Manchester United - My Story

THE BEGINNING | MANCHESTER UNITED STORY



Without fail every FM when it comes out I start with Manchester United. I grew up supporting them and whenever I try to use another team it just can't compare.
This FM I thought it would be easy to make a few signings and dominate the Premier League but boy I was wrong...
Liverpool are my worst nightmare. They are so good in my save and almost impossible to beat.
I am in Season 7 and this is a quick update of what has happened so far. From now on I will post updates more often with updates about signings, big games and all the ups and downs that come with FM.
I am also manager of England, managed them in the EURO 2024 and we have just secured qualification for the 2026 World Cup.

Summary of seasons so far:

Season 1 - 2019/2020



Season 2 - 2020/2021 - 1 Premier League Title in the Bag



Season 3 - 2021/2022



Season 4 - 2022/2023 - Our First Champions League!




Season 5 - 2023/2024 - Back to Back Champions Leagues! Won EURO 2024!





Season 6 - 2024/2025

SEASON 7 | 2025/26



Not only have Liverpool won the Premier League almost every year. But here are the Champions League winners since I started the save:


Here is every trophy I have won so far - a few cups I didn't mention before:


The current Premier League table - recognize a pattern?


Summary of my manager profile:


My stats:


Also signed Ronaldo when his contract expired at Juve. He played half a season and was banging in goals, then decided to retire. I gave him the U18 Assistant Manager role, and at the beginning of this season promoted him to be my assistant manager. Also I had Messi as a coach but he left us to be manager of Hull City who sacked him after one season.


This is how my squad looks now:



This was my transfer this season... I spent so much because Liverpool are driving me crazy haha and I sold a lot of players the season before.


The trophies I have won including individual trophies: Manager of the Year in 2023/2024 and 2020/2021, all the others are manager of the month awards


Next post will be a closer look at the players in my squad from key players to youth prospects

MEET THE SQUAD | 2025/26 KEY PLAYERS & YOUTH PROSPECTS!



I have an unbelievable team right now and naturally so considering the cash we have spent. But we are United and we should have the best squad in the world, with young players always coming through and getting game time. I model my philosophy around my idol Sir Alex.

First meet our Key Players this season - Honorable mention to Greenwood, Rashford, Tielemans and De Ligt.
I wish I could talk about every player because you have missed a lot but there will be more updates as we continue.

Thiago Almada - The little maestro. This guys is unbelievable. One of the best CAM's in the game and we signed him for just 5.75mil! Last season he had a bad injury and was out for 8 months, so he is just coming back and I expect him to come back strong and provide a challenge for Havertz. A couple of seasons ago I had Havertz, Joao Felix, Bruno Fernandes... and Almada was my starting CAM... he has been that good.


Nicolo Armini - Signed in my first season for 2mil, I never knew the monster he would become! I have 4 unreal centre backs with Upamenco, De Ligt and Tobido, out of the 4, Armini is my favourite. I occasionally play him right back and he scored an unreal goal against PSG in the champions league dribbling past 5 players before banging in a 25 yard screamer in to the top bins! What a player.


Erling Haaland - Yes I know everyone signs him. But I wanted him haha. He went from Dortmund to Spurs because I didn't splash out on him right away. But he was scoring so much for Spurs! I bid about 10 times. Assigned scouts to watch him, and made him my top transfer target. Then he put in a transfer request. So I got my man, 63million in the end, Spurs signed him for 65mil so I guess my patience and persistence paid off. 82 goals for United in 4 seasons, and counting...


Asier Martinez - My new Spanish Superstar! His stats speak for themself. Look at him. I had to get him.
124mil he cost me and my thought when I bought him and the next man was just beating Liverpool at all costs, only time will tell if I made the right choice.
This season 18 games 7 goals 6 assists, not bad, but I am expecting more.


Kylian Mbappe - Nothing to say about him. Wanted to destroy Liverpool so I got him.


Hannibal Mejbri - Probably the biggest surprise in the save for me. I always give youth a chance and he took it. Look at the player he has developed into! I have had to fight off Real Madrid to keep him, but he is one of the first name on the team sheet in every game. Absolute baller. Assists and Goals almost every game. I love Mejbri.


