From Rags To Riches - The Story of Percy McPercival

[JoeyBaldwin]

Introduction

The year is 2041. I sit in the living room of Percy McPercival, the manager of Real Madrid, who offers me a cup of tea – despite having been in Spain for 18 months, the patriotic Englishman still upholds the traditions of his native country. One of the most successful managers of the last few years is making the most of Liga BBVA’s two-week winter break.

“Do you think you can do it again? Go a season unbeaten?"

He breaks into a wry smile.

“I don’t think about it. What happened at United was incredible, but such a feat is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. We’ve had a perfect first half of the season, but we’re not allowing ourselves to get carried away. We’re focussed on our next match, which is Girona.”

McPercival has racked up over 1400 matches during his managerial career, and speaks with the security of someone who has revelled in the extreme highs and overcome the extreme lows of being a professional football manager. Even with his treble-winning Madrid side flying high in the league, McPercival remains grounded by his extremely tough apprenticeship into football management, which saw him spend a considerable amount of time in the lower leagues of English football – indeed, Real Madrid are his 15th club side.

McPercival is philosophical about his early experiences.

“When you go through as much as I did early on in my career, it makes you very grateful when you find yourself in a position where you can challenge for trophies every single year, as I am here at Real. I struggled for so long, so when you win the league, or even the domestic treble as we did last season, you make sure you enjoy it.”

“So take me back”, I ask. “The eighth of August, 2014.”

“Stade Michel Bendichou, US Colomiers vs FC Chambly – Thelle. A goalless draw. I was a bag of nerves beforehand. Couldn’t wait for the final whistle.”

McPercival recalls his first match as a football manager with ease, as if it was yesterday.

“I felt we competed well that day, and I was pleased with a point given the constraints I was operating under. I wasn’t expecting an easy ride, but it was my first season as a manager and it was a ridiculously steep learning curve, and that’s putting it mildly. But it was the start of my journey, and every step of it has shaped and moulded me into the manager I am today”.

McPercival’s memory is excellent, and soon he’s divulging me with stories of his past. It’s quite literally football gold, and I sit there in near silence as he takes me into every key moment of a fascinating managerial career, which has taken him to Africa, Australia and South America and various stops around Europe.

And, of course, every story has a beginning. In McPercival’s case, his beginning came in southwestern France, in the city of Toulouse.

[tenthreeleader]

Welcome to our corner of the internet, and I'm very pleased to see such a solidly written start. Carry on!

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 1 – Humble Beginnings

Percy McPercival was born in Hemel Hempstead on the 27th December 1993, and grew up supporting his local football league team, Wycombe Wanderers.

“One of the best memories of my childhood was watching our FA Cup run in 2001. That day in Leicester when we won the Quarter-Final. That was something else.”

McPercival admits that watching Lawrie Sanchez talk about that particular occasion, in which Wycombe had beaten Leicester 2-1 with a late goal from Roy Essandoh, was one of his inspirations.

“It was an incredible occasion for the club, and I got shivers watching Sanchez celebrating our winning goal from within the stand. He’d been sent off by the referee and was watching in front of a monitor. When Roy scored, he went berserk. I saw that, and I wanted to be him in that moment. That’s what it’s all about, those moments of sheer joy. Thankfully I’ve had plenty of those moments throughout my career, and hopefully there are more to come!”

The problem was, as a 20 year-old man entering such a vicious, cut-throat industry, McPercival had no experience. Even more worryingly, he didn’t even have any coaching badges.

“I relied solely on my knowledge of the game, my intelligence and I would try and impress the interview panels. I tried to be charismatic. I talked about the importance of man-management and of taking responsibility. Ideas which would make me stand out, especially because it’s unusual for someone so young to speak with that kind of maturity.”

McPercival was also helped by his bravery in widening his horizons beyond the shores of England – it was this, ultimately, that gave him his breakthrough.

“I was offered an interview at US Colomiers, who were in the third tier in France at the time. The board liked what I had to say in my interview, and they offered me the job. I daresay I didn’t quite realize the size of the task at hand, especially considering I didn’t speak any French, but at the time I thought ‘any experience is good experience’ so I put those qualms to one side and accepted the job.”

McPercival inherited a squad with just eleven first-team players, and with a very limited wage budget to add to it, he was only able to bring five players in during the summer. The local media were expecting relegation, especially considering that there are four relegation places in the 18-team league, but despite the odds being stacked against him, he made a positive start to his first season in management.

“After six matches we had eight points and were sitting in mid-table. We should have had more, too – Dunkerque scored a 93rd minute winner and we’d thrown away a 2-0 lead to draw with Colmar. When I sat down and thought about it, I was very optimistic because we were picking up points and competing well.”

McPercival’s first win as a manager came in his third match, when US Colomiers defeated Amiens SC 2-1, and they also won away at SAS Epinal, coming from a goal down to win 3-2. But the small squad, forced upon McPercival by the financial situation at the club, inevitably began to feel the strain of a tiring league season, and a run of thirteen games without a win made relegation a near-certainty by January.

“When there are four relegation places in a small league, and you have a small squad with no money, you’re always going to struggle. The board had no expectations before the start of the season, so I wasn’t really under pressure from them, but I badly wanted to do well – I didn’t want a relegation on my CV after just one season!

“We only picked up two points from our last ten league games, and we only won four matches all season. The squad was simply too small to cope, our defending was absolutely terrible all season, and I was often without our best player (Paulin Voavy) because he was an international – he earned 50 caps for Madagascar! He scored twice when we beat Dunkerque 3-0. That was the best result of our season by a million miles.”

US Colomiers finished the season with 21 points from 34 matches, conceding 73 goals – sixteen more than the next worst defence. They finished 17th, one point above FC Chambly - Thelle, and were relegated. Nevertheless, the board wanted McPercival to stay on as manager in the fourth tier, but he'd decided enough was enough.

“I was gutted to get relegated, even though it’d been coming since November. It hit hard. I just wanted to be out of there. I wanted to go and manage in England, somewhere I could get my message across to the players properly.”

However, despite his best efforts, McPercival was unable to find a job in the summer of 2015, and at the start of the 15/16 season, he was still out of work.

“I just had to be patient. No chairman likes being bottom of the league, and someone always has to be. I just had to wait for my opportunity, and thankfully I didn’t have to wait too long once the season got underway”.

And so it came to pass that on the 16th September 2015, McPercival walked through the gates at the Horsfall Stadium in Bradford for the first time, having been appointed as the new manager at Bradford Park Avenue.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 2 – Rite Of Passage

Having lost five of their first seven matches of the 2015/16 campaign, Bradford Park Avenue dispensed with the services of David Bayliss and hired McPercival as their new manager. The club were lying 22nd in the league at the time, but McPercival felt much better about the playing squad he inherited than he’d felt the previous season.

“I inherited a decent size squad, which was already a good start. I had room to work with the wage budget, too. We needed someone to compete with Jamie Slabber up front, so I brought in Lewis Clarkson on a free and also loaned a couple of young lads in. Keeper Dave Parton joined me as well – forged a good career in the game, he did. Goalkeeping coach up at Rotherham now.”

McPercival’s first game in charge was at home to FC United of Manchester, which ended in a 2-1 defeat. However, after falling behind against Worcester in their next match, two second half goals from Jamie Slabber helped Bradford Park Avenue win 3-1. Then came McPercival’s first experience of the greatest domestic cup competition in the world.

“The FA Cup will always hold a special place in my heart. I’m lucky enough to have won the thing a couple of times. My first match in the FA Cup was only my third for Bradford Park Avenue – we played Stamford, who were in a lower league and we were on a hiding to nothing. The board expected us to reach the next round.

“The game was 0-0 at half time, but in the second half all hell broke loose. Young Samuel McHaffie (on loan from Preston) gave us the lead, then Lewis Clarkson scored a hat-trick for us. They pulled it back to 4-3, but we just held on. Had no fingernails left at the final whistle, I can tell you!”

His side were beaten 1-0 by Hyde in the Third Qualifying Round, but after some inconsistent form throughout October and November, results picked up in December, and the club picked up thirteen points out of a possible fifteen, lifting them well clear of the relegation battle.

“We didn’t concede a goal in the whole of December, and we won three matches in January as well. At the end of January we’d won six of our last nine matches, but the board were a problem. At the start of the season they’d set the target of finishing in a ‘respectable league position’, and even though we’d climbed into mid-table, that wasn’t enough for them. They were holding me to the target they’d set before they lost six of their first eight. There was me thinking I’d done well for taking them from 22nd up to mid-table, but no.

“Sometimes we didn’t help ourselves. Our defeat to FC United was a case in point. They beat us in my first match at the club, but after that they lost every single match. 22 in a row they lost, conceding 76 in that run. Then we go there, and they beat us 4-2 to end their terrible run. They went bananas. Still came bottom, mind.”

That defeat to FC United of Manchester was the second match in a run of six winless matches, and the pressure was mounting on McPercival. A 3-1 win at home to Hereford, courtesy of another Lewis Clarkson hat-trick, only relieved the pressure temporarily. After a home loss to North Ferriby, on the 26th March 2016, McPercival was sacked for the first time in his career.

“I was shocked, and I felt harshly treated. We were 18th at the time, and yes we’d been on a bad run, but when I took over we were 22nd. I’d started bringing decent players in for next season, and we were several points clear of the relegation zone. The board should have been more realistic, and given me more time. They actually finished 19th, nine points above 20th. They were relegated the next season. I’m over it.

“They say the first sacking is a rite of passage for a new manager on the circuit, don’t they. Well my first one was harsh, but people could see that. My record there wasn’t bad – P31 W12 D6 L13 – and with a couple of months to go in the season, I was looking for another job as quickly as possible. If I could get a full pre-season with a club, I could get to work and properly prepare a squad for the next season.”

McPercival did exactly that. Having finished 12th in the Vanarama Conference North, Hyde sacked Ryan Garry and settled on McPercival as his replacement. He was installed as the new man at Ewen Fields on the 13th May 2016.

[tenthreeleader]

Like your style quite a bit. Allows you to cover lots of ground and be entertaining at the same time.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 3 – Pick The Owner, Not The Club…

“Richard Ball was great to me. He’s still there now, I think. He understood the peaks and troughs of a league season and didn’t make any rash decisions when we went through a bad patch of form.”

McPercival speaks very highly of his former chairman, and I’m not surprised. Having sacked his predecessor after finishing 12th the season before, McPercival could only lead Hyde to 15th in his first season in charge.

“That’s true”, McPercival acknowledges, “but the league was very tight, and I think Rich liked our style of play. We scored goals, and we were exciting to watch. I still grin when I think of beating Bradford Park Avenue 7-1.

“I only spent a season in France and even less than that in Bradford, so I really wanted to settle at one club for a little while. I’m ambitious, but there’s a lot to be said for stability and it’s difficult to find time to think when you’re unsettled. I said to myself, ‘I’m going to try and stay at Hyde for a few years’ – you never know if another club will take a chance on you, especially if you have a track record for short-term tenures.

“Aside from crushing Bradford Park Avenue, who were relegated that season, and putting five past Nuneaton and Workington, it wasn’t a great season. We got knocked out of the FA Trophy by Ramsbottom – that got me called into the boardroom. They were unimpressed with that, though to be fair Rich de Groot had been sent off at 0-0. He was on loan from York and was terrific at right-back all season long, but that game he threw me under the bus. We didn’t cope well after he was sent off, and we lost 1-0 to a 92nd minute goal.”

McPercival’s one-year contract was running out – had he done enough to earn a new one?

“It’s pretty funny looking back, because we’d had a disappointing league season. We got beat on the last day of the season by Kidderminster 1-0, which wasn’t really surprising cause they were a strong side in the division, but after the game the board called me in and told me they wanted to see a marked improvement – nine points in our next five matches. Problem was, they had to give me a new contract to give me five matches! Even if I’d lost those games, they couldn’t afford to buy my contract out so early into the next season! It was justice anyway, because if we’d beaten Kidderminster on the last day, we’d have finished 11th, not 15th.”

McPercival kept his job, and ended any doubts by picking up ten points from the first five matches of the following season anyway, and the club were helping their manager out off the pitch as well.

“US Colomiers had funded my National C and National B coaching badges, but Bradford Park Avenue didn’t fund my National A. The Hyde board were happy to fund coaching badges for me, so by the end of my second season at the club I’d managed to pass my Continental A!”

Hyde were top of the league after six matches, and had thrashed Kidderminster 5-0 away from home, but McPercival’s position came under scrutiny again after the club went on a run of one win in nine throughout September and October.

“We were very inconsistent again throughout the season, and it was really rather infuriating. We had the quality to push for the Playoffs in my mind, but we would go so long without a win. We were a confidence team, no doubt about that."

In November, results picked up again, and the visit of Kidderminster to Ewen Fields in January began a run of six matches in which the club picked up fourteen points. Having thrashed the Harriers away, McPercival’s men won 6-2 at home, and they only lost four of their last seventeen league matches, finishing 11th.

“The board were happy with how the 17/18 season went, and gave me another new contract for the following season. I’d been put on the shortlist for Manager of the Season, along with half the league, but I must have come bottom of the vote. I badly wanted promotion this time around, and I decided in my head that if we didn’t fight for promotion this season I would see out my contract and leave when it finished.”

The 2018/19 season followed a similar pattern to the 2017/18 campaign – an impressive start, which had the club on thirteen points after six matches and saw McPercival win the Manager of the Month award for August, was followed by a run of one win in thirteen in all competitions. The club dropped back into mid-table obscurity, and McPercival was extremely disappointed.

“Aside from reaching the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup and holding Macclesfield away, I was feeling really underwhelmed by our underachievement. We just shipped so many goals. Five against Nuneaton, five at Braintree, six at Braintree in the FA Trophy, four at home to Redditch, four the next week at home to Barrow.

“This was my fifth season in football management, and I felt I would have enough experience to get another job, no problem. I also now had my Continental Pro license, and I’m eternally grateful to Hyde for funding the majority of my coaching badges, but I knew in my heart I had to leave for the good of my career.

And on the 24th February 2019, after 126 matches at Hyde, leave was exactly what McPercival did.

[JoeyBaldwin]

On 8 January 2017 at 21:19, tenthreeleader said:

Like your style quite a bit. Allows you to cover lots of ground and be entertaining at the same time.

Thanks very much, I have a few Football Manager stories and I'm going to try some different things out, got this one all written out already though. Cheers 

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 4 – Out Of The Blue

“In February, I’d been offered an interview at Nuneaton Town, and they were an exciting prospect to manage because they offered a realistic opportunity at promotion. They’d reached the Playoffs in the last two seasons, and came 2nd last season, finishing just three points off champions Hereford. They’d been having a disappointing season, but I thought it was perfect timing – I’d have the opportunity to bring players in over the summer and have a serious crack at promotion in 2020.”

McPercival began a brief and very disappointing tenure at Liberty Way with defeat at Boston United, and only won three of the season’s ten remaining matches, despite having one of the strongest squads in the division at his disposal. The great man doesn’t hold back when talking about his time there.

“It was horrendous. From top to bottom there was an air of entitlement. It was ‘we should definitely be beating these’ every single week. Anyone can beat anyone down in the Conference North. They turned professional when they got up to League Two in 2035. Six seasons on and they’re back in the Conference North where they belong.”

After winning just one of the first seven matches of the following season, McPercival was sacked by the club – he’d won just four out of seventeen matches. But his luck was about to take a dramatic turn for the better.

“When you’re unemployed as a football manager, you might fire off plenty of job applications, and some you’ll think are realistic. You’ll do your research on the club in question, prepare well for the interview if you get one, and take the option seriously. Sometimes you submit applications without really expecting to hear anything back. I noticed that there was a vacancy to be the manager of the Cameroon national team – you know, the team that are perennial favourites for the African Cup of Nations and who regularly qualify for the World Cup.

“They only went and offered me the job! I couldn’t believe my eyes!”

McPercival went from managing semi-professional footballers to managing internationally renowned stars such as Alex Song, Nicolas Nkoulou, Joel Matip and Vincent Aboubakar, who was ripping Bundesliga defences apart for Borussia Dortmund, and would move to Manchester United a couple of years later. McPercival’s first matches in charge were all friendlies, but they didn’t lose any, beating Togo and Angola, as well as draws with Australia and China.

The surprise move had boosted his reputation dramatically, and McPercival was also receiving interview offers from professional clubs in England, most notably Middlesbrough and Aston Villa, who were both in the Championship. He didn’t get beyond the interview stage for either club, nor at Peterborough, Birmingham or Dundee United, but one club did take a chance. Swindon Town.

“It was the first time I’d even managed a professional club, and here I was, three months after being sacked by Nuneaton Town of the Conference North, now managing in the Championship and one of Africa’s biggest national sides! I truly felt life couldn’t get any better – it was like taking ten giant steps towards my aim of being a top level manager.”

