We Are the Champions, the Champions of Europe! : Leeds United(Football Manager 2010)

[BoKnowsBest]

So I decided to take Leeds back to their glory days on Football Manager 2010. It's the first time I've tried the FM series as I got sick of FIFA's manager mode, and so far I'm impressed with it, if not good at it (I ran a test franchise with Manchester United just to get the hang of it). I also downloaded logos, kits, pictures, and a new skin to give the game a fresher look.

For those that don't know, Leeds were once one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Their glory days were in the 60s and 70s when they were the best team in England, and in the late 90s and early 2000s they were the premier up and coming team, with a wealth of talent. However, poor financial management forced them to sell all of their star players(hell, all of their decent players as well), and got relegated not once, but twice. They've been languishing in England's third division for the past few years despite being favorites to get promoted each time.

My goals are to get promoted to the Coca Cola Championship this year, and to be back in the Premier League within 3 years. After that, I would hope for another 3 years before Leeds are ready to go back into Europe, although I think the Euro Cup in 6 years is a more realistic goal than the Champions League in 6 years. (Euro Cup goes to teams ranked 5-7, Champions League is for teams 1-4. These requirements can change for better or worse depending on these teams performances in game).

So the next few posts will be squad analysis and the likes. I will try to get pics but probably not yet as I haven't figured out how to work this Imageshack stuff

[BoKnowsBest]

So my season expectation is to win the league. I have a transfer budget of 1.1M euros and a wage budget of 105k euros/week.

My manager name is Gerald Bostock. if anyone gets it

My first moves were to terminate two loans from the Simon Grayson era, MC Michael Doyle of Coventry and AML/ST Gary McSheffery of Birmingham. Those two players alone were just over 20k/week, which is 20% of my wage budget.

Transfer-wise, I don't plan to do much spending as I feel this squad is more than strong enough to win the league. I might sell a few, but if I bring in players it will be free transfers or loans.

Looking over my squad, my best players seem to be DC Patrick Kisnorbo, ST Jermaine Beckford, and AMRL Robert Snodgrass.

I plan to sell GK Casper Ankegren and AMRL Andy Robinson. Ankegren because he is a backup whose contract expires at the end of the season, and the club Brondby, from Denmark, is interested in him. Robinson because he is one of the five worst players on the team but also has the highest salary at 8k/week.

These are my tactics to start the season off:


as you can see Doyle and McSheffery are still there but they will be gone by tommorow(in game time)
My tactics are the good ol' 4-4-2. four defenders, four midfielders, and two strikers. I plan to play a relatively attacking game, but I won't have my fullbacks attack. I would like to focus my passing through Robert Snodgrass( I have him set to roaming so he won't always stick in that left spot).

The Englishman Shane Higgs will be my main goalie this season, and I think he is decent enough to be goalie in the next division, the Championship. But I will need a replacement for him in two years.

My backline will consist of the brit Ben Parker, the aussie Patrick Kisnorbo, the brit Leigh Bromby, and the brit Jason Crowe. My backups are the angolan Rui Marques, the brit Richard Naylor, and the slovakian Lubomir Michalik at DC and the brit Andy Hughes at both DR and DL. Of these players, kisnorbo is actually of decent quality and might be with me if/when I'm in the Premier League, but as a backup of course. The rest of my defense, besides Hughes, Marques, and Michalik, are good enough for the next division after promotion, i think.

My midfielders consist of the scot Robert Snodgrass, the brits Johnathan Howson and Neil Kilkenny, and the ivorian Max Gradel. Snodgrass will be my main creative player, and he will be backed up by the brit Aidan White, who is only 17. bradley johnson, another british player, will back up the two MC spots. I probably will have to bring in a MR either on a free transfer or loan to backup Gradel, or I might splash some cash if a good player can be had for 1 million. Snodgrass, Howson, and Kilkenny all look like young guys who can hopefully develop into lower-premier league players. Ditto for Gradel. Johnson and White should be good enough for next year as well, assuming that White develops more.

Up front, I have the argentenian Luciano Bechhio as my target man to knock balls off to my main scoring threat, the brit Jermaine Beckford. Both are good enough for the next division. My backups are the american Mike Grella and the big man from Congo, Tressor Kandol. I can stick with grella as a backup next year, but will probably have to replace Kandol as his contract expires after the year, and his quality isn't good enough for the next division anyways.


Striker Mike Grella, winger Aidan White, Striker Jermaine Beckford, defender Rui Marques, Winger Andy Robinson, defender Andy Hughes, and goalie Casper Ankegren have their contracts expiring after the year. Robinson and Ankegren will be gone earlier, while I think only Beckford, Grella, and WHite will be resigned.

[rhysyboy]

looks good, who is the first friendly against?

