The Story Of Sam Birch - A Legend In The Making

[White army]

gd story so far...i am not a fan of southampton at all cos i cannot stand nigel aidkins so glad u sacked him lol,,,but i will follow urs

 

[stevenUK1]

Sorry lads defo an update tomorrow, been really busy with work and a mates 21st.

Remember your a Premiership manager now if you come out of a club ****** the headline in the Sun newspaper will be "Premiership manager ****** and sleeps with hookers"

 

[Sam91]

Remember your a Premiership manager now if you come out of a club ****** the headline in the Sun newspaper will be "Premiership manager ****** and sleeps with hookers"

Haha hope they didn't snap me stumbling out of Brighton Casino last night at 3am

 

[Sam91]

Transfers and August

Massive changes at St. Mary's
Draw in first game to Newcastle and Capital One Cup win
Finally get some decent Centre Backs in



Transfers

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Outs

As you can see a very busy summer indeed. Biggest departure was Jay Rod who really let me down last year. Sold him for £9M to Fulham plus I get money if they sell him for a profit. Albrighton, Drenthe and Huddlestone for profits (Albrighton for the same I signed him for I think). All underperformed, Drenthe was okay but he always reacted badly to team talks and had discipline issues. Then pretty much I cleared out all the dead wood and players who weren't good enough.


Ins

Now here's the fun part. I managed to strike a deal with Spurs for Caulker paying £10M but he will be our rock at the back for many years to come. Next to partner him there will be James Tomkins who we payed £8.25M for. Wilfred Zaha was snapped up for just over £7M, Arsenal were snooping around him so I moved quickly to get him. Next up I sealed the deal for a man I've been scouting for a few months, Yaya Sanogo! Grabbed him from Lazio for a measly £2.2M. After I'd sold Tom Huddlestone I needed a new Ball Winning Midfielder, I checked the player list for people who were transfer listed and saw Emmanuel Frimpong so I agreed a deal with Arsenal for £8M. Tom Cairney was also on the list so I bagged him for a tiny fee of £300k. Next onto my biggest signing, Roberto Firmino. This guy looks crazy good, exactly what we've been missing and I'm hoping he can prove to me why I forked out so much for him. Nathan Ake joined up for £200k, hopefully I can move him on for a profit next season. I snapped up two young regens in Sam Garvey and Rob Phillips. I got Taye Taiwo in to play Left Back as Luke Shaw isn't quite ready yet. Fierro, Ocampos ect. were already wrapped up and finally joined up with us


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2011 - 2012 Best 11

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League Results


Newcastle 1 - 1 Southampton

Simunic OG

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Just thought I'd post the line ups so you get an idea of how we line up. Should be my starting 11 this season but that could change, especially the strikers.



Capital One Cup


Southampton 3 - 1 Bristol City

Fierro(2), Sanogo

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And thats why I said the front line is subject to change. Both strikers really impressed me unlike Niang and Zaha in our last game. I know its weaker opposition but still.




Player Of The Month

Carlos Fierro

Brilliant double on his full debut. This kiddie is my favourite player on FM12 and I hope to show you all why.



I wont post the league table, no point after only one league game.





Let me know what you think of my transfers would love to hear if you think I've been too extreme or not. I've never had a clean out like that before​

 

[Greggylad]

Wow Brilliant work with the transfers !

 

[NathWalker]

Some qualtity signings there mate, I cant say i've ever had a mass clearout like that either i have thought about it a couple of times after disapointing seasons so i will be interested to see if it works Keep it up

 

[Sam91]

Some qualtity signings there mate, I cant say i've ever had a mass clearout like that either i have thought about it a couple of times after disapointing seasons so i will be interested to see if it works Keep it up

Yeah its not that we had a disappointing season at all just that so many players under-performed and I like getting youth in. In 2 seasons time we should be challenging for Champions League places with the amount of potential hopefully

 

[@fplcentre]

well done getting Cairney so cheaply. I got him in my Cardiff story and he's been extremely consistent in midfield. Sanogo is obviously a great deal too. will be interesting to see how they all blend. I've also got Caulker on loan atm and he's a rock, gonna pick him up for £9m at the end of my current season but I brought Hanley to partner as he was cheaper than Tomkins.

 

[Sam91]

September

Brilliant game against Huddersfield in the Capital One Cup
Roberto Firmino scores screamer against Norwich
Unbeaten so far this season
All my strikers impressing


League


Fulham 1 - 1 Southampton

Zaha



Southampton 3 - 2 Swansea

Tomkins, Fierro, Caulker

View attachment 266772


Stoke 0 - 2 Southampton

Niang, Sanogo



Southampton 2 - 1 Norwich

Roberto Firmino, Sanogo




Capital One Cup


Southampton 3 - 2 Huddersfield

Zaha(2), Chambers

View attachment 266773




Monthly Review


A very solid month, great results in the league. A cracking game against Norwich with Roberto Firmino scoring a beautiful goal before Norwich got one back thanks to a Caulker OG. I sent on Sanogo and he didn't disappoint bagging us the winner. Frimpong got injured though, a big shame as he's been awesome this month.