Jean-Clair Tobido - Another tank. I prefer him over De Ligt and Upamenco and that shows you the kind of player he is! Pace, Strength and Tackling ability. Him and Armini together are immense.


Maarten Vandervoordt - The last couple of seasons De Gea had made a few mistakes and seems to slowly be declining so I bought in this lad from Dortmund. His stats look great! And so far this season he has been really really good. Will try to develop him into the best keeper in the game.


And now..
The Youth Prospects
Kamil Baranek - Got him on a free! Already has good stats, 19 caps for Czech at 20 years old. I have a lot of midfielders so I am hoping to give him some game time and over the next few years I see him as being Mejbri replacement.


Garrinchinha - Every save needs a Brazilian wonderkid. When I sold Dalot to Chelsea for big money, this lad was on my radar. He is doing okay and still needs to develop but I am hoping he can turn into the perfect right wing back or right midfielder with 3 at the back.


Gustavo Gomez - Bags of potential. 9.5mil couldn't say no. But he is behind Mbappe, Haaland and Greenwood so let's see if he can turn into the player his wonderkid status suggests with little playing time.


The next two players I named after my brother and my Dad haha

Harry Semp - Came through the youth academy and with 5 star potential I am hoping we have another Greenwood type player coming through the ranks.


Michael Giggs Semp - We call my Dad 'Giggsy' because he is the one club legend of our local team Glen Eden United, and he still plays! Signed him from Benfica for 43mil he looks like he become a top top player, second choice left midfielder behind Rashford.


That's just some of the players! The whole squad is great and will feature in the next few posts.
Now time for me to get stuck into the game and post updates as we go.
Hope I have summarized what has happened so far, if you want to see anything I haven't posted, please ask!
Thanks for reading!

2025/26 SEASON VISION & UPDATE

Here is a closer look at the club vision.. nothing short of a Premier League and Champions League title is expected this season! The board expects that, and I am aiming to deliver.
[img]

This is how we stand right now in all competitions, just behind Liverpool in the Premier League and we topped our group in the Champions League beating PSG twice.


A closer look at the Premier League, look lower, lower, yes that's right Arsenal are down there! And I am sorry to say Arsenal fans but look at who is doing this to your club...


Arsenal Manager:


Our recent results have been quite good and we are ready for our next test against Chelsea Away.


The tactic I have been using this season allows us to have most of our attacking talent on show every match.
I have 4 world class centre back's, that is why I decided this is the first season I will play with 3 at the back, so far it has been going quite well, will still need to tweak it here and there, and figure out the best way to play against Liverpool, so far beating PSG twice with this tactic is leading me to beleive I can attack Liverpool the same way... time will tell, maybe I am naive.
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Tonight we play Cheslea, I am looking forward to our first game together
Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more...

Nice. An interesting read thanks for sharing.

Blake99 Thanks mate glad you like it! Wish I had started from Season 1, but I hope I have summarized everything well enough, will be much more detailed moving forward.

Sick Post!
That Young Guy Harry Looks Like He Will Turn Into A Stud!

DECEMBER 2025 | 2 BIG GAMES: CHELSEA & MAN CITY!



We have already played 3 games in December. A disappointing loss to Everton, we have to play better if we want to bring glory back to Manchester United. We managed to turn it around and get a solid win over a decent Sheffield United side. Followed by a fantastic victory over PSG. 2-1 down with 10 minutes to go and we came back, brilliant stuff from the lads.


This time of year is critical in a title run, we need to get as many points as we can to stay within reach of Liverpool. Chelsea will be a real test. They are just 1 point behind us and we are feeling the pressure.

He stays on! Erling Haaland has signed a 5 year contract despite rumours he wanted to leave the club. I am delighted he is staying and I plan on keeping him for the remainder of his contract. Want to get my money's worth!


Elsewhere the 2026 World Cup group stages were drawn and we are going in with full confidence after winning the EURO's and being drawn against Jamaica and UAE


Our Youth Intake this year looks as underwhelming as ever...


