Hello folks and welcome back to the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story! Our fans might be still nursing hangovers after the magnificent treble that we pulled off last season but I had to start working again to face the challenges ahead of us. You might have already seen the squad analysis, so you know that I wanted to bring in a new left back and a left winger, let’s see what I’ve managed to do during the transfer window.
I was hoping for a wealthy transfer budget and I must admit that I was slightly disappointed when I saw that the board offered me 33 million pounds to challenge for the title. The wage budget is quite alright though, 1.4 million pounds per week.
So, let’s see the transfers. I sold Djourou and Sburlea for 18 million pounds, that added quite a big chunk of money to the existing budget. My main targets were left back Fabio from Manchester United and left winger Ashley Young from Aston Villa, they seemed to be the best home grown players for those roles. Fabio came in for a reasonable price, 10 million pounds, but I have spent almost everything on Young, 30 million pounds! It might have been a rash decision but I guess I’m a bit stubborn sometimes. Initially Aston Villa wanted 40 million pounds but I managed to negotiate down to 30 after trying to get him for 25. The rest of the players are promising youngsters plus two surprise signings on free transfers, goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and world class striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Now let me introduce the main transfers. The first one was the left back, Brazilian born and Manchester United raised Fabio. He is one of the best left backs in England at the moment and I hope that his presence will be a big incentive for young Joe Barton to improve himself.
I guess I don’t have to say too much about our new left winger, Ashley Young, he has great abilities and I think that he could be one of the players that could add quality to the team.
I didn’t really need another striker but when I saw that Ibrahimovic was available for free I just couldn’t help it. He’s 32 years old now, lost a bit of pace, but he still has awesome skills that could be important in certain games. He will be a backup player, he agreed to that status within the team, and he could also be a great tutor for the club’s youngsters.
I was very satisfied with my goalkeeper, Sergio Romero did well during the two seasons that he spent at the club, but finding someone like Guillermo Ochoa on a free transfer is not something that happens every day. So I thought that it will be a good business opportunity: if he does well then I’ll sell Romero in January, if not I’ll sell Ochoa and still gain something.
I also brought in six youngsters that will be given some time to grow in the reserves team. The most promising of the bunch seems to be Romanian regen defender Iulian Neacsu, a very versatile player that has the natural ability to cover every single role in defense: right back, left back and centre back.
We played five friendly games, scored a whole lot of goals but I was a bit disappointed with the Celtic game, we conceded two goals with incredible ease.
Liverpool and Man City seem to be the favourites for the title, we’re used to fight against the odds.
We’re going to start the season with a tough battle with our rivals from last season, Manchester United. It will be a chance to win the Community Shield at Wembley, I hope we’ll be ready for the occasion. The month will end with a fantastic encounter with Champions League winners Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup.
I had offers coming in for almost each and every player in the squad and some of them are not happy that I rejected them. I hope that once the transfer window will end they will set their minds on playing football again and forget about all the millions that are being offered for their services. That’s how our pre season went, thanks for reading and I’m looking forward to your comments. ;)
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Lye
22 февраля, 2010 at 17:45
Hi mate, glad that you got your transfer targets and some excellent free transfers over there. I believe not only you, if i encounter such free signings, i won’t hesitate to make a move for them. In overall great pre-season and can’t wait for your season to start the premier league and the champions league.
Kevin Mayo
22 февраля, 2010 at 17:56
Hi Johnny
Some great signings there particulary Ibrahimovic for free. i’m glad you got Young and Fabio they should do an excellent job for you.Your Romanian Regen looks very decent as well.Good luck for the coming season.
Martin
22 февраля, 2010 at 18:08
Well Done On Getting Your Two Main Targets In!
You Got Some Good Fees For Sburlea And Djourou.
Ochoa Doesn’t Really Have Brilliant Attributes IMO, But He’s Still Good.
Btw, Its January In My First Premiership Season And I Signed Romero For £9.75M And I’m Trying To Get A New Centre Back And A New Right Back Because My Centre Backs Aren’t Anything Special And Danny Simpson Isn’t Great Either1
Johnny Karp
22 февраля, 2010 at 19:31
@Martin
Ochoa has brilliant mental attributes, much better than Romero’s. He also has great agility, an essential attribute for a goalkeeper. I remember I paid around 10 mil for Romero, so well done!