It wasn’t an easy job to take over. The club was running £15K per week over its wage budget, had no transfer budget and they were sitting in 16th in the table. McPercival’s remit was to avoid relegation, but could the likes of Adam Le Fondre and Leonardo Ulloa fire them to safety?

“I lost my first three games there, against Sheffield United, Norwich and Bournemouth, but then we beat Shrewsbury in our next match to get me off the mark in the Championship. The problem I had at Swindon was that we couldn’t defend to save our lives. We kept three clean sheets in four months. I must have looked like a fish up a tree at the time.

I had no record for success at any club I’d been at, I’d been offered a fluke job at Cameroon and suddenly I was in at the deep end. It was my sixth season in management, and I now had two relegations on my CV.”

McPercival was in charge of Swindon for 24 matches, losing eighteen and unsurprisingly being relegated.

“The club finished rock bottom of the league, and after we got beat 2-0 by Nottingham Forest, the board called me in and said ‘resign or be sacked’. I chose to resign. It was one of the toughest periods of my career. They’re in the Conference now. I started that.”

While McPercival had his national job to fall back on, he was determined to bounce back in domestic football, and while England were busy lifting their first European Championship in the summer of 2020, he was busy job-hunting. Fortunately for him, he got a second bite at the Championship cherry.

[EvilDave]

A belated welcome to FMS Joey, and well done on a great start to your story! Sounds like Percy had a pretty rough start to his managerial career, but given your opening post I'm sure success is just round the corner. I like the style - clean, clear and plenty of information - and am looking forward to the next steps. Keep going!

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 5 – Make Or Break

McPercival didn’t find a new job in domestic football over the summer, but 2020 provided the welcome distraction of trying to qualify for the 2021 African Cup of Nations and the 2022 World Cup with Cameroon. The draw for the initial World Cup Qualification group stage had been kind, with Cameroon facing Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea and Zambia. Topping that group would result in a Playoff against another group winner, which in turn would lead to qualification for the World Cup itself.

“Bosnia & Herzegovina had bashed us 4-1 in a friendly in March, and you could see our confidence was knocked against Equatorial Guinea. It was my first competitive match in charge and with all respect to them, but we should be beating them comfortably. Jean-Marie Dongou scored twice in the second half and we won 4-2 in the end. Weird one, he was – came through at Barcelona, played once for their first team, then ends up spending a decade at Dinamo Moscow.

“We then smashed Zambia 7-1. That was more like it. Hervaine Moukam scored a hat-trick and a year later he rocked up at Ipswich. You had the stars like Aboubakar and Matip, but you also had some players who went on to have the kind of career you might expect if you chucked every club in the world into a hat and pulled one out every year at random. I guess it was like that at every international side.”

McPercival’s search for a new club ended on the 1st September 2020. Phil Brown had upped sticks and left Barnsley struggling in the Championship, with four defeats from their first five matches. Could McPercival survive in the Championship?

“Just like at Swindon, I lost my first three matches, but this time I tried to adopt an attitude of relentless positivity. We were unlucky every time we lost and we were brilliant every time we won. I remember the first win of that season – my sixth match in charge. We beat Wigan 1-0 with a penalty. It was about time we had a bit of luck.

“We had a reasonable side I thought. I’d joined on transfer deadline day, and paid my first fee for a player. I blew the entire transfer budget, all £1m of it, on Dominik Bottcher from Lech Poznan. By the time he left he’d played 110 games for the club and scored 31 goals, so I guess he did alright overall.”

McPercival looked to have found his feet at Championship level. Barnsley crushed Crystal Palace 6-1, while further victories over Sheffield Wednesday (2-0), Leyton Orient (1-0), Leicester (2-0), Charlton (2-0) and Swansea (3-2), the latter coming courtesy of a Bottcher hat-trick, meant that Barnsley were solidly in mid-table at the turn of the year.

“It was funny because when I took over, the board told me they preferred a conservative approach. They would rather I prioritized defensive solidity over attacking flamboyance. We smashed Crystal Palace by virtue of taking every single chance that came our way – it’s not like we went all out and created chance after chance. We had about ten shots, and scored six. That’s just football. At the end of the month I was told that the board were ‘delighted with our emphatic victory over Crystal Palace’ but at the same time ‘disappointed with your efforts to play defensive football’. There’s just no pleasing some people!"

McPercival’s Cameroon side had also qualified for the African Cup of Nations, despite coming second in a group featuring Togo, Congo and Sierra Leone. The top team from each of the twelve qualifying groups qualifies automatically, and then all the second placed teams get arranged into the Second Placed Teams table. The top three in that table also qualified. Cameroon were the third team.

“We were extremely lucky, but we did pick up one more point than Mozambique, Zambia and Nigeria, and those are the rules. We qualified fairly, albeit fortuitously. We lost in Togo and they held us in Cameroon when we had enough chances to win the entire tournament. We deserved to qualify."

Cameroon were expected to reach the Final of the tournament, an expectation McPercival strongly disagreed with.

“They just heaped pressure on the team. It was so unnecessary, especially when we’d only just qualified and there are plenty of other strong African teams.”

Despite losing their opening game 1-0 to Morocco, McPercival’s men narrowly beat Egypt and Gabon to finish second in their group. This set up a Quarter-Final with perennial favourites Algeria.

“The game was very even. Thing was, I knew I’d be sacked if we lost it, and it’s the kind of game you can never guarantee to win. It’s nonsensical from the board to say that. It was the last Quarter-Final to be played, so we knew we’d play Guinea in the Semi’s if we won – they’d knocked out Senegal. We also knew that Mali had knocked Ivory Coast out. I predicted that the winner of this match would win the tournament.

“Saphir Taider had a wonderful game, and he ended up being the difference. Algeria won 2-0 and my dreams of going to the 2022 World Cup with Cameroon were in ruins. My prediction came true, because Algeria went on to win the tournament - I suppose there’s no disgrace in being knocked out by them, as they had an excellent side. For me, it just emphasized the ridiculous behaviour of the Cameroon FA.”

McPercival decided not to apply for jobs at other African countries who sacked their managers after the tournament, deciding instead to focus solely on keeping Barnsley in the Championship – a feat which looked to be well within their grasp.

“We turned Bristol City over, 4-0 at their place, and we beat West Brom as well. Our problem was, we would win a game or two and then lose two or three - we were incredibly inconsistent. They say you need 50 points to survive in the Championship, and we had 39 with twelve games to go.”

After beating Wigan 4-0 away from home in late February, Barnsley’s form capitulated in embarrassing fashion.

“I couldn’t believe it. I was trying everything, but nothing would change our fortunes. Our confidence was destroyed. That three-month period is up there with the darkest in my career. We picked up just two points in the last twelve matches of the season, and snatched relegation from the jaws of safety.”

Indeed, McPercival’s Barnsley side finished bottom of the league, failing to score a goal in their last six matches. It was the third relegation of his career, in only his seventh year in football management.

The Barnsley board reluctantly allowed McPercival to remain in charge on the proviso that he would accrue eight points from the first five league matches of the following season.

“The board again seemed to have no consideration for the financial implications relegation had for us. We were over the wage budget before, never mind when they reduced it further, and I had to sell players to try and claw some of that overspend back. I then couldn’t replace the players who were sold, and those that were left didn’t want to be there anyway because they wanted to move to Championship clubs. The whole thing was bound to explode.”

Defeat at Oxford in the fourth match of the new season signalled the end for McPercival. He was sacked.

[JoeyBaldwin]

11 hours ago, EvilDave said:

A belated welcome to FMS Joey, and well done on a great start to your story! Sounds like Percy had a pretty rough start to his managerial career, but given your opening post I'm sure success is just round the corner. I like the style - clean, clear and plenty of information - and am looking forward to the next steps. Keep going!

Thanks mate 

[neilhoskins77]

Enjoying this so far Joey. Looking forward to see where Percy ends up next.

[sherwinriga]

Interesting idea. But I hope McPercival goes to another team for it. For Barnsley and Cameroon, I hope their new managers come out better to seek revenge for McPercival.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 6 – Now We’re Talking!

Mamadou Kamara had been another casualty of the 2021 African Cup of Nations, resigning after his Ivory Coast side were knocked out by Mali in the Quarter-Finals. Les Elephants, who are rivals with Cameroon, hadn’t replaced Kamara by the summer, so with McPercival’s job at Barnsley seriously under threat, he decided to rekindle his hopes of going to the 2022 World Cup by applying for the job.

“It was a fairly quick response from the Ivorian FA. They were more than happy to have me, and they had an easy qualifying group. They’d already beaten Sudan and Lesotho, and traded victories with Congo, but because Sudan had beaten Congo as well, I knew that all we had to do was beat Lesotho and Sudan at home to reach the Playoff.”

They did so with consummate ease. Lago Junior, of Alcorcon, scored twice against Lesotho, while Maxwell Cornet, who racked up over 350 appearances for FC Nantes throughout his career, netted a brace against Sudan.

“We were drawn against South Africa in the Playoff, and my word there were goals! The first leg was 3-3. Serge Gnabry, who elected to play for Ivory Coast over Germany and was at Juventus at the time, put us in front with five minutes to go, but we couldn’t hold on for the win.

“We were clinical in the second leg. We went 3-0 up when Maxwell Cornet scored twice and Lago Junior got another one, but Serge Aurier got a straight red card for a professional foul – he missed the first two World Cup games as a result. While we won 7-4 on aggregate, I was disappointed with Aurier for that. He was our best defender, but he didn’t play regularly at club level until he joined Torino after the World Cup.”

To me, this was an example of why McPercival has gone on to enjoy the success that he’s had in recent years. Securing qualification for the World Cup was a good achievement, but he was already planning his squad for the tournament in his mind. Already thinking ahead. He knew Aurier would be a big miss.

However, with three relegations on his CV in domestic football, McPercival’s reputation had taken a hit, and when he eventually signed terms for a return to club football, it was down in League Two. On the 31st October 2021, he became the manager of Wrexham.

“I’ve said repeatedly, having a chairman who knows what they’re doing can make all the difference. Some boards, like at Bradford Park Avenue and the Cameroon FA, are ridiculous. Others, like at Hyde, can be superb. Andrew McLean at Wrexham certainly falls into the latter category.

“The club had double promoted from the Conference to League One, and then come straight back down to League Two. They’d finished 15th the previous season, but were clearly hoping to be challenging towards the top of the division. When I took over, they were 21st, with sixteen points from sixteen matches. The squad was good but a little threadbare, so I brought in Jake Cassidy up top, Yacouba Sylla in the midfield and Connor Brown in defence.

“We began very well. My first game in charge was in the FA Cup First Round, against Sutton United. We were unconvincing but we won 3-2, and we then beat Newport County and Doncaster in the league. I was playing a 4-1-4-1 system, trying to make us hard to beat, and I actively sought to play a direct style, really for the first time in my career.”

McPercival’s Wrexham side were picking up the odd points here and there, but January saw a marked upturn in form, with four wins and two draws coming from their six matches. The club climbed into mid-table safety after losing just six matches after the turn of the year.

“We were a good side. We had a solid defence for the league, a strong midfield, pace out wide and a striker who could finish. We ended the season with three consecutive wins and finished in 12th, just three points off the Playoffs! If only I’d been there from the start of the season, I might have had a promotion on my CV in 2022.

“It was the first time in my career that I’ve been at a club where I feel like we could win whenever we walked onto the pitch. The players suited the system we played and enjoyed it. I genuinely felt that we’d have a good chance of winning promotion in 2023 if we could play like this again.”

Once the season was done, McPercival had to make the long flight to Qatar to manage in his first World Cup.

“I’ve been lucky enough to manage in four World Cups now, but I’ll never, ever forget that first World Cup group stage match. As much as I wish I could…”

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 7 – The Best Tournament Ever

Much has been made of the hosting rights to the 2022 World Cup being awarded to Qatar. The tournament had been turned into a global issue revolving around workers rights and corruption, especially within FIFA itself. Justice of sorts then, when Qatar were hammered 7-0 by Ukraine in the opening match of the tournament.

In the month that followed, the world witnessed the greatest World Cup in history.

“It was one of the most incredible tournaments I’ve ever seen”, McPercival agrees, “although not for us. If anything, the attention given to South Korea, Ukraine and Norway took the attention away from our terrible performances.”

McPercival’s Ivorian army were drawn in a group with Spain, Euro 2016 champions Belgium and Japan. He was unsurprisingly pessimistic about his team’s chances.

“I am a big believer in believing anything is possible. I wouldn’t bother turning up if I knew for sure we were going to lose. But we were missing Gnabry through injury and Aurier through suspension, and they had a Real Madrid striker up top. It was never going to end well.”

Imran Abdellaoui scored 50 international goals for Belgium during a long and illustrious career with West Ham, Real Madrid and Arsenal, and four of those goals came in their opening group game in 2022. Belgium ran riot, smashing McPercival’s men 6-0 – the joint heaviest defeat of his career so far.

“I was slumped in my seat. We were all just powerless to resist. They were dominant in every area. Against Spain, it was the exact opposite. We were brilliant defensively. It just wasn’t to be.”

Ivory Coast were knocked out after just two matches of the tournament, when Juan Manuel Navarro scored an 89th minute winner to seal a 2-1 win for Spain. Japan added insult to injury, winning a dead rubber final match 3-2 courtesy of a late penalty. Having managed at a World Cup for the first time, McPercival resigned as manager of the Ivory Coast.

“I’d had a taste, but I decided the immediate priority was my club career. If a reasonably big international job became available, I’d consider it, but until then I wanted to start working my way up the domestic ladder, starting with promotion with Wrexham this coming season.”

The World Cup was just getting started. Germany and Holland had surprised everyone by not making it out of the group, while Norway amazingly topped their group, setting up a Second Round clash with Jamaica.

“The knockout rounds in 2022 were unbelievable. It was literally shock after shock after shock. The only thing that didn’t shock me was England losing on penalties.”

Mexico did for the English on this occasion, while South Korea dumped Italy out in the Second Round just as they did in 2002 when they were co-hosts.

The Quarter-Finals were even more dramatic. Ukraine beat Mexico 1-0, while Brazil knocked France out 2-1. Norway, inspired by Martin Odegaard, continued their incredible journey, knocking Argentina out after extra time, while South Korea also upset Belgium to progress.

So, incredibly, it was Norway vs South Korea for a place in the World Cup Final. And when Ukraine beat Brazil on penalties, we were guaranteed to have a new name on the trophy. South Korea beat Norway 2-1 to reach the Final, where a goal from Jung-Soo Lee secured Asia’s first ever World Cup triumph.

“South Korea ended up winning the entire thing. It reminded me of Greece winning the Euro’s in 2004. When you build up momentum, you never know what can happen. They’ll talk about this victory forever in South Korea, but the Scottish are quick to point out that they beat the World Champions 2-1 in a friendly three months later!”

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 8 – Getting Closer!

“I badly wanted something positive to happen in my career, like a promotion, or even just reaching the Playoffs. I’d been relegated three times already lest we forget. This would be my ninth season in football management, and while I had a firm foothold in the industry, I needed to start developing a successful track record.”

Despite losing on the opening day of the 2022/23 season, 2-1 at home to Gillingham, McPercival’s side meant business, and bounced back with five consecutive wins. Indeed, his team lost just two of their opening thirteen fixtures, and looked to be heading for the promotion he so desperately craved.

“It helped that we picked up points continuously – even when our form dipped, we were drawing games that in the past we would have lost. Then we won four out of five in December, and I won the Manager of the Month award for December 2023 – the first time in five and a half years I’d won Manager of the Month.

“Our form was made all the more impressive by the fact that we’d lost two of our key players from the previous season in Alex Kiwomya and Liam Kelly. Neither would sign a new contract. We still squeezed £130K out of Derby County for Kiwomya, but Kelly went on a free. Some of the lads we brought in were terrific. Sam Clucas on the left side was superb, Hakan Ornek came in from Stuttgart’s reserves and did well, and Liam Trotter was great in midfield.”

After the turn of the year, results became more and more inconsistent, and the club went on a run of eight matches in which they won just once.

“It was so frustrating to be a part of. We had developed a way of playing that we knew was successful because we’d proven that it was, but now here we were struggling to win games again. We won three of our next four after that run, but then we went through another period of one win in eight. Overall it was five wins in twenty, which is never going to get you promoted.”

Wrexham fell out of the Playoff places after losing 2-0 at Rotherham with just two matches left in the season, and despite claiming four points from those two games, it wasn’t enough to climb back into the Playoffs.

“We had the best defensive record in the league, conceding just 48 goals, but our tally of 57 goals scored was the fourth worst. Aldershot scored more, and they were relegated. We finished level on points with Rotherham, who finished 7th, ahead of us because their goal difference was +10 and ours was +9. Essentially, we missed out on the Playoffs by one goal. You couldn’t make that kind of luck up.”

