Author's Note
This is my first attempt at writing a story and will be my first attempt at playing a FM save long-term. Despite putting in countless hundreds of hours since FM11, I have yet to complete more then half of a season with any one club. So here goes nothing!
Following the departure of Brendan Rodgers to Liverpool, Swansea City A.F.C needed a new manager. Michael Laudrup was touted as being the most probable to join the club as their manager. The club was rumored to be engaged in talks with the former Danish international whose illustrious career saw him ply his trade with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Ajax, and a handful of other clubs. Laudrup has managed Bonby, Getafe, Spartak Moscow, and most recently, RCD Mallorca.
Despite the strongly circulating rumors saying that Michael Laudrup signing a contract was just a formality, a new crop of rumors soon popped up saying that the manager most sought after by the Swansea board was a former international and had never been in management before.
Nice start mate, will follow this
2013-04-11 00:52#91516 joethequin :
Nice start mate, will follow this
Thanks Joe! This is my first time so I'm a bit nervous but hopefully something good will come out of all this!
Trust me, do everything normally, and you will get a great story with loads of people following
1
The Beginning
”Mr. Bennett? Mr. Bennett! Over here!” I hear a voice calling out to me for the left side of the expensive restaurant I’ve just walked into. I take a brief second to smooth my suit and breathe out slowly to try and calm my nerves, an action which is ultimately futile as I still feel like I’m going to ask a girl out to the winter ball for the first time. I look up and see Huw Jenkins standing up and waving me over. Trying to look more confident then I actually was, I plastered a big smile over my face and strode over and grasped his hand firmly.
“Mr. Jenkins! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person!” I said and I meant it. For the past few weeks, our conversations had been limited to the phone and email. You can only do so much without meeting someone in person and getting a feel for who they are and, of course, putting the pen to paper.
“ Trust me when I say the pleasure is mine Mr. Bennett! I’ve always been a big follower of yours. Unfortunately I rarely got to see your club games but I watched you all the time when you played for the national team!” said Huw excitedly. God he made me sound like I was some amazing player, appearing for my club hundreds of times and being the most capped player ever for the United States. In reality, I had a career full of average performances. A handful of spectacular games, a handful of horrid ones, but I mainly put in average performances as a midfielder. I put on the US kit 38 times and managed to nab ten goals for the team before I hung up my boots six years ago when I was 31. Snapping back to the present, I take my seat at the table and proceed to make small talk with Mr. Jenkins for twenty minutes or so before we got down to the matter at hand.
Huw Jenkins reached down into his briefcase and produced a piece of paper and slid it over to me. He rummaged around for another few seconds and rolled a pen over to me.
“We want someone new. We want to bring in some unknown manager and see him climb to the top at the helm of Swansea. We see potential in you Robert. You’ve always been a good reader of the game and we feel you have a bright future ahead of you in management. To that end, Swansea City A.F.C. would like to offer you a one-year contract. Expiring in June of 2013, you will be paid $24,000 per week. There’s the opportunity for that contract to be extended or cut short. We’re a rather easygoing group as far as a board goes and we will not saddle you with impossible expectations. We’ll be forgiving and we will support you. What do you think about all of this? Any questions, comments, or concerns?”
I hurry to stop my jaw from detaching itself from my skull and freefalling to the floor in disbelief. I mean I knew that this would happen, the owner of a football club with an empty hot seat didn’t just email anyone out of the blue, but the fact that it actually was happen made me giddy like a child at Christmas. And yet I was nervous as well. I’d only ever had one foray into the realm of the football management and that was managing my son’s u-10 team. The jump from managing a recreational kids team to managing a primer league team was a bit of a jump to say the least. And yet I knew I could do it. I knew I could do everything. I was born with the remarkable ability to believe in myself no matter what was thrown at me. I could take this team to the top. Sure it would take years, but I could get it done. I would. And so the giddiness and nervousness was forced out of my system and replaced with a steely determination and a strong sense of self-belief.