@Kevin
Thanks for the comment. I hope that Ibrahimovic could cover well for the first team regulars, I don’t think that he can do more than that. The Romanian could become a great backup player because of his tremendous versatility.
@Lye
Thanks mate, I hope that we will prove that last season was not just a lucky break.
Martin
22 февраля, 2010 at 20:01
I Remember That You Paid £7.5M For Romero :P
What Database Is Yours On By The Way?
Thanks About The Ochoa Thing, That Could Help In Future If I Want To Buy A Keeper
Johnny Karp
22 февраля, 2010 at 22:39
@Martin
Was he that cheap? The database is the large one, that’s what I selected when I started the game and I guess it was the one released with the first patch.
Bilal Ahmad
22 февраля, 2010 at 20:18
Johnny you have bought several good players! Ibrahimovic and Ochoa and quality players and you got them for free and El Shaarawy is also a quality young player. Fabio and Ashley Young are also quality players I think you have done a fantastic job in the transfer market! Also your preseason friendlies were great except for the Celtic match.
Calum
22 февраля, 2010 at 20:43
Well done on a great pre-season Johnny. I am little bit worried about your new left wing as both Ashley Young and Fabio are right footed and that means they will have to cut in quite often. I don’t know if that will effect the way you play or not though………
Great signings though and some great snaps in the free transfer area of it.
Looking forward to see how you get on this year :D
Sears
22 февраля, 2010 at 20:48
Good signing’s Johnny.Are you not worried you paid such a high sum of money for a player who’s 29 years old?But Ashely Young is a fantastic player. Excellent free transfer’s!Looking forward to your season and champion’s league story.
Johnny Karp
22 февраля, 2010 at 22:33
@Sears
I thought about Young’s age and I was worried about that but I guess he could be a top player for three more seasons and that could be quite enough.
@Calum
Both of them are decent with their left foot too, I don’t see too much of a problem there. Actually I would be pleased if Young would cut in, he could create some chances to shoot or pass the ball through to the strikers and that could surprise the opposition defensive lines.
@Bilal
Thanks for the comment mate, I hope the transfer market theories will prove to be right in the actual games, that’s the ultimate test.
cory berman
22 февраля, 2010 at 22:31
never by some one for a huge amount if they are over 28 complete waste
Johnny Karp
22 февраля, 2010 at 22:35
@Cory Berman
You could be right mate, the games will tell us the truth.
Majk
22 февраля, 2010 at 23:31
Great signings there Johnny! A big transfer in Young who just has to deliver if he is to justify his price tag. But I’m sure he will. Ochoa is a great keeper, I have him at Millwall, but I just snapped up Akinfeev on a free so I’m contemplating on selling Ochoa to get a bigger transfer kitty for next season.
Zlatan is a great find aswell, but he might flop due to his low speed. But deploying him right is probably key to making him shine.
I have all the faith in the world in you, have done wonders so far!
Kyle WHU
23 февраля, 2010 at 00:27
Hey Johnny anychance you could show us a screen show of your manager overview and your history so we can see highest fee paid etc. Cheers. Also how are Swindon town doing on your game?
TheZiggy
23 февраля, 2010 at 01:56
Well done on signing your two main targets, Young and Fabio. Get Ibrahimovic and Ochoa on free transfers is superb. I’m really surprised to see Ochoa on a free, as he’s a superb keeper.
Johnny Karp
23 февраля, 2010 at 08:54
@TheZiggy
Thanks for the comment. I think that Ochoa really wanted to come to Europe so he refused to sign a new contract with his Mexican club. What surprised me is that there was not a fierce battle for his signature with other European clubs.
@Kyle
I’ll remember your questions and I’ll try to give you the answers in the next post. The highest fee paid is definitely 30 mil for Ashley Young.
@Majk
Thanks mate. I think that Akinfeev is slightly better than Ochoa in my game. I don’t have too many requests from Ibrahimovic, I consider him the fourth choice striker. I would be happy if he could score one or two when I’ll need him.
