FM2009 - Official Manchester United Thread - The Home of the Champions

[Thandui]

Mario Balotelli

[Lisandro Lopez]

just been offered 54 million for ronaldo and to be honets want to accept who could i buy for around that much whos going to be a good replacement or maybe a few replacement im on season 1 of 9.03 in january my team are 7that the mo

jamespir, I've moved your thread into the United club thread as you should ask in your club thread first.

As to the question; Messi, Silva, Ribéry. More importantly, why would you want to sell him? He's class.

[Spector]

He is class but he doesn't score many goals for me :S

[jamespir]

hes been poor in my game ive lost evry game hes played in and he got the lowest scores

[jamespir]

who would be best out of messi and ribery

[Lisandro Lopez]

who would be best out of messi and ribery

Messi, then Ribéry.

[Talented_Yak]

just got offered the England job (which i took of course!) after Capello was fired for getting to the world cup finals :S, how hard is it to be both Man Utd and England managers? Or is it pretty easy?

[No.25]

I've decided to post updates every two months so here's the first one.

July and august update:

Obviously no transfers were made, so the team is the same as at the start of the game. We've been having a bit problems up front as we've met some injuries: Berbatov, Rooney and Tevez have all been injuried for a small period of time which has been a problem. Actually in general the team has been lacking a bit of depth as Ronaldo, Hargreaves and Park also have been injuried, and Anderson was away on international duty.

Anyway, the preseason started out very well:

Friendly away vs. Bury: 11-0 win

Friendly away vs. Altrincham: 10-0 win

Friendly away vs. Newcastle Town: 10-0 win

Friendly away vs. Empoli: 1-1 draw

Friendly home vs. A.C. Milan: 4-2 win

Friendly away vs. Antwerp: 6-0 win

Not much to say about these games. They were all about getting the team ready for the season kickoff, so every player have been given some time on the pitch. Tosic was the player to watch with 6 goals and 5 assists in 4 games, while Tevez and Berbatov were joined topscorers with 7 goals.

Community Shield vs. Portsmouth: 1-1 draw, 9-10 loss on penalties

Dissapointing result in a match we dominated, but we struggled to score on our chances which in the end turned out to be disastrous. Portsmouth played a defensive game and we had a hard time getting some clear cut chances, which meant that most of our chances were shots from way out which we couldn't put into the net.

Giggs scored our lone goal directly on a free kick in the 75th minute, after Diop had made it 0-1 after 34 minutes.

On penalties, van der Sar couldn't save a shot for his life, and in the end he also was the one missing his shot.

Premier Division away vs. Man City: 1-0 win

A very even match with a lot of good chances, but in the end Ferdinand secured 3 points with a header in the 72nd minute. Again our strikers (Rooney and Berbatov) didn't manage to turn their chances into goals which I was pretty dissapointed with.

Rooney got injuried in the 60th minute, but otherwise nothing much to say about this match.

Premier Division home vs. Newcastle: 4-1 win

A nice win in a match where Tevez outshone everyone as he scored all of our 4 goals, completing a hattrick already in the 24th minute.

After this it was just cruise control till the end of the match, but in the injury time, Guthrie reduced after I started tweaking my tactics a bit too much which gave Newcastle way too much control of the match. Note to self: if it ain't broken, don't fix it!

Euro. Super Cup vs. Zenit: 1-0 win

A very tactical match which to be fair could have gone either way. Berbatov made it 1-0 after 9 minutes, but from then on the match was very intense and neither side got to any really big chances.

We had some trouble breaking Zenit's christmas tree formation, which is something we'll have to work on for sure.

After all, I was happy to secure the first trophy of the season after the Community Shield went to Portsmouth.

Status:

We are having some goalscoring problems, but I'm quite sure it'll come along the way as we've had some injury problems as mentioned earlier.

Things are looking pretty good, especially now that Ronaldo, Hargreaves and Park are returning from their injuries which hopefully will turn around things a bit.

So far Evra and Carrick have probably been the most impressive players while Tosic also has been in quite good form, but really it's too early in the season to point out the key players.

In the Champions Cup we've been grouped with Werder Bremen, Steaua and Fiorentina, so hopefully we won't get too much trouble advanding from this group, even though Bremen and Fiorentina are both good teams.

Back to the game now, looking forward to the next couple of months

[Mezz Boms]

Nice update No.25, some good high scoring results in pre season, i only manage about one of thoughs per season usually.

