Overhauling Man United...Then Travelling Europe

As you are probably all aware, I'm no Manchester United fan, nowhere near, infact probably the right opposite and this career could be seen as conspicuous (ah big word, look at me go). I'm a Liverpool fan and one that was pleased yet saddened by Sir Alex Ferguson stepping down, from then on you knew the Premier League was going to change! And so have Manchester United. After seeing this article by Robbie Savage of the Manchester United squad, I thought it was time for me to give it a go and see what I could do.

*Just on a side note, my manager is named 'Dan' and has 'former International Football' reputation and born in Manchester, just to make it a little easier.


So as you can see I got straight to work and got rid of the players that I see as 'deadwood' at Manchester United and I don't feel are really going to fit into my team. Javier Hernandez went to Barcelona in the biggest out going deal at Manchester United this summer, leaving for twenty eight and a half million pounds. Brazilian left back Fabio joined Rubin for six and a half million whilst Jonny Evans joined fellow Premier League candidates Arsenal in a fifteen million pound switch. Antonio Valencia joined French moneybags Monaco for near seventeen million whilst Anderson joins Italian side Napoli for eight an a half million, seeing us bring in over seventy five million pounds this summer..now where to spend it...


Just four new faces to the squad this summer and you will notice that its all English 'talent' that has arrived at Old Trafford as I look to build a fairly young but strong English side here for the future. Luke Shaw was the first man through the door from Southampton. At just eighteen years old it is a lot of money on his head but we've got him on under fifty thousand a week. We then stole Andros Townsend from Tottenham for nine million, a bargain in my eyes. The twenty two year old can player on either wing and adds a great attacking option. Jack Butland it a keeper I have high hopes for in the future. With Lindegaard and Amos not looking to live up to much we needed a new number two and future number one and he arrived from Stoke for fifteen million. Tom Ince was the final player through the door. The son of Paul Ince I have hopes his current potential rating isn't all he will reach. Costing us just three million I see this as a bargain.


Plenty more players left the squad this summer and its for a temporary spell out on loan. We allowed Tom Ince to return to Blackpool for the season where he can gain first team football. anders Lindegaard and Ben Amos I couldn't sale on so loaned them out whilst the same was said for Alexander Buttner who joins West Brom. Youngsters Michael keane, Jesse Lingard, Tom Lawrence, Tyler Blackett, Will Keane and Federico Macheda also all go out on loan.


So despite all the changes with the squad our pre season was still very pleasing on the eye as we dropped just four points from eight games and beat the likes of Basel and Valencia. Happy that we also kept five clean sheets from those eight games. The last match against Flint Town was just for fun to get youngsters out who eventually went on loan.

Good luck mate ! Good idea great young signings too! have you finished the 2nd month on Ross County?

Good luck with this Dan, I'm sure you will do a good job (reluctantly with them I'm sure ) but slightly disappointed to see you sell Jonny Evans.

Couldn't help but notice you didn't buy a central midfielder?

Thanks George, I haven't yet no, I will get it done today as I'm off work for the day.

Thanks Shedender, yes, reluctantly is certainly the word, but its the first save I've been really up for (apart from the succession games I'm in) for a while. Evans was surplus to requirement at Old Trafford, we have plenty of centre backs.

I haven't yet Jaygull, I'm currently playing one defensive midfielder and one Attacking midfielder, but I am in talks with a central midfielder, the transfer window isn't shut yet.


So with the busy summer done, plenty of changes with the old man Fergie out, myself in and plenty of summer transfers in and out of the club it was about time to take charge of my first competitive game in charge here at Manchester United and it would be one at Wembley. We were set to meet with last years FA Cup winners Wigan, could I get off on the right foot?


A very well disciplined performance from the side in red saw us walk past the Championship side and claim a three nil win. We dominated from start to finish, keeping fifty five percent of the ball and forcing twenty five shots to Wigan's nine shots! After just ten minutes we had the opening goal of the game as Van Persie slotted home a penalty calmly. Before the break we added a second and it would be debutant Andros Townsend who doubled our lead in the forty fourth minute after cutting inside from the wing and slotting home inside the box. Tom Cleverley would be the man to round up the scoring, striking a fierce shot from twenty yards fourteen minutes from time.

The transfer window has now slammed shut and we can now finalise the outgoing deals. Since the last update there were just three more players to leave the club and they will all be returning after season long loans. Youngsters Sam Johnstone, Joe Rothwell and James Weir all move out on loan to Peterborough, Inverness CT and Chesterfield respectively as they all get chance for first team football. We've ended the summer transfer window making just over seventy five million pounds.


