[FM15] Rebuilding Fallen Giants

[safcrhys]

*The purpose of this career is to take control of a club who have a big history, restore them to their former glory and then move on to another "sleeping giant" as it were, in England.

Rebuilding Fallen Giants

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Club Information

Brief History

Wolverhampton Wanderers were founded as St Luke's in 1877 by John Baynton and John Brodie, two pupils of St Luke's Church school in Blakenhall. Having become professional the club were nominated as one of twelve founder members of the inaugural Football League in 1888 and the club participated in the League's first ever match against near neighbours Aston Villa. The club finished 3rd in that first season and also reached the FA Cup final where they were beaten 3-0 by first ever "double" winners Preston North End, at the end of the season the club moved into its present stadium Molineux, one of the most famous stadiums in English football.

Wolves won their first major trophy in the shape of the FA Cup in 1893 when beat Everton 1-0, the club won the competition for the second time in 1908 by which time it was a Second Division club. Wolves had been relegated two years previously but the agony was to get even worse for the club's supporters as they were relegated once more in 1923, this time to the Third Division (North), however promotion was gained at the first attempt as Wolves won the league. The appointment of Major Frank Buckley as manager in the years before the Second World War saw an upsurge in fortunes however as Wolves gained promotion to the top flight and became a force to be reckoned with, finishing runners up twice whilst also suffering a shock defeat to Portsmouth in the last pre-war FA Cup final.

After the war, Wolves once again finished runners up, this time to Liverpool who beat the Black Country club on the final day of the season to secure the title. That game marked the end of Stan Cullis' playing involvement with Wolves but a year later he returned to the club as manager. It would prove to be a master stroke as Cullis immediately led the club to its first trophy in 41 years as they beat Leicester to win the FA Cup. A year later only goal average stopped the club from winning its first league title. The 1950's were by far the most successful period in Wolves history, led by the inconic Billy Wright, the club finally won the league in 1953/54 before back to back successes in 1958 and 1959. During this period the club played a number of floodlit "friendly" games against high profile European opposition, after one such game against Hungarian side Honved the British press crowned Wolves "champions of the world" after their victory. This proved the final spur for Frenchman Gabrial Hanot to propose the creation of the European Cup, a competition which Wolves would become one of the first British teams to play in.

The start of the 1960's saw Wolves clinch a fourth and so far last FA Cup, however decline soon set in and Cullis was sacked in 1964 in a season which would end in relegation. The club would return to the top flight just two years later though under the tutelage of Bill McGarry and Wolves competed well in the top flight, finishing fourth in 1971 and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Wolves went on to reach the final of that competition the following season but they were beaten by compatriots Tottenham Hotspur in the final. Wolves would win some silverware just two years later though, as Manchester City were beaten in the League Cup final. Despite relegation in 1976, the club bounced back up straight away and much like the last time they came up acquitted themselves well in the top flight, and they won the League Cup again in 1980.

In 1979 a multi-million pound renovation of Molineux almost led the club to financial ruin for much of the next decade. During the 80's Wolves suffered three successive relegations and it seemed like a matter of if not when the club would go out of existence. However, with Steve Bull in the team the club won the Fourth and Third Division titles before winning the Football League Trophy at Wembley in 1988. In 1990 life long fan Sir Jack Hayward bought the club and he immediately funded the redevelopment of a by now dilapidated Molineux, turning the ground into a magnificent all-seater stadium. With the redevelopment finished in 1993, Hayward ploughed his resources into strengthening the team, yet despite his continued investment the club just could not seem to gain promotion, although they went close on a couple of occasions throughout the mid to late 90's.

In 2003 the club did eventually manage to achieve promotion after they beat Sheffield United 3-0 in the play off final. Their first ever season in the Premier League was brief however, and they were immediately relegated back to the Football League after just one year. Glenn Hoddle was appointed manager but his reign was an unhappy one and Mick McCarthy was brought in to try and save a sinking ship. Wolves was bought by Steve Morgan in 2007 and in 2009 under the guidance of McCarthy promotion back to the Premier League was achieved. This time the club made more of a go of it, lasting three seasons before yet another relegation in 2012. A disastrous 2012/13 season saw a second successive relegation and a campaign in League One beckoned. Steve Morgan appointed Kenny Jackett as manager of the club and with an exciting young team at his disposal the new manager immediately guided Wolves back into the Championship at the first attempt with a record points total of 103.