Berba was the problem in my team for the lack of goal scoring which i too had, i sold him at the end of the first season and managed to get £30M for him, i think i could have squeezed a bit more but wanted to make sure that the deal would be done quickly so i could get in some top quality youngsters, i bought in 12 new faces mainly young players at the end of the first season, the squad is now set for a little while now, only minimal additions needed in the coming seasons avaerage age is just 22

[slipknot67]

Just finished the first (half) season in charge of Man Utd and from 18th place in January I managed to get us into tenth place. While I was pretty pleased with that, the board were less than impressed to say the least and would report every month that they were unhappy with my performance as manager due to our terrible form in the league. Anyway have been extremely busy in the transfer market, essentially rebuilding the team from the ground up. I told the board that for this season we will finish in the top half of the table, but I am hoping that the squad will gel quickly and we will hopefully exceed the board's expectations. Quietly confident of at least a European spot and we have had some very promising results in the pre-season friendlies, most notable being a 9-0 demolition of Newcastle Town, with 5 goals 1 assist and a rating of 10 for my new young regen striker Helder Matos. Here are my current squad and recent transfers screenies.

[Mezz Boms]

i just had a thought, has anyone managed to get a takeover as Man Utd because the club value just goes up and up as the save goes on due to the debt being slowly paid off. Also has anyone managed to get a new stadium after Old Trafford has been expanded to the maximum?

[slipknot67]

i just had a thought, has anyone managed to get a takeover as Man Utd because the club value just goes up and up as the save goes on due to the debt being slowly paid off. Also has anyone managed to get a new stadium after Old Trafford has been expanded to the maximum?

My stadium always gets expanded to around 100,000 seats in fm09 saves as Man Utd but never had a new stadium or a takeover yet.

[Mezz Boms]

My stadium always gets expanded to around 100,000 seats in fm09 saves as Man Utd but never had a new stadium or a takeover yet.

same situation for me, suppose its realistic because if the club is worth over 1B then a takeover is unlikely and also 100,000 is a large stadium and people would be sat above the clouds if a new stadium was built with a bigger capacity

[Noni.]

Hi there,

Carrick and W Brown are both upset that they need a new challenge, what can I do to change this?

I sold B Foster because of this but I want a English based team and Foster got sold as I had some good youth to step up and Akinfeev is my numero uno !

I dont mind selling brown as Cathcart looks decent and I have a amazing 16 year old Scottish lad in my reserves that can step up.

But Carrick is my fave United player and my team is not performing and I think its because of the un-hapiness. Should I drop Carrick until he stops moaning? Or sell? Anderson is more than ready to replace him.

[Harryseaess]

how much you sell tevez for?

I sold tevez for £35m (release clause) over 24 months to Real Madrid.

[Harryseaess]

Start of Second Season Update

I am now in to my second season as manager of Man Utd, last year was very successful and I am hoping to continue that success through to this season.

The summer transfer window of the second season has just closed so here are my transfers:

Transfers In

Domenico Crisctio - £2.1m

Federico Laurito - £3.3m

Mehmet Ekici - £2.3m

Shunsuke Nakamura - Free

Daniel Aquino - £3.7m

Fabio Cannavaro - Free

Vincenzo Fiorillo - £2.7m

Marquinhos - £10m

Ashley Young - £18.75m

Total = £43m

Transfers Out

Shunsuke Nakamura - Loan Fee 500k - Agreed Price £2.8m

Manucho - £5m

Anderson - £20m

Dimitar Berbatov - £44m

Michael Carrick - £28.5m

Nani - £30m

+ a few players on loan and a few frees

Total = £128m

5 of my 9 signings were under 20 years old so they are players for the future. I was able to bring in some english talent in Ashley Young and he was my main signing this season.

A few players were sold due to me believing that the offer was very good (e.g. Berbatov, Anderson, Carrick and Nani).

I have got £90m left for transfers so feel free to suggest players that you think I should sign in January and I will consider them.

I will try and give Balotelli, Kroos, Santon, Mattock, Laurito, Sakho and other youngsters as many games as I can to try and improve them for the future.

First Team Squad

Starting Line-up

GK: VDS/Asenjo

DR: Srna

DL: Evra

DC: Ferdinand

DC: Vidic

DM: Veloso

MR: Ronaldo

ML: Young

AMC: Vukcevic

ST: Marquinhos

ST: Rooney

Competitions

Community Shield - Lost 5-2 to Arsenal, my biggest defeat yet as Man Utd manager. I was very dissapointed. i went 2-0 down and to get equal with goals from young and Ronaldo, but then Arsenal ran away with it.

Super Cup - Won 3-0 against Stuttgart with goals from Rooney and Marquinhos (2). This is the second time in two years that I have won the competition.

Champions League - I have been in a group alongside Benfica, Borussia Dortmund and Sparta Prague.

Carling Cup - I have drawn Crystal Palace in the 3rd round.

Pre-Season Friendlies

I won my first 18-0! Against Newcastle Town.

I won my second 7-0 against Bury.

I won my third 10-0 against Antwerp.

Overall a very good pre-season friendly campaign, scoring 35 goals in 3 games and conceding 0! Albeit against much lesser opponents.

Will update again at the end of the January transfer window.