After their strong showing in the league, it transpired that there were League One clubs interested in taking McPercival up a level, and it was an opportunity at which he jumped.

“It was a good summer for me, because I was offered interviews with Colchester and Plymouth Argyle, who had just been relegated from the Championship. I thought they’d have a strong squad, very competitive for League One and I’d have a chance of getting promoted with them. Having been buoyed by my time in Wales, I made the move to Home Park and became manager of Plymouth. My record at Wrexham was good – P93 W35 D21 L27.”

It wasn’t the only move McPercival would make in the summer of 2023. After a disappointing showing at the Copa America, Gus Poyet resigned as the manager of the Uruguay national team, and McPercival was offered the job, which he duly accepted.

“I was relishing the opportunity to take part in the South American World Cup qualification league. It’s essentially one group with all the South American nations in. The top four qualify for the World Cup automatically, while the fifth placed side has a Playoff. I thought it would be great fun to be a part of.”

The 2023/2024 season certainly would throw up a few surprises.

[gmulv]

liking  this - looking forward to more :)r

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 9 – Humble Pie

“It was like asking an ex to take you back. I’d won matches at Wrexham, and we really struggled at Plymouth. It was the wrong job at the wrong time. I should have thought much more carefully before making the move in the first place, because I hadn’t considered all the problems I’d have bringing the wage budget down, managing the morale of players who all wanted to leave and being competitive enough to challenge for promotion, which the board wanted.”

Plymouth Argyle had been relegated from the Championship in 2023, finishing 22nd with 38 points – three less than McPercival’s Barnsley side had managed back in 2021. The board wanted an immediate return to the second tier, but the players wanted out.

“Ryan Williams was a superb attacking midfielder, but in our financial situation we had to accept an offer of £4m from Krasnodar. Hull came in for Omar Rowe and Giorgio Rasulo left us to join Nottingham Forest. Bizarrely, Man United then came in for our goalkeeper Neil Etheridge. He left, and never played another game in his career.”

Plymouth Argyle didn’t win any of their first five matches in all competitions under McPercival, but their form picked up throughout September and October, and the club were sitting just outside the Playoff places.

“We beat Coventry 6-5, I’ll remember that game until the day I die. It was an epic. We just traded blows for 90 minutes. We were 3-1 up at half time, then we went 5-2, then 6-3 and they rallied in the last ten and brought it back to 6-5. Thank goodness the final whistle went when it did – another ten minutes and they might have nicked it!

“We beat Oxford 1-0 in late October, and that was the last match I won at the club. We got knocked out of the FA Cup by League Two Gillingham, which the board were very disappointed about, and we only picked up one point in November. December started badly as well. The board, the fans, the media and the players were all on my back.

“I saw that my successor at Wrexham, Craig Gardner, had been sacked just two days before Christmas. I told them I’d be interested in a return to the Racecourse Ground, but they got back to me and told me they couldn’t afford my compensation fee. I wasn’t going anywhere with Plymouth, I was becoming increasingly unpopular, so I resigned. Plymouth ended that season in 14th, and relegated again three years later. They got to the Championship Playoffs in 2040, so fair play to them.”

After a Boxing Day draw with Southend, McPercival resigned as manager of Plymouth, and on the 2nd January 2024, he returned to the job he’d left the previous summer. The club were sitting in mid-table, but McPercival had his eyes on the Playoffs.

“I knew I could get results there. We played the same 4-1-4-1 system that we’d played in my first spell there, and the players were all the same, so I knew it would work. We beat Aston Villa in my first match, and got ten points from our first five games. Things were looking up.”

In early March, Wrexham suffered a 4-1 defeat at Walsall, but McPercival describes what followed this as the first ‘purple patch’ of his career.

“We didn’t lose a game for the rest of the season, and we finished 4th, five points inside the Playoffs. There were twelve games left after Walsall, and we won eight and drew four. Hakan Ornek scored a brilliant hat-trick at Oldham, where we won 5-3, and then there was a week in April when we scored injury time winners in consecutive matches. You could never doubt the spirit we had in that side.

“We huffed and puffed against Exeter, then in the 93rd minute Sam Clucas scored a wonder goal from the corner of the box – it curled perfectly into the top corner. Four days later, Jake Cassidy struck in the 92nd minute to beat Newport County away. There were scenes in our dressing room after that!”

Unfortunately for McPercival, Peterborough were too strong in the Playoffs, winning 2-1 on aggregate. It would be as good as it got for McPercival in Wales. After winning just two of their first twelve league matches in the following season, Wrexham parted company with their manager. A month later, McPercival decided to resign as manager of Uruguay, after a disappointing sixteen months in charge. He was starting afresh.

“The matches in South America were exciting, make no mistake. I took charge of fifteen matches at Uruguay, and if you bet on both teams to score every time, you’d have won fourteen times. The other one was a 0-0 draw. We couldn’t defend to save our lives, but even in his mid-30’s Luis Suarez was terrific.

“We won the first two matches of the World Cup qualifying league, beating Venezuela 4-1 and then coming from two goals behind to win 3-2 in Paraguay. After that it all went downhill.”

McPercival watched on in disgust as his Uruguay team threw away a 3-1 lead against Colombia, losing 4-3. It would be a recurring theme throughout the next year. Brazil would also come back from two goals behind, although on that occasion Uruguay hung on for a point.

“We just couldn’t defend at all. We had two qualifiers in September 2024 and two more in October. We conceded nineteen goals in those four matches. You can understand when Argentina put five past you, but Peru beat us 4-1 and then we drew 5-5 with Venezuela! The only positive thing about that game was that we took a point after being 3-0 down. We were hopeless.”

McPercival had found himself a new job in domestic football, and his resignation from Uruguay came as a result of a promise to his new employers that he would dedicate all his efforts to the role. On the 18th November 2024, McPercival moved to Holland and became the new manager of SBV Excelsior.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 10 – Heartbreak

“I was at Excelsior for the best part of five years. They’re a wonderful club and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.”

The Jupiler League in Holland has a complicated Playoff structure, in which ten teams participate – eight from the Jupiler League itself, and the teams that finished 16th and 17th in the Eredivisie. McPercival explains it well:

“The Champions automatically promote, and the bottom team in the Eredivisie automatically relegates. Then all hell breaks loose.

“There are four Playoff places, and there are also four Periods, each of which are seven games long. Matches 1 to 7 count as the first Period, then 8 to 14, 15 to 21 and 22 to 28. They’re separated into their own Period tables, and the team top of each Period table also qualifies for the Playoffs. You could technically win your first seven matches and lose the remaining 31 and still promote, because you’d have been top of the first Period table. It makes life very interesting – there are essentially eight Playoff places, which makes qualifying for the Playoffs much easier.

“If the teams that win the Periods finish 2nd to 5th in the final standings, then the league’s Playoff positions would move from 6th to 9th. Then you throw in the fact that Jong Ajax, Jong Twente and Jong PSV aren’t allowed to promote either, so if they do well then the Playoff positions move even further down.

“There are three rounds of Playoffs. The first is only for the four Period winners. They play each other, and the winners join the other six teams – two from the Eredivisie and the four Jupiler League teams – in the second round. Then it’s a straight fight. The two winners in the third round play Eredivisie football the next season.”

Excelsior were sitting in mid-table when McPercival took over, which was pretty much as expected. Ard van Peppen had left the job to take over at De Graafschap, and McPercival inherited a team who were unbeaten in their previous four.

“The squad was good. Alex Sigurdarson was an excellent midfielder and up front we had a lad called Alex van Es on loan from our parent club, Feyenoord. That partnership was crucial – a large part of the success we enjoyed stemmed from our link with them.”

After drawing his first match in charge 0-0 with Go Ahead Eagles, McPercival’s men embarked on a run of four wins in six before the winter break, pushing them up the table. When the league resumed, there seemed to be no let up in form, and the prospect of finishing in a Playoff place began to look frighteningly promising.

“We were catching the league leaders at a rate of knots. AZ Alkmaar were the big name in the division, but FC Eindhoven had been setting the pace, while Cambuur were also up there. The first game back after the winter break was a 0-0 draw with Jong Twente, but after that we won eight of our next ten games!”

Excelsior were fighting for the title, and after thrashing Go Ahead Eagles 7-0 away from home, McPercival knew that the first trophy of his career was just two matches away.

“We had AZ Alkmaar at home, and then MVV at home afterwards. AZ was the big one. It was 0-0 at half time, but we fell behind to a goal from Areolino Cande. Then up pops our centre-half Jan Geerts to equalize a few minutes later, a header from a wide free-kick.”

The minutes ticked by.

“That day was my first Lawrie Sanchez moment. The ball fell to Alex Sigurdarson in the area with ten minutes left. He had an excellent technique, and he struck his effort perfectly. It flew into the top corner and I was off down the touchline.”

Excelsior claimed all three points against AZ, winning 2-1, and they knew that victory at home to MVV on the final day would see them win the league.

“Promoting into the Eredivisie would be huge for this club and huge for my career. It’s one of the biggest leagues in Europe – not the biggest, but if you can do well then some big clubs will be sitting up and taking notice of you. I was made to wait for that, of course.”

The potential breakthrough for McPercival’s career was denied him on this occasion. MVV finished the season in 16th, but they held Excelsior to a 0-0 draw on the final day of the season and FC Eindhoven pipped them to the title on the last day, beating De Graafschap 1-0 with a late goal. One point separated the two clubs.

“The disappointment carried into the Playoffs. We took the lead twice in the first leg against Den Bosch, but we drew it 2-2, and they then turned us over at our place.”

The unusual structure of the Playoffs proved beneficial for Helmond Sport, who came through their three Playoff ties to win promotion to the Eredivisie despite finishing 10th in the league. For McPercival, dreams of promotion would have to wait another year.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 11 – Take A Bow, Tom Davidson

“Just like my first season at Wrexham, I felt that if I’d been in charge from the beginning of the season we’d have gone up.”

McPercival didn’t spend too long reeling from the disappointment of the 2024/25 season.

“I was fully focussed on the next season. Our squad was very competitive, and again we utilized our partnership with Feyenoord. Van Es stayed at the club, and several others came in. I was very confident that we’d be competing at the right end of the league again, and knowing that makes it easier to get over a disappointment like the one we’d just suffered.”

However, a difficult start to the season brought pressure onto McPercival.

“It took a while for our players to gel at the start of the season. We got beat 5-2 by Almere City, who are one of the weaker teams in the division, and we drew with Jong Twente, who are traditionally the whipping boys of that division.”

However, a ten match unbeaten run took Excelsior up the league, largely thanks to the fine form of striker Alex van Es.

“It felt like he’d score in every game we played. He scored twenty league goals in the 25/26 season, and established himself as our number one striker.”

The club’s form became inconsistent as the winter break approached, and after a heavy 4-0 defeat at De Graafschap, McPercival resolved to get the chequebook out, and the club signed striker Tom Davidson for £400K from Wycombe Wanderers.

“He was a decent lad, and he’s doing alright for himself now as a manager as well. He’s in League One with Boreham Wood. He didn’t score many for the club but when he did, they were usually vital. Joonas Vanhanen was another excellent signing. We paid Telstar £60K for him and he was fantastic for us. Our form after the winter break was exceptional – we only lost two more games all season.”

McPercival’s reputation was growing, and in late November 2025, he was given the opportunity to work with the Holland U19s.

“They’d won the European U19 Championships that summer, so there was plenty of talent around. They hold that tournament every single year, so my first job was to qualify for the 2026 tournament. Ali Tuncer was the star man of that side, and he went on to play for Man City, but he was never available for me. He was either in the U21s or even the senior squad. I thought he’d end up with more than 17 caps to be honest. The worst part was we failed to qualify for the 2026 Euro’s: we came second in our qualifying group and only the top team qualifies. Czech Republic pipped us to it on goal difference.”

However, with Excelsior, the situation looked much more comfortable. After winning ten of their fifteen matches after the winter break, including a 95th minute winner against MVV, McPercival’s side ended the season in 5th, and qualified for the Playoffs.

“We weren’t as good as we’d been the previous season – our form in the first half of the campaign saw to that. We finished five points off the top. The league was extremely tight.

“Our first Playoff tie was in the second round of the Playoffs, and we played RKC Waalwijk. The first leg was a classic. Alex van Es scored a hat-trick in the first half, but we had a man sent off and they came back to draw 4-4. We were the better side though – when we kept all our players on the pitch we won the second leg comfortably, 3-0.”

Excelsior were one two-legged Playoff tie away from promotion to the Eredivisie, but unlike the previous season, you wouldn’t know it from the way McPercival talks about it.

“When I first took the job, I was extremely excited to do well and when we nearly won the league it was a very emotionally evocative time. This time around there was a feeling of expectation within me. I knew we had the quality to win and I saw us as favourites.

“We played Helmond Sport, who’d finished 10th in the league the previous season but had promoted through the Playoffs. I knew we could beat them, and we won the first leg 2-1 at home courtesy of Gyrano Kerk – he scored twice against his former club. We took the lead away from home as well, cancelling out their away goal, and at 3-1 up in the tie I thought we’d done it. I got ahead of myself.”

Helmond Sport staged a fightback, and levelled the tie at 3-3 when young Croatian U21 international Mladen Vojvodic scored late on. The tie went into extra time and was heading for penalties.

“I was extremely nervous at this point. Helmond Sport were making more of the play. Suddenly, Sigurdarson gets the ball, looks up and finds Tom Davidson on the edge of the area. Davidson turned, beat his man and fired a savage shot into the bottom corner. I was delirious. We were up!”

Excelsior hung on to win the tie 4-3 and clinch promotion to the Eredivisie.

“I counted it as silverware at the time, although it probably isn’t. At the time I didn’t care – we were up, and I was going to be managing in one of the top leagues in Europe!”

The 2026/27 season would be McPercival’s first in top-flight football management, but could he lead Excelsior to safety?

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 12 – Try, Try And Try Again

“I told the lads ‘I trust you’, and I did. I thought we already had a squad that was good enough to survive in the Eredivisie, especially as we managed to keep Alex van Es for another season on loan from Feyenoord. The only player I paid money for was Edwin Meijs – we signed him from FC Emmen for £600K. We brought another couple of players in on loan from Feyenoord again, but in the main I wanted to give the players who got us promoted the chance to play regularly in the Eredivisie.”

It’s an admirable policy, especially for a man entering his first season in top-flight football with three relegations already on his CV. McPercival showed tremendous faith in his players, but although he was rewarded with some excellent performances, the results weren’t coming.

“We didn’t win any of our first nine matches in the league, but we were so unlucky. We conceded two late goals to lose 2-1 at Den Bosch on the opening day, we played very well in our 4-4 draw at Heracles and conceded another late goal against ADO Den Haag to draw 1-1. We gave Ajax a good game and probably should have beaten NEC Nijmegen with the chances we had. Suddenly it was like someone flicked a switch. We couldn’t stop winning before the winter break.”

Excelsior were long overdue a win, and in the tenth league game of the season, they finally broke their duck, winning in incredible fashion away at PSV Eindhoven. Having been 2-1 down at half time, second half goals from van Es, Hassan Amrani and Jan Geerts secured a memorable 4-2 victory.

“We followed that up with wins over Feyenoord, Dordrecht, Twente and Fortuna Sittard. We’d been conceding late goals, but now we were scoring them. Joonas Vanhanen scored from long range in the 95th minute to beat Twente – that was an amazing moment away from home. We scored three late goals to beat Fortuna Sittard 3-1. We never, ever gave up, and we deserved all the success we’d started getting.”

After the winter break, Excelsior lost three consecutive matches and failed to win in five, but McPercival’s men arrested the slide with a 1-0 win at Heerenveen. Groningen comfortably dispatched Excelsior in the next match, but that would be the last time they’d lose a game in the 2026/27 season.

“We finished the season with an eight match unbeaten run, and overall, I felt we had an incredible season. Twente came to Woudestein and we smashed them 4-1, despite going a goal down. They ended the season as Champions, and we’d done the double over them. We were the only team to win at their ground all season. We took four points off PSV Eindhoven and four points off Feyenoord – it was obvious we had a squad of big game players.

“Alex van Es was absolutely sensational. He scored 21 league goals in 28 appearances, including a hat-trick in our 4-0 win at home to NAC Breda. At one point in this run he had eight in four. He was terrific.”

Excelsior finished the season 11th in the table, and McPercival was strongly linked with the vacant position at Heerenveen.

“The media suggested I was the favourite for the job, along with Ricardo Moniz, who had just got Sparta promoted. I thought long and hard about applying for it, because my position at Excelsior was very safe, but eventually I decided to go for it. I must have left it too late, because I didn’t get so much as an interview, and Moniz got the job. He retired the next summer, so I think that one backfired on the club.”

