FM16: Sunderland A.F.C Thread- Breaking the Cycle

Transfer Budget

Transfer budget-£0

Wage Budget- £988,000 per week (Currently spending £950,000 per week)

Percentedge of Revenue- 75% (can be increased to 90% if you ask)

Targets

• Gino Peruzzi- Sunderland fans will be very familiar with Peruzzi; he was all due to sign for the club in 2013 until the club pulled out after he failed his medical. He can be picked up between 2.5-3.5m and is a top quality right back.

• Andrija Zivkovic- A top player on previous versions and he looks even better on this one. A must buy for any club and can be signed for around 650k.

• Hakim Ziyech- He had a quality season last year IRL and is very highly rated on FM; plays well in the AMC position and as he is only young he can be sold on for big profit. Can be bought for a fee up to 8m.

• Eder Alvarez Balanta- Already an FM legend on previous versions, he has been downgraded and doesn’t have the potential he did on FM15. However, he is available for just 2.5m so he is a must buy IMO.

• Michael Keane- Not a very fashionable name perhaps but Keane is a very good English defender; I got him for 10m in instalments but he may be available for less.

• Lucas Romero- Still as good as ever. Available for 3m.

• Lincoln- Superb talent that you simply MUST BUY! He is available for 2.7m and will join in the summer when he turns 18.

• Breel Embolo- One of the best young players on FM16; he doesn’t come cheap at around 13m but he is well worth it in the long run. He bags goals right from the start and will only get better.

• Ricky Alvarez (Yes, HIM!)- The Ricky Alvarez saga drags on! IRL this legal battle is going to FIFA but in the meantime he is on a free in FM and he is more than good enough for the squad. Will accept modest wages and his value shoots right up to 12m.

• Anwar El Ghazi- The Ajax winger is in good form IRL and he looks very promising on FM. He has great potential and will only get better. Fee rising to 6.5m.

• Muhammed Besic (LOAN)- Hes a pretty good player to choose for midfield cover. I managed to loan him and he did a very good job in the first season.

Tips

• Ask Short to increase percentage of transfer revenue, he will increase this to 90% which helps.

• SELL! SELL! SELL! – The club is full of underperforming players on high wages; keep them all and you risk struggling against relegation. Contrary to real life, it is quite easy to get rid of these underperforming players and you can actually get some decent money in to completely rebuild the team. Even Adam Johnson who is rated as our best player should be sold IMO; he is on big wages and he is out of contract at the end of the season, you can get just under 10m for him which can be used to buy a better and younger player.

• Invest in youth; finances can dip with the loan repayments so potential sell on value is crucial.

• Revamp the backroom staff

Is Watmore any good then ?

Is Watmore any good then ?

No. Hes quick but doesnt really have potential to ever threaten the first team as the rest of his stats are poor. This is him on my save (February 2017):

I released him at the end of the first season and has been pretty average for Luton. Its a shame as i like him IRL

I know i said in the opening posts that Johnson should be sold but i have seen posts from people that have sold him for 30m after the first season so maybe he should be kept.

I had a few good saves with Sunderland on FM15 and I'm going to try again on this. IMO the key is to shift as much of the rubbish as you can, and it seems to be a bit easier on this version

I've sold Bridcutt for 5m, Fletcher for 7m, Roberge for 2m and Graham for 3m. Keeping Johnson on a new contract because I think he's quality

Signed Balic, Ajer and Zivkovic (no WP as of yet). There's some decent Egyptian players who might be worth looking at (Sobhy especially) though they are troubled by WP issues

Playing a 41221 formation, trying to keep the ball and get a decent amount of possession

Pants

Jones - O'Shea - Kaboul - PvA

Cattermole

M'Vila - CM

Johnson - Toivonen - Borini

The CM role is Balic/Gomez usually, or Larsson/Rodwell as a BWM if I'm playing a much better side (which lets be honest is often)

Lens is a bit hot and cold but is capable of genius, rotates with Borini/Johnson. Not found a replacement for Toivonen, in hindsight it may have been better to have kept Graham or Fletcher. Defoe is alright but can't really play a lone striker role

Managed to beat Arsenal 3-1 early on, but got hammered by Man City 4-1 so it's a bit of a mixed bag

Is that Andrija Balic? I have him and he is quality. Shifting players as Sunderland is the best way to go as it can give you a lot of freedom to reshape the squad as the existing players are on such big wages. I would definitely have Johnson and lens starting games, I sold aj but he can be quality and his value shoots up, borini was pretty poor for me.

