Replacing Pulis at The Potters!

Transfer Activity

Balancing the Books

Despite a transfer budget of £27.5m being made available in return for European qualification for the coming season, Hammel was determined to be more frugal than the past 2 seasons.

Obviously, securing a player of the stature and value of Pato on a free transfer assisted in this policy.

View attachment 148165

Alex Henshall joined after being released by Man City.
He is not expected to challenge for a 1st team spot anytime soon unless he develops very quickly but may fetch a few quid in the future.

Utility midfielder Axel Witsel joined for £2.3m from Standard. His wage demands were reasonable at £14k per week and he could cover a number of positions.

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Pacey winger Scott Goddard joined from Millwall as Hammel's scouts looked to secure young English talent before Spurs snapped them all up.

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Kyle Walker joined on a permanent deal after spending 2 years on loan at The Britannia.
A summer of protracted negotiations with Spurs and the player saw him join for £6.75m

16 year old Spanish wonderkid Soto was next to join swapping the Basque country for Stoke in a £2.3m deal.
Definitely a star of the future if trained right.

View attachment 148169

That concluded the transfer dealings inwards as far as Hammel was concerned but after being rebuffed by Arsenal in a permanent deal for Jack Wilshere he was snapped up on loan for a 2nd successive season.

£12m was recouped in transfer sales from players deemed surplus to requirements.
 
Champions League Draw

An excited and expectant Stoke contingent travelled to Nyon for the Champions League Group stages draw with £6m of prize money safely banked for direct qualification.

Stoke were seeded 3rd in the draw that was carried out by French Manager Arsene Wenger.

Stoke were drawn in Group B alongside top seeds Inter, Paris St Germain and Cypriot minnows Omonia in a group that should be possible to qualify from.

View attachment 148233
 
August 2012

Slow Start to the Season

Stoke 2 Bolton 0

Monzon, Neymar
Man of the Match - Neymar

Despite it being mid August the weather was once again rubbish at The Britannia and the whole day was spent under "light drizzle"

Nothing however could dampen the spirits of the fans as they greeted the Premiership Champions as they started the defence of their crown.

Bolton were the opponents and surprisingly they didn't pick up 1 yellow card.
Monzon opened the scoring from the spot just before half time.
Stoke couldn't make their dominance pay until the last minute when Neymar cut in from the right, danced round the keeper and slotted home from the edge of the box.

View attachment 148287

Fulham 1 Stoke 1

Vieirinha, Ben Haim OG
Man of the Match - Vieirinha

Stoke dominated the game but could not secure all 3 points.
They went behind to a Vieirinha header from a left wing cross.
Ben Haim gave away an own goal as he hacked down Pato as he was about to score, turning the ball into his net as a result.
Fulham battled hard earning 5 yellow cards for some robust challenges.

View attachment 148288

Stoke 0 Man United 0

Man of the Match - Sergio Asenjo

A dazzling display from Spanish Keeper Asenjo who had been missed by Stoke's scouts as he joined United on a free transfer in the summer.
Stoke dominated the game but could not beat the inspired young Spaniard.

View attachment 148289

A decent start to the season and Stoke need to build on this during the month of September.
 
September 2012

Solid September

5 games, 5 wins, loads of goals, some of them goal of the season contenders!!!

Everton 1 Stoke 4

Caicedo - Neymar, Monzon, Lucas, Wilshere (pen)
Man of the Match - Neymar

1st game after the international break away to Everton and the only nervous moment was when Caicedo pulled the score back to 2-1.
Monzon scored a cracking free kick in an otherwise straightforward win.

View attachment 148304

Champions League

View attachment 148309
View attachment 148310

Stoke 4 Paris St Germain 2

E Hazard, Pato, Shawcross, Dentinho - Hoarau (2)
Man of the March - Hoarau


Champions League football came to Stoke for the 1st time ever.
Another wet evening greeted the sell out crowd of 32,500.
The 1st half ended 1-0 to the visitors as a nervous Stoke appeared to freeze on the big stage.
Encouraging words from Hammel at half time saw a different team after the break.
Hazard equalised within a minute and Pato scored to give Stoke the lead.
A lapse in concentration saw the equaliser from MOTM Hoarau.
Dentinho scored a poachers effort after a well worked free kick saw Shawcross give Stoke the lead.
A really good game and great result with record gate receipts of £1.3m secured.