[No.25]

Hmm I personally don't like that many changes, Haryseaess...

I wouldn't havse sold neither of Carrick, Nani, Berbatov or Anderson tbh.

Anyway, I think you need a backup for Veloso and perhaps a good solid RB.

[vincenzo incendio]

macheda doesnt turn out too good unfortunately.

rossi buyout clause.. no he doesnt have one, because there is actually no confirmation that he does in real life. United and Rossi have shown mention of a clause but no details as to what sort of clause... and villareal totally deny there being any clause at all for him. Therefore nothing can be put in game

I would imagine that will change in FM10.

[Harryseaess]

Hmm I personally don't like that many changes, Haryseaess...

I wouldn't havse sold neither of Carrick, Nani, Berbatov or Anderson tbh.

Anyway, I think you need a backup for Veloso and perhaps a good solid RB.

I didn't want to sell Carrick, Nani, Berbatov or Anderson but the offers were too good to turn down.

Also, Srna is my right back and Santon is my back-up, so do I really need another?

I will have a look for a back-up to Veloso in January .

[kilmurrylad]

Quick question...anyone have any ideas how to over come the loan repayment and killer debt in the club? the 9 million euro repayment a month is killing me...nearly went into admintration last season(almost 30 million in debt) if points were reducted i would have lost the league.

[Mezz Boms]

Quick question...anyone have any ideas how to over come the loan repayment and killer debt in the club? the 9 million euro repayment a month is killing me...nearly went into admintration last season(almost 30 million in debt) if points were reducted i would have lost the league.

It will be a very long time before the debt is paid off, there is three debts overall and i think the main one is to be paid off by 2035. I mainly buy youth players and sell the players that get round to the ages of 27. In the second season i sold many players and along with prize money the balance was about £150M, i then spent about £40M on players and im currently half way through december (second season) and my balance is still around the £110M due to season tickets etc. I will try to keep my balance around this area in the coming seasons, the debt doesnt seem to be a problem as long as you keep the wages under control, try and stick to under £1.2M per week

[xx11]

if you dont go mad buying players, make some good sales, and win competitions then the debt is never an issue. You will lose money monthly alot of the times but prize money puts you in profit

[No.25]

September and october update:

Premier Division home vs. Sunderland: 3-0 win

Good win with us dominating the game, however not that impressive a performance.

Tevez opened the goalscoring in the 12 minute, Rooney made it 2-0 after 22 minutes, and Anton Ferdinand sealed the deal with an own goal in the 40th minute.

Champions Cup away vs. Werder Bremen: 2-0 win

A very even match with a lot of chances to both teams. We never really closed down Bremen's offensive, but our game plan of quick short passes gave us the game with goals from Tevez and Rooney.

Premier Division away vs. West Ham: 3-0 win

Pretty easy game tbh. We dominated the game from minute 1 and kept West Ham to a minimum of chances.

Goalscorers: Vidic, Ronaldo (in his comeback game) and Tevez.

League Cup 3rd round away vs. Sunderland: 1-0 win

The league cup game gave me a chance to rest a couple of players and give the reserve players some minute on the field. Ronaldo started on the pitch for the first time of the season and gave a great performance.

Another easy game where Sunderland never became dangerous. We, however, never really had great chances either, so the 1-0 result was probably pretty fair. Evans scored our lone goal.

Premier Division home vs. Arsenal: 2-0 win

Our first real test of the season and I was pretty nervous obviusly. However, in the end this game turned out to be our, without a doubt, best game of the season so far.

We had a lot of chances and it could easily have been 4 or 5-0 tbf, with 28 shots and 11 on target.

Almunia had a great game though, and only in the 70th minute did Berbatov manage to put the ball past him. Ronaldo closed the game in the 88th minute.

Champions Cup home vs. Fiorentina: 3-1 win

Horrible start as Mutu made it 1-0 after only two minutes which also was the score at the end of the first half. We really didn't play well here. However, in the second half, the team was totally different and with great goals from Tevez and Berbatov with 10 minutes of the second half did we turn around the game. Hargreaves sealed the deal on a penalty.

Premier Division away vs. West Brom: 2-0 win

Premier Division home vs. Bolton: 2-0 win

Premier Division home vs. Portsmouth: 2-0 win

Three pretty easy games and all with the same result. We never really had any issues in any of those games and just managed to get through these without too much effort.

Champions Cup away vs. Steaua: 1-0 win

Another game we should have won with a much higher margin. Totally dominating with 15 shots on target and Steaua never had a shot at all.

However, we didn't get pass their keeper untill the 88th minute.. Perhaps I should have a look at him when looking for a replacement for van der Sar

Premier Division away vs. Fulham: 1-0 win

Premier Division away vs. Middlesbrough: 1-0 win

Second and third 1-0 win in a row. Not much to say about these except they were pretty easy aswell.

