Vauxhall Motors FM 2011 Story: The End

Here we go… It’s time for the last post, the last update, the last episode of the Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 story! It’s the 89th post in this story, there were quite a few in there :) So, you all know the situation at the halfway point of the season, we were top of the table in the Premier League but just because Man United had a game in hand, we had won the Community Shield and we were still in the three cup competitions: Carling Cup, FA Cup and Champions League. Let’s see how the second part of the season went…

The Carling Cup semi final saw us taking on Manchester City and I was quite pleased to watch the first leg as we thrashed them at Vauxhall Stadium courtesy of braces from Iain McManus and Parana. The second leg didn’t start too well as the Citizens took an early 2-0 lead but thankfully we managed to restore parity and advance to the final once again.

I was quite confident before the final because we were going to face Liverpool, not a very tough opponent to be honest. But I wasn’t expecting an easy game either. Well, it turned out quite easy after all as we thumped the Reds 6-0 in a game that really saw just one team playing football at Wembley: the mighty Motormen! Lucas Cuello started things off with a superb goal and then, four goals later, Parana wrapped it up with an awesome effort. (click here to watch the highlights)

This was our third consecutive Carling Cup and fourth overall, I’m satisfied with what we have done in this competition.

Now let’s move on to the Premier League results, I was expecting a good battle for the title with Manchester United. January went pretty well for us up to a certain point, we snatched four consecutive wins at the beginning but then we were stopped by Liverpool before getting beaten again by Manchester City! That game was quite frustrating even though my lads didn’t play too well but Man City scored twice from two shots on target, that’s never easy to swallow. However, the situation at the top of the table was unchanged as we were level on points with Man United.

February was a lot better, we grabbed all our points while Manchester United dropped no less than six of them! The best game of the month for us was the 3-2 win against Arsenal, a victory that seemed highly unlikely after 40 minutes as one of my players got sent off. The lads showed great spirit in that game and pulled off a massive victory which helped us to build a six-point gap over Man United at the top of the table.

We suffered a setback in March as Ipswich managed to clinch a 2-2 draw against us but Manchester United had it far worse as they dropped four points in March due to a couple of unbelievable high-scoring draws: a 4-4 and a 6-6 against Liverpool! That means that we were enjoying a lead of 8 points at the top of the table , the title was ours to lose at that point.

The first game of April was the title decider as we were travelling to Old Trafford, Manchester United had to win it in order to get back in the title race. That didn’t happen though as my boys turned on the style and eventually won the game 2-0 courtesy of a brace from backup striker Thiago. (click here to watch the highlights) The title was secured two games later and that left us with a relaxed finale to the Premier League season.

We won the title by a considerable margin mostly because Manchester United really crashed in the last part of the season, they even lost the runner-up spot to Arsenal. We scored quite a few goals again this season but it was the defence which impressed me with only 19 goals conceded in 38 games.

This was our seventh consecutive Premier League title out of nine top-flight seasons, I guess I couldn’t have wished for more.

Now on to the Champions League, I was quite keen on winning it again after being knocked out in the semi finals last season. Things went smoothly again until the last four as we went past Sevilla and Juventus without major headaches. But then it happened again… The first leg of the semi final against Chelsea was immensely frustrating as we dominated the game from start to finish but the Blues survived the onslaught and silenced our fans with a late corner kick goal. The second leg was even more annoying as we didn’t play too well. Nevertheless, we managed to push the game into extra time but then it went to the penalty shoot-out and we lost it…

Manchester City won it eventually and that really annoys me as they have won four of these since the start of the game while we managed only three… I know that we are better than them, we have proven that in the Premier League by winning seven titles in a row but somehow they always managed to turn up for the Champions League big matches. As you can see, they have never lost in a Champions League final, that’s what I call efficiency!

