The ruination of my marriage. Or how I delved back into Football Manager 2020.

So, here we are just over a month into Boro's return to the Premier League. First up, the squad changes. Bit of an overhaul was necessary as there were too many players approaching or over 30. Hew wants to play a fast paced pressing game, and to do that required fresh legs.

Players Out
Marcus Tavernier / Hull City / £3.5m​
Marcel Lavinier / Chesterfield / Loan​
George Saville / Bristol Rovers / Loan​
Paddy Mcnair / Young Boys / £9m​
Sam Stubbs / St Johnstone / Loan​
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru / Scunthorpe / Loan​
Luca Navarro / St Johnstone / Loan​

Total transfer revenue = £12.5m

Players In
Che Adams / Southampton / £8m
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Leo Bonatini / Crystal Palace / £10.5m
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Harold Moukoudi / St Etienne / £5.25m
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Fisayo Dele-Bashiru / Man City / Free
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Patrick Roberts / Man City / £10.5m
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James Garner / Man Utd / Season long loan
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Birgir Melling / Man City / £6m
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Total transfer spend £40m
Balance = -£27.5m

Its precipitated a slight change to the formation, roberts now playing as an inverted winger.
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And here we are at the start of October, Boro sitting in 5th place. Two defeats, one narrowly to Arsenal and the other, a 2-0 defeat to current Champions Chelsea. Stoke continue to feel nauseous as we knocked them out of the Carabao cup again, and next up is Norwich in round four.
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Here's the overall summary, the board appear to have decided Hew is doing a great job, a new contract has been side and the threat of the sack is all but forgotten.
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I've only ever played one game of football manager when constantly watching my young un when he was about 15, 16 years old, he's 23 now
I said to him that's easy son, his mam said his tea was ready, so he put together Boro's 73-74 home & away team kits & put the game at the lowest setting, it was sooooo hard, the game finished 0-0 without a shot on goal & for the controls, you need 2 pair of hands, didn't mock him anymore
 
Great update! Inspired by this thread I picked it back up as an unemployed Sunday Leaguer. Hemel took a punt and I took over mid-season in Vanarama South. Almost made playoffs and the season after up as champions with 109 points, overtaking Crag Hignett's Ebbesfleet on the final day of the season. 108 points and they went up through the playoffs!

Preparing for life in the (old) conference. It's tough going in the lower leagues.

As for Boro. They went up in the first season and then struggled in the Prem. Woodgate got the hook at Christmas and they brought Bowyer in. Relegated with two games to go in 18th place. Back in the Championship and looking forward to a pre-season friendly against Hemel Hempstead!
 
NeilInFrance said:
Have you all seen this ? https://t.co/NcEapmaYrX?amp=1
Click to expand...

Ha! That's class.

In my game I fell for my physio at Stenhousemuir. A bonny lass called Jemma Orr. Took her to my second club and made her head physio. She won't move to my third club at present though. The aim of my game is not to win the world cup or champions League. It is to have myself listed as Gemma Orr's favoured personnel. Pretty much the opposite of Jose Mourinho.
 
Having just negotiated the perils of the transfer window, time for a status update.

So, Boro continue to defy pundits expectations and sit in the European places. Performances are a mixed bag, whenever a top team is the opponent, the squad seem to get the jitters and put in some poor performances. Boro were knocked out of the Carabao cup by the Red Devils at the quarter finals stage, with the same opponents knocking Boro out of the FA Cup at the 3rd round. Bad performances against Chelsea and Man City followed.
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Some more changes to the squad during the window. A focus on better wing play and additions for defence. Midfield needs upgrading, Lewis Wing is dragging the squad by the scruff of the neck right now and keeping it going in the same direction.

Transfer In

Daniel James > Man Utd £12m (Left wing)
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Erik Palmer Brown > Man City £4m (Defence)
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Other areas for improvement which Hew is hoping to address over the summer break are centre midfield. Its unlikely that Man Utd will let James Garner go, but he is one target having been on loan with us for 2 seasons and also Jamie Shackleton from Leeds. Hew also has his eye on Sabastiano Esposito at Inter, but every week, another £1m is added to his asking price !!

Hew also has his eyes on two additions to the coaching staff, but neither will come without European football. Watch this space for updates come the end of the season :)

So, to the current league table.
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Boro are comfortably meeting board expectations and hopes for the remainder of the season are to remain in the European spots.
 
So, its been a while since the last update and things have progressed a fair bit. After the end of last season Hew and the board set new expectations after Boro became an established Premier League team two seasons ahead of expectation. The board wanted Hew to complete European qualification. Hew though, had other ideas.

