Hi there!
Welcome to my 2nd attempt at a story. We all know what happened last time with Rangers but that’s in the past and my new journey starts here in East Yorkshire with Hull City AFC. Now most people remember Hull for being in the Premier League for 2 seasons, the first which saw them survive at Newcastle’s expense, and the second which saw them drop back into the Championship with a whole host of financial issues. So here’s some info on Hull City:
After the crap I put up with Rangers, getting almost no support and then being sacked for no good reason I wanted a job that would provide a bit of cash with which I could build a club. As you can see, Hull has a lot of debt, but £30million of this debt is a non-repayable grant from our very kind chairman. They have a reasonable media prediction and a decent squad. The only real problem is the youth facilities which I’ll be aiming to get sorted as quick as possible.
Don’t know why I screenshot this, it doesn’t really have anything to do with the game, although it is nice to see I’m earning £2.6K a week, that’s about £2.6K a week more than I’m earning right now in real life…
Moving on, here’s the round up of Hull’s past achievements, they were apparently successful in the ’60s with their last competition win coming 45 years ago in 1966! I’ve also noticed that we don’t have the nicest rivals in the world, beating Leeds and Sheffield Utd in the first season could prove difficult but Scunthorpe are hopeless in the Championship (sorry Scunny fans).
As for the loan situation, it strikes me that some of the clubs best players in Gardner, Ghilas, and Olifinjana have been farmed out. Bullard can stay at Ipswich for all I care, I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay a crock £50K a week! We do have Mannone from Arsenal and Corry Evans from Man Utd though who are decent young players while I’ve already cancelled Gerrard’s loan, I’ve no intention of playing a 35 year old at centre back.
Not a bad team report. I hate needing to sign a left back though since there are never any good LB’s at a reasonable price when you’re a Championship club. I seem to have a pretty strong midfield and the striker department isn’t too bad either. Here’s what the board expect of me with this squad:
Not bad for a Championship club, I’ll just have to get my wheeler dealer gloves on in the transfer market. At first I thought this was a good budget and then a thought crept into my head, «Hang on! Hull are supposed to be rich!» so I thought I would take a look at the bank balance…
If I’m not mistaken that balance reads £28million…suddenly the budgets don’t seem so generous, I’m pretty sure they could have given me a little bit more cash without jeopardising the clubs future, somewhere around the £2million mark would have been nice but hey, I’m a Newcastle United fan, I’m used to being ripped off by my chairman so it’s no problem! :D
Well that’s all for now! Next post will be about pre-season, tactics, and transfers so expect a long one!
Thanks for reading!
FM Blogger
16 августа, 2011 at 13:36
Hi Dan,
Well you trick us, I thought that Everton would be your team but apparently I was wrong…Good luck with your new team and may I recommend Michael Ball as a left back for your team? He is free agent and very good for the championship level.
Dan
16 августа, 2011 at 13:43
I tricked myself ;) I was convinced I was going to be Everton but then began to get bored after just 2 friendlies so I decided to pick Hull, it was a completely random choice really. Thanks for the suggestion of Michael Ball although I’m quite a way through my friendlies now and it may be too late to sign him, but I’ll check him out anyway.
Laxeyman
16 августа, 2011 at 13:50
Like FM Blogger I thought you were going Everton as well Dan, but Hull looks like an interesting choice, and a good challenge too. I didn’t realise that they have quite a lot of money, although the board seem a bit tight with their cash. Anyway, your team looks quite good, and I’m sure you’ll make it better still, good luck!
Dan
16 августа, 2011 at 14:14
Thanks Laxeyman. The board do seem pretty tight but then again, maybe the more success I bring the wider the chairman will open his wallet.
ri916
16 августа, 2011 at 14:03
hmmm…….. looks like hull is being ran exactly like newcastle. good luck with your story and who knows maybe the chairman is happy to keep making a tidy profit in the championship and your job will be a lot safer!