Going into the Chelsea game with have 3 injured players. De Gea will sit on the bench as he is our number 2 anyway, Chong has been unreal in season's past but with Martinez coming in has seen himself only playing against smaller teams, and McTominay is now a bit part player. So our team is almost fully fit.


The line up's for the Chelsea game. They have assembled an equally quality side and I am determined to get my 3 at the back tactic to work. Let's see if the boys can get a big win in London.


Unfortunately not... poor defending and not taking our chances cost us the game. Tactical adjustments will be made to try and improve in the next match against West Ham. I believe I have the quality to stick with 3-5-2 and make it work, but we need to make small changes.


The Champions League knockout draw has paired us up against Napoli. Napoli are currently 7th in Serie A so I am confident we can get past them and through to the next round.


Made a few changes for the game against West Ham. Rotation is needed at this busy time. A must win, and should win game!


A dominating display, made much easier thanks to Boadu's second yellow card in the 31st min.
The pick of the goals was the first from Bellingham.


https://i.gyazo.com/0db6b07154fe83cdba70b9e5de5d6e5a.gif

Next up is Man City.... Do I stick with the back 3 or go to my other 424 tactic... decision time....

I have decided to go with the 4-2-4 tactic. Still playing attacking with a high line, just wanted a more secure back four to deal with City's standard 4-2-3-1.


Two incredible teams. I think we are slightly better on paper. But football is played on the pitch not on paper!


An incredibly disheartening result. Played well, created more chances, but we couldn't put the ball in the back on the net. We have lost 2 big games and I am starting to worry. Why are we not beating big teams!? Perhaps I am being too aggressive playing attacking and need to tone it down to positive or balanced, going to try that in our next big game.


We have one day to rest.... then we play Bournemouth away. We will go back to the 3-5-2 and attack them aggresivley. Already 7 points behind Liverpool, we have to win these kinds of games!

Lots of rotation again, a chance for my young wingers and a game we should win by at least 3 goals.


Haaland.... we just gave you a new contract!?
https://i.gyazo.com/e1b892c84fecea690fe528254556d90d.gif

Haaland ! AGAIN! Subbed him off instantly. Going to be dropped for the next game. Signs his contract and performs like this...
https://i.gyazo.com/1039dde6230e3da856051aa086aea870.gif

A disappointing result considering our dominance. Our finishing has been terrible. Haaland was embarrassing. But we move on with the 3 points which we crucially needed.


Gutted to lose 3 games in the Premier League in 1 month. Not what we wanted. But this is all part of the challenge of managing the best club in the world. I expect to win every game. That is not always the case. But I am determined to get to the point where we are almost impossible to beat. We will get there.


The end of December and we see ourselves 3rd in the Premier League. Chelsea have improved a lot from past seasons, and our poor results against bigger teams need to improve. We are still in the fight but it's going to be tough. The board want us to win the Premier League and right now it is not looking good.



What to do in January. Do we need to bring in another player? Unbeleivably Mbappe and Haaland aren't doing it up top, maybe start Greenwood in a run of games, or give one of our young players Gomez or Harry Semp some starts? The decisions need to be made carefully as another couple of losses will almost guarantee we won't win the Premier League and we will have to wait even more for domestic success.

Good update
that contract for Haaland is crazy btw hopefully he repays it!

2020-04-07 10:03#268319 Jopaaaa : Good update
that contract for Haaland is crazy btw hopefully he repays it!

It really is! He has seem to have stopped playing now he signed that contract, can't believe it, I am sure over time he will be worth it...

2020-04-07 08:07#268314 Harry.Semp : Sick Post!
That Young Guy Harry Looks Like He Will Turn Into A Stud!

He is decent aye

JANUARY 2026 | TRANSFER WINDOW: DO WE SIGN ANY NEW PLAYERS?



This month we have two big fixtures. Arsenal at Home and Man City Away both in the league. Liverpool are beginning to run away with the title and with time running out we need to win these big games. We also have two FA Cup games that aren't shown on this schedule as the draw had not been completed yet. We must get better results than we did in December. The title race is well and truly on!


