Today we travel to Goodson Park to take on Everton in this division 2 game

They have a stronger team than us and home advantage so this should be a convincing win for them

Everton finished 8th in this division last season so this will be a good marker for us

BESIKTAS JK

SEASON 13 - (Promoted to division 4)

On 20 August 2020, I was kindly offered the managers job at Besiktas JK in division 5, and took them over from Dr Martinez.

The team were in a play off spot in 7th, and had W7-D6-L6 and had £2.7M. I decided that I would play the existing squad and see what I could get out of the players, although I did delve into the transfer market, I only made minor changes. The team dropped down the league as it took time for me to get the players and formation/tactics sorted. We slowly climbed back up the league and were fortunate enough to finish in 7th position with W16-D10-L12 and 58 points. We won the play off final and were promoted to division 4. Also in this season the club reached the “World Club Final”

SEASON 14 (Play offs)

The current team had performed well enough in season 13, so they were given the opportunity to continue with the club in season 14. Again, minimal activity was made in the transfer market with only minor changes taking place.

Another tough season gave us the opportunity to see how well we could perform at a higher level, and to see if any changes were needed. We managed to end up in 4th with W18-D9-L11 and 63 points. Unfortunately we were unable to reach the play off final and so were not promoted. Again we reached the “World Club Final”

Around 6/7 games before the end of the season I made a successful application to manage Manchester United. I was left to see out the remainder of the season with Besiktas and to take over the role at Manchester at the start of season 15. 

How did I do - twice in the play offs in divisions 4 & 5 and a promotion to division 4 seems a fair result in a short time. A points ratio of 2.11 is the best of any manager since the creation of TOP100 for Besiktas.

MANCHESTER UNITED

WHY DID I APPLY FOR MANCHESTER UNITED

I need to like the name of a club I manage, and Besiktas just didn’t do it for me. I had almost 2 seasons with them and managed to get into the play offs both seasons and promoted once. I also reached the “World Club Cup” in both seasons. I had left Besiktas in a higher division than I found them and with around £50M more.

I believed that I had cut my teeth in TOP100 and proved that I could get more out of a club, with the existing set of players.

SEASON 15 (Promoted to division 2)

There was a reasonable team at United, but the bench was weak and they only had 34 players. My initial purchase for the bench was Lindoso(86)DM,M(C) and at 30yo looked stable. I also purchased some youth players hoping that 1/2 might eventually make the first team. We were now in a better position and hopefully also for the future.

The team had a first 11 average rating of 89, and with this, should have finished in the top 7. Over the season I obtained two players to strengthen the bench, Antalyali(85)DM,M,AM(C) 26yo who’s rating increased by 6 in 2021 and Rioja(86)M,AM(RL) 27yo who rose by 3 in 2021 (both increased their ratings prior to my signing them). I also lost Edouard who became unhappy and I exchanged him for Nketiah(85) 22yo and Colassin(76)20yo ( I took some stick for this)

It took a while to find the right players/formations/tactics and after mixed fortunes, we eventually finished 5th with W17-D9-L12 and 60 points. We managed to win the play off final and were therefore promoted to division 2. 

SEASON 16

On paper, we have a first 11 average of 89 still and should finish mid table of 8th - 13th. 

It is my intention to stay at United and get them back into the first division where they belong. This season I will aim to be mid table and assess what we need for a push for promotion in season 17. It will be interesting to see what rises the players will get and whether we can push for the play offs this season.

How am I doing - Promotion in my first season is not a bad start and reminds me of my start at Besiktas

So the 12th August 2021 will be a day to forever remember , my first Top 100 trophy win and the evening I signed a three season contract with Valencia. A dream move for me... a club that has just suffered relegation but that boasts a squad build with many admirers in such a competive game world. On analysing the squad it was clear that a few additions would be needed to be able to setup in my preferred 4-2-3-1 formation and to have some higher ratings in some key positions based on the tactics and attacking patterns I like to play. As a whole the squad on taking over was pretty strong with a nice U25 style first team build but there were and are still weaknesses. First team depth is an issue with Iheanacho 88 the highest rated substitute (A very handy though backup striker with progression to come). After him the ratings of substitutes range from 82-86.

We identified three areas that needed improving which were centre back, wide attacking midfield and central / central attacking midfield. Due to a lack of first team depth it was decided that we would need to sacrifice some of the youth team talent to secure these signings. My view is that there isnt much point boasting a really talented youth team when you have gaps in the first team and also a lack of depth on the bench so I have rebalanced the squad by trading up youth for a few senior first team quality players.

With a gap in the right attacking midfielder position we decided to market Yeremi Pino 84 in the hope someone would be tempted to go big , (maybe even Dybala big !!😂) this didnt really materialise although we werent expecting Dybala and we had to proactively look for targets for this deal. The key moment was Alex's return to City and we felt Alex would be the sort of manager that would be interested in Pino and a deal was very swiftly negotitaed with Musa Barrow 88 joining Valencia and Frank Onyeka was packaged with Pino to seal the deal.

Young first team centre back star Ronald Araujo 87 and english prospect Marc Guehi 82 were traded for Alessio Romagnoli 91. This is the deal we are most pleased with so far with a big +4 rating increase to the left centre back position immediately achieved. At 26 Romagnoli is by no means a short term option so we feel we have managed to strengthen Valencia and give them a player with great longevity at the same time.

Finally we needed to sign a central midfielder so I could move Rebic to the left attacking midfield position where I feel he can do the most damage. We decided to market Kluivert 88 for a 90 rated CM and a few clubs were interested but Gregg at Chievo got in contact regarding Kerem Demirbay and we felt this was an excellent solution given Demirbay is left footed and my SM OCD loves a left footer in left CDM and a right foter at right CDM. The new partnership with De Roon looks very solid to me and well balanced. The deal came at further cost though with youths Dennis Borkowski and Lisandru Tramoni being packaged in the deal. We felt though this was a justifiable sacrifice given the solution it gave the team and also another +2 for the first team midfield.

So your Valencia first Xl eleven currently is looking like this and we feel our summer window business is probably done now. We took a very focused approach and only considered deals for the positions we needed and for the ratings we needed whilst also respecting the squad build age wise. Division 2 looks extremely competitive and I cant wait to get started on Sunday. Where will we end up , my feeling is probably mid table but who knows what we could achieve if we can gain that cherished and often hard to come by SM form.