[FM19] Play Up Pompey

[RageMaster]

 

So having got a little bored of top division saves, I started looking at clubs in the Championship and League 1 who I could build up and get them to the Premier League, unsuccessful attemps was made with the likes of Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Norwich and Sheffield United. I then stumbled upon Portsmouth in League One, the club was in the Premier League less than 10 years ago, and they even won the FA Cup in 2008. Can I restore this club to Premier League and perhaps European and Domestic cup success?

Portsmouth FC

July & August 2018 - [Pre Season]

One of the things that attracted me to Portsmouth, was the 2 centre backs Matt Clarke and Jack Whatmough, both are young with room to grow and Whatmough is also Home-Grown. I am also familiar with Luke McGee and Anton Walkes as they are former players of the team I support (Tottenham). Looking around the starting squad I can see a good core with decent players for this level such as Brett Pitman, Nathan Thompson, Tom Naylor, Jamal Lowe and Ronan Curtis. Coupled with some loan players like James Vaughan, Omar Bogle and Lloyd Isgrove there is some good quality in the squad which should see us challenge for automatic promotion if I can bring in the right additions to fill in the gaps.

I wanted to play a high pressing, attacking 4-3-3 based system so I set about seeing what the squad needed in order to play in this system. I was looking to bring in some depth in Central Midfield and in both full back positions. Ollie Hawkins departed for £65,000 to Dundee and Gareth Evans departed to Scunthorpe on Loan for the season although I probably should have kept him around. These were the only departures from the squad during this transfer window. Incoming on free transfers from Sweden was Anders Baath, Isak Ssewankambo and Dennis Olsson. Matt Butcher and Brendan Galloway was signed on Season Long Loans from Bournmouth and Everton respectively with us paying £0 to there wages. Towards the end of the window I brought in a German goalkeeper Florian Schwaiger on a free as 3rd choice for some depth and also Thibaud Verlinden joined from Stoke on a season long loan as we had some injury concerns with my wide players.

 

I will do the next update around November/December time in-game.

 

[RageMaster]

Portsmouth FC

December 2018 - Update #1

A very good start to the season league wise, we are currently top after 19 games closely followed by Barnsley who are 3 points away from us. We've scored 45 goals in the league so far and only conceeded 14. The system seems to be working well so far. James Vaughan leads the scoring charts for us with 10 goals in the League.

In the domestic cups front, we reached the Carabao Cup 3rd Round where we deservidly lost at home to QPR but to be fair I did play a 2nd string side. We won our group in the Checkatrade Trophy winning all 3 of our games which included a 5-0 win vs Southampton U23's who played the likes of Jack Stephens, Dael Fry (signed from Middlesbrough) and Matthew Targett in the starting XI. Sadly we are already out of the FA Cup as we put in a terrible performance at home to Oxford in round 1.

In January I will be trying to get rid of Brett Pitman (has been awful for me and doesn't really fit into my system), Brandon Haunstrup & Dion Donohue  who don't seem to be up to standard and then possibly Ben Close and Louis Dennis if I can find clubs to take them off my hands. Omar Bogle has been terrible also and is on a hefty wage but I'm not sure if I will be able to terminate his loan. I will be trying to bring in a Striker and possibly another wide player depending on funds and who's available.