Welbeck made his first league goal against Fulham as Rooney got injuried and Tevez already was sidelined.

Damn those strikers.. I've really been injury plagued in this area this season, but now that Ronaldo has come back it have given me one more option up front.

Status:

After our dissapointing defeat in the Community Shield we've now won 15 games in a row with a goalscore of 30-3 in the 16 matches.

Already 5 points clear in the league with 10 wins in 10 games.

Our defence has of course been phenomenal but we've been plagued by injuries in the offence which has been quite a pain at times. Hopefully our goalscoring will get up a bit and then I'll be satisfied with the teams performance.

Berbatov, Tevez and Rooney haven't scored as many goals as I would have wanted them too either. Will probably look into the tactics a bit.

However, when you're winning you can't really complain that much can you?

We stand in front of quite a troublesome period, though as Vidic, Park, Tosic, Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney are all injuried. Some of them not for a long time though, but the next match vs Everton will be quite hard I reckon.

-----------

These updates are getting a bit long, so I might cut down a bit in future updates

[Harryseaess]

Quick question...anyone have any ideas how to over come the loan repayment and killer debt in the club? the 9 million euro repayment a month is killing me...nearly went into admintration last season(almost 30 million in debt) if points were reducted i would have lost the league.

I pretty much make a loss every month but at the end of the season I break in to a profit due to prize money from competitions. The way to stay out of debt is through success and good dealings in the transfer market.

I made a £37m profit in my first season and my balance is currently at £96m.

[Mezz Boms]

September and october update:

Premier Division home vs. Sunderland: 3-0 win

Good win with us dominating the game, however not that impressive a performance.

Tevez opened the goalscoring in the 12 minute, Rooney made it 2-0 after 22 minutes, and Anton Ferdinand sealed the deal with an own goal in the 40th minute.

Champions Cup away vs. Werder Bremen: 2-0 win

A very even match with a lot of chances to both teams. We never really closed down Bremen's offensive, but our game plan of quick short passes gave us the game with goals from Tevez and Rooney.

Premier Division away vs. West Ham: 3-0 win

Pretty easy game tbh. We dominated the game from minute 1 and kept West Ham to a minimum of chances.

Goalscorers: Vidic, Ronaldo (in his comeback game) and Tevez.

League Cup 3rd round away vs. Sunderland: 1-0 win

The league cup game gave me a chance to rest a couple of players and give the reserve players some minute on the field. Ronaldo started on the pitch for the first time of the season and gave a great performance.

Another easy game where Sunderland never became dangerous. We, however, never really had great chances either, so the 1-0 result was probably pretty fair. Evans scored our lone goal.

Premier Division home vs. Arsenal: 2-0 win

Our first real test of the season and I was pretty nervous obviusly. However, in the end this game turned out to be our, without a doubt, best game of the season so far.

We had a lot of chances and it could easily have been 4 or 5-0 tbf, with 28 shots and 11 on target.

Almunia had a great game though, and only in the 70th minute did Berbatov manage to put the ball past him. Ronaldo closed the game in the 88th minute.

Champions Cup home vs. Fiorentina: 3-1 win

Horrible start as Mutu made it 1-0 after only two minutes which also was the score at the end of the first half. We really didn't play well here. However, in the second half, the team was totally different and with great goals from Tevez and Berbatov with 10 minutes of the second half did we turn around the game. Hargreaves sealed the deal on a penalty.

Premier Division away vs. West Brom: 2-0 win

Premier Division home vs. Bolton: 2-0 win

Premier Division home vs. Portsmouth: 2-0 win

Three pretty easy games and all with the same result. We never really had any issues in any of those games and just managed to get through these without too much effort.

Champions Cup away vs. Steaua: 1-0 win

Another game we should have won with a much higher margin. Totally dominating with 15 shots on target and Steaua never had a shot at all.

However, we didn't get pass their keeper untill the 88th minute.. Perhaps I should have a look at him when looking for a replacement for van der Sar

Premier Division away vs. Fulham: 1-0 win

Premier Division away vs. Middlesbrough: 1-0 win

Second and third 1-0 win in a row. Not much to say about these except they were pretty easy aswell.

Welbeck made his first league goal against Fulham as Rooney got injuried and Tevez already was sidelined.

Damn those strikers.. I've really been injury plagued in this area this season, but now that Ronaldo has come back it have given me one more option up front.

Status:

After our dissapointing defeat in the Community Shield we've now won 15 games in a row with a goalscore of 30-3 in the 16 matches.

Already 5 points clear in the league with 10 wins in 10 games.

Our defence has of course been phenomenal but we've been plagued by injuries in the offence which has been quite a pain at times. Hopefully our goalscoring will get up a bit and then I'll be satisfied with the teams performance.

