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Hello! For those of you who do not know, I had set-out to do something excitingly well with SPL side, Aberdeen but I had issues with the save. Now I have a new story. Let's start.
(This OP will consist of news about my first club and aims and ambitions.)
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Dundee United hire ex-star, Derek Brown!

13748902_Dundee+Utd+chairman+Stephen+Tompson.jpg

(Dundee United chairman, Stephen Thomson)


The man who captained Motherwell and Dundee United and played for the likes of Rangers is now at the helm at Dundee United. This'll be Derek Brown's first job in management but he has worked under the likes of legend, Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United as reserve team manager and Walter Smith as a first team coach at Rangers and Scotland.


Derek Brown never managed to get a cap at International level and has always been sighted as the best player not to play.
Can he prove himself as a manager? Time will only tell.


***




Aims & Ambitions - Personal


  • [*=center]Scotland Job
    [*=center]Win the Champions League
    [*=center]Win the top tier in a major European Country


    [*=center]Top 10,000 on Steam leaderboards

***


Manager profile -
View attachment 352564


Career so far...


Dundee United - 2012
Seeing as I spent limited time at Dundee United, there wasn't much I could do. I brought in a few legends in the game to see out their careers but not an excitable amount happened.

Aberdeen - 2012 - 13
Again, I spent little time here. I was promised funds. Milne was difficult.

​Huddersfield - 2013 - 2015
After coming in near the end of the season, I failed to avoid the drop with them however, I added some real talent to the side and we were thrown straight back into the Championship with relative ease. We appeared at Wembley for the FA Cup Semi-Final as well where United beat us 4-2. When I left we were sitting in the play-off spots..

Watford - 2015 -







 
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Pre-Season 2012 / 13


_67961945_8368981.jpg


- Zanetti joins
- Little budget, little done
- Tottenham link


Board expectations -

SPL: Contintental Qualification
Scottish Cup: Semi-Final
League Cup: Semi-Final
Europa League: Experience


My expectations:
SPL: Top 2 (Contintental Qualification)
Scottish Cup: Final
League Cup: Win / Final
Europa League: Experience





Europa League 3rd Qualifer 1st Leg
Lech Pozan 0-0 Dundee United

Well, could have been worse! We had to travel a long way for this game to be played, I will happily take the 0-0 back to Tannadice. We had some good chances but they had the better. They wasted loads of chances. We had some we should have scored as well to be fair.


Friendlies -
Dundee United 1-2 Chivas
Dundee United 2-1 PSV
Dundee United 2-1 AZ Alkmaar
Irvine Meadow 0-3 Dundee United
Cliftonville 2-2 Dundee United


Not a bad pre-season at all! Some nice little results against some Dutch clubs and we were unlucky against Chivas - not that friendlies really care.


Hot Prospects

Dundee United (like several Scottish clubs) are known for the little gems that pop out of them every couple of seasons and I will show you a few hot prospects who'll be playing often this season.


View attachment 352636
Ryan Gauld - 16 - M (RL), AM (RLC) - 4.5*
The best of the three. Loads of potential.


View attachment 352637
Darren Petrie - 17 - DM, M (LC) - 4*
Maybe the least excirting, definitely something to come from him though.


View attachment 352638
John Souttar - 16 - D (RC) - 4*
Lots of potential, could become a real good centre-back.


Looking ahead to 2012/13
Problems -

Lack of depth - we have a match day squad + 3. Injuries could cause problems.
Lack of funds - Struggle to get players on loan and to pay wages which has caused us to miss out on a few good players.​
 
Good luck dude. Always hard to start with a SPL team as they never have cash!
 
Start of the Domestic
Season


View attachment 352835
(Lech Poznan fans after Polish Cup Final)

- Late heartbreak against Lech
- Tottenham give us Luongo
- Kevin Thomson joins on a free



Dundee United 3-0 Hibernian
Armstrong
Mackay-Steven
Gauld


Completely dominated. We should have had more as well. We played real nice football and looked good. Slight problem; Gary Mackay-Steven had to come of injured, hopefully it isn't too bad.

Gauld's goal makes him SPL's youngest goalscorer.



