Life in FM

The squads have been named and look like this:

France

Goalkeepers

Sebastien Frey (Fiorentina), Hugo Lloris (Milan), Steve Mandanda (Marseille)

Defenders

Phillippe Mexes (Roma), Mamadou Sakho (Paris SG), Sebastian Squillaci (Lyon), Bakary Sagna (Arsenal), Gael Clichy (R. Madrid), Armand Traore (Arsenal), Francois Clerc (Lyon), Mathieu Bodmer (Milan) Samir Nasri (Marseille)

Midfielders

Younousse Sankhare (Paris SG), Abou Diaby (Lazio), Benoit Pedretti (Fiorentina), Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon), Franck Ribery (FC Bayern),

Forwards

Hatem Ben Arfa (Lyon), Yoann Gouffran (Tottenham), Jeremy Menez (Manchester United), Gabriel Obertan (Bordeaux), Karim Benzema (Lyon), Andre-Pierre Gignac (Lazio)

Sweden

Goalkeepers

Andreas Isaksson (Torino), Rami Shaaban (Club Brugge), Ivo Vazgec (Larisa)

Defenders

Olef Mellberg (Rimini), Anes Mravec (Williem II), Martin Olsson (Getafe), Robert Ahman-Persson (Panathinakos), Andreas Granqvist (Wigan), Jon Jonsson (Auxerre), Mikael Lustig (Reggina), Mikael Dorsin (West Brom)

Midfielders

Sebastian Larsson (Catania), Tobias Linderoth (Free Agent), Pontus Fernerud (Lavente), Samuel Holman (Monaco), Alexander Fernerud (Stuttgart), Kim Kallstrom (Lyon), Niklas Barkroth (Cadiz)

Forwards

Johan Elmander (Catania), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter), Marcus Berg (Lazio), Henok Goitom (Reggina), Markus Rosenburg (Villerrael)

Scotland

Goalkeepers

Craig Gordan (Celtic), David Marshall (Norwich), Iain Turner (Derby)

Defenders

Mark Wilson (Celtic), Mark Reynolds (Middlesbrough), Garry Kenneth (Rangers), Stephen McManus (Celtic), Andy Webster (Wigan), Alan Hutton (Tottenham), Steven Smith (Rangers), Lee Wallace (Empoli), Ross Wallace (Wigan)

Midfielders

Ian Black (Cardiff), Darren Flectcher (Manchester United), Kevin Thomson (Blackburn), Scott Brown (Manchester City), Chris Burke (Rangers), James Morrison (Sunderland)

Forwards

Shaun Maloney (Torino), James McFadden (Celtic), Kevin Cawley (Celtic), Danny Swannson (Portsmouth), Derek Riordan (Derby)

Holland

Goalkeepers

Tim Krul (Southampton), Erwin Mulder (HSV), Maarten Stekelenburg (Bolton)

Defenders

John Heitinga (Bordeaux), Gianni Zuiverloon (PSV), Edson Braafheid (Getafe), Joris Mathijsen (HSV), Khalid Boulahrouz (Blackburn), Ron Vlaar (Deportivo), Hedwiges Maduro (Valencia), Jan Kromkamp (Marseille)

Midfielders

Royston Drenthe (R. Madrid), Nigel De Jong (At. Madrid), Demy de Zeeuw (AZ), Jonathan De Guzman (Inter), Rafael Van der Vaart (Roma) Arjen Robben (R. Madrid), Wesley Sneijder (R. Madrid)

Forwards

Robin Van Persie (Arsenal), Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Chelsea), Dirk Kuyt (Bolton), Genero Zeefuik (PSV)

Czech Republic

Goalkeeper

Petr Cech (Chelsea), Michal Danek (Sunderland), Radek Petr (Catania)

Defenders

Zdenek Grygera (Juventus), Jiri Kladrubsky (Messina), Milan Kopic (Genona), Michal Kadlec (Sevilla), Jan Simunek (Wolfsburg), David Rozehnal (Catania), Tomas Sivok (Derby), Marek Suchy (Torino), Lukas Kuban (AZ), Michal Svec (Fiorentina)

