The Red Devils will rise again!

[DragoGOT]

THE RED DEVILS WILL RISE AGAIN

Hello to anyone reading this thread!

I have been an avid Manchester United supporter all my life and when Sir Alex Ferguson retired, I knew we were going to decline from our once dominant force, to a laughing stock with David Moyes at the helm.
When LVG was first appointed the subsequent signings of players like Shaw, Rojo, Hererra, Blind, Di Maria and the oh so infamous Falcao were a sign of intent that we had financial backing to once again reach the heights of the "good old days".

Even though at this point in time Manchester United seem to be on the up with convincing wins against Tottenham and the long awaited derby win against Manchester City, the amount of money LVG has spent on this squad is unbelievable. When teams such as Chelsea and Real Madrid were buying world class midfielders such as Fabregas and Kroos respectively for £20million a pop, it forces the question of why Manchester United seem intent on spending £30million plus on players which are good, but nowhere near worth the amount in which we paid. Eg Hererra. Although I really like Hererra as a player and believe that he was the man of the match against Manchester City recently, he was not worth the amount we paid.


So therefore, due to a newbie when it comes to Football Manager (last managing football game I played was LMA Manager 2003) , I have taken it upon myself to throw myself back into management as build a team which England can be proud to say is their number one team. (Sorry Mourinho and Chelsea).

I will be using the 15.3 update, where Manchester United have a further increased transfer budget for some reason even though we have huge debts.

There will be no long balls to Fellaini.

But anyway, my plan for this save is to build a team featuring many home grown talents and to go on and build Manchester United back up to the world beating team they once were. Attacks featuring the likes of Rooney, C Ronaldo and Tevez which struck fear into hearts of defence is what I want to see at my beloved team, no long balls, but pace, slick crisp passing and wonderful wing play.

My Aim

For the first season, my aim is to get us back into the Champions League. That is my only objective. This is due to the massive financial gain which can be used to reinvest in youth. However, in the first season, massive investment will be required to buy home grown youngsters.

Potential Transfers

There are a lot of players at Manchester United who I believe are not really of the quality to player for a top team.
As a result, there are several players I am looking to offload to raise funds for young blood. These include:

Ashley Young
Marouane Fellaini
Jonny Evans
Falcao (will terminate his loan)
Will see during pre season about other borderline players

One rule I have set myself is to not spend over £20million for one player. However, part exchanges can be used to lower the actual monetary value of the transfer. All players must also be under the age of 25 and I must sign at least 3 youth players a season to build up the less than promising youth academy.

There are two main players I definitely want to bring which are John Stones and Nathaniel Clyne. There are several other players such as Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond which I will see if it possible to purchase.

So, let the rise of the Red Devils begin.


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[KingCantona]

Will be viewing this manager story with interest....

Do you plan on buying British based players or still going into the foreign market?
Especially for the HG rule, it may be worth keeping Evans and Young for that reason

I know from first hand that Stones is excellent on this game and definitely a player to sure up our dodgy looking defence!!

 

[DragoGOT]

Will be viewing this manager story with interest....

Do you plan on buying British based players or still going into the foreign market?
Especially for the HG rule, it may be worth keeping Evans and Young for that reason

I know from first hand that Stones is excellent on this game and definitely a player to sure up our dodgy looking defence!!

The plan is to buy players mainly from England. I have quite a long list of players which I'm looking at as potential purchases. After spending some time looking at what was available, I saw Danny Ings who only has one year left on his contract, and thinking of a future attack of Ings and Wilson with Rooney as the experienced back up.
I will only dip into the foreign market for players which are 18 and under, so therefore they will become home grown talent by the time they are 21.
After looking at Stones stats, I think he looks like an excellent addition although looks quite pricey.

