Having performed above expectation in finishing 11th in my first season in the Premier League with Oxford; I also led my team to Wembley, and won the FA Cup with an incredibly tense penalty shoot-out victory over West Ham.
We won the game 15-14, and will therefore now be playing in Europe next season. We’ve only ever lost to West Ham once, and that was back when we were playing in League Two. We met on three occasions last season; twice in the league, and once in the cup. I took 4 points off of them in the league, but beating them in the FA Cup final was certainly the sweetest of the three.
We had to overcome some tough teams in reaching the final, and West Ham certainly wasn’t the most difficult opponent that we faced; it still proved to be one of the trickiest games of the season though, and we were forced to play the match with a number of our top performers missing. The team we fielded was not our best, and that therefore could have gone against us, thankfully we were still able to win the game though, and an impressive first season in the Premier League was ultimately made all the more memorable.
The game ended goalless, we held our nerve in the shoot-out though, and didn’t miss a single penalty. Hopefully there’ll be more FA Cup success to come in the future, winning it once is greater than I ever imagined we’d do though, and appearing in Europe is the fine reward that we now have to look forward to.
40 is the Magic Number
So my Oxford United team won promotion from the Championship at the first time of asking, and having won League One by some margin with 104 points; we then went on to triumph in the Championship with 82. Admittedly we only won the Championship by 3 points, I never would have dreamed of winning it though, and thought that at best we had a slim chance of reaching the play-offs.
We’re now chasing 40 Premier League points, and 26 games into the season have amassed 29, so I’m pretty confident we can do it. Looking back at every Premier League season since the beginning of the game; I can actually see that 37 points has always been enough to survive, and that occasionally little over 30 has been enough to do it. My own personal aim is to reach the 40 point mark though, and if we can do that with what is essentially a Championship team at best, then I really will be impressed.
Most of my team don’t have any Premier League experience, and a lot of these players have travelled with me right from League One. My main signings have been Adam Kay (has never played at a higher level than the Championship), Junior Stanislas (spent the last six seasons in the Championship with Leeds, prior to that had minimal Premier League experience), Francois Clerc (spent the last three seasons in the Championship), Joe Ledley (my only concrete Premier League signing), and two young central defenders from the Championship; Ashley Doherty and Paul Barlow. I also have a 37 year-old Xabi Alonso on loan from Liverpool, and a fairly useless young Italian on loan from AC Milan.
My main strikers are Roy Davis and Luke Hobbs; Hobbs has been with me since League Two, and Davis since League One. I also have Jamie White and Emile Sinclair at my disposal upfront, Sinclair has also been with me since League One, and White was my only signing last season in the Championship.
Stanislas would be my first choice right midfielder, but has been injured for much of the season so far, and I’ve therefore been playing Matthew Kelly in the position, a 24 year-old that’s risen with me from the Blue Square Premier.
Over half my first choice players have been with me since at least League One, and a 39 year-old Rudi Skacel is my second choice left-back. I’m happy with my squad, and am pleased with the players that I have at the club; I wouldn’t say that we’re really a Premier League team though, and after losing three games on the trot at the start of the season; I seriously thought we were in danger of being embarrassed in this league, and thought that we’d probably finish absolute bottom with minimal points gained. Thankfully that didn’t happen though, my team has battled away to 5 wins,14 draws, and overall we’ve gained 29 points. We’ve had high profile draws with Chelsea, Tottenham, and QPR, and Luke Hobbs has even grabbed himself 10 Premier League goals and sits joint 11th in the league for goals scored. Not bad for the man that only managed 12 in the Championship last season in 9 more appearances.
We desperately need a new left-back next season, and the right-back position is a bit of a problem area also; overall I’m pretty pleased with my squad though, we’ve achieved great things with very limited resources, and the one real Premier League player that we’ve bought proved to be an absolute bargain for the price. We smashed our transfer record in paying £1.4 million for Joe Ledley; he was well worth the money though, and has slotted in nicely, into a team that is driven, determined, and not afraid to fight for points. Against supposedly superior teams we show no fear, and although the team is young (the average age of our title winning team last season was 24); these are professional players with incredible ability, and what they lack in experience they make up for in gritty determination.
