Career Unemployed Career - Looking for work!

[Massey127]

8 games in and I still have a job......For Now!

Not going to lie, the first 8 league games with that fixture list has not gone well!

The main thing I take from these games though is we have now played all the top teams and not one has completely destroyed us! 

The highlights so far are two wins in Liverpool and the new attacking signings are really beginning to show their promise!

Surely things can only get better for us now with the run in to come?!

[salohcin]

Somehow u r doing great against the big clubs! KIU! Will be following whatever updates tad follows!

[Massey127]

7 minutes ago, salohcin said:

Somehow u r doing great against the big clubs! KIU! Will be following whatever updates tad follows!

Thanks mate!

Next update will be tonight

[Massey127]

16 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

8 signings for roughly 25M, and for Stoke standards some really decent players too. I'm impressed! The squad must be looking pretty good by now. Hopefully you find the right formula to make 'em gel.

Thanks mate!

I am happy with the squad but too many injuries to enjoy it so far.

Each of the signings though have proved their worth so far so I am delighted with the new arrivals! 

[Massey127]

Half Way Point and still in a job!

We are exactly half way into the season now, having played 19 league games.

Our board expected UEFA Cup qualification and we had to gel 8 new players into the squad as well as getting the current bunch to perform more consistently than they did last season.

We also had to contend with Diouf being injured for 6 months (now has just returned) and Arnautovic although signing a new contract was shortly injured afterwards for 4 months!

So how have we got on?  Well surprisingly we are doing ok considering the start we had.  We are sitting exactly where we need to be regarding the league in 7th, have made the semi-finals of the League Cup vs Spurs (who sit just above us in the league) after historically dumping Arsenal out of the cup in the quarters!  Man Utd and Watford are the other Semi!

We have just been drawn against Man City in the 3rd round of the FA Cup also.

Overall I am delighted considering everything we have had thrown at us and our 8 new signings are all having a fantastic impact.  Most notably Galloway and Rose in defence and Centurion and Chaves have been the stand out performers in attack! I am currently rotating the squad to give everyone their chance and keep morale and fitness levels up.

We remain light in RB and CM positions, the latter combined with lack of goals forced us to change formation after the defeat against Leicester (9th PL game in) and this new system has brought us the success you see below.

Can we hang onto 7th?

Can we lift the League Cup?

Can our new arrivals keep up their form and become Premier League stars?

[Massey127]

This is the new formation.

[Massey127]

Hanging by a knife edge!

I will keep this simple by numbers.

I consider 8th a failure and 4th beyond preseason hopes!

We are currently in 6th, 5 points off 8th and 2 points off 4th, with 6 games remaining, how will this roller coaster season end?

[Massey127]

Nerve-Wrecking - 3 games to go!

Only 3 games remain and my heart can't take any more!

Everything is so close and the margin for error is so small!

 

[janste1]

This is such a great career. Love seeing the updates

[Massey127]

4 minutes ago, janste1 said:

This is such a great career. Love seeing the updates

Thank you very much and I am glad your enjoying it!

[Massey127]

End of Season Update! I Kept My Job!

The board wanted 7th and we delivered! My nerves are shot to shreds and my heart hasn't stopped pounding!  I am emotionally, mentally and physically drained from this season but I wouldn't trade it for the world! 

Peter Coates took a gamble on me and he seen something, I worked my ass to the bone for him and the lads have fought for the shirt with the same sense of pride as everyone this season at the Bet365 Stadium!

We finished 5th in the end and only 3 points off 4th place! We also made it to the 6th round of the FA Cup and the Semi-finals of the League Cup where Spurs knocked us out of both!  We got our revenge in the end though beating them in the league and finishing above them!

I had numerous injuries all season and I wanted to give everyone their chance and we kept them all happy and they all justified their place in the squad.  Their honestly isn't a single player who didn't earn his crust!

There has been though five stand out players all season that put a huge smile on my face seeing them develop! I will post a seperate comment on them all as they deserve their own comment

The exciting part of all of this is this is only just the beginning.  I spent £25m on bringing 8 players in and all 8 have just become Premier League Stars!

 

[Massey127]

Season Snapshots

Below you can see the board are very happy and in my maiden season in the Premiership I came runner up in the Manager of the Year award! I will take that!

Also below are some screenshots of how the first eleven performed as well as the teams valuation and average rating.  Remember that only 4 players achieved an average rating if over 7 when I joined the Potters!

The Premier League also say goodbye to Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley but welcome Newcastle, Norwich and Derby!

I will post the breakdown on our 5 most exciting players next!

[Massey127]

The 5 Exciting Talents at Stoke!

As promised below are the five top exciting talents in our team at the moment.  There are a few others but these 5 are the ones that have amazed me the most during the past 12 months.

Andres Chavez

Lets start with Andres Chavez, a player we bought last season for £1.5m who is now valued at £11.75m and finished 3rd top scorer in the Premiership last season!