Dan
16 августа, 2011 at 14:15
Hull’s not being run exactly like Newcastle, I get 70% of transfer revenue rather than the 0% that Fat Mike gives any Newcastle manager. I do expect a larger budget next season though whether I go up or not…
Matt Clark
16 августа, 2011 at 15:09
as a grimsby fan not my favourite team but as long as you beat scumthorpe i dont mind
best of luck with hull
Dan
16 августа, 2011 at 15:43
Thanks Matt :)
Sibo
16 августа, 2011 at 15:22
WEll, that’s a surprise! Good luck mate! :D
Also, may I recommend Calum Davenport and Chris Riggott as DCs, if you need any extra depth there? :D
Sibo
16 августа, 2011 at 15:28
Yes, agree with Matt, above, you have again chosen a «rival» team of mine, seriously!?! :D
The only teams I really support are Grimsby, Aberdeen and Barcelona, so I guess the FM12 story will be with Real Madrid then? :P
Dan
16 августа, 2011 at 15:44
Hi Sibo,
I’ll consider Davenport and Riggott but like I said, I may have waited too long to get any good free transfers…
You don’t have to worry about me being Real Madrid, I hate them :)
Nicholas Phipps
16 августа, 2011 at 17:07
Hi Dan, this should be an interesting story and I’m looking forward to it! If I could recommend someone, Matthew Booth is a decent standard Premier League player and can be brought from Sundowns for a very low fee! Cheers :)
Dan
16 августа, 2011 at 18:06
I’ll check Matthew Booth out, it should be me saying cheers to you Nicholas, cheers! :)
Dan
16 августа, 2011 at 20:41
He’s already been signed up by Monterrey…
Johnny Karp
16 августа, 2011 at 18:38
They definitely should have given you a bit more money for transfers but I guess they don’t trust you too much yet :) Maybe they will give you some more in January if the results are good. Best of luck mate!
Dan
16 августа, 2011 at 20:40
I’m guessing your probably right Johnny. But it still makes no sense to not give me £2million transfer budget which I could have signed lots of players with and then spend that same amount on a goalkeeper I wanted!
The club seems to be making a nice steady profit too so I’m already rubbing my hands together in anticipation for January :)
Darren Smith
16 августа, 2011 at 18:44
Yep well said mate…the Hull owner seems just as bad as Ashley…actually that is impossible so forget I said it :)
Looking forward to this mate, two colleagues at work support Hull and the owner of my company sponsors them so I get free tickets now and then. Good luck.
Dan
16 августа, 2011 at 20:43
Hi Darren,
I’m just going to pretend you never even said that about Mr. Assam! ;)
You should tell your boss to take a look at my start of season post when it’s done, after the start I’ve had in the league he might well give me some tickets now and again :D
vaibhavc
16 августа, 2011 at 20:46
Hey Dan
I was expecting Everton but Hull is not that bad of a challenge. Not that much cash though. But Anthony Gerrard is 25, not 35. What is wrong with him as a player?
Dan
17 августа, 2011 at 12:26
Hi vaibhavc,
I must have got the age wrong, but that doesn’t matter, he just wasn’t very good in my first 2 friendlies…
Kevin
16 августа, 2011 at 21:47
Hi Dan
Add my 10 cents worth in that I was expecting an Everton story as well :) Good luck with Hull though they should have given you more money to play with!
Dan
17 августа, 2011 at 12:28
Hi Kevin,
I think I’ve fooled pretty much everyone, but it wasn’t intentional I just changed my mind at the last minute. I think the board probably should have given me more money but at least this way it’s stopped me going crazy in the transfer market which is probably a good thing.
Ana Garcia
17 августа, 2011 at 20:56
Shame about your last journey, but at least you found a team that has good promise.
Your team look very decent and with a few new additions you could be in for a very good season, so the best of luck.
:)
Dan
18 августа, 2011 at 15:26
Thanks Ana!
CsAtlantis
18 августа, 2011 at 04:04
Hey for 400k you should be in with a shot of buying Peter Masilela, he’s a very good left back
Good luck with your new team Dan, maybe the money in the balance is the chairman grant, which nobody dares to touch at their own peril……………:P
Dan
18 августа, 2011 at 15:27
Damn, I never even thought about Masilela but I’ve got a solid squad anyway.
As for the money, now it all makes sense! He might as well let me spend it though since it’s non-repayable.