The finances and infrastructure are in good shape and with a good young squad in place surely the target should be a return to the Premier League as soon as possible.

Finances

Season Expectations

The board expect a mid-table finish during 2014/15 but with the squad we have and hopefully one or two additions I don't see why promotion shouldn't be achieved.

[safcrhys]

Season 2014/15 Review

Transfers

Although we had Bakary Sako to play on the left hand side of midfield he is more of a left winger, plus he is not in my long term plans as his contract is up at the end of the season and his wage demands are ridiculous. Martyn Woolford was a relatively cheap signing considering just how pivotal he would be during the campaign, he made the left flank his own with a series of outstanding performances and although he is nearing his 30's now I reckon he could be a vital member of the squad for the next couple of years. Goalkeeper Marco Amelia was signed after our number one Carl Ikeme was ruled out for 7 months with a broken leg in early September. Amelia would hold on to the number one jersey even after Ikeme regained full fitness after an outstanding year.

Strongest XI

Season Summary

The season began with us gaining a somewhat fortuitous point at home to Norwich City, the Canaries bossed the game and took the lead in the 57th minute through an own goal from our goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, thankfully in the 90th minute up popped Danny Batth to head home the equalizer from a corner. At this point I was still experimenting with tactics to try and find a style which suited us. We scraped past Crawley 2-1 aet in the Capital One Cup first round before recording our first win of the season at Rotherham. We then went to Fulham and led 3-1 with 8 minutes left but a spectacular collapse saw the Cottagers claim a 3-3 draw. Cardiff then visited Molineux in the fourth game of the season and we took our points tally to 8 from a possible 12 courtesy of two goals from Nouha Dicko in a 2-0 win.

Middlesbrough came to Molineux in the 2nd round of the Capital One Cup and dismantled us, deserving to win by more than the 3-1 scoreline though in truth I did play many of our fringe players after a hectic opening schedule. I had by now settled on a patient passing game as the best way to get the most out of the players and it paid dividends as we went on a truly remarkable run, winning 13 games on the bounce! The winning run was ended by Nottingham Forest on 22nd November when they came to Molineux and claimed a 1-1 draw, Kevin McDonald was sent off early in the second half with us 1-0 ahead and Forest used the extra man to their advantage, claiming a late equalizer. We responded by scoring 10 goals in our next three games as Brentford, Bournemouth and Sheffield Wednesday were all put to the sword.

It looked like Brighton were going to be the first team to beat us when they put in a battling display at Molineux and led at half time through Sam Baldock, the Seagulls held on for much of the second half but with 4 minutes remaining Nouha Dicko popped up and scored the equalizer. In the end we only postponed our first league defeat by 6 days as Watford battered us on Boxing Day on their way to comfortable 4-1 win. We reponded to the defeat by taking 30 points from the next 30 available including a 5-0 thumping of Charlton and a 6-0 thrashing of Fulham, although I was disappointed to go out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round, Brentford beat us 4-2.

Cardiff ended our winning run with a 1-0 win in Wales on February 28th but by this point we were a massive 20 points ahead of nearest challenger's Middlesbrough and promotion was pretty much a certainty. We reponded to the Cardiff defeat by winning 7 and drawing 1 of our next 8 games to seal promotion to the Premier League and also the Championship title. We took our foot off the pedal when we had nothing to play for much to my annoyance and Middlesbrough beat us 3-2 at the Riverside in a game where we were 2-1 up and comfortable with only 20 minutes remaining. On April 18th we smashed Ipswich 5-1 but then conceded 6 in a remarkable 6-4 defeat at Wigan. On the final day of the season we kept a clean sheat and managed to put on a good display for our supporters with a comfortable 2-0 win over Millwall at Molineux.