It looks as though we’ll be remaining in the Premier League for next season, and my next aim will be to further strengthen my squad, and hopefully achieve a top half finish next season. Oxford United Football Club has come a long way in my present Football Manager 2009 game, and I can only hope that the club will one day once more reach the top level league in real life also.
We’re now chasing 40 Premier League points, and 26 games into the season have amassed 29, so I’m pretty confident we can do it. Looking back at every Premier League season since the beginning of the game; I can actually see that 37 points has always been enough to survive, and that occasionally little over 30 has been enough to do it. My own personal aim is to reach the 40 point mark though, and if we can do that with what is essentially a Championship team at best, then I really will be impressed.
Most of my team don’t have any Premier League experience, and a lot of these players have travelled with me right from League One. My main signings have been Adam Kay (has never played at a higher level than the Championship), Junior Stanislas (spent the last six seasons in the Championship with Leeds, prior to that had minimal Premier League experience), Francois Clerc (spent the last three seasons in the Championship), Joe Ledley (my only concrete Premier League signing), and two young central defenders from the Championship; Ashley Doherty and Paul Barlow. I also have a 37 year-old Xabi Alonso on loan from Liverpool, and a fairly useless young Italian on loan from AC Milan.
My main strikers are Roy Davis and Luke Hobbs; Hobbs has been with me since League Two, and Davis since League One. I also have Jamie White and Emile Sinclair at my disposal upfront, Sinclair has also been with me since League One, and White was my only signing last season in the Championship.
Stanislas would be my first choice right midfielder, but has been injured for much of the season so far, and I’ve therefore been playing Matthew Kelly in the position, a 24 year-old that’s risen with me from the Blue Square Premier.
Over half my first choice players have been with me since at least League One, and a 39 year-old Rudi Skacel is my second choice left-back. I’m happy with my squad, and am pleased with the players that I have at the club; I wouldn’t say that we’re really a Premier League team though, and after losing three games on the trot at the start of the season; I seriously thought we were in danger of being embarrassed in this league, and thought that we’d probably finish absolute bottom with minimal points gained. Thankfully that didn’t happen though, my team has battled away to 5 wins,14 draws, and overall we’ve gained 29 points. We’ve had high profile draws with Chelsea, Tottenham, and QPR, and Luke Hobbs has even grabbed himself 10 Premier League goals and sits joint 11th in the league for goals scored. Not bad for the man that only managed 12 in the Championship last season in 9 more appearances.
We desperately need a new left-back next season, and the right-back position is a bit of a problem area also; overall I’m pretty pleased with my squad though, we’ve achieved great things with very limited resources, and the one real Premier League player that we’ve bought proved to be an absolute bargain for the price. We smashed our transfer record in paying £1.4 million for Joe Ledley; he was well worth the money though, and has slotted in nicely, into a team that is driven, determined, and not afraid to fight for points. Against supposedly superior teams we show no fear, and although the team is young (the average age of our title winning team last season was 24); these are professional players with incredible ability, and what they lack in experience they make up for in gritty determination.
It looks as though we’ll be remaining in the Premier League for next season, and my next aim will be to further strengthen my squad, and hopefully achieve a top half finish next season. Oxford United Football Club has come a long way in my present Football Manager 2009 game, and I can only hope that the club will one day once more reach the top level league in real life also.
The Changing Face of the Premier League Big Four
The changing face of the Premier League top four over the course of the next eight years; how the top four will look in the future according to my current career in Football Manager 2009.
Is it realistic that this will be the future of the Premier League? Yes and no. For a start there’s absolutely no chance that Newcastle will finish third this season, but is it likely that Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United will continue to dominate for years to come? There’s a strong chance of that, yes.
As can also be seen from my game; Manchester City becomes one of the top clubs in England as of the 2012/13 season, and if the Abu Dhabi United Group sticks with the club then that probably will be true as well.
Portsmouth is another club that has gone on to achieve fantastic success in my game, and has done so by holding onto important players like Jermain Defoe and Glen Johnson, and buying players cheap such as Nicklas Bendtner, Adrian, and Abou Diaby that have gone on to achieve fantastic success throughout the years. Peter Crouch was also a key figure for many years, consistently Portsmouth’s top scorer playing alongside Jermain Defoe, and that was therefore a huge help in establishing Portsmouth as a top English club.
Aside from the presence of Newcastle in the top four for the 2008/09 season; this could well be the future of the Premier League, and although exact positions may vary, Football Manager does tend to predict the future of football pretty well, and I feel that my game paints a pretty realistic Premier League future.