O'Shea and Brown are both rubbish and on high wages, because of their age and wage demands it is extremely difficult to sell them especially considering Brown will retire at the end of the first season and O'Shea at the end of the second season. Even if a club does bid on one their insane wage demands mean that more than likely they wont end up leaving. A good option is to try and convince them to become staff and offer them a player/coach contract which can end up with them taking a massive pay cut. Sadly in my game I tried getting rid of Brown and he went in a huff so he wouldn't sign a staff contract so I had to keep him till his contract ran down O'Shea however signed a player/U18 coach contract for 2k a nice 45k wage cut which helps an awful lot, he is not a great coach but better than paying 47k for him to sit around complaining about playing time.

O'Shea and Brown are both rubbish and on high wages, because of their age and wage demands it is extremely difficult to sell them especially considering Brown will retire at the end of the first season and O'Shea at the end of the second season. Even if a club does bid on one their insane wage demands mean that more than likely they wont end up leaving. A good option is to try and convince them to become staff and offer them a player/coach contract which can end up with them taking a massive pay cut. Sadly in my game I tried getting rid of Brown and he went in a huff so he wouldn't sign a staff contract so I had to keep him till his contract ran down O'Shea however signed a player/U18 coach contract for 2k a nice 45k wage cut which helps an awful lot, he is not a great coach but better than paying 47k for him to sit around complaining about playing time.

Thats actually a very good idea. I was lucky and sold O'Shea to Celtic straight away and loaned out Brown for 80% of his wages.

Season 2015/2016

I took over Sunderland in July 2015 and on the first day i was told that there were no funds for transfers and there was very little room for manouvere in terms of wage budget allowance. I did however manage to convince Short to allow me to re-invest the majority of incoming transfer funds (95%). I decided the best way to be successful would be to completely dismantle the squad, selling anybody that would fetch a decent price, obviously the players that Dick just signed wouldnt leave in the first window but they happen to be the ones that id rather keep anyway (Borini and Lens).

Transfers

As you can see by the screenshot above, we had a very busy pre-season bringing in 9 players and shipping out many more. Most of the players that left i considered to be deadwood and i was happy to receive decent transfer fees. The only ones i was in two minds about were Johnson and Van Aanholt; Johnson as he is a top player and PVA because it left us with only the inexperienced Targett at left back. The sale of Johnson was crucial in being able to bring in Embolo so it was something that had to be done. He was the big money signing and i saw it as an investment in a player who could become a legend at the club and could be sold for a vast amount of money. I paid a little bit more than i wanted for Keane but he looks a quality player and is English. I wanted to stay away from the usual FM purchases but i couldnt resist on Peruzzi, Balanta and Romero as they were available for such good prices. I feel the squad was definitely improved and was full of young players with potential. January was a key month for us too, we were just inside the top half and needed an extra boost to push on. Zivkovic is a must buy for such a bargain price and Bender was a key purchase to dominate the midfield.

English Premier League

We didnt start off too well with hammerings at Both Man City (5-0) and Chelsea (4-0) but we soon started grinding wins out against teams such as Norwich, West Brom, Leicester and Bournemouth; teams that would be around us at the end of the season, or would they? We continued putting runs together while taking the odd hammering off the top teams and we found ourselves in 9th at the turn of the year. Id been tracking Sven Bender for a while as he was transfer listed but no teams had made an offer so i stole in and got him for a bargain 6.5m. The loan move for Loic Remy was also crucial as he bagged 8 crucial goals despite being used mainly as a substitute due to the form of Breel Embolo. The Swiss striker was tearing the premier league apart and was attracting the attention of the big boys, he weighed in with 17 goals and 15 assists during throughout the season. We had a very strong 6 week period from the end of January to the middle of March winning 6 games out of 8 and this put us in a very strong position for a Europa League place. However, we picked up just 8 points in the last 9 games in the run. Fortunately, this didnt hurt us too much and we managed to finish a very impressive 6th, above rivals Newcastle. As Tottenham won the Capital one cup we managed to secure a Europa League place for the following season; this could be good news or bad as the extra games could really effect our league form, another major overhaul is needed!

