The Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge - Southampton

[leckuno]

The Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge

This is a challenge I've always had interest in but never actually taken on! After numerous attempts already trying to manage at lower level with very little success (a slight understatement), I decided to take everyone's advice and start a little higher up the ladder. However, I still fancy taking on something that will present me with a challenge, so I thought 'why not take on one of the most famous football manager challenges of all time'.

For anyone unfamiliar with this challenge, the idea is to try to emulate Sir Alex Ferguson, possibly the greatest manager the game has ever seen. Love him or hate him, you can't deny that the guy was pretty ******* immense!

So what's the rules....well, I've found several different versions with some stories offering up extended rules, but these are the ones I am following for the purpose of this story/save;

1. Sim the game until November 6th and take over the team that is 2nd bottom in the Premier League (Alex Ferguson took over Manchester United on this date, with them sat 2nd bottom at the time)
2. Stay at this one club for the entire save, getting sacked at any point is game over
3. Aim to bring youth players through the club (Alex Ferguson brought through numerous prospects including the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Nicky **** to name a few)
4. Persuade long term players to become part of my coaching staff when they retire from playing (the likes of Scholes, Solksjaer, Bruce, Keane, Berg, Ince, Robson, Hughes and Strachan all worked under Sir Alex on his backroom staff)

I am not putting any restrictions on signings or the money I spend as I think it is unrealistic to compare with the inflated prices on today's transfer market!

​

After going on holiday to the 6th November, the club currently sitting in 18th position that I will be taking over is.....

​

View attachment 26623

​

So that's the rules...what are the goals? Well as mentioned, we need to achieve as many targets against what Sir Alex managed with United....obviously if we fail any it isn't game over, but it just gives me a benchmark to work towards and that progress will be followed and updated here... Credit goes to @thenotsospecialone

[TABLE="class: cms_table_grid, width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]GOAL[/TD]
[TD]Achieved?[/TD]
[TD]Sir Alex Ferguson[/TD]
[TD]Euan Leck[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]November 6th[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]Manchester United, November 6th 1986[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Win a domestic cup within 4 seasons[/TD]
[TD]Yes[/TD]
[TD]1990, FA Cup against Crystal Palace[/TD]
[TD]2019 Carabao Cup[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Win Premier League within 7 seasons[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]1992/93[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Win the domestic double within 8 seasons[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]1993/94, Premier League and FA Cup[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Win treble within 13 seasons (must include Champions League)[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]1998/99, Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]English Premier League Titles[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]Total 13; 1992/93, 1993/94, 1995/96, 1996/97, 1998/99, 1999/00, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2010/11, 2012/13[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]FA Cup[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]Total 5; 1989/90, 1993/94, 1995/96, 1998/99, 2003/04[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]League Cup[/TD]
[TD]Yes[/TD]
[TD]Total 4; 1991/92, 2005/06, 2008/09, 2009/10[/TD]
[TD]1: 2018/19[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Community Shield[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]Total 10; 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]UEFA Champions League[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]Total 2; 1998/99, 2007/08[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Europa League[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]Total 1; 1990/91[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]UEFA Super Cup[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]Total 1; 1991[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]FIFA Club World Cup[/TD]
[TD]N/A[/TD]
[TD]Total 2; 1999, 2008[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


​

Credit goes to @TheNotSoSpecialOne​

​

 

[leckuno]

So after a crash dumps ruined my sunderland save and my toddler wrecked my laptop during a hamburg save I'm back with the Alex Ferguson challenge

 

[leckuno]

Overview

View attachment 26622
So as you can see here the 3 teams currently in the relegation zone are 3 big teams and I am lucky enough to get Southampton who has a great team and shouldn't have a problem turning this club around and avoiding relegation this season. We are also still in the League cup with a quarter final match at home to Chelsea.

The bank is alright and should be easy enough to build up again with TV money and selling on a few players who won't be making the first team and on high wages. We also have a very healthy transfer budget of £32 million to strengthen the club in January but we will only buy youth or first team players.

View attachment 26621

There were a few transfers before I took over and I will look to add to these

View attachment 26619
View attachment 26616View attachment 26615
With this squad the club should be performing a lot better and I am to raise the level that the players are playing at with a new formation and extra training to give them a kick in the right direction.

Southampton are known for 2 reasons:

1. They have an excellent youth academy and have brought through many top players currently playing in the premier league.

2. As a selling club.


I aim to keep bringing through youth into the team and using them to push the club forward but I intend on only selling who I want to sell and will be keeping my best players to drive the club forward.


