Season 4: The Title?

Hi everyone and welcome back to my FM 2012 story. Sorry about the lack of updates recently but i've been busy with exams so haven't had much free time. Also, the Ireland Update, for reasons unknown, is under the Season 3 update even though it is chronologically after, sorry about that.

Back to Middlesbrough; last season saw us finish 4th in the Prem and retain the league cup and win the FA cup for the first time; not bad for the clubs second season in the top flight. This season we were looking to do even better :)

At the start of the season, i got some good news from the board:

Transfers:

For the past 3 seasons i've been trying to buy Niang but SMC refused to sell; just too see what they wanted, i offered 60M at one stage which they rejected. I was surprised when they offered him to me for so little. The rest are young prospects.

Hoekestra has been dubbed the next de Jong of football and hopefully he'll live up to that potential :)

Sterling has the potential to be an amazing player and hopefully he'll achieve that at Boro with the right teaching and some game time.

Not a huge clear out, shifted some deadwood like Gagnon, Williams and Park. Reduced the wages a little bit and brought in a small bit of cash as well; not much but it's better than nothing.

Preseason:

Overall the preseason friendlies were a success with the team clicking and the younger players showing that they have serious potential. Overall a good warm up and i was optimistic of the season to come.

Community Shield:

We put in a really good performance and i'm proud of the team. Don't know what happened in the penalty shootout, we fell apart but you can't win everything.

FA Cup:

Yeeeeeee..... Defending champions go out in the 3rd round... I was overly confident and played a weekend side and Brum played well... Not a great cup run....

League Cup:

We claimed the league cup for the third season in a row :) We had a pretty easy run really, apart from the two games against Liverpool and Man Utd. Liverpool was a really tough game that could have gone either way and Man Utd fielded a weakened team that we managed to overcome in extra time. Villa tried hard but didn't have the quality and we cruised past Spurs in the final. Really happy with this as it keeps the silver where ticking over and morale on a high :)

Champions League:

Managed to squeeze past Benfica on away goals which was at least entertaining, defence wasn't too great in either game. We didn't get an easy group but it wasn't too bad either. However, we performed well above expectations and managed to win the group :) The second game against OM was a great team effort and really got the fans excited. Having won the group i was looking forward to an easier draw but no... Real Madrid... We were actually leading the first game 2-0 in the 30th minute but then Ronaldo decided to start playing and just destroyed us. Second game was hard fought and their superior finishing was the difference. Not too upset as winning was never a realistic possibility but would have liked to get a bit further.

Premiership:

Prem table with one game to go:

A great set of results set up the prem for an exciting finish. On the last day we still had a chance to win the title. Boro had West Brom at home and Man City had the tougher game of Arsenal away. At half time, we were at the top of the table:

So how did the games go?

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*****

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*****

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Annoyingly, even though City lost, we didn't win the title. We couldn't hold onto our lead with the Baggies pulling one back inside the last few minutes. The final prem table:

A really really good season for the Boro. We surpassed our objectives and only just lost out on the title. Next year we will be looking to win without a shadow of a doubt.

Prem Stats:

Misc:

Got a few job offers over the season but was never going to leave Boro but it's nice to feel popular :)

One of my youth prospects had spent a season long loan at Bristol Rovers and it was good to hear he'd performed well (i know it's only L2):

Round Up:

Overview of how the squad performed throughout the season:

My list of players who achieved an average season long rating of at least 7.00 (super 7's):

Ironically, Pulido was the highest rated plaer in my squad :p Soukouna and Sanogo have really been in form this season and their goals were instrumental to our success. Romario and Prestia were solid at the back. A few other players put in solid performances but not enough players are constantly performing and we still aren't scoring enough, something i will be looking to address.

Some other announcements:

Sanogo really has been instrumental to our season and without him i think we would have really struggled to even make the top 4.

Summary:

Overall a successful season for Boro. It would have been really nice to win the title but coming joint first and losing on goal difference is a huge achievement for my young team; the title is defiantly next seasons aim. It would have also been nice to have a better FA Cup run but it wasn't too be. Retaining the League Cup was really good. Sanogo is proving to be a really good signing and my young team is showing that they are not to be underestimated. The future looks bright for the Boro.

Thanks for reading and as always, i will be happy to answer any questions or provide screenshots upon demand to the best of my abilities. Your comments are always welcome.

Thanks,

Atokous