Chavez represents exactly what FM is all about, finding an unheard off player, bringing him to a top league and turning him into a Star! £1.5m signing!!!

[Massey127]

Ricardo Centurion

This guy has impressed all season on either flank in the IF positions.  He outperformed Arnautovic and has staked his claim one of the most important players currently at our club by creating and scoring goals and turning in top notch performances all season!

Signed for just £4m last season he is now worth £11.25m.

[Massey127]

Esteban Saveljich

Esteban Saveljich has been a rock at the heart of our defence all season and proved more valuable and reliable than Shawcross!

Signed for £900k (no that's not a typo) last season and is now worth £8.75m but expect this to increase further.

His stats speak for themselves and to find a top quality and now proven CB for less than £1m, Wow!

[Massey127]

Ramadan Sobhi

Ramadan Sobhi is a young AM L/R that is already at Stoke.

I give him his chances last season and he proved such an asset that he has now replaced Arnautovic in the first team and will partner Centurion on the flanks!

A very exciting future lies ahead for this young player!

[Massey127]

Oliver Shenton

Oliver Shenton is another youngster already at Stoke and a product of their youth academy.  He plays in CM and I give him plenty of opportunities this season against some of the biggest teams and he never failed to deliver.  Used mainly as an understudy to Joe Allen his future looks very bright and this season will see him compete shoulder to shoulder with Allen for that starters position!

[Massey127]

New Season Preparations (Season 3)

Peter Coates called me to his boardroom this morning to "Discuss the season past and the season to come"!

I went to his boardroom praying I had done enough to keep my job!  After all we met his objective, right?

I walked in and sat down, Peter was very sturn faced and wasn't giving too much away until he started to speak.  He praised our work and what we had achieved, finishing 5th in our first season and only 3 points away from equalling the club best finish of 4th!  He then asked me to go through with him in great detail my plan for the next 12 months for Stoke City! 

I explained everything and told him I need this season to add a few missing pieces of the jig saw, gel the team and continue the development of our young players.  To my delight Peter asked if £20m would be enough to acquire the missing pieces and maintain our UEFA Cup status this year.  We agreed these were the goals for this season and before I could leave he said he had one last gift for me, he handed me a small box and told me not to open it until his driver took me somewhere to collect my "Thank You Gift" for last season!

I didn't know what to think, I was nervous, anxious, excited and a little bit scared of what this might be!

The driver stopped at a secure compound and in front of me was a garage door, he said "Mr. Coates would like you to open the box now"! I opened the box to find a key fob that had the world famous Ferrari logo on it.  My heart sank as the garage door opened and I took a couple of photos of what lay inside!

To put this all in perspective, 24 months ago I was still working as a Food Technologist and earning enough just to provide for my family and driving a Volvo S60.  Now I am a professional football manager managing Stoke City, playing European football, finished 5th in the Premiership, finished runner up in the Manager of the Year award and now I own a Ferrari F70!!!!!!!!!!

This season we will need to focus hard to deliver again and god knows what our gift will be next year if we deliver our objective! We need to find a DR, MC and DM to add to our squad and I will also be looking to move on a few of the old guard to boost our funds further!

Edited December 31, 2016 by Massey127

[Massey127]

We Are Ready for Europe!

Plans have been meticulously tinkered and I feel we are now ready for the season ahead! 

Our Objectives were:-

*Secure missing pieces of jig-saw (RB, DMC and MC) - Done, post will follow.

*Offload some of the unwanted players - Arnautovic sold for 14m and Crouch retiring

*Secure UEFA football next season again - Ongoing but hopeful!

We sold a few players to boost our funds further and lower our wage bill, main offload was Arnautovic, we also released a few whose contracts expired.

We brought in 4 fantastic players (seperate post to follow).  The transfer summary is 4 in at a cost of £12m and 3 sold for £22m.  We still have £29m to spend and a healthy wage bill!

We also promoted two young academy stars that show great promise for the future.

We played our first Premiership game of the season after a successful pre-season and we thrashed Arsenal 3-0. Diouf grabbing 2 and Alario the other!

 

 

[Massey127]

Hans Vanaken

Hans Vanaken is a CM and I consider him another little gem!

Signed for only £3m and now worth £12.25m he has already quadrupled his value!

He brings to the club not only huge potential but fantastic current ability and consistency.  His real value for us and main reason for targeting him was his stamina, decision making, passing ability and creativity that can unlock defences. This is something I felt we lacked from central midfield last season.

Vanaken will now bolster our CM options as Joe Allen and Oliver Shenton are our other two options for that single position.  There will be enough games for all three to thrive!

Fans gathered outside the Bet365 Stadium the morning of his arrival to express their delight!

[Massey127]

Nuri Sahin

Well this guy needs no introduction and has been held in very high regard by the footballing community the world throughout!  Signed for a bargain £6.5m and already worth nearly double that at £12.25.