“I have no questions or anything of that variety. I’m incredibly honored to be offered this opportunity and I will most certainly make the most of it,” I said as I picked up the pen and reviewed the contract. After rereading the thing a few times and having one last mental debate, I pressed the tip of the pen to the dotted line and signed my name. I dropped the pen and stared at the piece of paper adorned with a quickly drying line of black ink. After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only twenty seconds, I lifted my head and slid the paper over to Mr. Jenkins. He broke out into a huge smile and offered me his hand.
“Mr. Bennett, welcome to Swansea City A.F.C.”
Wow, fantastic update mate. I told you that it would all click. Great stuff so far
1
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Swans Find New Rookie Manager
Swansea City A.F.C. has ended their search for a new manager as @SwansOfficial tweeted: We’re pleased to announce to signing of Robert Bennett as manager. Good luck Robert!”
Fifteen minutes later, the clubs official website confirmed the message and thousands of people asked themselves, Robert who?
Robert Bennett, born on December 29th, 1975, played for no less then six clubs during his thirteen-year career. Finishing with 289 total appearances and 51 goals, Bennett had an average career that ended without any silverware. Internationally, he pulled on the United States kit 38 times, making his final appearance in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and scoring 10 times. Apparently he has been interested in managing a football club recently, but to be honest, we haven’t been following him too closely. Actually we really haven’t paid any attention to him at all since he retired.
Judging by fan’s reactions, it seems that whilst they are happy to have a manager and excited to see what Robert Bennett can do, they are disappointed at not getting a more experienced manager considering this is only their second year in the premiership and, despite surprising everyone and finishing 11th last year, they are still predicted to be near the relegation zone at the end of the season. Well despite not really knowing anything about Robert Bennett, we’d like to extend our best wishes to the rookie manager and wish him all the best during his time at Swansea, no matter how long or short it may be.
2013-04-11 03:35#91528 joethequin :
Wow, fantastic update mate. I told you that it would all click. Great stuff so far
Thank you so much mate! Hopefully I can keep the quality up!
Meeting the Press
With Huw Jenkins sitting to my left, I look up at the flashing cameras and at the journalists sitting in front of me with their notebooks at the ready and their recorders recording and point to the first man.
“The South Wales Echo. You sit here as the manager of Swansea City in a move that caught everyone completely off-guard. Just how excited are you to be the manager? And to all of those people who doubt you considering your lack of experience, well, anything you’d like to say?”
“Well on a scale of 0-1 on how excited I am, I probably rate myself at a solid seven trillion. I am absolutely thrilled to be managing Swansea! It really is a massive dream come true. And to the people who doubt me: I understand where you are coming from. I really do. However, I would like to ask that you place a bit of faith in me. We have a talented squad and I really think we can surprise everyone just like last year and really punch above our weight,” I respond and finish with a smile on my face. I believed what I said and I really think it was reflected in my face and in voice. I truly felt that we could do great things this season. My mind flashed back to yesterday afternoon when Huw emailed me and told me that the season expectations were to avoid relegation. After an hour of deep thinking, I sent him an email back telling him that mid-table was an achievable goal this season. He agreed and boosted my transfer budged to $19.5m. One small success that would hopefully give birth to many, many more down the road.
“KiCK! Magazine. New managers inevitably bring about change to clubs and some people might fear that they might be found to be surplus to requirements. Can we expect changes at Swansea?”
A good question and one that I had been thinking about recently. The backroom staff was good there’s no question about that, but I hadn’t spent much time with them and getting to know them so I really couldn’t say this early on in the campaign.
“It’s a bit early to think about giving anyone the boot and, to that end, everyone will have a chance to prove that they are worthy of being here.”
“Football365.com. Managers are known for differing in their approach in the running of the club. How involved do you intend to be with the day-to-day running of the club?”
“I didn’t accept Mr. Jenkins offer to be manager to keep Swansea in 11th place and I have big dreams for the future of the club. On that note, I fully intend to reshape this club from top to bottom to ensure success down the road.”
“The South Wales Echo. You said that you have big dreams for the future of the club. Care to share?”
