Taking it to Fergie - The Media Manager

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KingOfFarhuli

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26.8.2016
I went to work this morning at Huddersfield Town and checked my e-mails as usual. Aside from the usual junk from agents touting their players (Michael Owen for £40k a week anyone?), there was one particular address that stood out.

[email protected]

Now as I opened this there was a question floating around; how did this guy get my e-mail?? When reading the message a grin slowly grew across my face, is this guy taking the ****?? It said

“We want you to write for us about your experience as a young, successful football manager. Your reputation has grown hugely over the course of your 5 year career and we would like for you to share your emotions and thoughts with the growing number of readers. We have already spoken to your chairman Dean Hoyle and he has given you the green light to share anything you want about the running of the club.”

They actually wanted me to write for them?!?! I couldn’t believe it when I had finished it. World Football Association is part of the new world, aiming to topple Sky Sports as the premier football media machine. Having becoming friendly with a couple of the reporters over the last couple of years (maybe a bit too friendly with Kate ;)), I felt this could be a new step for football management and decided to jump at the chance.

My first piece is due on the 6th​ of September and attached to the e-mail was the rules that I need to abide by. It felt like Yr 11 English all over again but I have to give this lots of attention. I have to repay the WFA’s faith in me. Firstly however, I need to speak to the chairmen regarding a transfer request…..
 
3.9.2016
Hello and welcome to my column. I have been asked to write for you about my experiences of being a football manager. For those of you who don’t know who I am here is a list of what my teams have accomplished over the last 5 years:

Shrewsbury Town 2011-13
2011/12 - League 2 Winners + League 2 Manager of the Year
2012/13 - League 1 Winners

Almere City 2013-2014
2013/14 - Jupiler League Winners

Huddersfield Town 2014-
2014/15 – 11th​ Premier League, FA Cup Runners Up
2015/16 – 9th​ Premier League, FA Cup Winners, League Cup Winners, Premier League Manager of the Year

Although these accomplishments seem impressive, I would first like to state the players have done all the hard work and I do all the background stuff to let them get on with their jobs. I also need to thank each chairmen of the clubs I’ve managed for trusting me.
The next article will be on the 6th​ September when I will recall what has been an interesting transfer window.
If you have any questions regarding my time and experience as a football manager, feel free to send them in and I will answer as many as I can.
 
6.9.2016

So the transfer window is closed. Plenty of players have come and go in the Barclay’s Premiership and there have been a few important acquisitions for Huddersfield. I have been sending scouts around the world searching for a top centre half to boss the defence. After over 3 months of searching they came back with a number of names, the most notable however was Craig Dawson. He is a strong, fast centre back and at 26yrs old there is time for him to develop into an England regular. We found his contract easy to negotiate and a £9.5m transfer from Blackburn Rovers soon followed.
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The money for this came from selling 2 players who were not going to get much of a chance over the coming season. Sean Scannell and Ben Mee brought in a total of £15m and when added to the more than generous transfer budget I was given, I had to enter the market again. A striker was next on the agenda and I decided to take a punt and enquire about a player I tried to sign my 1st season as Huddersfield manager. Glenn Simmons is a top class player and at 20yrs old is definitely one for the future. Chelsea wanted £8m and I was more than happy to pay that for him.
View attachment 218444
Finally, I managed to pick up Jorge Amaral, a skilful young playmaker who will become a world class player and a figurehead in this team for years to come. He spoke of the fans being a big factor in his move and as always, the great Huddersfield supporters help the club secure another transfer.
View attachment 218442
Now the start of the season typically sees the players getting back to fitness and meeting their new teammates. I decided however to state at the end of the previous season that whoever came back the fittest got a start in the Community Shield against Man City. This proved to be motivation enough as they all were at the top of their game come pre-season training. My fitness coach name here wanted to run a bleep test for the players to help with his son’s university dissertation and so we began. (Yes I had to do it as well!!) All of the players gave it their all and there was some surprising results. The winner was Jon Johnson who got to level 18.9. It was a great effort and all of the team was cheering him on at the end, testament to the spirit I have tried to instil during my time there.
View attachment 218443

The Community Shield is a great way to start the season and we had full intentions of winning it. Unfortunately Man City were just too strong and we lost 3-1. The players did what they could but the likes of Wilshire, Cavani and Richards were too strong for us.
The Premiership has been much better with wins and 2draws seeing us in 9th place. Draws against a strong Everton side and Man U are very pleasing as the players are young and still need to learn at this level.

Finally the UEFA Cup has seen us drawn in Group G with Dortmund, Rapid Wien and CSKA Sofia. This is a group that I expect us to get out of reasonable unscathed but time will tell.