We have a tough couple of games this month. First we welcome fellow relegation struggles Everton before travelling to London to face Chelsea.

View attachment 26612​

 

[teakss9]

All the best.
Glad it was Southampton as means getting rid of that clown Mark Hughes
man single handedly took stoke down

enjoy x

 

[leckuno]

November

Southampton v Everton

View attachment 26521
What a way to announce my arrival. We come up against a fellow struggling team and utterly destroy them. We get goals from our striker, both wingers, our AMC and one of our CM's. Its an all round amazing performance. This game outlines our intentions from the start.

Chelsea v Southampton

View attachment 26520
[FONT=&quot]Chelsea are second in the league and we get a massive win in our second match. The goal from Ings just after half time is the winner. We changed formation from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2 for this match and it worked a treat.

[/FONT]November Overview[FONT=&quot]

We kick off our tenure with two big victories for the club which moves us out of the relegation zone and moves us onto bigger and better things and hopefully we can build on it.

[/FONT]View attachment 26519

December Fixtures

View attachment 26518
December is going to be mental as we have 7 league matches to squeeze in along with a quarter final Carabao cup match against Chelsea. The only good thing is there are plenty of league games we should be able to win.​

 

[leckuno]

December


Southampton v Bournemouth

View attachment 26435
[FONT=&quot]We get a big win against one of our south coast rivals with 2 first half goals from the left hand side of the pitch.

[/FONT]Leicester v Southampton
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]View attachment 26430
Charlie Austin with a brace as he comes in to replace Ings who is out for 4 weeks. We make it 4 wins from 4 after beating bottom of the table.

Southampton v Burnley

View attachment 26427
Austin and Nolito getting us the goals but more importantly we managed to get another clean sheet. The defence is coming together and Gunn is doing well in goal.

Huddersfield C

View attachment 26426
We hit the woodwork 4 times in this game without being able to take full advantage and dropped our first points of the reign.

Caraboa Cup Quarter Final
Southampton v Chelsea

View attachment 26425Chelsea still put out a strong starting 11 here and within the first 10 minutes we completely tore them apart and the just couldn't get back into the game at all.

Southampton v Brighton

View attachment 26424
A disappointing game against another of our south coast rivals. We just couldn't get firing in this game at all.

Newcastle v Southampton

View attachment 26423
Our first loss of the save and Newcastle fully deserved this game as nothing I did could change the game as they were the better team.

Southampton v Watford

View attachment 26422
We should really have got more from this game but we just couldn't find the back of the net.

December Overview

We get 12 points out of 21 which is fantastic considering we only had 6 points from our opening 11 games. This now moves us up to 10th spot in the league. We also now have a 9 point cushion over 18th spot Everton. We also managed to beat Chelsea in the Quarter final of the Carabao Cup so we now have Leicester in the semi.

We have also agreed to sell Steven Davis to Krasnodar for £1.5 million. His contract was expiring at the end of the season and at 33 and on £60,000 a week it made sense to let him go. We have also agreed to sell Oriol Romeu to Leicester for £23 million. He wasn't in my first team pans so was only going to be rotation and we can use the money to bring in somebody else.

Shane Long has also agreed to join Newcastle for £11 million, again in his 30's and on £60,000 a week he was a rotational player so we will invest in a younger striker on less wages to take over his role.

View attachment 26421
January Fixtures

View attachment 26420
Another busy month coming up along with a FA Cup match along with the Semi final of the Carabao Cup as well. Coming up against Spurs an Man Utd will be two tough games in the league and made even harder by the fact they are both away from home.



​

 

[leckuno]

January


Going to start this post with the transfers as most of them had been prearranged in December. We have a number of young and exciting players join the club.

First up we sign Niklas Sule for £23.5 million from Bayern as he was transfer listed and will come straight into the first team to help strengthen the defence.

View attachment 26401
Next in is Sandro Tonali from Brescia who joins for £4.1 million and will start off with being a rotational player at first with the look of taking over a first team role.

View attachment 26400
Next is Antonio Marin from Dinamo for £5 million. Again he will be coming in as back up to Redmond with the aim of taking over in a couple of seasons

View attachment 26399
Nelson Semedo joins from Barcelona for £10.75 million off the transfer list to come in and provide some competition for Cedric at RB.

View attachment 26398
On the final permanent piece of business by the club we have brought in Fiete Arp to take over from Shane Long and hopefully he can fulfil his potential at the club. He joins from HSV for £11 Million

View attachment 26397
We bring in Ruben Loftus-Cheek on loan as well to help fill the AMC role.

