Middlesbrough FC - Just A Small Town In Europe
I figure after 6 years of the game that it's time for an overview of what has happened so far in my Middlesbrough game. Before I start I thought I'll tell everyone that between 18/10/2013 and 31/5/15 I'd resigned and Avram Grant was manager during that period.. A silly mistake I made considering some of the shite he brought in.
>>Season 2011/12 
Experience was needed in what was an inexperienced side and therefore for my first transfer I went back to an old player in Geremi who was a good back-up throughout the season in both the right back and centre mid positions. There was an overall lack of quality on the wings in the team so I looked to Italy to bring in another two experienced players in Sestu and Del Nero. An injury to Robson in January meant I had to bring in someone to cover for a few months and I plumped for van de Laak.

With Middlesbrough being a bit skint at the start of the game I needed to let some players go, Bailey, Hoyte and Zemmama were all on big wages and I had players to cover for them so I let them all bugger off. The rest of the players weren't first team players and were let out on loan for experience (Not that any of them turned out to be decent).

After pushing Reading throughout the season for the second automatic promotion slot we seemed to lose our heads in the final part of the season, drawing most of our matches against teams who we really should have been beating meaning we only just kept in the play off places. However great results home and away against West Ham and a nice victory against Notts Forest at Wembley ensured that we'd be playing Premier League football next season.
FA Cup - Beaten in the Third Round by Bristol City
Carling Cup - Beaten in the Fourth Round on penalties by Man Utd (Should have beat them)
>>Season 2012/13 
Considering I just managed to sneak into the play-offs I knew some strengthening was needed if I was to stay in the Premier League. My first piece of business was to get a new striker who I thought would be able to fire me up the league, so I bought Steven Fletcher from recently relegated Wolves (In hindsight he was a waste of money, pro tip: he's wank). Other positions I needed to strengthen were right back, right wing and centre mid and therefore Sutter, Ait Fana, Cairney and Anderson were brought in. I think of all my transfers on FM getting Cairney for £210K will be up there with the best pieces of business I've ever done. Foster was bought solely as a back up for Steele and Derflinger, Florescu and Nordstrom were bought on potential alone. In January realising that Fletcher was shit I somehow managed to get a transfer listed Sturridge for £1.8M, I'm really like Harry with my wheeling and dealing. Again, Yesil, Garcia Estenbanez, Baretto, Van Stokkom and Polworth were recommended to me by my amazing scouts.

Same as last season, players who weren't in my plans moved on and youth players went out on loan. In an ideal world more players would have been sold in this window but it seemed no one would buy certain players.

Great first season back in the Premier League in which I never really looked like going down, with a better defence I could have pushed Everton for 7th which iirc would have been a European place. At times the team was infuriating, I could beat some of the big teams but would then lose stupid matches against the teams battling relegation. However since I only told the board I'd attempt to avoid relegation I don't think they were too bothered about that.
FA Cup - Knocked out in the Fourth Round by Manchester City
Carling Cup - Knocked out in the Fourth Round by Portsmouth
>>Season 2013/14 
I'm not going to lie, I went a bit overboard with my first two signings. I thought I only needed two positions to fine tune my team to one that could be pushing for a top 6 place, those positions were centre back and a forward to support Sturridge. Therefore I forked out £10M for Vossen and £13M for Dann, considering West Brom had just been relegated and Vossen was at bloody Genk it's safe to say I slight overspent on those two signings. However, when I got a agent offer in July from an unattached Adler I had to snap him up, god knows why no one else was interested in him but I wasn't going to complain at having a world class GK in my squad. All the January transfers were after I had left the club so ignore them, only Nery had played a part when I came back to the club.

Not many outgoings again this season but I just want to take a minute to tell you all to never buy Steven Fletcher for your team, I nearly pulled my hair out throughout the season at how utterly average he was at spearheading my attack. The fact I still made a £2.6M profit on him is unbelievable. 0/10 would not buy again.