Key Players

Danny Batth - Our 24 year old centre-back was a rock at the heart of defence alongside Richard Stearman, finishing the year with an average rating of 7.65 whilst he also contributed 7 goals and an assist during the course of the campaign.

James Henry - 25 year old right midfielder became a Scotland international during the course of the season thanks to his fantastic performances for the club, he managed an incredible 27 assists and scored 4 goals.

Martyn Woolford - Our Summer signing from Millwall bagged 22 assists and 6 goals.

Nouha Dicko - Our brilliant young forward bagged himself 27 goals and 8 assists in just 33 games. Surely would have finished with a much higher total if not for the African Cup of Nations and a an injury hit couple of months in the Autumn.

Finances

With the extra revenue generated from the Premier League to come flooding into our coffers next season I'd say the club is in a very healthy financial state.

Next Season

We have already made two signings in the shape of central midfielder Will Hughes from Derby County for a hefty £8.25m and a good young centre-back from Celtic for £1.7m who will slot into Richard Stearman's role next year, the aim is to obviously just stay up in 2015/16 but I am wary of making too many changes to the squad and think I will keep faith with most of the players who got us here.

[safcrhys]

Along with Hughes and Meekings (the young CB from Celtic) we have managed to sign Hector Bellerin from Arsenal and Sam Gallagher on loan from Southampton. Kevin Doyle played a pivotal role for us from January onwards last season after his loan deal expired but his wage demands were ridiculous so I let his 38k per week deal expire and released him. We have a decent start to the season with a home game against Leeds being followed up with an away game at Hull City.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Looking forward to seeing how you do with this, are you just sticking to England or maybe venture further along?

[safcrhys]

I only have the English leagues loaded mate, from the Premier Division down to the Conference.

[Mageling]

I expect Leeds Utd to be managed at some point then :-P

[deltablue]

Not before Ipswich! (OK, maybe that's stretching it a bit )

[safcrhys]

I think Ipswich actually got relegated from the Championship in my first season! Could be a good challenge, Leeds are holding their own in the top flight right now so it depends whether they start to struggle again.

[safcrhys]

Just finished 2015/16, a frustrating year even though we did in the end achieve our goal of staying up. Come January I just could not wait to get the campaign over and done with to be honest, we conceded a season high 74 goals, a frankly disgusting amount, I left it too late to try and alter things with a change of tactics really, I should have done it a lot earlier. The biggest disappointment for me were the performances of the players who were such key men during our championship winning season. Danny Batth was something of a joke all year and to be honest I would not care one iota if I never seen him pull a Wolves shirt on again. Nouha Dicko was another who I was expecting big things from but didn't live up to expectations. Will Hughes started the year slowly but got better and better as the months went by and would make his full England debut come May.

I'll do a season review in the morning.

[safcrhys]

Season 2015/16 Review

Transfers

To be honest the only successful signings I say I made were Will Hughes and getting Barnetta in on a free. Meekings was backup to Batth and Stearman and so rarely played. Bellerin has the potential but his current ability is only 2 stars, he subsequently struggled more often than not when given game time. Gallagher only managed a few goals and played fourth fiddle behind Dicko, Sigurdarson and Leon Clarke. The biggest transfer involving us receiving a fee was the sale of Michael Jacobs to Crystal Palace for £2.1m, he was a third choice right midfielder and not in my long term plans so I had no hesitation in flogging him to South London.

Strongest XI

Season Summary

To sum up our season we took 27 points from our first 13 games, and then only 19 points from the next 25 games. Thank goodness for that early season form or we would have been sucked into a relegation battle, we were comfortable throughout the season but I have no idea how we managed to end the season in 12th. The season began with a comfortable 2-0 win over Leeds at Molineux being followed up with a decent 0-0 draw at Hull, a game we really should have won. We then beat Stoke 3-2 and Palace 4-3 in consecutive home games to take 10 points from our first four league games. We then went to Southampton and were 2-0 down at half time but came roaring back in the second half to score two late goals and claim a point. I thought this manager lark was easy.

