Thierry Henry: Switching Sides

I have not written a story for a while now so I decided to write one and hope I'll be able to keep this going until the release of FM13. Enjoy. Special thanks to Ejay who came up with the title of the story for me and Crisrko for coming up with the idea to have Thierry Henry as a manager.

Breaking: Thierry Henry retires

Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry has announced his retirement from professional football today as of 25th May 2010, just days after the end of the 2009/10 La Liga season which he finished with 21 league appearances and 4 league goals for Barcelona. Although approached by Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls after falling out of favor and losing his starting spot within the Barcelona team last season, Henry has decided to opt for pre-mature retirement so as to start a career in coaching.

The 32-year-old Frenchman, who turns 33 next month, netted 174 times in 254 appearances during his eight years at Arsenal, establishing himself as a legend in North London. In three seasons at Barcelona, Henry made 80 appearances for the Spanish club and scored 35 times for Los Culés, and was believed to be in contention to represent France in the 2010 World Cup, now just two or three weeks away.

In an interview just two days after his retirement, Henry said, "I have decided to retire because I feel I can't contribute much to Barcelona anymore and after much consideration I have decided I don't want to go to anywhere else. Arsenal and Barcelona are the best teams in the world. I want to either retire at Arsenal, or here at Barcelona, so I have done so. My next step will be to go into coaching."

When quizzed what he meant by coaching, Henry smiled and said, "I hope to go into management. One of my dreams has always been to manage Arsenal. They are a great club but I won't rule out managing any other clubs in England, that country is just fantastic and it would be an honor to be a manager in the Premier League. But for now I am happy to remain at Barcelona in the capacity of a youth or first team coach."

Looking good, will be following this one!

One year later...

Breaking: Tottenham sack Harry Redknapp

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has made the decision to sack popular manager Harry Redknapp after he guided the London club to 4th place in the Premier League, missing out on the Champions' League only through Chelsea winning it. His sacking has been greeted by question marks from Spurs fans who are ringing up Levy questioning his decision. The chairman has assured the new manager will bring better results and a better philosophy than Redknapp, who was believed to have been sacked after disagreements with the board as well as the recent speculation linking him to the managerial position of the England national team which has now been taken up by Roy Hodgson.

Thierry Henry unveiled as new Tottenham manager

In what is seen to be a shock appointment, Thierry Henry has been appointed manager of Tottenham on a two-year deal. The former French striker retired from professional football last season with Barcelona and remained at the club as a youth coach, working with the youngsters at Barcelona B. A clear admirer of his coaching skills, Levy was believed to have personally invited Henry for talks although the Frenchman had given no indication of his interest in the job. This is Henry's first managerial role and fortunately for Levy, the Spurs fans have stated they will fully support their new manager regardless of how many goals he scored against them during his playing days at Arsenal.


In an interview just hours after being confirmed as Tottenham manager, Henry told reporters, "It is good to be back in England, even if it is not for playing purposes. I can't wait to get started at Tottenham and am very glad I am given this opportunity. I send out this message to the Arsenal fans - I hope you do not blame me for this decision, but I cannot pass up such an opportunity. You lot are still one of the best set of fans in the world to me. I also thank Barcelona for giving me the opportunity to coach the Barcelona B team. I will be working on the club straightaway."

Because I can't really be arsed to develop my own tactics, I just used downloaded ones, including a modified version of the Grid, as well as old tactics that I've developed before.

On my first morning as manager of Tottenham, I drove my brand new car out of my brand new house. It felt good.

I arrived at Enfield Training Center 8 o'clock in the morning, and thought I was the earliest but turned out some of my new backroom staff, most of them probably facing the sack, had beat me to it. After a bit of thinking and brainstorming in my new office, we came up with the starting eleven for the season, which players were going out the door, and what players we needed to bring in.

