about £380,000, I have now reduced the overall wage budget to be around £140,000 under the budget.

I decided to get rid of the dead wood
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Managing to sell Zaha, Smalling, Young, Powell & get £30 million for Rafael

I have so far got Óliver on loan from Atletico with an option to buy for £19.25 million
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I currently have £16.62 million left in the transfer budget and will update if I sign anyone else.

Tactics
The season has yet to start and I still have a few weeks to bring in some new faces, but this is currently my strongest 11.
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Squad
My first 11 is quite strong but here is a list of my back up players

GK - Sam Johnstone, I am looking at him as the number 2 GK this year.

CB - I have Evans and Martinez as strong back up options, and a good youth prospect in Micael Keane

DM - Several options here including Carrick, Fellaini

RM - Jesse Lingard was fantastic for me at Derby, I am hoping he can make the step up! I also have Oliver on loan who can also play LM/AM

LM - Have Asamoah as back up who is a beast!

AM - Kovacic and Lingard can both play here

STK - My 3 main strikers are Rooney, Falcao and Van Persie. With Wilson and Hernandez as back up

I am currently unsure what to do with the following players
Valencia
Nani
Hernandez

All 3 at the moment won't appear much at all but if I get rid of them and pick up and injury I will be very short in terms of options.

Opinions welcome

 

[vjcsmoke]

Well I'm slightly jealous that you got your dream club so early. I was actually doing a Wolfsburg save, and had to win the Bundesliga twice in a row before a big club came knocking. The wait was worth it however, as I landed a dream job with Barcelona!

Can't blame you at all for taking the MU job!

The save I'm playing right now is pretty interesting. I started off with AS Monaco but I got sacked! First time I've ever been sacked playing an FM save. And I've been playing since the 2011 version! From then my ambition was to take a top league team, even if it was a bottom tier team. Guess who gave me a chance?

It was West Brom! Started off the season, 14 games in, last place and in danger of relegation! Ended up with a top 8 finish, just edging out Liverpool for the #8 spot. Rebuilding on the fly now in season 2 with a transfer budget of 8m and hoping to qualify for European cup play!

Now going back to your Manchester United team. Obviously you have an embarrassment of talent. With a 3-4-3 formation, I'd say quality depth at CB is going to be crucial for you. Balanta is a must sign. Yes, he's broken and that good, and should cost you less than 10m to acquire.

Unfortunately he is not in my budget with West Brom, and even if he was, he would have no interest in signing with a club who does not offer chance European playoffs. Vallejo or Mammana are two other young high ceiling CBs that you can sign away for future development.

Your DMs appear more than adequate. As for CM depth, perhaps you could consider Miralem Pjanic or Christian Eriksen as CM/AMCs who can be a set piece ace -- they both feature high corner and free kick abilities. And odegaard as a youngster to develop for the future. Good luck with your save. Let us know how it goes! I'll be putting up a story on my West Brom save later. Come check it out!

 

[MUFC_19]

Your West Brom save sounds very impressive! Will check that story out for sure.

Its funny you mentioned Balanta, I have seen him posted on majority of forums this year but never signed him, so have given him ago. Will update when I hit the January window.