Berbatov, Tevez and Rooney haven't scored as many goals as I would have wanted them too either. Will probably look into the tactics a bit.

However, when you're winning you can't really complain that much can you?

We stand in front of quite a troublesome period, though as Vidic, Park, Tosic, Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney are all injuried. Some of them not for a long time though, but the next match vs Everton will be quite hard I reckon.

-----------

These updates are getting a bit long, so I might cut down a bit in future updates

Great update, seems asthough your Man Utd is almost like the real one with all those clean sheets can VDS break the record

[Buhala]

Just finished the first (half) season in charge of Man Utd and from 18th place in January I managed to get us into tenth place. While I was pretty pleased with that, the board were less than impressed to say the least and would report every month that they were unhappy with my performance as manager due to our terrible form in the league. Anyway have been extremely busy in the transfer market, essentially rebuilding the team from the ground up. I told the board that for this season we will finish in the top half of the table, but I am hoping that the squad will gel quickly and we will hopefully exceed the board's expectations. Quietly confident of at least a European spot and we have had some very promising results in the pre-season friendlies, most notable being a 9-0 demolition of Newcastle Town, with 5 goals 1 assist and a rating of 10 for my new young regen striker Helder Matos. Here are my current squad and recent transfers screenies.

very strange ... rooney a winger .. defour a striker does it really work good and johny evans dr xax

[tomb03]

How much money do you have left?

hi about 10 million

[SeanY Dee]

i would never put rooney and winger

i wood say that rooney is more or less a striker that drops off and looks for the passes

[Smack Ffloyd]

just got offered the England job (which i took of course!) after Capello was fired for getting to the world cup finals :S, how hard is it to be both Man Utd and England managers? Or is it pretty easy?

I am the Spain manager and United manager, and its pretty simple. I don't really try for Spain, keep the squad the same apart from 2/3 changes each time you have a new set of games etc. The likes of England, Spain, France will cruise qualifying etc.

[Campbells]

Im also the manager for spain, without too much effort i qualified for euros, only conceded one goal the whole time and it was the last match,

it doesnt impact too much on your time at man utd, i only go to watch 1 game per month as national manager, but you dont have to as it really makes no difference

[Mezz Boms]

id say that being a international manager can help your man utd career due to getting a better repuation and players may have you on their favoured personell list. Also you could give young prospects a call up to help get them work permits but some people may view this as cheating.

[slipknot67]

very strange ... rooney a winger .. defour a striker does it really work good and johny evans dr xax

Rooney had been retrained in that position before I got the Utd job, so thought I'd try him there and see how he did. Him and Aquino been brilliant on the wings for me so far and weigh in with a fair few goals and assists from there. I'm only using Evans on the right as a stop gap. Will probably be looking to bolster my defence with a fb and a solid cb, then use him at cb again.

[iamjerome]

rooney and/or tevez retrained as MC's gives you a wonderful box to box player (or two), preferable to him as a winger in my eyes.

can't believe someone sold anderson for just 20m!!!!

[No.25]

Hey guys!

Haven't been online the last couple of days, so I've decided to just post a season update for season 1 instead of the updates through the season.

Season 1 update

Premier Division:

We started out really well, and even though we had some injury problems up front we managed to get through a tough time. However, as the season progressed, our early lead steadily decreased and we we're actually down at 4th place at some point, and I really didn't think we'd be able to catch up with Chelsea who looked estremely strong.

With some good results against the big clubs and Chelseas inability to close the deal, we fought our way back to second place before the last two matches. Now it was all about the second last game of the season: Manchester United versus Chelsea at Old Trafford, which turned out to be an amazing game in which we ind the end won 2-1.

United at the top of the league once again, but the last game of the season was away versus Liverpool. With some good, hard work we managed to come out on top with a 1-0 win and the titles was secured. 1 point ahead of Chelsea - but 15 points ahead of Arsenal who came in 3rd. Manchester City rounded off the top 4, with Liverpool finishing 5th.

League Cup:

A pretty tough run all the way to the finals saw us up against a Tottenham team in good shape. Before the finals we had knocked out Portsmouth, Newcastle, Arsenal and Sunderland - all Premier League teams!

The finals was pretty easy though, with us winning 3-0 with some great goals from Tevez, Tosic and Anderson.

I was rather impressed with the teams run in this cup, as I used it to give some younger players and reserve players a chance to prove their worth to the team.

Club World Championship:

Two pretty easy games both the semis and the finals. In the semifinals we knocked out Osaka A.C. with a 2-0 win and in the finals we won 3-0 against a bad Pachuca team.

I wasn't really that impressed with our performance in this tournament as we should be able to beat those teams a lot more comfortable, but a win is always nice, and the third title of the season was secured.

F.A. Cup:

Again we were pretty unlucky with our opponents throughout the tournament as we were paired with both Aston Villa, Everton, Newcastle and Liverpool before facing Arsenal in the finals.