LEaving the clube we let Maya Yoshida go to West Ham for £11.5 million. Sam Gallagher also left for Swansea for £4.5 million.

Tottenham v Southampton

View attachment 26402
Arp gets a debut goal to secure a massive point away to Spurs, we were very lucky to leave this game with a point as spurs were all over us in the second half.


FA Cup Third Round
Southampton v Middlesbrough

View attachment 26396
Sule gets us off to a flyer in the 25th minute with a goal in his second game for the club. Marin rounds off the scoring with a debut goal.

Caraboa Cup Semi Final First Leg
Southampton v Leicester

View attachment 26394
Marin and Arp are both fast becoming important players with the fact they keep popping up with important goals. We sneak a home win with the help of Leicester captain Morgan scoring the all important third goal for us.

Man Utd v Southampton

View attachment 26392
With the game coming so soon after the last match we couldn't put out a full strength team to make give it a good shot and this was a fair result.

Southampton v Wolves

View attachment 26385
We bounce back with an excellent win over wolves to get back on track. Semedo and Tonali getting on the score sheet to get their first goals for the club.

Caraboa Cup Semi Final Second Leg
Leicester v Southampton

View attachment 26382
Semedo with 2 goals in 2 games which is the goal that effectively secured the cup final in our first season.

FA Cup Fourth Round
Southampton v Scurnthorpe

View attachment 26381
A very difficult game which we were lucky to make it through without it going to a replay but Danny Ings comes up with a last minute winner for us to progress to the Fifth Round.

Southampton v Fulham

View attachment 26379
Gabbiadini scores his first goal in over 12 hours of football to end his goal drought and get us a very difficult point against the team bottom of the table.

January Overview

Its been a very long month with 4 games in the league where we picked up 5 points out of 12. This still keeps us in mid table though so we are happy with that.

We have also progressed to the Carabao Cup final in our first season but we will be up against Liverpool in the final.

We have also progressed to the Fifth Round of the FA Cup where we will also be playing Liverpool.

View attachment 26378

February Fixtures

View attachment 26377
Another tough month where we are going to face Liverpool 3 times, we have Manchester City as well. The only match I think we will get 3 points from is the home game to Cardiff as they players also have a few days to recover.


​

 

[leckuno]

February

Liverpool v Southampton

View attachment 26308
Well we weer just taken apart by Liverpool here and had no answers to them in the first half. At least we turned up after half time or it could of been a lot worse.

West Ham v Southampton

View attachment 26307
This was a very hard game against a good West Ham side. We went ahead from an Arp strike from 7 yards out and looked good value for the rest of the match before Chicharito scored a poachers goal to get them a point.


FA Cup Fifth Round
Southampton v Liverpool

View attachment 26306
Again in the first half Liverpool just tear us apart an the game was effectively over after 7 minutes. On the upside again my players turned up for the second half which was a lot more positive.

Southampton v Cardiff

View attachment 26305
We fell behind early on and I thought this was going to go the same way as the Liverpool results but Hojbjerg comes to the rescue and gets the two goals to get us the 3 points.

Carabao Cup Final
Liverpool v Southampton

View attachment 26304
Having lost the previous two meetings with Liverpool I did not have high hopes, especially after Firmino putting them ahead after 7 minutes again. I brought Arp on at half time hoping that he would change the game and boy did he. He opens the scoring for us on the 69th minute to get the game to extra time. With 2 minutes of extra time remaining Van Dijk brings down Arp in the box for a penalty. Arp then slots home from the spot to secure us our first trophy ahead of schedule.

February Overview

What a month this was. 3 games against Liverpool in 3 different competitions. We lost 2 but won 1 which the most important game of them all. We lift the Carabao trophy which also secures us Europa League football next season which is a bonus given our lowly position.

In the league we got 4 points out of 9 which leaves is down in 11th spot at the moment.

View attachment 26303
March Fixtures

View attachment 26302
A much quieter month this time with only 4 games even if 2 of them do come against Arsenal and Chelsea. The only added bonus is that both those games are at home so hopefully we can take advantage of that. I'm also hoping that a few player are going to return from injury over the course of the month as well.



​

 

[leckuno]

March


Crystal Palace v Southampton


View attachment 26225
We take the lead twice here and throw it away twice. Injuries to the squad are really costing us now with us not being able to hold onto games and see them out.

Southampton v Arsenal

View attachment 26221
Again we take the lead twice this time through Loftus-Cheek and unable to hold on thanks to giving away a penalty just before half time and conceding at the end of the match.

