I got FM 10 for Christmas, and decided that since I enjoyed my career as Reading on 09, I would try it on FM 10. I also decided to make a story thread for it. I hope to achieve promotion to the EPL in my first season, and then to consolidate my position in the league for a few years, and hopefully be challenging for European places in about 5 years time.
I immediatly found that this was going to be more challenging that in FM 09, since the team has far less quality in it to begin with, and the transfer budget is very small. I would have liked to simply tell the board I wanted to finish in the top half after taking a good look at the team etc, but the minimum available was promotion.
I moved to strengthen the team overall in the transfer window, and so far have signed Sol Campbell on a free, David N'Gog on loan from Liverpool and Ivan Bandalovski from Loko (Sofia) for £80K.
I had a good pre-season, scoring at least 4 goals in all but one match, although they were all far weaker teams than myself. Thanks to this, we went into the season full of confidence.
We started August well, but soon encountered a massive setback:
August Results:
CH: Reading 1 - 0 Nottingham Forest (Long 44):
I felt that this was a good result, and a decent way to start the season. We dominated the match, and deserved to win by more goals.
LC: Reading 4 - 0 Northampton (N'Gog 8, 30, Campbell 42, Kébé 61):
Another good result, I was very pleased by how many chances we created, although Northampton are 2 leagues below us so it was to be expected.
CH: Newcastle United 6 - 0 Reading (Carroll 9, 64, Ameobi 25, pen 40, 48, Jonas 80):
This was a shocking result, and an absolutely awful performance. We just didn't turn up at all. I was expecting a loss, but I thought we could have put up some kind of fight at least.
CH: Swansea 2 - 1 Reading (Dyer 45+4, Trundle 61, Mills 68):
Another bad result, although not as awful as the Newcastle shambles. I would have liked a point here, but we just didn't have enough quality to come back. When we pulled one back, I went all out for a point at least, but to no avail.
CH: Reading 6 - 1 Sheffield United (Howard 12, 33, Henry 40, 69, Rasiak 44, N'Gog 67, Treacy 74):
I was determined to turn around the run of defeats, and made a couple of changes to the starting lineup, including giving Brian Howard a first league start of the season. After that performance it won't be his last either. An early goal from him put us in a good position, but a lot of credit has to be given to Federici, who made some top quality saves before Howard put daylight between the sides with a fantastic volley from the edge of the area. After that we dominated and had the game won by half time. An absolutely fantastic win.
LC: Reading 2 - 3 Coventry (AET) (Rasiak 13, Kébé 69, Morrison 9, Gunnarsson 39, Cork 109):
We didn't actually play too badly here, but failed to get a result. That is a bad sign, and these things need to be got rid of as soon as possible. Federici saved a penalty, but it wasn't enough to stop us being put out of the League Cup by a side who are at best our equals.
CH: Barnsley 3 - 4 Reading (Hallfreosson 25, Bogdanovic 41, Campbell-Ryce pen 51, Matejovsky 2, Long 70, N'Gog 86, Kébé 90+2):
A great result in the end, after being 3 - 1 down and looking dead and buried. A good performance and a great way to come back from the Coventry defeat. I am concerned at the fact that we have given away 3 penalties so far this season already though.
Reading Player of the Month: Jimmy Kébé, he has come up with the goods every time he has needed to. It was a close decision between him and David N'Gog.
Reading Match of the Month: Barnsley 3 - 4 Reading - A great game of football and a fantastic comeback from my team. The best goal was definitely the goal for Barnsley by Bogdanovic, when he took on 3 players before smashing home from close range.
Reading Goal of the Month: Brian Howard's volley from the edge of the area after a brilliant cut back from James Henry against Sheffield United.
I immediatly found that this was going to be more challenging that in FM 09, since the team has far less quality in it to begin with, and the transfer budget is very small. I would have liked to simply tell the board I wanted to finish in the top half after taking a good look at the team etc, but the minimum available was promotion.
I moved to strengthen the team overall in the transfer window, and so far have signed Sol Campbell on a free, David N'Gog on loan from Liverpool and Ivan Bandalovski from Loko (Sofia) for £80K.
I had a good pre-season, scoring at least 4 goals in all but one match, although they were all far weaker teams than myself. Thanks to this, we went into the season full of confidence.
We started August well, but soon encountered a massive setback:
August Results:
CH: Reading 1 - 0 Nottingham Forest (Long 44):
I felt that this was a good result, and a decent way to start the season. We dominated the match, and deserved to win by more goals.
LC: Reading 4 - 0 Northampton (N'Gog 8, 30, Campbell 42, Kébé 61):
Another good result, I was very pleased by how many chances we created, although Northampton are 2 leagues below us so it was to be expected.
CH: Newcastle United 6 - 0 Reading (Carroll 9, 64, Ameobi 25, pen 40, 48, Jonas 80):
This was a shocking result, and an absolutely awful performance. We just didn't turn up at all. I was expecting a loss, but I thought we could have put up some kind of fight at least.
CH: Swansea 2 - 1 Reading (Dyer 45+4, Trundle 61, Mills 68):
Another bad result, although not as awful as the Newcastle shambles. I would have liked a point here, but we just didn't have enough quality to come back. When we pulled one back, I went all out for a point at least, but to no avail.
CH: Reading 6 - 1 Sheffield United (Howard 12, 33, Henry 40, 69, Rasiak 44, N'Gog 67, Treacy 74):
I was determined to turn around the run of defeats, and made a couple of changes to the starting lineup, including giving Brian Howard a first league start of the season. After that performance it won't be his last either. An early goal from him put us in a good position, but a lot of credit has to be given to Federici, who made some top quality saves before Howard put daylight between the sides with a fantastic volley from the edge of the area. After that we dominated and had the game won by half time. An absolutely fantastic win.
LC: Reading 2 - 3 Coventry (AET) (Rasiak 13, Kébé 69, Morrison 9, Gunnarsson 39, Cork 109):
We didn't actually play too badly here, but failed to get a result. That is a bad sign, and these things need to be got rid of as soon as possible. Federici saved a penalty, but it wasn't enough to stop us being put out of the League Cup by a side who are at best our equals.
CH: Barnsley 3 - 4 Reading (Hallfreosson 25, Bogdanovic 41, Campbell-Ryce pen 51, Matejovsky 2, Long 70, N'Gog 86, Kébé 90+2):
A great result in the end, after being 3 - 1 down and looking dead and buried. A good performance and a great way to come back from the Coventry defeat. I am concerned at the fact that we have given away 3 penalties so far this season already though.
Reading Player of the Month: Jimmy Kébé, he has come up with the goods every time he has needed to. It was a close decision between him and David N'Gog.
Reading Match of the Month: Barnsley 3 - 4 Reading - A great game of football and a fantastic comeback from my team. The best goal was definitely the goal for Barnsley by Bogdanovic, when he took on 3 players before smashing home from close range.
Reading Goal of the Month: Brian Howard's volley from the edge of the area after a brilliant cut back from James Henry against Sheffield United.
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