Team of the Year 2025 : 7 Liverpool players, showing their domination. United get one man in the starting XI. Our Deep Lying Playmaker Youri Tielemans makes the cut with our new signings: Martinez and Vandervoordt making the bench.


Dybala wins World Player of the Year...


Dybala has been incredible for Liverpool. He always seems to score against me. What a player he is in this save... winning Player of the Year, 4 years in a row! Unbeleivable.


It is that time of the year when the window is open. Our board has always been very generous with us giving us a good transfer budget every season. This is no surprise either. The board have increased our transfer budget to £116 million. What do we do though, at this stage I am actually very happy with my squad. I have a lot of quality first team players with a great crop of young players coming through. Any more signings will push the young players further away from getting first team game time and this is something I am always cautious about. Although Neymar and Pogba's contract's are expiring, I could sign them for free... and it is tempting. What will I decide to do, time will tell.


Our first game of the month is against Fulham Away in the Premier League.I decided to start Greenwood and youngster Harry Semp after Haaland and Mbappe's poor performances in the last few games. Fulham do not have the best squad, and this was a game we should be winning comfortbaly.


Academy prospect Harry Semp with the finish!


We dealt with Fulham, as we should. A decent win, disappointing to concede in extra time, but a solid 3 points. On to the next.


Unfortunately in the Fulham game, Brandon Williams fractured his ribs and will be out for 3-4 weeks. He has been a quality player for me in my save and has scored some unbelievable goals. An academy prospect who I will be taking with me for England to the 2026 World Cup.




Time for the FA Cup and Manchester United have drawn Dangeham & Redbridge. The Vanarama National side will be coming to Old Trafford in arguably the biggest game in their clubs history. This would be the game where complacency may kick in. We should smash them but everyone knows football and Football Manager doesn't always work like that. More rotation see's an almost completely different line up. De Gea comes in, Lima our wonderkid centre back and Baranek our Czech wonderkid both make their debuts.


Thiago Almada! Our Argentine Hero!


A comfortable 4-0 victory as expected. Chong was Man of the Match and had the chance to seal a hat-trick but he missed a penalty. Would have been a fantastic occasion for him, in what could be his last game for the club with teams lurking, and his lack of game time tempting me to sell him.


Some terrible news from the last game. Baranek is out for 2 months. He tore his hamstring, I really hope he can recover and still become the 5 star player his potential suggests.


Our next game is a Home game against Thierry Henry's struggling Arsenal. In this save Arsenal have never really challenged for the title, but right now they are really struggling and in the bottom half of the league. We will go out and attack them from the start, and should be able to win this match.


Hannibal Mejbri! You beauty!


A great 2-1 win. Mejbri was unbelievable. We are adding to Arsenal's misery and I love it. Poor Henry!



Our next match is against Leicester City and I wanted to highlight their current manager. Ex-City defender Vincent Kompany! He has had quite the journeyman career so far managing Crystal Palace, Man City, Juventus, Marsielle and now Leicester. He has amazing stats for a manager too! Can we get the better of him?


We stuck with Greenwood and Harry Semp up top again. Ben Chilwell came in on the left to face his former side and Bellingham came in to the center of the park.


Harry Semp has been developing quite nicely and is really our best Youth Academy player to come through the ranks in the last few seasons. I am hoping to develop him to his full potential and to see him turn into a goalscoring beast!


A very good win. Dominated possession and shots. Harry Semp coming in hot with a brace! Ben Chilwell played superb on the left creating two goals and winning Man of the Match. Upamenco got on the scoresheet very late to seal the win.


As I mentioned previously, Chong has not had much game time this season and when Real Madrid came in with this offer I thought I might as well cash in now. He is 26 and I want to be able to give more game time to Garrinchinha. Real Madrid came in with an offer of £55 million and I thought that was a fair deal. So he is now a Galactico. He has been a great player, playing 10 seasons for United after coming through the youth ranks, and we will miss his mazy runs. But this is the game, we move on.


Our next game is against Man City and I want to try our 3-5-2 with a balanced approach. McTominay also starts as a Ball Winning Midfielder to hopefully break down City's attacks.