Midfielders

Jaroslav Plasil (Osasuna), Daniel Pudil (Messina), Michal Held (Slavia Prague), Jan Polak (Bochum), Lubos Kalouba (Lyon), Tomas Rosicky (Zaragoza)

Forwards

Tomas Necid (Heerenveen), Martin Fenin (Valencia), Michal Papadopoulos (Leverkusen), Vaclav Sverkos (AZ)

Italy

Goalkeeper

Marco Amelia (Lyon), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Gianluca Curci (Roma)

Defenders

Marco Andreolli (Roma), Cristian Zaccardo (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Andra Barzagli (Juventus), Lorenzo De Silvestri (Inter), Manuel Pasqual (Roma), Fabiano Santacroce (Napoli)

Midfielders

Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Luca Cigarini (Espanyol), Pasquale Foggia (Lazio), Alessandro Rosina (Arsenal), Alberto Aquilani (Roma), Riccardo Montolivo (Juventus)

Forwards

Antonio Cassano (Espanyol), Sebastian Giovinco (Juventus), Lauri Dalla Valle (Lazio), Giuseppe Rossi (Juventus), Alberto Gilardino (Milan)

England

Goalkeepers

Scott Carson (Liverpool, Ben Foster (Manchester United), Paul Robinson (Tottenham)

Defenders

Nedum Onuosha (Chelsea), Micah Richards (Manchester United), Wayne Richards (Bolton), Gary Cahill (Aston Villa), Curtis Davies (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea), Ryan Taylor (Tottenham), Ashley Cole (Chelsea)

Midfielders

Michael Carrick (Manchester United) Micheal Johnson (Manchester United), David Bentley (Espanyol), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Steward Downing (West Ham), Jermaine Jenas (Zaragoza), Danny Rose (Tottenham)

Forwards

Theo Walcott (Blackburn), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Jermain Defoe (Aston Villa)

Spain

Goalkeepers

Iker Casillas (R. Madrid), Jose Manuel Reina (Manchester City), Victor Valdes (Barcelona)

Defenders

Alexis (Valencia), Sergio Ramos (R. Madrid), Emiliano Insua (Roma), Pablo (Inter), Raul Albiol (Valencia), Cesar Arzo (Sevilla), Gerard Pique (FC Bayern), Antonio Lopez (At. Madrid)

Midfielders

Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Xavi (Barcelona), Silva (Valencia), Andrea Iniesta (Barcelona)

Forwards

Alejandro Alfaro (Fiorentina), Aquino (Valencia), Aaron (Aston Villa), Imsa Lopez (Athletic Bilbao), Jose Antonio Reyes (At. Madrid), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), David Villa (Valencia)

Now it is time to for the big prize, the managers will earning their money, striving for success and fighting for new contracts as this could potentially be the last tournament for many of our managers international careers. In group A, Zola’s Italy was first to qualify in unstoppable form. Through the whole group Buffon has not picked the ball out of his net throughout, the only blip in the season was against neighbours San Marino who held Italy to a 0-0 draw. In the same group Wales finished 3rd, Jose Mourinho’s side looked good to qualify but missed out by a point, a loss to Serbia proving vital in the grand scheme.

France were in Group B along with Ireland, Zinedine Zidane once again qualified easily for a competition losing only one game. Ireland weren’t so fortunate and couldn’t repeat what they did two years ago. North of the Border Northern Ireland didn’t do too well either and failed to make any impact to their group.

The hottest group was Group D which contained the two World Cup finalist Spain and Sweden along with David Moyes of Belarus and Ramos’ Belgium. The latter two didn’t really put up much of a fight from their group Belarus only managing 9 points, Belgium finished higher up but no pressure was placed on Sweden or Spain who finished as the top two on equal points.

