FC Bayern München: The Future of Football

2014-01-02 22:01#152585 engheema :

2014-01-01 21:50#152334 Jamesg237 : Well thank you and welcome (officially) to the site. I hope the story encourages you to write a story of your own. YNWA!

I was planning to make a story with Pool, and keep them on their ****ing perch!

Now that is a story I would follow. Good luck.

Heading into this Sky Bet Championship we were expected to suffer defeat after defeat and be destined for a long hard relegation battle like the club first were entangled in when I took over the helm. However, with a number of players being adding to the club (and quality ones at that), the deadwood being sent packing, new backroom staff being brought in, we have the making of a very good club that will continue to grow in the future. I have recently signed a new contract that will see me at the club for the next two seasons and with how this current season has gone so far, I intend to see out this contract. Although, it will be difficult if a bigger club does come knocking to turn them down; on the other hand, I really do believe we have the making of a great club that can compete at the highest level and we have shown this in our first month in the Championship.

I admittedly do read the hints and tips you are given when the game is simulating and one that appears constantly is the idea to give players time to gel when new additions are made to the squad. I do like this approach, but with several players joining it was essential to get them embedded into the squad as soon as possible and performing to the ability that they have. Every single newcomer has been given game time so far (apart from young goalkeeper Steve Short) and they have not disappointed. Michael Kightly has put in some impressive performances when he has come off the bench and Gabriele Perico has been able to keep Ryan McLaughlin out of the first team with a string of impressive defensive displays. The star newcomer would have to be the clubs new captain, Jack Collison; he has been instrumental in our wins so far this season and it is vital that he stays fit for the duration of the season. Only being 28 years of age he has a number of years of playing ahead of him and I hope he sees out his career with us.

Players that showed promise last season have continued their good form; McFadzean, Williamson, Fernandez and Ugwu have shown that they are not going to let newcomers push them out of the squad. Overall the team has huge potential with young players being given game time to help ensure Notts County can challenge for honours in the future (it may be the distant future but it is still possible).

The only concerns I have at the moment are the injuries we have picked up so far. Ryan McLaughlin, who we acquired from Huddersfield Town, is out for the next 3 to 5 weeks with a torn hamstring. Part of me is surprised it isn’t for longer. Thankfully Scougall will only miss two weeks of game time due to a groin strain. These two injuries have highlighted the need for improvements to be made to the physio department. I feel that we have a solid team that needs little improvement for the duration of this season and possibly the next. This will allow me to invest in the backroom staff, specifically the scouting and physio teams in order to ensure that they provide the best possible service for a club that I have high ambitions for.

Player of the Month – Jak Alnwick

Sitting pretty in the playoff spots! A great start, hopefully you'll be around there at the end of the season.

2014-01-05 00:37#152977 Arvind : Sitting pretty in the playoff spots! A great start, hopefully you'll be around there at the end of the season.

I can't quite believe that we have made such a good start to the league campaign. I really do hope that we can maintain some good form and make a mid-table finish a reality...although, a play-off spot would do nicely too!

The Championship is seen as one of the most difficult leagues in the football. It is seen as very difficult for all participating teams to gain promotion and competition is strong; there are simply no easy games. It is a league of former Premiership contenders who have managed to retain their Premier League standard players and are fighting to gain promotion at the first time of asking. It is of course going to be difficult for us to do well in our first time in the league. Therefore I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that last month was a fluke, that we were lucky to come away with any positive results. However, this month’s result should go towards quashing any doubts you had about our chances of doing well in this league. It was a month that gave us the opportunity to prove that we are not going to be pushovers and we certainly did that.

If I was given the chance to be given eight from the available fifteen from any month of this season I would have bitten your head hand off. Points could be stretched far and between this season so for us to be coming away with results like that against former UEFA Cup competitors Middlesbrough and Birmingham City who spent a couple of seasons in the top league, is a pretty good going. I am confident that if we continue to have months like this, apart from results like the one against Huddersfield Town, then there is no reason why we can certainly avoid relegation and be pushing higher up the table.

Player of the Month – Jack Collison

This is brilliant! Absolutely loving it!:D

2014-01-06 17:54#153256 Saints_Forever : This is brilliant! Absolutely loving it!:D

I am glad you are enjoying it and I hope you continue to follow me on this journey.

