Huddersfield Town - The pathway to the top

[Ruddock]

Hello all, welcome to my first thread on fm-base. In this thread I hope to keep you up to date with my fm12 save with Huddersfield Town and maybe ask for your opinions or advice on the save. Before I start, you might want to know that I have updated my game (using LfcMarshall's update) so that the May 2012 promotions and relegations concerning every league are in place, any manager changes made within the 2011/12 season are in place, and transfers made within the 2011/12 season are in place and the previous cup winners are updated. Examples of changes made by this update are as follows:
Huddersfield in the Championship, along with Charlton, Sheffield Wed, Wolves, Blackburn and Bolton.
Hodgson - England manager, Rodgers - Liverpool manager.
Lucas Podolski transferred to Arsenal. Marko Marin transferred to Chelsea.
Chelsea - Fa Cup winners, Liverpool - Carling Cup winners.

 

[Ruddock]

I like to get my transfers and staff changes completed in early July so I have the rest of pre-season to focus on tactics and other things. I go through all my current staff and their attributes and if I feel that I can appoint someone that is better suited to that job then I will offer a mutual termination of my employee's contract. I done this for quite a few of my workers, terminating their contracts just two days after joining the club as manager. Recruitment took a little longer than expected, though I was satisfied with my backroom team well before the end of July.

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Transfers also went very well. I was given £2.7 million and a very healthy wage budget to achieve my aim of finishing in the top half of the table. Given Huddersfield had just been promoted and the predicted league finish was 20th, but this healthy budget could just fire me into a playoff place come May. All incoming transfers were completed just after mid-July. Any outgoing transfers will be completed in August.

I know I needed a new goalkeeper to replace, for just one season, 21 year old Alex Smithies who is out for 7-9 months unfortunately. Valued at £1.6 million already, and reported as 5 star potential, he is definitely, what fm-base users like to call, a 'wonderkid'. For just a one-season replacement I didn't really want to spend money on a new goalkeeper. I was going to loan one or bring in a free transfer. Mike Pollitt, 39, well known for being the backup keeper at Wigan, was going to be the man. He had bags of experience and I got him on a low wage for 1 year, probably because he was considering retirement. I also knew I needed to beef up my midfield and so spent £1.2 million on Tommy Rowe from Peterborough. He is young and is predicted to become the best player in my squad (besides Jordan Rhodes). £800k was also spent on the experienced and versatile African, Kalifa Cisse, who will be the anchor in my side and will provide cover for the defence. Lee Bowyer was out of contract and was happy to join us. Other memorable incoming transfers included Joe Mattock(free), Jay McEveley(free), Daniel Kome(free), Stephen Dobbie(loan - £425k) and Sammy Ameobi(loan).

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Pre-season results were really pleasing, winning 5 out of 6 matches. We scored a total of 20 goals and conceded 7. However, 6 goals that we leaked were in the game against Manchester United, which finished 2-6. The scoreline does not tell the whole story (as the match report below shows). We were leading through Jordan Rhodes, and later we were only one goal behind at 2-3. As the match went on though, United showed their class and we were unable to deal with their fast tempo. Other results were extremely impressive, including a 3-0 win over Preston. Star players included Alan Lee with 3 goals in 2 apps, Jordan Rhodes with 4 goals in 4 apps and Daniel Kome with 3 goals in 3 apps.

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[youngmanger]

looks good, maybe actually write down the results rather than just screenies? KIU good stuf

 

[Ruddock]

Thanks youngmanager,
Yeah I was thinking about doing a report of each friendly match but couldn't be bothered, especially with the high scoring games. I will be reporting on the league and cup games though, or at least the most memorable ones in that specific month.

 

[kellett1992]

keen to see how you get on i just started bought in boyata who has been awesome and heider helgurson on loan, sean davis is an outstanding free transfer to play dm.

 

[NO2OUP]

can't wait to see how you get on mate goodluck