The Great Resume

Since the end of FM09 is around the corner (for me anyway)  I thought it best to go back to my most successful game since my domineering Leeds team on Championship Manager 01/02.  Merseyside is the setting and Everton are my team; the year is 2012 and we are coming back off one of the most epic seasons I have ever witnessed on any football management game, time for a flashback:

After a 14 game winning streak that has seen my Everton side clime 10 points clear of Chelsea I was hit with the most depressing news since the death of my cat. I knew the finances weren’t the best but I didn’t think we were anywhere near the depths administration! How I was wrong. In case you haven’t already worked out what has happened, we got deducted 9 points for going into administration. We were still top of the league but it didn’t take long for me to work out that our lead wouldn’t last for long. The changing rooms were similar to a funeral reception in terms of atmosphere, self sympathy and depression, we were suddenly and ironically hit with a plague of injuries and now a top 4 finish seemed many miles away.

After losing a couple of games on the bounce, something needed to happen. That something came in the form of the first season top scorer now re-named Cunt.  Since the bollockless Hulk and Rossi couldn’t buy a goal between them, I had no other choice than to let the Cunt unleash. His goals not only won me a couple of important games, the confidence boost throughout the squad was immense. We managed to get level on points with Chelsea on the last day and that’s what it was all going to boil down to. To my shock and immediate sense of ‘oh fuck’, we were going up against Chelsea on the last day in a match that would decide the season and decide my legacy as a manager. Fortunately we managed to mastermind a 2-0 Victory at the bridge that won us the title. The scale of different emotions that this one game put me through was frightening, from crying in bed on the night of administration, to organizing a house party to celebrate the title winning triumph. That is why I love Football Manager.

(This happened a while ago so some of the finer details may not be 100% correct)

Enough of the sloppy shite, we are back and ready for the new season.  We got took over and the finances were apparently stabilized.  I knew that a few would leave and few would need to come in. I wasn’t sure on how much I would have to work with considering the Administration and the title win. To my relief, I was given 53 million to work with which is more than enough to create a team that can challenge once more. I had targets from previous seasons that I didn’t manage to land so I didn’t waste any time letting them get away.

My first signing was Aleksandar Kolorov from Newcastle for a fee of 13 Million. I had been playing Vermelean at left back last season but his defensive mentality cost me quite a bit, I wanted someone who would bomb forward to feed my target man but still willing to get back and put in a good tackle. Kolorov was just the man for the job. To fit in with my new fullback system, I need a similar right back to Kolorov. That man happened to be Valon Behrami from West Ham for 12 Million. Although he wasn’t as good going forward as Kolorov, you could guarantee he would still get up and down the flank and remain reliable at the back.  I now had two perfect full backs.

I had been after the next player for a while as I have never had him on any other of my games and I have heard great stuff.  The player in question was now Rangers star player, John Fleck. I managed to pick him up for 10 Million. He was not going to be playing every game in his first season but I had no doubt that he could fit straight into the team in a couple of season’s time. The next signing was an orgasmic one. This young lad a loan spell a couple of seasons ago and was a hero, becoming a fans favourite and left with Everton very close to his heart. I’ve wanted to get him at Goodison permanently for a while now but this time another loan signing was the only deal we could materialize. Franseco Bolzoni joins on a loan deal from Inter Milan.

Looking at my squad I realised that there was absolutely no backup for Sergio Asenjo, before looking at bidding for someone I had a snoop at the free agents and found Ferdinando Coppola who signed a couple of days after being offered the deal. Now that I had the goalkeeping situation sorted I needed a target man to give me a different option up front and to finish off the physically dominant team I was creating (Felipe, Fellaini etc) Knowing that I still needed a centre back I opted to loan the highly rated Pavel Pogrebynak for one year. He was pretty much perfect for my team. Now we move on to the much needed Centre back to partner the much loved Felipe. I was desperate to get Zapata, Felipe’s partner at Udinese playing in blue colours as his pace would of been a real asset. However, AC Milan had a massive shit on that one plan. Panicking slightly after having bids for Federico Fazio and Steven Taylor rejected I had a look through my fellow Premierleague clubs. I finally settled on a surprise signing, no other than Pascal Cygan’s early child, Philipe Senderos for a massive 22.5 Million. I know what you are thinking; why the fuck have you wasted 22.5 Million of the administrators money on that big fucking donkey! But wait, Senderos is actually a beast on the game, great physical stats matched with equally good mental stats. He was pretty much like for like with Felipe and he fitted in perfectly.

That will do for now, my fingers are aching and I need to play the game so I have something else to write about! The second update will feature my new look team and the first few results of the new season! Also,  I should mention that this will be my last season with Everton as I look to move on to another club/nation to stop this blog from getting boring.