The SAF Challenge

[TouchyFM]

Hi guys,

Welcome to my new story/challenge, which is the SAF Challenge. A lot of people have done the life of Alex Ferguson where they manage East Stirlingshire, Aberdeen and Manchester United. However, this is different. This is based solely on what he did at Manchester United.

He took charge on 6 November 1986, when Manchester United were 19th in the Premier League and it took him six years to win his first title, so the rules of the challenge are:

Holiday the game until 6 November, and take charge of the team in 19th place;

Stay at that team until you have achieved 'domination';

Buy only 8 players per season, as that was the highest number of first team players he ever signed in a season, and the max spend was £62m a season;

Have a focus on youth development like Ferguson e.g. the Class of 92 whilst also buying players to strengthen the squad in the first time.

The targets for the challenge in terms of competitions are:

Win a domestic cup within 4 years

Win a league title within 7 years

Win a league and cup double within 7 years

Win a league, cup and Champions League treble within 13 years.

All of these achievements above were all successfully accomplished by Ferguson during his reign.

Now, to make this clear, this is not an Alex Ferguson appreciation thread; I'm a Liverpool fan and in short, I despised the bloke, but there is no doubt his achievements were and still are unprecedented in English football. The scale of the challenge is appealing for me, and I'm looking forward to it.

Check back for more updates; the next one will be the holiday result, and a squad overview.

[TouchyFM]

Reserved for achievements

[PaulLaverty]

Do I start as unemployed???

And how to I select to join the team in 19th if they have a manager

[Orikoru]

Do I start as unemployed???

And how to I select to join the team in 19th if they have a manager

Just 'add manager' and choose that team. Then retire the manager that you made in the first place (the one you holidayed with).

[xantheose]

A very interesting challenge.

[Brucehum]

The other day I realised that since I started playing FM13, I have ONLY done LLM. So I was looking around for 1st / 2nd tier clubs (but not Manchester, Barcelona, etc), something closer to LLM... As I can't decide on one yet (Eibar in Spain, Nottingham Forest UK, Carpi in Italia, etc are attractive) I'll begin this challenge.

I'm sure that I won't win a cup in the 4 first years, thus voiding it, but it will be a good way to try a non LLM!

So the team that has been so foolish as to choose me as a manager is Newcastle. They must be desperate!! I'll play the first season before posting.

[NormandyWept]

I'm sure that I won't win a cup in the 4 first years, thus voiding it, but it will be a good way to try a non LLM!

So the team that has been so foolish as to choose me as a manager is Newcastle. They must be desperate!! I'll play the first season before posting.

Surprisingly I just the other day decided to do this myself, and I'm also Newcastle! (Although admittedly, Newcastle is the team I wanted, and I had to holiday to 6th November five times before I finally got them...)

Let's see how our Newcastle stories differ!

[NormandyWept]

Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge - Newcastle United

(Yes, technically not the current Newcastle United logo, but a reminder that we are the Magpies. and its about time we acted like them, and started getting some damned silverware!)

Mike Ashley finally pulled the trigger on the Wally with the Brolly on 6th November 2015, but infuriated fans with his choice of a completely unknown manager to replace him. In twenty year's time, with the benefit of hindsight, would fans look back on this as the move that finally changed the fortunes of a sleeping giant, or just another managerial blunder from their much-maligned owner?

Aside from the real-life summer business McClaren had made just two moves: loaning out Gabriel Obertan to Fulham for the season, and picking up striker Ciprian Marica on a free: he's yet to score in five games and I don't see him as getting ahead of Mitrovic/Ayoze/Cisse into my plans, so for all intents and purposes I'm running with the Newcastle starting squad and trying to help them recover from a disastrous start to the season where they've won just one game, against fellow struggler Norwich.

I'm not sure if I'll force myself to win trophies as quickly as suggested by TouchyFM in the opening post: instead I'll see whether I can remotely trouble Ferguson's trophy haul. (Which going by my last challenge, the Ultimate Football Manager Challenge on FM15, might take some time!)

Challenge Progress

Domestic

0/13 Premier League titles

0/10 Community Shield wins

0/5 FA Cup wins

0/4 League Cup wins

Continental

0/2 Champions League wins

0/1 Europa League wins*

0/1 European Super Cup wins

Worldwide

0/1 World Club Championship

* - Ferguson actually won the now-defunct Cup Winners' Cup. I'll settle for the Europa League, or a third Champions League trophy.

