Cambridge United: 2015 / 2016 Season — Rebuilding the Dream

Hello friends and welcome back to my Football Manager Story that last season ended on an all-time low as Cambridge were dealt a harsh lesson in the Premier League and setting a record for the worst ever performance in the competition.

Before I begin this episode and would just like to thank everyone who left a comment last time and I was overwhelmed by the out-pouring of support and positive comments not to give up and carry on with Cambridge which is exactly what I’m doing. Special thanks to Ana and Lye for reminding me that they had disappointments too in previous versions of FM. So, todays report will focus on the build up to the new season.

Finances

We ended up last season around the £4 million mark in terms of our overall finances….

….and then received some nice additional funds in terms of kit sponsorship, parachute payments and TV rights.

The board had already approved a stadium expansion but in the past hadn’t had much appetite to improve our training facilities but they finally approved a request for the first team.

With some healthy amounts of money coming into the club, the board then offered a very limited choice in transfer funds and salaries when setting out the expectations for the upcoming season. In the end I settled on committing to promotion which handed me just over £4 million to play with.

Transfers

My board of directors had been more active than ever during this off season and had succesfully negotiated a link with Liverpool.

We immediately benefited from this with the arrival of DMC Steve Parker who can also play as a central defender as well. Really good physical attributes and a strong tackler as well, Steve will play as a ball winning midfielder to begin with.

As Liverpool didn’t seem interested in sending anyone else to us on loan I had to make on offer on Giovanni Ferrara though I think the 50k fee will be well worth it for this central defender and I already have one Italian in my back four. Giovanni has a good team work attitude and ecxcellent concentration which was sadly lacking in the defence last season.

Also joining our back four is Marcelo Canteros, a young Argentinian from Banfield. I’d been tracking this player for about two seasons now and decided to finally make a move for him once he became availbale on a free transfer. Nothing spectacular in terms of his attributes but my scouts highly recommended him.

On the left flank come youngster  Jeff Webster from Aston Villa who seem to continually churn out young and fast wingers with Jeff being no exception. He’s got pretty good dribbling and crossing skills coupled with a rugged determination so should suit my left flank tactic perfectly.

On the opposite side is another loan signing — Sean Power from Middlesboro’. Not quite as quick as Jeff but has a great first touch and looks to be a smashing free kick taker!

As the right side gave me some aggrevation last season I bolstered this area with experienced Nigerian Chidi Odiah who can play at either DR or MR as required. A solid player who seems to be able to keep his head under pressure.

Moving on to the forward line which was nothing short of disastrous last season come two new players to try and get us back in the Premier League. The first is a young Scot, Jamie Maclaren who has been brought in as more as a substitute rather than a starter but is very quick and could cause trouble in the last 20 minutes of a game.

Definitely starting is this young Dane who looks to be an absolute gem having found him at Doncaster Rovers. Twenty four goals in twenty seven games as a youth international is nothing to be ignored. Jacob has got great physical and mental attributes with a powerful header as well. I’m really hoping he can turn on the style in The Championship.

Transfer Summary

A lot of players left the club on a free transfer some of whom have been at Cambridge for a number of seasons but I did manage to get 200k for club captain Scott Wootten who no longer had an interest in playing for the club. Overall I’m quite happy with the way things turned out and as a side note I turned down several bids for Conor Newton and Johnny Gorman.

Other News:

I also turned down the chance to manage Arsenal which was quite a shock when the offer to take over such a prestigous club was made to me. I just wanted to see if I could take Cambridge straight back up to the EPL.

In terms of the upcoming season we are definitely one of the contenders being valued at odds of 6-1 to go up.

Pre Season Results

We started off with a much needed morale boosting 9-0 over Bishop Sutton and quickly followed that with another 5-1 victory. Green arrows right across the board. We then hit a run of sending off’s and poor results sending morale back into the toilet! Goals by Bruno and Newton restored confidence as we beat Club Brugge to wrap up pre season activities.

Fixtures:

The season will start off away to Swansea with two tricky games against Newcastle and Huddersfield in the middle of the month.

 That’s about all I have for you this time so have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

PS Many thanks Darren for that bit of tactical insight.