According to my current career in Football Manager 2009, this is what the future of the Premier League will look like:
2008/09
1. Arsenal
2. Chelsea
3. Newcastle
4. Man Utd
2009/10
1. Man Utd
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Chelsea
2010/11
1. Arsenal
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Man Utd
2011/12
1. Arsenal
2. Liverpool
3. Man Utd
4. Chelsea
2012/13
1. Arsenal
2. Man City
3. Chelsea
4. Liverpool
2013/14
1. Portsmouth
2. Arsenal
3. Man City
4. Man Utd
2014/15
1. Arsenal
2. Chelsea
3. Portsmouth
4. Man Utd
2015/16
1. Arsenal
2. Man City
3. Chelsea
4. Liverpool
2008/09
1. Arsenal
2. Chelsea
3. Newcastle
4. Man Utd
2009/10
1. Man Utd
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Chelsea
2010/11
1. Arsenal
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Man Utd
2011/12
1. Arsenal
2. Liverpool
3. Man Utd
4. Chelsea
2012/13
1. Arsenal
2. Man City
3. Chelsea
4. Liverpool
2013/14
1. Portsmouth
2. Arsenal
3. Man City
4. Man Utd
2014/15
1. Arsenal
2. Chelsea
3. Portsmouth
4. Man Utd
2015/16
1. Arsenal
2. Man City
3. Chelsea
4. Liverpool
Theo Walcott in Football Manager 2009
As you’d probably expect; Theo Walcott is a player that is definitely worth signing in Football Manager 2009 if you can manage to prize him away from Arsenal. It’ll take an incredibly high fee, if you can get Arsenal to accept an offer though then Theo Walcott would definitely be an outstanding signing if you’re managing one of the world’s top clubs.I’ve tried to sign him before and have never been able to do so; I’ve noticed a trend that he tends to score a lot of goals after a couple of seasons though, and soon reaches his potential as a truly world class player.
Expect a season average of greater than 7 with Theo Walcott; he’s a player that holds much promise in real life, and in Football Manager he’s also an absolute star. There’s just no faulting Theo Walcott, and he truly is an absolutely incredible English talent.
Freddy Adu in Football Manager 2009
If you’re managing a Premier League team then I’d definitely say that Freddy Adu is a player that is well worth signing. His stats are pretty decent, and if you do decide to sign him then he will become a valuable member of your squad. He might not necessarily be one of the best players in the world, he is a quality player though, and will perform well for you if you’re managing a team from the top flight.
As Freddy Adu is only 19 at the beginning of the game you’ll therefore get plenty of years play out of him. Adu is a brilliant player, and in my current game he’s had fantastic success for both Aston Villa and Arsenal. He joined Aston Villa from Benfica for £7.75 million in the 2009/10 season, and was later sold on to Arsenal for £15 million at the start of the 2015/16 season.
Freddy Adu is an accomplished player that will develop well , and he’s more than capable of playing football at the highest level possible. As an international he grows to become America’s finest talent, and at club level he can cut it in continental competition as well as in a top level league.
Try picking up Freddy Adu as early as possible, and watch as he develops to become one of your favourite players. Freddy Adu is a supremely talented player, and if you’re after a reasonably inexpensive midfield player that won’t be a disappointment then Freddy Adu is most definitely your man.
Oxford Promoted to the Championship
After an absolutely brilliant season which saw us pick up 104 points; Oxford United has been promoted to the Championship as League One Champions.
24 goals from Emile Sinclair and 23 from Roy Davis saw that we were promoted with style, and losing just 4 league games all season whilst winning 31 of the 46; we were most definitely a formidable force to be reckoned with.
Here's how the final League One table looked:
Five new signings became first team favourites, and three of them were signed from our former parent club Leeds. Leeds decided to cut the tie when we entered the same league, and with the board having failed to find a suitable feeder club we therefore no longer have one; even without loan players from a higher level parent team I feel that we’ll do well in the Championship though, and our pre-season results suggest that we may even have a shot at promotion.
In pre-season we beat Watford 2-0, Leeds United 1-0, and even achieved a 2-1 victory over last year’s Championship winners Reading. Reading won the league by a clear margin of 15 points last season, and although I somewhat doubt that we too will achieve such success; I do feel that we’ve got a good chance in the league, and that a play-off place could well be a possibility.
