FC Bayern München: The Future of Football

It has been a long time since I have sat here and written an update sharing with you how I am getting on in my unemployment challenge and my quest to make this story as successful as my Liverpool FC story back on Football Manager. I have to admit that despite a prolonged absence from story writing, the story still seems to have received some views, which I thank you all for. There is no specific reason for my absence, I merely thought it would be better to take a break rather than try and stick at the story and becoming bored before even reaching half way to my total number of views. I have however, enjoyed reading other stories and the recent craziness of the Premier League has encouraged and revitalised my desire to achieve my two aims set out at the beginning of this story. Therefore, I bring you a brand new update for you to enjoy.

The month was an extremely positive one and I cannot fault the effort and desire that the players showed during what was an extremely long festive period. The players are absolutely shattered and in need of a break but there are still a lot of matches left to play and they aren’t going to get any easier. It is definitely dawning on me what a huge challenge we have ahead of us. A number of players have put in excellent performances. I finally gave in to Pelligirini’s demands and have started to play Kysela a bit more often and he repaid the faith I showed in him by getting himself goals in the wins against Brentford and Charlton. I still think that he is not quite up to standards to help us push for promotion at the first time of asking, which is slowly but surely looking like a greater possibility. As long as I continue to rotate the players, but try to avoid disrupting the harmony of the squad, then the players will remain fresh for the challenging games ahead of us.

Unfortunately the FA Cup fourth round is coming up this next month which is just another game that we could do without. Yes it is against Brighton who are a team that we could potentially beat and progress to the fifth round, with the potential then of playing a bigger team, such as one from the Premier League.

Player of the Month – Ignasi Miquel

Miquel is a monster :P, great month

Good month lad, looking more and more likely that promotion to the prem will actually happen! Good luck!

Building quite the gap at the top there! The Premier League beckons you

Nice lead at the top, but you won't beat brighton in the fa cup

sedsosedso: Miquel is a great player for us. He is still quite young and has a lot of room to improve which I am confident he will do as he is getting so much game time.

AaronHJFT96: Promotion is a definite possibility but I don't like to get ahead of myself and just take each game as it comes.

Justice: The gap is quite a good one but it can always be better. Hopefully if we continue our good vein of form and others slip up, the gap will increase even further.

captainbrickarms: Thank you for commenting (I think it is your first time on my story). I am confident of beating Brighton as they are really under performing in the league. It should in fact be a comfortable win...but only time will tell. I apologise in advance if we do progress in the cup.

Great update mate with great results, the promotion is very close and there is no doubt you'll promote. Keep it up!

2014-02-02 13:36#158260 Cosmin : Great update mate with great results, the promotion is very close and there is no doubt you'll promote. Keep it up!

I really do want the side to push for promotion as it will be a great achievement. However, it is a very difficult league, especially for a side who have just come up from League One. Only time will tell...Thanks for your first comment on my story!

As I mentioned in my last update, the upcoming months are filled with a large number of games that are certainly going to be a challenge, especially if we want to defy all odds and challenge for promotion to the Premier League at the first time of asking. When studying the squad I feel that we have adequate depth in midfield and the upfront, however I have felt that the defence has been in need of bolstering. I do think we can head into any game and be confident of outscoring our opponents but it is only a matter of time before we come up against a strong striking force where our defence will be tested. During the summer I managed to bring in a number of signings, including McLaughlin, Balic, Miquel and Perico who have all put in a good number of solid performances and with Alnwick at the back, we have conceded the least number of goals so far in the Championship.

Despite having this record to our name, and it now being the transfer window, I have looked to add more depth to the defence in order to help keep the defence fresh and having plenty of options in case of injuries. The first player that I decided to bring in is a player who has done well so far for Liverpool in the real-world after the coming back from injury. John Flanagan had been without a club in-game and nobody seemed to want to sign him, which I just cannot understand. He is a great player with attributes that will definitely add some quality to our already successful defence. Whether he replaces McLaughlin straight away in defence I am not too sure as McLaughlin has put in a string of good performances since suffering an early set back being injured near the beginning of the season.


Last season Mathias Bossaerts had been an excellent loanee signing from our parent club, Manchester City. At the end of the season I had tried to sign him on a permanent deal, which City were happy to take place but the player was not interested in signing on for the long term. Since, I have continued to try and sign him back to the club on loan and a permanent deal as he has been sat in the Manchester City reserves and not looking likely to break into their first team. I left the player alone for a couple of games but then went back in for him to try and get him back to Meadow Lane on a loan. Thankfully the club accepted and then the player agreed. He is an excellent defender that I am sure will come straight into the side to replace the aging Mike Williamson. I will again try to sign him on a permanent deal come the end of the season. With the club pushing for promotion, I think we will have a better chance of signing him if we achieve promotion that is definitely within our grasp.

Some nice defensive signings there, hopefully they'll help you get promoted!

Nice signings mate, congrats'!

Neal:I felt the defence needed the most improvement and depths added to. Two great players that I am sure will head straight into the first team!

Cosmin:Thank you. I hope they can do well for us.

In an earlier post, captainbrickarms clearly stated that I was doing well with Notts County but I was never going to beat Brighton. This my apology to him as we did not only beat them once but we beat them in back to back games, didn’t concede a goal, knocked them out of the FA Cup and confirmed their battle against relegation. However, I am really not that sorry as it was a great end to what had turned out to be a difficult month.

I feel that if we had managed to dispatch Leicester at the first time of asking instead of taking part in a bore draw, and it would have meant not having to play a replay, my side would have been fresher and we wouldn’t have been losing against Hull and Middlesborough. The Middlesborough was the first time I came close to rage quitting the game (which I don’t agree with) as nothing, not a thing, went our way! We were absolutely abysmal and didn’t even try and get into the game until the last 5 minutes, which by then the game was well and truly over! Thankfully the team did make it up to me, after a stern warning about needing to improve, by finishing on a high with the wins against Brighton...sorry again captainarmbricks!

After improving the squad in the transfer window by bringing in John Flanagan and Mathias Bossaerts, I felt it was important to ensure that the club had a backroom staff that committed their future to Notts County for many seasons to come. I have therefore offered contracts to Clive Allen (coach), Steve Jones (physio), Andriy Shevchenko (coach) and David Beckham (coach). All of the staff felt that the deals they were offered were acceptable and are away considering their responses, which I expect all to be positives. I have however had to ensure the majority of them of a pay rise if we manage to promote to the Premier League. This could disrupt our finances, especially as some wanted no less than a 30% wage increase but we have continually made a profit this season so I expect that to cover the increase in wages. Unfortunately for them, if we do get promoted I will be looking to bring in staff of a higher calibre so may have their contracts terminated and compensation packets delivered to them.

Player of the Month – James Rowe

It's very hard seeing my team Blackpool playing so poorly But you're doing completely the opposite, keep it up.

2014-02-04 20:03#158679 Walter : It's very hard seeing my team Blackpool playing so poorly But you're doing completely the opposite, keep it up.

They have not had the best of seasons and seem destined to spend the rest of the season involved in a relegation battle. I can't quite believe how well this season is going for us!