Check out my LMA Manager dynasty I have begun

[BoKnowsBest]

Quote: Originally Posted by rhysyboy

looks good, who is the first friendly against? Check out my LMA Manager dynasty I have begun

I think all of my friendlies are either against teams BSN and under, or scottish CPL and 2nd div teams. Not sure. Ill update this post later with player pics and fixtures, as well as transfers. The reason I only posted 1 pic was because in the preview it looked too big so i deleted a few of them as I thought the post would be too huge.

Your layout for your dynasty thread looks nice

[rhysyboy]

are you going to have videos?

[BoKnowsBest]

Quote: Originally Posted by rhysyboy

are you going to have videos?

sorry, but probably not. If there's some free software I might consider it, but I don't think I'll have the time to do them anyways

So I finished up my friendlies, and brought in 1 player in a free transfer and 2 youngsters on season-long loans. Also sold 3 players, including perhaps my best player, Jermaine Beckford, for 1m to championship team west brom. The main reason I sold him was because I was fed up with his performances in real life. Also sent out a reserve player of mine out to loan to League 2 side Shrewsbury for 6 months.

Just an FYI, but I'm too lazy to crop out the pics.

Barazite will play MR and will rotate with Max Gradel there, with whoever being in better form getting the start. Pacheco is a striker and will rotate with Mike Grella as the poacher while Becchio will remain my target man.
Hughes will be a back up central midfielder for me. The 33 year old englishman formerly played for Birmingham, Charlton, and Hull. He signed through 2011.



I also retrainted DC Leigh Bromby to a DR, and while he is adjusting to it, I let Jason Crowe start the season off at DR.

Friendlies
7/11, (Away) Leeds 4-2 Peterhead
7/13, (Away) Leeds 5-0 Farsley
7/16, (Away) Leeds 3-0 Pollok
7/19, (Away) Leeds 5-0 Guiseley
7/21, (Home) Leeds 1-5 Rangers
7/23, (Away) Leeds 1-1 QPR
7/25, (Home) Leeds 7-0 GH Academy
7/31, (Away) Leeds 2-2 Hereford

Evey team I played were non-league minnows except for Rangers, QPR, and Hereford. Rangers are one of the two best teams in scottish football, and I was winning 1-0 at the half with my starters. I put in all 11 substitutes at the half and proceeded to get killed by the Rangers starting 11, but that was expected.

QPR is a decent championship team(1 division higher than me), so drawing them away, I felt, was a good result.

Hereford, on the other hand, is a decent team from League 2, one division below me, so I used the angry teamtalk after the draw and some of the more sensitive players felt I was treating them too harshly. The only injury I suffered during these friendlies was that of Arsenal loanee, the dutchman Nacer Bazarite. He will probably be out until mid-late August.

I then entered my first League game, a home game against Exeter(pre-season prediction of relegation-Leeds were predicted to finish 1st, but obviously that isn't gonna happen in real life now). My starting 11 was

Higgs at goal
Parker, Kisnorbo, Marques, Crowe in defense(left to right)
Snodgrass, Kilkenny, Howson, Gradel in midfield(left to right)
Pacheco, Becchio at the forward position (left to right)

The game was a romp, as we won 4-0, with all 4 goals coming in the 1st half. My first goal came 10 minutes in, as some nice passing let kilkenny play a beautiful cross to an unmarked Bechhio, who headed in a goal. In the 23rd minute, Neil Kilkenny, who would win the man of the match, hit a nice shot from the edge of the penalty box. Some nice passing led Snodgrass to find his way inside in the 33rd minute, and he capitalized on his one on one to make it 3-0. The last goal was an outstanding effort from the spainard Daniel Pacheco, who recieved the ball from a clearance on the left flank, ran all the way to goal, cut inside, and tapped it past the goalie to make it 4-0.
However, my best central midfielder, Jonathan Howson, got injured for 2-3 weeks with a "damaged elbow sustained after landing heavily" Bradley Johnson will take over the starting spot for now, although I HATE how he consistently launches these long range shots that rarely come close. If he shoots from long distance too much I might replace him with Bryan Hughes.

Also, I tied up quite a few contracts for the team. American striker Mike Grella signed a new contract that will take him through 2013(its now august 09). Snodgrass, Howson, and Kisnorbo signed contracts through 2014.

My next fixture is at league 2 side Darlington for the League Cup. I will play as many backups as I can for that match. I close out August with
8/15 at Wycombe
8/18 at Walsall
8/22 vs Tranmere
8/29 at Colchester

Here are some of my better players

[CeltBhoy33]

I like this man, I'm going to follow. I just recently got in to Football Manager.

I wish you would have beat the scum known as Rangers though.

Also I am looking at doing one of these with Celtic FC, but how do you take and post the pictures on here man?

[rhysyboy]

Wow, I think Daniel Pacheco will be a good buy