TheZiggy
23 февраля, 2010 at 15:09
It’s suprising sometimes how little interest there is when some of the really good players come up on free transfers. When I signed Jimenez on a free, there was no other team tried to signed him. However when Yannis Tafer came up on a free, it seemed half of Europe tried to sign him. He’s only a decent striker for a Premiership team, but goes to show which position on the pitch commands most interest.
FootballManagerGuru
24 февраля, 2010 at 09:14
Wow Ochoa for free. That’s gotta be the best buy of the entire season. I remember Ochoa was playing for my Sunderland squad he was unstoppable in goal behind a strong back 4. Should expect great things from him (:
Johnny Karp
24 февраля, 2010 at 09:52
@FM Guru
He is a fantastic keeper, my only concern is that he’s not quite the type of sweeper keeper that I need for my high defensive line but hopefully he can compensate that with his skills.
Matt
24 февраля, 2010 at 10:40
Hi Johnny,
I was playing FM last night and playing the SPL as Rangers when I had my whole first team called up for international duty. So my two first team keepers were gone, I had a 16 yr old regen keeper called up by England U21 and had a 18yr old keeper injured which left me with a poor 20yr old keeper. The SPL rules state that I must have at least 1 keeper on the bench, so the only way I could play the match was to have my only available keeper start from the bench and then come on as a substitute in the first minute. I was really annoyed that the match wasn’t postponed and even more annoyed when the pre-match analysis called me crazy for not having a proper keeper in goal when it couldn’t be avoided. I know this is a long post but what I wanted to know is has this or anything else like this happened to anyone else?
Great Blog btw and I love everyone’s stories (goodluck with England!!)
Johnny Karp
24 февраля, 2010 at 11:34
@Matt
That is absolutely insane! I remember having such a problem in FM 2009 but my team was not in the Premier League, it was in a lower league so the decision of not postponing the game was understandable. I never thought that something like this could happen in the SPL, it’s absolutely crazy. And also that one keeper on the bench rule is not quite normal. Btw, how did the match end?
Matt
24 февраля, 2010 at 16:21
@Johnny
I ended up losing 4-2. The moment the match started I set my keeper to come off the bench but Motherwell (the team I was playing against) scored in the first 30 seconds straight from the kick off. We got back to lead 2-1 at the break but with basically an U19 team playing and no real leaders on the pitch my team started to crumble. I had a look at the fixtures again and it was a match that was postponed from a few months before. I’d have thought though that common sense would have prevailed and it would have been postponed again but apparently not!
TheZiggy
24 февраля, 2010 at 18:56
@Matt
That situation has to be a bug in the game, because the SPL in real life wouldn’t allow the match to go ahead. That’s the kind of situation that SI are interested in knowing about, especially if you have a saved game at a point just before the match. I imagine this was a fixture that had already been moved, because International fixutres usually see a gap in the top flight leagues. My guess as a programmer, is that the moving of fixtures doesn’t take into certain important things, such as the international breaks, or the schedules for the different cup competitions you’re still in.
paine
24 февраля, 2010 at 19:16
Ibrahimovic as a backup player?
Uhmm…I think he could create some problems to your team harmony, but I hope I’m wrong.
I just started a new blog, cause I couldn’t help blogging, a bit blog-aholic I think!
Have a look and share your thoughts.
Johnny Karp
24 февраля, 2010 at 19:27
@Paine
Since he agreed to sign a contract as a backup player I hope that he won’t cause problems if I won’t pick him in the starting eleven too often. I already had a look at the new blog, it does look pretty nice. It’s your choice but I would have continued on the WordPress one. Anyway, good luck and I’ll check it regularly to see what you’re up to! :)
Jaffa
24 февраля, 2010 at 19:30
this is completely unrelated but can u post a link to the january transfer update patch. also how do u install it??
Johnny Karp
24 февраля, 2010 at 20:00
@Jaffa
If you mean patch 10.2 that can be found in the download page. I don’t think there is a newer patch out although I know that there will be soon.
Matt
24 февраля, 2010 at 23:18
@TheZiggy
I’ve carried on with my season since then but do you think I should let SI know about it? I don’t have a back-up save from before the match, or any screen-shots to show it happened, but shall I just drop them an e-mail and explain what happened?