We exited the Capital One Cup in late September with a loss on penalties at the Hawthorns against rivals West Brom much to my annoyance, although we did play a second string side. We got a fantastic 1-1 draw from the Etihad where I was disappointed not to claim the win as Dzeko only equalized with a few minutes to spare. Everton then came to the Midlands and were much the better team but we held on for an underserved 1-1 draw. We then saw off QPR 2-1 to leave ourselves comfortably ensconced in the top six. Our first defeat of the campaign arrived on October 25th when we went to the Emirates and battled hard but were unable to prevent the better side winning 3-2. We bounced back though with a 3-2 win away at Villa in a pulsating game which saw us go 2-0 up, Villa come back to level the game with only five minutes left, only for Leon Clarke to fire home a late winner to delight the travelling fans. Fellow promoted side Middlesbrough were then beaten 2-0 at Molineux before two decent away draws at Newcastle and Leicester. On December 1st Burnley came to Molineux and a close game was decided on the stroke of half time by Nouha Dicko. However, December was the month when the wheels began to fall off.

We lost six games on the bounce although to be fair four of them were against Liverpool, Manchester United, Spurs and Chelsea. We somehow beat Leeds 1-0 at Elland Road on 29th December despite having Danny Batth sent off in the 28th minute, Dicko grabbing the only goal of the game. Any hope I may have had that we would go on another barn storming run and consolidate ourselves in the top six evaporated as we went to Stoke and conceded 4 poor goals in a 4-2 loss. A dismal 1-0 home loss to Sheffield United then ended our FA Cup hopes in the 3rd round but we responded with back to back 2-1 home wins over both Hull and Southampton. Cue another poor run as we gained only one point from 6 games, there were some disgraceful performances in there including a 5-1 defeat at QPR and a 5-2 loss at Manchester City, City were having a poor season but blew us away in the first half and were 3-0 up inside 18 minutes. We finally recorded a win on March 1st with a good solid 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough at the Riverside. We then drew with Newcastle and Leicester at Molineux (both 1-1) before we went to Burnley, a team who had only won twice all season and made them look like Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. The Clarets scored 5 times, whilst we replied with 3 of our own it was a deserved loss and we should have lost by more than 2 goals.

It was at this point that I decided enough was enough and made a minor tactical change, I changed our team shape from "fluid" to "structured" and the team responded with a good 4-2 home win over Swansea. Unfortunately we had a difficult run in and we suffered defeats at Old Trafford and White Hart Lane (another 5-3 defeat) and also suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to Liverpool. Our final game of the season was a Molineux against champions Chelsea and we played well and were perhaps unfortunate not to win the game in a 1-1 draw.

Key Players

Richard Stearman - Last season he was solid but his CB partner Danny Batth outshone him, this year it was the other way round as Stearman handled the step up to the top flight much better than his junior partner.

Will Hughes - Started slowly but grew in confidence game by game, ended the season in fine form and earned himself an England call-up.

Bjorn Sigurdarson - Similar to Stearman in that last season he was outshone by Dicko but seemed to handle the step up better than his strike partner. Finished as our top scorer with 18 league goals and led the line well when Dicko was out injured for a month in January.

Finances

The club is in a very healthy financial position, something that will hopefully only improve in the future.

Next Season

After a somewhat difficult return to the top flight I will only be targeting a mid-table finish once more as we try to consolidate ourselves in the top flight. Hopefully the board will back me as we desperately need a pair of quality full-backs and perhaps a centre-back, I would also like to bolster the left side of midfield and maybe get a good striker in aswell, I doubt I'll be able to get all them this Summer though! Patience is the name of the game.

[safcrhys]

Got about 13 games left now, doing well in the league but performances in cup competitions have been appalling. In fairness we reached our target of the 4th round of the capital one cup but needed penalties in the earlier rounds to get past both Cheltenham and Burton. In the FA Cup we went out in the third round against Sheffield United for the second year in a row.