The team had a pretty good confidence at this point as the league title just had been secured, and I expected a good match and of course hoped for a win. My dreams were soon to be shattered.

We never got started in this match and Arsenal completely ran us over finishing the game with a 3-0 win against an average Manchester United side.

Dissapointing result and end to a tournament in which we had done so well.

Champions Cup:

We drew Werder Bremen, Fiorentina and Steaua in the group stage and I of course expected us to move on to the next round - and that we did with great succes. Finishing the group with maximum points after 6 nice wins which is more than I had expected.

In the first knockout round we were paired with Zenit which I was quite satisfied with as they'd never really impressed me. With two 2-0 victories we easily progressed to the quater finals where Liverpool was waiting.

A 1-0 win home at Old Trafford gave us a good starting point to move on, but on Anfield we faced a top tuned Liverpool team which unfortunately were better than us that day and they grabbed a deserved 2-0 win to progress to the next round.

This tournament was of course the dissapointment of the season as I at least had expected ud to reach the semis, but in the end it's just so small marginals that determines the result and this time we were on the losers side.

We'll be back next year

Status:

Well, 3 titles is ok I guess, but especially our Champions Cup result was a dissapointment. In the F.A. Cup we did well but just wasn't up for it in the most important game of them all, the finals.

We had to fight really hard for every title but that's just what makes managing exiting isn't it?

The team did well with some minor exceptions.

Owen Hargreaves was the big dissapointment of the season as he finished with a low rating but to his excuse, he was injuried a lot throughout the season, and only started in 17 games.

Carrick didn't do that well either and I'm thinking of taking another look at their instructions to get them to perform better next season.

Player of the season was Ronaldo. Once he came back from his injury, he was a beast. Finishing as the teams topscorer with 27 goals and also doing well in the assist department, he was our most valuable player this season.

Other notable mentions include the "front three", Berbatov, Rooney and Tevez, who all did really well and complemented each other well, all of them finishing the season with about 20 goals.

Nani also did well and finished the season as our teams top assister.

In the other end of the pitch Vidic was injuried a lot but did well when called upon. His backup Evans did a really good job and actually finished with the best rating of all the defenders.

Anderson was surprise of the season. I knew he was good, but not this good. He always dominated the midfield when on the field and finished with 14 assists and a good average rating - especially seen in the light that the other central midfielders didn't do that well.

End of season team stats:

So hope you enjoyed the update.. It became a little longer than I thought at first

[No.25]

Season two preparations:

Although the team is strong as it is, a bit of strenghtening is needed in my opinion - especially as some players are getting rather old.

I still want to keep the game realistic so a lot of changes won't be made. Just a few key signings and then I'm looking to bring in some youngsters who can fight their way to the first team at some point.

I have four main targets who I'd really like to see put on the red jersey at some point:

Sergio Ramos:

Amazing player who I've always been a big fan of. Would be a great asset to the squad and a key player for years to come. However, I won't be able to afford him this time around but the defence is already pretty strong so I won't even try and get him to join the club this season.

Frank Ribery:

One of the best wings in the world and one of the few players to match Ronaldos ability. Nani is doing great on the left wing and Tosic is also doing very well, but in my opinion a world class player is needed if the team really wants to be able to challenge for all titles.

Igor Akinfeev:

I'd love to just use Van der Sar, but at 38 he's past his peak and a replacement is needed. I don't think Foster is able to fill Van der Sars shoes, but Akinfeev certainly is.

He's always been one of my favorite players in FM and in real life he's really starting to shine too.

Mamadou Sakho:

You can't mention future world stars without mentioning this dude.

Potentially one of the best players around and one of the most complete centrebacks in the game. Would be a great signing for many years to come.

A couple of signings have already been made:

Franck Ribery: 18.75 mio. A scoop. Was unhappy at Bayern and after I had praised him throughout the last season, he chose the mighty United instead of Chelsea.

Igor Akinfeev: 11.5 mio. Another big name signing and another scoop. Didn't expect to get him this cheap but he was also unhappy - I wasn't when he signed the contract.

Henri Saivet: 1.7 mio. Perhaps a future world beater. Hasn't developed that well yet, but he's a project for the coaches at the club, and at only 18 he's got plenty of time to progress.

Jonjo Shelvey: 1.2 mio. Another player who can develop well if he gets the right training. Wasn't too unhappy at getting some english talent in the team and hopefully he'll become great eventually.

Sofiane Feghouli: 3.4 mio. Yet another player who's got potential to become one of the worlds best players. He's got the ability to cover some crucial positions on the pitch and I reckon he'll become a really valueable player in a year or so.

Lamine Gassama: 5.75 mio. Hadn't really thought about signing him but he's young and has got potential to become a future first 11 once Evra or Neville/Brown is getting old(er). Thought he would cost way more so when Lyon accepted a fairly low bid I couldn't resist signing him.

