Hi. I've played Football Manager for many years but this is my first FM Story. I am a Manchester United fan and so will be playing as them, but hopefully this will be an interesting story to follow as I will prioritise integrating youth-team players into my first-team over buying in talent. Whether I can balance financial prudence and player development with long term success will be my challenge. I’m not, however, going to set hard goals from the very beginning, and I will be happy for readers to judge whether I have kept with the spirit of this challenge.
Introduction
I have decided to start a career with Manchester United without the luxury of being able to buy or sell anybody in the first transfer window (transfer budgets disabled). Hence for the first half of the season I will have to rely on youth players to balance out a disjointed squad. I have selected a few who I believe can make the step up, and going forward my team will consist of:
[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]Goalkeepers
[/TD]
[TD]Defenders
[/TD]
[TD]Midfielders
[/TD]
[TD]Forwards
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Amos
[/TD]
[TD]Blackett
[/TD]
[TD]Anderson
[/TD]
[TD]Falcao
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]De Gea
[/TD]
[TD]Blind
[/TD]
[TD]Carrick
[/TD]
[TD]Keane
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Lindegaard
[/TD]
[TD]Da Silva
[/TD]
[TD]Di Maria
[/TD]
[TD]Rooney
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Evans
[/TD]
[TD]Fellaini
[/TD]
[TD]Van Persie
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Jones
[/TD]
[TD]Fletcher
[/TD]
[TD]Wilson
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Rojo
[/TD]
[TD]Herrera
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Shaw
[/TD]
[TD]Januzaj
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Smalling
[/TD]
[TD]Lingard
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Mata
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Valencia
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Young
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
I may make signings in January depending on how the season is progressing, but my long-term goal is to integrate into the team as many younger players as possible. To that end, the board have agreed to my request to increase the funding for junior coaching as well as my request to expand Old Trafford to just over 85000 seats.
I have made changes to the coaching team – replacing less experienced coaches such as Ryan Giggs and Nicky **** with coaches who used to work at the club under Sir Alex Ferguson such as Mike Phelan and René Meulensteen. And I have started the process of expanding my scouting knowledge, with the aim of having a complete knowledge of Europe, Africa and the Americas (former Manchester United scout Tom Vernon is particularly handy for the African continent).
From a financial standpoint, as well as expanding the stadium I have added Seattle Sounders FC as an affiliate in order to boost merchandising sales. Whilst I will be happy to spend money whenever it is needed, another goal is to see the club finally pay off its debts (hence why I will prioritise blooding in young talent over buying in players – but obviously I will buy in if the requisite talent clearly isn't there in the young ranks).
My expectations this season from the board are to qualify for the Champions League and to reach the FA Cup final (whilst playing attacking football and developing younger players). I believe that these are reasonable requests, but challenging for the title should not be entirely out of the question at this point.
Introduction
I have decided to start a career with Manchester United without the luxury of being able to buy or sell anybody in the first transfer window (transfer budgets disabled). Hence for the first half of the season I will have to rely on youth players to balance out a disjointed squad. I have selected a few who I believe can make the step up, and going forward my team will consist of:
[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]Goalkeepers
[/TD]
[TD]Defenders
[/TD]
[TD]Midfielders
[/TD]
[TD]Forwards
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Amos
[/TD]
[TD]Blackett
[/TD]
[TD]Anderson
[/TD]
[TD]Falcao
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]De Gea
[/TD]
[TD]Blind
[/TD]
[TD]Carrick
[/TD]
[TD]Keane
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Lindegaard
[/TD]
[TD]Da Silva
[/TD]
[TD]Di Maria
[/TD]
[TD]Rooney
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Evans
[/TD]
[TD]Fellaini
[/TD]
[TD]Van Persie
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Jones
[/TD]
[TD]Fletcher
[/TD]
[TD]Wilson
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Rojo
[/TD]
[TD]Herrera
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Shaw
[/TD]
[TD]Januzaj
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Smalling
[/TD]
[TD]Lingard
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Mata
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Valencia
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Young
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
I may make signings in January depending on how the season is progressing, but my long-term goal is to integrate into the team as many younger players as possible. To that end, the board have agreed to my request to increase the funding for junior coaching as well as my request to expand Old Trafford to just over 85000 seats.
I have made changes to the coaching team – replacing less experienced coaches such as Ryan Giggs and Nicky **** with coaches who used to work at the club under Sir Alex Ferguson such as Mike Phelan and René Meulensteen. And I have started the process of expanding my scouting knowledge, with the aim of having a complete knowledge of Europe, Africa and the Americas (former Manchester United scout Tom Vernon is particularly handy for the African continent).
From a financial standpoint, as well as expanding the stadium I have added Seattle Sounders FC as an affiliate in order to boost merchandising sales. Whilst I will be happy to spend money whenever it is needed, another goal is to see the club finally pay off its debts (hence why I will prioritise blooding in young talent over buying in players – but obviously I will buy in if the requisite talent clearly isn't there in the young ranks).
My expectations this season from the board are to qualify for the Champions League and to reach the FA Cup final (whilst playing attacking football and developing younger players). I believe that these are reasonable requests, but challenging for the title should not be entirely out of the question at this point.