Faiz Khan's Road To Stardom?

[gandycoleuk]

I have decided to run a game on FM12 and I will start with my beloved Manchester United. I have the English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Portuguese, French and Scottish leagues running with a large database.

Introduction

Founded in 1878, Manchester United are a professional English club currently playing in the English Premier League. The club play their home games at Old Trafford and possess state of the art training and youth facilities. The Manchester United reserve team play at Moss Lane. The club also has excellent junior coaching and an entensive youth recruitment network. The club is affectionately known as the Red Devils and retains a fierce rivalry with Liverpool, Manchester City and Leeds United.

Having enjoyed their greatest spell of success during the 1990s, The Red Devils are undoubtedly one of the most successful clubs in England. Boasting a proud total of 59 competitive trophies, here are some of the highlights: Manchester United won the Champions League in 1968, 1999 and 2008 and finished runners-up on another two occasions, won English Football's top division a record 19 times and the FA Cup a record 11 times.

My challenge now is to continue this success following Sir Alex's sudden retirement from the game. No pressure now . . .

[gandycoleuk]

Board Expectations - 2011-2012

Premier League - Title Challenge

Champions League - Final Appearance

FA Cup - Final Appearance

Carling Cup - Not a Priority

Community Shield - Not a Priority

Budgets

Transfer Budget - £17m

Wage Budget - £1.6m per week

Squad

My only rule when playing with United is I don't buy any major players in the 1st season, preferring to bring in young players with potential. Therefore, here is my squad for the 2011-2012 season:

Goalkeepers

1. David De Gea

34. Anders Lindegaard

Defenders

3. Patrice Evra

4. Phil Jones

5. Rio Ferdinand

6. Jonny Evans

12. Chris Smalling

15. Nemanja Vidic

20. Fabio

21. Rafael

Midfielders

8. Anderson

11. Ryan Giggs

13. Park Ji-Sung

16. Michael Carrick

17. Nani

18. Ashley Young

23. Tom Cleverley

24. Darren Fletcher

25. Antonio Valencia

Strikers

7. Michael Owen

9. Dimitar Berbatov

10. Wayne Rooney

14. Chicharito

19. Danny Welbeck

Manager's Thoughts

I felt that the squad was very strong in all areas, particularly in central defence and attack. There is great competition at right-back and on both wings. I think it is very capable of challenging in all competitions and possibly winning the Premier League crown for a record 20th time.

[gandycoleuk]

Pre-Season - 2011-2012

I have just concluded my first pre-season in my reign at Old Trafford and the players got valuable minutes under their belt with great results:

LEMANS FC 1-2 Man Utd

Man Utd 1-0 Stuttgart

Man Utd 4-1 Porto

Antwerp 2-2 Man Utd

Man Utd 1-0 Roma

Sevilla 0-5 Man Utd

Managers' Thoughts

I think the players' fitness was more important than the results as it is what pre-season is all about - thankfully not many injuries came out of it too with just Antonio Valencia and Danny Welbeck picking up knocks. I can now move on to the real crunch in August beginning with Community Shield in a few days' time.

As of this moment, I have not made any signings but will surely have something rustled up by the end of the summer transfer window.

[gandycoleuk]

Season 2011-2012 - August

Sunday 7th August 2011

Community Shield - Man City vs Man Utd

It was the usual curtain-raiser for the new season at Wembley and some early pressure from City resulted in Kompany grabbing the opener. They then went on to dominate proceedings in the first half. After the break, we had the majority of possession but could find a way through City's backline and the score stayed the same.

Final Score - Man City 1-0 Man Utd

Kompany (12)

Saturday 13th August 2011

Premier League Match 1 - Swansea vs Man Utd

It was time to start the new Premier League crown in Wales and the first half was largely controlled my us, with Rooney scoring before the interval. Swansea came back after the break and levelled matters through Sinclair. The match then descended into an end-to-end encounter and was won late on by Rooney's controversial spot-kick.

Final Score - Swansea 1-2 Man Utd

Sinclair (58) ; Rooney (39, pen 76)

League Position - 8th

Saturday 20th August 2011

Premier League Match 2 - Man Utd vs Wolves

It was the first Premier League game of the season at Old Trafford and within the first half hour, Fletcher and Rooney netted to give us breathing space. But before the break, Wolves halved the deficit with Johnson's header and then controlled the majority of the second period. In the end, a slick counter-attack ended with Chicharito sealing the three points.

Final Score - Man Utd 3-1 Wolves

Fletcher (25), Rooney (30), Chicharito (90) ; Johnson (40)

League Position - 3rd

Sunday 28th August 2011

Premier League Match 3 - Sunderland vs Man Utd

The international break was upon us and it was a nightmare start for us as Vidic was dismissed for elbowing Bendtner and Sunderland then controlled the first half. Into the second half and Richardson bundled home to open the scoring and they really had us on the rack. Only a few minutes later though, Rooney snatched an equaliser, smashing home a spot-kick and the score stayed the same despite both side's best efforts.

Final Score - Sunderland 1-1 Man Utd

Richardson (54) ; Rooney (pen 59)

League Position - 3rd

Managers' Thoughts

I was very disappointed with the players' attitude against our local rivals and we fully deserved to lose at Wembley. They responded well with a hard-fought victory at the Liberty and then secured another hard-fought victory with Wolves a week later. The month ended with what could be a valuable point at Sunderland, especially after going down to 10 men and subsequently falling behind. All in all, it has been a satisfactory start to the season and hopefully, we kick on now with the Champions League starting next month.

[gandycoleuk]

Summer Transfer Window - 2011-2012

As I mentioned at the beginning of this thread, I refrain from buying major players in the 1st season who can fit straight into the squad. I prefer to snap up some promising youngsters instead. Here are my dealings before the end of August:

Out

There were no permanent departures from the club, only loan departures including the likes of Pogba, Tunnicliffe, Brady and De Laet.

In

Yaya Sanogo from Auxerre - £2.4m - a young French striker with a lot of threat in the air and on the ground too. Fans from his old club clearly saw his potential so this could be a very good capture for the club.

Vitinho from Botafogo - £800k - a young Brazilian striker with great technique and also great work-rate. Was also chased by European champions Barcelona so he clearly has great potential for the future.