Starting Eleven

Lloris; Walker, Vertonghen, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Sigurdsson, Parker, Dempsey, Bale; Adebayor, Defoe

Transfer-Listed Players
Younes Kaboul

I am not an admirer of Kaboul and with my defense already packed with Vertonghen, Gallas, Dawson and now Caulker, I did not want five defenders in my team. I knew him, having played with him for France a few times and he was no nice guy... But 98 percent of this decision is based off footballing reasons.


Kyle Naughton

I am not even trying to sound harsh, but with what I am trying to accomplish at Tottenham, Kyle Naughton is not the kind of player I want in my squad. He isn't that much of a quality player and if I keep him we will lack quality at right-back. Kyle Walker is still developing so my best bet will be to get an experienced and proven right-back to improve my defenses.


Tom Huddlestone

I am no admirer of Huddlestone either and like Naughton, I don't feel that he is a quality player nor do I think he will do well for me. Heck, I heard Harry Redknapp wanted to sell him, before I came to Tottenham. Off he goes.


Andros Townsend

A young player who many thinks can make the top level. I, for one, don't think so. I want to rope in my own young players and because of that I will only keep the top quality youngsters at the club, Townsend isn't really a top quality youngster in my book and what's more, with Sandro, Sigurdsson and Parker in the center, and with another central midfielder probably arriving sometime soon, he will have no place even on the bench.


Jake Livermore

Same reasons as Andros Townsend.

Players I need to get in
-A superb left-back, one that can start every week. Assou-Ekotto will be playing backup.
-A backup striker, to back up Adebayor and Defoe.
-A first-team right-back, for rotation with Walker and also to show Walker the ropes.

Daniel Levy has told me I have 24 million to spend... Time to see what I learnt from my dear old friend Arsene!

I had a meeting with my new team and got to know each and every one of them through one-to-one sessions that lasted about two hours in total. I held training for the first time and told which players were not in my plans and which players were. The manager before me had already done a fantastic job getting players like Dempsey, Dembele and Sigurdsson in although letting go of players like Modric and Van der Vaart is a pity.

My staff clear-out happened just a few hours later, where I told Daniel which staff I saw as dead-wood and wanted to kick out. He was initially skeptical to the amount of staff I wanted to sack, but eventually agreed.


I will be searching for new staff over the coming days, and already have most of the backroom staff planned in mind.

My first game in charge of Tottenham was one we won against the Reserves 3-1.



An early cross from Kyle Walker found the unmarked Gareth Bale who scored a thunderous attempt from close-range. The next goal came from Moussa Dembele with a ferocious shot. The Reserves were eager to impress and soon up came Souleymane Coulibaly for the Reserves, found by a Jermaine Jenas pass, leaving Jan Vertonghen and Kyle Walker to chase after him. 30 yards away from the keeper, Coulibaly hit it past Hugo Lloris easily, leaving his teammates and the senior boys in awe. It was a wonderful goal, and one that impressed me. One player that did not impress me however, was the Reserves' Jonathan Miles, making a terrible mistake to slot in an own goal from a Dembele cross.

A fantastic way to kick off my Tottenham career.

Pablo Zabaleta joins Tottenham

Manchester City's Argentine full-back Pablo Zabaleta has joined Tottenham for a fee of 3 million. Newcastle were believed to have been rejected as Zabaleta became Henry's first ever signing as a manager and first signing for Tottenham.



"Pablo is a great guy," Henry said, speaking alongside Zabaleta in the unveiling of the Argentine as a Spurs player. "I remember we played against each other a few times when he was at Espanyol and I was at Barcelona and I was thinking - this kid's a real talent. I wasn't really that surprised when Man City got their eye on him. I'm delighted he's decide to come to Tottenham."

Pablo Zabaleta will wear the No. 17 for Tottenham.

Henry also updated reporters about the club's transfer window business so far.

"We are pursuing a few players... We've already withdrawn offers for three players so far, because their clubs' asking prices were too high and all, but we'll get more fresh faces in Spurs shirts by the end of August."