So, to start, lets look at the changes to the team for the upcoming season.

Players In
Andrea Pinamonti from Udinese £13m. A striker to improve up front. Pinamonti was heavily recommended by the scouting team as better than anything at the club. Plays in the Advanced Forward attacking role. His agility and positioning really helping the team find space and providing space for the wingers by creating diversions.
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Nahuel Lopez from Brescia £12.25m. A left winger that offers pace and good crossing ability. Daniel James has been a star in that position, but his prevalence to cut inside has sometimes been the cause of broken down counter attacks. Lopez is keener to run the line.
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Tibo Persyn from Inter £5.25m. A right winger brought to perform the same as Lopez on the other wing. Roberts is another star but isn't a line hugger, preferring to operate like an Inverted Winger or Inside Forward.
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Luca Connell from Celtic £15m. Another left winger to provide backup to James while Lopez improves. Hew suspects that bids may be coming for James come the end of the season so this is hedging bets and making sure we have replacements who can drop straight in. Yes, I am aware he looks like Rupert Grint !
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Benat Telletxea from Rayo Vallecano B £1.3m. One for the future, the scouts heavily impressed. Will be sent out on loan.
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Jon Ander Prieto from Atletico Madrid £7m. Another for the future, but also has a part to play in the coming season. Was also wanted by Man Utd, but recognised we could give him more game time.
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Tomas Tavares from Borussia Dortmund £8m. A pacey full back to give Dalot some competition. A former Notts Forest player who left England under a cloud after failing to live up to his potential. Now back with a point to prove.
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Players Out
Mainly Academy players who had left, some have gone on loan with future fee's arranged. With Hew's plans to utilise the youth team for the coming season, anyone not making the grade is shipped out.

  1. Stephen Wearne on loan to Livingston
  2. Luca Navarro sold to Malaga for £160K
  3. Isaiah Jones on loan to Bradford City (Shame for him, was hoping he would develop, but just seemed to choke in big games)
  4. Dael Fry sold to Bournemouth for £13.25m (Was complaining about wanting to be a star player when 3 players in front of him were miles better. Sold to prevent squad disharmony).
  5. Craig McGowan to Oldham Under18's on a free
  6. Hussein Salah sold to Derby for £120K (Academy Player)
  7. Fisayo Dele Bonatini to Southend on Loan
  8. Leo Bonatini sold to Brighton for £20m (Former star player. After Pinamonti was signed, Bonatini knew his game time would be reduced. Also, at the age of 29, to make a profit on him was great business)
  9. Ben Liddle to Hibernian on loan (Not improved as much as hoped).
  10. Benat Telletxea to AFC Wimbledon on loan (Needs the game time to improve).

Next up, staff changes.......
 
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On to the staff. Hew and the board recognised their were gaps in scouting, medical and coaching. Boro already had the 3rd best coaching setup in the league, but the board wanted to be No.1 and also improve the other areas.

Scouting
  1. Riccardo Pecini from Sampdoria. Pecini was a former head of youth development at AC Milan before moving to the same role at Sampdoria. Boro them picked him up. A very good eye for spotting player ability and potential and adaptability to look for specific attributes based on the manager's requirements.
Coaching
  1. Kolo Toure. Signed on a free after a spell as Southampton's Assistant Manager. Not much to be said for the Arsenal legend other than he is expected to improve the defensive side of the first team after a season where more points were dropped through rank bad positioning than any other.
  2. Kevin O Connor signed from Brentford. Signed as another defensive coach. O Connor has a great reputation and Brentford fought tooth and nail to keep him including offering him an assistant managers position. However, the lure of coaching in the Premier League proved too much and Kevin was soon onboard.
So, the current training schedule looks like this.
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Over the season, the plan is to try and get the board to increase the number of coaches and medical personnel. Boro's medical department is poorer than the league average and that has contributed to the end of the last season suffering with some frankly bizarre injuries (Stojanovic out for 9 weeks after tripping over a table).
 
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Another improvement Hew wanted was to maintain the clubs youth facilities and the data science departments. Hew was adamant that with European football, Boro would be more visible on football's world stage and wanted the best facilities to entice young players to the club. The board agreed and work was done on both areas. The youth facilities would take a year and the benefits not realised until next season. The board also announced plans to build a new stadium and informed Hew they were looking at sites. While great news, it meant the transfer budget would be depleted for January.

Next update - Half season review.
 
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