[safcrhys]

Season 2016/17 Review

Transfers

A major Summer of spending then as we try to assemble a squad capable of challenging at the right end of the table. I'd say the best deal I managed to pull off was getting Mohammed Salah from Chelsea for only £5m, once he grew into his role on the right hand side of midfield he became a key player for the team. Marcello Trotta came in from Sampdoria and struck 13 goals and 5 assists in the league, not a bad start to his Wolves career but it could have been a lot better. The biggest fee we spent was the £7.5m outlayed on full-back Kieran Trippier from Burnley, I may have overpaid but we were desperately short of quality in that position and getting someone in was a necessity. The biggest fee we received was £1.3m for centre-back Josh Meekings, his stay at the club was a short one and I made a £500k loss on him but he just never developed the way I hoped he would.

Strongest XI

Season Summary

The season began with a trip to St James Park to take on a good Newcastle side and we were perhaps fortunate to come away with a point, Kevin McDonald cancelling out Cheik Tiote's opener for the Geordies in a 1-1 draw. Everton then came to Molineux and passed us off the park on their way to a comfortable 2-0 win. We needed penalties to get past Peterborough United after a poor defensive display led to a 3-3 draw away from home. Newly promoted Fulham then beat us 2-0 at Craven Cottage meaning we'd picked up just one point from the first 9 available.

We responded well with three wins in a row and three clean sheets in a row as Huddersfield (2-0), Swansea (3-0) and Southampton (1-0) were all seen off. Cheltenham Town then almost embarrassed us in the League Cup 3rd round but we went through on penalties again after a 1-1 draw. We then travelled to Middlesbrough and a drab game finished 0-0. Manchester City who were poor last year and looking to improve on their 8th place finish came to the Black Country on 15th October and bossed the game in a 3-2 win. Spurs then claimed a point at Molineux in an even game before Newcastle knocked us out of the Capital One Cup on penalties after a 2-2 draw at St James' Park. We went to Loftus Road on October 30th, a ground where we were bullied and well beaten last season and were the better team in another 2-2 draw, Tranquillo Barnetta grabbing both of our goals.

We won two away games on the bounce to kick off November, seeing off my beloved Sunderland at the Stadium of Light by 2 goals to 0 before a thrilling game at the KC Stadium saw us win 3-2. Future champions Liverpool then came to the Black Country and showed their credentials by controlling the game in a 3-1 win. That was the first of four home games in a row and we scored ten goals in the following three, Stoke were trounced 4-0, Palace beaten 4-2 before Man Utd came to Molineux and claimed a 3-2 win. A 1-1 draw with Leeds was followed by a 3-0 loss at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day. Marcello Trotta bagged a brace against Arsenal on New Years Eve in a 2-2 draw, his last goal being a 91st minute equaliser. 2 days later Newcastle United were put to sword at our place, Bjorn Sigurdarson and Nouha Dicko bagging the goals in a 3-1 win. Sheffield United then came to Molineux in the FA Cup third round for the second year running and played well in a 0-0 draw.

Fulham were beaten 2-1 at Molineux as we got some revenge for that defeat earlier in the season but we couldn't stop in form Everton who hammered us 3-0 at Goodison on January 15th. Our FA Cup hopes came to an end three days later after a disgraceful performance at Bramall Lane led to the Blades winning the third round replay 4-2. We responded well winning five and drawing three of the next 8 to comfortably ensconce ourselves in the top half of the table. The highlight of that run was a brilliant 2-0 win at the Etihad over Manchester City on February 19th, Barnetta and Batth getting our goals. The good run was ended by Liverpool at Anfield who comfortably beat us 4-2, we then put in our worst performance of the season at the Britannia as Stoke trounced us 5-1.