Seasons

CAREER SUMMARY

Season    League    FA Cup    Lg Cup    Europe    CWC     Other & Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16                                                   Took over after 11 games, in 19th

 

[Brucehum]

In my case, Aston Vila was 18th... so I have a feeling most SAF challenges will be the same 3-4 teams.

Newcastle seems a decent team for this challenge. It would be great if you could manage, somehow, to get a save with Manchester United in 19th, although I think that is impossible.

Best wishes!! In my case, so far, not too much luck (draws with Liverpool and Sunderland)

[NormandyWept]

In my case, Aston Vila was 18th... so I have a feeling most SAF challenges will be the same 3-4 teams.

I had the choice of Villa twice in my five attempts at getting Newcastle, but in this save they're definitely not in relegation trouble. They've beaten Chelsea 5-0, and just won against Man Utd 2-0 so they're 8th after 22 games. They are a long way from being as bad as the real Villa side this year!

[Joe.]

Tempted to give this a crack but I am currently at the very start of The Ultimate FM Challenge.. May go for it when I feel I need a break from low reputation football.

[NormandyWept]

Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge - Newcastle United - 2015/16

Transfers | Details

With the contracts of Williamson and Elliot running down, it made good sense to accept some offers from Wolves and at least recoup something for them. Siem de Jong was struggling to fit into my system or deliver good performances, so we cut our losses on him when Dinamo Kiev offered £2.7m. Finally, Ciprian Marica had been a bizarre signing from McClaren especially on such a long contract at his age and I was delighted when we had the opportunity to offload him to Braga.

The money was quickly reinvested where needed to add depth to our squad in the January window: cut-priced fees picked up both Ben Watson, giving us more options in central midfield, and Ryan Taylor, an extremely versatile squad player who Newcastle shouldn't have let go the previous summer without a replacement: a mere £76k corrected that mistake. Andros Townsend joined on loan until the end of the season, somewhat mimicking real life, albeit with the virtual Mike Ashley not willing to fund the permanent signing.

I look forward to having some proper money to spend in the summer, although I won't be going mad. I've already lined up some defensive reinforcements on free transfers and we'll then look to make a difference in one or two key areas. We also have several players returning from loan who I'll need to evaluate: in particular Rémy Cabella may be an interesting addition if he can settle better second time around.

Season Performance | Competitions | Schedule Part 1 & Part 2 | Awards

We lost my first game in charge 3-0 to Manchester United and the one-man (and extremely overrated-on-FM) show that is Memphis Depay, but from there we had little problem in keeping up generally decent form on our way to a 12th place finish that I'm pretty happy with given the very slow start. NUFC had won just one game before my arrival, but went on to pick up nine other wins and a number of decent draws.

Unfortunately, the FA Cup was again a disappointing area for Newcastle as we went out to Bournemouth, albeit somewhat unfortunately having had many good chances, our opponents mercilessly picking us off on the counter-attack. We must improve our performance in Cup competitions, for our fans and for the purpose of getting closer to challenge landmarks.

The season highlight was undoubtedly the end of our recent dismal run against Sunderland: we dismissed them confidently at SJP (1-0, but with the win never really in doubt) and picked up a battling draw at the Stadium of Light to ensure their recent run of wins in the fixture became history. This turned out vitally important when Sunderland slipped to relegation: we won't have a Tyne-Wear derby next season and it was vital not to let the fixture disappear with our rivals in control of bragging rights.

Next Season

12th even after a slow start was more than decent this season, so next year we'll look to improve 3 or 4 places and finish in the top half of the table. We need to improve our defensive record, coax more goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic (he scored only twice all season, and just once under my management) and meet expectations in the FA Cup. We have a decent foundation, the system has been working well and I think we will make a few steps forward in 2016/17, if not quite troubling the silverware targets of the challenge quite yet.

Challenge Progress

Domestic

0/13 Premier League titles

0/10 Community Shield wins

0/5 FA Cup wins

0/4 League Cup wins

Continental

0/2 Champions League wins

0/1 Europa League wins*

0/1 European Super Cup wins

Worldwide

0/1 World Club Championship

* - Ferguson actually won the now-defunct Cup Winners' Cup. I'll settle for the Europa League, or a third Champions League trophy.