The 2027/28 season was made much more difficult for McPercival, because Feyenoord, the parent club of Alex van Es, decided to make him part of their first team squad, thus ruling out any possibility of retaining his services. The club didn’t have the money to bring in a high profile replacement, so the goalscoring burden fell on the shoulders of Tom Davidson.

“We suffered badly that season. Davidson was an honest striker, he did his best, but he simply wasn’t good enough for the Eredivisie. He made 37 league appearances, of which 31 were starts, but he only managed seven goals. We only scored 26 all season in the league, and when that happens you’re only going to finish at the bottom.

“We did have an excellent defensive record, better than the Champions of that season, Vitesse. I think the stadium move had something to do with it psychologically. We’d moved to the Kyocera Stadion, where ADO Den Haag play their home matches, while Woudestein was being rebuilt.”

Excelsior had a very disappointing campaign, despite starting with a run of one defeat in nine. Five of those nine were draws, and from the start of November, the goals dried up altogether.

“We won just one of our six matches directly before the winter break, and we won just two matches after it. In the first eleven matches after the winter break, we scored just four goals! That’s dreadful. It wasn’t like teams were rolling us over, with the exception of Vitesse who beat us 4-0, but we just couldn’t score.”

Excelsior returned to Woudestein for their last two home matches of the season, and the club won both convincingly.

“It must have been psychological. Our first game back in our stadium, we beat NEC 5-1! Tom Davidson scored a hat-trick! We beat Utrecht there on the last day of the season and ended up in 16th, so we were dragged into the Jupiler League Playoffs.”

Sparta had finished rock bottom of the division with just ten points, so being relegated automatically had never been an issue, and McPercival entertained hopeful prospects of survival after they won their first Playoff tie 4-2 on aggregate against FC Emmen.

“We had Zwolle in the third round of the Playoffs. We had to win to stay up, and our goalscoring problem reared its ugly head again. Zwolle beat us 1-0 at their place and we drew 0-0 at home, so we were relegated.”

In the summer of 2028, after fourteen years of football management, McPercival was relegated for the fourth, and as it stands today, final time of his career.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 13 – A Star Is Born

In the summer of 2027, before Excelsior’s abject second season in the Eredivisie, McPercival had led his Holland U19 side to the Semi-Finals of the Euro U19 Championships.

“There were no easy games at all. Eight teams participate in the tournament, so we were in a group with England, Portugal and Italy. We beat England 4-1 and Portugal 2-0 to progress to the Semi’s, but France were too good for us – they beat us 3-0 in an even game. Managing an U19s side takes a lot out of you, and I’d decided after the tournament, before the 27/28 season began, to resign from the role.”

The summer of 2028 saw McPercival attempt to rectify Excelsior’s goalscoring issues, ahead of a season in the Jupiler League.

“I’d decided to use our partnership with Feyenoord to take striker Cor Driessen on loan. He’d just scored 32 goals in all competitions at Hamilton Academical, so I was confident he’d be able to produce in the Jupiler League. He exceeded all my expectations, and I’m very proud to have been able to contribute to his development – his career has been incredible.

“We won our first three league matches, and another new signing, Luka Basa, had scored five goals. He came on a free from Atalanta, and spent three years at Chesterfield later on in his career. He scored a hat-trick against Helmond Sport and was keeping Driessen out the side until he got injured. He was out for four months – well, it was longer than that because he couldn’t get his place in the team back off Driessen.”

However, a 4-0 defeat at home to Fortuna Sittard was a reality check. It featured one of the most embarrassing own goals McPercival has ever witnessed.

“Leo van Dommelen ended up playing 264 games for the club over a ten year spell, he was a club icon, but in this game he played a loopy backpass to the keeper from out in our right-back position, and it sailed over the goalkeeper’s head. That made the score 2-0, and we were so deflated. We ended up losing 4-0, by far our worst performance of the season.”

Cor Driessen was quickly taking centre stage, scoring in home wins over Jong Ajax and FC Emmen, and after consecutive draws with NEC Nijmegen and De Graafschap, McPercival’s men embarked on an amazing run of eleven wins and a draw from their twelve games prior to the winter break, racing clear at the top of the league.

“We were unstoppable then. I’d been doing some thinking about my career during the off season and I’d come to the conclusion that if we didn’t get promoted this season, I’d resign. Another promotion on your CV is no bad thing, especially if you win the league, and I still hadn’t won any silverware at this point. Driessen was so good – he scored seventeen in fourteen before the winter break - that I amended my thought process. Even if we did promote, I would only stay if we could keep hold of Driessen going into the next season.”

The club’s form after the winter break made the Jupiler League title a near certainty. Excelsior had breathing space at the top of the table and were showing no sign of letting up. Indeed, they only lost one more match all season, and of the fifteen matches they played following the winter break, they won eleven. Driessen ended the season on 36 league goals from just 31 starts and seven substitute appearances. McPercival was voted Manager of the Year.

“We were the best team in the division by a million miles. We finished that season sixteen points clear at the top and we scored 83 goals, but for me the big question was ‘could we keep hold of Driessen?’ and as it turned out, we couldn’t.”

McPercival had won his first league title, indeed his first piece of proper silverware of any kind, but he ended his four-and-a-half year stay at Excelsior once it became clear that Cor Driessen was going to sign for AC Milan in a deal worth £7.5m.

“He’s still a wonderful talent now, at 33. He’s Holland’s all-time record goalscorer with 110 – that’ll never be beaten – and two years after joining AC Milan, he moved to PSG for £28m. He’s won the World Cup Golden Boot award twice, and World Cup Best Player. He came third in the Ballon D’Or in 2037, and should have won it in my opinion – 54 goals in a calendar year! What he’s achieved in the game is fantastic.

“Anyway, when I realized that we weren’t going to be able to keep him, I stuck to my guns and decided to resign. I felt that I’d achieved enough success to find a job at a bigger club, and two days before I handed in my resignation, I’d taken the job as manager of Australia, who were on the verge of qualifying for the 2030 World Cup in Spain.”

McPercival would have to wait until December 2029 to find a new club, and when he returned to domestic football management, he’d decided to stay in Holland.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 14 – Out Of The Blue Again!

“I didn’t want to take a step down, so while I was offered interviews at various clubs I was keeping my options open. I’d learnt from my experience at Plymouth to prioritise financial stability, and I decided against pursuing opportunities at Evian TG and Lorient because they’d just been relegated out of Ligue 1 in France.

“Hull and Brentford offered me interviews, both in the Championship, but neither offered me a job, and Westerlo, a mid-table club in the Belgian Pro League, followed suit.”

While McPercival was waiting for the right opportunity to re-enter domestic football, he took over an Australia side who were on the brink of qualifying for the World Cup. They had two qualifiers remaining, both of them at home, and one win would be enough.

“We won both, just to make sure. We beat Japan at home 1-0, and followed it up with a straightforward win against Oman 3-0. There were no star names in the side – our best player was probably midfielder Ricky Muldoon, who was at Spurs. Our players were scattered around the world. Nick Taylor, who scored the winner against Japan, was right-mid for Melbourne City for fifteen years. He then played six times for Tranmere. We had several players with careers like that.”

Eventually McPercival found his new club, and having waited patiently for what he perceived to be the right opportunity, he took the reigns at Galgenwaard, home of FC Utrecht.

“The opportunity was a decent one. They had a reasonable squad and were in a solid financial position. When I took over the club was sitting 15th in the Eredivisie and it was December, just two league games before the winter break. We picked up four points from those two games, and I don’t think we were ever in danger of relegating.”

McPercival was dealt a blow in January when Oliveira, the clubs best attacker, signed a pre-contract deal with Gremio, and would be leaving at the end of the season. However, his side continued to pick up points, albeit without any real consistency, and contrived to finish 11th in the 2029/30 league table.

“In the second half of the season it felt like we were just going through the motions a bit. To be honest, Utrecht wasn’t really the step up I’d wanted from Excelsior, but we did beat them 3-2 and finish above them in the table – they survived in 14th which was good to see. Over the summer we didn’t do much business, aside from a South Korean left-back and a couple of Italians on a free. I was more focussed on the World Cup with Australia.”

Australia had been drawn in a World Cup group with holders Argentina, Russia and South Africa, and McPercival entered the tournament full of optimism after encouraging results in the pre-tournament friendlies.

“We drew with Mexico in November, and in the months preceding the tournament we beat Paraguay, Ghana and Sweden, and drew with Chile. I was feeling confident. We had Argentina first up, and that was a free hit for us really. I felt confident we’d beat South Africa, so it seemed that the winners of our match with Russia, the second match, would progress with Argentina, barring some crazy results.”

As expected, Argentina began their campaign in scintillating form, and brushed Australia aside 4-0 at the Bernabeu.

“They’re just class. Simple as that.”

However, the Russians had beaten South Africa in the first round of matches, which made getting a result against them absolutely imperative. Sadly for McPercival, they were on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline, and for the second time in his career, his team were out of the World Cup after just two matches.

“It was very disappointing. We did manage to beat South Africa in the final match of the group 2-0, but it was already over for us. I had enjoyed managing Australia though, and with the South East Asian Football Championship and the Asian Nations Cup in the next few months, I wasn’t even contemplating leaving. The South East Asian competition pitted us against some awful teams – it would be another trophy next to my name.”

The new league season began with a defeat against Excelsior for McPercival and his Utrecht side, but after that the club went on a good run, winning away at PSV Eindhoven, Zwolle, FC Eindhoven, AZ Alkmaar and NEC Nijmegen.

“Our away record was absolutely fantastic in the first half of the season. We were drawing and losing at home – if it wasn’t for our away form, we would’ve been in the bottom half! We were there soon enough anyway, mind…”

In December and January, Utrecht lost six consecutive league games, and McPercival was beginning to get drawn into yet another relegation battle. His job was becoming increasingly insecure.

“We lost 4-0 at Feyenoord, and followed that up with a 5-0 defeat at home to Vitesse. The boos rang out loud and clear. It was one of the darker days in my career.”

Then, out of the blue again, a fantastic opportunity knocked on McPercival’s door.

“We were badly struggling in the league, in terrible form, and then my PA rings me and tells me that Phillip Cocu had just left Twente to take over at Napoli, and would I like an interview? Of course I jumped at the chance. We came from 2-0 down at ADO Den Haag to draw level, and then lose to a 94th minute strike from Kostadin Talevski. I was as low as I could be at Utrecht. I didn’t expect anything to come of the interview, but I must have impressed them because Twente offered me the job! I didn’t need so much as a second to think about it.”

McPercival regards this as his big break, and it's hard to disagree. He'd been on the verge of relegation with Utrecht, and Jurgen Streppel, his successor, couldn't lead them to safety. Somehow, McPercival found himself with the task of guiding Twente to the second place finish they needed to qualify for the Champions League next season.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 15 – Building The Foundations, Expanding The Cabinet

During the winter of the European season in 2030/31, McPercival’s Australia side were due to compete in two international tournaments in Asia. First, there was the South East Asian Football Championship, or the AFF Championship for short. Australia were overwhelming favourites to win the competition – they only participate when they are hosting the tournament, and the standard of the opposition was extremely poor. Then, there was the Asian Nations Cup, where Australia would face a much sterner test – the majority of South Korea’s World Cup winning side were still playing and they were arguably the favourites.

“The fact we had to play in the AFF Championship was a joke, to be honest. We were far too good. We won every match in the group stage without getting out of second gear. The Semi’s and the Final were two-legged ties, although it made no difference – we beat Vietnam 8-1 on aggregate and then beat Thailand 6-0 on aggregate.

“Technically it was the second trophy of my career, but until the day I retire there’ll never be one I care about less.”

However, the Asian Nations Cup proved to be a much more challenging tournament. McPercival describes the action.

“It’s a 24 team tournament, so you can finish third in your group and still qualify. The seeded draw meant that we avoided all our rivals for the tournament, and apart from a 0-0 draw with North Korea, we had a comfortable passage through to the Second Round, beating Lebanon 2-0 and Tajikstan 3-0.

“Oman were very difficult to break down. I thought we were strong favourites for the match, but they took us to extra time. We scored straight away, and then Oman had a man sent off. That broke their resistance, and we ended up winning 4-0 after extra time.

“The Quarter-Final with Iran was fairly straightforward. We took the lead early and were much the better side, winning 3-1, but then came an enormous test against South Korea. They’d won every game, not just winning but hammering teams. They beat Lebanon 4-0 and Saudi Arabia 6-1 in the knockout rounds.

“South Korea were the better side on the day, but we dug deep and performed well. With about fifteen minutes left, we took the lead – Josip Brekalo smashed home after a goalmouth scramble – but South Korea equalized with three minutes to go, and that was the least they deserved to be honest. We were clinging on in extra time, but in a penalty shoot-out anything can happen. South Korea missed their second and third penalties, and my lads made no mistake. We won 4-2 on penalties, and we were in the Final!

“We met China in the Final, and we ran riot in the first half. David Soley, who was playing in the Eredivisie for Vitesse at the time, scored a hat-trick and we led 4-0 at half time. China had no answer. We won the Final and lifted the Asian Nations Cup, which was a fantastic achievement.”

McPercival had won both tournaments, which had been a very welcome distraction from his struggles at Utrecht, and his subsequent move to Twente in March 2031 gave him the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League for the very first time in his career.

“I walked into an extremely tense situation at Twente. There was pressure instantly. There were six league matches remaining, Feyenoord had already wrapped up the league title and only finishing 2nd would qualify us for the Champions League – even then it was only the third qualifying round. Four of our key players had told me they wanted to leave for Champions League football, and I told all of them that we were going to qualify that season. PSV, Ajax, Heerenveen and Vitesse were all right on our tails.”

However, McPercival’s first match in charge was a difficult one. Feyenoord away.

“They’d already sealed the title with six games to go. Their dominance was madness, and it was as tough a game as we could have had. We gave it our all but it just wasn’t enough. We lost 2-1 and slipped down to third behind PSV.”

Twente recovered from this defeat with a run of four consecutive victories, including a 3-0 win at home to Vitesse, and as PSV Eindhoven dropped points against Dordrecht and AZ Alkmaar, McPercival knew that his new club needed just one point from their last game to qualify for the Champions League.

“Ali Tuncer, who’d played for me in the Holland U19s a few years before, scored twice in the first twelve minutes to give us breathing space. Back came ADO Den Haag. They pounced on some poor defending and equalized, and by the end of the game we were holding on for dear life. But hold on we did. The game ended 2-2 and we finished the league in 2nd place.”

McPercival would be managing in the Champions League next season, but would need to win two playoff ties in order to reach the group stage, and that would be a tall order. Nevertheless, he was optimistic as he headed into his first full season at Twente – his first genuine opportunity to win a major league title.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 16 – A Lawrie Sanchez Moment

“I’ll never forget that night in Marseille. At the time it was the greatest night of my career.”

Twente had an excellent squad when McPercival took over, and having technically qualified for the Champions League, albeit just the qualifying rounds, the players who’d been demanding moves to Champions League clubs were content for the time being. However, one man who wasn’t content was defender Said Hajji. He was being courted by Manchester United, and in the summer of 2031 McPercival agreed to sell him for a fee of £14m.

His direct replacement was Argentinian right-back Javier Candia, who cost Twente £8.25m when they signed him from River Plate, while McPercival also struck a deal with Velez for left-back Franco Umpierrez in the region of £3m. Italian strike duo Alessio Ceniccola and Alessio Canato also joined the ranks.

The big games came thick and fast at the start of the season.

“Our season started in July with the Super Cup,” recalls McPercival. “Feyenoord had done the double so we qualified for it with our 2nd place finish. It was an entertaining game, and we produced a wonderful comeback to win the game. We were 2-0 down and then 3-1 down, but we came back and won 4-3. We followed that up with a straightforward aggregate win in the Champions League Best Placed Third Qualifying Round – we beat Panathinaikos 2-0 home and away.”

The Best Placed Playoff paired Twente with Marseille, who would be extremely tough opponents – French football was getting stronger and stronger.

“We’d probably got the easiest draw we could have had – it could have been Chelsea or Barcelona, but Marseille would still be extremely tough opponents. The first leg was the home leg, but Marseille beat us 1-0. I thought we had no chance of coming back in France.

“The Stade Velodrome witnessed one of Twente’s greatest performances that night. Ali Tuncer levelled the tie in the 77th minute, and one minute later, the unthinkable happened – Yigit Erguney, our Turkish midfielder, broke through the Marseille ranks and fired a shot beneath the diving goalkeeper and into the net. I went crazy, I was jumping up and down like I was mad. That goal was my Lawrie Sanchez moment.

“Marseille pulled a goal back, but we held on to win on away goals. We’d qualified for the Champions League group stage!”