Our confidence clearly took a battering after that game because we laboured to a 1-0 win over relegation threatened Hull City at Molineux, our goal coming through Bjorn Sigurdarson who converted a late penalty. Crystal Palace then beat us 1-0 at Selhurst Park but we responded by hammering Leeds 5-0. That result confirmed we would finish at least 8th in the table, we could finish higher but it was unlikely given our last three games were against Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. We came within 3 minutes of beating United at Old Trafford but the Reds grabbed a late and probably undeserved equaliser in a 2-2 draw. Arsenal then beat us 3-1 at the Emirates which meant we couldn't catch them and we had to be content with 8th place at seasons end, the last game of the season against Chelsea at Molineux was a completely undeserved 2-1 loss as we bossed the game and took the lead but the superior ability of the opposition probably told in the end.

The chart shows our league position in red throughout the season, Liverpool are in green whilst Arsenal are in blue.

Key Players

Danny Batth - My once young prodigy is now 26 and about to come into the prime of his career, he was poor last year but improved massively this season and was a rock at the heart of our defence.

Mohammed Salah - Best signing I've made so far at Wolves, fantastic season on the right wing.

Bjorn Sigurdarson - 24 year old striker finished the season with 24 goals and 8 assists in 35 appearances, brilliant this year.

Finances

Our heavy spending last Summer took its toll and were only just breaking even at the end of the season, the fact we have £13m in the bank is solely because it is the reward money we received for finishing 8th. The club needs to attract more investment in terms of sponsorship, last year we received the lowest amount of sponsorship money in the league of £1.5m, when you compare that to Man Utd's £450m then you can see the scale of the challenge I am facing.

Next Season

With the limited amount of money we have we are going to struggle to compete and finish higher than what we achieved this year in my opinion. I have a young squad and will continue to monitor their progress, if a huge bid comes in for someone like Will Hughes our Salah then I'll probably sell. I really want to make an impression in the cups next year aswell, we have been pathetic in them since I came to the club.

[LeedsUnitedForLife]

awesome stuff i love kieren tripper but 7.5mil thats insane but keep gonig hhe

[safcrhys]

I was so tempted to take this! £75m to play with would have been heaven, alas that is not the point of this career though. Hopefully Arsenal get relegated and then offer me the job haha. My Wolves team kick off the campaign away to QPR in the first game in the R's new 27000 capacity stadium. Hopefully we can make it a day to forget for them.

[sc91]

As a Wolves fan, glad to see you are taking the club to the dizzy heights of top half prem that we can only dream of.

[safcrhys]

Thanks mate, always liked Wolves, fantastic football club.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Really good season there, do you think you make Europe next year?

[safcrhys]

Hopefully mate, my target is once again a mid table finish but we have started well and top the table after five games.

[safcrhys]

*I had started a game with Rangers but upon noticing that my beloved Sunderland had almost been relegated from the Championship in 2015/16 and were struggling in 21st place in October 2016 I decided the time was right to leave Glasgow and try and return the Black Cats to the Premier League.

Sunderland AFC

Club Information

Club History

Sunderland were one of early English football's great clubs. Alongside Aston Villa the Wearsiders dominated the 1890's and early 1900's, winning 4 league titles during this period. Despite this success in the league the club struggled to make an impression in the FA Cup, and winning the competition became something of an obsession for the club's loyal followers. On November 5th 1908, Sunderland made the short journey to Tyneside to face a Newcastle United side that would end the season as champions, a game that is still talked about more than a century later ended with the Black Cats as 9-1 victors. The result was all the more remarkable given that it was 1-1 at half time. Sunderland "declared" during the second half before the game had even reached its latter stages, such was the supremacy of the away side. It is still a record top flight away victory.

A 5th league title arrived in 1913, but the club came within a whisker of being the first of the 20th century to win the "double", losing to Aston Villa in the FA Cup final. The war intervened to prevent a great Sunderland team winning further honours and the 20's was a time of strife as the club struggled to regain its place at the top of the English football elite. As the decade came to a close though there were signs that Sunderland were about to emerge from their slumber. Under the careful management of Johnny Cochrane, a fine young team was emerging with Bobby Gurney and the great Raich Carter at its center. The two local lads would go down in Wearside folklore, Gurney is still Sunderland's record goalscorer with 228 goals in red and white. Carter is known as one of the best footballers English football has ever seen.

