Take That Dad! - Darren Ferguson's Journey at Liverpool

[santiago_hortez]

I'm playing with the 11.1.0 version so Torres is still in Liverpool and Carroll and Suarez are in Newcastle and Ajax respectively still. 11.3 is giving me some trouble.

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The story so far...

It has been three weeks since Rafael Benitez quit Liverpool and went to FC Internazionale. Fulham manager Roy Hodgson remains the favourite to replace him, however, with the Liverpool management remaining silent on the replacement, speculation is abound that there is someone else lined up for replacing Benitez other than Hodgson. Who will it be? The answer to that question will be given three days later in a press conference.

Day One...

Day Two...

Day Three...

Day Four....

That morning, Liverpool fans were in for a shocker of a news. All across England, newspapers had their headlines filled up with the same news. Liverpool had chosen a completely unexpected but well known person in the footballing community to take over from Benitez. Who was this man?

DARREN FERGUSON UNVEILED AS THE NEW LIVERPOOL BOSS

Former Preston North End and Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson was unveiled as the new manager of Liverpool FC. The news comes as a shock to many as Darren's father Sir Alex, is the manager of Liverpool's fiercest rivals Manchester United.

The father-son rivalry now takes the Northwest Derby between Liverpool and Manchester United to an altogether new height.

Darren Ferguson statement

I am delighted to be here as the Liverpool manager. I feel at home in this club almost as soon as I joined it. I hope that I can take Liverpool to the great heights we're used to seeing of it. I have spoken to my dad about this appointment and he is all game for it. He was the one who encouraged me to apply for this job.

Sir Alex Ferguson Statement

This is a great day for us as a family and for Darren himself to be seated in the Liverpool hotseat. But even though he's my son, I would be doing him no favours when United take on Liverpool, you can be assured of that.

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Ferguson To Sell Some Players

Liverpool manager Darren Ferguson today spoke about his disappointment with the state of the current Liverpool side and said that some players may well have to quit and join other clubs. Among the players thought to be on the transfer list are Fabio Aurelio, Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen.

He also went on to state that youngsters like Danny Wilson, Nikola Saric and Dani Pacheco would get more first team chances.

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[eddybw]

Looks good buddy, what happened to the Caridff Story?

 

[dani3w]

I Shall Follow! Looks Like A Good Story

 

[drezzy86]

Nice OP mate

 

[santiago_hortez]

Looks good buddy, what happened to the Caridff Story?

My computer crashed taking the Cardiff and Scotland stories along with it. So this is my first story/game after reinstalling the game.

 

[avcable]

sound good i will be following, hoping that darren will beat his dad and win liverpool the league

 

[santiago_hortez]

LIVERPOOL TRANSFER NEWS

This transfer window was arguably the busiest in Liverpool's recent years. New manager Darren Ferguson has stirred up a lot of expectations by signing some of the best players across the globe and by selling out players both he and the fans felt were bad. The main highlight of the transfers was Paul Konchesky rejoining his former club Fulham FC for a loan spell till the end of the season.

Players Sold Out

Fabio Aurelio (On Loan at Tottenham Hotspurs)
Paul Konchesky (On Loan At Fulham)
Christian Poulsen (On Loan At Olympique Lyonnais)
Sotiris Kyrgiakos (Sold To Palermo)
Milan Jovanovic (On Loan at Olympique de Marseille)

Youth Players Loaned Out of Club

Chris Mavinga (On Loan At Exeter)
Gerardo Bruna (On Loan At Oldham Athletic)
Peter Gulasci (On Loan At Hull City)
Martin Kelly (On Loan At Coventry City)
Martin Hansen (On Loan At Tranmere)

Players Bought By Liverpool

On Loan

Mario Gotze (From Borussia Dortmund)
Ivan Balliu (From FC Barcelona)

Players Bought

Salvatore Sirigu (From Palermo)
Sebastien Frey (From Fiorentina)
Giuseppe Rossi (From Villareal)
Alexis Sanchez (From Udinese)
Andy King (From Leicester City)
Gareth Bale (From Tottenham Hotspurs)
Fabio Coentrao (From Benfica)
Edin Dzeko (From Wolfsburg)
Eden Hazard (From LOSC Lille Metropole)
Vaclav Kadlec (From Sparta Prague)

Italics- Shown in picture

Liverpool now have three great keepers in Frey, Sirigu and Reina and also a deadly strike line up with Dzeko, Torres, Sanchez, and Rossi. Bale and Coentrao provide what Liverpool needed a lot- a left back with Danny Wilson acting as cover. The left wing receives a boost with young German Mario Gotze, and Belgian Eden Hazard bringing freshness into the area with backup from Bale and Coentrao. Andy King is a new face in the central midfield and the Welsh youngster will look to do well at his new club. Ivan Balliu, on loan from Barcelona replaces Christian Poulsen in defensive midfield along with Lucas.

