Hi everyone - long-term player, medium-term story reader, first time poster here!
I've loved reading other people's stories recently so I have decided to take the plunge and give it a go myself...
Being a Nottingham Forest fan (originally from Nottingham and now in Hamilton, New Zealand) there was only one option for the first story - the mighty Reds. I downloaded the most recent transfer update I could find, did a little tinkering (positions more than anything) and scoured the web for the most appropriate tactic I could find. I settled on 'Steaton's Total Annihilation' 4231 tactic as I thought it would suit the Forest squad well (attacking full backs, creative midfielders, genuine wingers and a strong centre forward)... Finger crossed I've made a good choice here as it has started well for me!
My first job was to assess the squad and see who could go and who needed to be brought in. I was pretty happy with the squad as a whole but decided that two key areas to improve were the GK situation and a new, solid LB. Karl Darlow has recently been sold to Newcastle (but loaned back for the season) so I decided that a quality GK was required. I settled on the well known Tomasz Kuszczak who's stats were very good for the Championship and was still young enough at 31 to build a team around for a couple of seasons at least.
I then searched through team lists and scout reports for quite a while in the aim of finding a young, talented LB who I believed could provide competition for my established full backs (Danny Fox, Eric Lichaj, Dan Harding) and maybe progress to being a solid Premier League player in a couple of years. This is what I found:
View attachment 333146
As you can imagine, I was absolutely stoked - even if he did cost me 2.5m! Superb dribbling and crossing abilities along with solid defensive skills too. I think that this guy can slot straight in as my first choice LB!
Due to finding Nicolas, I decided to let Dan Harding leave permanently. He moved to Charlton for 215k and I also let a couple of youngsters go out on loan. My transfer dealings for the first half of the summer can be seen below:
View attachment 333145
Nothing too exciting but I felt that the squad as a whole was ready to challenge for the Championship - as long as the early part of the season went well. The first team squad can be seen below:
View attachment 333144 View attachment 333143
On this note I was very happy with pre-season. The boys were working hard on their fitness in training and the friendlies passed by without any major hitches (losses or injuries). 5 wins and a draw showed that they were working well together and the tactic seemed to be working well too:
View attachment 333142
So far, so good... I have played the first two league games and the first round of the League Cup but will be updating this story on a month by month basis. I hope people are looking forward to how I go!
Cheers, Andy
I've loved reading other people's stories recently so I have decided to take the plunge and give it a go myself...
Being a Nottingham Forest fan (originally from Nottingham and now in Hamilton, New Zealand) there was only one option for the first story - the mighty Reds. I downloaded the most recent transfer update I could find, did a little tinkering (positions more than anything) and scoured the web for the most appropriate tactic I could find. I settled on 'Steaton's Total Annihilation' 4231 tactic as I thought it would suit the Forest squad well (attacking full backs, creative midfielders, genuine wingers and a strong centre forward)... Finger crossed I've made a good choice here as it has started well for me!
My first job was to assess the squad and see who could go and who needed to be brought in. I was pretty happy with the squad as a whole but decided that two key areas to improve were the GK situation and a new, solid LB. Karl Darlow has recently been sold to Newcastle (but loaned back for the season) so I decided that a quality GK was required. I settled on the well known Tomasz Kuszczak who's stats were very good for the Championship and was still young enough at 31 to build a team around for a couple of seasons at least.
I then searched through team lists and scout reports for quite a while in the aim of finding a young, talented LB who I believed could provide competition for my established full backs (Danny Fox, Eric Lichaj, Dan Harding) and maybe progress to being a solid Premier League player in a couple of years. This is what I found:
View attachment 333146
As you can imagine, I was absolutely stoked - even if he did cost me 2.5m! Superb dribbling and crossing abilities along with solid defensive skills too. I think that this guy can slot straight in as my first choice LB!
Due to finding Nicolas, I decided to let Dan Harding leave permanently. He moved to Charlton for 215k and I also let a couple of youngsters go out on loan. My transfer dealings for the first half of the summer can be seen below:
View attachment 333145
Nothing too exciting but I felt that the squad as a whole was ready to challenge for the Championship - as long as the early part of the season went well. The first team squad can be seen below:
View attachment 333144 View attachment 333143
On this note I was very happy with pre-season. The boys were working hard on their fitness in training and the friendlies passed by without any major hitches (losses or injuries). 5 wins and a draw showed that they were working well together and the tactic seemed to be working well too:
View attachment 333142
So far, so good... I have played the first two league games and the first round of the League Cup but will be updating this story on a month by month basis. I hope people are looking forward to how I go!
Cheers, Andy