As I mentioned to 'Jaygull' just now, we were in hunt for another central midfielder and I have managed to bring him in. Nineteen year old Ross Barkley has joined us on a four year deal on just thirty four thousand pounds a month. The central midfielder has a bright future and set us back twenty nine and a half million, seeing our total expenditure on transfers this summer topple eighty one million pounds.


Well, not the start I had in mind. I was hoping for six points from these two opening games but it hasn't happened. We got off to a good start in the league as we welcomed Everton to Old Trafford and claimed a two nil win. Van Persie netted in five minutes before getting injured. His replacement Wilfried Zaha, went on to put the game beyond doubt as he netted twenty minutes from time.

We travelled to Wales to take on Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium and fell to a very disappointing three one defeat. We were two down before the break. Second half and with a change of tactics Nemanja Vidic nodded us back in contention. But a short time late Bony netted for Swansea to put the game beyond doubt.


Our Champions League group draw has been completed and the media are dubbing it as an 'easy' group but I don't think we should get carried away as this is far from easy. We have been joined in Group E with the riches of France in PSG as well as Swiss side Basel and Austrian giants FK Austria Wien. There is no reason why we won't get through though.


We have been hit with a fair few injuries this season already and have six on the injury list from the first team. We are expecting Nani back very shortly from a twisted ankle and Danny Welbeck hopefully won't be out much longer. Januzaj got injured, came back and then broke his leg in training and will now miss up to six months whilst Robin Van Persie, who fractured his ribs against Everton is out for another three weeks. New boy Ross Barkley was already injured when he joined and faced another two weeks out whilst Darren Fletcher is still recovering from his virus and faces two to seven weeks out.

Can you enlighten us about the tactic you (going to) use.

Yes certainly Dyrim, my mistake.




The tactics are all varied in our balance and fluidity. Some of them are set to counter attacking football whilst some are attacking and balanced, Its important we can get the mix right and hopefully over the next few months we can get fully competent with the formations. Notice how the young English players are straight away being bled into the side!

A very good month on the pitch for us in the Premier League. We faced four league games and faced giants Chelsea and Tottenham. We began the month though with a comfortable two nil win at Newcastle with Kagawa and Vidic netting. We welcomed Mourinho's Chelsea to Old Trafford and struck four past them with Rooney netting a hatrick, two from the spot and Chris Smalling netting one. Our only set back and goal conceded this month came at White Hart Lane, losing one nil to Spurs. We ended the Premier League month with a three nil win against Aston Villa. Smalling, Rooney and Fellaini all getting a goal


The Third Round of the Capital One Cup drew us at home welcoming Stoke and a game where I fielded almost a full English side. We had the lead through Etherington netting an own goal. He levelled for the host before the break though. It went to Extra Time where Ferdinand and Zaha both netted, securing our spot in the Fourth Round where we will meet West Brom.


An ideal start in the Champions League group stage saw us welcome Austria Wien to England and Old Trafford where we ran riot, claiming a dominant five nil win. Rooney netted two first half goals whilst Zaha netted two second half goals and Ferdinand also found the net from a corner to secure the win.


Liverpool are the surprise early league leaders having won five of their opening six league games and drawing the remaining one which sees them one of just two teams still unbeaten at this stage. The other side are West Ham in seventh, Stoke occupy second, three points of Liverpool whilst we sit four points off Liverpool in third. Manchester City and Chelsea sit shortly behind whilst its been a terrible start for Arsene Wenger's Arsenal side who sit down in thirteenth.

Just read this career, Some very good signings! Im sure Luke Shaw will do very well for you as he has done brilliantly for me! Strong start in the league too keep it up mate!

Thanks Jack, its been a good start and even though we've had so many changes this summer the form has been good this far!




Bar the last two games of 2013 our form has been very good over the last three months picking up points everywhere. We picked up eight wins from thirteen games sees us being very competitive this season but we will need to improve if we want to win the league title. Losing and then drawing to Crystal Palace and then Southampton at the end of December has cost us.


Oh! Our Capital One Cup run is over. Once again I fielded a young, English side and it cost us. We fell to a defeat on penalties after drawing one a piece in normal time.


The FA Cup Third Round will see us travel to The City Ground to face Championship side Nottingham Forest. It certainly won't be an easy tie but we are hopeful that we can pass on through and pick up at least one of the domestic cup competitions for the season.


Our Champions League group saw us remain unbeaten. Following our five nil win over Austria Wien to kick off the group we beat Basel two one away from home before grabbing a one all draw against PSG. However I did complain about their penalty, which proved to be very soft and left the FA 'silent'. We easily beat PSG at Old Trafford three nil before narrow one nil wins over Austria Wien and Basel saw us easily advance.


So we ended the group at the top and easily to as we won it by three points over PSG who had fallen to the one defeat which was against us. We remained unbeaten which was fantastic and put us into the next round.