Kadlec is a youngster in the attack and along with Pacheco, could well form the future of the Liverpool strike line up.

Darren Ferguson Statement

I think we have got some of the best players to the club and also at very cheap rates. I mean, you don't get Alexis Sanchez for eight million every day do you? We have some exciting youngsters in Eden and Vaclav and Mario is a good signing for us, albeit on loan. Giuseppe was a big capture as was Edin. Gareth Bale and Fabio Coentrao are also very big boosts in the left back area. I'm also satisfied with some of our player sales, especially our left backs Aurelio and Konchesky. Playing football elsewhere is what will suit them and me. So, its a win-win situation in this transfer market for us. Now we can look to our season and hope that we can mount a serious title challenge, unlike last year.

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Next update tomorrow, most probably containing preseason.
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[eddybw]

Nice update buddy, how the **** did you afford all those players lol!!! You should put the cost of the players there

 

[dani3w]

Nice update! we could do with seeing transfer fees though bud! will follow next couple updates and see from there! kiu

 

[santiago_hortez]

LIVERPOOL DOING ANOTHER CITY?

Merseyside club revealed to have spent 159 million Euros this summer on transfers alone. Fears of bankruptcy and questions of "will it pay off?" arise.

Merseyside club Liverpool FC were revealed to have spent a massive hundred and fifty nine million Euros on transfers this summer in a bid to strengthen their squad for the Premier League season in 2010-11. This has led to fears of bankruptcy and questions of "Will it pay off?" and "Will we become another Man City?" arising among fans.

According to official Premier League documents accessed exclusively by the Economist, the signing of Gareth Bale from Tottenham took a major portion of this budget with a whopping 37.5 million on him, with 10 million paid upfront and 27.5 million paid over 48 months. The cheapest signing is that of Andy King from Leicester for 1.2 million. While some good players have come in for relatively cheap prices, case in point former Udinese striker Alexis Sanchez, who joined Anfield for 8 million, the question remains as to whether new manager Darren Ferguson's heavy spending is actually worth it.

Economist Paul Harvey, a Professor of Sports Commerce and Marketing at the University of Liverpool, says "In these days of competitive football, we must remember that a club looks to bring in cheap players who can also play really well. And one more thing we must remember is that Darren Ferguson has shown a preference for youngsters throughout his career. So, it comes to me as no surprise that Edin Dzeko, Gareth Bale and Alexis Sanchez, all quality players at less than twenty five years of age, have joined Anfield."

He also states that the importance of these players to their former clubs also affects the transfer fee. According to him, "It is a gamble which can only go two ways. Either it beats everything or it gets beaten."

Reds manager Darren Ferguson attributed high transfer fees to the same reason and also that it "takes some lump amount to lure such great players from their clubs."

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LIVERPOOL FC PRESEASON

Liverpool FC had a mixed preseason this summer but even before it began, manager Darren Ferguson said that they were concentrating solely on fitness rather than results. He also stated that the preseason was a time to let the team gel together and also to get their tactics right. Liverpool played two pre-season games followed by two games in the newly instituted Bill Shankly Memorial Cup, which also saw Palermo, Santos FC and Shakhtar Donetsk feature.

Liverpool Preseason Results

Liverpool 2-2 Queen of South
(Nikola Saric 12' Chris Mavinga 16' - Kevin McCulloch 1' Gareth Courts 90')

Itandje

Wisdom-Sokolik-Mavinga

Balliu-Shelvey-Suso

Toni Silva------------------------Bruna

Pacheco-Saric

A youthful Liverpool side faced Queen of South and dominated the game and was really distraught when Courts scored a last minute goal from them. Nikola Saric, Dani Pacheco and Jonjo Shelvey all looked solid there today.

Liverpool 1-1 Genk
(Joe Cole 83' - Fabien Camus 12')

Reina

Johnson-Wilson-Mavinga

Shelvey-Irwin-Hajdu

Cole------------------------------Maxi

Dzeko-Pacheco


The Reds had to rely on a late equaliser from Joe Cole to get a draw against a much weaker Genk side but Darren Ferguson brushed off the result saying it was only a start and nothing more. They would get better as they moved on in the pre-season.