Benitez took control of his first competition and done all that the fans could ask, topping the group comfortably which again contained Russia. Paul Jewell and Spalleti were another two sides drawn together and the two sides ran riot in an easy group, Paul Jewell’s Holland winning all 12 games. Scotland themselves had a tough group and it showed as the difference between qualifying and not was one points, the unlucky side not to go through was Portugal as Scotland topped the group equal with Turkey.

Qualfiers

Italy - Gianfranco Zola
France - Zinedine Zidane
Spain - Bernd Schuster
Sweden - Gus Hiddink
England - Rafa Benitez
Holland - Paul Jewell
Czech Republic - Luciano Spalleti
Scotland - Sir Alex Ferguson

The Groups

Group A

Switzerland
Poland
France
Turkey

It is a pretty tough group I think for France, but nothing that Zidane can’t contend to, Turkey and Switzerland can be surprise packages and France will have to be cautious of the sides. Poland will be home soil though, will that give them the advantage needed to get through to the next round?

Group B

Sweden
Scotland
Germany
Ukraine

Scotland and Sweden are the surprise packages so far in this whole experiment, it will be hard to see them both go through when they have to come up against Germany who have been doing well in tournaments over the past couple of years. But Alex Ferguson knows what his players need to win and Sweden have already proved they have what it takes.

Group C

Holland
Czech Republic
Italy
Serbia

Group C holds the most of our teams with three out of the four. But that also means that one of the sides will not make it to the last eight, my money would be on Holland and Italy to get themselves through.

Group D

Greece
England
Croatia
Spain

Spain always seem to do just enough when it comes to the group stages, could this attitude cost them? It looks a group that holders and World Champions Spain could easily get passed and our beloved England should also take them through, but will Rafa be able to face his countrymen with pride?

The managerial reversal campaign that is quickly coming to a close has been well received from those who have chosen to leave their feedback and with the European Championships only round the corner how better to celebrate such an event then to see how Football Manager will play it out. But going with the theme of the site, lets see how different this European Championships will be if the guys coaching the national sides will were changed.

Giving it much thought I have decided not to play the game out for Euro 2008 and instead give the managers in charge 4 years to put together the plans they need to put a real challenge in for Euro 2012. They have all been given contracts that end after the completion of the tournament in 2012, all will keep their current contracts at any club they may be employed by. making things a little bit fairer, all leagues that could possibly be played from the national sides that will be played have all been picked, hopefully some young talent will come through as the game goes on.

Whose Where?

First up Sir Alex Ferguson who joins up once again with the Scottish national side, Sir Alex has had a few years knocked off his age hopefully preventing him from retiring before the tournament. Wales will see the appointment to outspoken manager Jose Mourinho, Jose has become accustomed to winning silverware, with this Welsh side he may have to make do for not winning trophies. Arsene Wenger will take up the San Marino challenge and it will be an achievement for him if he can score a goal never mind win a game. Northern Ireland get themselves a former World Cup winner Marcelo Lippi and the Republic find themselves with their own World Cup winner and Luiz Felipe Scolari. France will have the first of the fairytale appointment with Zidane who will take up his first coaching position with he international side, Zinedene obviously has the experience of winning at international level when the French dominated each competition. The international wonder man who did wonders with the likes of Australia and Russia is Gus Hiddink he will see if he can do the same with Sweden. In Spain Bernad Schuster looks like he could be one of the most successful managers in recent times, not for winning La Liga, but just because he looks like he is going to keep his job at Real Madrid. We have recently seen what Paul Jewell likes to get up to in public, so I have given him the chance travel to a place where everything goes, Holland. A few of the Premiership managers have also taken up roles to play on the international scene, David Moyes and Juande Ramos will take control of Belarus and Belgium respectively. Back onto the fairytale appointments Italian wizard Zola has been put in place for his home nation, already knowing the players he is working with as he has been involved with that national side for sometime now in a coaching role. Finally, Roma coach Luciano Spalleti who will try his had with the Czechs. Fabio Capello, newly in post for England, I don’t see any reason to get rid of him and he will guide England to the next European Championships.