Spurs clear-out as Henry revolution begins

Spurs manager Thierry Henry has overseen a number of transfers from the club, with Tom Huddlestone leaving for Liverpool for 7 million, David Bentley leaving to join Southampton on a free transfer, Jermaine Jenas sent to Aston Villa on loan, youngsters Adam Smith to Sheffield Wednesday for 1 million and Andros Townsend to Reading for 3 million, and last but not least, Kyle Naughton to Sunderland for 3 million.

Jake Livermore and Younes Kaboul are also reported to be on the verge of leaving the club.

Spurs sign three new players

Tottenham Hotspur have completed the transfer of Shakhtar Donetsk Brazilian playmaker Willian. The 22-year-old will wear the No. 16 for Tottenham and is described my manager Thierry Henry as a 'major transfer coup for the club'.



Aside from Willian, French striker Marc Antoine-Fortune and Irish midfielder Rory Delap has been signed on loan from West Bromwich and Stoke City respectively. When quizzed on these signings, Henry said, "Marc and Rory are only short-term deals, and I'm confident they'll be good back-up whenever our first-team players need a rest." Fortune is reported to have chosen No 15 while Delap will wear No 33.






Jake Livermore is still searching for a club while Aaron Lennon is tipped to be the next player to leave Spurs. Inter are the prime favorites to land Lennon while Everton are interested in keeping the winger in England. CSKA Moscow are also believed to be very keen on bringing the English international to Russia.

I have officially signed the last of my backroom staff!



My new assistant manager, is Jair Ventura from Brazil. We met when I was scouting an apparent Brazilian wonderkid in Botafogo for Barcelona, along with one of Barca's scouts, Michel Zamora. Michel and I were disappointed when we found out we got the wrong club, which was quite an embarrassment, but Jair, working for Botafogo, was kind enough to direct us toward the correct club. Barcelona didn't sign the kid after all, but Jair and I became good friends. It wasn't too surprising I decided to get him in as my number two. Although his only non-playing role was assistant coach at Botafogo, I was convinced of his skills.

My new coaching pool is mixed with nationalities, with Italians like Giambattista Venturati and Fausto Salsano, Brazilians like Anselmo Sbraglia and Elio Carravetta, Spaniards like Francisco Ayestaran, a Portuguese coach in Jose Mario Rocha, and of course, English coaches, like Tim Sherwood and Phil Cannon. Heck, we even have a coach from San Marino. Massimo Bonini, a former footballer who played for Juventus, joined my coaching team as well.

I also printed a list of my current scouts for future references.
Nobert Ziegler - German
Ronaldo - Brazilian
Bernhard Peters - German
Newton Motta - Brazilian
Soren Lerby - Danish
Romeo Jozak - Croatian
Paul Johnson - English
Malcolm Elias - Welsh
Luciano D'Onofrio - Italian
Ian Broomfield - English
Pepe Bonet - Spanish
Alexandre Ceolin - Brazilian

Nice signings you got there man, poor Lennon will have to leave the club, but thats life. On my save Lennon is phenomenal, but your call

2012-10-12 14:21#67354 crisrko : Nice signings you got there man, poor Lennon will have to leave the club, but thats life. On my save Lennon is phenomenal, but your call

Someone on the site apparently told me Willian was better than Lennon

Gomes has completed a 2.5 million transfer to Udinese while Aaron Lennon has been snapped up by Inter for 7.5 million.

11/12 Tottenham Squad Numbers
1) Hugo Lloris
2) Clint Dempsey
5) Jan Vertonghen
8) Scott Parker
10) Emmanuel Adebayor
11) Gareth Bale
13) William Gallas
15) Marc Antoine-Fortune
16) Willian
17) Pablo Zabaleta
18) Jermain Defoe
19) Moussa Dembele
20) Michael Dawson
22) Gylfi Sigurdsson
23) Carlo Cudicini
24) Brad Friedel
25) Souleymane Coulibaly
26) Steven Caulker
28) Kyle Walker
30) Sandro
32) Benoit Assou-Ekotto
33) Rory Delap