Twente were bottom seeds in the draw and subsequently were handed a very tough group alongside Dinamo Moscow, AS Monaco, who had won the tournament in 2026 and 2029, and Wolfsburg, the current holders. To make matters worse, their Playoff exploits had contributed to a poor start in the Eredivisie.

“We were struggling to win matches in the first half of the season. We’d produce the odd convincing performance, like when we beat NEC Nijmegen 4-0, but we then threw a two goal lead away at home to newly-promoted Cambuur, which you can’t afford to do if you want to challenge for the title. After the victory in Marseille, our next league game was away at PSV. They thrashed us 6-0, and I was coming under serious pressure at the club.

“The fans weren’t happy, the players weren’t happy, and the media were writing my obituary already. I knew the players had the ability, and we were competing well in our Champions League matches. We didn’t win a match in the group stage but we drew four of our six matches – we just didn’t have that little bit of quality to turn those draws into victories. Wolfsburg needed an 87th minute equalizer to draw in Germany, and the only time we let ourselves down was when we played Dinamo Moscow at home – they beat us 3-0 at our newly built Twente Stadium.”

Twente finished bottom of their Champions League group with four points, but they hadn’t disgraced themselves, and in the six matches before the winter break their league form picked up. The club won five out of those six matches, losing the other, although the defeat was another heavy one – McPercival watched on helplessly as Feyenoord became the second team to hit Twente for six.

“That was a bad week. Feyenoord and Ajax were battling for the top two positions and then there was a gap back to the chasing pack which we were stuck in the middle of. They beat us 6-0 – I vowed to become more defensive away at the big teams after that. We were then comprehensively beaten by NEC in the Dutch Cup Fourth Round – that disappointed the board as well because they wanted us to reach the Semi’s.”

NEC Nijmegen would beat McPercival’s men again just after the winter break, but after a change of system, Twente then went on an eleven match unbeaten run to pull away from the midfield.

“We’d been playing a 4-4-2 diamond in the first half of the season, and this left us vulnerable to attacks from out wide. After the winter break we changed to a 4-5-1, and our results improved dramatically. We only conceded five goals in that eleven match run, and in fact we actually ended up with the best defensive record in the Eredivise that season, which was hard to believe after we’d been beaten 6-0 twice. We only conceded 32 goals all season, so twenty of those goals came in the other 32 matches.

“We did lose two of the last three matches of the season but we finished comfortably in 3rd, which qualified us for the group stage of the Europa League. A lot of our players wanted to be playing in the Champions League, so I was certain I’d spend my summer fighting to keep players like Ignacio Vargas, who was our top scorer with twenty league goals.

“We only scored 45 goals all season – for comparison, Feyenoord scored 91! We only won ten of our seventeen home matches as well – we needed to improve our home form if we were going to be challenging for the title next season.”

McPercival was right. The summer proved to be a challenging time for the club, as Champions League clubs circled around Twente’s best players like vultures. Could he persuade his stars to stay?

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 17 – Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

As McPercival feared, some of his best players had had enough.

“Our biggest problem was in defence. Our captain, Carlos Costa, refused all our offers of a new contract and left for Valladolid on a free. Roy Jansen also left – he wanted Champions League football, so he joined Amkar in Russia for £1m. What a stupid move. That was our centre-half partnership from last season gone. We also lost Ali Tuncer, who got his big move to Manchester City – we got £15m for him. Given that we were only playing one up front now, I didn’t mind that quite so much because Ignacio Vargas was a top striker.”

McPercival moved quickly and decisively to add to his squad. Experienced Dutch international Wim Hellemons signed from Torino in a £4.8m deal, while McPercival also signed several defenders to replace the players who had left. Belgian international Stefan Van Damme joined on a free transfer having played for Vitesse the previous season, while Uruguayan international Guillermo Pellejero joined on loan from Boca Juniors.

“We signed some strong players that summer. Andres Avila came in from Villarreal – he had over 100 caps for Ecuador, and had played at Man United and Everton. Young right-back Nick de Nijs also came in from Cardiff – he’s in the Fortuna Sittard reserves these days, but he’s had a decent career in Europe. I’d signed an entire back four, though Umpierrez and Candia were still definitely our first choice full-backs.”

Unlike the previous season, Twente were not involved in any European playoffs, and they made a lightning start to the Eredivisie, winning nine and drawing one of their first ten matches.

“We absolutely raced out of the blocks in 32/33. We didn’t lose a game until the end of November when Zwolle beat us 3-1, but even then we won our next five consecutive league matches running up to the winter break. We were top of the league by a few points from Heerenveen and Feyenoord. The best result of that run was beating PSV 2-0 away from home – we’d been thrashed there the previous season, and we played superbly to get revenge this season.”

Not only were Twente flying in the Eredivisie, but they were also performing well in the Europa League. The club qualified from their group, finishing second behind Atletico Madrid.

“It was a tight group. Atletico were obviously the team that everyone expected to win the group, but between us, Vitoria Guimaraes and Gent, it was very close. We finished level on points with Gent but had a superior head-to-head record – they’d beaten us 1-0 in Belgium but we beat them 3-1 in Holland.

“We then beat Parma in the Round of 32. Vargas scored in the 90th minute to win the first leg 1-0, and all hell broke loose in the second leg – we won 6-4! Vargas scored four goals that day. He was in fantastic form.”

Twente’s Europa League dream ended in the Round of 16, when a strong West Ham side won 2-1 on aggregate, but McPercival’s side were still in control of the Eredivisie and were making progress in the Dutch Cup as well.

“After the winter break our league form just picked up. We won seven out of our next eight league games, and those were dotted around the European fixtures as well.

The only blip was a defeat at Groningen. It was looking more and more like we were going to win the Eredivisie.

“We were so many points clear that we had the opportunity to wrap up the title before the international break in March. It was a case of when, not if. I remained calm as we brushed VVV Venlo aside 3-0, and then we came from behind to beat Ajax 3-1. We’d won the league with four games to spare!”

The domestic double was still a possibility, with a Dutch Cup Semi-Final against Dordrecht to come. However, there was one major problem for McPercival.

“They played the game in the middle of the international break! I was absolutely livid! It was the most farcical thing I’ve experienced in football. Thank goodness the South American lads were still around, because goodness knows what I’d have done if they all had games as well. Dordrecht had their full team out, but all my European internationals were still with their countries. We had our third choice keeper in goal, no right-wingers and just one substitute. It was absolutely absurd.”

McPercival’s men overcame their turmoil and emerged victorious, winning 1-0 courtesy of the uncapped Italian striker Alessio Ceniccola.

“His opportunities were limited all season but he made the most of that one. He scored the winner, and we then played NAC Breda in the Final. Having dominated the league in the manner we had, we were overwhelming favourites in the Final and we won 3-0. We’d done the double!”

The Twente board’s faith in McPercival had been justified. The club won the Eredivisie for the first time in six years, and at the time of writing, they’ve never won it since.

“It was a fantastic day for the club, lifting the Eredivise trophy in the last home game. We beat Zwolle 2-1 and the presentation followed, which was a great occasion. We were the best team in Holland. We finished twelve points clear of Heerenveen at the top and a whopping 28 points ahead of Ajax and PSV. We only conceded 21 goals all season and we only dropped two points at home all season, which came in a 0-0 draw with PSV. We were dominant, and it was great to be a part of.”

 

2033 was a great year for McPercival for a number of reasons. His Australia side secured their place at the 2034 World Cup after breezing through the Asian qualification process.

“The first round is just for very small countries, so we entered in the second round of qualifying, which is a group stage. We were in a group of five with Qatar, Malaysia, Pakistan and Chinese Taipei. If we finished top we’d progress automatically, but four of the eight second placed teams would also progress.

“We topped the group without any difficulties whatsoever. We played eight, won seven and drew one, which was a 1-1 draw away at Qatar. That was the only goal we conceded in the group. Unsurprisingly we finished top, and progressed to the next stage, which is also a group stage.”

The Final Stage in the Asian qualification process sees twelve teams be drawn into two groups of six. The top two teams in each group would qualify automatically, and fortunately for McPercival, they managed to avoid some big names in the unseeded draw.

“We had Qatar again, Syria, China, Bahrain and Oman in our group. The other group had South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and North Korea, who are all potent sides. We took complete control of the group by winning our first six matches, and although we then lost at home to China and drew with Qatar, we finished top, ten points ahead of China in third. Syria finished second, qualifying for the first time in their history, which was a great achievement.”

Having won the Asian Nations Cup in 2031, Australia competed in the Confederations Cup in the summer of 2033. They were drawn in a group with New Zealand, Germany and Chile.

“We beat New Zealand in the opening round of matches, and Germany beat Chile. Then we held Germany to a 0-0 draw, which was a terrific result. We needed a draw to qualify for the Semi-Finals, but unfortunately Chile beat us 1-0, and so we came third in the group. It was an exciting tournament, especially because we were in with a chance of progressing going into the final round of group matches. Germany would go on to beat Argentina in the Final, so I was pleased with the progress we’d shown in the tournament – drawing with Germany was a marked step forward in performance.”

 

After nineteen seasons in football management, McPercival had won his first major league trophy with Twente. Having been at the club for over two years, the summer of 2033 saw other clubs sniffing around for his services.

“I was offered an interview at Liverpool in the Premier League, which was immensely exciting. They’d not been very successful over the last twenty years and were a mid-table club at this point, but they’ve got a lot of history and would have been a step up from Twente. That didn’t come to anything, but I also interviewed with Newcastle and Swansea. The latter had been taken over by a rich business tycoon during the previous season, so when they offered me the job, I accepted.”

McPercival had won everything there was to win in Holland, and in the 2033/2034 season, his 20th in football management, he’d be managing in the Premier League for the first time.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 18 – Money Money Money!

 

“Twente were a big club in Holland, but their transfer budget every season wasn’t much to write home about. With Swansea it was a very different story. The club had been taken over by Russian billionaire Yury Parakhin in 2032 and my transfer budget was £61m! The board wanted me to sign high profile players, but the squad was fairly small at the time so I decided to try and spread the money around a bit – besides, high profile players don’t tend to want to join clubs without European football, and the club had finished 14th in the 32/33 season.”

McPercival found himself transported to the land of the rich, and quickly identified some important transfer targets.

“When I joined we didn’t really have a top class goalkeeper, so, as Brian Clough would have done, I made signing one my top priority. We plumped for the England number one, Stewart Murdoch. We somehow prised him away from Arsenal – he cost £24m.”

McPercival also raided the club who turned him down, Liverpool, as he bolstered his midfield with the signings of left-winger Ilyas Messaoudi and central midfielder Tim Dyer, who cost another £24m between them. Adrian Ortiz joined for another £10m outlay – the Chilean international centurion signed from Reading – while McPercival then revisited Twente in order to sign right-winger Nelson Hernandez, upsetting the fans at his former club.

“They just had to suck it up. We could offer him more money, and he accepted our offer.”

However, McPercival had gone significantly over his allotted wage budget.

“We had Jose Palomeque sitting in the reserves earning £135K per week, so I sold him to Deportivo La Coruna for peanuts. Our star striker, Theo Renault, was also after a move – he wanted to go and play in the Champions League. Roma came in with a bid of £38.5m, which I accepted. The players didn’t appreciate me letting him leave, and the board didn’t regard any of my signings as being high profile enough, so by the time the season started I’d managed to annoy pretty much everyone.”

McPercival trusted his instincts and his ability as a manager shone through in the first half of the season. A convincing 3-0 victory against Reading on the opening day of the Premier League season silenced the critics, and this was followed by a goalless draw at Watford, who had won three Premier League titles in the previous decade. When the club beat fierce rivals Cardiff 2-0, McPercival was suddenly Mr Popular.

“Zakaria Largou scored two goals on the opening day and both goals in our win over Cardiff. He started the season tremendously and more than filled the hole supposedly left by Renault. He had an absolutely tremendous year.”

Defeats at Manchester City and at home to Chelsea dampened some of the early optimism, but the team had competed well in both matches and they quickly rediscovered their form – they didn’t lose another Premier League match until Boxing Day.

“That first half of the season we were excellent. We so nearly picked up a point at Man City, which would have been a great achievement given we lost our England centre-back Adam Newsham to a red card after an hour. They scored the winning goal in the 93rd minute. After the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea we went on an eleven game unbeaten run, the highlight of which was definitely a 5-0 win at Anfield. We were in the Champions League places at Christmas. Liverpool’s loss was Swansea’s gain that day.”

 

Unfortunately for McPercival, Swansea were unable to keep that excellent form going into the second half of the season.

“Our form became very inconsistent after Christmas. We lost at Norwich and against Watford, but then we beat Reading 4-0. Then we lost at Cardiff in the 91st minute. That summed up how inconsistent we became. We also didn’t have the luck.”

After being knocked out of the FA Cup by Bournemouth, then of League One, in the fifth round, McPercival’s Swansea side rediscovered some of their early season form, and picked up eighteen points in their last ten league matches.

“We got beat 6-1 at Old Trafford, but that was a one-off bad result. Generally we competed very well in every game, and with Largou up front banging goals we always carried an attacking threat. We’d fallen out of the race for Champions League places, but we finished 5th which qualified us for the group stage of the Europa League next season.”

It had been a promising season for Swansea, and 5th was a marked improvement on the previous season under Derek McInnes, when they’d finished 14th.

“The board were happy, the players were happy and I was happy. Stewart Murdoch managed 15 clean sheets and Largou scored 29 league goals – we only scored 58 as a team! He would be 33 next season, so I was concerned that he might not be able to repeat that level of performance, but without him we’d have been nowhere in the 33/34 season. We’d met our expectations, and now my attention turned to the 2034 World Cup in Japan.”

 

It would turn out to be another exceptional tournament, with twists and turns at every corner. Spain had failed to qualify, and a number of other high profile teams fell at the first hurdle. For McPercival, the group stage would provide a reunion with Cameroon, as well as tough matches against Brazil and the Republic of Ireland.

“Our group was extremely tight. We had Brazil first up, and we held them to a very creditable 0-0 draw, while Cameroon and Ireland drew with each other.

“Having drawn with Brazil, I felt we were in with a great chance of progressing past the group stage. This was the third World Cup of my career and I’d never made it yet. Ireland took the lead in our second match, courtesy of Stephen Carey – a centre-back who spent his entire career playing semi-professionally for Shelbourne. We managed to equalize in the second half, but sadly for us Middlesbrough striker Niall Walsh won the match with a late penalty.”

The situation looked bleak for McPercival and Australia, until the next day.

“Cameroon produced an incredible performance – they hammered Brazil 5-2! Suddenly there was an obvious path to progression. If we could beat Cameroon and Brazil narrowly beat Ireland, we’d finish second on goal difference with all four teams on four points!

“I’ll never forget that game against Cameroon. We gave it absolutely everything; I was desperate to qualify for the next round. We were fantastic, but it didn’t look like we were going to find a way through – we had to win, remember. Suddenly, in the 87th minute, a cross comes in from the right. Their defender tried to clear the ball, but it smashed into midfielder Marc Bassilekin, who was playing at Man City at the time. The ball rebounded off him and rolled just out of the keepers reach into the corner to give us the lead. That was another incredible moment – we went absolutely mental, and we deserved it.”

As Cameroon poured forward in search of an equalizer, Australia hit them on the break, and David Grant scored what proved to be his only international goal to secure a remarkable 2-0 victory. When news came through that Brazil had beaten Ireland 2-0, the Australian dressing room erupted – they were through to the Last 16 by virtue of goal difference.

“We finished second in the group, which meant we played the team that finished top of Group H. That was Germany, who we’d drawn with in the Confederations Cup. I was hoping for a repeat performance, and we took the lead after six minutes. Sadly the Germans turned on the style after that, and we lost 5-1, but it was a remarkable tournament for us.”

It proved to be a remarkable tournament overall. France, like Brazil, were knocked out at the Group Stage, while the Last 16 claimed England, Holland, Portugal and Belgium. Chile were proving to be the surprise package – they’d beaten England 3-0 in the second round, and they promptly upset Italy 2-1 after extra time in the Quarter-Finals.

“Chile deserved to win the tournament in my opinion. They beat England, Italy and Germany to reach the Final, whereas Mexico had a straightforward Group A because their top seed was Japan, the hosts. They beat Russia, Turkey and Greece to reach the Final. You’d think Greece should never get anywhere near the Semi’s but they had an easy time of it as well, beating Iran and Senegal to get there.”

 

A Mexico vs Chile final guaranteed a new name on the trophy, and it was Mexico who emerged victorious, winning 2-0. For McPercival, five enjoyable years as the manager of Australia came to an end when he decided to resign after the tournament had finished.

“I felt that I’d be able to get a better international job. I’d just left Excelsior when I joined Australia, but having won the Eredivisie and managed in the Champions League I felt sure my reputation would have improved enough to take a step forward.”

Having been knocked out at the Last 16 stage, England sacked Zac Kearns and McPercival applied for the job.