BILL SHANKLY MEMORIAL CUP

Teams Invited

Liverpool FC (England)

Citta Di Palermo (Italy)

Santos FC (Brazil)

Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)

Draw

Liverpool FC vs. Santos FC
Citta di Palermo vs. Shakhtar Donetsk


Results-Bill Shankly Memorial Cup

Liverpool FC 1-1 Santos FC
(Liverpool Win 3-1 on Penalties)

(Gotze 6' - Ruben Bastos 66')

Shootout

Liverpool

Edin Dzeko Scored
Daniel Agger missed
Raul Meireles Scored
Maxi Rodriguez Scored

Santos FC

Durval missed
Marcel Scored
Keirrison missed
Madson Missed

Liverpool were pushed all the way to the penalties by a resilient Santos side. Mario Gotze's 6th minute opener was cancelled out by Ruben Bastos' thunderous freekick from just outside the area an hour later. Both sides pressed for an equaliser, but despite domination, Edin Dzeko, Giuseppe Rossi, and Fernando Torres all failed to find the net.

In the ensuing penalty shootout, Dzeko, Meireles and Maxi all found the net for Liverpool while Marcel grabbed the only penalty for Santos.

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Citta Di Palermo 0-1 Shakhtar Donetsk
(Jadson 13')

Jadson grabbed the only goal of the game as Ukrainian side Shakhtar managed to beat Palermo in a thrilling two-way encounter which saw both sides have two goals disallowed each. This set up a final between Shakhtar and Liverpool while Palermo took on Santos in the third place match.

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Bill Shankly Memorial Cup Third Place

Santos 0 - 1 Citta Di Palermo
(Bruno O.G 45 +1')

A complete lapse in concentration from the Santos goalkeeper proved disastrous as he let in an own goal from Bruno. A goal that was enough to let Palermo beat them and take third place in the Bill Shankly Memorial Cup. Despite their frequent attacks, Santos never really got going and at the other end, Palermo were no different with Abel Hernandez not even featuring for long durations of the game.

Bill Shankly Memorial Cup Finals

Liverpool FC 3 - 0 Shakhtar Donetsk
(Ryan Babel 12' 28' pen 35')

Ryan Babel was the hero for Liverpool today as they completely outplayed Shakhtar Donetsk in the Bill Shankly Memorial Cup finals and lifted the inaugural tournament. He scored a brilliant diving header in the 12th minute of a Mario Gotze cross and then doubled the lead with a stunning shot from the edge of the area in the 28th. When Eden Hazard was brought down in the box by Dymytryo Chyrgynski, Babel stepped up and slotted in the penalty to earn a deserved hattrick.

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UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Third Qualifying Round Draw

LIVERPOOL FC (ENG)

VS.

TORPEDO ZHODINO (BLR)
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[savan21]

I'm following. Nice update. interesting match up will be SAF against Darren.

Checkout mine.

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f116/from-the-grave-of-a-legend-t68468.html

 

[AndySams10]

Looks good, loads of money spent on players. I will follow. Please check my story out.

Thanks

 

[AnIrishTrueBlue]

Im bored already, as soon as I saw you went mental into buying the best players like Sanchez & Bale its a massive turn off

 

[santiago_hortez]

Im bored already, as soon as I saw you went mental into buying the best players like Sanchez & Bale its a massive turn off

I haven't gone mental actually. It was tactical. Kuyt, and Maxi are getting old and I will be loaning/selling them in a year. I needed youngsters to replace them. Alexis, Gareth, Mario and Eden were perfect. My left backs (Konchesky and Aurelio) were rubbish , so I replaced them with Coentrao, Bale and Danny Wilson.

Also, I needed someone experienced to partner Torres-which means Dzeko came in and taking into account that both could fall into injury at crucial times, I needed a striker to match them- in came Rossi.

Kadlec was for the future along with N'Gog and Pacheco as I'm looking to sell Torres, Dzeko and maybe Rossi in two/three seasons. Andy King was my long term replacement for Gerrard and Balliu was a replacement for aging Poulsen.

And for the record, I like to keep my players below the age of twenty nine. excepting Stevie G and Carragher of course. If you notice all my transfers of senior team players, they're either thirty or above.