A sixth and final league title arrived in 1936 and a first ever FA Cup a year later in 1937 as Sunderland broke Arsenal's stranglehold on English football. Yet again however, war intervened and by the time league football resumed in the mid 1940's, Sunderland's great team had missed out on the best years of their careers. In the 1950's the club became known as the "bank of England club" due to the huge amounts of money the board invested into the team in an attempt to win the league. Led by the great Len Shackleton the team came close on numerous occasions but just could not get over the finishing line. In 1957 the club were investigated by the FA over accusations of financial irregularities and the results would prove catastrophic. Several directors were banned from the game for life whilst the club were handed a record fine. In 1958 after a record 68 consecutive years of top flight football, Sunderland were relegated to the second division.

Since then then the club's longest spell in the top flight is its current one, which began in 2007. A solitary cup victory in 1973 when Second Divison Sunderland upset the mighty Leeds United 1-0 at Wembley is all the passionate Sunderland fans have had to celebrate in terms of major silverware in 80 years. In the early 2000's Peter Reid's exciting team powered to two successive 7th place finishes in the top flight thanks mainly to the goals of Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn, the former being the only Englishman to ever win the European Golden Boot after scoring 30 top flight goals in 1999/00. It proved another false dawn, and relegation followed again in 2003. Considered by many as a sleeping giant of the modern game, Sunderland have one of the largest fanbases in the country, with crowds at the Stadium of Light currently averaging at more than 43,000. Sunderland supporters are known as some of the most passionate around, with the noise created by the fervent fans at the club's old ground Roker Park becoming known as the "Roker Roar". Returning the club to the pinnacle of English football is a challenge which many managers have attempted and failed, yet everything is in place for the club to become great again.

Season 2016/17 Review

When I took over at the club in October, the club were ensconced near the bottom of the Championship after a disastrous start to the season. A lot of the squad have been left over from the relegation season, with the likes of John O'Shea who is now 35 still too good for this league. The midfield in particular was very good, with Jack Rodwell and Seb Larsson more than capable of doing a job in the top flight. My first game in charge ended with a 2-1 win over Derby at the Stadium of Light before a 2-2 draw against Rotherham. We then beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 at the Stadium of Light before back to back 2-1 losses to Reading and Charlton. We then snuck past Ipswich 3-2 on November 26th before suffering a 5-2 thrashing at the Macron against Bolton. I was scratching my head about our inconsitency and felt at this stage that a mid-table finish was probably the best I could wish for.

The team responded by scoring 13 goals in our next three games as we recorded three successive wins before a 3-3 draw with Oldham. On January 2nd we slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Bristol City thanks to Santiago Vergini being sent off early on for a viscous foul which saw him receive a 3 game ban. Our FA Cup campaign was over before it begun with Manchester City spanking us 4-0 at the Stadium of Light. We responded well with 12 wins from the next 16 games to rocket up the table. Steven Fletcher was banging them in supported ably by the fantastic play of former Boro midfielder Lee Tomlin. We ended the season with just one win from our last five though but we did enough to secure a fifth place finish and more importantly a play off spot.

We took on Watford in the play off semi final with the first leg coming at the Stadium of Light, we trounced the Hornets 5-1 meaning I could rest the majority of my squad in the second leg, which ended 1-1, meaning we progressed through to the final 6-2 on aggregate. In the days before the final against Middlesbrough both of my strikers Andi Weimann and Steven Fletcher suffered injuries. Weimann was definitely out whilst Fletcher would have to play carrying a knock. In the end though our midfield won us the game:

Key Players

Steven Fletcher - Ended the year with 29 goals, despite being injury prone.

Lee Tomlin - Fantastic playing behind the striker, contributing numerous goals and assists.

Jordi Gomez - His versatility was key for us as we suffered injuries to players in various positions, performed well wherever he played.

Finances

Not too bad, we will benefit from the riches of the Premier League next year.

Next Season

Survival is the aim! Don't think I will get that much to spend so will have to wheel and deal as much as possible to get a squad capable of staying up.