The First Knockout Round draw has been very kind on us as we are drawn against German side Schalke. I can only see us advancing through this tie. Its one we should be winning if we are serious about advancing in the competition and even potentially reaching the Final dare we dream.


Halfway through the league season now and we are up to second, just trailing the boys in blue Chelsea. They go into 2014 clear by five points over us occupying second. Third place Southampton sit four points behind us and are tied on points with fourth place Swansea and fifth place Stoke, with Spurs a further point behind! It is all very close!

Doing great, how are the young english signings doing?

I'm sure the Manchester United board don't really care about the League Cup, or do they?

You're going well though mate. KIU.

Going well Mate !! Great work topping your champions league group especially ahead of PSG! 2nd in league too surprising to see Southampton and Swansea so high!

They are getting plenty of football time Dyrim! I will upload their before and after stats come the end of the season!

Thanks Shedender, things are looking rosy at the moment and your right, they didn't care about the Capital One Cup!

Thanks George!




A few more departures during January but only one permanent. Whilst Blackett, Redmond and Loannou have all moved back out on loan which will do wonders for them whilst I've let Rafael go. Spanish giants Real Madrid came swooping in for the right back and took him off my palms for twenty three million pounds! Taking our income up to just short of one hundred million pounds.


Two league wins, a draw and a poor defeat in January in the league. We beat Everton narrowly one nil before Newcastle became the first side to take anything from Old Trafford this season claiming a nil nil draw. We then bounced back beating Swansea two nil before succumbing to a three nil defeat against league leaders Chelsea.


The FA Cup Third and Fourth Rounds have been played and we've managed to ease through both! We faced Championship side Nottingham Forest in the Third Round, beating them two one. In the Fourth Round we welcomed to Old Trafford Norwich, the Capital One Cup finalist who we knocked out of this competition, easing to a five nil win.


There were just two League One sides left in the competition and we've managed to draw one of them at Old Trafford for the FA Cup Fifth Round! What a fantastic draw this is for us. I'm really hoping we can get through to the next round now.


Our most recent defeat against Chelsea has seen us fall back five points behind the league leaders but we remain a game in hand in which we could chop their lead down to just two points. Southampton in fifth are flying for their first Premier League season having scored the most in the league so far this season. Whilst Arsenal currently have the tightest league defence this season conceding just sixteen times in twenty four games.

So we have rounded off the season now and as you can see our form really did take a hit. Before this stint we had drawn just one at home and won the remaining home games. Unfortunately that wasn't to stay the way. We ended up drawing to Tottenham and Southampton whilst losing to Arsenal at home. our form at the end of the season was dodgy, but would it be enough to claim a league title...


A nightmare in the FA cup saw us only just managed to get past League One side Brentford who managed to draw to us twice before we beat them on penalties. We went on face Tottenham away from home in the Sixth Round where we ended up being smashed four goals to one. Out of that cup competition too. The board wanted an appearance in the Final.


And thins got worse. There would be no glory in Europe this season as we really did struggle in the second half of the season. Schalke were stubborn at home as they won one nil. At home we turned the tie to move into the Quarter Finals though winning three one. The Quarter Finals draw us against German giants and holders Bayern Munich who demolished us five one in Germany and then one nil at our place. We were out.


Chelsea claim the league title on Jose Mourinho's return as they end up running away with the league title. Arsenal climbed up to second nearing the end of the season which saw us slip to third place. Newcastle will also join us in Champions League football next year as they finish fourth whilst Tottenham and Stoke head to Europa League football with Capital One Cup winners Liverpool who finish down in eighth. Manchester City have a very poor season finishing down in twelfth!

But with only the Community Shield coming to Old Trafford this season my position at the club is in the balance...

Extremely poor season, if you avoid the chop then you're lucky.

Well not the ending you had in mind i guess . You promised a before and after of your english signings.

Good luck with you new season.

Indeed I will be lucky to avoid the chop Shedender, it was a poor ending.

A poor ending indeed Dyrim! Here are those slight changes now

Head still on i guess

It's only just been confirmed Dyrim!

Favourite team Liverpool? wat

Unlucky man, the month of April really let you down. Barkley is progressing well!

At least you avoided the chop following a poor season. Good luck this season pal.

Yes Frangles, that would be correct?

April killed up Sean, hopefully our young talent can prove worthy in the long run!

Very lucky to Shedender, now we continue to build!




Only three players make permanent moves away from Old Trafford this summer as Patrice Evra, Shinji Kagawa and Davide Petrucci all leave the club this summer. Patrice Evra has forced a move just over fifteen million pounds to league rivals Arsenal whilst Kagawa joins Barcelona in a deal just over eighteen million. Petrucci has joined Premier League new boys Nottingham Forest for half a million.


