The Motormen Prepare For The Premier League!

Hello dear friends, I’m very happy to bring you a very important update to my Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 Story! As you well know we earned a historic promotion to the Premier League after a spectacular Championship playoff but the celebrations had to come to an end quickly as we had to prepare for the biggest challenge in the club’s history.

The club received 40 million pounds in TV rights for our first ever Premier League season but the board was not very generous when it came to the transfer budget, they offered me just 10.75 million to save the team from relegation. That was not enough for my plans so I decided to gamble and promise them a mid-table finish for some extra transfer and wage money. I guess it’s a risk but I hope they won’t sack me if we finish just above the relegation zone.

The bookmakers were not very optimistic either, everybody seems to be thinking that we are by far the weakest team in the league. Well, I guess we’ll see about that…

And now let’s get to your favorite part: the transfers! We have brought in 16 new players, 15 of them will be joining the first team right away and one of them has already been sent on loan. Eighteen of our old players left the club, most of them on loan because they might still have a future at the club once they gain a bit more experience. The best sale was that of central defender Carlos Santos for 2.6 million pounds to Spanish club Salamanca. I still believe that he has good potential but he had some adaptation problems and I chose to cash in instead of waiting for him to blossom.

Now let me show you how our 24-man squad looks like, role by role.

Goalkeepers

Dean Bouzanis has done a good job last season so I decided to keep him and give him the chance to shine at a higher level. I needed a new backup though since James Dunn didn’t really look like he could perform in the Premier League. I didn’t want to spend too much on a goalie though and I eventually chose a free transfer: experienced American international Tim Howard. He was released on a free after several seasons with Everton and I decided to snap him up. He sill has good skills and his vast experience could help us a lot this season.

Right Backs

I’m quite pleased with my new first choice right defender: 18-year old Argentine youth international Julian Marino. I got him for a reasonable 1.8 million pounds from San Lorenzo and I think that he will become a top Premier League player in the future. Kaka will be his backup for now but they could well compete for the first team spot after a few months.

Left Backs

Youngster Grant Baddeley has some talent but the Premier League might be too much to handle on a regular basis at this point so I decided to bring him a mentor: experienced 31-year old Belgian left back Jelle Van Damme. This guy still has the skills and he also has good experience in several top European leagues. He was available for free and I guess it’s a great signing since he can also provide cover as a centre back or as a left midfielder.

Centre Backs

As you well know we had big problems in defense last season, we let in quite a few goals and it was quite obvious that we needed to bring in a couple of new central defenders. I chased several targets in a very frustrating process since a couple of deals for very talented South American defenders were denied by the work permit rule. I did manage to bring two good centre backs after all, they will have our former players Mervin Simon and Bryan Purdrue as backups. The first new centre back is New Zealand international Cameron Lindsay, bought for 3.2 million pounds from Romanian giants Steaua Bucharest. He also holds an English passport since he started his professional career at Blackburn and I believe that he will become the pillar of our defense because he is tall, strong but also reasonably quick.

Lindsay‘s partner will most likely be Osman Chavez, a Honduran international that I grabbed on a free transfer. He was released by French club Auxerre but I believe that he can still do a good job at the age of 31 since he has pretty good physical attributes and good experience. He was a bit of a panic buy I guess but I think that there’s good value for money in this deal.

Right Midfielders

We had no right wingers left in our squad at the beginning of the summer so I had to get in at least two of these. First there is former English youth international Wayne Routledge, a great promise back in his early days. The talent is still there at the age of 30 and I believe that his speed might help us throughout the season. He came on a free transfer after being released by Ipswich.

The second right winger was brought in on a season-long loan from Arsenal, a 20-year old German regen named Thorsten Schon. The loan fee was quite low, only 90K, and we can also buy him at any time during the loan for 1.5 million pounds. I think that he will do a good job and if I’ll be satisfied I might try to get that 1.5 million from somewhere and sign him on a permanent basis.

