Goldenballs on Tour

Deja Vu Becks

David Beckham has today been announced as the new Manchester United manager. The move comes as a bit of a shock as Pep Guardiola was the overwhelming favourite for the job. Becks has had a solid 3 year start to his managerial career at Valladolid. United chairman David Gill was said to be impressed with Beckhams temperment and calm nature which would be essential in managing a club of their level. Pep was overlooked for his meltdown at Barcelona 3 years earlier said Gill. Beckham will be familiar with the set up after being nurtured at United as a youth player. The move is a suprise for United fans when outgoing manager Alex Ferguson who was said to be involved with the appointment of his successor said that Beckham would never set foot near the club while he had any input. This was the result of a feud between the 2 a year earlier.

Ferguson who was set to become life president of the club has indicated that he would have no more to do with the club while Gill and Beckham remained at the club. Fans are disappointed at this however they are still pleased to see goldenballs return who lives and breathes the club and understands their heritage. Beckham is reportedly delighted to have the opportunity to return "home". Victoria seems less pleased despite being back in England. She had indicated her preference for the family to move to a fashion capital like Paris, Milan or London. It is still unknown if she will accept the move to Manchester or if the couple face a rocky road ahead.

Squad report and pre season to follow later... (putting up xmas decorations now)
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Man Utd Update:
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As you can see finances are pretty good at the minute. I have been allowed a generous wage and transfer budget. The club still has debts which result in £9.19M a month in interest payments. I dont intend to spend my entire transfer budget and if anything I would like to lower the wage budget further as theres backup players getting about 50k a week.

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Team evaluation:
Goalkeepers:
Anders Lindegaard - Current back up but 45k a week may see him leave for a younger and cheaper stand in.
Mark Bunn - 3rd choice and lacks real conviction. May be sold
David De Gea - The no.1 keeper, improved last season and will be key to the defence

Defenders:
Chris Smalling - Promising young CB. Will be let stay at the club for cover mainly
Nathaniel Clyne - a 10M purchase last year. Not realy exceptional at LB or RB and will stay for a season to evaluate properly.
Phil Jones - Developing nicely and still young. Will be Vidic's natural successor.
Johnny Evans - Better CBs out there but will keep as rotation due to being home grown
Nemanja Vidic - Club captain and rock at the centre of defence. Aging but will still be key player.
Leighton Baines - Best LB in the league. Hitting his peak so will get 2-3 good seasons from him before moving on.
Alexander Buttner - Hasnt developed much and will be looking to move him on. Far better players ahead of him.
Fabio Coentrao - Will be main cover for Baines and can also play anywhere on the left so useful squad player.

Midfielders:
Arturo Vidal - Top class DM/CM. Cost a pricely 34M but will be a regular in my new team
Tom Cleverly - Squad player and home grown. Will keep unless he looks for a move. CM
Ashley Young - Returns back from loan.Hasnt performed in few years so may be moved on to trim wages.Winger
Junior Hoilett - Waste of 13M. Dont think he is good enough for the team. Will be moved on if possible. Winger
Nick Powell - Still only 21 and has decent potential. Will be given a couple of years to impress me. CM
Marek Hamsik - Star of the midfield. Will be key alongside Vidal. CM
Antonio Valencia - Was a key player last year due to his great form. Hopefully he will do the same this year.
Shinji Kagawa - Best asian player out there. Will play regularly to boost shirt sales and is creative. AMC
Jefferson Montero - Not up to scratch. Will try recoup the 7M spent on him. Winger

Strikers:
Neymar - Star of the show. Developed well but lacks goals. Hopefully my tactics will sort that out.
Wayne Rooney - Hitting his peak now so will be given game time. Like Neymar has struggled with goals.
Federico Macheda - Was promising but seems to have stalled. Will be allowed to leave for the right money.
Danny Wellbeck - Back up striker considering the talent here. Will be kept on.
Javier Hernandes - Again back up and mostly used as an impact sub. Sold if right offer comes in.
Robin Van Persie - Top goalscorer for 2 years but faded away last season. Past his peak, may be sold.
Angelo Henriquez- Good young player, yet to live up to expectation. Will be loaned out.

