Football Manager

[Lanteri]

Niedzwiecki scores a screamer in his league debut, coming on for Barnard after 59 minutes.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxwUer-t3wU[/ame]

[Lanteri]

Made a couple of depth additions in the January window.

Brought in winger Simon Poulsen from AZ for £400k. He'll be the starting left winger, dropping Puncheon to a substitute rule.

Brought in Hans Sarpei from Schalke for £14k, purely for depth purposes at fullback.

Brought in Paddy McCourt from Celtic on loan.

Only outgoings were Gael Kakuta (end of loan) and Adam Matthews (end of loan).

No changes to the lineup other than Poulsen..so it's..

-----Pedersen---Lambert------
Poulsen-----------------Lallana
--------Edu----Schneiderlin----
Dickinson-Fonte-Broadfoot-Kelly
-----------Lewis---------------

Subs: Kelvin Davis, Jason Puncheon, Paddy McCourt, Jurgen Saumel, Lee Barnard, Juanito, Hans Sarpei

[Lanteri]

Woot. We've done it! Secured consecutive promotions and Southampton is now officially back in the premiership.

Schneiderlin's promotion clinching goal in the playoff final against West Bromwich at Wembley:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjwvlNNdsMs[/ame]

[Lanteri]

Stats and final table:



Derby and MK Dons were the other two teams relegated to League One.



Poulsen turned out to be highly disappointing in his time with me during the second half of the season, but he'll probably get until the January window in the premiership to show me something.

[Lanteri]

Here's how two of my better players' attributes are looking btw. I don't have before pics to show their base attributes, but these guys both have developed quite nicely to this point, and I plan to keep them both a part of my setup for a long time to come.

[Lanteri]

And with the consecutive promotions, my manager rating has been upgraded to world class. Sweet!

Now hopefully I can get a job with a national team as well.

[Fappin Raptor]

Just successfully negotiated a contract with Jozy Altidore to Everton. Now I just have to wait for the work permit to be accepted and he can join us in January.

[Lanteri]

Board gave me £31m to worth with, with a goal of avoiding relegation.

I was active in the transfer market, acquiring:

CB - David Wheater from Middlesbrough for £6m
ST - Robert Lewandowski from Dortmund for £6.75m
LB - Carl Dickinson from Stoke for £875k
CB - John Mensah from OL for £1.5m
CM - Maxime Gonalons from OL for £3.5m
GK - Roy Carroll on a free.
FB - Phil Neville on a free.

Out:

Lee Barnard, Dean Hammonds, Hans Sarpei, Kelvin Davis out on free transfers.

Going to roll with:

--------Lewandowski---Lambert----------
Poulsen---------------------------Lallana
--------Gonalons-----Schneiderlin--------
Dickinson-----Mensah---Wheater-----Kelly
------------------Lewis------------------

Substitutes: Roy Carroll, Maurice Edu, Jason Puncheon, Phil Neville, Nicklas Pedersen, Jose Fonte, Kirk Broadfoot

Others: Ryan Dickson, Jurgen Saumel, Juanito

In addition, I also completely overhauled my backroom staff. Sammy Lee is now my assistant manager most notably.

On the international front, I applied to the England job after Capello retired, didn't get it. Couldn't even get the Ireland job when it opened. Bleh.

I'm pretty interested to see how Lambert fares at the premiership level. His contract runs out at the end of the year so I may sell him in January if he doesn't impress.

[calgaryballer]

The board gave me thirty million for a top half finish.

Moves so far -

AML - Jordan Obita £750k from Reading (for the future)
ML - Leonel Vangioni £1.9 mil from Newell's
AML/R - Hatem Ben Arfa free from OM
DL/R - Diego Renan, £14 mil from Dynamo Kiev
DC/DMC/MC - Sergey Krystov £5 mil from Shaktar

Raided Ukraine this window.

Players out - Greg Halford and Carl Ikeme on frees. Kevin Foley for 1 mil to Hertha, Fraser Forster for 2 mil to Man City, Kevin Doyle for 4.8 mil to Nurnberg, David Jones for 1.5 mil to Pompey, Henning Hauger for 2.2 mil to Deportivo

Selling Doyle was tough, as I love that guy. But Steven Fletcher is my #1 guy, and Ebanks-Blake was a more reliable bench player. Sam Vokes is like Doyle 2.0 as well, plus Connor Wickham will need some time eventually.

Going to rotate 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-1-1 this season.

Starters will be (most likely)

GK - Wayne Hennesy
DL - Diego Renan/Jelle van Damme
DC - Richard Stearman/Jack Hobbs
DC - Geromel/Jack Hobbs
DR - Nathaniel Clyne
DM - Sergey Krystov/Karl Henry
MC - Thiago/John Fleck
MC - Tom Cairney/Nenad Milijas
AML - Hatem Ben Arfa/Stephen Hunt/John Fleck
AMR - Maor Buzaglo/Jonathon De Guzman/Jermain Pennant
ST - Steven Fletcher/Ebanks Blake/Vokes/Wickham

Need a respectable league position, fourth round Carling Cup, fifth round FA cup and the first group stage in Europa League

[Fappin Raptor]

My January transfers coming over:

Jozy Altidore for $5.25 mil
Jonathan dos Santos for $5 mil
Paulo Ferreira for $1.7 mil

15 games into the season we are sitting in 11th at 5-6-4. (H 3-4-0, A 2-2-4)

[calgaryballer]

Signed Adam Johnson for £3.2 from City. This will allow me to get rid of Pennant who, while he played well for me last year in spot starts, is not top quality. And his wage is a bit excessive. Too bad he's out for 3 months

[calgaryballer]

Also drew Rapid Wien in the Europa League

[BigHouseUSA]

Signed Defour, but he got knocked out for two weeks, came back during an international break and got hurt for two months on duty.

Started really slowly, then beat Man Utd, then lost to Forest right after. Not sure exactly how to fix it.

[calgaryballer]

Signed to Defour, but he got knocked out for two weeks, came back during an international break and got hurt for two months on duty.

Started really slowly, then beat Man Utd, then lost to Forest right after. Not sure exactly how to fix it.

Sometimes that's the worst. Last season, my home form was top of the Prem, but I couldn't win away for shit. Then at the end of the season, everything fell apart. To be honest, I think the players got complacent, happy with a Carling Cup win, an FA Cup final and a Top 10 finish. Too bad they squandered the Top 10 finish, but I can't be that mad at them.

I also can't score for the life of me. Steven Fletcher scored 13 in all comps and was my best scorer. Doyle and Ebanks Blake both chipped in 8 and then I had a couple of guys on 4 or 5, but I was definetly bottom half for Goals For

[Lanteri]

Made a couple more additions in mid-August, Owen Hargreaves on a free, Elano on loan and Danny Murphy in on loan. Lambert got hurt (again), and Pedersen is out for 4 weeks as well, so I'm being forced to use a one striker formation for the time being. Brought in Murphy and Elano on loan pretty much for that reason, to be the AMC.