Seasons

Season    League    FA Cup    Lg Cup    Europe    CWC     Other & Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16                                                   Took over after 11 games, in 19th

 

[Joe.]

Cool, so I'm just holidaying for this.. Are there any requirements for the manager, or can I set his stats as I see fit?

My progress will be slow as I don't really play FM like I used to.. It'll just be nice to play at a higher level having attempted a couple of lower league saves recently.

[Joe.]

The chaps at SI will be happy with this one...

My team for this challenge is

Watford!

Really quite happy with this one, to be honest.

1 victory in 11 games, 4 points from safety and only Sunderland keeping them off the bottom. Let's see how this goes!

[NormandyWept]

Good luck Joe, will be interesting to see how you get on. I think there are 3 teams worse than Watford, so hopefully you'll dig your way out of the mess they've found themselves in.

[Joe.]

Cheers pal. Keep up the good work with Newcastle - 12th isn't too bad at all after a poor start.

[Sankalan]

Would love to see someone do Chelsea

[Joe.]

To my fortune, on November 6th 2015 Watford happened to be in 19th place of the Premier League. I was keen to avoid Newcastle, Aston Villa and Sunderland so was pleasantly surprised when this came up. Watford have a good youth set up and some good training facilities, they have also got a few players who have played at a really decent level before

...and so Aboubakari Sausage is hired as manager of Watford! The story behind the name goes back as far as FM04, where I had a number of Ghanaian youth players come through and a majority were called 'Aboubakari' something. I don't exactly recall where Sausage came from, but I believe it was a nickname I gave to my young Ghanaian goalkeeper at the time. As you can see, I took this screenshot after my first match in charge, which was a comprehensive 3-0 win over Bournemouth.

Tactically, I wanted to make the most of Troy Deeney, Odion Ighalo and Etienne Capoue. I'm usually inclined to play one up front, so this is new territory for me and thus I decided to keep things simple and opt for a pretty basic 4-4-2 wide diamond.

The previous manager had bought in two players before my arrival. Caju is a left back on loan from Sporting Lisbon, and Ricky Alvarez is an Attacking Midfielder signed for free. Both players fit into my set up nicely, and so I'll be making use of them for the time being. It's also quite handy that he didn't spend anything, which gives me an initial transfer budget of £17m!





On a personal note, I'd quite like to increase the amount of British players in their squad, as well as opening the door to some of the players coming through the youth set up. I don't intend on utilising the loan market, and thus I have already lined up Jordan Obita to arrive from Reading in January for £8m - this will allow me to send Caju back to Portugal.

I've also lined up the transfer of Kieran Trippier for £4.5m from Tottenham as well as young goalkeeper, Ben Garratt from Crewe for £1.5m.

Both Tripper and Obita are attacking full backs who can also play on the wings, which is really useful for my current set up. They are also both in their early twenties, and thus could form part of my squad for years to come.

As far as results are concerned, I've just reached December having played 4 games. My first, as mentioned before, was a 3-0 win over Bournemouth. This was swiftly followed by a convincing 4-0 defeat against Chelsea, then a 2-0 victory at Stoke and a 2-2 draw with Leicester (with two pretty spectacular goals coming from my opponents). The 7 points from 4 games has pushed me nicely up to 16th in the Premier League.

Issues I'll have to overcome pretty early include the following;

- There are a number of central defenders injured

- The squad is lacking depth in some important positions (both fullbacks, wingers and goalkeeper)

- Morale will need a boost, having gone 6 games without a win before my arrival

Season	Team		FA Cup		League Cup	Continental	League Position          
15/16	Watford		3rd Round	N/A		N/A		In Progress

Challenge Progress

Domestic

0/13 Premier League titles

0/10 Community Shield wins

0/5 FA Cup wins

0/4 League Cup wins

Continental

0/2 Champions League wins

0/1 UEFA Cup wins*

0/1 European Super Cup wins

Worldwide

0/1 World Club Championship

[mazey]

Going to start this now will be very interesting who i get i will pick the 1st time i do it hopefully avoid some of the clubs above anyway will keep you updated

[smp20]

Struggling Norwich Appoint Unknown Manager

Manager Profile ~ League Table

So I thought I'd give this challenge a go for something a bit different. I've taken on the challenge at Norwich, who are even predicted 19th, and it fits well as I have recently moved to Norfolk. Our first game is tomorrow against Villa, wish me luck!