Only one player have been sold so far:

Park Ji-Sung: 6.25 mio to Werder Bremen. Although he's a decent little player, I had made up my mind that if I got a decent offer, I would sell him. 6.25 was just that. He would never become a first team regular anyway, so the cash I got for him helps covering for the transfer fees I've already paid.

I'm also looking to offload Kuszczak as he's just getting unhappy at not getting any first team football, and I think I'll be able to get a fairly good amount of money for him.

Manucho and Lee Martin will also be sold as they're just not Manchester United standard and if I can get a couple of millions for them, I'd be happy. Perhaps a few more players will be sold but I haven't really made up my mind yet.

No more big names will be joining the club, but I'm looking at a few youngsters still:

Joe Mattock: Pretty sure he'll join. A decent backup to Evra when he's injuried or just needs a rest. I've had an offer accepted for only 475k, and as he's english and has loads of talent I hope he joins.

And now I need some advice

I'm looking at the following players so what I would like to know is whether anyone have had any experience with them or could tell me how much I should look to pay for them.

Not everyone will be joining as I'm still making up my mind.

Mamadou Sakho: I'm in dire straits about this guy. I really want him, but I don't know if I want to spend a lot of money on him in this transfer window as I've already used a fairly high amount on players. What do you think? And what will he cost?

Douglas Costa: Looks like a great prospect and wanted by United in real life.

Georginio Wijnaldum: Perhaps a greater prospect than Douglas Costa?

John Fleck: What's he like? He looks really great.

Nathan Delfouneso: In my search for english talent, I came across him. How will he turn out?

Neymar: Also wanted be United in real life. I'll probably sign him in the january window if he turns out good?

Jose Baxter: Also looks pretty decent.

Jordan Spence: Would like an english centreback in my youth ranks. Could he be it?

Mark Beevers: Same as Jordan Spence. Who should I go for?

Also if anyone have any other suggestions of great youth players, please let me know. Especially on english or UK players as I would love to have some more getting through the ranks.

Thanks in advance

[Mezz Boms]

Sakho, brilliant player, plays left back as cover but he is awsome at center back. i would bid £10M for him and see what they say from there.

I also have Jose Baxter, he looks like a great prospect but never really done anything for me yet, he still has years to improve though so ill be keeping an eye on him, id recommend that you look at other targets though.

Wijnaldum, a great squad player and really cheap to get aswell, very consistant also, i'd highly recommend him but he may take time to settle to get these good performances.

Fleck, bought him for my U18s squad with a view that he would be in the first team a season or two after when he gets a little older (already had good players in his position but couldnt resist signing him) he averaged 8.36 at his peak and was always around the 8s in the U18s scoring loads of hatricks, had to put him in first team, been a great player, highly recommend him, i bought him for £5M due to not wanting to lose him to other intrested clubs but you could possibly get him cheaper.

A good buy in Saivet, although he is a front man i play him as a winger, he gets above 7 rating all the time and chips in with a few goals, sometimes when Ronaldo is having a shocking few games, he takes his place and i dont even notice ronaldo is missing from the team, another great player.

these are the players ive had experiance with, cant comment on the other players but they do look tempting hope this helps

[Lisandro Lopez]

Sakho; Turns into a world class CB, can cost from as little as £6Million to around £25Million, worth it though.

Douglas Costa; Turns into a good player, will cost you £10Million upwards usually.

Wijnaldum; Good player, his price varies so much. Usually goes for around £3-7Million.

Fleck; Useful player to have, can be picked up very cheaply.

Neymar; Sadly he isn't as good as he should be on FM yet. Can still be a good player usually picked up for around £5Million.

Haven't commented on the others, as I haven't had those.

[No.25]

Thanks.. I'll see how much Sakho is worth in the eyes of PSG.. So far no luck with roughly 10 mio

I've bought in Douglas Costa for 2.7 mio, so I guess that's a bargain if he usually goes for 10 mio.

In my opinion it was either him or Wijnaldum. In the end I went for Costa for a couple of reasons:

a) he's a bit cheaper than Wijnaldum who was priced at 4.5 mio

b) he's wanted by Manchester in real life, which I really like

c) he's not as widely used on these forums as Wijnaldum, and I thought it would be interesting to try out another player (I've had Wijnaldum myself too for a long time ago)

Beevers has joined the team for 1 mio as well, and tbh I'm pretty impressed with his stats and hopefully he can develop quite a bit.

Will probably see how much they want for Fleck as he looks good.

Thanks again

Edit:

I've also brought in a couple of regens for pennies and sold Manucho for 3 mio to Hull, Lee Martin for 1.9 to Ipswich, while Kuzszcak has joined Milan for 7.5 mio.