So far this campaign I have been very impressed with all the signings that I made. They have all contributed in one way or another, with one of them, Jack Collison, coming in as the club’s new captain. They have all shown that they have what it takes to win games in the Championship...well, all of them except one. Samed Yesil was a player that a number of you mentioned in comments as a player you would be interested to see how he did and that he could do well in my ever improving Notts County side. How wrong you all were up until this month that is.

As with most players, especially strikers I think, confident is a big factor in deciding a strikers form. I acknowledge that class is permanent but if a player is lacking confidence then they simply won’t show off that class and their true ability. Yesil was not in my first team plans at first but instead playing second fiddle to Gozie Ugwu who was showing off the potential I knew he had back in League One. I gave Yesil his opportunity to prove his worth to the team and that he wasn’t going to be the flop of the season, and he did me proud. He finally managed to end the goal drought which had lasted the duration of his time at the club. This sole goal encouraged him to create more chances for himself and he was getting the shots on the opposition goal. Unfortunately he did end the month on a solitary goal but I do think it will be the goal that will give him confidence in front of goal in the upcoming months.

As a result of Ugwu being my preferred striker and Yesil the backup, young Kysela that we got in from our parent club, Manchester City, is not seeing much game time. This appears to be annoying Manuel Pelligirini, who is still at the helm, as his young future star striker is getting the game time he thinks he deserves. Despite me explaining to him twice that he cannot expect Kysela to get first team action and my teams’ league position takes priority of his players’ future, he doesn’t seem to want to hear it. I am still yet to see any result of me setting him straight (possible feature that needs to be worked on in FM?) so I will just continue to give him the same responses. Thankfully for me, he cannot be recalled by Manchester City so he will continue to warm the bench for the foreseeable future. I do feel bad for the lad but we are sat at the top of the league and I feel that we have the potential to make that position ours for a while yet. Therefore it is vital that I player my strongest side game in game out and that means Kysela just won’t be featuring.

Player of the Month – Callum McFadzean

The Championship is considered as one of the most difficult leagues to get out of in world football. This is partially due to the fact that so many former Premier League old boys play in this league after suffering the dreaded relegation and are credited with parachute payments which help them strengthen when players who have got too big for the club leave. Because of this I have to admit that heading into this month made me nervous as we were due to come up against sides that had recently plied their trade in the Premier League. I could not however have envisioned the final monthly results.

Samed Yesil finally got off the mark last month and seemed to increase in confidence and he quickly got off the mark in this month by helping himself to all four goals against former Premier League champions, Blackburn Rovers. It was a sensational performance that earned him more respect from me and others in the game. It was that performance which saw him claim the lone striker role in my preferred first eleven for the rest of the month and he didn’t disappoint. He is a young player, that hasn’t had much game time and if that performance against Blackburn is anything to by, I think I may have grabbed a bargain of a player! The next two games were much more tense affairs with us fortunate to come away with three points against Sunderland as they peppered our goal with shot after shot. The defence have performed admirably this season so far with us having conceded the least amount of goals so far this season. They seem to have formed a great understand and I am not being left disappointed at not getting Bossaerts on loan for a second season. Miquel, McLaughlin (who has come back from injury much stronger) and Balic have formed a great understanding with Williamson, who is enjoying being vice captain of the club.

Fingers crossed that this back four remain match fit, avoid injury and have very little to do over the coming games. If this happens, and the likes of Yesil and McFadzean continue to put in such high quality performances, there is no reason why the gap at the top of the league cannot stretch even further. I do have to pinch myself every time I do look at the league table...it wasn’t too long ago that we were fighting relegation down in League One. Come on County!

Player of the Month – Samed Yesil

Nice update !

2014-01-12 15:44#154144 Jorks : Nice update !

Why thank you.

yesil looks like a talent and also good job signing mclaughlin from liverpool in the preseason i rate him pretty highly

2014-01-17 03:40#155237 kdavva : yesil looks like a talent and also good job signing mclaughlin from liverpool in the preseason i rate him pretty highly

Two good signings for a club like ours. Hopefully Yesil will continue to go from strength to strength and McLaughlin manages to stay away from injuries which hampered the start to his Notts County career.

Apologies to one and all for the distinct lack of updates recently. Life is hectic and finding time to play and write updates is sparse. However, this is still a story in progress and I am still determined to achieve the two aims I set right back in my first post so please do stick with me!

Again apologies for the update...lost a bit of interest in the game at the moment so tending to spend my time to do other things recently. The story will still achieve its original two aims...it is just going to be a long time before I start up again and try to achieve them. Thank you to the people who are continuing to read the story.