joseph.wade.

So last time I posted I was at the conclusion of my first season with an equal-record 5th placed finish under my belt and some European Competition to look forward to in the coming season. Since then, the summer’s passed and in true FM fashion so has the entire season! I’m now entering my 3rd season at the club so here’s a round-up of what happened in Season 2, 2013-14.

My Summer was productive. Antoine Griezmann was the key acquisition from a relegated Real Sociedad in Spain. £21million for one of the better young wingers/attacking midfielders in the game was a fair price I felt and allowed me to add to my generally mid-table attacking midfield. I also paid £15million to get Dusan Tadic to return to Groningen from FC Twente and a further £9million for Adam Maher, a young Dutch attacking midfielder from AZ Alkmaar. An entirely new attacking midfield was set and added to my two good Dutch signings from the previous season - Ruud Vormer & Wout Brama. As well as boosting my attacking threat I also attempted to boost my defense by raiding two relegated Premier League clubs - Swansea and Southampton. To my delight I was able to get fully fledged Netherlands international Michel Vorm to join from Swansea on a long-term £5million deal - It’s perhaps the better of my transfers when it comes to value for money.The signing from Southampton was Maya Yoshida, the Japanese centre back. I paid just over £4million for him and would use him as a replacement for outgoing back-up centre back Dominguez.
Going out of the club was DeMarcus Beasley (which fans weren’t happy with), Julio Dominguez, Rasmus Lindgren & Femi Ajilore. This was my first 11 at the start of 2013-14:

1. GK - Michel Vorm
2. DR - Stefano Magnasco
3. DC - Virgil van Dijk
4. DC - Maya Yoshida
5. DL - Jetro Willems
6. DM - Wout Brama
7. DM - Ruud Vormer
8. AMR - Dusan Tadic
9. AMC - Adam Maher
10. AML - Antoine Griezmann
11. ST - Admir Mehmedi

Despite what I felt was a very promising, possibly top 4, team we started horribly. 1 point from 3 games quickly became 9 from 9 and the season wasn’t to improve. Heading in to Christmas I was on a run of 6 games without a win yet still only 12 points off the top 2 and still 8 points clear of relegation. Regardless, I knew I had to use my superior financial power in order to boost my chances of Europe for next season because 12th simply didn’t fit it. 
I started with my first completed acquisition of Dutch International right-back Gregory van der Wiel. In my many PSV adventures I’ve never managed such a signing and it was a great moment for me. He was a risk given his lack of interest in joining and his history with injuries but, when playing, is the best possible right back I could have asked for. I then went big, adding to my £6million signing with a further £45million spent in January.
Christian Benteke was the headline signing at £24million with Emilio Nsue also joining for £6million. I added to my great, young, Dutch defence with the £12.5million acquisition of Stefan de Vrij from Feyenoord. I also added Stijn Schaars (another Dutch player) from Sporting CP as an alternative to my holding midfield duo. Post-January my starting 11 was this.

1. Michel Vorm
2. Gregory van der Wiel
3. Virgil van Dijk
4. Stefan de Vrij
5. Jetro Willems
6. Wout Brama
7. Ruud Vormer
8. Emilio Nsue
9. Dusan Tadic
10. Antoine Griezmann
11. Christian Benteke

Coming out of January I had a run of 1 loss in 11 games and catapulted up the league table. I was in 6th, with 4th (the last automatic Europa League qualification spot) in my sights. Unfortunately I lost Wout Brama, Dusan Tadic, Jetro Willems, and basically all of my back-up players to injury. I also began to lose the dressing room - Again - And my sunday league footballer playing history was coming back to haunt me again. We somehow dragged ourselves to 8th place though and thus made the Europa League qualification play offs. My ever impressive run against Feyenoord paid off as I knocked the 5th placed side out of European contention in the semi-final and, in-turn, earned myself a spot in Europe for next season. In the final I was guaranteed an easier route to the Europa League group stage if I could beat AZ Alkmaar but it wasn’t to be. We were well and truly beaten, 4-0 on aggregate. I finished the season in precisely the same fashion as the previous season which was disappointing but a good result given the drastic runs of form my side felt. 

Hopefully in the coming season I’ll be able to do better than being knocked out in the final quali round of the Europa by Stuttgart like what happened last season. 

I was sacked by Sunderland 3 days before Christmas with 18 points and in 18th place. Gutted. I had some plans for January. 