[Joe.]

Good luck smp20 - big game to start off! Nice to see a different team crop up.

[smp20]

Cheers Joe. - have to admit on first load I got Newcastle and didn't fancy them, was very happy to get Norwich second time round. We started with a great 3-0 win vs Villa, though I'm struggling with team talks due to my reputation! Good luck with Watford.

[mazey]

So its southampton looking forward to it they have a great youth setup aswell

[Joe.]

Southampton? Cracking club to end up with.

[Joe.]

End Of Season Update - 2015/16

Premier League - Not gonna lie, I was pretty pleased to reach the end of this season. Poor form towards the end had me limping over the line, not quite reaching the magical 40 point mark but doing just enough. Should've been far more comfortable.

FA Cup - I thought my rotated squad would be good enough. I was wrong.

League Cup - This was over before my stint as manager even started.

Transfers - Zivkovic was a cheap, awesome signing. Juan Jesus was a big signing for me, coming in at the end of the January transfer window.. This means that I signed 5 players at a total cost of £22.3m.

Star Player - Tommie Hoban isn't even in my top three central defenders according to my assistant. For me, he's been irreplaceable. He's also a Watford youth product so that bodes well!

Targets for next season;

I could do with a new GK, DM and AM so that's where my priorities lie in the transfer market. Competition wise, securing safety with more than 1 game to go would be great! I'm also going to take the cups more seriously, as I feel my squad is good enough to reach the latter stages.

Season	Team		FA Cup		League Cup	Continental	League Position          
15/16	Watford		3rd Round	N/A		N/A		16th

Challenge Progress

Domestic

0/13 Premier League titles

0/10 Community Shield wins

0/5 FA Cup wins

0/4 League Cup wins

Continental

0/2 Champions League wins

0/1 UEFA Cup wins*

0/1 European Super Cup wins

Worldwide

0/1 World Club Championship

[threelions1goal]

I'm playing the Ultimate challenge, but this intrigues me!!

One question - when we add the new manager, what "reputation" do we set it as, or do we choose automatic??

Actually, two questions - the rules state not to buy more than 8 players a season, which is cool - but it also states that £62 million was the "max spend"

Can the 8 players we sign exceed £62m with todays inflated prices, or must they total less than £62m??

Sorry if this sounds confusing, just want to get it right!!

[Joe.]

I'm playing the Ultimate challenge, but this intrigues me!!

One question - when we add the new manager, what "reputation" do we set it as, or do we choose automatic??

Actually, two questions - the rules state not to buy more than 8 players a season, which is cool - but it also states that £62 million was the "max spend"

Can the 8 players we sign exceed £62m with todays inflated prices, or must they total less than £62m??

Sorry if this sounds confusing, just want to get it right!!

I asked if there's requirements for my manager too, but nobody replied.. I just put the stats as I felt appropriate, without going over the top.

and I'd assume that £62m is the maximum spend regardless of todays inflated prices.

[JoeLapira]

Thinking of taking up this Challenge as i'm gonna take a break from the Ultimate Football Manager Challenge for a while. Quick question, if you fail to win a domestic cup within the 4 seasons does that mean the Challenge is a fail?

[ChefRobGaming]

i just started this, i got bournemouth, signed 8 players at the start of the challenge, with 2 games to go I sit 15th. scouted tons of youth players so next year im gonna focus on bringing those in and hopefully get myself my very own class of 92 haha. this team is in serious need of some good players though, might sell off all the deadwood too

[smp20]

I asked if there's requirements for my manager too, but nobody replied.. I just put the stats as I felt appropriate, without going over the top.

and I'd assume that £62m is the maximum spend regardless of todays inflated prices.

I think that the manager badges / rep is up to you, after all you are taking over a PL side.

Personally i opted for my real life experience, Sunday League / UEFA B

[smp20]

Thinking of taking up this Challenge as i'm gonna take a break from the Ultimate Football Manager Challenge for a while. Quick question, if you fail to win a domestic cup within the 4 seasons does that mean the Challenge is a fail?