Europa League 3rd Qualifier 2nd Leg
Dundee United 1-1 Lech Pozan
Dillon
Agg (1-1)
Lech Pozan win on away goals


Turned out that Mackay-Steven was fit and should have given us the lead after 44 minutes when he had a shot saved from point blank range. We did take the lead after 82 minutes though after a Gunning header cracked the bar and fell to Dillon who easily played the ball into the back of the net. However, when that final 30 seconds came on that FM always shows you, Lech Poznan scored. Throwing us out on away goals. Gutted.

View attachment 352837


Celtic 3-2 Dundee United
Russell
Mackay-Steven


After taking the lead, Celtic equalised and took the lead quickly before half-time which was a shame. They made it 3-1 before we snatched 1 back. In the end, we pushed them to the end and left Parkhead knowing we had the Champions sweating. We just need to make sure we can try keep close to them throughout the next season with a small team.

View attachment 352841
(Celtic's packed ground)



Dundee United 2-0 Dundee
Armstrong
Gauld


Victory in the battle of Dundee! We looked are far better team and took our chances!


Kilmarnock 2-1 Dundee United
Ryan (Sent off - 34')
Gauld


Well, we held off until the final 15 where we played utterly ****. Gave them their goals and even still required our keeper to make save after save. Thomson went off injured leaving us with 9 before Gauld got us a late goal to make things look a little brighter.


League -
View attachment 352839


Could be better, could be worse. Disappointed with the result against Kilmarnock but oh well!


Player of the Month -
View attachment 352840
He's been absolutely fantastic at the back! Average rating of 8.0 in the league too!​
 
Transfer Window
August 2012

View attachment 352853


Very little happened at Tannadice Park. We brought in 3 midfielders and said goodbye to one for a fee of 170k. Elsewhere in the SPL, the other major transfer dealings involved Celtic buying Swansea's Alan Tate for £1.1m, St. Mirren received £775k for young Thomas Reilly and Aberdeen took in half-a-million for Cammy Smith. Within Scotland however, Hibernian spent £200k on Rangers wonderkid Barrie McKay. The likes of Kevin Thomson, Darren Mackie, Rudi Skacel, Zanetti and ex-Chelsea players Ben Gordon and Conor Clifford joined clubs on free's. St. Johnstone also brought back ex-captain and Chelsea player, Jody Morris.

View attachment 352842View attachment 352851


On the world stage a couple of big names jumped around, the likes of Marouane Fellaini left Everton for Premier League champions and Newcastle United saw their centre midfield duo leave for a total of £48.75m. Neven Subotic joined Arsenal, Kaka went to City for under £10m and David Alaba also left for big-spenders Manchester City who only saw free kick specialist Kolarov leave the club for £7m.


View attachment 352847
 
How is Johnny Russell doing after a impressive season this year in real life for you?
 
How is Johnny Russell doing after a impressive season this year in real life for you?

He's been good, yeah. He's been really good on the ball and influenced the games! A few championship sides were interested in him but they would only take him on loan with a future fee so I said no! Daly has been the most disappointing for me though, struggled in front of goal.
 
September

View attachment 352985
(New signing Litmanen in his prime)

- Inconsistent!

- Litmanen joins the Terrors


View attachment 352986


Maybe a bit old but he is still got some nice stats and could really give us a boost. His mental stats are insanse as well!




St. Johnstone 1-2 Dundee United
Mackay-Steven
Russell


We were by far the greater team and played some really nice football. We knew what we were doing up top and took our chances, however, defensively we were off. It was ping-pong for their goal. Cross came in, we headered it to the edge of the box, wee then headered it again, it fell straight back down and they broke through and scored. We'll need to sort that out soon.


With the wage budget being small and having little funds I decided to promote coach Paul Hegarty to Assistant Manager as all other potentials wanted too much, he's best qualified and has the better stats than other coaches with the team. Along with that I decided to ask the board to fund his next coaching course so he can try get his Continental Pro Licence!


View attachment 352988View attachment 352989




Dundee United 0-1 Ross County
Pretty awful to say the least. Couldn't string passes together, couldn't defend, couldn't get the ball. Ross County are going strongly in the league as well to be fair!


Johnny Russell appeared in a Dundee United shirt for the 75th time
Litmanen made his 450th league appearance
Litmanen and Souttar's appearances made them the oldest and youngest players to appear in a Dundee United shirt.