The disappointing Champions League exit left us with only one more trophy to aim for, the FA Cup. We cruised to the final even though we met tough teams like Chelsea and Tottenham on the road to the final act. The most difficult test was against the Spurs in the semi final, the game went into extra time as the score was 1-1 after 90 minutes but we really nailed them in those last 30 minutes ;)

In fact, the big final was a lot easier than the semi final. We met Aston Villa in the final battle and really outplayed them throughout the 90 minutes. They had survived the onslaught for quite some time but a fortuitous goal from centre back Gerhard Heinrich finally opened the flood gates and allowed Lucas Cuello to bag a brace and wrap things up in style. (click here to watch the highlights)

This was our third consecutive FA Cup and fourth overall, it’s nice that we have won in all the finals.

My strikers had a really good season, especially Parana who scored no less than 49 goals. Zé Carlos was not up to his standards this time but there is a good excuse as he was injured for a couple of months during the second half of the season.

That wraps up my last season with Vauxhall but this post isn’t over yet, I have a few interesting statistics for you in the next page plus a nice international surprise! ;)

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

I’m pleased to report that the Motormen have won everything that they could have won bar the npower Championship and the npower League Two!

The club has reached a whole new level considering that it was a semi-professional outfit when I took charge. My two Brazilian strikers became club legends and they surely deserve this status as they were the ones that kicked off our ascension through the world football ranks.

The overall club best eleven was presented to me at the end of the season, it’s in the shape of the 4-4-2 that I have used for quite a few seasons. As you can see there are quite a few former players in that best eleven, including people like Omar Koroma on the bench.

The name that caught my attention is Ibrahima M’Bow, the French/Senegalese striker that joined the club back in 2013 for a modest fee. He was just a boy when he moved from Senegal to England and I am extremely happy to see that his career reached a good level even after he left our club. This lad has scored a few major goals for us during his spell with the Motormen and I can tell you that Ibrahima did me a final favour before the end of my FM 2011 career, you’ll know everything about that a bit later…

So, I resigned and almost all the staff members decided to follow me. It’s nice to see that the board are considering Ancelotti as a replacement, he’s a manager that I admire.

And now, the surprise! In October 2023 the French FA offered me a job as manager of their national team and I accepted mainly because that meant that I had a shot at the European Championship in the summer of 2024. And it was a pretty good shot considering the strength of the French team. However, I made a few modifications in the squad and the most important one was that I called up… Ibrahima MBow, the lad had just one cap for the nation and no goals! The group stage was as easy as it gets, we won all three games, scored 9 and kept a clean sheet. MBow scored his first goals for France in the last game, it’s funny how he always manages to perform well under my guidance.

The next two rounds were even easier as we cruised past Greece and Turkey. The most difficult game of the tournament was the semi final against Spain, a really tough game but only due to a bit of bad luck. Spain opened the scoring with their very first shot on target and then survived the pressure until Abdallah Yaisien (an ex Vauxhall player!) sent the game into extra time. And guess who turned up in the dying moments of the game… Ibrahima M’Bow! (click here to watch the highlights)

The final was expected to be a lot easier as we were going to meet Russia, a team that we had beaten quite comfortably in my first friendly game with France. The game was easy indeed, it was a major onslaught, but Russia somehow managed to survive and push the game into extra time. They finally cracked after 108 minutes of digging trenches in their penalty area, we definitely deserved to win this final and it really couldn’t have gone any other way. (click here to watch the highlights)

So, I added the European Championship to my international tally after lifting the World Cup, Copa America and Confederations Cup with Argentina. Here is my profile after resigning from the France job, as you can see I am not friends with the media :) That is quite strange considering that I am a journalist in my day-to-day life :)

Last but not least, my statistics screen… There are a few interesting aspects in there but I will leave those for you to discover.

And a quick biography…

That was it folks, 89 posts, a few trophies and hopefully lots of fun for both you and me along the way. Thanks a lot for the faithful support that you have shown throughout this fantastic journey from the lower league slumps to the peaks of world football, this story existed for you and thanks to you. Football Manager 2011 was a great game, I’m sure you agree, but now we’re all looking forward to the bigger and better Football Manager 2012! I know that you are curious to find out more about my FM 2012 story but I’m not going to reveal too much now. All that I can say is that I will manage a Romanian team ;)

P.S.: What do you think about our new logo?