Five new faces this summer, all English and all in my eyes for bargain deals! The first four are listed here. Will Hughes was a deal done and agreed in February which sees the nineteen year old striker join Old Trafford for just under six million. Next in was Kyle Walker, the right back we got quoted over twenty million last summer was unhappy at Spurs this year and joins us for just ten million pounds! Two regen players then joined the youth ranks of Manchester United. Sixteen year old attacking midfielder come striker Jimmy O'Hara joins from Cardiff setting just back just over three and a half million whilst defensive midfielder Kevin Hunter is another to keep your eye on, the sixteen year old cost us just over four and a half million pounds this summer. The last deal of the summer saw us swoop for West Ham United' central midfielder Ravel Morrisson. The deal cost us just short of eight million plus saw Federico Machedo go the other way as he is set for life at Upton Park.


And here are the non cash deals this summer, of course a few of the loan deals come with a small income per month but it isn't substansial. You will notice Will Hughes went back to Derby, this was part of the agreement to bring him to Old Trafford and will see him stay there until the end of the season. The same story applies for Hunter as he goes back to Middlesborough. The Keane brothers are out on loan again, Januzaj has also gone out on loan in France this year. The likes of Bebe and Butner sit rotting in my reserves at the moment.


Right on the pitch things didn't go quite to plan this summer. We struggled a little in our tour of Portugal and there just seemed so many games where we couldn't quite manage to seal a win. We ended up taking just five wins from ten games this summer, drawing two and losing three. Hopefully that won't be the case competitively this year.

A perfect start in the league during August saw us win both our games that were thrown at us. We welcomed West Ham to Old Trafford to kick off the season where two goals from corners saw us claim a two nil win and keeping the important clean sheet as we fielded a full English starting XI. Carrick netted the opener before Jones nodded home in injury time late on.

A trip to Reading saw us make it two games and two wins. Just a narrow win this time though, an Andros Townsend goal two minutes into the game was enough to secure the win and back to back clean sheets too.


So maybe we won't get any further in the Capital One Cup this year round. Last year we reached the Fourth Round and were knocked out by West Brom, this year our first round of entering has seen us paired with our Manchester rivals, Manchester City.


However our Champions League group has been very kind to us, last season we went unbeaten in the group, just dropping two points against PSG, this time around I don't expect us to drop any point. This year we've been drawn with Russian side CSKA Moscow, the runners up in the Europa League last year, Spanish side Real Sociedad and Isrealian side H. Tel-Aviv.

You got both Will Hughes and Kyle Walker cheap. Good job and a solid start to the league campaign.

We got off to a flyer indeed Shedender! And those transfers were bargains for us, as I said we were quoted near £26million for Walker last summer.




We've been fantastic this far in the league as we remain unbeaten and dropped just two points. We beat Aston Villa three goals to one as Welbeck, Barkley and Jones all found the net at Old Trafford. Unfortunately a trip to the DW Stadium saw us face Wigan and play out an eight goal thriller which ended four four. Welbeck, Rooney x2 and Barkley all netted for us. Back at home Fulham got thumped by us, winning five one. Van Persie netted a superb hatrick before Fellaini and Fletcher all netted. We ended the month in the league against Everton who are second place so far. Zaha and Shaw both netted either side of Everton' equaliser to see us win.


Fellaini can f*** off! He has cost us this game. We trailed City thirteen minutes before the break before Van Persie levelled for us. Second half I introduced Fellaini in the sixty ninth minute. He was on the pitch just nine minutes before getting sent off. This saw City go on and dominate as Jovetic netted two minutes into injury time to knock us out the Capital One Cup. Another early exit for us!


Thankfully our Champions League form has gotten off on a much brighter step! We travelled to Isreal where we battered H. Tel-Aviv four nil. An own goal in the fiftieth minute finally opened up the flood gates as Smalling netted and then Welbeck netted twice.


We've sailed off the line in the Premier League as we remain unbeaten throughout the opening six league games of the season and already opening up three points over second place Southampton and four points over Everton in third. We are the only side unbeaten this far in. Current league, FA Cup and Champions League holders Chelsea sit fourth with City down in sixth. Liverpool are off to a slow start sitting in twelfth position, three places behind last years runners up Arsenal.


I am delighted to announce the capture of Spanish thirty two year old keeper Victor Valdes on a free transfer! He is on just fifty thousand pounds per week and has signed a three and a half year deal taking us up to the end of the 2018 season. However I know what your thinking, you have De Gea and Butland and Valdes isn't English. The deal seemed too good to turn down, he has signed for a free transfer and is valued at seven million pounds. If I can hold him for the season I am willing to let him go in the summer, seeing us hopefully turn a tidy profit!

Valdes is a quality signing despite being thirty two, I'm sure you'll be able to get a profit on him.