What has happened in four Year?

The first piece of news was the sacking of Arsene Wenger who didn’t even see out 2007 and as predicted struggled to even score a goal, I don’t know why the sacking came about so early but obviously the FA would rather see an San Marian in post rather then the Frenchman.

Euro 2008

The real test for the teams came at Euro 2008, only six of our teams were in action, Holland, Sweden, Spain, Czech Republic, France and Italy. Sweden and Holland were drawn together and both sides were able to to qualify easily from their group that also held Romania and Austria. Spain had a poor group stage grabbing one of each a win, loss and draw, as Switzerland stormed the group. Spalleti and the Czech’s finished bottom of their group only claiming a win against Spain. France finished with a perfect record in arguably the toughest group with Turkey, Portugal and Serbia and Italy also finished top giving the two novices a real boost going in the knock outs.

We then lost the majority of our sides in the final eight, Spain and Holland were drawn against each other and Schuster found form and Raul scored a hatrick to send them through. Switzerland continued their good form and knocked out Sweden. France did well in their game against Germany, but they let it go down to penalties, a big mistake against a side that in their history has won over 80% of their shoot-outs. Italy were the final side to go through Rossi scored the only goal against Scolari’s former side Portugal. In the semi-finals we were certain of a side in the final as Spain and Italy came up against each other. It was Schuster that came out on top winning 2-1 to meet Germany in the final which Spain won rather easily 4-0, I don’t think Germany even turned up for this game.

South African World Cup 2010

Next up was the World Cup in South Africa, doing a little better this time with England, Republic of Ireland, France, Sweden, Spain, Holland, Czech Republic and Italy all qualifying for the finals.

Belrus didn’t do to well only managing to finish 5th in their qualifying group which Sweden topped and Wales as well really failing to set the world alight and finished with only 6 points. A few of our sides though did get through to the play-off stages. Alex Ferguson was so close to an international competition beating Romania 3-0 at home, but it all went wrong when they travelled to Eastern Europe losing 4-0. Belgium and Ireland were they drawn together for their play-off meaning that one wouldn’t make it Ramos vs Scolari. In a close two ties Ireland came out top Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle putting themselves in the history books as they scored to secure a World Cup place.

In South Africa their wasn’t too many surprises in the groups, Italy did a white was to finish top of their table and Spain once again not favouring the group stages losing to the Ivory Coast to settle for 2nd which was similar to Holland position who lost to Russia. Zidane’s France dominated their group which also contained Sweden who finished 2nd, but it was close as they beat Cameroon which was the reason they got through. Ireland, England and the Czech’s all failed to get past their groups which saw Capello leave his post, to be replaced by former Liverpool coach Rafa Benetiez.

In the second round Italy were the first out against African eagles Nigeria, Mikel was the difference between the two sides to knock them out. Holland battled against Ivory Coast with Stekelenburg being the hero on the night, and from that you can predict that it was a match that Holland got battered in, but Ivory Coast failed to score and it went down to penalties. Where Stekelenburg once again proved his weight in gold saving Toure’s fifth penalty to send his country through. Spain went up against Russia, who managed to keep the game 1-1 for 90 minutes, but in extra time Torres completed a hatrick to send the European Champions through. Sweden went up against World Cup experts Argentina, a fantastic game ensued, Kim Kallstrom scoring first before Tevez levelled the game. It was surprising Ibrahimovic who scored the winner in the 117th minute that sent Sweden through, not bad for a player who fails at the top level. France secured a 2-1 win against Mexico to be the last of our sides to go through.

The quarter finals was a wonderful draw as non of our sides met each other meaning we would have the chance to see all four in the semi finals. Spain dominated Nigeria in a tense game which David Villa settled in extra time. Holland faced old foes Germany and this time penalties wasn’t good enough for the Germans and Holland took the crown once again winning a shoot out to go through. Sweden scored 6 goals against Ecuador two hatricks on the night, Man of the Match Ibrahimovic took the first three and then Rosenburg. France made sure that all four teams were in the semi finals by beating Portugal 3-2 in extra time.