Youth Prospects:
Theres 5 outstanding youths at the club and here they are:
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Mate this is brilliant, great idea with Beckham and each update reads very well. Like the little signing off message from beckham at the end of that season! Best of luck at United! You have yourself a keen follower chap!
 
How did you manage to get united after a couple of season in spain? :O Great story mate :)
 
Seabear said:
How did you manage to get united after a couple of season in spain? :O Great story mate :)
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Not sure to be honest. Pep was favourite and I was favourite for Spurs. Pep took Spurs job and one day later United approached me. Happy days :) Thanks

dani3w said:
Mate this is brilliant, great idea with Beckham and each update reads very well. Like the little signing off message from beckham at the end of that season! Best of luck at United! You have yourself a keen follower chap!
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Thank you :)

Tezzz said:
Shame about the team hes ended up at :(
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Not a United supporter I take it :P
 
May get no updates in for a few days as Im bringing away the Wife tomorrow for a few days. Will be back to normal next week and get maybe a season or 2 done in the week.
 
Anybody interested in me continuing this again? Other commitments kept me away from fm the past while and still enjoy this save.
 
Ok so after a 6 month break from this save it returns to pick up where I left off. I had been quite busy the past few months and also pursued other saves but seeing as Sir Alex announced his retirement I felt it as a good time to return to a save I was enjoying so much. First update will be quite large as I am just 2 months into the season and want to get up to speed straight away. Lets start with pre season and then hit August and September Results.

Pre Season:
The journalists have been quick to jump on Beckhams back after his transfer policy has seen an astonishing 30 players leave the club for combined fees of £65M. Among the cull was Van Persie, Carrick, Young, Macheda, Chicarito, Montero, Buttner and Nagatomo. These players were replaced by only 7 players.
Beckham has shown his faith in youngsters previously and this season is no different. Ezio Lombardi is a talented Trequrista who has been touted as the next Alberto Aquilani(dear god) and was aquired for £2.4M from AC Milan. Carlos Fierro will again play under Beckham after excelling for Valladolid last season. Beckham stated he wouldnt poach players from his old team. However Valencia placed a bid and Beckham matched it. Fierro is said to be delighted to be testing himself on a bigger stage. The next youngster is Brooklyn Beckham(regen called Shane Draper Hicks) whom Beckham had the rights to acquire if he wished. As Beckham had been training with Norwich Beckham payed them £5M to release him from his contract.

Also on the way in was Ben Amos, Jonas Okore, Pablo Piatti and Kyle Walker. Amos and Okore are considered to be back up members and Piatti and Walker will have a more active first team role.

Due to an administrative error United played only one friendly in pre season against Dortmund which they won 3-0.

Here is screens of the recruits:
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Last edited:
August-September 2015

Unbeatable United. David Beckham has effectively silenced his critics in the media with his teams on field fortunes. United sit top of the table undefeated after 6 games. Won the Carling Cup 3rd round and also won both of their first two Champions League games. Particularly impressive has been cultured striker Neymar who has flourished on the left wing as an inside forward. Beckham has earned a reputation in the dressing room as harsh but fair and only one or two players are unhappy with how he addresses the team. Below is listed the teams results, formation and also league table. Will go into detail of matches in the next update as will be a month by month affair.
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Other news has indicated that Nemanja Vidic has signaled his intent to see out his contract at United and leave for a new challenge next season. Tom Cleverly is reportedly unhappy with his lack of first team football and Fabio Coentrao and Nick Powell want to go out on loan to gain more game time.

Beckham has been quoted as saying he will look for substantial reinforcements in the January transfer window as he finally admitted his squad is too small to last a full season. Its reported that Beckham is looking for players all over the pitch and Stoke captain Robert Shawcross is top of his list. What is unclear however is if Beckham will return to former club Valladolid to recruit with the Spanish team struggling in Liga BBVA without him. Belfodil, Valiente and Tibor Cica have all publicly stated they miss their old manager and have a lack of faith in his replacement Diego Simeone.
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Good story mate, I've just started one with Becks too. Sorry, I didn't realise there was another Beckham story, hope you don't mind. :)
 
October 2015:

Another month, another 6 games unbeaten. Beckham has kept the team's spirits high. The team have now gone 15 games unbeaten under his leadership. All his critics have been extremely quiet recently and for good reason. The team are playing with the freedom created by confidence. A major talking point is that goals are flowing in from several player and there is no single player that makes them so impressive. The players seem to have a real problem admitting defeat and have a knack at scoring in the final minutes which convert a defeat into a draw and a draw into a win.