“An article appeared in the media suggesting that my application smacked of sheer desperation. I was pretty surprised by that – I thought I’d have a good chance of getting the job with twenty years of experience. In my personal opinion the England manager should always be English, but clearly the FA disagreed. They hired Sergiy Kryvtsov instead.”

McPercival was left to choose between Holland, France, Portugal or Italy instead.

“I wasn’t left with nothing when England turned me down. I was lucky to have the choice of four big European nations, and I opted for Italy by virtue of the fact that their best players were all younger than the best players of the other three nations. They all had some top players, but Italy had a younger core, so I felt they were better set up for success in the future.”

McPercival had come an incredibly long way since the days of US Colomiers and Nuneaton Town, and he approached the 2034/2035 season as the manager of a rich Premier League club and one of the biggest nations in world football. Swansea City and Italy.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 19 – Destiny Awaits

“We were very busy in the summer. We spent about £70m on new players, so that’s £130m in the space of a year, so the pressure was on. In such a competitive league, you set yourself up to fail sometimes. I did my best to make sure that wasn’t the case at Swansea in 34/35.”

Among McPercival’s new recruits was Algerian striker Sofiane Djellal, who signed from Brighton in a deal worth £15m. He’d scored 23 league goals in 32 appearances the previous season. The club also spent a tidy £17.5m on Emilio Alonso, who had scored 18 goals in 24 games for Belgian Pro League side Westerlo the season before.

“Zakaria Largou had scored 29 league goals last season but he was now 33 years of age. I had doubts over whether he could continue that form and was keen to ensure we still had the attacking quality to score goals if he couldn’t.”

McPercival proved his eye for a bargain with the signing of Callum Goddard from Manchester City, in a deal worth just £2m. Within two seasons he’d made his England debut, and at the time of writing, he has 54 caps for his country. Further signings arrived in the form of West Ham midfielder Seb Norris, Daniel Gonzalez from Turkish outfit Kayserispor, Udinese defender Marco De Bonis and Crystal Palace defender Dwayne Latham, a Barbadian international. The four of them joined the club for a combined cost of £32m.

“We hadn’t sold anyone, but I wanted to ensure that we could maintain a strong Europa League campaign alongside a strong Premier League campaign, and I felt we needed some more bodies in to help with that.

“We played Brentford away on the opening day of the season, and we won a penalty inside 50 seconds. Djellal tucked it away on his debut and looked lively all game, which we won 2-1. I thought ‘we’ve got ourselves a player!’ He’d been prolific at Brighton the season before. Sadly for us, we had Cardiff next, and they stopped him the only way they could, which was by breaking his leg.”

Djellal was ruled out for six months, which meant that the club was once again relying on the performances of Zakaria Largou. McPercival’s concerns about the ageing striker were justified. Largou failed to come even remotely close to his performances the previous season, and indeed he ended the campaign with just eight league goals. Clearly, other players would have to chip in.

“We drew an awful lot of games. Our defence was very strong but we were struggling to score goals. The Europa League was an exception – we beat AEL Kallonis 7-0 and 3-1, and beat Stromsgodset 4-0, finishing second in the group behind Gent.”

 

In the Premier League, draws with Rochdale, Liverpool, Charlton and Norwich meant that McPercival’s Swans were outside of the Europa League places, and the board were taking note. After beating Newcastle 2-1 at the end of November, the club went on a dreadful run of ten matches without a win.

“We got beat 1-0 at home to Man City on Boxing Day, and the board called a meeting on my birthday, the 27th. We were 14th at the time, and they told me they wanted to see an improvement in our league position in the next month. The chairman had bought me a nice fur coat that I’d had my eye on for a while though – he was a decent bloke. We had winnable matches that month, so I was hopeful our results would improve.

“We drew all four of our matches in the next month. Everton at home and Cardiff away both ended 1-1, then we played out goalless draws at home to Brentford and Rochdale. We’d have won both of them last season, but without a fully fit proven goalscorer we could have been playing all day and not scored.

“A month after Boxing Day, we were still in 14th. We hadn’t improved, and the board inevitably gave me the sack. I was devastated at the time, especially because I’d just signed a striker, Martin Stephens, who went on to score nine goals in fourteen games in the second half of the season.”

 

Swansea City would recover to end the season in 11th place, and they reached the Europa League Quarter-Finals, where they lost 4-2 on aggregate to Dinamo Moscow. Impressively, the club also reached the FA Cup Final, but they were soundly thrashed 5-0 by an all-conquering Chelsea side.

“Chelsea were in the middle of a dominant phase. They ended up winning the league six times in a row between 2031/32 and 2036/37. That side was world class.”

For McPercival, finding a new club wouldn’t be overly difficult, as he was in high demand. For him, it was all about finding the right club.

“Red Bull Leipzig were in touch straight away, but after considering their financial situation and the fact that they were struggling in the Bundesliga, I decided against going there. Wolfsburg also got in contact and offered me an interview – they’d not won the Bundesliga since 2009 but they had remarkably won the Champions League in 2031. They didn’t offer me the job though – I’d probably have gone.”

 

For the time being, McPercival had his role as Italy boss to keep him busy.

“We had the European Nations League to contend with in the autumn. I don’t care for the competition whatsoever, but it gave me a chance to see just how good we were, and my goodness me there are some world class Italian footballers there. Alessio Falasca was playing for PSG, who valued him at £53m, while Lyon right-winger Antonio Ruffini was valued at £48m despite being 30 years old. We had two players in the Real Madrid squad, a Chelsea midfielder and the Bayern Munich goalkeeper.

“We came top of our Division A group, winning 3-1 home and away to France and taking four points off Russia. The Semi-Finals were played in June 2035, and we took the lead against Germany, but sadly the Germans came back and won the match. I didn’t lose too much sleep over it.”

The European Championship qualifying group matches had begun in the spring, and Italy had been drawn in Group I alongside Croatia, Finland, Belarus and Moldova. The first two matches had been won without any cause for concern – Finland were brushed aside 4-0 while Croatia were beaten 1-0.

 

Once those fixtures were out of the way, McPercival’s domestic job hunt continued as he searched for the 14th club of his career.

“Cardiff offered me an interview. I thought it was a joke – after managing Swansea I would never have been received well there. I didn’t take the interview at all seriously, but they must have been very keen because they still offered me the job. I laughed and turned it down. They wanted me to sign players from the same nation as the chairman, who was from Thailand. They’d probably have asked me to win the Champions League even though they only finished 8th.

“Hertha Berlin and Sporting Lisbon were much more realistic opportunities, but the Premier League season ended a week later than the German and Portuguese seasons did. I was interviewed by both clubs, but news came through that Eddie Howe had been sacked by Man United after finishing 5th, and I submitted an application there. I thought I had an outside chance, nothing more.”

McPercival’s interest in the United job drew serious attention from the Old Trafford hierarchy, and odds were slashed on his appointment when a member of the board told the media that they would be foolish not to consider such a talented manager for the role. Sporting Lisbon and Hertha Berlin both offered McPercival their respective jobs, but McPercival asked both for a week to think about his decision.

“Eventually, United got back to me. I’d been offered the job! For a few minutes I sat there in stunned silence. Then, I started playing back all those nights managing in non-league football. Getting beat 6-0 in the French third tier. Being sacked by Nuneaton Town. Suffering relegation with Swindon and Barnsley. I got on the phone to the United managing director and accepted the job.

“I was the new manager at Manchester United.”

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 20 – The Theatre Of Dreams

On the 8th June 2035, Manchester United unveiled Percy McPercival as their new manager. It was a dream come true for a man who had finally broken into the top tier of domestic football management. A quote from his first press conference as United manager emphasizes the ambition which ultimately earned him the job.

“This club won the Champions League three years ago. This is a club that should be competing for the Champions League every season. Our first aim is to get this club back in the Champions League for next season. Then we go to win it. That’s what I want to do. I want to break Chelsea’s stranglehold on the Premier League, and I want to win the Champions League, and I will stop at nothing to achieve that. I’ve spent my entire career trying to be in a position to win the biggest trophies in football. Now I’m here, I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen for this great club.”

McPercival was quick to work out the system he wanted to play.

“We had a world class front four, so I tried to mould the team to a 4-1-1-3-1 formation. I needed defensive reinforcements, and even though we weren’t in the Champions League, players could see it was a temporary blip and were still keen to join.

“Our biggest signing was that of world class centre-back Massimo Fiorio from Juventus. He cost £48.5m – money was no object at United! We also signed a goalkeeper, which was very important as neither of the keepers already at the club were good enough to be part of a title winning team. Lothar Sub came in from Hamburg – he was a decent keeper, not world class but better than what he already had. He cost £11m, and we also spent £12m on midfielder Gonzalo Marinelli from Sao Paulo. He started all but five of our league games and proved to be an inspired signing.”

McPercival talks me through his first choice team ahead of the 2035/2036 campaign.

“Sub was in goal, and then our back four was Crouchman, Pajovic, Fiorio and Michael Kelly at left-back. Crouchman was vastly experienced but still had plenty of ability at the age of 34, while Pajovic was a Serbian wonderkid with bags of potential. Kelly had the left-back spot for as long as he wanted it – I never needed to worry about that.

“In midfield, Marinelli played the defensive role while Englishman John Cain joined him in forming the heart of our side. Simply put, Cain was world class. Then our front four was also exceptional. Glenn Abels was on the right wing, Renzo Di Salvatore was on the left, and Daniel Correia was in the ten behind Ilson. To a man, they were all world class, but Ilson was unbelievable. His goalscoring record was phenomenal.

“Having learned that players don’t like having their best teammates sold, when Abels decided he was unhappy not playing in the Champions League, I decided to reject all offers for him. This made the players very unhappy – they thought I was holding him back. I kept hold of him until January, then he left and joined Dinamo Moscow. Serves him right really.”

 

United’s early season form was superb. They hit the ground running and won five of their first six league matches, including a superb 3-0 victory at the New White Hart Lane and a 4-1 home victory over Liverpool, endearing McPercival to the fans. They fell behind at home to Mansfield, established as a Premier League side by this point, but in the second half United ran riot and ended up winning 6-1, with Ilson scoring a hat-trick.

“We were scoring lots of goals, but with a front four like we had, that was to be expected. We were very exciting to watch.”

The primary aim of McPercival’s first season was to restore Champions League football to Old Trafford, and despite losing at home to Chelsea, the club went on a twelve match unbeaten run which lasted up until New Years Day. That run included a quite remarkable Manchester derby at the City of Manchester Stadium.

“City were a good side, but we’d been in good form so we went there to win the game. Marinelli scored an own goal early on and we just fell apart – after 70 minutes we were 4-0 down. What happened next will never happen in football ever again. We produced six minutes of perfect football, Ilson scored a quick-fire hat-trick and when the clock ticked over into the 77th minute we were level at 4-4!”

United snatched a point from well within the belly of defeat, and this result gave the team confidence to comfortably dispatch Arsenal 4-1 in their next match. The club had also finished top of their Europa League group, picking up thirteen points.

“In the second half of the season, our form fell away somewhat. We lost to Norwich on New Years Day, and away from home we lost quite a few matches. Liverpool beat us 3-1 at Anfield and Chelsea, who were looking good for the title, beat us 5-1 at Stamford Bridge. Our excellent form in autumn 2035 was the reason we inevitably did achieve Champions League football, but we finished well behind Chelsea and City, who fought for the title.”

 

Glenn Abels finally got his wish and left Manchester United on the 28th of January, which didn’t leave McPercival long to find a replacement. There was one man who the club could afford, but he didn’t come highly recommended by the scouts.

“Hector Coronel. We paid £12m to Arsenal de Sarandi in Argentina on deadline day to sign him. The scouts didn’t rate him, and it was definitely a risk. I rate him as my best ever signing. He was absolutely brilliant – he scored his first goal in the heavy defeat to Chelsea, but he became world class in the years to come and he even made it into the World Team of the Year in 2040.”

However, even with their new signing fitting in well, results didn’t improve.

“We lost at Mansfield, Brighton, West Ham and Swansea as well. Our only home defeat in that time was against Man City, who beat us 3-2. We even lost to Leeds in the FA Cup, which was very disappointing, and we capitulated against Ajax in the Europa League Last 16, losing 4-1 in Holland after a goalless draw at Old Trafford.”

The club finished 3rd in the league on 71 points, scoring 100 goals and having the best defensive record in the league. They were fourteen points behind champions Chelsea, but despite not winning any silverware, they had managed to secure Champions League football for the 2036/2037 season, which was the minimum required.

“I did feel the pressure of having a trophy-less season, but in reality, the main aim was restoring Champions League football and we did that. We built the foundations to have a better crack at Chelsea the following season.”

 

The 2036 European Championship was the first international tournament in which McPercival was in charge of a team capable of winning the tournament. Italy had been drawn in a group with France, Scotland and Israel, and the pressure was on.

“I expected us to win every game, because we’d beaten France twice in the European Nations League in 2034. By the time we faced them, we’d already beaten Scotland 4-0 and Israel 2-1, so it was academic. We drew 1-1 with the French and finished above them on goal difference.

“We played Ukraine in the Last 16, and we won 4-1 without breaking into a sweat. We were 3-0 up and a man up at half time – we should have won by more really.

“We met England in the Quarter-Finals, and the referee had a shocker. The first half was cagey, and we never really troubled their defence. Then the ref decided to award them a penalty for absolutely nothing – it was a dreadful decision. City striker Paul Marks scored it, so we had no choice but to attack. Ricky Khinda-John, of PSG, capitalized by scoring a hat-trick as we poured men forwards. It ended 4-1, and we were out.”

 

Despite the unfortunate nature of the defeat in which the referee awarded England two penalties, the first of which incorrectly, the Italian FA were very disappointed with the team’s performance at the tournament and sacked McPercival, somewhat harshly. Nevertheless, he approached the 2036/2037 season in a positive frame of mind without the added distraction of international football. He was determined to win some silverware.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 21 – The Class Of 36

“I was given a tremendous wage budget to spend in the summer of 2036, and that was bolstered further when I sold some of the deadwood at the club. We got £13m for Nicolas Fournier, who only made one substitute appearance the previous season, £14m for Erik Horn who’d been on loan at Sampdoria, and £7m for our reserve striker Mark Amoah.

“I decided to spend some of the money on players who would strengthen the first team now, and some on exciting young prospects. I labelled them ‘the class of 36’.”

McPercival was given a problem, however, when Bojan Pajovic decided to hand in a transfer request.

“He was the future of United, he’d have had a place in our defence for fifteen years. But he wanted to go to Monaco, so I let him go for £25m. The squad seemed to understand this time – he must have been moaning in the dressing room or something.”

Four of United’s squad had retired, including first choice right-back Clive Crouchman, and McPercival turned to the Bundesliga to replace him, signing Bayern Munich’s first choice Matias Aguirre for £43m. Pajovic was replaced by another young sensation – the club spent £31m to take Jim McInally from local rivals Manchester City.

“I couldn’t believe my luck. He was going to become world class, that much was obvious, but he became better even than I expected. He became a world record transfer when I brought him to Real Madrid.”

The club also brought former Barcelona left-winger Ion Etxebarria to the club on a free transfer, and did likewise for Italian striker Fabrizio Bartoletti, who featured rarely before being sold after one season to Zenit for £22.5m.

McPercival’s self-styled ‘Class of 36’ included right-winger Harald Adler (17), midfielder Antonio Correia (20), Croatian midfielder Drazen Matovina (18), attacker Gregory Maurice (18), attacker Ramon Veron (19) and midfielder Peter Porter (16).

“We brought in so many youngsters because we had the facilities to help the best young players fulfil their potential. When I came in the previous summer, there were so many players who’d been at the club for many years, and if you can get the best young foreign players to be home-grown at the club, that gives you so many options going forwards. We also needed to flesh our first team squad out a bit – with the exception of Porter, they could all do a job in the short-term while they develop.”

 

United lost their first league game of the season 3-2 at Tottenham, but proceeded to win their next three matches, including a 4-2 triumph over Liverpool and a terrific 6-0 thrashing of Watford, in which Ilson scored a hat-trick. However, United looked shaky on the road, and promptly lost at Charlton.

“In the first half of the season, we’d win a couple then lose one, win a few then lose a couple. It was quite strange – we didn’t manage to generate any real winning momentum until the Champions League group stage was over.”

The Champions League draw had given United a straightforward group, and they finished top ahead of CSKA Moscow, FC Porto and Slovan Bratislava. Their only defeat came in their final group match, when McPercival gave his young starlets some valuable experience in Portugal.

“They performed well, and only lost 1-0. We were competing in every match we played, and managed to come from 2-0 down to draw at Chelsea as well, which showed the progress we were making.”

 

Having lost away to West Ham, Leeds and Arsenal, McPercival’s Red Devils began a terrific run of form.