Now here was the real test of how far these sides have come in only two years, Spain would play France and Holland would take on Sweden. Schuster’s team kicked off first in a tight game which at half time was 1-1. But in the second half Fabregas and David Villa hit two goals and put Bernd into his second consecutive final. Sweden were the surprise package to follow, Gus Hiddink was able to make the Swedes into a force of a side, reaching the final.

The final was a fantastic game which Spain lead through the majority of the game but two late goals in the space of 5 minutes from Zlatan gave Sweden hope and forced extra time. But Spain was too strong and Xabi Alonso and David Villa scored in the extra time to give Bernd a second trophy.

Now we reach what all this has been leading up to, the managers have been given 4 years and two competitions to get to know their sides and to really strieve for the big goal of Euro 2012 which will be held in Poland and Ukraine. Can any of these sides end the dominance of Spain who will be going into the competition surely as favourites. Can Gus Hiddink take his Swedish side that much further to win a competition, or will their be a surprise with Alex Ferguson taking an unlikely nation to European success?

With survival in the first season of asking, it was time for Burton’s side to actually stamp their mark on this league and push for another promotion. They obviously have the resources to do so and Burton has done well so far in his transfer market. Not many players left from previous season, but why would they? All the players had only just settled into the squad after only spending a year at the club, out mostly were the guys who were pushing over the age of 35 Trevor Sinclair left, so did Colin Cameroon many in search for coaching jobs or just a quiet life with the missus. Instead Terry Burton decided to strengthen the squad and add more depth to the Blue Square Premier side. The first signing of the summer was Thomas Butler, arriving for next to nothing from Wycombe and adding some punch to the midfield. A decent dribbler and crosser and can play both sides of the pitch, should be an interesting buy for this season. Next in was old boy Leon Constantine who has dropped down the leagues after failing to break into the Leeds United side. The final buy before the season started was another striker to add to the huge collection that The Rovers seem to be stacking up, Gary Alexander another ageing player from League One side Millwall came and signed for Ramesses Rovers. The two latter strikers who have come in look in a far better shape then Facey and Dean and should go into the first team straight away as improvements to the side to look for League Two football. In September Terry continued to add to the squad with free transfer signings, 20 year old Nigerian Danny Uchechi arrived as decent backup for the side and one for the future. Terry used his links with Manchester United to find some young players and in comes James Derbyshire, not one of the best young players the Manchester United have produced but will act as squad fodder supporting the midfield. More fodder came in the shape of Welsh keeper Glyn Garner and youngster Oliver Hewitt-Fisher.

Ramesses Squad

Unfortunately The Pharaohs have lost their a few affiliated teams and it was probably my mistake as I check over the squad and who is actually the parent team? Non other then Ramesses Rovers who are seemingly looking after Inter, Barcelona and Ajax. I am sure that they won’t want to lose any of their players to send off to another country and get a taste of the higher leagues, many of the players may come back with nosebleeds the leagues are so high. Maybe that might be one for the future to put back the affiliation for the squad and see if Ramesses can grab some decent young regens.

The season started slowly and as Rovers didn’t look like they had come back of their holidays, two draws at Abu Simbel against Rushden, then at Dagenham and Redbridge and losing to Accrington, but it wasn’t until Ramesses met a familiar club in Kettering that they recorded their first win of the season and that came away from home sparking a win at home to Boston United 3-0 giving the team momentum to start climbing the table once again, playing attacking football there was no shortage of goals beating Southport 4-0 and rarely coming out of a game with less then two, Terry Burton’s playing style really coming through with his side and scoring a 106 goals for the season in total. In first half of the season although Ramesses were able to come out with alot of wins and definitely a looking good for the season improving on the last, Ramesses were hovering around the play offs because even though they were scoring goal, they were also slipping them and coming away with too many drawn games on the record to put up any real challenge. But come the second half of the season the side got a real kick up the backside and putting together a string of wins to push up the league again putting 4 goals past Southport who have come The Egyptians whipping boys and with the final games of the season Ramesses went on an attack putting together 13 wins in a row and scoring 4 goals for 4 consecutive games, with the help mostly of Alexander and Constantine. That was a real boost for the team and fired the club into 2nd place finishing 7 points behind the automatic promotion place which went to Morcambe the only club to score more goal then Ramesses, the season was definitely helped by a fantastic away form finishing 6 points clear at the top if you just took road trips into account, but the side couldn’t finish teams off at Abu Simbel, maybe the side are still trying to make it their home, even when they are playing against 25,156 fans?