FA Cup: 6th round (Knocked out by Chelsea)

Capital One Cup: 3rd round (Knocked out by Sheff Wed)

Player of the season: Breel Embolo

Special Mention: Michael Keane- Very consistent and well rounded player

Aims for next season:

-Replace the rest of the deadwood (Kaboul, Rodwell etc)

-Bring in more quality youngsters

-Revamp the backroom staff

-Increase squad size to cope with the Europa League

I started my Sunderland save yesterday. I'm a Deandre Yedlin fan since he grew up and played soccer in my city. Too bad he was not rated higher in FM. I had to terminate his loan.

Thanks jordanknox for the transfer advice. I sold as many current players as possible including Vanholt because he has high transfer value. I brought in a 34yr old Brazilian for cheap transfer fee and lower salary as my left back. I added many players from my save in FM15, such as Kris Ajer, Balanta, Lucas Romera, Sergio Diaz, and many others. I noticed that if I handle the transfer/contract negotiations, these players don't want to sign with me. So I have been letting my staff handle the transfer/contract negotiation (basically not changing the default setting in staff responsibilities) and they are able to almost sign most of these players. Perhaps it has to do with my low reputation compared to the other staff.

Next problem I have is it takes much longer to gain tactical familiarity in FM16 compared to previous versions. My record is now 4-4-4 with about 55% tactical familiarity. If I knew it takes this long, then I would have started my save at an earlier date.

Last minor issue is GK. I kept Pantilimon, and sold Mannone because my staff was able to sign backup GK youngster Donnarumma from Milan. But then Pantilimon had a severe injury during the preseason and won't be able to play until January/February 2016. I'm now just playing the kid Donnarumma every game. He had been solid.

I have noticed that about the tactical familiarity too. How much did you sign Donnarumma for? I forgot to search for him at the start. I havent posted my second season round up yet but im half way through my 3rd season and going really well, ive built up an amazing squad in such a short space of time.

My staff signed him on a 3 year youth contract $8,000 annually

I'll continue to let staff handle all my signings until my rep increases.

I'm at the halfway mark in my first season. My primary control tactical familiarity is almost full, so its time to add a second counter tactic.

Transfers switched off for first window, beat Man City 2-0 in the first match but then in the second Chelsea went down to ten after 20 mins and we didn't even manage a shot before conceding a late goal so I could well have been found out after one game.

Season 2016/17

Transfers

No sooner had the transfer window opened than i had an offer from Ziyech from Manchester City; i found him very inconsistent and after he asked to leave i decided to start negotiations. They eventually offered 25m which i decided to accept. I spent the majority of the money on his replacement, Angel Correa, who i believe is a much better player anyway. I was happy to lose Kaboul and Defoe as they were on enormous wages. Aaron Cresswell came in for 8.75m which i found to be very reasonable considering that he is English. The rest of the money was spent on young players with potential (Lincoln, Ajer, Fossum, Balic, Cubas and Pezzi) who i can hopefully develop and sell on for profit. The best signing of the season has to be Rulli on a free; a world class goalkeeper even though hes on 80k per week. Towards the end of the summer window i decided to cash in on some players that werent going to play many games, the biggest suprises being Borini(6m) and especially Lens (8m). I feel i was a bit hasty getting rid of these too and i could have waited and got more for them. In January we brought in 2 qualities signings in Saul and Sule who i believe will help us push on. The screenshot is slightly misleading as in January I arranged deals for Balanta (22.5m) and Romero (23m) to leave at the end of the season hence why i could bring in 2 Saul and Sule but this does not show up on this seasons transfers.

Premier League

I didnt expect such a fantastic season; with the extra games in the europa league i expected to struggle in the league and i was only expected to finish in the top half. The team seemed a lot more comfortable and we dominated a lot more games as opposed to last season where we mostly played on the counter. As you can see the battle for the champions league spots was extremely tight and it went right down to the wire. Chelsea and Liverpool were favourites for 3rd and 4th but they threw it away in the last 2 fixtures while ourselves and Man Utd took advantadge. Embolo had a good return again with 16 league goals but his performances werent as good as the previous season.