Two very strong teams go head to head at the Etihad, I need to start winning these games...


An absolute disaster. An embarrassing defeat. Definitely going back to 4-2-4 against bigger teams away from home.


The performance was so disappointing that the players are refunding the fans... first time this has happened in my 7 seasons, gutted.


On a more positive note, our beast centre back Tobido signs a new 4 year contract




MK Dons vs Man United. Another game which we should be easily winning. Game time for the youngsters Lima and Gomez. Also started Haaland wanted him to get some goals to boost his confidence and end his goal drought.


A dominant display as we expected. Glad to see Haaland get a hat-trick, I am hoping he can start scoring more in the Premier League now!


Another sale to Real Madrid. This time we sold Kai Havertz for £85 million. This was planned all along. I signed him on a pre-contract at the end of last season. I do this with a lot of players, buy them for free and sell them on within 2 seasons. Easy profit. I know Havertz is good but Almada is my man for the CAM position and I want to free room for youngsters. Knowing my luck we will play Real Madrid at some point in the next couple of seasons..


Not bad profit...


This was also the record transfer fee received! I am really happy with the business in this deal.


After beating MK Dons our next FA Cup game will be in the 5th round against Crystal Palace at home.


After the sale of Chong and Havertz we have a massive £225 million transfer budget... will I make any signings? Right now I don't think I will. I am happy with the team, and want to give youngsters more game time in the second half of the season. Let me know if you have any recommendations of players of positions you think I should improve.


Our last game of the month is a home Premier League game against Newcastle. Greenwood and Harry Semp start back up top again. The Newcastle team is average at best and should be an easy win.


A quality performance, smashing Newcastle 2-0. Almada and Tielemans scored to wrap off quite a good month.


At the end of January we sit 2nd in the Premier League, 6 points behind Liverpool who at this stage I still have hope of catching. Chelsea are right behind us and not giving up. This one will go right to the end. We have to beat Liverpool and Chelsea when we play them next.


Overall a good month bar the Man City result. That was probably another tactical error from me more than anything.


There are 2 days left of the transfer window. I will play again tonight in about 6 hours if you would like me to sign anyone comment before then or it will be too late.

As always, thanks for reading !

FEBRUARY 2026 | END OF THE TRANSFER WINDOW & THE BATTLE OF 2nd AND 3rd



I won the Manager of the Month award for January which was nice even though we got smashed by City.




It is transfer deadline day and we have a lot of money to spend. I have been scouting a lot of players and looking at potentially bringing in a couple of new faces. I don't want to spend to much, but would like to bring in some youngsters.

Lets see what deals we can get done.

The first confirmed transfer was our young CB, Lima who went out on loan to Bordeaux until the end of the season. As the he is currently my 5th choice centre back, I wanted him to get some more game time, and with Bordeaux in Ligue 1 he will be able to do so.


Our first signing in the window was Barcelona youngster Albert. A bargain for £425k the Spanish goalkeeper can develop in the U23's and we will assess him in a couple of seasons if we want to sell him for profit or promote him to our back up keeper, as De Gea is aging and will probably want to leave soon.


His value has already increased a lot after leaving Spain, and even though his potential ability doesn't look so good, he has some nice stats.


Our next signing, Brazilian wonderkid Wanderson. What would a transfer window be without signing a wonderkid!? Wanderson looks like a quality CAM, and with Havertz leaving I wanted to bring in another youngster to back up Almada. For £17.5 million, already premier league ready, and with a lot of potential, I am happy to welcome him to the club, and he will feature in the First Team in the remainder of the season.


Wanderson is clearly a playmaker, with his passing and first touch being his best attributes. I can see him developing into a World Class player.


The transfer window wraps up there. Just two signings in, and two players sold. A fairly quiet window for me. But I am happy with how our squad looks.

This month we have 5 games, but I will only play 4. I always let my Assistant Manager manage the friendly games. So Ronaldo will take charge against RB Salzburg. We have two big games that stand out. Napoli Away from home will be a big test, and Chelsea in the league arguably our toughest game of the month, and a huge game in the title race!