Blue Square Premier 2009/10

But with the league stage over it was down it was down to the lottery of the play offs. First off was an away tie to Accrington a side that had caused problems for Rovers all year and already played 4 games before this one and still yet to win. At The Crown Ground the game was hard, Accrington dominating the play, with good chances they only thing they lacked was the goals. Gary Alexander hit early in a good team move as the midfield moved forward Uchechi who was in for a recovering Constantine, tried popping the ball into the box before it was deflected and was picked up luckily by Butler who hit it onto Gary’s head for the first goal. Lee Grant scored his second goal of the season heading the ball in from a corner to double the lead, John Miles did score in the second half but it wasn’t enough and Alexander scored late as Redmond who was caught out of position, as he pushed himself forward for a late corner the counter attack was quickly on and Gary struck the ball into a open net from 45 yards out. At home Constantine hit two early goals in another close game and John Miles 64th minute goal wasn’t enough in the 5-2 aggregated win. The final was against a side the Rovers had an easier time with this season Dagenham and Redbridge, again on paper Rovers where the worse side, but made the difference when the ball was in the back of the net. Poor positioning by Chris Coyne let Chris Moore take an early lead before Alexander scored late on in the half to equalise and was enough for extra time. As the 2nd 15 minute kicked off some misplaced passes from the Redbridge side proved fatal and from outside the box Gavin Grant struck the ball into the back of the net and securing a move into the professional leagues, The fans sung the name of Terry Burton for sending them up so quickly in this experimental venture.

In the cups first came up was Ramesses first ever entry to the FA cup and it was one to forget, till the next season. Vauxhall Rovers fired 3 past Steven Drench to kick Ramesses Rovers out of the cup before they had even began, maybe this won’t go into the history books that are written on the official basis. The FA Trophy first round placed The Pharaohs up against myfootballclub.net team Ebbsfleet, who recently won this trophy at Wembley in the real world. But against Rovers it wasn’t to be and the side went down 3-0. SI games favourite AFC Wimbledon was next to be disposed of in the January the excellent away form and attacking football transferring into the cups and winning 4-0. Stafford and Dorchester where then easily disposed of before a semi final clash against Accrington and as I have said before, Accrington had come something of a bogey side for The Rovers and a 2-1 result over two legs sent them through to the final only to lose it to super Blue Square side Morecambe. The Satanta shield ended again in the first round of asking, Stevenage squeezed through 1-0 to leave the club with no cup success this season.

The two signings made in the summer were definitely the difference, coming out as the best players of the season, Constantine topping the goal scoring charts with 48 goals and 21 behind him was Alexander who hit 27. The other signing Butler was also a key part of the season and showing as he finished 3rd from the top players and setting up 23 of the goals scored through the season. Terry Burton definitely showed this season he has what it takes to pick the players to succeed and at the back Lee Grant, captain Chris Coyne and Julian Kelly showing not only are they great players now but that they have a great future ahead of them if the club can keep hold of them and them. In only the third season of the game the Rovers have already started reaping the benefits of a great youth system and Neil Simpson a player with the greatest potential in the side broke into the first team playing all season and using his pace and creativity in the middle of the field to assist with 15 goals having a tremendous debut season, the 18 year old is already indispensable to the club signing a new full time contract to keep him at the club till 2012.