I wouldnt say fail the whole challenge, i think that NormandyWept's approach of aiming to match SAF's total achievements long term, with the time frames as an extra.

[TheEarl]

Anyone tried this with multiple holiday simulations? What are the best teams that can be avaiable at Nov. 6th? Can teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool have such a poor start, or is Newcastle/Southampton the best bet?

[Sankalan]

Knowing that we are chasing SAF, past experience should be International player

[NormandyWept]

Anyone tried this with multiple holiday simulations? What are the best teams that can be avaiable at Nov. 6th? Can teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool have such a poor start, or is Newcastle/Southampton the best bet?

Newcastle are the best team I've seen down there. In theory, though, you could get someone like Liverpool down there: if you're not using real fixtures then it's possible on any new game to possibly have a nightmare set of fixtures for a team which could drive up the chance of them having a bad start.

I was 'offered' Aston Villa more than any other team. Entertainingly, on the game I eventually used (was reloading until I got Newcastle into a realistically awful position!) Villa have ended up being quite a decent team, finishing in the top half last year and joining me in making quite a good start to the 2016/17 season.

[TheEarl]

Newcastle are the best team I've seen down there. In theory, though, you could get someone like Liverpool down there: if you're not using real fixtures then it's possible on any new game to possibly have a nightmare set of fixtures for a team which could drive up the chance of them having a bad start.

I was 'offered' Aston Villa more than any other team. Entertainingly, on the game I eventually used (was reloading until I got Newcastle into a realistically awful position!) Villa have ended up being quite a decent team, finishing in the top half last year and joining me in making quite a good start to the 2016/17 season.

In my UFMC game Villa is down to League One and struggling there too

[JoeLapira]

I wouldnt say fail the whole challenge, i think that NormandyWept's approach of aiming to match SAF's total achievements long term, with the time frames as an extra.

Thats grand so, i was a bit worried that if i didnt get a cup within 4 seasons i'd have to start again. But matching(or besting) Fergie's trophy haul in the 27 year period will be my goal. Should hopefully get this started tonight. Looking forward to it.

[Joe.]

Season 2 is off to a bumpy start at Watford.. 6 signings made and a slight player revolt having sold someone without purchasing a replacement (even though I'm intending on using my current squad to cover it). Form is somewhat hit and miss!

[threelions1goal]

I started this last night - I got Aston Villa.

I set my reputation etc by ticking the "level for club chosen" box (or however it's worded)

I'm at work at the moment, so I'll post my screenshots when I get home

[smp20]

League Table ~ PL Results 1 ~ PL Results 2 ~ Domestic Cups

We had a season that exceeded all expectations as we rose from 19th position to 6th place and a shot in the Europa League. Overall my record as manager in the PL was 14-10-3, making us the highest overachievers in the league and helping me towards the manager of the season award, a nice way to start the challenge. We finished on a 14 match unbeaten run, although it would have been nice to turn some of the draws into wins but it seemed liked the boys felt the pressure in the last half-dozen games. We were somewhat disappointing in the cups, leaving the C1C before I arrived and bowing out to West Ham in the FA Cup 5th round.

Transfers ~Vardy ~ Cook ~ Gray ~ Dorrans ~ Mulumbu

I was very happy with our transfers in January, Omar Gonzalez was a pre-arranged deal and Jonny Walters came in to provide depth and work rate to the squad. The big sale of Redmond to Chelsea and decent £8m tag for Howson gave me some money to play with and I had one key target. Jamie Vardy. He is the perfect player for my 4-4-2 Sacchi/Ranieri-like system utilising two defensive forwards and he proved he was worth the £21m by scoring 18 goals in 17 games bringing him to a total of 29 PL goals. I opted to spend the rest of our budget on two young players, Lewis Cook who is touted to become the next Gazza and Demarai Gray came in as the direct replacement for Redmond. Dorrans and Mulumbu were the best performers from the starting squad, with the former scoring some important goals and getting in the PL team of the year.

