(Please excuse lack of screenshots for the first Update, they will be added shortly)
Introduction
Ever since I can remember, I’ve played these games with one thing in mind: the challenge. Without this there is no game. What fun would it be to take control of a club lavished with riches, players with heavy wallets and (sadly) empty trophy cabinets? Don’t get me wrong, I want to be in a position at one point to be able to do that, but I want to be able to do that by hard work and merit. I took time to find the right club for me to learn the newest addition to the Football Manager series and decided to go with whoever was predicted to finish in the lowest position in the Premier League.
That was Wigan Athletic Football Club.
I pondered for a while what kind of project this would be, and what I would get out of it in return. For me the satisfaction of this challenge would be to take a team that is ranked the lowest of all in the division and completely redesign the way the club is run, change the style of football to my own methodology and enhance not only my own reputation as a coach, but the club on the world stage.
Ten minutes after browsing the squad, facilities, coaches and finances, I decided that this would be the club I would begin my transition from the old to the new.
Away from this second life as a football manager, I am a project manager. That means I will sit there and work out what need to be changed in stages, making sure that I focus on each aspect as the seasons progresses. But this can’t be done if the foundations are not set. I knew going in that to beat this game and to accomplish the achievements I wished for, it’d take roughly 3-5 years. So I went to work.
Expectations, Limitations & Assessments
Although I had confidence in my ability to reach a position much higher than 20th in the league, I agreed with the board that avoiding relegation was to be my goal. A transfer budget of £5m was given. This meant that if everything went according to plan and I got to an unrealistic position this season, I’d receive more plaudits than usual. And with a shoestring budget, on a personal level I’d be extremely satisfied.
I had a clear idea of the tactics and formation I was going to develop with this squad, so I wrote up a list of what was needed.
Having assessed the squad I decided that I’d need a minimum 4 players to enhance what I already had. £5m… 4 players… Premier League quality… not going to be easy… challenge accepted.
On paper (and yes I’m one of those coaches that uses paper and pen at my desk to remember things and make notes) I had written; Left back, Central Defender, Central Midfielder and Striker.
Coaches, Scouts & Squad
Wigan didn’t have the best coaching system, training facilities, youth development, scouting system or stadium. And hardly any fans ever turned up to matches. Come to think of it, they didn’t really have much going for them at all. But what they did have was a fantastic and passionate chairman. And when I went knocking on his door in preseason asking to have move coaches and scouts, he agreed and I was able to expand the setup significantly.
This is what “reshaping a club, top to bottom” is all about. The pre-season fixtures list was already out, and I didn’t mind much what the results were or who was playing, as long as the squad got some level of their fitness back up. I delegated certain takes to my assistant manager, the only member of the backroom staff that would remain on the clubs books as I looked to cleanse the club of the old and start with a clean slate with new ideas and philosophies. He took over match preparation, arranging and controlling friendly games and I left the rest until the season started.
I made new backroom signings immediately (coaches, physiotherapists and scouts). We enhanced our scouting network from 3 to 9. Our coaches from 4 to 10. Training was now 4 stars or above across the board. The foundations were beginning to form a strong structure.
The squad had some promising talent but many I deemed surplus to requirements. They were immediately placed on the transfer list (as I told the press in my first interview) and began to cut the squad list down from about 33 to 25, placing some in the reserves, some on loan and the others for sale. The idea was to gain more transfer money and also reduce the wage bill significantly. Some of the players were on upwards of £10k a week. Essentially I was taking that money and putting it into the budget for safe keeping; I wasn’t going to rush my signings.
I tasked my best scouts with producing reports on four particular players: Jelle Vossen (ST), Bart Buysse (LB), Craig Dawson (CB) and Ruben Yttergård Jenssen (CM).
Two of these players, Vossen and Jenssen came as a suggestion from the new scouting system I had put into place. Immediately it was beginning to pay dividends. They were young, had competent stats and the reports were positive. Most importantly though, they weren’t going to take a huge chunk of my transfer budget away.
After three scouting reports each, and a few days of negotiations, both Vossen and Jenssen were signed for a combined fee of £2.5m. It was a win-win situation; they were young enough to learn and adapt and offer something to the squad immediately, but they came at such a small price (compared to the £25m Man City had just spent on Ganso, ten times the price I paid for the pair) that if they were to fail it wouldn’t damage us in the long run too much. It was “worth the punt” as some would say.
Craig Dawson was a second option, after my bid to persuade West Ham to sell James Tomkins to me failed. I see Tomkins as a player with fantastic potential and will definitely keep an eye on his progression over the season and keep my fingers crossed that West Ham don’t make it into the Premier League, giving me another shot at signing him come the summer time.
Dawson was available at an asking price of £3m, virtually all of my remaining transfer budget. Instead, I opted to pay £800k for a loan deal until the end of the season. This would ensure I had cover for my centre-backs and a enabled me to get a closer look at how good he really is. Negotiations were quick and easy, and Craig became my third signing.
Bart Buysse is a player that had “massive hype” in his younger days, and at 23 years of age it wasn’t like he was over the hill, but just never able to recognise his full potential. At £800k, this was again seen as low risk and offered adequate cover in the left back position.
The squad was ready to get fit, get trained and prepare for the season ahead. I took a backseat during pre-season to see how Graeme Jones, my assistant manager, would handle the team as I began to devise tactical plans. Graeme had one year left on his contract and I wanted to know if he was really up to the task of taking this club to the next level.
NEXT UPDATE: Tactics & Season Beginning Screenshots