Squad Ratings

But even though success was at the club and the players are looking good for the future, one thing that might force the sale of many of the players is the inevitable bankruptcy of the club. The people in charge of the money again failed to keep the wages bill down and the two new signings Butler and Constantine were earning £102,000 per week between them. Delroy Facey who has now become something of suprless to requirements at the club himself earning still £62,000. Investment did come into the club and in total they earned a good £33 million, but the players are taking the majority of the money out of the club before the Chairmen even sees it. Who makes the decision to pay these players this type of Premiership wage?

Finance Summary

The former players continue to perform Sultan Wilson at Aresnal being the cheapest of all the players showing himself worth only £19.25 million, the strikers claiming the most value at £35.5 million. The young players even going as far as changing the look of the Premiership, Tottenham who have three of the players goalkeeper Alya, defender Merill and left winger Conor have helped Ramos’ side to break the the top 4 and finishe 2nd behind Liverpool. But things look very different as Arsenal yet again fail to claim a top four finish and yet again only qualify for Europe through a cup competition. Chelsea will join them in the UEFA cup finishing behind Manchester City in 5th. But overall the players show no sign of being stopped and have totally took over the England side which is due to play in the World Cup in the summer. With only 6 real players still in the squad, Carson, Ferdinand, Terry, Gerrard, Lampard and Rooney it will be interesting to see if the young side has the mental strength to perform on the biggest stage of all. The CA of a couple of players though has began to fall, Wilson the only 19 year old from the squad to lose a point off his CA, where as age looks to start to have affects on Shafaqut who is down two.

Original Players

Season Best Eleven

The success last season was a result to a two seasons of work coming together after buying the right players to get some balance into the side that was under achieving before my arrival. It also meant that last year I didn’t need to splash the cash as I had spent the years developing the squad to go for the title, this meant that when the season closed their was still £30 million in the pot. Before the new budget was drawn up I thought that I would go out and splash the cash and look forward to a new budget in the summer. I looked at a few players that I had been chasing in the January and finally negotiated a deal with Juventus for central midfielder Javi Martinez whose brilliant performances in Italy shot his value sky high. But the negotiating went on so long that just at the last minute the new budget was drawn up and the money I had for the summer went on the midfielder, but I wasn’t too worried as rumours had surfaced that new money was going to come into the side as new investors looked to takeover. The takeover took the majority of the summer to be sealed and during the time I was hit with uncertainty of being in the job once it was complete and also a transfer embargo, causing me problems when ageing Toure and Barzagli were really coming to the end of their careers with no body to take the reigns in the middle. So I took the decision that it was time for me to move on, this would be the second time that new owners at my clubs didn’t turn out well.

I quickly got back on the saddle and found a new club as things moved quickly, managers shifted around first of all Munich manager Felix Magath replaced my position at Arsenal, leaving a space for Ronald Koeman to take up a management role in Germany and I looked to travel to Spain and try my hand in La Liga sitting in the hot seat of failing Valencia side. Taking up my position late meant that I had to deal with the squad that I had avaliable to me but in the knowledge that £59 million would be there for the side come the January sales. Finishing only only mid table in the previous season the club looks to be going in to decline and when I arrive I can see why. I inherit a team though that on the face of it looks fairly decent and definitely something to build on, the one thing the side lacks is depth and if a few players are injured then the side will totally go under and struggle to reach a European space, which this side is more then capable of.

Goalkeeper

Vincent Enyeama the Nigerian international as many FM fans know, is amazing a must signing for many players, so to have him behind the defence is a real pleasure and will mean that I am going to have safe hands between the sticks for the next couple of seasons. The backups are 36 year old Timo Hildebrand a decent backup and a good servant to the club, but is getting a bit old now and with his contract ending at the end of the season I won’t be renewing as I look to revamp the whole squad. Juan Castillo is the goalkeeper with time on his hands at 19 he has along way to go but with a little training could definitely be one for the future.

