Warren — FM 2011 Hartlepool United Pre-season 2013/14

Hi everyone and welcome back to the north of England and to Hartlepool United who are the newest recruits to the Premier League. After a brilliant season last year we were preparing for the most exciting season in Hartlepool’s history but before I do that I have to sort out my squad and bring in some fresh faces that will hopefully keep us in this division for next season.

The new owner of Hartlepool United was very generous and after making plans to expand the stadium by nearly 5,000 seats (which will mean that I will play most of the season at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough) he gave me my transfer budget for the coming season.

I told the board that I could steer the club away from relegation which meant that I got a total of £21million in transfers and a wage budget of £115k per week. I think I may have to make some adjustments as to the wage budget as it has only given my £15k to spend so I may have to lower the transfer budget in order to meet this.

Out

All in all a total of 12 players left to help put some extra money in the coffers and reduce the wage bill. Others like Silerbauer were put on clauses such as highest earner and with new faces coming in and better players arriving this meant that I was wasting a large amount on the wage bill to keep players like Silerbauer, Norregaard and Moore.

In

Jermaine Beckford £425k from Bordeaux

Lee Foyle (loan)

Craig Gardner £1.1mil from Birmingham

Zavon Hines £775k from West Ham

Lee Hodson (loan)

Antony Lippini — £475k RC Lens

Glenn Loovens — £625k from Celtic

Alfred N’Diaye — £500k PSG

Jan Oblak (loan)

Silvio — £2.5mil from Sporting

Ivan Stoyanov — £3.5mil from Swansea

Oscar Trejo — £450k from Levante

Odds

After the comings and goings in the Hartlepool squad we were given the betting odds for the season and it didn’t look good. The bookies had said that I would do well to stay in the division and finish stone dead last. I was determined to prove them wrong.

Pre-season

I dont think that I could have any complaints with the pre-season results as it gave my new signings a chance to gel with the new surroundings and gain some money in the process. I now cannot wait for the season to start.

Thanks for reading

Warren