As always, any questions are gladly received and answered and my next post will be in a few weeks.
 
Interesting. A llittle bit of constructive feedback.

Maybe change the font to something like Tahoma-it makes it look neater. And maybe consider centering the pictures, and have some spacing between each pic and the paragraphs. It made mine look neater and a bit easier on the eye (they weren't my ideas btw they were suggested by other people so I won't take credit for that). And maybe highlight the dates and the underlined bits in bold perhaps. This thread has a lot more ideas on the layout etc:

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2012-stories/88002-story-help-advice-thread.html

I found it really handy. And maybe develop your character a bit more too-give the reader an insight into the personality of that person.
 
14/9/2016 – A Challenge Set

I recently received a letter from Sir Alex Ferguson that basically said what I was doing was wrong and will ruin football. I have all the respect in the world for what he’s done for football but this is 21st​ century after and he sends a letter?!?! This has really annoyed me and although questions have popped up about it in press conferences I’ve ignored them……. Until now.

He is stuck in the past. Sir Alex retired from football a few seasons ago because he was scared. Scared of young managers like myself and Guardiola who are going to take the world by storm. He got out while he could and used his age as an excuse. My work for the WFA is bringing football to the next level. Managers already know how I set my team, but they dont know the little things and its always the little things that count. I need to show him why I’m going to be the best British manager in history. I’m going to target his legacy and his collection of trophies from this point on. I don’t need to have the millions of Manchester Utd behind me, I have the backing of a great Chairman and together we will bring Huddersfield Town to be the biggest club in the world.

Sir Alex Ferguson
15 League Titles
9 National Cups
5 League Cups
2 Champions League
2 Europa Leagues
2 European Super Cups
10 Community Shields
1 World Club Championship

Stew Fell
3 League Titles + Promotions
1 National Cup
1 League Cup

Let the Challenge Commence. I’m Taking it to Fergie….
​
 
2/10/16 – Cup Revenge

Since the last article I have been fielding many calls from other managers and members of the media about my ‘controversial’ article. The media have taken my side and agree with what I’ve said in subsequent press conferences that football needs to be more open and better for the fans.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce was less than impressed when I told the world who would start against him. The 3-0 win shows the individual assignments I give to my players for every match are effective and cause havoc to the opponents.

That was sandwiched between wins against Dortmund (5-1, Simmons Hattrick) and Man Utd in the League Cup (Gutter for you Fergie!). Although we were properly beaten by Watford, they deserved all the plaudits they got and were worthy victors. We are now climbing up the table and sit in 7th​ as well as comfortably top of the Europa League Group.

My scouts have also returned with a whole host of names who I will personally cast my eye over in the near future and maybe bid for. Its now time for the Game against Villa and for those who care the team is…….

GK – Smithies
RB – Watson, CB – Dawson, CB – O’Brien, LB – Contento
RM – Kasami, CM – Bayliss, CM – Amaral, LM – Khazri
CF – Johnson, CF Simmons
​
 
19/11/16 – A Sniff at the top 4??

It’s been a **** of a 6 weeks in the club. I haven’t been able to write for the WSA as its been so busy for both the club and myself.

My comments about Sir Alex have been taken out of proportion and I want to make it clear I do respect him but also football has to evolve with the rest of society. I have received many positive comments from other managers including Alan Shearer (England) and Roberto Martinez (Wigan). They have openly supported me and I appreciate that a lot more than they know.

As far as the games have gone we have started to hit a good run of form. Despite losing 2-1 against West Brom we beat Villa 3-0, Spurs 2-1 and Man City 2-1 in the league which lifts us into a great 7th​ with 2 games in hand. A win and a draw in Europe sees us qualify for the last 32 with 2 games in hand, it does remain to be seen whether us or Dortmund will top it though. Finally, we destroyed Wolves away 6-0 which included a brilliant hat trick from Leigh Griffiths who has now scored 40 goals in 55 games since his £1.2m move last season.
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Glenn Simmons and Alex Smithies both made their England debuts and I am very proud of both of them. Glenn even scored which made the night all the sweeter and I’m sure Mr Shearer will continue to base his selections on form and not name value unlike Fabio Capello.

The next 7/8 fixtures are reasonably kind to us and it includes the League Cup Quarter Final vs West Brom which promises to be a tight clash. Good thing the players are believing now and I have 4 strikers at the top of their games, having scored 30 goals between them so far!!
​
 
Im thinking about starting this story again, even though im in the season 2020/21. would anybody be interested or is it a waste of time?? please post your reply
 
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