There always has to be something to knock down a very good opening season and that was our youth intake - only two 1 gold star players and the rest 0.5. I am going to need to build up the academy before there is any chance of getting a ''Class of 92'', but I have got a good youngster signing from....Chesterfield! Vincent-Day looks set to have a very promising future. Judging by the opening post the transfer rules apply to first teamers, so I will not be including players aged 18 or under in my 8 transfers.

Next season I am hoping I can repeat the success, proving it wasn't just a one off season. Another 6th place and a late cup run would be very nice. I will be heavily strengthening my first team squad with an emphasis on English players.

[Joe.]

Impressive season smp20! Hopefully the board don't go silly and expect you to win the league or anything next year...

[smp20]

Thanks Joe. Fortunately the board still have their feet on the ground and are expecting a mid-table finish. Our media prediction is 7th. I've just reached the 1st January, another interesting season!

[NormandyWept]

Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge - Newcastle United - 2016/17

Transfers | Details

I had been planning mainly a defensive overhaul: Cristian Zapata, Johan Djorou and Emiliano Moretti all arriving on free transfers to bolster us at the back whilst Cheikhou Kouyaté arrived for £7m as an upgrade in the holding midfield role just in front of my back four. I was then forced to add to the defensive revamp when Chelsea made me an offer I couldn't refuse for Daryl Janmaat, with Carl Jenkinson quickly snapped up as a replacement.

Similarly, I'd planned to give Cabella a chance on his return from Marseille, but they met the agreed fee in last year's loan deal at the eleventh hour to force a rethink there: in this case it helped me massively, as we swept for Nathan Redmond who was an absolute revelation. On the evidence of his first spell at Newcastle, Cabella wouldn't have been able to get near to what Redmond did for us this campaign.

Elsewhere, it was mainly tweaks: we added talented young goalkeeper Ben Garratt to the ranks on a free, released a few unneeded squad players, and loaned out former captain Fabricio Coloccini back to his native Argentina for their season before selling him to LA Galaxy in February. (Galaxy also swept for Siem de Jong, picking us up some money from a sell-on clause on top of the fee we collected last season, as he further bolstered a growing ex-Premier League contingent headed by Gerrard and also including Arthur Boka and Josh McEachran.)

Finally, we also received a mega offer from Real Madrid for Ayoze. This was hard to either refuse or accept at this stage, so I negotiated with Madrid that the transfer will go through at the end of the season. This gave me ample time to find a replacement (or turn Mitrovic into one), and made me the first Newcastle manager in over a decade to plan ahead in the transfer market!

Season Performance | Competitions | Schedule Part 1 & Part 2 | Awards

Before the season I'd have been absolutely delighted with where we ended up. Although it was frustrating that we again exited the Cup competitions early, player performance was at a far higher level in the first half of the league campaign in particular. We spent most of the season in the top five of the league and ended up in 7th. Unfortunately, the nature of our late results (a Kouyaté injury was likely to blame, along with some tough fiixtures in that run-in), slipping down to the lowest league position we'd held for 25 games, meant that the season ended up disappointing when actually we'd exceeded all expectations to finish comfortably in the top half of the Premier League.

Nathan Redmond scooped PFA Young Player of the Year and was clearly our signing of the season, absolutely lighting up our right wing. His delivery paved the way for a far better goal haul this term from Mitrovic, the Serbian scoring thirteen league goals this time - much improved and hopefully the trend can continue with a serious goal tally due to depart with Ayoze to the Bernabéu.

The single match highlight was undoubtedly our trip to Anfield. We went 4-0 down in the first half an hour, but unbelievably came back to draw the game 4-4 in scenes reminiscent of a previous Newcastle team's exploits against Arsenal: fantastic Boxing Day viewing for all concerned!

Next Season

Next year we hope to again compete in the upper echelons of the Premier League, and this time to finish the job by qualifying for Europe through our league placing. We also want to stay in the FA Cup beyond the end of January. To achieve this, we'll need upgrades in defensive midfield (Tioté is leaving and Watson ageing), up front and possibly on the left wing. I'd also like a good set piece taker as I'm sure we can do a little better than Jack Colback, although this is secondary to obtaining the needed qualities in open play.

