"So you're telling me we have had no candidates for the England managerial job? No English managers no foreign managers?"
"Yes, Mr Bernstein... Redknapp has rejected the job on the grounds he doesn't want his reputation tarnished, people see the job as a curse if you like"
"Well we'll have to look for a different type of manager then"
"There was one application Mr Bernstein, a coach..."
"Go on"
"Michael Stanley his name was, I can forward you the e-mail? or show you the letter, same wording, he must have been eager."
.................
To whom it may concern,
My name is Michael Stanley, a successful semi-professional coach who has completed his coaching badges and gained vast amounts of experience in the lower leagues of English football. Attatched is a copy of my footballing CV and managerial / coaching experience along with my reasons as to why I think I am right for the job.
Managerial career
Mangotsfield United under 18's, reserves and first team manager, after winning the 18's youth leagues and cups and replicating the success at reserve level I was given a chance with the first team, I won the evo-stick premier league and took the team to the 3rd round of the FA Vase.
Coaching career
Roles at Bristol City, Swindon, Derby and Coventry helped me understand the workings of professional clubs, the day to day training and mental side of managing players too.
I then was offered the assistant manager role at New England Revolution in the MLS, a club I used to play for, After a season with them I returned home for family reasons.
It is a modest CV but I believe my passion for attacking, possession football can be transferred to the players, England football has been boring and un-evocative for too long now, the country deserves more titles and needs to challenge at tournaments, we need to pass teams off the park and my philosophy will be effective. I have enclosed my tactics and instructions should you so wish to read any further...
This country's football team should be the pride of the nation, and I can make it exactly that.
Humble Regards,
Michael Stanley
BREAKING NEWS
38 year old 'manager' Michael Stanley is being interviewed today for the England managerial job... with no-one else applying and the position widely regarded as the 'cursed role' Stanley has been the only choice... however the previous assistant manager of the New England Revolution is said to have impressed David Bernstein with his application. In his previous coaching roles he has been rumoured to be a number-cruncher, a stat-man. Inspired the 'Moneyball' story which was recently made into a film Stanley's philosophy is said to have been based on players stats, assists, goals, shots on target to goals ratio etc. Reputations may count for nothing if this man gets the job...
(The man is Paul DePodesta, the man who inspired the 'Peter Brand' character in Moneyball, I thought it fitting to use him)
Stanley's first squad was based on "players he felt could take the nation forward". With the World Cup in mind he is looking towards the younger players to step up in qualifiers and friendlies.
(extract of interview)
Congratulations on your first England match and first England win Mr. Stanley, was it as good as you expected?
Thank you, yes and no, the team are getting to know me, and i'm getting to know them. The win was good, away to Austria who tried to frustrate us and stop us playing, the qualifiers are what I want to focus on now and I'm sure we can do well.
The future seems bright for England and it is suggested youth will feature heavily but will he choose big names if they don't perform is the question on everybody's lips? Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Lampard and others may not make it to the 2014 World Cup so should they play in the qualifiers?
That's something I'm taking into consideration... Terry and Lampard are my captain and vice-captain at the moment, I'm sure you lot will let me know if i've made the right decision!
England get off to a good start
Stanley's reign as England manager has seen him play 3 and win 3, he hasn't conceded a goal either... The game's against San Marino and Moldova will not be Stanley's toughest test that's for sure but the players look to have adapted to his possession football well, having over 60%possession in both games, (71 and 61).
England 3 - 0 San Marino
Darren Bent x3
Moldova 0 - 3 England
Darren Bent x2
Terry x1
"Bent had been in good form for Villa before the break and that made me choose him, he didn't let me down." - Michael Stanley
The honeymoon continues
WC Qualifiers
England 1 - 1 Ukraine
Bent x1
Poland 1 - 2 England
Bent x2
Friendly
Serbia 3 - 4 England
Walcott x 2
Agbonlahor x1
Rooney x1
On Welbeck
He will be key for me in the future, a future starting striker, he must learn more, but he can certainly help now.
on Robinson...
The young players have stepped up, Cole and Baines are coming towards the end parts of their careers and Robinson has played well when called upon.
On Wilshere
The most talented player I have ever seen, and that's from not many training sessions, he must stay fit!
On Caulker
Terry has retired, Ferdinand will not make the World Cup, we have many centre backs and Jones and Smalling will be key too, Shawcross and Cahill are options too.
England top the group
Friendly
England 0 - 0 France
World Cup Qualifier
England 4 - 0 Montenegro
Lampard x1
Jones x1
Wilshere x1
Walcott x1
England do not play until next season now and with the season nearing an end Stanley applied for the vacant Fulham post, although England manager he is still unknown and the job application was unsuccessful, with Fulham sitting 17th Stanley was sure he could have kept them safe but it wasn't to be.
Thomas Ince, Raheem Sterling and Jonjo Shelvey have all been called up from the England youth set-up.
The qualifying campaign is going very well, I feel we deserved to win against France too. But the players who I've brought in have done well, it all looks good. -
Michael Stanley
Good result against Montenegro
2012-12-20 17:18#73099 The FM Rookie :
Good result against Montenegro
Very good! didn't expect 4-0 but I think a mixture of us being at home and them being quite poor helped us, plus Jovetic didn't play haha!!
England Flying (Very) High
World Cup Qualifiers
England 4 - 0 Moldova
Wilshere x1
Shelvey x1
O.G
Oxlade-Chamberlain x1
Ukraine 2 - 4 England
Shelvey x1
Oxlade-Chamberlain x1
OG
Welbeck x1
Unbeaten in 13, the game against Ukraine meant England couldn't extend their games to 7 without conceding. It could have been very different as Ukraine went 2 up thanks to Artem Mileksky, a goal on the stroke of half time from Shelvey meant that England went into half-time believing they could do it.
Shelvey and Chamberlain have really impressed, so too have Smalling and Jones.
Two superb performances, well apart from the 45 minutes vs. Ukraine... We will now finish top of the group with two games to go, I will give younger players more of a chance in these games.
Qualification comes to an end
World Cup Qualifiers
England 0 - 0 Poland
Montenegro 2 - 0 England
A Jovetic brace against a young England squad was enough to get them the win, they played well in places... but England may have wished for a result away.
Clyne, Barkley, Sinclair put in good performances, so too did Sterling. Danny Batth made his debut, and the England squad has started to play good attractive football too.
The younger players did well, the nation is in transition, these two results people must understand our average age of the squad was 23, we are going places and come Brazil 2014 we will be challenging. - Michael Stanley
Unlucky man, I hope you continue this story!
2012-12-21 12:04#73191 The FM Rookie :
Unlucky man, I hope you continue this story!
I definitely will Rookie, It's so annoying I had a team at Ipswich that would have been good enough to turn the season around! no job offers yet and I'm at the end of January, the ones I've applied for have been unsuccessful! maybe I'll wait till after WC!