Everton v Southampton

View attachment 26220
A really boring match right up until the 88th minute. Got to say after we scored I thought that was enough to win the match but before we could finish celebrating the goal Gomes pops up with a goal from outside the box. Redmond the grabs a very late winner to provide our first win of the month.

Southampton v Chelsea

View attachment 26219
We concede yet another early goal against a big team but we manage to fight back in the first half to ****** a draw as the second half was one of the most boring halves of football ever know to man.

March Overview

A nice short month where we managed to go unbeaten with 1 win and 3 draws. 2 of the draws were a massive 2 points for the club against Arsenal and Chelsea. We need to start closing the gap on 9th place or we won't break into the top ten. Some key players are stating to return from injury so hopefully we can push on in April and move up the table.

We had the youth intake and there was one noticeable player in Jim McPherson

View attachment 26218
He is a player we will really be looking at developing and trying to get him into the first team when we can as he looks like with the correct training could become and important centre back for us.

View attachment 26217

April Fixtures

View attachment 26216
Hopefully a pretty straight forward run in here all apart from starting the month against Man City. We will be looking to pick up a few wins this month.


​

 

[leckuno]

April

Southampton v Man City
View attachment 26133
Loftus-Cheek has been a revelation since he joined in January and he kept us in the game with two great first half goals with the second coming just at the right time. This is a massive point though against a very strong team which keeps us moving in the right direction.

Bournemouth v Southampton

View attachment 26131
A great south coast derby for the neutrals with plenty of goals but Arp get the all important second for us to get us a draw and makes sure we don't lose the derby.

Southampton v Leicester

View attachment 26130
Our first win in 4 games and all 4 goals come from the centre of the park, good to see Ward-Prowse on the score
sheet after his injury lay-off.

Burnley v Southampton

View attachment 26128
Burnley just not able to take advantage of playing against 10 men as we even managed to take the lead after getting a last minute goal in the first half. Happily take single point when there are only 10 men on the pitch.

Southampton v Huddersfield

View attachment 26127
A great win which keeps our push going for finishing in the top 10.

April Overview

So I started the month with the added bonus of being offered a new contract which I quickly accepted and ties me to the club to 2021 now.

View attachment 26126
They have also agreed to upgrade the youth recruitment to extensive so next season we have an even greater chance of getting the next big thing.

We had a great month though with 3 draws and 2 wins which leaves us 2 points behind 9th with 2 games to play so we might just sneak 9th spot.

We have also been busy in the transfer market as well to make the most of our remaining budget before we get it taken off us an there have been some great deals going on the transfer list. Eric Bailly will be joining from Manchester United for £14.75 million which is a steal. Felix Uduokhai will also be joining from Wolfsburg for £3.1 million and will be a great rotational option at the back as well.

Further up the park we have agreed to bring in Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for £9.5 million. He will be competing for the AMC role with Lovro Majer who is joining from Dinamo for £5 million.

We have also agreed to sell Alex McCarthy to Watford for £11.5 million

View attachment 26125

May Fixtures

View attachment 26124
If we beat Watford we will move up to 9th spot and finish with a match at home which we should win so depending on results we could find our way further up the table.

​

 

[leckuno]

May

Watford v Southampton

View attachment 26123
This game just didn't go to plan as we just didn't turn up as there was just nothing we could do to turn this game around.

Southampton v Newcastle

View attachment 26122
Yet again we have gone ahead twice this season and conceded a late goal to suffer a draw. That seems to be the story of this season.


Season Overview

All in it has been a successful season as we managed to avoid a relegation battle and we managed to finish 10th in the league which was above the media prediction off 11th which wasn't bad considering we only had 6 points after 11 games.

We also managed to get our first silverware by winning the Caraboa Cup which has given us a place in the Europa League next season but we will only be joining the competition in the 2nd qualifying round so still a lot of hard work to go to make the group stage.

Looking to change the squad a fair bit over the summer to strengthen most areas and this will be done with a transfer budget of £53 million an a wage budget of £2 million. This will also be managed with moving on players once I have brought other ones in to replace them. I will be looking to raid Everton and Leicester of a few of their English players.



View attachment 26121
The finances are looking a bit healthier now as well thanks to new commercial deals being made with the club.

View attachment 26120
I'm looking forward to see what we can achieve next season with a squad built with the players I want and that fit my tactics a bit better.

​

 

[leckuno]

Pre-Season

So there has been a lot of activity in the transfer window with both players coming and going and I'm really hoping that I've not made too many changes and it hampers my run in the league this season.