Challenge Progress

Domestic

0/13 Premier League titles

0/10 Community Shield wins

0/5 FA Cup wins

0/4 League Cup wins

Continental

0/2 Champions League wins

0/1 Europa League wins*

0/1 European Super Cup wins

Worldwide

0/1 World Club Championship

* - Ferguson actually won the now-defunct Cup Winners' Cup. I'll settle for the Europa League, or a third Champions League trophy.

Seasons

Season    League    FA Cup    Lg Cup    Europe    CWC     Other & Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16     12        R4                                  Took over after 11 games, in 19th
2016/17      7        R4        R2

 

[Joe.]

Solid progress NormandyWept, and some good work in the transfer market. The cups appear to be proving difficult for everyone doing this challenge.. Here's hoping one of us can break that duck before too long.

[smp20]

Nice solid start to the challenge NormandyWept. I feel that the 2nd season will be the most crucial in terms of team building. I have just finished my 2nd season, hoping to update soon

[smp20]

League Table ~ Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Domestic Cups ~ Europa League ~ Facilities ~ Finances

An outstanding league campaign saw us finish top of the pile in a tight league with 76 points. We faced Man City in the 3rd from last game and managed to win, after which they lost to Newcastle before we went into our penultimate game securing us the title. On other fronts we disappointed after being knocked out in the 3rd round of both cups. We were fantastic in the EL group stage and things were looking good when we were 2-0 up against Lyon away, only to get a man sent off and end up losing 4-2. In the second leg we were 2-0 and 3-1 up, but conceded a late goal to be knocked out. However, I wouldn't change a thing as not competing on many fronts I believe helped us finish well in the league. I've managed to improve the training facilities and the youth setup during my time but both our youth intakes have been very disappointing. Hopefully we can reap the rewards from a good setup soon. We are in a fantastic financial situation and as you can see we have a hefty budget for next season!

Transfers In ~ Transfers Out ~ Starting 11 ~ Player Stats

Season two was always going to be a big one in the transfer market for me - it was time to mould the club into my philosophy. I only included the cash transfers outgoing in the screenshot as i got rid of a load of players on frees and loans. The one that catches the eye is the sale of Mulumbu who left us for PSG for a whopping fee on deadline day. He wasn't a player I wanted to get rid of but that kind of money was hard to refuse for a 29-year old. I made the maximum eight first team signings as well as 4 youth signings, spending a total of £46m on players and as you can see I opted for a lot of English players. I like to get my squad together as early as possible to help build the team chemistry.

Danny Ings - came in for £15m after barely getting a chance with Liverpool. Formed a nice partnership with Vardy and registered 19 goals and 10 assists from a decent debut season which was tarred by injury in the latter months.

Ryan Bertrand - another player with lots of PL experience and also two previous loan spells at Norwich, he performed well at left back.

Kieran Trippier - an absolute bargain at £3.3m who was ever-present in our title winning campaign.



Ryan Shawcross - I wanted an experienced leader and Shawcross gave us exactly that, becoming club captain straight away.

Andrija Zivkovic - an outstanding talent and I can't quite believe we got him for nothing. He is destined for greatness and is already a club icon.

Lucas Romero - another great freebie who formed a nice DM partnership with Lewis Cook.

Victor Valdes - after Jack Butland signed a new contract and we were priced out of his signature, I opted to loan in experienced Valdes as our first choice keeper.

Eliaquim Mangala - he found himself transfer-listed at City and he became our final senior signing. A bargain at £7.5m, he made the Premier League Team of the Year.

Philip Vincent-Day (Youth) - a signing that was pre-arranged last season and he looks like a great prospect. He had a run in the team in the latter stages of the season after injuries to Ings and Walters and managed to score a hat-trick on his debut.

Dean Fox (Youth) - a nice keeper prospect found at Chesterfield after initially finding Vincent-Day, what an intake for them!

Chris Woodyear (Youth) - I found this fella after searching through defensive forward attributes and I really, really like him. He started off just as a 2* according to my scouts, but I signed him anyway and he's developed nicely after being tutored by Jamie Vardy. He has a Vardy-like story, coming through the youth ranks at Isthmian North side Bury Town before being snapped up by Hayes & Yeading on a free.

David Sutherland (Youth) - The pick of the bunch, I've never seen a 17-year old regen with such good mental attributes. He's going to be my 'Roy Keane'

Next Season

I would like to do well in the cups for once and it would also be nice to reach the same points tally, which might be enough to secure another title. I am happy with my squad, so it will be a case of adding the odd few quality players here and there whilst snapping up British youth.