“We won every league game in December and January, and we were right up the top of the league table challenging with Chelsea, City and Arsenal. We won eleven consecutive league matches, and that became fifteen unbeaten. We smashed Spurs 5-0 to make up for our opening day defeat, and won 3-0 at Anfield. The run only ended when Chelsea came to Old Trafford – they held us to a 1-1 draw, although we had a lot of luck. Their keeper took too long to clear the ball, and Renzo Di Salvatore closed him down enough to deflect his clearance into the net. That happened in the 91st minute. We got away with one there.”

United were progressing well in the domestic cup competitions as well, and after beating Middlesbrough 5-1 on aggregate in the Capital One Cup Semi-Final, McPercival had a golden opportunity to win his first piece of silverware – Norwich were their Final opponents.

“We made short work of them. We were 3-0 up at half time and in the form we were in, they were never coming back from that. It was my first trophy as United boss, although I had my eyes on bigger prizes.”

United were given a tough draw in the Champions League Last 16 – Bayern Munich. The first leg took place at the Allianz Arena, and despite Ilson scoring two away goals, Bayern still emerged 4-2 winners.

“I felt we had a good chance with the two away goals. We could turn that around at Old Trafford. Sadly, it wasn’t to be – Bayern’s defence was very strong, and our 1-0 win on the night wasn’t enough. Arsenal knocked us out of the FA Cup soon after, which was also disappointing. But we had to refocus our minds quickly, because we were still in contention for the Premier League.”

 

A 1-0 defeat at Brighton in mid-April put United very firmly on the back foot in the title race, but subsequent wins over Reading, Swansea and Middlesbrough kept their faint hopes alive with two games of the Premier League season to go.

“Chelsea had 82 points, City had 80 and we had 77, so we were massive underdogs. But the penultimate weekend of the season threw up some shocks! Chelsea were beaten by Arsenal, but City couldn’t capitalize – they drew at home to Newcastle. We played on the Monday night away at Mansfield. It looked like it was heading for a 1-1 draw, but Hector Coronel stepped forward and scored from 25 yards in injury time to win it. He kept our hopes alive!

“Chelsea were still favourites, and they thrashed Everton 7-1 on the final day to win the title. City also won, so we were destined to finish 3rd, but we conceded a 90th minute equalizer just to make sure.”

McPercival’s men had bridged the majority of the gap to Chelsea – the fourteen point difference in 2036 had become just a four point difference in 2037, and this, coupled with the Capital One Cup victory, provided Manchester United fans with optimism going into the 2037/2038 season. Could McPercival finally lead his team to the Premier League?

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 22 – Maximilian Kunert

 

“Ilson was our main attacker, and he was brilliant. In my first season in charge, he’d scored 32 league goals in 31 appearances, and in 36/37, he managed 26 in 25. His problem was injuries. He’d missed two months of the 35/36 season with a dislocated shoulder, and then he broke his leg in February 37, ruling him out for the rest of the season. I felt I needed to get another striker in.”

Indeed, McPercival only signed one player in the summer of 2037. German striker Maximilian Kunert arrived with a big reputation and a hefty price tag – he cost the club £69m when he signed from Hertha Berlin. He seemed to have a particular liking for the Champions League – he’d scored 27 goals in the previous two seasons in that competition alone. However, when both Kunert and Ilson were fit, accommodating them both would require a change of shape.

“Kunert could operate out wide in the big games when I’d reinforce the midfield, but his best position was as the central attacker. Whenever we played at home and both he and Ilson were fit, we played a 4-2-2-2 system with wingers and two central midfielders. It was a frightening prospect for opposition teams.

 

“We won 2-1 at home to Cardiff on the opening day. Kunert scored on his debut. After that we drew 2-2 at Liverpool and 0-0 at home to Tottenham. Our new look strike partnership didn’t click into gear until the Champions League started. Olympiakos visited Old Trafford on Matchday One, and we put seven past them. It was 5-0 after 28 minutes. That was more like it.”

Away defeats at Mansfield, Manchester City and Arsenal kept McPercival’s men honest – they weren’t the finished article, despite impressive performances in Europe. Two goalless draws with Juventus meant that the top two positions would be decided on goal difference, but United’s terrific striking duo helped them beat Red Bull Salzburg 5-0 and 4-0, clinching first place in the Champions League group.

“I just loved our goalscoring potential. We could blow teams apart. We beat Charlton 5-0, we beat Brighton 6-1 when Etxebarria scored a hat-trick, and then our results over the festive period were simply phenomenal. We beat West Ham 5-2 on the 19th, with Ilson scoring a hat-trick. Then we beat Watford 5-0 away, and of all people, John Cain bagged a hat-trick! Kunert then scored four as we beat Huddersfield 6-0 on Boxing Day, before we thumped Liverpool 5-1 at Old Trafford – Hector Coronel scored a hat-trick that day.”

 

The signs were beginning to look very ominous for the rest of the division, and United’s relentless league form continued into the new year, despite losing Ilson for six weeks after he suffered strained knee ligaments in the win over Liverpool. The club made progress in the domestic cups as well, and were drawn against Manchester City in a mouthwatering Capital One Cup Semi-Final tie.

“We fell behind in the first leg, but we came back to win 2-1 at Old Trafford, and then we finished the job away from home, winning by the same scoreline. Renzo Di Salvatore had slipped behind Etxebarria in the pecking order on the left wing, but he scored twice in the second leg to stake his claim for a regular spot.

“We played my old club Swansea in the Final, and Coronel gave us the lead from the spot. Then came a really big blow – Ilson was carried off with a torn hamstring. This game being late on in February, that was the end of his season. Credit to Swansea though, because they dug in, got themselves level and won the cup on penalties.”

 

Kunert was initially signed for this kind of situation, but such was the chemistry that had been developed playing two up front, McPercival opted to keep the system the same and promote youth team product Jon McCann into the first team.

“There were doubts about whether he was ready, but he answered those by scoring on his debut at Goodison Park. He found the net again in his next match, which was the FA Cup Quarter-Final at home to Watford, and then he bagged a hat-trick against Tranmere. He’d proven his critics wrong.”

The goals kept raining in for Manchester United. Their next match resulted in an emphatic 5-0 win against Arsenal, and this was followed by a crucial Champions League tie. The club had lost the first leg of their Last 16 tie with Lyon 3-1, but when Lyon came to England the tables were turned. Kunert struck twice to turn the tie on its head, and when Jon McCann sealed a 4-0 win from the penalty spot, McPercival’s side were through to the Quarter-Finals. It was the first time he’d been this far in the competition.

It didn’t seem to matter who McPercival called upon, they delivered. Although he already had a Premier League hat-trick to his name, Jon McCann announced himself to the world by scoring three goals in a top-of-the-table clash with Chelsea – a result which sent us to the top of the Premier League for the first time.

“That result against Chelsea was fantastic. Jon McCann was terrific. He didn’t make the grade at United in the end – he’s now at Brighton and he doesn’t play regularly there, but that season he scored twelve goals in thirteen appearances, of which only five were starts. He did a terrific job in the absence of Ilson. Another lad who stepped up was Harald Adler – he scored a very, very big goal in the Champions League Quarter-Final against Marseille.”

McPercival had knocked Marseille out in memorable fashion during his time at FC Twente, and his United side produced a scintillating performance to secure a 3-0 win in the first leg at Old Trafford. In the return leg, Harald Adler netted a crucial away goal, and Marseille found themselves needing to score five goals to win.

“They managed three”, recalls McPercival, “but we held on to win 4-3 on aggregate. That second half was nerve-wracking, but the boys held firm at the back.”

 

The club hadn’t lost in the league since losing at the Emirates back in November, and victory away at Crystal Palace extended their unbeaten run to 22 matches.

“We needed just one point from our last four matches to clinch the Premier League – there was no way we were going to throw that away. The treble was still on, however, as we were in the FA Cup and Champions League Semi-Finals.

“We'd spent £69m on Max Kunert, and he repaid all of it back in the space of a couple of weeks. First, he scored twice against Man City to secure a 2-1 win in the FA Cup Semi, and then he put four past Parma in the first leg of the Champions League Semi. He smashed another four past them in the second leg – we won 10-3 on aggregate and Kunert scored eight of them!”

On the 24th April 2038, Percy McPercival clinched his first Premier League title when his Manchester United side beat West Ham 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium. Kunert scored the winner.

“It was a great occasion, but also slightly weird because we knew there was a bigger prize on offer. We’d had a few weeks knowing we were going to win the Premier League, and at this point we were looking forward to the two finals.”

 

The club finished the league season with their unbeaten record still intact, standing at 26 matches, but McPercival had been watching on through his fingers hoping to avoid any injuries.

“Kunert scored a hat-trick against Huddersfield, but then the inevitable happened. Lothar Sub broke his finger, ruling him out of both finals. Our backup keeper was 20 year-old Isaac Wood, and he had to step up. I suppose he did as well as we could have expected of him, given he was thrown in at the deep end.”

Wood failed to keep a clean sheet in either of the last two Premier League matches, and he’d face a stern test in the FA Cup Final.

“It promised to be a classic – Man United vs Chelsea, the top two in the league meeting in an FA Cup Final. I needn’t have worried about our defence – Kunert scored a second half hat-trick and we won the match 4-0!”

 

With the FA Cup already in the bag, McPercival had a week to focus on the biggest match of his career. The Champions League Final.

“Hertha Berlin had been on an amazing run and had reached the Champions League Final as well, against all the odds. We were heavy favourites for the match, but I got the impression that the Germans didn’t mind that one bit.

“We fell behind early on – their right-back, Patrick Schroder, chose the Champions League Final to score his first goal of the season. Elliot Bewick, who had improved immensely over the course of the season, equalized, but then came the mistake I’d been half-expecting from our young goalkeeper – he was beaten at his near post by Schroder, who scored his second goal to restore their lead.

“Max Scholz, their centre-back, then scored a header from a free-kick, and although Kunert did pull a goal back against his former club, his 53rd of the season in all competitions, we couldn’t find an equalizer. Hertha Berlin won 3-2, and I was absolutely devastated.”

 

The United players had won the Premier League and the FA Cup in the 2037/2038 campaign, but their faces at the final whistle in the Champions League Final spoke volumes. They’d lost the trophy they’d wanted to win the most, and McPercival had his work cut out trying to lift his players.

“They were as gutted as I was, and unsurprisingly so. You never know if you’ll ever get a better chance. For all our success that season, it was remembered more for that Champions League defeat – the final we should have won. We had 25 shots to Hertha Berlin’s eight, and we also had 60% possession, but there’s only one statistic that counts.”

For all McPercival’s melodrama in retelling the story of their Champions League woe, breaking Chelsea’s dominance of English football was a great achievement. United’s record in the Premier League stood at W30 D5 L3, and McPercival could watch the World Cup from the comfort of a Portuguese beachfront restaurant – it was the first tournament in twelve years that he wasn’t involved in.

“I did miss not being involved in a World Cup, but trust Italy to go and win the thing. They beat England in the Final, and it should have been me leading them. If the board at the Italian FA had any common sense, they wouldn’t have sacked me – we’d done well and been unlucky at Euro 36.”

It wasn’t a good World Cup for Brazil, and the Selecao sacked Jucilei after their Second Round defeat to Colombia. The Brazilian FA wanted McPercival to take charge, and despite having some reservations, he accepted the offer.

“Experiencing the Copa America was the main attraction for me. The squad wasn’t particularly strong by your traditional Brazilian standards, and I didn’t really need the added pressure – managing Man United and being expected to win every match is pressure enough. But I decided that when I retire I wanted to be able to say I managed Brazil. I accepted their offer.”

 

McPercival had won the Premier League and the FA Cup, but the Champions League had eluded him. Could he claim club football’s most coveted prize in 2039?

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 23 – That Night At Wembley

 

“When I reflected on the 37/38 season as a whole, there were so many positives. Kunert scored 53 goals in all competitions, and he’d also scored 17 for Germany – that’s 70 for club and country in one season! Hector Coronel scored 23 goals and managed 22 assists, which shows how brilliant he is, and Jim McInally was absolutely superb in defence as well. We’d only made one signing the summer before, and I only signed two more players in the summer of 2038 – to be honest, we didn’t really need any.”

Both of McPercival’s summer signings came in defence. Peter Holmes, an English centre-back who’d been playing for Zenit, joined in a £40m deal. He signed just as United’s third choice central defender Tom Wilkinson left the club, so his recruitment was necessary. Manchester United’s other summer signing was Nikolay Miroshnichenko, who signed from Wolfsburg for £19m. He was used as a backup full-back.

“We entered the 38/39 season on a 26-game unbeaten streak in the league, and we were determined to keep that going for as long as we could. We lifted the Community Shield in the first match of our season, beating Chelsea 2-0, and our league season began with a 4-0 win at the Emirates. It was business as usual in domestic football – we were the dominant force now.”

 

It wasn’t always easy for McPercival – United needed a late goal from Ramon Veron to win 3-2 at Crystal Palace – but despite draws at West Ham and Brentford, the club remained unbeaten and set the early pace at the top of the Premier League. However, the Champions League draw had thrown United into a group with Barcelona, which made the prospect of topping the group a challenging one.

“Barcelona were a quality side, and our visit to the Nou Camp ended in a 1-0 defeat. That was on Matchday Three. Both sides were likely to take maximum points from the other four matches, against Dinamo Zagreb and Fenerbahce, so beating Barcelona at Old Trafford was absolutely crucial in order to have the better of our head-to-head record.

“I needn’t have worried. When you have a world class attack anyone can be a match winner, and on the day, while Coronel and Kunert scored, Ilson was the man of the match, scoring a breathtaking hat-trick. We won 5-1 and would go on to top the group. While we drew AC Milan in the Last 16, Barcelona were drawn against PSG, who were, and indeed still are, one of the best sides in the world.”

 

Manchester United continued their unbeaten run in the league past its November anniversary, and a comprehensive 3-0 win over Manchester City illustrated the strength of their squad. McPercival’s attention was beginning to turn towards Arsenal’s 49-match record.

“We needed a 91st minute goal to beat Charlton 2-1, but other than that we were breezing past teams, which was just as well because Man City and Chelsea were doing the same. It was very much a three horse race. Our unbeaten run faced its biggest test yet when we visited Stamford Bridge – it currently stood at 41. Chelsea took the lead just after half time, but we responded quickly through Ilson and it finished 1-1. I breathed a sigh of relief.”

Manchester United then completed another significant feat. Victories over Cardiff and Swansea over the festive period took the club to New Years Day – they’d gone an entire calendar year without losing a league match.

“The run was 44 at the turn of the year, and we went all 2038 without losing a league game. We just never looked like losing a match. Of course, the media were saying we were going to go through an unbeaten season. We tried not to pay any attention to that kind of thing.”

 

When Manchester United did finally lose a match, it was in the Capital One Cup Semi-Final, where they’d once again met Manchester City. The blue half of Manchester emerged victorious, winning the first leg 3-0, and although United won at Old Trafford, they were out of the competition.

“It was no biggie. Again, we had our eyes firmly set on the Premier League and the Champions League.”

On the 2nd February 2039, McPercival’s side equalled Arsenal’s unbeaten record with a 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Old Trafford.

“The record breaking match was also at Old Trafford, against West Ham. We didn’t disappoint. Di Salvatore scored twice, and Adler and Etxebarria also found the net. We won 4-0, and had gone 50 matches unbeaten!”

 

With United’s unbeaten run standing at 54, they made the short trip to the City of Manchester Stadium.

“We battled really hard, but City were as motivated as I’ve ever seen them. They badly wanted to be the team that broke our run. We expected that, but we didn’t deal with it very well. They took the lead late on, but we found a lucky equaliser from a corner. I thought that would be enough to draw the game, but Raul Angloma restored City’s lead within a minute of our equaliser. He scored over 300 goals for City – a club legend there. He ended our unbeaten run, but we were still eight points clear at the top after this defeat.”

There would be no unbeaten season for McPercival, and the next game after their defeat at City was a big Champions League match against AC Milan.

“Hector Coronel had given us the lead in Italy, but Milan had come back to win the first leg 2-1. We were favourites to progress because of that away goal, but we had to play well to win the match at Old Trafford. Play well we did. We won 4-0, and 5-2 on aggregate. We followed that up by smashing Spurs 6-0 in the league and Swansea 6-2 in the FA Cup Quarter-Final replay.”

 

Just as they had been the previous season, McPercival and his United side were competing in the latter stages of the FA Cup and the Champions League. With City keeping them on their toes in the league, the Champions League Quarter-Final draw had pitted United against Parma, in a repeat of the previous season’s semi-final.

“Max Kunert had a liking for playing Parma. He’d scored eight goals in the semi-final tie against them last season, and he scored a hat-trick in the first leg at Old Trafford. However, we let the Italian club back into it when we scored an unfortunate own goal through Lothar Sub – that away goal made the second leg incredibly tense.