View attachment 148305

Stoke 3 West Brom 0

Cairney, Monzon (pen) E Hazard (pen)
Man of the Match - Shawcross

2 minutes in and Cairney opened the scoring after a one two with Ganso.
Suicidal defending from West Brom saw 2 penalties conceded and the points were safe.
Stoke back to the top of the League!!

View attachment 148306

Carling Cup 3rd Round

Blackpool 1 Stoke 4

Championship Blackpool hosted Champions Stoke.
A bad start to the game for the hosts as Higginbottom scored from the spot in the 2nd minute.
Shawcross, Kadlec and Babacar secured the points.
Romario and Soto (regen) made their full debuts.

View attachment 148307

Aston Villa 1 Stoke 3

Cuellar - Neymar (2) Lucas
Man of the Match - Neymar

Neymar continued his fine start to the season playing in the advanced forward role in the absence of the recovering Dentinho.
2 goal of the season contenders as he picked the ball up in his own half for each goal and scored after mazy runs that bamboozled the static Villa defence.
A nervy 2 minutes may have occured after Cuellar equalised on 88 but a delightful chip from Lucas straight from the KO secured a 5th straight win of the month.

View attachment 148308

Top of the league from Sunderland and Inter Milan in the Champions League next!!!

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Great story here... btw can i trouble you to post a screenshot of Dentinho at this stage of your game play? Really curious how he develops...
 
Dentinho

I find he works best as a Complete Forward.
Bought him January 2011 but he got injured a month later so missed the rest of the season.
He is not that strong so picks up the odd knock.

He is great in front of goal but didn't seem to suit poacher funnily enough.
I would thoroughly recommend him if you have the cash.

View attachment 148494
View attachment 148495
View attachment 148496
 
Thanks for the screenshots, looks good, quite a versatile player i think, but i did a search on him on my save and he's not in :( Maybe it is because i didn't load the Brazil leagues.
 
fuhua1993 said:
Thanks for the screenshots, looks good, quite a versatile player i think, but i did a search on him on my save and he's not in :( Maybe it is because i didn't load the Brazil leagues.
Click to expand...

Stoke playing with flair and not route one long throws Target Man football? Fine with me I suppose, kind of feels like an alternate dimension though

You might want to just stop spending for say 1 season, your Pato signing on fees don't affect the transfer budget I think

Aren't you worried about becoming the 2nd "Leeds"?

Nice work winning the league with Stoke, hopefully the TV money and prize money can reduce your deficit

With all the brazilians and argentinians, have you tried offering them new contracts? sometimes I get work permits refused for them (not sure whether they played enough international matches though :'()
 
fuhua1993 said:
Thanks for the screenshots, looks good, quite a versatile player i think, but i did a search on him on my save and he's not in :( Maybe it is because i didn't load the Brazil leagues.
Click to expand...

I think I may have loaded Brazilian & Argentinian leagues as I wanted to get some cheap young flair players :)
Sign Lucas though he is tremendous!!
 
CsAtlantis said:
Stoke playing with flair and not route one long throws Target Man football? Fine with me I suppose, kind of feels like an alternate dimension though

You might want to just stop spending for say 1 season, your Pato signing on fees don't affect the transfer budget I think

Aren't you worried about becoming the 2nd "Leeds"?

Nice work winning the league with Stoke, hopefully the TV money and prize money can reduce your deficit

With all the brazilians and argentinians, have you tried offering them new contracts? sometimes I get work permits refused for them (not sure whether they played enough international matches though :'()
Click to expand...