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United sit pretty at the top of the table although Man City have games in hand Beckham doesnt seem worried. "Having games in hand is all fine and dandy however you have to be sure your going to win them". A bold statement from the talented manager which will ruffle a few feathers on the blue half of Manchester. Beckham has shown he is just as outspoken and as good at mind games as his predecessor Alex Ferguson. When Beckham was told of this his reply was "I learned from the best after all, didnt I?".

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Beckham has recently come out in his admiration for talented young striker Alfie Butters of Charlton who is ripping the Championship apart. Despite only being 17 Butters has been labelled as the next Michael Owen and a possible replacement for Wayne Rooney for England in the long term. Beckham made his intentions clear by saying that Butters will be a future star and he was looking into the possibility of signing him. Charlton were quick to rebuff this and say their player was not for sale at any price. Butters himself that it was any players to dream of playing at a team of United's caliber.

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Streaky25 said:
Good story mate, I've just started one with Becks too. Sorry, I didn't realise there was another Beckham story, hope you don't mind. :)
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Cheers fella. Ah, its easy to have missed mine. I havnt updated it in 6 months as I havnt had the time to play FM much and when I did I was playing the Pentagon Challenge. Now I completed that I felt it was time to return to this save :) Dont mind at all :)
 
November 2015:

Goldenballs has the midas touch say a few of the papers today. This is after the teams last game of the month where we earned a hard fought draw at Stamford Bridge and now sees the club unbeaten in their first 20 games under me. The team have been performing excellently and have a good understanding of my tactics now. Despite our excellent form we cant seem to open more of a gap at the top of the table and Man City are right on our heels. Brooklyn has progressed well in training and made his first two appearances for the team.

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Carlos Fierro has been in superb form this season and it will be a big blow when he misses the next month due to a dislocated jaw. That just leaves Wayne Rooney as the only fit senior Striker. Again my shortcomings in the Summer have left the team in dire straights and reinforcements are a must in January, especially if we plan to challenge for trophies. This month also seen us qualify from the group stages of the Champions League and I was present as England failed to qualify for Euro 2016 which resulted in Brendan Rodgers losing his job as England Manager.

After the England game Wayne Rooney addressed the media and stated he was retiring from the national fold and wanted to concentrate on his domestic career to prolong it. This will be a big blow for the next England manager as Rooney was the all time top scorer with 62 goals in 109 games. Michael Carrick, the former United player also announced his retirement and Ryan Shawcross became the new captain. Shawcross is currently in discussions with United about the possibility of a transfer.
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December 2012:

United Improve. After a poor start by losing to mid table Liverpool in the first game of the month United recovered well and won all their remaining games this month. It was a poor performance for United and matters went from bad to worse when the referee missed a blatant penalty for United and allowed play to run on early on. It was a sign of things to come also when Vidal got sent off for a second yellow card and Lucas Leiva snatched an injury time winner for the Pool.
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Their form over the month has seen United stay top and have distanced themselves from the chasing pack with the exception of Man City who are still matching Uniteds form.
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The First Knockout round of the Champions League has also been made with Beckham facing SL Benfica or Portugal. It is seen as one of the easier ties of the round however Beckham stated that no games would be easy at this level and wouldnt dis respect Benfica.
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January 2016:

Another solid month for Beckham's Red Devils. With 9 games this month and 7 wins and a draw was a good outcome. The downside was injuries sustained to Carlos Fierro, Neymar and Piatti who all got injured for between 4 and 8 weeks. The final game against Newcastle was a bitter disappointment but couldnt be too hard on the players after playing so many games in such a short space of time. The month also seen the team reach their first cup final by reaching the final of the Capital One Cup.
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Yet again theres no moving away from Man City and we still only hold a 3 point lead in the title race.
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The biggest news this month was the arrival of 7 new players. Beckham decided to invest in quantity and quality spending big money on Ryan Shawcross, Christian Erikson, Alfie Butters and James McCarthy. Also brought in was veteran striker Moussa Sow as a back up and talented youngsters Igor Correa and Diego Melucci who are tipped to have a bright future.
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