Spending my entire budget as Sunderland manager in Football Manager 2013 on Sam Byram just because I sort of know him in real-life is okay, right? 

I haven’t really blogged about Football Manager before but I thought I’d take the opportunity granted to me by a very small amount of followers to start doing so at this moment in time. Forgive me for there will be no pictures of my actual save in this post.

FC Groningen are a Dutch Eredivisie football team with a ton of potential. Their ground is an expandable 25,000 seater and they boast a season ticket holder base of around 20,000. In short, they have the potential to grow. Their history is short and besides a Dutch 2nd division promotion trophy, the cabinet is entirely empty. This club is so mediocre that their highest ever finish is, well, 5th. These are the reasons I decided to step in to my editor and grant the Northern Netherlands side a helping hand by setting them up with a top class chairman and a number of low-profile, high-cost, transfers out of the club to a team in Ecuador’s ‘lower division’. Over the course of 4 years this is set to make £720million for the club.

The Youth Squad

I first sat in the hotseat at the end of June, 2012, with the intention of doing one thing - Developing the youth team. 4 ‘greyed out’ players were signed to develop a miniscule base, and young talent like Tigran Gazarjan were relegated to the U19’s ranks for a little support. I folowed these moves with a series of low profile free transfers and the hiring of a superb backroom staff of whom would be of great assistance to their development. My head of youth development and director of football were also some of the best I could afford and attract given the relatively low reputation of the club.My newly acquired transfer budget allowed me to scour Holland and Belgium (in particular) for a selection of potentially good footballers which boosted the previously non-existent squad in to a 6th placed U19’s Group 1 finish. Not the best, but far superior to any previous expectations. 

The First Team

With God knows how much money in the bank, but only a fairly modest £30,000p/w maximum wage I set my aims on the cup and thus left the league to chance. Given the luck of the draw I saw it as a winnable proposition if the right signings were made and thus set out to make as many beneficial transfer coups as possible in the first transfer window. My priority was Dutch.

A combined amount of around £34million was shelled out on 3 Dutch Eredivisie stars - Ruud Vormer, Wout Brama, Jetro Willems. I paid way over the odds but given the restrictions given to me via the reputation of the club I thought all three to be very good long-term signings. They provided the base on which to grow and the additions of Roy Beerens (£2.6mil) and Gino Coutinho (£3mil) added more solid Dutch members of the first-team to the ranks. I then added to the Dutch core with a selection of important players, the best of which were Admir Mehmedi (£6mil) and Rincon (£600k). The former scored 18 goals in 29 league games and the latter was second in the overall average ratings come the end of the season. DaMarcus Beasley, David Mendes DaSilva, Jefferson Montero, and Radoslaw Majewski (loan), were also added to the squad and I was set.

The First Season

Initially the team struggled to find its footing as a group of newly assembled stars. I was inconsistent at best, claiming only 10 points from 8 games. I was under pressure but luckily they came good. A shrewd alternating of the 4231 formation I was playing grabbed me a few key results and an early run of non-league opposition in the Dutch Cup kept morale at an adequate level. Coutinho had become injured and Luciano had stepped in to provide excellent cover between the sticks but the rotation of right backs (because of injury) didn’t help. As 2013 rolled around things seemed to be more consistent. Less injuries, more wins. There were multiple 5 and 6 game unbeaten runs which pushed me up the league and through the cup. The quarter final of the cup was the first round I’d faced Eredivisie competition and a penalty shoot out was needed to ensure my progression. SC Heerenveen awaited the winner with the only remaining giant - PSV Eindhoven - Being on the other side of the draw. Unfortunately I’d go out on penalties in the semi to the surprise winners of the eventual final. My utter disappointment saw me turning to next season as a salvation and looking for the best players. Little did I know that my run of league form would continue right throughout the season and eventually land me 5th place (equal with the record high of the club) and a place in the Europa League.

The argument would be that I should have done better given the funds at my disposal and I won’t argue against that. But, I believe I have a better foundation for moving forward than I even managed to achieve in a similar PSV save I also have. Brama, Willems, Vormer and Beerens, are all solid Dutch players who could compliment any potential Eredivisie champions so now it’s on to next season.

I’m currently in the Summer transfer window so will update this again once the transfer window has come to a close. Big Summer ahead!