Hi mate
I still play fast and direct and Shawcross is still a menace from set pieces!!
I am slowly introducing a slower shorter game but over a season or 2

Not too fussed about the transfer budget this year as I won't buy anyone unless
A) my scouts find a 4 star regen who doesn't need a work permit
B) I can stengthen LB as Monzon is ok but also erratic

Dzeko is on a free at the end of the year coz I need another forward ;)

Peter Risdale is my CEO and FD I think. If I get thru this season and qualify for Champions League again I should be fine!
All my overseas players on minimum 4 year contracts and they are mostly internationals now so should qualify for work permits!
If the odd 1 doesn't I should be able to sell at a profit!
Got Romario for 120k now worth £2m!!!

---------- Post added at 09:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 PM ----------

ajgovernsdestiny12345 said:
Loving the story mate !
Check my story out if u get time
Click to expand...

Thanks mate just popping out now will do tonight!
Probably do an update tomorrow now...
 
October 2012

Inconsistency and Complacency

View attachment 149073

View attachment 149074

Inter Milan 1 Stoke 0

Inter Milan had 1 shot on target and scored the only goal of the game from it.
Wesley Sneijder scoring the winner midway through the second half.
Stoke played ok but seemed nervous and didn't deserve a result.

View attachment 149075

Stoke 3 Sunderland 3

A cracker from The Britannia as the top 2 teams in the Premier League continued their fine goal scoring form.
Neither team ever established the crucial 2 goal lead.
Hazard and the impressive Neymar who was playing as a striker scored the Stoke goals.

View attachment 149076

West Ham 0 Stoke 3

West Ham were facing an uphill task which was made much more difficult after 9 minutes as Kolo Toure was sent off for a professional foul.
Dentinho scored his 1st league goal of the season from the spot in an injury interrupted start to the season.
Neymar scored the 2nd cutting in from the left.
Impressive Captain Shawcross added a deserved 3rd

View attachment 149077

Omonoia 0 Stoke 3

The most one sided game in Champions League history as Stoke managed 32 shots virtually without reply.
3-0 was ok but goal difference may be crucial so a big win was needed at home in 3 weeks.
A double for Shawcross either side of Kadlec's goal sealed the points and the prize money.

View attachment 149078

Stoke 3 Chelsea 0

Struggling Chelsea came to high flying Stoke. Who would have thought that would be the case 2 years ago?
Stoke totally dominated the game and only an inspired performance from Cech kept the scoreline respectable.
Stoke could even afford to have a penalty saved and still run out 3 goal winners.
Neymar, Galeano from a Shawcross knock down and good work from Lucas resulting in the unlucky Rami scoring an own goal.

View attachment 149088

Stoke 0 Bolton 2 - Carling Cup 4th Round

"If the Senior players cant be bothered I will play the kids in future" raged Hammel after this lacklustre defeat.
Schelotto, Rever, Arismendi & Witsel all had shockers.
Pato still settling badly into the Premiership and a good trophy chance was over...

View attachment 149089


Round Up

Still top of the league in a familiar looking title race with Everton and Arsenal up there again.
Carlo Ancelotti had rejuvenated underperforming Man City who were looking better.

Dentinho won his 1st cap.

View attachment 149091

Cairney picked up another serious injury that will keep him out until February.

Hammel was ruing not having the funds to have signed Maurizio Longo when discovered last season. "The best player since Messi" was tearing up Serie A for Inter depsite his tender years.

View attachment 149090
 
November 2012

Loyalty and Lessons to Learn

Stoke 1 Arsenal 1

The top 2 clashed at the start of the month at The Britannia. For once the sun was shining over Stoke-on Trent but the mood was darkened when RVP opened the scoring.
Dentinho scored the equaliser shortly after but Stoke did everything but score the winner thereafter.
Still a point won against the favourites for the title was not the end of the world.

View attachment 149615

Stoke 6 Omonoia 1

Group B whipping boys were taught a lesson by an attacking team playing an unfamiliar 4-4-2 formation.
Babacar led the line well and was unlucky his goal was credited as an OG.
Kadlec also impressed with a double playing on the left wing but encouraged to get forward and cut inside.