Nuri was brought in to add many qualities to the DM role playing as a DLP.  His main qualities are his natural ability on the ball with his technique, passing and creativity and therefore like Vanaken an ability to unlock opposition defences.  He will also bring some much needed energy and endurance to the centre of the field.  His experience in European football at the highest levels will undoubtedly prove valuable.

Our options in the single DM position are now Sahin and Imbula but Allen and Galloway can also fill in if required.

[Massey127]

Adam Smith

Adam Smith has been brought in bolster our RB options as Glenn Johnson is now 34.  Adam can also fill in at LB in an emergency.

Having endured two difficult seasons with a struggling Bournemouth team who were just relegated into the Championship we offered Adam a way back to where he belongs.  Bournemouth being relegated and having sold some of their best attackers I offered them Joselu as a straight swap and the deal was signed within days.  Adam has made it crystal clear he has a lot to prove this year and has expressed his desire to repay the faith we have shown in him.

Adams defensive qualities have always been evident for all to see however it is also his ease on the ball and ability to turn defence into attack with strong passing and technical ability that made him attractive to us!  I expect Adam to hold down the starting RB position this season with Glenn Johnson adding back up and rotation options.

[Massey127]

Arthur Keita

I have left probably the most exciting player until last!

I sent Hugo Machado on a scouting assignment to Africa and he phoned me about a week later to inform me about a young CF that he had come across.  His voice was full of excitement and I could tell he truly believed he had found someone special and believes he could be a world class talent! Arthur Keita was the player he was referring too and he was already being touted the next Drogba in African circles.  After reviewing the video footage of Keita I too was left in no doubt he should be a Stoke City player and I flew to Africa myself to secure this deal! ASEC were not blind and wanted a fair price so we secured a £2.5m deal to bring Keita and his promise to the Premiership! The kids ability and expertise in dead ball situations alone is enough to excite the Premiership crowds!

This is most certainly one to watch!

[Massey127]

Half Way point of Season 3 - Has that Ferrari distracted me?

We are 19 games into the Premiership and therefore half way through the season.

Did we just get lucky last season or have we built on things?

To be honest we are doing ok.  Nothing better and nothing worse than that.  We are struggling to find the correct combo of players and this season has been very much trial and error while we test things out.  In the league we have had very mixed results, some fantastic and some disastrous! We sit 6th at the moment and have a game in hand, things are very tight in the top half with only 9 points separating 9th from 1st!

In Europe however we blitzed our group with Benfica being the only decent team in our group and we now face Club Brugge in the knockout phase.

In the domestic cups we reached the quarter final of the League Cup and were knocked out by Man City, no complaints they were definitely the better team!

We are yet to play in the FA cup and host Nottingham Forest.

Remember Arthur Keita?

Well take a look at his screenshot now to see his development in just 6 months!

Edited January 10, 2017 by Massey127

[Massey127]

Hi Guys,

For anyone who may still be following this or come across it.  Please let me know your feedback, I'd there anything you like? Anything you dislike? Want me to continue as is etc?

[Archie Graveluth]

I am enjoying the career but I'm disappointed that you took the easy way out with a regen...

[Fish18ish]

Nothing like a good career thread. Keep it up, just read from the start and your writing style is really engaging. I can't imagine how much time you spent searching for players to secure some of the bargains you have pulled off! 

[Massey127]

13 hours ago, Archie Graveluth said:

I am enjoying the career but I'm disappointed that you took the easy way out with a regen...

Hi, I am very sorry you feel this way.  I try to play this save as realistic as possible and I didn't go looking for any such regen, just as in real life though if a scout pops up to inform you about a wonderkid, I would be mad to not pursue it.

Hopefully this hasn't ruined things for you and you will still continue to follow?

12 hours ago, Fish18ish said:

Nothing like a good career thread. Keep it up, just read from the start and your writing style is really engaging. I can't imagine how much time you spent searching for players to secure some of the bargains you have pulled off! 

Many thanks for your kind words! 

Yes I put a great deal of time into this save and glad to hear you find it engaging.

Thank you!

[Massey127]

Stoke City have arrived!

Its been an absolutely turbulent season and one that was challenging in many ways, the main ones being bonding our team together and getting the most out of them meaning trialling new tactics!  The first 6 months was very much trial and error.

From Jan we had set on a new tactic and although being put out at the quarter final stages of the League Cup and Sixth round of FA Cup we were performing more consistently in the league.

We finished 3rd in the league 3 points off 2nd and we brought our first piece of Silverware to Stoke (2nd in their history) by bringing home the Europa League Trophy!  The fans and board were ecstatic and the atmosphere around Stoke was electric for weeks following!

Chavez was on fire all season and proved he could walk amongst the elite.  He finished top scorer in both the Premiership and Europa league and also finished up winning the Player of the Year award!

We also had that £29m transfer budget we didn't spend and I put it into the wages before the new season started meaning we have a bumper transfer budget for next season!

Very exciting times lie ahead at Stoke and this is only just the beginning!

PS - I still haven't crashed the Ferrari!

[Sousa_XI]

great career mate .. keep it up