Sunderland to the Top

This is my first FM Story. I was going to do one for FM11 but I never got around to it.
My aim is to:

No cheats, no editing, no reloading.

NB: I haven't got the full version yet but I will have soon!

My aim for the first season is to qualify for the Europa League. This leaves me with a transfer budget of £8.26M and a wage budget of £925k. I'm going for a 5-2-2-1:

Left back is where I need to upgrade and for that I have set my sights on Gael Givet, while Ter Stegen has caught my eye for a young keeper.

I shall update within the next week with the pre-season friendlies!

if your playing the demo then you can only go as far as the start of January, I was doing one with West Brom and I was in the top 6 and then I got to the start of January and it said thanks for playing the Football Manager 2012 Demo.

The full copy has arrived!!!

JULY

TRANSFERS (IN):
9/7/11 Gael GIVET Blackburn £4.5m
11/7/11 Marc-Andre TER STEGEN Gladbach £15m (4yrs)
17/7/11 Darron GIBSON Man Utd £2.3m
19/7/11 Siphiwe TSHABALALA Kaiser Chiefs £375k

TRANSFERS (OUT):
29/7/11 Adam REED Stockport 6 months loan
31/6/11 Blair ADAMS Scunthorpe 6 months loan

Matches:
7/7/11 Sunderland 1-0 Sunderland Reserves (FR)
9/7/11 Sunderland 2-0 AZ (FR)
12/7/11 Sunderland 3-0 Dortmund (FR)
15/7/11 Ayr 0-4 Sunderland (FR)
(From this point on my assistant took over friendlies)
18/7/11 Ballymena 0-4 Sunderland (FR)
21/7/11 Sunderland 2-1 Anderlecht (FR)
26/7/11 Brighton 1-1 Sunderland (FR)
30/7/11 Oxford 0-4 Sunderland (FR)

A relatively good month, in my opinion. The pre-season started slowly with a last-second goal against the reserves despite our dominance, and then we were fortunate against AZ, who played better than us. Then we kick-started with a demolition of the German champs, before we destroyed Ayr in the first half and were unlucky not to get a fifth in an even better second half. We dominated at Ballymena (although not as much as the last two games). It was a close fought game against Anderlecht and Brighton just edged us as the pre-season started to slow, before we thrashed Oxford with the same dominance level seen at Ayr. On the transfer front, I'm quite pleased.I've brought in top players in all of them, and ter-Stegen is still 19! Tshabalala may take a bit longer than the others to start playing, as he is currently being retrained as an AM. Adam Reed and Blair Adams are also getting some much-needed first team football.

TRANSFERS (IN):
31/8/11 Danny WILSON Liverpool season loan

TRANSFERS (OUT):
11/8/11 Roarie DEACON Morecambre 5 months loan
21/8/11 Michael LIDDLE Port Vale 5 months loan
24/8/11 Craig LYNCH Wrexham 5 months loan

MATCHES:
13/8/11 Fulham 2-2 Sunderland (PL)
20/8/11 Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea (PL)
24/8/11 Sunderland 4-3 MK Dons (LC2)
28/8/11 Sunderland 1-1 Swansea (PL)

A poor start to the season leaves us in 14th place with 2 points from 3 matches. Bendtner's injury early in pre-season combined with Wickham's in the U20 World Cup led to my sub up front being reserve Mikael Mandron. Richardson got injured early on against Chelsea and Tshabalala started the other two matches in his place. We had numerous injuries in midfield, with at one point Gardner, Colback, Richardson, and Gibson being injured. I've had too many defenders not getting games and Westwood asked for a transfer request on deadline day.

Richardson bagged a brace as Fulham came from behind twice, the second being from a penalty. (To be fair, Gibson didn't trip him, he was running and the Fulham player got caught on his leg). We outplayed Chelsea but just couldn't find that goal. We dominated MK DOns, Sessegnon putting us ahead just past the minute mark. Angeleri got sent off for elbowing an opponent after 10 mins. Sessegnon got a second and Tshabalala netted a penalty before firing home a late equaliser. The Swansea game was also a demolition, Tshabalala blasting the ball home from 19 yards on the half time mark, but after another suspicious penalty, Danny Graham made it 1-1. Swansea rode out the late pressure to get a point. For the reason behind the penalty, read the Fulham one but replace Gibson with Laing. Fortunately Bendtner will be back after the internationals!

September

MATCHES:
10/9/11 Bolton 3-0 Sunderland (PL)
17/9/11 Sunderland 1-2 WBA (PL)
21/9/11 Sunderlan 1-2e Arsenal (LC3)
26/9/11 Everton 1-0 Sunderland (PL)

September was harsh to us, as I searched for a new tactic. Bolton deserved a 3-0 win, if not more (Mikael Mandron getting sent off), but we destroyed West Brom. A lapse in concentration proved to be fatal twice in the game against West Brom and Arsernal. Our passing has let us down, the main culprit being David Vaughan (Who happens to be my best passer with a rating of 16). Tshabalala also picked up an injury against Arsenal. We dominated the second half vs Everton but just couldn't find that goal. Next month is tough, with games against Man Utd and Arsenal.