“The two Champions League quarter-final matches sandwiched the FA Cup Semi-Final, in which we played Chelsea. Hector Coronel opened the scoring but our lead lasted just three minutes, and the game ended 1-1 after extra time. Chelsea had a man sent off in the 90th minute and another sent off in the 119th, but they held on to take the game to penalties. Penalties really are a lottery, and on this occasion Chelsea won. We were out.

“We had to pick ourselves up quickly, because the Quarter-Final second leg against Parma was guaranteed to be extremely tough. We were well prepared, and although Parma threw everything at us, they only managed to win 1-0; we’d hung on for a 3-2 aggregate victory.”

 

Four goals from Ilson in a 6-3 victory over Swansea put McPercival’s men on the brink of a second consecutive Premier League title. They needed just two points from their last three matches to wrap it up.

“We secured the title at the first time of asking, beating Cardiff 4-1 away from home. It was another special day, especially for the fans, but we remained focused on the Champions League.”

French football had become the dominant force in Europe, and United found themselves in a semi-final draw with Lyon, PSG and Marseille, each of whom had reached a final in the decade. United were given arguably the easiest of the three – Marseille.

“We produced two clinical performances and duly won the tie. The first leg was at Old Trafford, and Ilson scored a hat-trick as we won 3-0. That essentially ended the tie – we were too good to get beaten by four goals. Indeed, we actually won 2-0 in France just for good measure, thus 5-0 on aggregate. We were in the final, where we’d play PSG.”

 

McPercival had been given a second opportunity to win the Champions League, but where they’d been favourites against Hertha Berlin, PSG were regarded as one of the best teams in the world.

“They’d won the competition in 2035 and finished as runners-up in 2037 when Manchester City won it.

“The game took place under the lights at Wembley, and we needed a fast start. We got exactly that – Ilson gave us the lead after just four minutes. He’d managed to go the season without getting a serious injury and this was his 40th goal of the season in all competitions. Kunert then matched him, scoring his 40th to double our advantage, and we led 2-0 at the break. There's nothing quite like having two 40-goal strikers playing up front together!

“Elliot Bewick scored a third on the hour mark, but PSG came roaring back. Argentinian striker Cristian Pereyra pulled one back, and then Ricky Khinda-John scored to make it 3-2. The nerves were jangling then! Fortunately there just wasn’t enough time left in the match for them to score a third. We shut up shop and managed to hold on. We won 3-2. We’d won the Champions League!”

 

In his 24th season as a football manager, Percy McPercival was finally a Champions League winner. The man who was fired after seventeen matches at Nuneaton Town, who’d suffered relegation on four occasions, who’d bounced around non-league football for several years, had led Manchester United to the biggest trophy in domestic football.

But McPercival had one more trick up his sleeve.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 24 – Business As Usual

 

In the summer of 2039, McPercival competed in the Copa America with Brazil, reaching the Semi-Finals before a 3-1 defeat to arch-rivals Argentina sent them home. McPercival hadn’t particularly enjoyed his year in charge of Selecao, and resigned.

“I was having doubts after the first friendly, when we lost to Australia. We did beat Argentina to win the 2038 Superclasico but we didn’t play well, and I’d decided before the Copa America took place that I’d leave once it finished.”

 

Having won back-to-back Premier League titles and lifted the Champions League, McPercival was now faced with a problem. Several players felt that they’d achieved all they could at the club, and were angling for a new challenge.

“I wasn’t going to hold players against their will. I made a rule that anyone who didn’t want to be at the club could leave. We had the resources to bring players in, and that’s exactly what we did.”

The club did some impressive business in the summer, spending over £200m and receiving well over £100m as McPercival reshaped his squad.

“We were receiving big bids for players who weren’t really featuring very much. Ramon Veron was an excellent example of that – he started one league game in 38/39, and suddenly Marseille bid £35m for him. Inter Milan bid £26m for Gregory Maurice, who’d only ever made one substitute appearance for the club. He’d scored 20 league goals on loan at Rangers, but we didn’t need him.”

Other departures included world class right-back Matias Aguirre, who joined Lyon in the £39m deal, and ageing centre-back Massimo Fiorio, who left for Roma. Both had been integral parts of United’s defence, and replacing them was McPercival’s first priority.

“We put together a structured deal worth £61m in total, and Hertha Berlin accepted our offer, which was for versatile defender Marco Gerlinger – he can play anywhere at the back but specialises at right-back. Then, we splashed out £70m on world-class holding midfielder Savas Serifoglu from Lyon. It sounds like a lot of money – indeed, it is – but our deals were all structured so that we weren’t spending anywhere near that amount in one single instalment.

“I also brought in a couple of Brazil’s better players. Zidane joined from Nacional de Madeira in a £42m deal, while we also spent £25m on winger Geraldo, who joined from Cruzeiro. Finally, I’d decided Isaac Wood wasn’t good enough to be our backup goalkeeper, so we brought in Jimmy Chester from Spurs for £15m.”

 

After two matches of the 2039/2040 season, Manchester United had won their first two trophies.

“We won the Community Shield, beating Chelsea 4-1, although we were helped by them having a man sent off in the first half. Then we played in the European Super Cup against the Europa League holders, who were Arsenal. Geraldo scored twice and we won 3-0.”

Manchester United made an exemplary start to the league season, beating Chelsea 4-1 in their first home game of the season. The Blues endured a difficult start to the season while United set the early pace in the league, but in the Champions League, things weren’t so straightforward.

“We’d been drawn against Barcelona again, and I was also set for a return to Twente, where the fans gave me a warm reception. They're a great club. We went there on Matchday One, and their fans were even happier at the full time whistle - they beat us 1-0. It must have been an amazing night in their history, but it was a reality check for all of us. We’d started to think we could win games playing at 60%.

“Matchday Two was a real turning point for us. We hosted Besiktas – an easy win on paper – but Mark Amoah, who I’d sold to them for £7m three years previously, scored twice and we were 3-1 down after 33 minutes! We were staring down the barrel, but Ilson pulled one back just before the interval, before Kunert equalised. Of all people to score the winner, it was left-back Michael Kelly in the 91st minute. We turned it around and won 4-3, which gave us a massive boost.”

Manchester United took four points from their Champions League double-header with Barcelona, drawing 1-1 in Spain and winning 2-0 in Manchester, before avenging their defeat in Holland with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Twente at Old Trafford. In their final group game, United once again fell behind to Besiktas, but overturned their 1-0 half-time deficit to emerge 3-1 winners, finishing top of the group by two points.

 

The club were sweeping all before them in the Premier League, and as the season entered December, Chelsea’s slow start had allowed United to build up what looked to be an unassailable lead in the title race. The highlight of their excellent autumn form was a 7-0 hammering of Middlesbrough, in which Ilson scored a hat-trick. Then came what was a new competition for McPercival – the Club World Championship.

“Let’s be honest, it’s hardly the most prestigious competition in the world, but I wanted to win everything I could so we took it moderately seriously. The fixture list wasn’t as congested over the Christmas period as it usually is – there were five-day gaps either side of the Boxing Day match at Arsenal – so we were able to field competitive teams.

“We beat Pohang Steelers 3-1 in the Semi-Final and then eased past Flamengo in the final to win the tournament – our third trophy of the season!”

 

However, in January, any hopes of an unprecedented septuple were extinguished when McPercival’s men were beaten 3-1 on aggregate in the Capital One Cup Semi-Final. Their opponents? Manchester City.

“The first leg came on the back of two consecutive 7-0 victories in the FA Cup. Reading took us to a replay in the third round, but Renzo Di Salvatore put his name in the record books by scoring all seven of our goals! It was an unbelievable feat! We then destroyed Arsenal in the fourth round four days later, which was a very sweet moment.

“I really wanted to win everything I possibly could, and the fact that we lost to our rivals was also very difficult to take. We drew the first leg 1-1 at home, and City beat us 2-0 on their patch. Thankfully they lost to Brighton on penalties in the Final.”

 

As January ticked over into February, the club were still unbeaten in the Premier League and it was extremely obvious that nobody stood a chance of catching them. Remaining focused on every match became the modus operandi, and retaining the Champions League became the primary objective.

“We played Viktoria Plzen in the Last 16, and winning away in the first leg wrapped up the tie as far as I was concerned, even though we only won 1-0. We'd turned Old Trafford into the toughest fortress in world football. Of course, we won the second leg 4-1 to progress.”

The media tend to create a frenzy when it becomes likely that one team could go an entire Premier League season unbeaten, and they’d been talking about it since October. McPercival had created one of the greatest sides in history, but its toughest test would undoubtedly come at the City of Manchester Stadium.

“It was mid-February, and every other match left in the season was winnable in my opinion. This looked like being the sternest test of our unbeaten run, but we rose to the occasion. Souza put through his own net to give us the lead early in the second half, then Geraldo sealed the win in extra time. We'd won 2-0 away - they wouldn't ruin our unbeaten run this time round!”

 

The victory at Manchester City was their eighth consecutive league win dating back to Boxing Day, when the club had drawn 1-1 at Arsenal, and their participation in the Club World Championship meant that United had two games in hand on their nearest challengers, who were in the distance far behind. After 28 matches, McPercival’s side had won 26 and drawn just two. If they could win their 29th match, they’d mathematically seal the title in mid-March.

There was never any doubt. Goals from Maximilian Kunert and Hector Coronel secured a 2-0 win, and the title was staying in Manchester. There were two questions remaining. Could United retain the Champions League? And bigger still – could they go through the entire Premier League season undefeated?

[JoeyBaldwin]

Chapter 25 - Invincibles

 

“We’d sealed the league title before the Champions League Quarter-Finals, and the sextuple was still on! We’d drawn Porto in the Quarters, and had an FA Cup Semi-Final with Cardiff to contend as well. All the while, we were trying to go an entire Premier League season unbeaten. There was no let up for the players!”

What happened in the Estadio do Dragao on the 4th April 2040 will be etched in the memories of United fans and the record books forever. An absolutely incredible performance saw the club score ten goals in a competitive match for the first time since 1956 – they ran out 10-2 winners.

“Adler scored a hat-trick, Kunert scored four, Di Salvatore came off the bench to score twice and Serifoglu added one. It’s hard to believe, but at 1-1 it looked like being a close game! In the league three days later, it took us 83 minutes to break Newcastle down and win 1-0 in the league. It’s a funny old game.

“We won 2-0 in the return leg, and promptly brushed Cardiff aside in the FA Cup Semi-Final, winning 3-0. We were starting to get extremely nervous about our unbeaten league season, scraping narrow victories and even drawing occasionally. Bristol City came from behind twice to grab a 2-2 draw and we were hanging on at the end!”

 

The Champions League Semi-Final draw had paired United with Chelsea, who had recovered from a bad start in the league and were now second. The stakes couldn’t be higher, and the opposition arguably couldn’t be tougher.

“It was a big, big game, and they’re the kind I love the most. Renzo Di Salvatore scored 17 goals in 29 appearances throughout this season and two of those came in the first leg at Old Trafford. We won 3-0, and I felt the most important part of the victory was the clean sheet.

“I was confident we’d score at Stamford Bridge, and I was proven right. Antonio Correia opened the scoring for us, and although Chelsea equalised, we still won the tie 4-1 on aggregate. We were in the Champions League Final for a third consecutive season!”

 

Before McPercival had to start worrying about cup finals, there were three Premier League matches to focus on and his side were still unbeaten. Southampton were defeated 2-0 courtesy of Kunert and Ilson (who else), but in the next match, Charlton striker Adrien Godefroy put the cat among the pigeons when he opened the scoring at Old Trafford in the 37th match of the season…

“We were 1-0 down at half-time, and our performance had left a lot to be desired. Charlton were playing superbly. Even the best sides need luck sometimes, and on this occasion we got it. Two moments of genuine quality turned the game around, and it was Drazen Matovina, one of our ‘Class of 36’, who provided both. He scored two sensational free-kicks and we won the match 2-1 – he only scored four all season!”

Old enemies Arsenal, the last team to go through a Premier League season unbeaten, were all that stood between Manchester United and an unbeaten season of their own. Ilson opened the scoring from the penalty spot for his 27th league goal of the season, before Kunert scored his 25th to double United’s lead. The job was done. McPercival had done it.

“I was absolutely ecstatic, beyond words. It was a magnificent achievement. We always say it’ll probably never happen again, but I don’t believe that – occasionally someone builds an incredible side that can achieve incredible things, and I’m sure it’ll happen again at some point. We’d played 38, won 34 and drawn just four, setting a new points record with 106. We couldn’t dwell on the triumph for too long, because we had the FA Cup and the Champions League to win!

 

“We played Manchester City in the FA Cup Final, and Harald Adler gave us the lead just after half-time. However, Raul Angloma equalised for City, and our misery was compounded when Kunert was carried off injured! He’d miss the Champions League Final! There wasn’t time to worry about that; the match went all the way to penalties.

“Lothar Sub saved City's second penalty, and Ilson, Adler, Geraldo and Serifoglu all scored theirs. Again it fell to Matovina to be the hero, and he duly delivered, smashing home the winning penalty. We’d completed the quintuple!”

 

Now the real prize was up for grabs. McPercival’s Manchester United would face PSG again, and the French club were out to avenge the 3-2 defeat United had inflicted upon them in last season’s Champions League Final.

“It was a very even match. We had 18 shots to PSG’s 14 and we shaded possession as well, but it could have gone either way. With about ten minutes to go, Harald Adler cut in from the right wing to drill home from the edge of the box. It was a fantastic finish, and it proved decisive – we won the Final 1-0! We’d won the Champions League again!”

 

The Community Shield, the European Super Cup, the Club World Championship, the Premier League, the FA Cup and now the biggest of them all, the Champions League. The 2039/2040 season was one of the greatest in history for Manchester United, and never has a manager won so many trophies in one season before. It was only the third time in English top-flight history that a team had gone an entire season unbeaten, but incredibly, Manchester United weren’t the only team in Europe to achieve that feat in this season. AS Monaco, led by Jean Vandenbroeck, had just gone through Ligue 1 unbeaten as well, although it was the only trophy they won that season. Nevertheless, it was a magnificent achievement for McPercival and his United players.

 

Percy McPercival will forever be a Manchester United legend.

[JoeyBaldwin]

Epilogue

Percy McPercival would leave Manchester United in the summer of 2040, choosing to take the reigns at Real Madrid when the opportunity came. Incidentally, his first signing was Porto goalkeeper Damian Bontempo, who played in that famous 10-2 defeat to McPercival’s United.

McPercival’s first season in charge of Los Merengues was only moderately successful by his standards. The club won La Liga, finishing with 100 points and losing only twice, and they also lifted the Spanish Super Cup and the Copa Del Rey. However, a third consecutive Champions League triumph was denied McPercival, as his Madrid side fell victim to one of the tournament’s most memorable comebacks. Having won the home leg of their semi-final with Lyon 2-0, Real scored an away goal which made victory all but certain, and led 3-0 on aggregate at half-time in the second leg. However, Lyon produced an astonishing comeback, scoring four goals in the second half of the second leg, thus winning the tie 4-3 and eliminating Real Madrid from the competition. The winning goal was scored by Alessio Canato, who as a young striker couldn't get into McPercival's Twente side a decade previously.

On the date of my interview with McPercival, his Real Madrid side were facing a resurgent Barcelona in the league, but were still unbeaten. I’d asked him right at the beginning whether he could go the season unbeaten. Six months on, he’d done it again. Real Madrid went through the entire 2041/2042 Liga BBVA season without losing a single match, winning 32 and drawing six of their 38 league matches. However, the Champions League once again eluded Los Merengues. Having reached the Final, McPercival was again faced with Lyon, and the French side emerged victorious, winning 3-1.

McPercival has since made an interesting career move. At the time of publication, he’s just been unveiled as the new manager of AC Milan, and has suggested that the move is driven by his desire to manage in a more competitive league. Indeed, in the last fifteen years Serie A has been won by six different teams, and the Rossoneri finished 4th in the league last season, so it’ll be very interesting to see how McPercival goes about turning them into potential champions.

Percy McPercival is firmly within the top bracket of managers in world football with seven league wins and eighteen cup wins, including two Champions League titles. Despite holding six different senior international posts, he has yet to experience any success in international management, but in domestic football there are none better.

Not bad for a man who was relegated in his first season of management at US Colomiers.

[DarthZlatan]

Absolutely brilliant story. I hope I can have a save as good as this.

[JoeyBaldwin]

On 14 October 2017 at 21:02, DarthZlatan said:

Absolutely brilliant story. I hope I can have a save as good as this.

Thanks very much.

Currently playing a save with the same premise, but in which the character has to regularly argue with the board and relentlessly criticise referees - will be interesting to see how far the sanctions go, and whether an angry manager can be successful!