 

[KingCantona]

The plan is to buy players mainly from England. I have quite a long list of players which I'm looking at as potential purchases. After spending some time looking at what was available, I saw Danny Ings who only has one year left on his contract, and thinking of a future attack of Ings and Wilson with Rooney as the experienced back up.
I will only dip into the foreign market for players which are 18 and under, so therefore they will become home grown talent by the time they are 21.
After looking at Stones stats, I think he looks like an excellent addition although looks quite pricey.

Stones may be pricey but having him alongside Jones in CB, you won't need to buy another CB for a good few years.

 

[DragoGOT]

Stones may be pricey but having him alongside Jones in CB, you won't need to buy another CB for a good few years.

Exactly! Although I had a look at Chris Smallings stats and they look really good! So maybe in the first season, a bit of rotation between Smalling and a potential Stones may occur.

 

[DragoGOT]

The Beginning

THE RED DEVILS WILL RISE AGAIN

So it begins. My hopefully illustrious career as Manager of Manchester United.
After attending the preliminary meeting with my mate Avram, he decided that the club needed to qualify for the Champions League which I absolutely agree with. To help with this, he gave me a whopping transfer budget of £65million with a £3.5million wage budget. Astronomical money so there is no excuse for not getting that coveted Champions League spot. It was nice to see Ryan Giggs as an Assistant Manager after his loyal service to the club. In game, his stats aren't great for an Assistant Manager, but for the first year, he will continue this role and maybe in the second year I will give him a more suited role in the club.

Tactics - This is what I wanted to do first as it is the most time consuming part of the game at the beginning. I decided due to wanting to play attacking football that my primary formation was going to be a 4-2-2-2. A traditional back four, with two central midfielders, two wingers and two strikers. A very attacking formation to suit the players in the squad. Obviously one main issue was Juan Mata. He plays as an attacking midfielder, so to make him useful, I set him training to a central midfielder as his stats looks unbelievable for an advanced playmaker. I am also going to train Adnan Januzaj to play as a right winger to fit him into this formation. I'm going to start the season with two formations. The one previously mentioned, and 4-3-3 for stronger teams with an attacking midfielder.

View attachment 281308 View attachment 281306


So the first obvious thing to do was to look at the squad. United really do have a star attack, however our defence is really lacking for a Champions League side. There is also a general lack in depth in some positions and the youth academy doesn't look too promising apart from James Wilson. and So this is where I decided to focus my transfer attention to first. And although cliched, he is a top player and English, I set my sights on John Stones. Along with John Stones, I was going to look at some younger but promising talents.


Another update will follow once pre-season has finished!
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[waynethickett]

Could be good. Man United certainly have potential and players such as Jones, Rafael and Smalling are certainly better in the game than in real life. You may as well keep Falcao for the first season as he is there, he is a beast and will get you goals. Keeping him may let you get someone in for cheaper by being able to loan them back to the club you are buying from for the rest of the first season. That way when Falcao's loan ended you have a replacement already in place.

 

[xJamieWilliams]

Ings and Wilson the future of the United attack? You sure they could pull it off?

 

[Bullardinho]

Ings and Wilson the future of the United attack? You sure they could pull it off?

I don't think Ings is anywhere near good enough in game to have a future in the Utd attack but Wilson is always a beast on my saves, normally the best England forward by far

 

[DragoGOT]

Could be good. Man United certainly have potential and players such as Jones, Rafael and Smalling are certainly better in the game than in real life. You may as well keep Falcao for the first season as he is there, he is a beast and will get you goals. Keeping him may let you get someone in for cheaper by being able to loan them back to the club you are buying from for the rest of the first season. That way when Falcao's loan ended you have a replacement already in place.

I'm debating keeping Falcao. If I buy Ings now, then I might send Falcao back and save a ton on wages. But I might wait for Ings till Jan so I can sign him on a pre season contract. That's a good idea about the loan back, but I'm gonna hold on Ings till Jan considering I don't want to spending money everywhere. That way, Ings has played a season for Burnley plus he'll join me next summer.

Ings and Wilson the future of the United attack? You sure they could pull it off?