Player of the Month

Emmanuel Frimpong

Been so good this month, everything Huddleston wasn't for us. Tracking back well providing that extra cover for us



Table

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​

 

[Sam91]

October

St. Mary's stadium expanded by a whopping 16,000 seats
Southampton finally lose
Derby swept away in Capital One Cup


League


Bolton 1 - 3 Southampton

Zaha(2), Kalas



Liverpool 0 - 1 Southampton




Southampton 3 - 0 Wolves

Fierro, Lallana, Zaha

View attachment 266834


Southampton 2 - 0 Derby

Niang, Chambers



Monthly Review

Another great month for The Saints!! Even though we lost to Liverpool we still gave them a really good game, and Zaha missed a good chance near the end. The Wolves match has shown just how far we've come in the past year, its a game we would have struggled in maybe grabbing a 1-0 win but we smashed them and played them off the park.

In other news our stadium expansion was completed take the capacity up to a whopping 48,689!! Our training facilities were also improved, a request I made at the end of last season. Both had cost the club a lot of money though and I thought maybe I should share with you just how bad our finances are now

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The good news is we're making a profit every month. Normally hitting around half a million so the debt should be gone by the end of the year. Plus with our bigger stadium we should attract more and more fans(which we are), which means more money in from tickets.



Player of the Month

Wilfried Zaha

Been banging in the goals for us this month


League Table

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Flying high at the moment!! But still got to play the big boys so its a false position really


​

 

[Greggylad]

Great stuff !

 

[Sam91]

Great stuff !

Thanks mate, always appreciate comments

I'm just wrapping up a deal for a very good Chelsea player atm. If its concluded before the end of the month it will included in next months update

 

[Greggylad]

Awesome im not having much luck with my Save at the mo, I started a new save on the LFC marshall update but Rodriguez, Jelen (signed for free), Sharp, Lallana and Clyne are all long term injured ! its an absolute joke ( im in OCTOBER :L)

 

[Sam91]

Awesome im not having much luck with my Save at the mo, I started a new save on the LFC marshall update but Rodriguez, Jelen (signed for free), Sharp, Lallana and Clyne are all long term injured ! its an absolute joke ( im in OCTOBER :L)

Haha wow thats such bad luck!!!! Clyne did get injured for me too for about 2 months. Lallana is easily the best player in the squad though

 

[Sam91]

October

Mixed month for The Saints
Deals done to sign Kevin De Bruyne and Leon Goretzka
Remarkable win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge


League


Southampton 1 - 2 Man City

Tomkins



Sunderland 2 - 1 Southampton

Tomkins



Chelsea 0 - 2 Southampton

Lucas Ocampos, Lallana

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Monthly Review


So 2 losses and a win but what a win it was!!! We grabbed an early goal thanks to Lucas Ocampos' first goal for the club and Lallana secured it late on. But it was our defence that really stood out with Tomkins and Caulker stopping every Chelsea attack and when shots came from far out Butland was well behind them. We were poor against Sunderland with Sessegnon grabbing a winner late on. The City match was really close but they took their chances and we unfortunately didn't. Just goes to show how far we've come though giving the 2 best teams in the league a real run for their money, literally.

We added two new faces and one is a real quality signing!! Kevin De Bruyne was unhappy at Chelsea and I quickly stole in and sorted out a deal worth £11m.

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A lot of potential in both players, Goretzka I will retrain as a CM and use him in rotation with Frimpong. De Bruyne will add versatility as he can play in loads of positions. Probably on either wing mainly the right wing as Ocampos is a bit hit and miss at the moment.


Player of the Month

James Tomkins

Solid at the back and top scorer this month



League Table

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[Greggylad]

**** man cracking transfers again

 

[Sam91]

**** man cracking transfers again

Cheers pal, De Bruyne is such a class act. Love him

 

[SammyJH94]

Good job this season so far buddy! great signings there, hopefully De Bruyne does better for you than he did for me in my Twente save, another thing is how do you retrain players to play in a different positions and how long does ir take?

 

[Sam91]

Good job this season so far buddy! great signings there, hopefully De Bruyne does better for you than he did for me in my Twente save, another thing is how do you retrain players to play in a different positions and how long does ir take?

Thanks mate, love De Bruyne always does well for me. To retrain a player go to their page, click on the training part where it should go to their Overview. From there you can select their individual training focus, the intensity of it and positional training. Heres a screenie

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[transferking]

you're making honestly a great stuff, Sam!!!

Wanted to ask about Frimpong as I'm loaning him in 1st season also with Saints. Sometimes having problems with his motivation and morale in no particular reason IMO. Have you experienced something similar and which kind of team-talks are you using on him?

Also: did you ask for stadium expansion (if yes, when?) or was it club's own initiative?