Europa League

I was worried that the extra schedule would take its toll on the players so i played a rotated team in Europe. We breezed through the group stages unbeaten even beating Bremen 8-0. I think complacency kicked in when we played Rijeka; i thought we would breeze through but we were stunned with a 2-1 defeat away from home. I played a stronger team in the 2nd leg and came though with a comfortable 3-0 win. This was the only time we looked like losing in Europe; despite playing decent teams in the later rounds we got through to the final pretty comfortably, i was suprised how poor Chelsea were as i expected to be knocked out by them when i saw the draw.

Final

We faced Stuttgart in the final who fielded none other than Fabio Borini up front. I was sure he was going to come back and haunt me as he had a good season in Germany. In reality he didnt really get a kick as we dominated possession (despite having less shots). Embolo gave us an early lead and i thought we would kick and win comfortably but the equalised soon after. I gave the lads a motivational team talk at the break and it had an immediate effect; Origi scored his 8th goal of the competition 30 seconds into the second half and we held on despite late pressure from the Germans. CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE! (kind of)

FA Cup: Lost in 3rd round to Charlton

Capital one cup: Lost in 3rd round to Norwich

Player of the season:Breel Embolo

Aims:

-More re-inforcements are needed to cement our place in the top 4

-Bring in more young players

-Finish in top 4 (AVOID EUROPA LEAGUE!!)

Quite enjoying this, got 11pts from 9 matches. Only downside so far is Cattermole going in the huff for not getting straight back in after a 4 match ban for his second red of the season already.

4-4-2 is the way forward for me. I've got Jones plus Matthews/Yedlin who are all quick overlapping each other on the right and Larsson deep lying on right of centre midfield supplying them so we just bypass packed formations and cause havoc down the wing. Waiting for Gomez to come back from injury to set up the same triangle on the left with Johnson/ PvA. May as well forget about the DMs as our defence is going to leak goals regardless of how many men are back there. A few long range screamers from Borini have helped as well.

Quite enjoying this, got 11pts from 9 matches. Only downside so far is Cattermole going in the huff for not getting straight back in after a 4 match ban for his second red of the season already.

4-4-2 is the way forward for me. I've got Jones plus Matthews/Yedlin who are all quick overlapping each other on the right and Larsson deep lying on right of centre midfield supplying them so we just bypass packed formations and cause havoc down the wing. Waiting for Gomez to come back from injury to set up the same triangle on the left with Johnson/ PvA. May as well forget about the DMs as our defence is going to leak goals regardless of how many men are back there. A few long range screamers from Borini have helped as well.

Are you not playing M'vila?

Are you not playing M'vila?

Started off first choice then injuries mean he's been in and out. We'll finish midtable barring a disaster so Bridcutt and Rodwell are getting plenty of minutes to ensure we get decent fees for them rather than play a loan player who I probably wont be able to buy. Matthews is my regular right midfielder now, his crossing is somehow awesome and we just beat Man United 1-0 after he set up a tap-in for Johnson from 60 yards away.

Started off first choice then injuries mean he's been in and out. We'll finish midtable barring a disaster so Bridcutt and Rodwell are getting plenty of minutes to ensure we get decent fees for them rather than play a loan player who I probably wont be able to buy. Matthews is my regular right midfielder now, his crossing is somehow awesome and we just beat Man United 1-0 after he set up a tap-in for Johnson from 60 yards away.

Good luck getting rid of Rodwell, im coming to the end of season 3 and he is still here. He hasnt really had an injury but is down to half a star ability and potential. He has constantly been loaned out, just waiting for his contract to run down.

Hello thread

I was recently fired from the Wolves after taking them to the premiership (board was ruthless after a takeover) but I was 'lucky' enough to pick up the job with Sunderland after they were relegated (placed 18th). Their finances are pretty horrid with a very restrictive wage bill. Here's the squad post season:

http://imgur.com/CfcyHPH

Fabio Borini has already asked to leave and has received some offers, he's on a $4.7M p/a deal at the moment with some hefty bonuses. I have a lot of work to do it looks like.