I'm using the new update and both players have had a bit of buff. My staff say Wilson could be a world class striker which you can't really say no to. And tbf, Danny Ings is probably going to be a squad player - although his potential is a star player. So I'm going to have to wait and see how both players turn out which I sort of like because I don't know how this is going to go. But obviously they won't lead the line straight away, RVP and Rooney for the first season with Falcao for injuries/rotation. But maybe in a few seasons yes.

 

[DragoGOT]

I don't think Ings is anywhere near good enough in game to have a future in the Utd attack but Wilson is always a beast on my saves, normally the best England forward by far

I don't see him as our leading striker, I just see him as a young English striker who could do a job with Wilson beside him, I think they could make a good team. Also keeping my eye on Saido Berahino as an alternative to Ings.

 

[Bullardinho]

I don't see him as our leading striker, I just see him as a young English striker who could do a job with Wilson beside him, I think they could make a good team. Also keeping my eye on Saido Berahino as an alternative to Ings.

That's fair enough. I would look at Cauley Woodrow, I think him and Wilson would be lethal!

 

[DragoGOT]

RED DEVILS WILL RISE AGAIN

PRE-SEASON

I left the control of the friendlies to my Assistant Manager, Ryan Giggs. After a rocky start, he did well and got some decent results against some decent teams. I decided to organise a friendly against Klopps' Dortmund for the lol's due to the recent news of him not managing the club next season.

View attachment 281204
TRANSFERS

All the players I bought were English so far. I am now going to look at players under the age of 18 which are foreign to bring in who can gain the home-grown status by the time they reach 21. John Stones was my most expensive transfer and did a part exchange with Fellaini who I didn't see having a future at the club, coupled with the fact Everton had major interest in him. The main player I sold was Antonio Valencia. Although in real life I think he's a good player, on FM his technical stats are a bit weak for this calibre of team, and for £18million, I couldn't say no.

View attachment 281194

INJURIES

As always, FM Gods will decide to injure the majority of your players for their amusement. This is the injury list.

View attachment 281193

WHATS HAPPENING NEXT?

So the first game of the season will kick off against West Ham at Old Trafford. A winnable match in my opinion and will be a good test to see how the team has gelled over the pre season.
From now on, I plan to cover around 2-4 games a day and will post an update daily if possible.
Would appreciate and suggestions on young foreign players under 18 less than £5million to buy.

THANKS GUYS!!!
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[maxchaplin55]

Hey man, enjoying the thread so far. Few suggestions on some foreign talent- mainly brasil- you've got your Barbosa, Carlos, Nathan, Kenedy, Romero, Balanta. Also Zivkovic from Ajax, I don't think he'd cost too much, and he's like 17, so would be HG by 20?
One question- I used to be able to train my players positions, even when I had my assistant in control of individual instructions, but at some point in this fm, it's taken the ability away from me to do this. I have to set myself to do the individual instructions which in my eyes is an impossible job!

 

[DragoGOT]

Hey man, enjoying the thread so far. Few suggestions on some foreign talent- mainly brasil- you've got your Barbosa, Carlos, Nathan, Kenedy, Romero, Balanta. Also Zivkovic from Ajax, I don't think he'd cost too much, and he's like 17, so would be HG by 20?
One question- I used to be able to train my players positions, even when I had my assistant in control of individual instructions, but at some point in this fm, it's taken the ability away from me to do this. I have to set myself to do the individual instructions which in my eyes is an impossible job!

Hi, thanks for support!
Yeah they are some good foreign talent, still searching around trying to find good deals as well!

I don't really understand what your question is. I'm assuming that because the assistant manager controls the individual training, he is controlling the position as well. I don't personally set individual stats for my players to train, I set is as the role I'm going to play them in the squad. For example take Phil Jones, instead of training him on tackling or positioning for example, i instead train him in the role of Central Defender (Defend) as that's the role he will play in my squad.