[xx11]

Sakho is priceless, becomes worldclass and be in your team for a very very long time. I get him early on as if you wait even 6months his price rockets due to him putting in good performances, first season you can get him for under 10 mill (normally around 8mill), but if you wait it quickly into the 15-30mill range. But even if got to pay top money for him he worth it for the length of time you will have him.

[No.25]

Alright, I better listen to your advice then. And he does indeed look awesome. It now looks like he'll be joining for 12.2 mio as he has just become unsettled. Just hoping he'll accept my contract and not Inter or Chelseas offer as they've had offers accepted too.

On an different note: does anyone have experience retraining either Tevez or Rooney to cover the MC position? They both have great stats for a box-to-box type of midfielder. Currently considering doing it to give the team a few more options.

Edit: Off to meet Arsenal in the two first games of the season; the Community Shield and the first league game of the season.

[fenom84]

just started a new game with man utd

bought marquinhos & sakho

lost 2 away games at everton & arsenal

now trailing 6pts behind chelsea

[Jad123]

Just started a new game with United, already had one without dropping points in the league after 5 games but my PC randomly restarted itself, and I hadn't saved I've already sorted my coaches out, got all 5 stars or more. Already agreed transfers for Josh Lambo, Luis Guilherme and David De Gea. Was looking to buy Fiorillo but they wanted like £4m for him Which Marquinhos is that fenom, there's about a trillion on my game

[slipknot67]

I don't have time to do a full season review atm. Basically went out of the FA and league cups early, but having told the board we'd acheive a safe mid table finish in the Prem we somehow managed to win it despite having lost ten league games.

League table.

We are also bringing in quite a few new faces for my first attempt at Europe as Utd manager, although most are young, promising regens Meyer is likely to walk straight into my first 11 and looks like he should be a pretty good signing.

Transfers.

Martin Mayer.

[Jad123]

Aye, Mayer looks good, got really great striker's attributes for his age. Looks like you were quite lucky to win the league, 78 points usually gets a team about 3rd or 4th Good luck next season

[slipknot67]

Aye, Mayer looks good, got really great striker's attributes for his age. Looks like you were quite lucky to win the league, 78 points usually gets a team about 3rd or 4th Good luck next season

You should have seen me during the last game of the season against Chelsea...needed a draw to win the league as Arsenal had Newcastle at home and were three points behind me with a better gd. Rooney scored in the first 3 minutes then we got battered for the rest of the first half....was watching the second half through my fingers until my young regen chinese striker Cao Weiwen, who had only played in two previous league games popped up with his first goal of the season and the winner of the game and league.

[Sparky_07]

Just finished my second season and Barcelona offered Messi a new contract so I checked him out and to my belief he had a min fee clause of 35.5 mil so I bid for him and guess what... I have signed Messi!!!

Ill post my season update soon...

[Jad123]

Haha, I have games like that all the time, except I don't score late (although I just won Community Shield in 92nd minute ), I've lost count of all the trophies I've lost due to late goals

I've had a great transfer window. Sold Berba (£35m), Fletcher (£20m) and O'Shea (£6m), all to City, and Park's about to join them too for £7.5m which was £2m more than anyone else was prepared to pay. Bought truck loads of youngsters:

Luis Guilherme- 14k

David De Gea- 250k

Mamadou Sakho- 10m

Mark Beevers- 2.1m

John Fleck- 1.9m

Joe Mattock- 2m

Mattia Destro- 3m

Mario Gotze- 3.8m

Ruben Rochina- 300k

Lewis Holtby- 2.6m

Rafinha- 15.5m

Kenny Otigba- 575k

Robert Lewandowski- 1.3m

Just about to complete signing of Roque Santa Cruz for £24m, to replace Berba. I was certain I was gonna sell him cos he never scores for me, it was just a matter of getting decent money for him.

Only City were stupid enough to buy him

[xx11]

Thought i post some my better regen. I seem to have a knack of finding great DC/DMC/MC players, so much so im having to retrain them for other positions (ie full back role if jumping isnt great so they can cover there)

Defenders/midfielders

bertozzi - from napoli youth

Crawford - From Man utd Youth

Boer - from sparta youth team

Forward

Turley - from Arsenal youth - (bet they hate me ;p )

edit:

Arsenal will hate me and Turley more now. Champions league final. Arsenal go 1:0 up against my weakened side (dont play first team players in cups). Half time sees messi, Turley and Ronaldo come on. Turley scores the equaliser. Goes to extra time. Final score is 4-1 with Turley scoring a hatrick

[Jad123]

Turley looks class, he's more than halfway to the England goals record already He's suited to a targetman role and a fast striker position Bertozzi looks great as well, about 70% of his stats are higher than 15

[xx11]

Aye Turley going to smash the English record, Rooney currently holds it with 53 goals in 111 games. So shows how well Turley doing. His aerial threat is what making him so deadly in the england team