View attachment 149616

Blackburn 1 Stoke 2

Stoke played the beautiful game. Blackburn led by that nasty **** Diouf preferred the dirty side of the game.
Stoke were 2 up within 15 minutes as Hazard and Shawcross took their chances.
Taking chances was something Stoke were struggling with at the moment and there were no further Stoke goals.
Stokcer pulled a goal back for the home side but their chances of securing a point were ended by 2 red cards for shocking tackles that have no place in the modern game. Or any game apart from Kick Boxing...

View attachment 149617

Man City 2 Stoke 0

The difference was Tevez who was immense and gave a normally composed defence a torrid time.
Man City jumped above Stoke after this result.
Stoke's 1st league defeat of the season in a 14 game undefeated run.

View attachment 149618

Ancelotti's replacement at Chelsea, David Moyes, was sacked later that evening and press speculation immediately led to Hammel being Abramovich's choice to succeed the Scot.
Would the lure of a big contract managing the team he supports be too much of a temptation?

Stoke 3 Liverpool 0

Stoke bounced back with an emphatic win over Liverpool.
The highlight was the 3rd goal as Pato scored his 1st Premier League goal and would hopefully start to justify his reputation and weekly wage as he started to settle to life in England.

View attachment 149619

Hammel was officially approached by Ron Gourlay after the game but declined the offer as he had unfinished business at Stoke.
Hopefully his players would show the same loyalty come January.
Juventus also approached the rising star of world football management but were quickly rebuffed.

The International break saw Kyle Walker win his 1st England cap under Stuart Pearce and Diego Alves made his Brazil debut in goal.

Wolves 0 Stoke 2

Hammel's players put all the recent speculation regarding their manager behind them with a confident performance against battling Wolves.
Lucas and his replacement down the right, Pato, both scored.

View attachment 149620

PSG 1 Stoke 0

View attachment 149621

A draw would have secured Stoke's passage into the knockout stages and the continued financial rewards that would bring.
Hoarau scored his 3rd goal against Stoke in the competition and that was the difference between the teams.
The ref was busy with his yellow card and notebook booking 9 players in total.
Hammel was angry not to get anything from the game as they had plenty of chances to score.
Inter Milan surprisingly drew and Stoke's mission in Matchday 6 was simple.
Win and your through, draw and you should be out...

The top of the Premier League was tight with Stoke leading Man City & Everton by a single point but had played a game more.

View attachment 149622
 
Champions League Special

Match Day 6

View attachment 149757

View attachment 149753

Big decisions were needed before the game as this match was effectively a winner takes all match with the winners guaranteed to progress.

View attachment 149759

The big rumour was that Babacar's recent (very recent) good form would earn him a starting berth up front as a target man in favour of the likes of Dentinho, Kadlec and Neymar.

View attachment 149754

This was confirmed just after 7pm. Ganso was given a deep lying playmaker role and Hazard was entrusted to support the main striker from midfield.
Neymar was to provide the width from the left and the big surprise was the omission of Pato who had been getting into his stride. Lucas was chosen on the right wing.

Inter lined up with a strong 4-4-2 formation with wonderkid Longo looking to impress the admiring opposition manager.

Stoke 6 (SIX) Inter 0

"If I manage for another 20 seasons I will never witness a display of that magnitude"

Stoke were simply brilliant from the 1st minute and took every half chance on offer.
Babacar totally justified his inclusion as he gave Lucio a torrid time.
Neymar was clinical.
Schelotto and Annan scored their 1st goals of the season to crown a terrific night.

View attachment 149755

Inter were stunned and as they slipped to 3rd in the table they were relegated to the Europa League.

Knockout Draw

Stoke were quietly confident to travel to Germany in the 1st leg against Werder Bremen.
The Champions League adventure continues...