Despite the positives, it wasn’t all fun and games last season though; we lost to Derby County in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final, and I therefore failed in my aim to do as I did with Huddersfield in winning the trophy twice. Still; we reached Wembley for the second time in three seasons, and although we didn’t win the cup, we did win the league, and did so incredibly comfortably too.
I have strong hope for life in the Championship, but am well aware of the fact that when I managed Huddersfield Town at this level, I started the season well only to fall away to a 19th place finish. Life in the Championship isn’t going to be easy, and we’ve only signed one new player; he’s a proven Championship goalscorer though, and should complement our current squad members well.
Several Oxford old timers have now found new clubs, and both Eddie Johnson and Luke Foster have now been let go to impress for their respective clubs in League One/Two. I could have held onto them and given them bit parts in my first season in the Championship with Oxford; I wanted more for them than that though, and therefore thought it best to find them new clubs, and allow them the first team experience that they so richly deserve. Both players served me well, and for that I thanked them by allowing them to move on and settle down elsewhere for increased first team opportunities. Jamie Guy was another that I found a new club, providing him with a move to Blackpool to continue his footballing life in League One.
It’s a time of great change as Oxford moves onwards and upwards, and although Rudi Skacel remains; the majority of our older players have now moved on, and a more youthful Oxford team will now look to conquer all in the Championship.
24 goals from Emile Sinclair and 23 from Roy Davis saw that we were promoted with style, and losing just 4 league games all season whilst winning 31 of the 46; we were most definitely a formidable force to be reckoned with.
Here's how the final League One table looked:
Five new signings became first team favourites, and three of them were signed from our former parent club Leeds. Leeds decided to cut the tie when we entered the same league, and with the board having failed to find a suitable feeder club we therefore no longer have one; even without loan players from a higher level parent team I feel that we’ll do well in the Championship though, and our pre-season results suggest that we may even have a shot at promotion.
In pre-season we beat Watford 2-0, Leeds United 1-0, and even achieved a 2-1 victory over last year’s Championship winners Reading. Reading won the league by a clear margin of 15 points last season, and although I somewhat doubt that we too will achieve such success; I do feel that we’ve got a good chance in the league, and that a play-off place could well be a possibility.
Despite the positives, it wasn’t all fun and games last season though; we lost to Derby County in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final, and I therefore failed in my aim to do as I did with Huddersfield in winning the trophy twice. Still; we reached Wembley for the second time in three seasons, and although we didn’t win the cup, we did win the league, and did so incredibly comfortably too.
I have strong hope for life in the Championship, but am well aware of the fact that when I managed Huddersfield Town at this level, I started the season well only to fall away to a 19th place finish. Life in the Championship isn’t going to be easy, and we’ve only signed one new player; he’s a proven Championship goalscorer though, and should complement our current squad members well.
Several Oxford old timers have now found new clubs, and both Eddie Johnson and Luke Foster have now been let go to impress for their respective clubs in League One/Two. I could have held onto them and given them bit parts in my first season in the Championship with Oxford; I wanted more for them than that though, and therefore thought it best to find them new clubs, and allow them the first team experience that they so richly deserve. Both players served me well, and for that I thanked them by allowing them to move on and settle down elsewhere for increased first team opportunities. Jamie Guy was another that I found a new club, providing him with a move to Blackpool to continue his footballing life in League One.
It’s a time of great change as Oxford moves onwards and upwards, and although Rudi Skacel remains; the majority of our older players have now moved on, and a more youthful Oxford team will now look to conquer all in the Championship.
Oxford Win the Johnstone's Paint Trophy and Finish the Season 7th in League One
Having twice won the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy during my time as manager of Huddersfield Town; I’ve now added to my trophy cabinet with a third Johnstone’s Paint Trophy win, this time with Oxford.
Unlike when I managed Huddersfield though, with Oxford I wasn’t able to win the trophy in normal time, and it did in fact take penalties to defeat my fellow finalists Crewe Alexandra. 1-1 the game finished, Oxford took the lead when Aidan Stapleton scored in the 13th minute, but Crewe would later equalise through Martin Paterson in the 51st minute of the match. The game ultimately went to penalties, and it was my Oxford team that won through with a 4-1 penalty shoot-out victory.