A summary of the players currently out on loan. Jay Whittaker is another youth academy prospect who has featured in the First Team in seasons past, I am hoping he comes back stronger after his loan spell in France.


Ronaldo took charge and Ronaldo did the buisness. A solid win over Salzburg and it is great to see Wanderson score on his debut.


McTominay scored a banger against Salzburg!


Wanderson's first goal for the Red Devils!


Unbelievable, before we even play our first game of the month, we have picked up a lot of injuries! The worst being Tielemans. Not what we wanted, especially when the transfer window just shut, I am beginning to wonder if I should have bought in more players when I could.


And another injury.. you couldn't imagine this!


Wolves v Manchester United. A tough away game with all of our injuries. Greenwood and Haaland up top, McTominay starts in midfield, and out usual back 3.


Diogo Jota!! My god! One of the best free kicks I have seen in FM! Too bad it was against me! 1-0 down.


HT: Wolves 1-0 Man Utd. I needed to make a change. Decided to change to a 4-2-3-1, the formation that worked so well for me in my first few seasons. I am hoping the tactical change can help us be more solid at the back and build up our attacks.


Haaland, what a goal lad !


We managed to pull back from our poor first half performance. I am far from a tactical genius, but was pleased to see my changes at half time appeared to make a difference.


Our Champions League knockout game is against Napoli who I don't think I have played against at all on this save. We are playing the 4-2-4 with Haaland and Mbappe the powerhouses up top. I am hoping to get a good result to make the 2nd league easier at home.


Martinez what a goal!


A good 2-1 win puts us in a comfortable position for the 2nd leg. As long as we don't lose that game we are through. Martinez was brilliant with a brace and winning Man of the Match with a 9.0 rating.


Our next game in the Premier League is Away to West Ham who are currently 15th in the Premier League. I had a strange feeling about this game and would usually change to a back 3, but wanted to keep it more tight at the back away with home so I stuck with the 4-2-4. Rotation was needed though before our next game against Chelsea, so a lot of different faces came in.


We scrapped a tight victory. I was just glad to get the 3 points. And now we can move onto the main event!


Manchester United vs Chelsea at Old Trafford. Chelsea are just 4 points behind us and pushing for their first title challenge in a long time. With their recent signing of Vinicius Junior their manager Senol Gunes has strengthened them over the last few seasons, and now they are a really tough challenge.


We decided to stick with the 4-2-4 formation with a Balanced tactical approach. I am trying Mbappe on the left and Greenwood next to Haaland up top. Our team looks great again but can we beat Chelsea.


Here is how the teams look. Chelsea playing Vinicius Jr as a lone striker. Ex Manchester United players Dalot and Tuanzebe also line up for Chelsea now, which puts even more importance on this game!


Half Time 0-0. I decided to bring on Almada and change to a 4-2-3-1 to try and give us a creative link from the midfield to the attack.




And...




It didn't work. We conceded straight away and lost 1-0. Again losing to a top team. We just cannot seem to beat anyone near the top of the table. I feel like we aren't even playing bad. We are missing chances. Back to the drawing board I guess.


In the Chelsea game Martinez picked up an injury in the first half and unfortunately will be out for 2-3 weeks. In hindsight I really should have signed a couple more player in the January transfer window.


At the end of February we are still in 2nd position in the Premier League. Liverpool still 6 points clear with a game in hand, and only 1 loss. It is actually unreal how good they are. Chelsea are right behind us now after their win against us, only a 1 point difference between 2nd and 3rd.


Overall a good month again. No amazing results and nothing to freak out about.



QUESTION OF THE MONTH
From now on each month I am going to post a question for you guys to answer once you have read my monthly update.
The question for February 2026 is: Who is your favourite player in your current save and post a picture of that player

As always thanks for reading !

A good read so far.

2020-04-08 19:02#268383 ScottT : A good read so far.

Thanks mate! Not going to lie I am starting to get nervous... my contract runs out at the end of the season and the board still haven't offered me a new one...
Could be signing with a new club next season!