Vauxhall Motors Story: preparing for the Championship

Hello folks and welcome to my fifth season with The Motormen in Football Manager 2011. After four consecutive promotions the club was facing its biggest challenge yet, the Championship is a league with many strong teams, a lot tougher than League One. We got a double last season by winning both League One and the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy but the club was still poor and its facilities were still a disaster.

Things got a bit better when we received the TV rights for the season, almost 3 million pounds! That’s more money than this club had ever seen before, quite a leap forward to be honest.

The board was quite generous with that money, I promised them a top half finish and they gave me 2.1 million pounds for transfers and a reasonable wage budget for such a small club.

They finally agreed to expand the stadium as well! 500 seats won’t be a great improvement but at least we’d get the ball rolling on this aspect.

However, the decision to invest into the stadium expansion determined the board to cancel a previously agreed investment in the youth recruitment network. I guess the stadium is more important at this moment but I admit that I was a bit disappointed to see them taking their word back.

Now let’s move on to the transfers, I was planning to bring in quite a few new players to strengthen the squad. As you remember I promised that the very first offer would be for Manchester United‘s central midfielder Graham Howson, the player that led us to success last season. Manchester United immediately accepted a season-long loan deal with no wage contribution from us but the player refused to sign! I was shocked to say the least. Then I tried to buy him but Manchester United wanted no less than 3.5 million pounds for him so I had to give up.

No less than sixteen players left the club, some of them had no place in my long-term plans and others were sold to free up some wage money and get some cash into the club. Veterans Duffy and Leven left the club, I was reluctant to sell them but they were 30 years old already and I thought that they could no longer represent long-term solutions. The biggest fee was received for centre back Pappoe, I didn’t want to sell him at first but I found better defenders so I decided to cash in.

We brought in no less than 19 new players but 6 of them went straight to the reserves team, they are promising youngsters but they can’t compete for a place in the first team at the moment. Four of the remaining thirteen were brought on season-long loan deals.

Now let me tell you more about the new players. I felt that I needed a new and better goalkeeper since Martin Hansen had a few disappointing outings last season and I bought Dean Bouzanis for 250K from Bournemouth. He is a former Greek international that started his career in Australia before moving to Liverpool at a very young age. He never made it at Anfield Road so after a few seasons in League Two and League One he will finally have the chance to prove himself at a higher level. James Dunn will be his backup, he’s been at the club since 2011 and he always did well when I needed him.

Ken Harris will remain my first choice right back with Jacob Hronec being his back-up. We’ll have a new right back joining the club in January on a free contract, Brazilian 18-year old Kaka from Santos. He is a Brazilian youth international and I guess that tells a lot about his talent.

The new first choice left back will probably be 28-year old Polish international Mariusz Pawelec, an experienced player that got relegated from the Premier League last season with Wigan. He can also play as a centre back so I guess he will be a good backup solution as well. Youngster Grant Baddeley will provide competition for the left back position and, given his potential, I can see him pinning Pawelec to the bench sooner or later. Left back James Campbell will also be part of the first team squad but that is only because his versatility, he will be a backup for most positions in defense and midfield.

The centre backs area suffered two modifications, a pair of new players will compete with Mervin Simon and Sashi Chalwe for a place in the first eleven. One of them is Scottish youth international Bryan Purdrue, bought for 230K from Dundee United. He seems to be a reliable player and he might also improve a bit given his young age.

The other centre back that joined us is our most expensive signing of the season: Argentine youth international Carlos Santos. I paid 750K to Lanus for this lad and I hope I won’t regret it. I was particularly impressed by his speed and mental attributes but he seems to be fairly weak in the air. However, this lad has enough pace and acceleration to be a winger so I guess he should do well in my high defensive line.

In the next page I will show you the new midfielders and strikers and also the friendly results.

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

My new first choice right winger is a loanee, Alex Chamberlain from Manchester City. He’s quick and a good dribbler so I guess he will do a good job.

I don’t have a dedicated backup for Chamberlain at the moment but there will be one come September when Guatemalan international Carlos Chavez will be joining the club on a free transfer. He’s a hard working youngster and I hope that he will show enough ambition to succeed at this level.