View attachment 149756
 
December 2012

Deadly December

Newcastle 2 Stoke 3

The build up to the game was overshadowed by Gary Neville being appointed Fulham Manager.
Why this dominated the pre-match press conference was a mystery to Hammel who had no interest in discussing the matter.
The post match press conference was all about the terrific 2nd half where Newcastle had overturned Wilshere's opener at the end of the 1st half.
Captain Fantastic Shawcross showed why he was a shoe in for a place in the World Team of the year with 2 goals - the winner in injury time.

View attachment 149896

Stoke 4 Birmingham 0

A less stressful performance next with some motivation from the Manager required at half time due to a lacklustre 1st half.
Hazard, Ganso, Dentinho and a Ben Foster own goal secured an emphatic win.

View attachment 149898

Stoke 2 Leeds 0

Stoke had nearly adopted the Leeds Financial model last season and met the original "boom & bust team" at The Britannia.
Another familiar story with total domination in shots and few chances taken.
Hazard is proving to be virtually unplayable in the hole behind the striker and he opened the scoring.
Galeano poked home after good work from Shawcross from another corner.

View attachment 149899

Wigan 1 Stoke 5

5 goals & 5 different scorers.
Half the shots of the previous game and more than twice the goals.
Great team effort had the Manager, fans and pundits praising the young team.
Babacar is growing into a top striker and Dentinho is struggling to play up front.
Dentinho did open the scoring from a superb Pato cross from 1 flank to the other.
Galeano, Lucas, Babacar and Kadlec completed the rout.
Schelotto gave away another penalty and some work on the training ground was needed on his tackling.

View attachment 149901

Spurs 2 Stoke 3

Stoke came to the Capital again on Boxing Day to play fading Spurs who had slipped to 9th.
Hammel reverted to a Defensive Midfield formation and appeared good as Lucas opened the scoring on 3 minutes.
2 quickfire goals from Valencia and Huddlestone changed the complexion of the game and led to some stern words and a change to the AMC formation that had served Stoke well recently.
The 2nd half was much better with Shawcross and substitute Pato securing the win.
Too much respect had been given to Spurs in the 1st half.

View attachment 149900

Bolton 0 Stoke 4

The 3rd consecutive away game and and another rout as the attacking formation was retained.
Stoke certainly like to share the goals around and on this occasion a player scored more than one.
Hazard, Babacar and Lucas (2) showed that they can take the chances provided.

View attachment 149897

World Team of the Year

A delighted Ryan Shawcross was named in the World Team of the Year for the 2nd year running which is a tremendous achievement for the 25 year old.
He joined some of the worlds biggest stars in the 1st 11.

View attachment 149902

2 horse race

Stoke reached the end of 2012 top of the league on goal difference from Man City who had a game in hand.
The top 2 had powered through December and were now 10 points clear of 3rd placed Everton although very little separated the next 4 teams down to 7th
Spurs had dropped off the pace badly and Chelsea continued to struggle.

View attachment 149903
 
January Transfer Window

The window will hopefully give Hammel the opportunity to offload some deadwood that was rotting in the reserves.

Marc Wilson has agreed to join Swansea for £2.2m and the £29k per week wages will be a welcome reduction on the financial burden although Stoke have had to pay £8k per week for the remaining 18 months on his contract.

Brazilian bargain Crivellaro who had joined for £35k in 2011 to provide cover for the squad was off to Leicester for £600k which was not a bad return as his contract was due to expire in June 2013.

Ryan Shotton was agreeing personal terms for his £650k to Blackburn as his chances had became even more limited as Romario would soon be considered for 1st team duties and Schelotto was preferred as cover to Kyle Walker.

Stoke's talented squad was being watched by most of Europe's big guns and 10 players were on the radar and none of these were considered available for sale.

Matias Defederico was the 1 player who would be made available if the right offer came in.
Juventus interest had cooled recently but they may be approached

Hammel was keen to improve the left back position as Monzon is erratic and Higginbottom is leaving at the end of the season.
He is not prepared to risk a big money move though unless transfer funds can be generated.

