Manchester United: The Red Devils

Welcome to my Manchester United manager story! Using the latest transfer and data updates following the 2014 summer transfer window, we will be trying to take the Red Devils back to the top of England in the run up to FM15. I hope you will enjoy the layout and features presented in this story and can add any suggestions or comments on what you liked or I could improve on! United is a popular choice for FM stories but with that being said, I get most enjoyment from the game managing the team I support so I hope I can keep this story fresh and interesting to read for you all and bring some new ideas with me!

Thank you, KyleJ!

Louis van Gaal has been named as Manchester United manager, with Ryan Giggs as his assistant.

"This club has big ambitions. I too have big ambitions,"
Together I'm sure we will make history."


Van Gaal, 62, has signed a three-year contract to succeed David Moyes. The Dutchman, who has won titles with Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AZ Alkmaar, will take charge at Old Trafford after leading the Netherlands at this summer's World Cup in Brazil.

"This club has big ambitions. I too have big ambitions," he said. "Together I'm sure we will make history." Van Gaal said he had always wanted to work in the Premier League. He added: "To work as a manager for Manchester United, the biggest club in the world, makes me very proud. I have managed in games at Old Trafford before and know what an incredible arena Old Trafford is and how passionate and knowledgeable the fans are."

good luck mate!

After investing close to £150m in new faces during the summer transfer window now Louis van Gaal has the task of finding a way to fit his new star studded players into a formation. Sticking to a 3-5-2 philosophy in which he guided the Dutch side to 3rd in the World Cup could be possible while pundits are suggesting van Gaal's favoured 4-3-3 or even 4-4-2 diamond might take shape of Manchester United's formation this coming season.


While the formation might change the famous philosophy will still be followed. Van Gaal has always believed in players adapting to a system rather than the opposite, which you couldn't argue given the success he has achieved. Van Gaal has said his philosophy wouldn't be worth anything if the football on the pitch wasn't attractive and pleasing to the eye and has always valued pleasing the watching crowd. He has always demanded teamwork as opposed to individual superstars, shown by his high-profile fallouts with Rivaldo and Franck Ribery. Because of this we see Louis put a lot of faith in academy and youth graduates which has no doubt shown and been successful with the example of Ajax players; Frank de Boer, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert. Key analysis;

I'd love to see James Wilson in Manchester United's team!

2014-09-05 13:45#193315 Zed : I'd love to see James Wilson in Manchester United's team!

Absolutely, such a natural finisher, no tougher competing with RvP and Falcao but both are injury-prone so who knows!

Lovely start my friend! Good to see another red on the site!

2014-09-05 15:33#193327 Josh_MU : Lovely start my friend! Good to see another red on the site!

Thank you Josh!

Louis van Gaal has started his reign as Manchester United in impressive fashion picking up a solid seven out of seven wins as the Reds began their new transitional period. Critics are noting a much improved defensive unit within the squad since their troublesome past season, with van Gaal keen to quickly rectify a fragile defence. Given pre-season has no guarantee of coming success, however, United fans must be optimistic of the positive, attacking style employed by the new boss and will be hoping their pre-season form carries through into the new Barclays Premier League season.


van Gaal offered a lot of opportunities for United's academy prospects including the likes of Jesse Lingard, Tyler Blackett, Andreas Pereira, Marnick Vermijl and James Wilson. Promise of the future looked very bright during the campaign and LvG will be looking to try break the youngsters eventually into the first team which will prove to be a tough-task given Uniteds influx of star studded players during the summer. New-boy Marcus Rojo was particularly impressive with a string of good performances in a new look defence, while Juan Mata answered calls of where he might fit in the squad by critics with some top class performances also. There was no-doubt however of the player to watch during pre-season. An impressive nine goal return in six games from none other than Radamel Falcao has shown why Man Utd fans have every right to be exited for the new season ahead.

A great start to the story. There seems to be a few Manchester United stories at the moment so it will be interesting to see how you fair against them.