Defenders

On the left there is only one player, Italian Simone Chinelli a decent work horse and good enough to stay in the squad till the end of the season if needed, but if we are going to challenge for a title then he is going to have to up his game, Simone will be part of the squads plans in the long term but might not take a prominent role as I seek to bring in new players. On the right is another seriously lacking part of the field, 31 year old Scouser Ryan Taylor who again is in a similar situation to Chinelli, does the job but nothing fantastic and the only problem with Taylor is his age at 31 he has already peaked, he has played in Spain for sometime now though and played consistently not a matter of urgency to replace him. Centrally is key to the defense as it holds an amazing young Frenchman who arrived from PSG 6 years ago for £26 million, making him Valencia’s all time most expensive player, but the defender hasn’t really put in the performances over a season yet, but coming to a more mature age I will be expecting alot from Sakho. Partnering him at the back is huge defender Raul Albiol, a favourite in Valancia and so he should be as over his career he has been consistently a great player and has plenty of legs to keep going. The only decent backup to those two though is former Newcastle man Steven Taylor great attributes and would walk into many sides and recently broken into the England side. Ageing Amorebieta is the the squad who has spend his career moving on bosman rulings look like going to do again as I have no plans in keeping him. When I arrived the defender was asking for a transfer but now begging to stay, with my rejections going straight back to him.

Midfielders

Again down the wings the team had little to spare, but the players on both sides did look like pretty good players to start off with. Saudi Arabian Ali Al-Basha who at 25 had done a lot of traveling spending time in Holland, Scotland and Turkey before arriving in Spain for a fee of £12.5 million this season, the only signing made by Koeman. But the player looks worth every penny as there is nothing he can’t do down that wing and will most probably just need someone to back him up in case of injury. On the other wing though is Oleg Husyev who has never been a regluar in the first team usual playing as backup to Obertan has recently left for Madrid before I arrived but leaving with putting some money in the transfer kitty. At 32 I will be looking for a quick replacement but for the time being he has been enjoying his best season yet, with a point to prove as I look for new players. In the middle their is no short of players, but the only problem all of them are defensive minded players. The two best I have already had on my books at Liverpool, Lucas who commanded a huge sum to arrive from Real Madrid and a player who I was looking to bring back to England to place in my Arsenal side is Ignacio Camacho. Backing up these guys are some really strong players in Dider Digard and youngster Pinheiro, also looking to end his career at the club is Cameroon captain Jean II Makoun, all decent players but all defensive midfielder and I will be looking to bring in my attacking players for that position.

Strikers

Upfront Valencia again had strong players, but once again lacked in depth. It is coming apparent that the side needs a whole other tier of players if we are to compete with the likes of Madrid and Barcelona who are on fire. Mexican Carlos Vela has made a name for himself in Spain and will hopefully continue under my own guidance. Up with him is Marcia who since signing for Valencia has came into his own and finally reaching the potential that everyone knew he had. The two strikers should be able to get 50 goals easily between them. Behind them is Mchedlidze who is another Valencia favourite and has put in the performances over the last couple of seasons but looking at his attributes I don’t why, good at running and in the air, maybe he is able to get on those crosses 99% but I think I will stick with Vela and Marcia up front. David Villa is still at the club but looking a bit worn now and will only serve as someone for the young players to look up to and maybe the odd cup game.

So with this side the aim is for a European spot in the first season, the board have already told me they want to be in the UEFA cup next season, but with a few more players I can see this side looking for Champions League football once again. But when the window comes about it will be about getting some depth into the side, a must is two full backs and a winger, hopefully with the quality I have already got on the wings for now I will be able to get away with bringing a utility man in who can cover both wings. I am also going to concentrate on producing a decent B side to call players from, mixture of young players fighting for first team action and experience to help the young players come along. Another striker might be nice to bring in when other parts of the field are filled, it will be interesting to take up a job that I haven’t paid too much notice of in my career game, it will force me to look around the league for players and hone my scouting skills in the game.