Bosman Targets

8 players had been identified as potential Bosman targets at the start of the season.
These had been scouted extensively and been reduced to 2 players who were both interested in joining the Stoke revolution.

View attachment 149933

Steven Defour (a big fan of the site apparently) was a creative defensive midfielder with superb technical attributes. The only concern was his recent injury record but this was deemed an acceptable risk for a free transfer.

View attachment 149934

Edin Dzeko (this is patch 11.2 remember) had out grown the German league and was looking for a new transfer and was all ears to any offer Stoke would make.
Juventus were interested in an immediate transfer but the Italian Giants were struggling and would a Bosman free attract the powerful Bosnian more?
If he were to be targeted and join where would he fit into Stoke's extensive forward thinking squad...
 
Zidave said:
Thanks mate this is going better than my FM10 one :)

Glad you're enjoying it - have you stopped your one you were doing well?
Click to expand...

yeah mate, couldnt be bothered with it. i also think this is better than the fm 2010 one
 
January 2013

January Sales

Stoke 3 Fulham 1

It was a Happy New Year as Stoke continued as the old year had left off.
A slow start the game as both teams cancelled each other out.
Fulham actually took the lead just after they had been reduced to 10 men.
Dembele scoring a fine solo goal.
This awoke Stoke from their New Year hangover, Shawcross leading by example and subs Schelotto and Kadlec secured the points.

View attachment 151768

Stoke 4 Cardiff 2 - FA Cup 3rd Round

4 goal Vaclav Kadlec spared Stoke's blushes as they battled from behind twice to beat a determined Cardiff team.
He was lethal in front of goal playing as a Poacher.
It was still a strong team with Romario playing right back and youngsters Wiltshire and Soto got valuable playing team with the 1st team after Stoke secured the lead.
View attachment 151766


Man United 1 Stoke 1

Stoke had the better of the game but were happy with a point as a 10 game winning run came to an end at Old Trafford.
Usual numerous yellow cards in this fixture but only the 2 goals.
Lucas equalising just after the break.
Man City missed the chance to go top as they drew with Arsenal.

View attachment 151765

Stoke 3 Everton 0

The gap at the top increased as Stoke crushed 3rd place Everton.
It was all over just after half time. Galeano heading home from a Shawcross knock down.
Babacar continued his fine form up front as Target Man showing the versatility of the forward line.
Ganso scored a cracking 3rd with a rare goal.
12 points between top 2 & 3rd now, surely the title was even more of a 2 horse race!!

View attachment 151767

West Brom 1 Stoke 2

A depleted Stoke team went to The Hawthorns without 5 first team players due to injuries and international call ups.
Babacar and Annan were at the African Nations and Hazard was the most notable injury and would miss 2 months.
Wilshere scored the opener but Stoke were pegged back by Chris Brunt.
Scott Carson suffered a howler turning in a Dentinho cross into his own net.
Stoke looked tired in the 2nd half and there were no further goals.

View attachment 151770

Sunderland 0 Stoke 3

2 further minor injuries to Wilshere (cold) and Shawcross (ankle) meant Stoke utilised the full use of it's squad at The Stadium of Light.
This task was made harder after 10 minutes after a reckless Witsel challenge, not as ugly as his tackle all over YouTube but nasty all the same.
Dentinho was sacrificed upfront for Arismendi in 1 4-2-3-0 formation with the attacking midfield trio tasked with scoring the goals in a counter attacking formation.
Neymar opened the scoring after fine work from Lucas drilling a cross to the back post.
Rever had his Managers heart in his mouth with a tug back on Bent when he appeared to be last man, luckily only earning a yellow card.
The last 10 minutes brought a smile back to Hammel's face as Michael Turner and Schelotto secured a fine away win.

View attachment 151769

Man City had finally won their game in hand to lead the table by 3 points.
Stoke 3 goals better off overall.
14 points gap to 3rd placed Man United leading a close race for the remaining European positions.
Chelsea continue to struggle in 10th.


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