I’m talking about the type of domain that fills up 95% of our Football Manager community, the behemoth of the Scene. The resource site. As I notice a new one starting up, The-Gaffer.net, not wanting to try and strangle it at birth, I just see the same site recurring. FM-Heaven, FM-Player, FM-View. It’s just a lack of new ideas. They offer us graphics and guides, fodder of all resource sites giving us ‘content’.

I just don’t see innovation there. It’s just trying to steal attention. It isn’t really offering us anything. It’s just look. Look. Resources are an easy thing to offer. But why do people feel the need to make things so samey? I believe that it is just a case of trying to go along with the crowd. People are afraid to try something different – they just stick what they know they do. But isn’t the Internet all about learning new things, being able to expand your knowledge?

People’s creativity is at an all time low. The article site was once de rigeur, with people churning out independent blogs peppering us with interesting thoughts relating to the game and community. Now, there are but a few blog sites, us, Life in FM and The True Football Manager. We don’t need guides or graphics, we can get it from the ‘untouchables’ like SortItOutSI or wherever. The smaller resource sites need to show some invention and forward thinking.

On arrival at the community, people need to broaden their horizons and recognise that an InvisionFree forum or a site proffering us graphics and guides has been done before. Just because you may not be very good at writing, it doesn’t mean you cannot try to smash through the predominancy and give something else. What about a dedicated team guides site? Domains that cater for specific areas of the game are a good thing, offering us for example guides done well instead of the normality, a quick paragraph on players you would buy anyway.

A second cancer of the Scene is the bitching. If we are to refer to the game’s online presence as a ‘community’, aren’t we supposed to act as one? The definition of community involves sharing an environment. Fighting between sites is ruining it. Goal Kick versus CM Frenzy. Throw-In against itself. People need to calm down and realise that the Scene is just a bit of fun between fans, making websites dedicated to their favourite game. Staff and members both need to show some respect towards each other and relax.

Websites fighting against each other is causing the Scene to slowly implode. The spitefulness and egotism has made the community into a warzone, and all these tirades against other sites could end it all.

In terms of the transfer market, I have been scouring the free transfers list to find some bargains. Most of the players I have found have been offered trial forms, but after noticing the availability of free agent centre-back Matteo Ferrari, released by Roma, I had to snap him up. The Italian signs a four year deal, beginning his second spell in English football after a loan deal with Everton. The trialists are mainly South Americans, with Ivan Hurtado, an Ecuadorean, ready for our first friendly.

Speaking of friendlies, I have re-organised the fixtures that were set by the previous manager. After a match with feeder club Cercle Brugge, we travel to Brazil for a three game tour that will see us play Santos, Sport Recife and Cruzeiro, before flying out to the Faroe Islands to take on HB. I’ve aimed for a testing series of middle matches, with a morale booster against a weaker team to end the friendlies. All trialists will get a match, allowing me to evaluate their skills.

Tactically, I have decided to utilise an attacking 4-3-3, which can be modified to suit the opponent. This formation will be used in all of the pre-season games. Hopefully the players will get used to it quickly. The setup’s first use, against Cercle Brugge, served us well, resulting in some good movement despite the disappointing 1-1 draw. The set pieces seem to be performing well too, with defender Christopher Samba rising to head home our equaliser from Tugay’s corner. Hurtado, introduced as a half-time replacement for the Flying Dutchman, no other than Andre Ooijer, delivered a steady if unspectacular game, but improvements need to be made if I keep him, with the trialist no spring chicken at thirty two years old. In Brugge, the Ecuador international was watched by the scouts of Dutch team NAC Breda, so it appears we have competition for him if I do decide to take the plunge.

As we take the flight to Brazil to begin our tour, off the pitch two players are at advanced stages of contract discussion. Kerlon, known for running around bouncing the ball on his head, is waiting for a work permit to confirm his £2.6 million move from Cruzeiro, which will allow us to meet the nineteen year old in Brazil whilst we play our matches. The other player is defensive midfielder Romaric (pictured), who has been offered a contract. This is following the acceptance of our £4.9 million offer by Le Mans, and the Ivorian would be a surefire starter if he decided to abandon the beautiful old town for the Lancashire home of the four thousand holes.

Santos are the first team we will face in our Brazilian tour, and luckily the deals for Kerlon and Romaric are completed in time for us to take on the Peixe, and on the aeroplane’s touchdown in Sao Paulo, I find out that Newcastle are chasing Benni McCarthy. With McCarthy unlikely to be a major player this season, I announce that the South African is available for £6,000,000. McCarthy is behind Roque Santa Cruz and Jason Roberts in the pecking order, and at a push he can go.

I’ve also been in the hunt for a centre midfielder, with Tugay aging. I’m looking for an attacking player, and my friends in the Emirates recommended Saudi midfielder Malik Mouath Al-Hawasawi, currently wearing the colours of Al-Ahli. He’s a skilled, creative player, and will provide some foreign flair next to local boy David Dunn. The foreign invasion will continue with trialist Juan Manuel Martinez arriving after a release by FC Dordrecht.

In the next update, we will continue the look at our pre-season, building to a first game of the season crescendo after that update. So, keep on reading. Please?

Well, the name’s John ‘Rosey’ Rose, and I come from a small town in the West Midlands. The place itself is quite nice, plagued by pensioners and feral youths but with plenty of scenery. However, what the teenagers hanging around outside the Clifton, which is our scummy local pub, or the senior citizens gathering in the Spencer’s indoor market, is that a special one is in their midst. A man with a proven managerial track record. A man who took Norwich City to seventh place in the Coca-Cola Championship. A man who won the Welsh Premier League. A man named John ‘Rosey’ Rose.

I declare this journey to have started. Fasten your seatbelts, and think of any other automotive related motivation.