Started a game with the lads and initially got off to a decent start but at the moment in January 2016 im in 17th spot. Been on a shocking run since mid December. I just cant buy a win at the minute. I may start again after reading some of the advice on this thread, terminate all loans except M'Vila and have another crack. The only upside of my current save is that im the Capital One Cup semi final but im likely to be knocked out after only drawing 1-1 at home to Man City in the first leg. My last 5 games have had these results:

Sunderland 1 - 2 Southampton (Prem)

Sunderland 1 - 1 Man City (C1 Cup)

Southampton 4 - 1 Sunderland (FA Cup)

Sunderland 1 - 3 Leicester (Prem)

Man Utd 4 - 1 Sunderland (Prem)

Kaboul is currently out injured, Coates is appalling, Brown is unfit and O'Shea is just being O'Shea! I Signed Juan Jesus on loan from Inter Milan and in his 3rd game he does his cruciate ligaments and is out for 8 months! This is just my first crack at it so im just coming to terms with the game and new features so now Ive got a better idea im going to have another go

I started a new save just for Sunderland, im having a heck of a time getting all my deadweight unloaded. SO MUCH TO DO.

For Sunderland who would you consider deadwood and which players should I replace/ which players should I bring in?

Thanks

For Sunderland who would you consider deadwood and which players should I replace/ which players should I bring in?

Thanks

The whole squad barring Adam Johnson who has a potential £20 Million plus sell on at the end of the season.

The whole squad barring Adam Johnson who has a potential £20 Million plus sell on at the end of the season.

Thanks for the reply, would you recommend any players? Any good English players as well?

Thanks for the reply, would you recommend any players? Any good English players as well?

Definitely peruzzi and balanta Aswell as Lucas Romero. You could also try ajer and fossum. Andrija zivkovic is a 100 per cent must buy. Also look at the loan market.

For English players I'd try zach clough and demerai gray (3.5m release clause).

Definitely peruzzi and balanta Aswell as Lucas Romero. You could also try ajer and fossum. Andrija zivkovic is a 100 per cent must buy. Also look at the loan market.

For English players I'd try zach clough and demerai gray (3.5m release clause).

Thanks for the tips, greatly appreciated

Had a long winter. 6th in November before injuries arrived and left us with a CB pair of Brown and Roberge. Combined with Pants being awful (cant wait to get Pickford back, he is the future), is like starting a game 0-2.

Dropped all the way to 17th with 25 from 25 and the board said get 6 points from the next 5 or else. Just came back from going behind to 18th place Stoke in the second match to win 2-1 with a last gasp Coates goal to give us 3 points from the first 2 and a six point gap to the drop zone. Next 3 games are Leicester (11th) at home then West Ham (now 18th) and Man Utd away, needing 3 more points to stay in a job...

... PVA did a Stevie G special through ball for Vardy to bring the Leicester game back to 2-2 and we were right under the cosh until a comical o.g. gave us a 3-2 win and the board's points target. We couldn't do it the easy way though and a five match losing streak culminating in defeat in a rearranged match to 19th placed West Ham left us extremely vulnerable. The Hammers won again to pull off a great escape and lift themselves out the the drop zone they'd been in for months however the other clubs below us weren't so lucky and a meek 1-1 home draw with Watford has secured our safety on 36 points with a game to spare.

We have comfortably the worst defence in the league with 76 conceded so new centre backs are vital. Luckily Stoke, Villa and West Brom have gone down meaning any combination of Evans, Okore, Shawcross and Chester are realistic targets and all a huge upgrade on what we have now. In Congerton we trust (so new contracts for Brown and Roberge it is).

Has Joel Asoro got good potential on any of your saves? he looks promising on mine.

Has Joel Asoro got good potential on any of your saves? he looks promising on mine.

I'm 3 seasons in and he's at barrow

Good shout with Osoro, he looks good on mine too and Defoe could be the perfect tutor for him. He can have Danny Graham's 3-games-a-season role next year. Going to try Krusnell as back up left back behind PVA, Jones and Matthews as well.

