I wanted to choose a team which would give me a bit of a challenge and with the current plight of Southampton i thought that was as good a team to be as any.
I inherited an extremely good squad which looked more than capable of getting promoted straight back into the championship. Unfortunately though i was given no money at all for transfers and a 100k wage budget.
I also had a chairman who was trying to get rid of the club every flipping minute.
To balance the books a bit i had to get rid of a few players, who in other circumstances i would have probably kept. Also with my financial restrictions i had to use the loan market and free transfers to add to my squad, But tbh i felt that my squad was perfectly capable of winning League 1.
These were my transfers:
View attachment 7825
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Reduced 94%
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>//<![CDATA[ fix_linked_image_sizes_attach_thumb( "101-0-47412100-1247931603", parseInt("1440"), parseInt("900"), "159.35K" );//]]></SCRIPT>
In the end i had an extremely comfortable first season winning the league very comfortably with 111 points.
View attachment 7822
There were a few stand-out performers in this season.
1. Hamilton Ricard - The veteran striker scored 29 goals in 40 games and proved a very efficient signing for me.
2. Morgan Schneiderlin - This young midfielder was phenomenal during the season providing 11 goals and 12 assists and proving a rock in the heart of my midfield.
3. Oliver Lancashire - This young centre back was kept out of the time by the two experienced campaigners Michael Svensson and Paul Wotton until October when he got a chance in a Carling Cup game and excelled throughout the season.
09/10 season
So into my season in the Championship and i was buoyed by news that Southampton had been taken over by a local businessman. Unfortunately he said the board didn't see the need to invest at the moment so i was left with a mediocre transfer budget of 180k to get a safe mid-table position.
With my squad being extremely young i believed that i only needed a couple of changes to make my squad Championship quality. Firstly i needed a new left- winger and secondly a new backup keeper because Bialkowski just wasn't good enough.
I bought Mark Yeates from Middlesbrough on a cut-price deal of 180k and also bought Tommy Forecast on a free transfer.
Another unexpected piece of business i pulled off was to sign Mark Viduka on a free. Hopefully his experience will help me achieve a good position.
I also let 8 reserves go including Wayne Thomas and Chris Perry.
View attachment 7824
I now believe i have a good squad but if anyone has any ideas on where i could possibly improve any help would be greatly appreciated.
Here is my squad:
View attachment 7823
Please bear in mind i only have an 80k budget left.
I inherited an extremely good squad which looked more than capable of getting promoted straight back into the championship. Unfortunately though i was given no money at all for transfers and a 100k wage budget.
I also had a chairman who was trying to get rid of the club every flipping minute.
To balance the books a bit i had to get rid of a few players, who in other circumstances i would have probably kept. Also with my financial restrictions i had to use the loan market and free transfers to add to my squad, But tbh i felt that my squad was perfectly capable of winning League 1.
These were my transfers:
View attachment 7825
<TABLE style="WIDTH: auto; DISPLAY: inline" id=ipb-attach-table-101-0-47412100-1247931603 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
1440 x 900 (159.35K)
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
In the end i had an extremely comfortable first season winning the league very comfortably with 111 points.
View attachment 7822
There were a few stand-out performers in this season.
1. Hamilton Ricard - The veteran striker scored 29 goals in 40 games and proved a very efficient signing for me.
2. Morgan Schneiderlin - This young midfielder was phenomenal during the season providing 11 goals and 12 assists and proving a rock in the heart of my midfield.
3. Oliver Lancashire - This young centre back was kept out of the time by the two experienced campaigners Michael Svensson and Paul Wotton until October when he got a chance in a Carling Cup game and excelled throughout the season.
09/10 season
So into my season in the Championship and i was buoyed by news that Southampton had been taken over by a local businessman. Unfortunately he said the board didn't see the need to invest at the moment so i was left with a mediocre transfer budget of 180k to get a safe mid-table position.
With my squad being extremely young i believed that i only needed a couple of changes to make my squad Championship quality. Firstly i needed a new left- winger and secondly a new backup keeper because Bialkowski just wasn't good enough.
I bought Mark Yeates from Middlesbrough on a cut-price deal of 180k and also bought Tommy Forecast on a free transfer.
Another unexpected piece of business i pulled off was to sign Mark Viduka on a free. Hopefully his experience will help me achieve a good position.
I also let 8 reserves go including Wayne Thomas and Chris Perry.
View attachment 7824
I now believe i have a good squad but if anyone has any ideas on where i could possibly improve any help would be greatly appreciated.
Here is my squad:
View attachment 7823
Please bear in mind i only have an 80k budget left.