Despite having attempted to keep my voice neutral at the beginning of the meeting, I hadn’t been able to keep my passion for the club and what I thought we could do from creeping into my voice and this question caused passion to leak out of my mouth and puddle on the floor.
“I see the club, and myself of course, at the Camp Nou or at Wembley or at the Santiago Bernabeú celebrating winning the champions league! I see us holding the Primer League trophy aloft in the Liberty Stadium at the end of the season! I see Swansea City becoming a world powerhouse football club!”
A murmur went through the assembled journalists. Very bold statements from a man who hadn’t even played a friendly match yet.
“The South Wales Echo. Some managers are known for being very hands on whilst others are famous for being reserved with the players. How do you see your management style?”
“I want every player on the senior, reserve, and U-18 squad to know that they can come to me with everything. I want the lads in the backroom to know that my office door is always open and I will always have time for them. This is their life. This is something that they have devoted every waking minute to since they were naught but wee lads. It would be a great injustice to them for me to simply ignore them,” I respond immediately. And it was true. I would always have time for the people I was in charge of.
“KiCK Magazine. With the transfer market wide open, what can we expect from you in the transfer market? Are you looking to sign players on the cheap and get a good bargain or are you looking to invest heavily in players?”
“I most certainly would prefer to sign future stars but I understand that you can only do so much with youth. If I had the money, sure I’d splash the cash on very good players but I would also snatch a player up on a bargain if possible. I suppose I really don’t have a preference. Considering all of the above, I’ll work on a deal-by-deal basis however I’ll definitely place a higher value on younger players.”
“Sky Sports News. As far as your backroom staff goes, will you be bringing in your own people or will we be seeing familiar faces stay at the club?”
“Like I said to the gentleman from KiCk Magazine, I think it’s too soon to discuss any changes I may or may not be making since I haven’t gotten the chance to see them in action.”
“The Observer. What style of football are you looking to play at Swansea City? What would you say is your tactical approach to the game?”
I think of the current Barcelona team and of the brilliant Netherlands and Brazilian teams of the past who dominated the world playing beautiful passing football. Additionally, as a midfielder, I spent most of my time passing the ball so I really had a preference towards slick looking pass and move football.
“I’ve always been a huge fan of the pass and move and tiki-taka philosophies so I like attractive football and that is what I plan on implementing with the players.”
“TEAMtalk.com. On the off-hand chance that any agents read your comments today, is there a particular area of the squad that you’re looking to invest in?”
I think of the transfer targets I’d already added to my shortlist, a trio of promising Brazilian players, two attacking midfielders and a striker. So definitely attack. Vorm was a solid keeper in the back and the defense looked alright. Maybe find someone to replace Chico. But attack was the most pressing concern at the moment.
“I’m looking to bolster the midfield with some more attack minded players and I’ll be in the market for a striker to give us some more punch up top.”
“Football365.com. Ashley Williams is a wonderful player and it’s widely expected that he’ll move on to a more prestigious club, no offense intended. Can you hold on to him?”
“Ashley is a vital part of the team and easily one of the most important players. I want to keep him here and I will do everything in my power to do just that. I really think he’d regret leaving the club as I really see us going places in the near future.”
After I finished giving my answer, Huw Jenkins announced that the interrogation was over and thanked everyone for their time. We both stood up and shook hands, giving the cameras something to look at, before making our way out the door. Once we were in the hallway, Huw clapped me on the back and gave me a big smile.
“Nicely done Bennett! Now get going. You’ve got a football club to manage!”
Absolutely brilliant so far mate
I am honored to be your inspiration, and that honor is strengthened when I've read this story. Thank you for that private message and thank you for a good read, you are doing absolutely brilliant for your first story. Keep it up!
P.S. Use of images could make your story even better.
That's brilliant then
I'll be following with interest.
Absolutely fantastic! Frankly, a lot of stories are more of "updates" rather than "stories", so I'm glad to see something like this. It's refreshing. I'm following this for sure.
And as Glenn said, a couple of pictures would brighten up your posts. Good luck
Wow great start mate brilliant.
