Football Manager

[Lanteri]

And, in an unexpected turn of events, I've decided to move on from Sevilla. Aston Villa apparently has been relegated to the Championship back in England, and they had an open manager job, so I took it looking for a challenge.

[Lanteri]

As is to be expected with a demotion, there was a mass exodus of players from Villa prior to my arrival:

Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor were gone to Real Madrid
Stephen Ireland to Stoke
Marco Motta to Juventus
Stephen Warnock to West Ham
Stewart Downing to Man U

However, we managed to roll through the Championship, as expected.





My acquisitions were:

Jonjo Shelvey from Liverpool, initially on loan, then bought for 16m
Federico Macheda from Man U for 21m
Michael Owen from Atletico Madrid, was offered to me for 1.2m, I accepted.
Ondrej Mazuch from Anderlecht for 4.1m

[Lanteri]

My stay in Villa may be very short lived however, as I got a message that may not bode well for my future, despite the success I had in the Championship. I knew there was an impending board takeover, but I didn't think my managerial status was up for question..

[CaribbeanJoseph]

Need to start playing FM again haven't played it properly in ages.

[Lanteri]

[CaribbeanJoseph]

Van der Sar is your chairman lmao.

[Lanteri]

Van der Sar is your chairman lmao.

Yeah, that made me lol and cringe at the same time.

The thought of getting fired by Edwin van Der Sar is, ehm, irritating.

[Lanteri]

Made a pretty big splash in the transfer market bringing in several good English players in Cahill, Hart, and Wilshere.



Here's how we're lining up to start the season vs. Wolves

[Lanteri]

I have officially become a sellout.

I was offered the opportunity to manage Man U after Pep Guardiola (who took over for Sir Alex) got canned 12 games into the season. I had to take it. How can you turn down that chance?

[calgaryballer]

Mercenary!

[Lanteri]

I wasn't able to get things completely turned around after I took the helm, but did keep the team in continental competition with a 6th place finish.

First order of business in the coming transfer window is going to be to get rid of Ribery, and possibly Navas, looking for wingers with better teamwork/work rate attributes. They're both exceptionally talented, but I could really do without Ribery's constant whining, and Navas' just plain not playing up to his potential. I'm pretty well set at most positions, so it's just a matter of where/if I can upgrade.

[calgaryballer]

Looks like Rio fell off a cliff

[Lanteri]

Transfer window went well I thought.

Out:

Ribery to Napoli for 14m
Navas to AC Milan for 20m
Santacroce to Real Madrid for 13.75m
O'Shea, Ji-Sung, Rio on free transfers

In:

Ryan Shawcross from Stoke for 8.5m
Miles Addison from Sevilla for 45m
Alan Gatagov from Wolfsburg for 40m
Guiliano from Zenit for 50m
Coutinho from Inter for 100m
Jermaine Defoe from Tottenham for 4.1m

Yeah, I had a ridiculous transfer budget. Of course when the only two options given to me for expectations are title challenge, and winner, they better give me money, lol. Lots of talent, hopefully they can all work it together. I'm expecting big things.

Also, I've been appointed manager of England following yet another disappointing World Cup for them.

[Lanteri]

England selection



Man U selection

[calgaryballer]

2012-2013 Newcastle Transfer Window so far (still in the preseason)

Players In
Didier Drogba - Free from Chelsea - He has only bagged 20 goals in the three seasons of my game so far, muscled out by Ba/Sturridge/Suarez. Still, he has pretty good attributes and then he can be a bench contributor.

Simon Vukcevic - £17.5 mil from Zaragoza - Jonas is getting older and has never really had the all around skill I wanted from my wingers. He has great technical attributes and I hope he can really settle in. Also gives me some flexibility at the AMC spot

Ivan Fatic LB - £1.2mil from Genoa - a 23 yr old Montenegrin with 25 caps already. He has good marking stats and he will provide cover for Enrique

Nani - £3.4 mil from Man U - another discarded winger from a former Big 4 team. Kalou worked out great last year, and hopefully Nani can as well. He will provide cover to Simon and Kalou, and will get a lot of games in the rotation. Unfortunately, it may mean the end of Jonas as a regular, which is unfortunate as I do love him a lot.

The only player out was Xisco for £4 mil to Bristol City. Good riddance.

Ryan Donaldson has gone on loan to Crystal Palace. I have big hopes for him, but don't see him getting a lot of time in my single striker system