Because of the number of changes I won't go through them all and just show you the list's as there are that many and if you want to see anything else just feel free to ask. Note that these are only up to the end of July as we start our season early with European Qualifying.

Players Out

View attachment 26094View attachment 26081
Players In

View attachment 26080View attachment 26079

So all in from the transfer business we have made a £131 million profit from my wheeling and dealing and I feel we have a much stronger squad for it and we even managed to bring in a few English players as well for very reasonable fees which isn't common.

View attachment 26071
The finances look a lot healthier now as well and as you see if we want to we still have plenty of money to spend in the transfer window if somebody game changing becomes available. With all the outgoing transfers we've even managed to make the wage budget smaller from the end of last season as well which will help drive us forward.

View attachment 26073
The Friendlies were a bit of a mixed bag but we will be concentrating on the Euro qualifying as well to be our friendlies as they should be a bit of a walk in the park hopefully but we all no that it doesn't always go to plan.

Board Expectations

For the season ahead the board is expecting us to achieve Euro Cup qualification through the league, reach the 5th round of the FA Cup, the 4th round of the Carabao Cup and finally the second knockout round of the Euro Cup.

All the expectations set by the board seem reasonable with the squad we have.

Let the season begin.​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

That's some crazy transfer business you've done there haha! Can't believe how many good English players you've got for a decent fee... it's a good job Leicester and Everton got relegated.

 

[leckuno]

That's some crazy transfer business you've done there haha! Can't believe how many good English players you've got for a decent fee... it's a good job Leicester and Everton got relegated.

Yeah I reckon that's the only way I've got away with it. May as well raid them for the better English players

 

[leckuno]

July/August

Europa League Qualifying 2nd Round 1st legIFK Goteborg v Southampton

View attachment 25985
The perfect start to qualifying with a big win which gave debuts to a lot of players. It was dream debut's for Sessegnon and Grealish who both bag debut goals.


In between the two legs while keeping an eye on the transfer list I came across young Jadon Sancho listed by Dortmund so we snapped him up for £31 million and will be retraining him to play down the right hand side of the pitch rather than the left as we have plenty of players there.

View attachment 25984

Europa League Qualifying 2nd Round 2nd legSouthampton v IFK Goteborg

View attachment 25983
We do a full rotation of the starting XI here to give other players a run out and they get the win with Marin getting us off to a great start in the first minute. Elmas and Majer both getting debut goals as well.

Europa League Qualifying 3rd Round 1st leg
VVV-Venlo v Southampton

View attachment 25982
Another comfortable win here while the squad continues to gel with Sessegnon having a great start to life on the south coast making it 3 goals in 3 games.

Southampton v Newcastle

View attachment 25981
A dream start to the league campaign with a win with Sancho getting his first goal for the club coming in from the right hand side.

Europa League Qualifying 2nd Round 3rd legSouthampton v VVV-Venlo

View attachment 25980
Full rotation here again to give everybody a run out since the game was already over and its Maguire who is able to rise above everybody from a corner to get his first goal for the club.

Southampton v Manchester United

View attachment 25979
This was a really disappointing defeat as we completely out played United but just couldn't find the back of the net and its Mata who provides the only goal of the game to inflict out first defeat of the season.

Europa League Qualifying 4th Round 1st leg
Hajduk v Southampton

View attachment 25978
An excellent first half gives us the win with Sancho showing he is just as good down the right as he is the left. also two great goals from defence to get us on our way.

Crystal Palace v Southampton

View attachment 25977
What a final 10 minutes for us as Elmas scores a screamer from 20 yards out after a great run to get us back into the games before Grealish gets the winner in the last minute of the game to secure us the 3 points.

Europa League Qualifying 4th Round 1st leg
Southampton v Hajduk

View attachment 25973
We do a half rotation here to give players a well deserved rest after a large run of games. Arp gets us off to a great start in the second half ending his goal drought of over 10 hours before the match is wrapped up by Sule and Shaqiri.

Overview

We've had an excellent month wit getting our spot in the Europa League Group stage confirmed and we have a very good group that we have every chance of progressing from. Its made all the better with the fact there will be a battle of Britain as well.

View attachment 25972
In the League we have started off well with 2 wins from 3 games. Its still early though so it doesn't mean much just now.

View attachment 25971

September Fixtures

View attachment 25970
A few games we should hopefully get points from next month, away to Spurs will be a big ask though. We have our first game in the Europa League to look forward to along with the first game in our defence of the Carabao Cup.​