View attachment 353001


Dundee United 3-0 Hearts
Litmanen
Russell
Gunning


Woo! After a poor first half performance we came out fired up for the second. Darren Barr was shown red and after a while we got a tight grip on the game. Our first goal came from a long range shot from Armstrong that cracked off the post and fell to Litmanen who could pass the ball into the net. Once Grainger was sent off we began to really take control. Thankfully we got the win! It wasn't the cleanest game, 9 yellows and 2 reds, wow!


Litmanen's goal made him SPL's oldest goalscorer.


Scottish League Cup - Third Round
Morton 1-3 Dundee United (AET)
Douglas
Gunning 2


We sent out a midfield of youngsters, gave Souttar a game as well. Some fringe players made appearances. We took the lead and were pegged back after a nice finish from distance before half-time. The second half saw nothing happen so Morton managed to take us into extra-time where Gunning got on the end of two Douglas corners. 41 year-old Litmanen ended up having to play the whole 2 hours due to players coming off earlier and because of injuries. Elsewhere, Rangers knocked out Celtic AET with an Ian Black penalty in the 118th minute! Woohoo!


We are drawn with the team from across the road in the Quarter Finals.


Inverness CT 2-1 Dundee United
Russell


After Inverness scored in the first 15 seconds and then in the 7th minute I knew things were going to go badly, however it wasn't as big as loss as I expected. We ended up playing and being the better team. Once we equalised in the 59th minute there was a small chance we'd get something from the game. We ended up forcing Esson to make multiple saves and we cracked the woodwork late on. Still, I am very disappointed.


League -

View attachment 352998


Hmm...


Player of the Month -

View attachment 352997


Douglas has had a good month. It was a real close one between him and Gavin Gunning but I feel Douglas has influenced games a little more.





 
Russell seems to be doing well!!
 
October

View attachment 353064
(Dundee United and Dinamo Moscow fans fighting in
the Europa League qualifiers)

- Belgian winger Tom De Mul signs for United

- Daly set to leave in January
- Hammer Aberdeen in the "New Firm derby"


Motherwell 1-2 Dundee United
Gardyne
Gunning


A win away from home! Fantastic, struggled away so far this season - as early as it may be. They equalised with 20 minutes to go and it seemed as if it would be a point each but after Douglas' cross was met with Russell's head, then the bar and then the foot of Gunning with 5 minutes to go that we'd get the win and so we did. Thankfully.


Dundee United 3-0 Aberdeen
Gunning
Gardyne 2


The former Sevilla man, Tom De Mul made his debut and had quite a poor one - however, he did only sign minutes before kick-off. A very pleasing win, Gunning gave us the lead with with a scrappy first half goal and then Gardyne's late double cemented the victory. Litamen deserves a mention for his composure and assist in the second goal. Woop woop!

View attachment 353061


St. Mirren 2-0 Dundee United



Esmael Goncalves ran riot! Not much we could have done for their first goal but we literally gave them their second by playing it to Goncalves. An under-8's mistake of playing it across the box. Tom De Mul had another poor game. He is costing me a fair bit each week too. Better pick it up!


Fenlon sacked by Hibernian after 11 games. Hibernian currently sit 11th and have only won the 4 games this season - not to bad. Seems they've just struggled to turn one point into three.


Scottish League Cup Quarter Final
Dundee United 0-1 Dundee


You'd hardly think we were a SPL side, or even an SFL side. The players were utterly stupid. We'd waste chances and our defending for their goal was non-existent. We should have been off to Hampden!




League -

View attachment 353063


Things are real tight, everyone is pushing for second. In the long run I hope we can claim that spot, we will see!




Player of the Month -


View attachment 353062

With us being 3 months into the season he has claimed the youn
g player of month award twice and the player of the month award once. He is doing incredible. A few will definitely want him come January.
 
"Authors Note"

As I never really stated before, this save and story will not be all Dundee United. It was more about the manager, Derek Brown. I aim to become a very successful manager and if I have to leave Dundee United to fulfill these plans I shall!


- - -








November

View attachment 353068

- Parent club Spurs sack AVB and hire Pellegrini

- We grab a point against Celtic as we hit a poor run of form
- Young Portuguese keeper set to join

View attachment 353065Pedro Guedes - 17 - 4.5* - Portuguese
Definitely a lot of potential here. He'll be given his chance when he joins us and hopefully I can turn him into a decent keeper!