It was Emile Sinclair who scored the winning penalty for Oxford; a man that is still yet to score for the club in normal play. Brought in as a replacement for Jamie Guy that just couldn’t seem to find the net last season; Sinclair appeared 11 times for the club last season, failing to score in any of the games that he played. Jamie Guy meanwhile was given a free transfer to Plymouth, scoring 10 times in 22 appearances. Guy wasn’t able to do a lot for us last season, he helped Plymouth rise up the table though, and the player we replaced him with sadly flopped.
Fast forward to the 2015/16 pre-season campaign and Jamie Guy has returned on a free transfer, Emile Sinclair is being moved to the left wing, last season’s top scorer Luke Hobbs has now been signed, and his strike partner Vince Asante has sadly moved to Norwich. We finished in 7th last season, just outside the play-offs, but this season we’ll be looking to go one better and actually make the play-offs/hopefully achieve promotion. Last season problems arose when nine of our first team squad were out injured, and most importantly; Luke Hobbs became unavailable. Without Hobbs in the team the goals just weren’t flowing, and although at one point we were pushing for automatic promotion, injuries saw us slide down the table and fail to make the play-offs by a single point.
Here’s last season’s league table:
We now have a few new players in the squad, have let go a couple that weren’t needed, and I feel that the quality and depth of our squad is now far greater than it was last season, so if we do once more suffer from mass injury then hopefully we’ll be able to cope, and not plummet down the table as was the case last campaign.
We’ll be looking to win the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy again this season, and whilst an automatic promotion place would be preferable; I’ll be more than happy if we can get in the play-offs, and if promotion can be achieved then that really will be amazing.
Last season I was offered jobs with such Premier League clubs as Cardiff City, Fulham, and Newcastle United; I must say that I was very tempted at times to jump ship and once more try my hand at managing a Premier League team; I’ve still a job to do at Oxford though, and until we’re promoted to the Championship I’m remaining at the Kassam.
Unlike when I managed Huddersfield though, with Oxford I wasn’t able to win the trophy in normal time, and it did in fact take penalties to defeat my fellow finalists Crewe Alexandra. 1-1 the game finished, Oxford took the lead when Aidan Stapleton scored in the 13th minute, but Crewe would later equalise through Martin Paterson in the 51st minute of the match. The game ultimately went to penalties, and it was my Oxford team that won through with a 4-1 penalty shoot-out victory.
It was Emile Sinclair who scored the winning penalty for Oxford; a man that is still yet to score for the club in normal play. Brought in as a replacement for Jamie Guy that just couldn’t seem to find the net last season; Sinclair appeared 11 times for the club last season, failing to score in any of the games that he played. Jamie Guy meanwhile was given a free transfer to Plymouth, scoring 10 times in 22 appearances. Guy wasn’t able to do a lot for us last season, he helped Plymouth rise up the table though, and the player we replaced him with sadly flopped.
Fast forward to the 2015/16 pre-season campaign and Jamie Guy has returned on a free transfer, Emile Sinclair is being moved to the left wing, last season’s top scorer Luke Hobbs has now been signed, and his strike partner Vince Asante has sadly moved to Norwich. We finished in 7th last season, just outside the play-offs, but this season we’ll be looking to go one better and actually make the play-offs/hopefully achieve promotion. Last season problems arose when nine of our first team squad were out injured, and most importantly; Luke Hobbs became unavailable. Without Hobbs in the team the goals just weren’t flowing, and although at one point we were pushing for automatic promotion, injuries saw us slide down the table and fail to make the play-offs by a single point.
Here’s last season’s league table:
We now have a few new players in the squad, have let go a couple that weren’t needed, and I feel that the quality and depth of our squad is now far greater than it was last season, so if we do once more suffer from mass injury then hopefully we’ll be able to cope, and not plummet down the table as was the case last campaign.
We’ll be looking to win the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy again this season, and whilst an automatic promotion place would be preferable; I’ll be more than happy if we can get in the play-offs, and if promotion can be achieved then that really will be amazing.
Last season I was offered jobs with such Premier League clubs as Cardiff City, Fulham, and Newcastle United; I must say that I was very tempted at times to jump ship and once more try my hand at managing a Premier League team; I’ve still a job to do at Oxford though, and until we’re promoted to the Championship I’m remaining at the Kassam.