So far I've got:

Shawcross 4m, 50k a week

Chester 800k, 45k a week

Valdes 400k, 80k a week,

which has annihilated my £7m war chest, going to try to boost that by clearing out some wages. Wanted Butland instead of Valdes however Stoke wanted north of £5m. Same story with Jonny Evans and the other good defender Okore has been offered a deal but he's speaking to a few other clubs too.

First season transfers

First season transfers

How did you get Donnarumma so cheap I offered 1m for him and they wanted 40odd for him

How did you get Donnarumma so cheap I offered 1m for him and they wanted 40odd for him

I bid 500k and they come back wanting 1.3 million so i offered £1 million and they accepted

Osoro was put in the first team squad ahead of the new season because and went in the huff because Milan bid 200k for him, a guy who hasn't played a professional game demanding a chance to play European football. The bids kept rolling in so I changed his asking price put him in the reserves to cool off. At 9.45pm on transfer deadline day as I'm blindly tapping continue I read that Congerton's sold him to Barcelona for £5.75m!

Ended up signing all four centre back targets so we've gone from last year's clown car defence to having Shawcross and Evans backed up by Okore and Chester.

Loads of players left but apart from Coates to Norwich for £3.7m I couldn't get anything like some of the fees you guys have been getting and only raked in £11m overall. Thanks to signing three 'key players' the wage bill hasnt fallen all that much either.

Osoro was put in the first team squad ahead of the new season because and went in the huff because Milan bid 200k for him, a guy who hasn't played a professional game demanding a chance to play European football. The bids kept rolling in so I changed his asking price put him in the reserves to cool off. At 9.45pm on transfer deadline day as I'm blindly tapping continue I read that Congerton's sold him to Barcelona for £5.75m!

Ended up signing all four centre back targets so we've gone from last year's clown car defence to having Shawcross and Evans backed up by Okore and Chester.

Loads of players left but apart from Coates to Norwich for £3.7m I couldn't get anything like some of the fees you guys have been getting and only raked in £11m overall. Thanks to signing three 'key players' the wage bill hasnt fallen all that much either.

Congerton is a twit like he sold Mammana to Real Madrid for £26 Million i only knew because it come up as the highest transfer fee on deadline day!!!

Congerton is a tw@t like he sold Mammana to Real Madrid for £26 Million i only knew because it come up as the highest transfer fee on deadline day!!!

He tried to do exactly the same thing with Krusnell in the January window. he's done well in a few games and is improving his stats (expected to end up better than van Aanholt) and Congerton would have practically given him away to Inter for 200k.

Second season we're doing much better, 8th on 40 points after 28 games. Borini is the division's top scorer averaging a goal a game in all comps but the big clubs who want him wont go above £14m. I would have taken a £20m+ offer in the January window as I had Danny Ings lined up for £3.5m but a serious offer never came in.

Borini won the European Golden Boot with 27 goals in season 2, finished 9th. Making improvements with the 34m uncle Ellis has given us, focusing on English players.

Lens and PVA out as Gibbs and Garbutt at a bargain £3.5m each transform our left hand side. Krusnell is turning into a really good back-up left back. Jordan Mutch, Alex Pritchard, Dele Alli, Jack Grealish and Will Hughes are realistic midfield targets and I'm taking Charlie Adam on a free as cheap backup.

I can only afford 2 out of Alli, Grealish and Hughes. Pretty much set on Alli to replace Gomez so who out of the other two should I go for?

Borini won the European Golden Boot with 27 goals in season 2, finished 9th. Making improvements with the 34m uncle Ellis has given us, focusing on English players.

Lens and PVA out as Gibbs and Garbutt at a bargain £3.5m each transform our left hand side. Krusnell is turning into a really good back-up left back. Jordan Mutch, Alex Pritchard, Dele Alli, Jack Grealish and Will Hughes are realistic midfield targets and I'm taking Charlie Adam on a free as cheap backup.

I can only afford 2 out of Alli, Grealish and Hughes. Pretty much set on Alli because he's left footed to replace Gomez so who out of the other two should I go for?

Alli is right foted, Hughes is left footed.

Alli is right foted, Hughes is left footed.

Got me. Just after I pressed send I remembered his goal for England and thought what the hell have I just wrote

Got me. Just after I pressed send I remembered his goal for England and thought what the hell have I just wrote

Haha no worries, didn't want you making the signing and then thinking, ****.