Dundee United 1-1 Celtic
Daly (p)


Excellent! A draw with the big dogs, Daly also put an end to his goal drought by getting his first goal of the season. Very happy with the point. An incredible boring game of football though.


Hibernian 0-1 Dundee United
Russell


A win is a win! That was very comfortable until the final 20 where Hibernain began to force Banks to make numerous saves. Thankfully he made them saves! Hopefully we can get a nice run together.


Dundee United 0-2 Kilmarnock


Utterly embarrassing. The defending for the goals was abysmal.


Willo Flood makes his 100th league appearance for Dundee United


Ross County 3-0 Dundee United


Shambles. Defence was useless. Decision making was non-existent


Stuart Armstrong makes his 50th league appearance for Dundee United


Dundee United 0-0 Motherwell


Nothing happened all game, giving something else a go for my next league game I think. Need to get going again!


League -

View attachment 353066

Us being very inconsistent isn't helping. An almost goalless month see's us slip into 7th.


Player of the Month -


View attachment 353067


Gunning once again claimed the Young Player of the Month award meaning he has now won this award and the POTM award each month! Impressive!



In other news; Litmanen agrees a new contract of 'Player / Assistant Manager'. I feel bad for Paul Hegarty but Litmanen's stats are quite nice and he has similar qualifications.


 
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Pretty disappointing start but you can still easily claim 2nd place
 
Keep with it, got some excellent youth players like Gauld and Armstrong. I am in 2017 and they are bossing the league.
 
Aberdeen want Brown!

Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson has announced that Aberdeen have approached manager Derek Brown. He said "Yes, we had heard that Derek [Brown] was interested in a move to Pittodrie after Craig Brown left for Bolton. We weren't sure if it was true or pure speculation. If he is interested in a move to Aberdeen we'll let him go.".

It is believed that the compensation fee for the wanted manager only lies at 40k as his contract expires in 6 months. There has been no confirmation from the Dundee United board that his contract will be renewed. Aberdeen chairman Milne told us "I had heard he was very interested in coming to us a few days after Craig [Brown] had left for Bolton. I jumped at the opportunity to approach Dundee United about us bringing him across to Pittodrie. He's been given a week to think things over." Milne also confirmed that even with the club struggling financially "funds are available".

If Brown does in fact make the move, it will be a controversial one, jumping across to Dundee United's rivals, Aberdeen. We asked some fans what they thought.

Aberdeen fans:

"I'd happily take him, he has done an acceptable job with limited funds at Dundee United and it will mean we get one up on the Terrors!"
-
"No, I wouldn't want him here. What has he done at Dundee United? Thrown some staff around and underperformed?"
-
"He has managed our rivals and played for Rangers! We can't have him here, surely? I mean, he was a fantastic player and had done well coaching with Man United and Scotland. If he had played for the Dons I'd say yes! Otherwise, no."
-

Dundee United fans:

"Well, he's done well for us. Given the youngsters a chance and that. Enjoyed seeing him play and was shocked when he never got a cap for Scotland. If he wants to go, let him go but sadly a lot of people will see him as a traitor rather than the hero he was!"
-
"I can't understand why he'd want to go to be honest with you, captained the side a while back, a fantastic set-up here now and we gave him that opportunity to manage!"
-
"He can go if he wants. Disappointed Thompson didn't fight for him. I'd love to see him stay but after him apparently saying he'd like a move to Pittodrie I don't see him being wanted here by a lot of fans. Wish him the best if he does go."
-
Figures in the Football World:

"He's done a good job there [Dundee United] and was a fantastic player, wherever he goes or stays he will do a good job. He has a lot of experience and I would have loved to have kept him here as a coach but when that job as a manager opened he wanted it. It'd be good to see him at Aberdeen, they're a wonderful club."-

- Sir Alex Ferguson


View attachment 353100
 
Love this thread. Big fan of Scottish league football which is why i so loved my FM12 story which went from Rangers to Bayern. Hope you do well mate. Jonny Russell and Gunning are awesome players
 
Nice story mate, its giving me the motivation to start a Hibs story, even though I am a Celtic fan. I'll be following this though.
 
Great story so far mate! I say stick it out and United for the Season. Funds won't be much more at Aberdeen and personally I think Dundee Utd have the better players. But whatever you do I'll follow!
 
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