Hello and welcome to the first official post for Football Manager Sessions. I\u2019m going to kick this off by straight away asking for your help \u2013 I need a club to manage, and I need you to help choose it. In the last few weeks, I\u2019ve been putting in hours of preparation for this series (and simultaneously procrastinating from real life), getting a feel for the new Football Manager in the hope I don\u2019t show myself up too much now that I\u2019m posting my results online.\u00a0 During that time I\u2019ve managed to come up with a shortlist of teams I\u2019d like to manage, but that\u2019s not what this series is all about.<\/p>\n
I want everyone who reads this story to be as involved with the site as possible. I\u2019ve read and watched a lot of stuff on Football Manager recently, and one criticism I\u2019ve had of what\u2019s been terrific work otherwise is that the reader\/viewer can often feel pretty disengaged with it all. Essentially we\u2019re just watching someone else play the game, with no real input in how the story goes. So I\u2019ve set up this site \u2013 with the idea that although I\u2019ll be documenting the results, I won\u2019t necessarily be the sole figure in charge.\u00a0 And also, if things go badly, I can blame you lot as well.<\/p>\n
Moving swiftly on, I present to you my four leading candidates for management. Whenever a new FM comes out, a number of sites write articles about \u201cTop 10 teams to manage on FM\u201d and although they\u2019re usually good ideas, I\u2019ve tried to stay away from some of the teams you\u2019re likely to see have seen done more than once already.<\/p>\n
Dundee United<\/u> \u2013<\/u> Rangers and Celtic are two of the clubs who are often discussed as potential sides to manage, and Alex Stewart and Iain MacIntosh are doing a great job over at http:\/\/thesetpieces.com\/ . But as soon as FM17 came out there was another challenge in Scotland I was interested, and that\u2019s the story of Dundee United, a side who only 2 years ago were battling for European spots in Scotland, dwarfing over their local rivals Dundee with a side full of young Scottish talent. But a couple of hard seasons and the Tangerines now find themselves in the Ladbrokes Championship, without their talent and that much money either.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s three big positives to the job which entice me more than simply the task of rebuilding this stricken side.\u00a0 The fan base remains large for the league, there are a number of good youngsters still at the club I think I could help develop \u2013 and more selfishly with a season in the Championship to start I think my job would start off pretty secure.<\/p>\n
AJ Auxerre \u2013 <\/u>Bienvenue to France, a nation I don\u2019t have all that much experience with when it comes to FM, especially not Ligue 2. Auxerre would be my location, and they share a similar theme to all the potential options at my disposal \u2013 a side who have dropped off in recent years and expect to be playing at a higher level. Auxerre boast the likes of Laurent Blanc, Phillipe Mexes and Eric Cantona amongst their alumni but times are hard in Burgundy. In 2009\/10 they finished 3rd<\/sup> in Ligue 1, but it\u2019s been all downhill since then. Predicted to finish mid-table in Ligue 2 this season, the journey would be a long one but establishing Auxerre back on the European map is definitely a campaign I could get on board with.<\/p>\n Grimsby Town \u2013<\/u> For me Grimsby represent a good balance between two traditional FM career ideas. On the one hand, they\u2019re a club with history and by that ranking they should be stood higher than their league two status. On the other, they\u2019ve struggled for the past ten seasons following financial trouble \u2013 spending 6 seasons in the Conference before finally making it through the play-offs this season.\u00a0 The bookies don\u2019t back Grimsby to do much this year, in fact they\u2019re 5th<\/sup> favourites to go down. But with the likes of Omar Bogle in the squad, it\u2019s a project we could definitely get our teeth stuck into and the career would certainly have longevity to it.<\/p>\n A.C. Milan \u2013 <\/u>I know I said I wouldn\u2019t go for the obvious clubs, but in my opinion Milan are one of the most interesting challenges on the game. With Juventus so dominant over Serie A for what seems like forever, they\u2019ll be tough to dislodge. But if there\u2019s one thing Milan have right now its money, and lots of it. Probably the biggest club to have received Chinese investment, the combination of high wages and Milan\u2019s name means drawing players should be a simple task \u2013 the difficult bit are getting those players to gel and earn points. It\u2019s a task that\u2019s stumped a host of managers in the past few years, but with a little help from my readers I think it\u2019s definitely something we can give a decent go \u2013 and if we\u2019re going to win the Champions League at FM Sessions I think this is definitely our best opportunity.<\/p>\n So there you have it, 4 options all of which with different struggles and paths to success. The plan is to start the series fully in a week\u2019s time, and in the first episode I\u2019ll give you a full run-down into the squad you\u2019ve chosen and together we can start choosing which players to keep and which players we\u2019ll move on. Whoever you choose, I look forward to seeing you at the next stage of this journey.<\/p>\n Twitter:<\/u> @thebackpage21<\/p>\n