Note: This story will run until FM13 releases and is for me to practice writing skills and also to test out different ways of writing. Hopefully readers will also enjoy it!
My name is Ruud. Ruud van Nistelrooy. No, not rude, I said Ruud.
Anyway, a year ago, I was appointed manager of Manchester United Football Club. Despite how I exited the club years ago for Real Madrid, I still have strong feelings for the club.
Questions were asked about my appointment as manager, and whether appointing a greenhorn manager to replace the legendary Sir Alex was such a great idea. Naturally, the doubters were proved wrong after we had an extremely successful season.
The first trophy that was won in my reign was the Capital One Cup - not the most shiniest, but a trophy nonetheless. We didn't face any major obstacles in our path towards the final, and we trounced Bristol City - who beat Chelsea to get here - 3-0 to give me my first silverware of my management career.
The Premier League however was a tougher competition to win, with probably 6 teams vying to win the title. I was confident we could place first or second with the squad I assembled. City weren't having a great season thankfully, and were in 8th position during October when Roberto Mancini was sacked and José Mourinho was appointed as his successor. This gave me my first headache of the season and saw them rise up the table rapidly and by December, were on 2nd spot.
With an injury to Robin van Persie, our leading goalscorer with 20 goals by then, we were in serious danger of losing our top spot. But Rooney stepped in from his attacking midfielder role and played as a striker and rampaged through the league, scoring 17 goals in 8 games after RvP was injured. In the end, we won the league fairly easily thanks to Rooney - the league's top scorer - tying up the title race with 4 games to spare. This gave me great relief, as winning the league guaranteed my spot as the Manager.
On to the next competition - the F.A Cup.
This competition was proving to be much much harder to win with us drawing all Premier League clubs. Stoke, Newcastle and even Arsenal were beaten to get us to the finals, where we faced bitter rivals City. An even game appeared to go to extra time and eventually to penalties - before Rooney's 89th minute winner saw us win it 2-1.
The most crucial of all trophies however, was the Champions League
Having got through the group stage and the first knockout round, we stopped dreaming of the final and faced reality when we drew Barcelona in the quarter finals. We needed to win this badly, because we were left reeling in financial troubles.
Winning the home leg 4-2 left us with some hope to get through, and a nervy 3-2 loss at the Camp Nou made us win 6-5 on aggregate. In the semis, we drew LOSC Lille, the easiest draw by far, compared to Juventus and City. The French club however, had beaten Bayern Munich and Arsenal to get there and were to be forgotten at their opponents peril. We paid the price for complacency as we lost the away leg 4-3, but rallied back to win the home leg 3-0. We watched the other semi-final anxiously to see who our opponents would be...and they were Manchester City. Again..On away goals. There was huge buildup to this game, and the first game of my management I was actually shaking. I was left scratching my head in the end as
My name is Ruud. Ruud van Nistelrooy. No, not rude, I said Ruud.
Anyway, a year ago, I was appointed manager of Manchester United Football Club. Despite how I exited the club years ago for Real Madrid, I still have strong feelings for the club.
Questions were asked about my appointment as manager, and whether appointing a greenhorn manager to replace the legendary Sir Alex was such a great idea. Naturally, the doubters were proved wrong after we had an extremely successful season.
The first trophy that was won in my reign was the Capital One Cup - not the most shiniest, but a trophy nonetheless. We didn't face any major obstacles in our path towards the final, and we trounced Bristol City - who beat Chelsea to get here - 3-0 to give me my first silverware of my management career.
The Premier League however was a tougher competition to win, with probably 6 teams vying to win the title. I was confident we could place first or second with the squad I assembled. City weren't having a great season thankfully, and were in 8th position during October when Roberto Mancini was sacked and José Mourinho was appointed as his successor. This gave me my first headache of the season and saw them rise up the table rapidly and by December, were on 2nd spot.
With an injury to Robin van Persie, our leading goalscorer with 20 goals by then, we were in serious danger of losing our top spot. But Rooney stepped in from his attacking midfielder role and played as a striker and rampaged through the league, scoring 17 goals in 8 games after RvP was injured. In the end, we won the league fairly easily thanks to Rooney - the league's top scorer - tying up the title race with 4 games to spare. This gave me great relief, as winning the league guaranteed my spot as the Manager.
On to the next competition - the F.A Cup.
This competition was proving to be much much harder to win with us drawing all Premier League clubs. Stoke, Newcastle and even Arsenal were beaten to get us to the finals, where we faced bitter rivals City. An even game appeared to go to extra time and eventually to penalties - before Rooney's 89th minute winner saw us win it 2-1.
The most crucial of all trophies however, was the Champions League
Having got through the group stage and the first knockout round, we stopped dreaming of the final and faced reality when we drew Barcelona in the quarter finals. We needed to win this badly, because we were left reeling in financial troubles.
Winning the home leg 4-2 left us with some hope to get through, and a nervy 3-2 loss at the Camp Nou made us win 6-5 on aggregate. In the semis, we drew LOSC Lille, the easiest draw by far, compared to Juventus and City. The French club however, had beaten Bayern Munich and Arsenal to get there and were to be forgotten at their opponents peril. We paid the price for complacency as we lost the away leg 4-3, but rallied back to win the home leg 3-0. We watched the other semi-final anxiously to see who our opponents would be...and they were Manchester City. Again..On away goals. There was huge buildup to this game, and the first game of my management I was actually shaking. I was left scratching my head in the end as