October

MATCHES:
1/10/11 Sunderland 1-2 Man Utd (PL)
15/10/11 Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland (PL)
22/10/11 Wolves 1-3 Sunderland (PL)
29/10/11 Sunderland 1-1 Norwich (PL)

I end the month in 15th, out of the relegation zone. I finally pick up a tactic that works against Arsenal (4-4-2 with 'Overload'). That 0-0 was what I needed to kick-start the season as two early goals from Elmohamady got me my first win. Unfortunately 5th place Norwich got a late equaliser through James Vaughan, cancelling out David Vaughan's earlier goal. My job status is very insecure so I'll be looking for wins vs QPR and rivals Newcastle in an attempt to push Sunderland up the table and save my job. Connor Wickham will be back shortly and hopefully will be my first striker to score this season (all goals have come from midfield).

Good Luck! Try adding some pics to break up your text a bit, as far as your woes, i play with little width against large teams in order to cut down space, maybe give it a try? Keep at it!

November pt 1

I decided to split this into parts just in case.

TRANSFERS (IN):
12/11/11 Arne Friedrich Free

MATCHES:
5/11/11 Sunderland 1-4 QPR
19/11/11 Newcastle 3-1 Sunderland

Not a good month so far and my job status is now 'Precarious'. However AVB of Chelsea has been sacked and I've been linked with the job, so I may not have to drop too far down (if at all) if I do get sacked. Both games were harsh, even though I was dominated.

I was 1-1 against QPR when I had a corner. Paddy Kenny flies 5~6 yards to stop it. From the resulting corner they broke and SWP made it 2-1. At 3-1 Gibson missed a penalty.

I also made it 1-1 v Newcastle, Bendtner being my first striker to score this season. However, they scored two late goals and now I'm fearing for my job.

I'm starting to look at transfer targets. Pappis Cisse is one who has caught my eye (providing I'm still there in January), as I desperately need a goalscorer. I may need a new RB as well, but Friedrich can play RB or Cb so he may fill that role. He's 32 but is really good, and is still quality physically, with a pace score of 16. He is, however, suspended until the end of December but I thought I'd snap him up now before someone else doesn in January.

MATCHES:
26/11/11 Sunderland 1-1 Blackburn
5/11/11 Aston Villa 2-0 Sunderland

Since the QPR game I knew it was coming. I was fortunate against Blackburn and the Aston Villa game was a shambles. Bent scored mid-way through the first half (although hewas 2 yards offside and appeared to fould ter Stegen). He netted part way through the second half, and despite his red card with 10 mins left I couldn't turn it around and my contract was terminated before I left the ground.

I thought I set my past experience as Sunday League but it appears not and I'm an ex-international. I hope I can get back with a Prem team.

A Merry Christmas in a New City

I'm very sorry for the lack of updates, I have had internet issues. So here's a two-in-one update!

MATCHES:
10/12/11 Leicester 2-1 Peterborough (CH)
17/12/11 Doncaster 1-6 Leicester (CH)
26/12/11 Leicester 4-0 Leeds (CH)
31/12/11 Leicester 1-1 Watford (CH)
2/1/12 Crystal Palace 1-3 Leicester (CH)
7/1/12 Oldham 1-1 Leicester (FA3)
14/1/12 Ipswich 1-3 Leicester (CH)
18/1/12 Leicester 3-1 Oldham (FA3R)
21/1/12 Leicester 0-0 Hull (CH)
28/1/12 Leicester 4-1 QPR (FA4)
31/1/12 Derby 2-4 Leicester (CH)

TRANSFERS (IN):
3/1/12 Nicky LAW Motherwell £400k
6/1/12 Nathaniel CLYNE Crystal Palace £5m (4 yrs)
15/1/12 Louis LAING Sunderland £400k
16/1/12 Laris KARIUS Man City £80k
31/1/12 David MEYLER Sunderland 6mth loan £190k

TRANSFERS (OUT):
10/1/12 Chris WEALE Everton £250k
12/1/12 Michael BALL Swindon 3mth Loan
25/1/12 Joseph DADOO Hinckley 3mth loan
30/1/12 Franck MOUSSA Vit. Guimeraes £300k

I started out in 15th and finally got into sixth place and the promotion spot after beating rivals Derby after a thrilling second half. Key players for me have been: Sol Bamba, John Pantsil, Gelson Fernandes, Andy King, Lloyd Dyer, Hameur Bouazza and Jermaine Beckford. Youngster Jeffrey Schlupp was unhappy at being placed in the reserves and I gave him a few sub appearances and he paid me back, scoring the third goal against Derby.

Nicky Law was meant to replace Lloyd Dyer in the team, but his performances have not been up to scratch, and he's injured now. Dyer and Bouazza have been too good anyway. Beckford is in good form as well, as he scored 4 against Doncaster.

However, I have been impressed the most with the cup run. I was expecting to maybe scrape a victory against QPR should they play a weakened team, but I beat a team that was mainly regulars. I'm home to either Plymouth or Leeds for round 5 so I fancy my chances of a good run.

PS: With January came a career first: A Manager of the Month Award!