It’s here, finally. The Football Manager 24 Beta has dropped and I honestly can’t wait to get started. As you may have guessed from the title and image on this post, our Beta save team is the mighty Sunderland. It wasn’t to hard a decision to find a club for the beta, and hopefully we can take this great club back where it belongs, The Premier League. Before we check out the team and history, Lets see who will be taking over from Tony Mowbray as manager.
In real life Sunderland are doing pretty well with Mowbray, even if they did get thrashed by their local rivals Middlesborough in their last game. Sitting 4th in the table its clear that Mowbray has built a capable squad and is willing to push this team as far as he can go. In our universe though, Sunderland have parted ways with Mowbray and brought in a new manager in the hopes of future glories. Let me introduce you to Bulgarian superstar, Yuliyan Naydenov.
Yuliyan was a wonderkid I signed in my FM23 glory hunter save, and probably my favorite newgen of that game. I signed him for £8m when he was 18 and he was a superstar ever since. He had a bit of an attitude when he first arrived, which had me loaning him out to PSG for a season. I managed him at two different teams, Newcastle who I was at when my scouting team discovered him, and Manchester Utd where I needed to sign a new talisman.
This was Yuliyan at the end of my glory hunter save on FM23, which was the moment that the FM24 beta was released. He was already an elite striker at the age of 23, with 51 caps for his country. I never took him with me after I left Man Utd but I always kept an eye on his progress. So in this universe, we have advanced 12 years and Yuliyan has had a great career in world football, and the now 35 year old is ready to start his managerial journey with Sunderland.
Sunderland Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six top-flight titles (1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913, and 1936) in the First Division, and has finished runners-up five times. The club has also won the FA Cup twice (1937 and 1973) and been runners-up twice (1913 and 1992), as well as winning the FA Charity Shield in 1936 and being finalists the following year. Sunderland have also been Football League Cup finalists in 1985 and 2014.
Nicknamed the Black Cats, Sunderland play their home games at the 49,000-capacity all-seater Stadium of Light having moved from Roker Park in 1997. The original ground capacity was 42,000 which was increased to 49,000 following expansion in 2000. The club has a long-standing rivalry with nearby club Newcastle United, with whom the Tyne–Wear derby has been contested since 1898. The club has played in red and white-striped shirts and black shorts for nearly the entirety of its history. Let’s take a look at the starting squad for this FM24 Sunderland team.
The squad has pretty good depth for this level, and quite a few good players, with a lot of talented youngsters. I think this should be an interesting save and I am looking forward to molding this Sunderland team into a top Premier League team. We might need to get a couple of players in for cover at LB and CB depending on the tactics i start with, but ultimately I am happy with the squad. Below are some of the players I am excited to work with.
The other Bellingham, Jobe, is a massive talent and will be a brilliant player for Sunderland in real life. He has all the potential in this game and I will be building a team around him, or build a team with the funds I get from selling him.
Chris Rigg is also a really talented youngster at the club and one I hope will come through the ranks and play a part in this team. The problem we have is the CM position is one we have very good depth in. I don’t like to loan out players under 18 so he will be in and around the first team.
Bradley Dack is a brilliant Championship player and someone who should have made the jump up to the Premier League before now. At 29 he is in the prime of his career and I see him playing a key role in this team.
Patrick Roberts is a player who I have always liked and never understood why he didn’t make it in the big time. He has had a good career but I always thought he was destined for more.
Jack Clarke is a very good young winger who will be a solid player for us. I am hoping he can hit the heights that got him the move to Tottenham when he was a teenager.
Finally with Tony Mowbray leaving his position, his number two followed him out the door. This meant we had to bring someone in who could help us get acquainted with this team, and also mold this squad into winners. I could only think of one man for the job.
That’s right, the legend that is Roy Keane. The former Sunderland manager will bring experience and also discipline to the coaching staff. I also tried to bring in Lee Cattermole for experience but apparently the former Sunderland captain didn’t want to coach a team that was a rival to his favored team, Middlesborough.
So now the journey begins on this beta save so sit back and enjoy the ride. Thank you for listening to a bearded mans ramblings on Football Manager 24.
“Sunderland till I die, I’m Sunderland till I die, I know I am, I’m sure I am, I’m Sunderland till I die…“
Bearded Football Manager 