This is what happens when you resign for a year and a half and let Avram bloody Grant take charge. Useless Jew.
FA Cup - Knocked out in the Third Round by Sheffield United (Honestly, he's a useless Jew.)
Carling Cup - Knocked out in the Fourth Round by Tottenham (Noticing a trend here?)
>>Season 2014/15 
Gunnarsson and Mongongu were decent signings I'll give him that, both were overpriced though. The rest of the signings never got a look in when I came back to save the club.

Not a lot to see here, some shite were sent out. Youngsters were sent out on loan.

Another average season from useless Avram. After seeing the team I built up slowly getting ruined I decided it was time for the messiah to return.
FA Cup - Knocked out in the Semi Final by Bolton (We let you have it cause you were still moaning about the Carling Cup
Mnolan)
Carling Cup - Knocked out in the Second Round by Dagenham and Redbridge.
>>Season 2015/16 
Spent big as I came back to the club, Pajot came in to offer some more protection to the defence from midfield. Franco was brought in for competition to Sturridge, however as the seasons have progressed he's become more suited to an attacking midfield position. Fedai was a young left winger who was brought in with the future in mind. A new left back was needed and I probably overspent on getting Besilja from NAC Breda. Goncalo was a young 18 year old from Benfica who I was hoping to slowly integrate into the squad in the first season, as he was someone who offered something different to the pace of Franco and Sturridge. Vazquez was another defensive midfielder who I originaly believed I would rotate with Pajot, and Kortina was a young goalkeeper who I have hopes for. Two seasons in the line and all but two of these players are key players for my team.

To sum it up, most of the shit left over from the original Championship side and from Grants reign was shipped out. I realise I could have got a lot more for some of those players but I didn't want them just rotting in the reserves.

It's amazing what can happen when you get rid of a useless manager. Honestly I was a bit disappointed with my league form in this campaign, there were simply too many draws overall, if I could have won half of those games that I'd drew I'd have easily been in the top 4.
FA Cup - Knocked out in the Third Round by Swansea
Carling Cup - Won! Beat Bolton 2-0 in the Final (Sorry
Mnolan)
>>Season 2016/17 
With the team being in Europe this season I decided I needed to improve the side in certain areas, Dubois is a young Belgian who along with Busby partnered Mongongu throughout the season. Gundogan was transfer listed by Dortmund and fit in nicely within my new formation, alternating with Cairney as my playmaker in the middle of the park. Lusadisu was recommended to me as my scouts as an Attacking midfielder with potential of 5 stars, overpaid as usual but he'll be worth it in the future. Veneziani was also bought for the future as a young pacey striker. Mangin and Rios are both young Argentinian forwards who have the abilities to both score goals and to link up the play between my midfield and main forward, both did well in their opening season. Chesney was offered to me by Arsenal, with Adler refusing to renew his contract for a reasonable amount I decided to act early and buy someone in who I knew could replace him. Lejeune was bought for back up for when the Cup of Nations were on.

Usual youth players go out on loan, back up players were sold. In hindsight I should have kept a couple due to the complete lack of depth in my squad throughout the season.

A disappointing Premiership campaign that if results went my way could have offered much more, the amount of games I had to play throughout the season with such a small squad eventually got the best of me.
FA Cup - Knocked out in the Fourth Round by Chelsea (One day I'll get past this round)
Carling Cup - Won! Beat Arsenal
6-0 in the final (Sorry
deadline)
Europa League - Lost in the final 2-1 to Lyon
Summary There you have it, I think finally as I come into the 2017 season that I have a team to push the top 4 of the league. I'd have liked to have talked about the tactic I've started using which seems to mean I score a shit load of goals and highlight some of my key players (Florescu and Goncalo are my favourite FM players ever), but I think this post is long enough.
FSC100,
FIFAleachy,
Modiga, tell members that they need to make posts to this standard and the forum will improve eh.