Left Midfielders

I think that this is the role that gave me the most headaches and I think that the problem was not solved in the best possible way. I decided to keep Keith Higgs as a backup for both midfield flanks but I can say that both the new left wingers were panic buys. First there is 27-year old Nathan Dyer, he came in for 275K from Reading. He has great pace and acceleration but I can’t say that the rest of his attributes are too impressive. However, his speed might do some damage on counter attacks now and again.

The second left winger is an experienced one, 31-year old Finnish international Roni Porokara. He was available on a free transfer after ending a contract with German club Karlsruhe and I believe that he could make for a reliable left winger while he could also provide some pleasant surprises given his flair and creativity.

Now let’s take a deep breath and go to the next page, you’ll see my new central midfielders and strikers in there! ;)

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Central Midfielders

I kept just one of my former central midfielders, youngster Mark Brown. He was an essential player for us last season but now he will have to compete for a place in the starting eleven with four new midfielders, some very good ones I might add. First there is 19-year old Czech giant Radek Vecera, a very tall central midfielder with very good technique. I believe that this lad could become the next Vieira, I expect a lot from him. By the way, I bought him for just 1.1 million pounds from Czech side Slovan Liberec.

Then there is another young sensation, 18-year old Dutch youth international Shyamdew Weibolt. I spent 2 million pounds to buy him from Feyenoord but I believe that he’s well worth it given his potential.

19-year old German youth international Elias Kost joined us on a free transfer from Manchester United, he’s not as good as the first two but I believe that he has the potential to become at least a good piece of business.

With four youngsters in the middle of the park I decided to add an experienced backup player to the lot: 27-year old Spanish midfielder Inigo Perez, bought for 475K from Championship side Sheffield Wednesday. He should be a reliable player although he never managed to play in the top flight before.

Strikers

We already have Andrés and Ibrahima MBow, two very good strikers that should shine in the Premier League, so I brought in just two new strikers to make that department even more competitive. The first signing was Slovakian youth international Pavol Vesely, I paid 950K for him to Polish club Ruch Chorzow. This lad has some pretty good attributes for his young age and his determination should help him to improve over the next few years.

And last but not least, a player that most of you already know from my under 18 wonderkids list: Connor Wickham. He is 22 years old now and, believe it or not, I snapped him up on a free transfer after his Ipswich deal expired. His talent is still there, the potential is still there and I believe that he is the ideal candidate for my «complete forward» role: tall, strong, fairly quick and also with decent technical abilities. I think that he has what it takes to become a club legend in a few years, he just has to work hard to reach his potential and I’ll give him lots of first team football to help him with that.

These were our new signings but the best and most expensive one is still to come. Normally I didn’t want to spend money on a player that would join the club in January but I decided to do that because this player is well worth it. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be waiting for him until the 1st of January 2016 but he is a true wonderkid: Paraná, a world-class 17-year old Brazilian striker from Botafogo. I paid 3.8 million pounds for this lad but his talent if obvious and his mental attributes are excellent at his age.

The assistant manager believes that we have enough depth but I don’t agree with the first eleven that he chose in the report, Van Damme will be playing as a left back in most games with Dyer or Porokara as left midfielders.

We played 8 friendly games and I’m pleased to say that we went through those unbeaten. We met two Premier League sides, Arsenal and Blackburn, and we managed to grab two goalless draws in those games but we should have won both since we dominated quite clearly.

We were handed a pretty difficult start to the season since we’ll be meeting Manchester United and Tottenham (joint-favorites for the title) in the first month. I hope to beat Blackburn in the opening day of the season and then give those two a good run for their money…

Before concluding the post I have a screen shot that was requested by Plobdork, there you go mate! I’m not a club legend but I guess that’s just temporary :)

That’s about it for now my friends, thanks a lot for reading the post and for supporting my Motormen throughout their incredible journey from Blue Square North to the Premier League.

P.S.: Stay tuned for an important announcement later today! :)