For the left flank I secured another season-long loan deal for Jason Banton, a player that served us very well last season. Keith Higgs will be his backup but I will continue to look for a new winger. I did find some but couldn’t sign them due to the work permit rules. Spanish central midfielder Daniel Toribio can also be a backup for the left flank but I guess he will be a first team regular in the middle of the pitch. He is a pretty talented lad that was schooled at Barcelona‘s academy and then spent a few years in the Spanish lower leagues.

I kept only one of my central midfielders from last season, Mark Brown. Along with Toribio I brought in another three new central midfielders but I have to say that none of them are as good as Graham Howson… Connor Newton joined us on a free transfer from Carlisle, he won’t be a first team regular but I think that he will provide good cover both as a central midfielder and as a right winger.

Matthias Gohlert is a young American prospect, a player that joined us for 80K from Stoke City. I believe that he has some potential but for now he should be a good backup.

The best new central midfielder was brought in on loan, his name is Suso and he’s a very talented Spaniard from Arsenal. He was a Liverpool player for a few seasons before being bought by Arsenal for 2.4 million pounds, a great prospect for the Gunners but a good enough player even at this moment for the Motormen.

Last but not least, the strikers. I decided to keep youngsters Ibrahima M’Bow and Dale Hills as I still believe in their talent and I brought in three new lads to boost our firepower. The first one that I signed is French striker Lenny Nangis, on loan from Arsenal. He surely has the enough talent to make an impact for us this season but his potential might make him a star of the future.

And now, my best signing of the summer: 20-year old Spanish youth international Andrés Hernandez. He is a product of the famous Barcelona youth academy and I have to say that I competed with several big clubs for his signature after he was released by the Spanish giants. I offered him the biggest wage in our squad but I think that he’s worth it, he is the best player that has ever worn the Motormen shirt.

The last signing that I want to introduce is a player that will be at the border between the first team and the reserves: 17-year old Paul Harris. I paid no less than 300K for this lad to the Blyth Spartans and although he won’t be a first team regular right away I think that his potential is definitely worth it. He scored 15 goals in Blue Square North last season and he was only 16 years old, this lad could become somebody special. I will be trying to give him as much first team football as possible but I will also consider a loan move to help him develop.

We also have some promising youngsters that will be given a chance to develop in the reserves team, these lads have some potential and some of them might be sent out on loan to get more experience.

We have 24 men in the first-team squad at the moment but I also have around 400,000 pounds left to spend on transfers so I might try a last-minute coup before the start of the season. I have found several exciting players, mostly from South America, but the transfers were canceled due to them not being granted work permits. I will keep trying though…

I arranged eight friendly games because I wanted the new players to get more minutes on the pitch to help them blend in with the team. The results were satisfying, we lost only one game but the opponents were a lot better and richer than us: Manchester City.

The Citizens have a surprising new manager, Arsene Wenger! We put up a good fight against them in that friendly, even managed to score three goals, and Mr. Wenger praised me after the match. I admit that it felt good :)

Midfielder Mark Brown was our best performer during pre-season, he made 8 assists in five games! Last season he was in Graham Howson‘s shadow, now he will have the chance to step up and lead the team. Spanish striker Andrés also had a very good run of games but unfortunately he picked up a knock during the Manchester City game and will miss the first two weeks of the new season. Dale Hills is showing signs of improvement though and I hope that this will be the season that will make him a star in our small town, Ellesmere Port.

We’re predicted to finish 24th again, we’re used to that. It will be tough to play against former Premier League sides like Hull, Wigan or Sheffield United but we’ll surely try to give it our best shot.

We’ll start the season with a Carling Cup match against Barnsley and then we’ll be meeting Sheffield Wednesday, Crystal Palace and fellow promoted side Brentford. It’s good that we won’t meet any of the promotion favourites during the first month, that could help us to make a good start.

That’s how it was my friends, lots of wheeling and dealing and also lots of frustration every time we missed a good signing. I think that we managed to shape up a decent squad given our club’s low reputation but there still is room for improvement. I still can’t get over Graham Howson so I think I might try to offer him a loan deal again, a three-month loan this time because we have already filled up the four domestic long-term loan spots. Thanks a lot for reading this post, I’m looking forward to reading your opinions about the new signings.

P.S.: The chairman offered me a new one-year contract worth 1,400 pounds per week. I made him a counter-offer: five years for 1,000 per week :) He accepted.