Leaning towards Alli and Grealish now, Hughes at £10m could end up being another Rodwell. I retrained Rodwell as a centre back which might have been a good idea as soon as you start the game so you can use him in the first season but I dont need him anywhere now, with 400k Jordan Mutch able to do the bang average squad filler spot on half his wages.

Season 3 despite having a great looking squad I caught Sunderland disease. Slump followed by winning a few games to get out of trouble then repeat. So never in any real danger, never got up into the top half to push on and ended 12th.

It wasn't all bad though, with three matches to go Newcastle in 18th were on the heels of 17th place West Brom. Or at least they were until we tried an experimental formation at the Hawthorns which the home side capitalized on. The toon could still catch Stoke and Palace with a draw on the final day. Unfortunately for them they were playing at the Sol against a manager who hasn't lost a match to them yet and a borini brace helped put them away 3-2 to end the season with the fans ecstatic.

A chunk of this year's £34m to spend has gone on a new contract for Borini (he attracted a £28m bid on January deadline day but I didnt have time to get someone on in so had to reject it). Also on the radar are transfer listed Jones, Delph and Smalling and Danny Ings from Boro, who had a fantastic first year then got rid of Downing who was tearing up the league and landed 20th this time. Jamie Vardy has been relegated with Wolves, he's 31 but still a good pick for my liking, given that Defoe is going and Fletcher is finished right now we have Borini plus the two promising regens up front for next year.

I'd highly recommend Delli Alli if you can get him, smashing player. Okore has turned out excellently too. Pickford and Krusnell are now good enough for the Premier League but not to really get into top half. Wish I still had Osoro too who is developing very well at Barcelona.

Hi Jordan, really good post, i did a sunderland guide on my youtube channel and someone asked about potential signings and stuff so i pointed them here as your analysis was so good, hope thats okay

I sold Krusnel for 5million to SLB in my second season he was developing well until he had a bad injury but I was retraining him as a CB as I felt he would do better there, SLB bid 375k for him I declined and set his asking price to 5mil so they bid 775K which Congeton accepted I cancelled it and set it so only I should respond to offers. SLB bid 775k again and somehow Congerton accepted again I cancelled and offered him to them for 5mil to see what they would do since they were bidding on a daily basis and they counter offered with 775k which Congerton accepted once more so he got sacked I asked for 5mil and they bid 5mil so off he went.

Osoro is developing well but not quite ready for first team yet he is out on loan but not doing well. I signed Valdes and got shot of Mannone and Pants so I had Valdes and Mansip (loan) last season, this season I went with Valdes and Pickford for all cup games and the occasional league game but he hasnt been playing well and Donnarumma became listed for loan in January and at this point is better than Valdes so I sent Pickford to the championship for the rest of the season and brought in Donnarumma as my new number one with Valdes dropping down. Jack Rodwell now is a good player for league one he spent more than 50% of last season in the physio room and so far looks to top that this season so no one wants him and when he is fit he moans about lack of playing time but thankfully no one listens.

Doing well in the league but Watford beat me every game in very dubious circumstances each time (played 6 lost 6 conceeded 8 own goals 3 penalties and 5 goals disallowed) they put me out of both cups this season.

EDIT - Signed James Ward-Prowse for 21m at the start of the season for his ability and versatility and all the press conferences were about how I overspent and all that, he is now worth 28m has been in all the England teams since signing and is the highest average rated player in the league I would highly recommed him he is so versatile and consistent.

Sold Krusnell to Man Utd in January 2021 for £28m rising to £40m. Very likely to get the whole lot. Can easily get his determination to 19 with Billy Jones as tutor a couple of times and he becomes the best left back in the league. I'd recommend a contract with the optional +3 years for him as he'll get annoyed when bids from the big clubs get rejected.

Asoro scored 15 in 31 for me last season, he's a fairly good poacher.

Pickford's still my no1 and gets in the England squad behind Hart and Butland.

How did you get Donnarumma so cheap I offered 1m for him and they wanted 40odd for him

Pretty sure that's impossible...

Gonna go out on a fairly stable limb here and sayyyy.... fmrte...