[threelions1goal]

Buy only 8 players per season, as that was the highest number of first team players he ever signed in a season, and the max spend was £62m a season;

smp20 Nobody can deny your second season was impressive......very impressive to be fair.

How many player did you sign

Danny Ings - came in for £15m after barely getting a chance with Liverpool. Formed a nice partnership with Vardy and registered 19 goals and 10 assists from a decent debut season which was tarred by injury in the latter months.

Ryan Bertrand - another player with lots of PL experience and also two previous loan spells at Norwich, he performed well at left back.

Kieran Trippier - an absolute bargain at £3.3m who was ever-present in our title winning campaign.

Ryan Shawcross - I wanted an experienced leader and Shawcross gave us exactly that, becoming club captain straight away.

Andrija Zivkovic - an outstanding talent and I can't quite believe we got him for nothing. He is destined for greatness and is already a club icon.

Lucas Romero - another great freebie who formed a nice DM partnership with Lewis Cook.

Victor Valdes - after Jack Butland signed a new contract and we were priced out of his signature, I opted to loan in experienced Valdes as our first choice keeper.

Eliaquim Mangala - he found himself transfer-listed at City and he became our final senior signing. A bargain at £7.5m, he made the Premier League Team of the Year.

Philip Vincent-Day (Youth) - a signing that was pre-arranged last season and he looks like a great prospect. He had a run in the team in the latter stages of the season after injuries to Ings and Walters and managed to score a hat-trick on his debut.

Dean Fox (Youth) - a nice keeper prospect found at Chesterfield after initially finding Vincent-Day, what an intake for them!

Chris Woodyear (Youth) - I found this fella after searching through defensive forward attributes and I really, really like him. He started off just as a 2* according to my scouts, but I signed him anyway and he's developed nicely after being tutored by Jamie Vardy. He has a Vardy-like story, coming through the youth ranks at Isthmian North side Bury Town before being snapped up by Hayes & Yeading on a free.

David Sutherland (Youth) - The pick of the bunch, I've never seen a 17-year old regen with such good mental attributes. He's going to be my 'Roy Keane'

I'm no Carol Vorderman, but that looks like more than eight to me!!

Unless I've read the rules wrong??

End of the day, we ultimately play this for fun, but I know some people who would get very "uppity" at this!!

[vikeologist]

I don't know that the rules for this challenge are exactly defined anyway. Touchy FM started this ages ago. I think that Normandy Wept has kind of changed the challenge by making it about winning the same number of trophies as Sir Alex. I'd say that he's actually improved the challenge considerably.

Would it be an option to say that the original challenge instructions (I love the description by Jambo of them as lacking a bit of elegance and detail) are a starter point for everybody to do their own thing. Maybe once we get near FM17 you can agree on a joint set of rules for the challenge.

Enjoying reading the updates, and loving the way that you're shaping this challenge.

[Sankalan]

Buy only 8 players per season, as that was the highest number of first team players he ever signed in a season, and the max spend was £62m a season

I guess that is why he mentioned 4 of his signings as (youth)

Good going, anyway, smp20

[smp20]

I guess that is why he mentioned 4 of his signings as (youth)

Good going, anyway, smp20

smp20 Nobody can deny your second season was impressive......very impressive to be fair.

How many player did you sign

I'm no Carol Vorderman, but that looks like more than eight to me!!

Unless I've read the rules wrong??

End of the day, we ultimately play this for fun, but I know some people who would get very "uppity" at this!!

Yes i signed 12 players in total, 8 of which were first team players and 4 youth players. That was my interpretation of the rules, first team players counting as the 8 and u18s not being part of the quota.

As vikeologist mentioned, this challenge isnt as defined as others. I think that its a different kind of challenge that will be developed.

Thanks for the compliments guys

[Joe.]

You won the league?! Bloody hell.. I'm guessing you need depth now to mount a charge again. Impressive as it is to win the league with Norwich early on, doing it twice on the bounce with the Champions League to contend with and the thought of going on a domestic cup run is something else entirely..

I've just finished my second season. Chelsea won 5 trophies, they're going to be hard to overcome. Update to come along soon.