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On the 11th June 2005, at a press onference outside Old Trafford, "in what may be seen as a surprise appointment, the Man Utd board have named virtually unknown Greek manager Antonios Elias Kinnas as their new Boss."
"With Man Utd among the favourites to win the Premier Division title this season, pundits in the media are already suggesting that Kinnas will find it tough to live up to the clubs expectations."
That was it. The beginning. The board had given me their full confidence, despite what the fans were saying. I was the one that was going to take Manchester United to Domestic and European glory this season and in the future. To do this i was given an extremely gifted and talented group of footballers, well put together back room staff, and an extravigant transfer budget of 25 million pounds.
Although I had been given a great team of footballers, things still had to be changed a little bit. The future players are what matter most i said to myself. I started by looking at my reserve and youth squads and after close examination over two weeks, i knew what had to be changed. And so the clean out began. Adrian Nevins, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Lee Crockett, Ron-Robert Zieler, Daniel Simpson, Richard Eckersley, Michael Lea, Daniel Rose, Jamie Mullen, David Gray, Aaron Burns, Fabian Brandy, Frazer Campbell, Christopher Fagan, Phillip Marsh, Kyle Moran, Daniel Rowe and Tommy Lee were all given free transfers. I considered letting Lee Martin go, but as he was one of the better performers of the lot at training i monitored him for a further two weeks, but ended up selling him to Bolton for 575 thousand pounds. I then also sold the inconsistent Tim Howard to Middlesborough for 2.7 million pounds.
As far as the first team was concerned, I was quite happy with how it was, and i only felt that a couple of minor additions were needed in Giuseppi Rossi, Adam Eckersley, Phillip Bardsley, and Luke Steele.
Thinking about the future still i felt that a bit more young blood needed to be brought in. And so i made succesfull transfers of 21 year old Australian Predrag Bojic from Northampton Town for 40 thousand pounds, and Nigerian John Obi Mikel from Lyn for 4 million pounds.
There was just one problem. With Ben Foster on loan to Watford until the end of the season without a recall clause in his loan contract i was in need of another keeper, and in the end i found my man in Brad Jones from Middlesborough for 500 thousand pounds, who would have to fight Luke Steele for the position of second choice keeper behind Edwin van der Saar.
My pre season friendlies began on 3rd July 2005, with a trip to English Conference North promotion contenders Hinckley United, and came out with an easy 0-6 win. Yeovil were my next opponents and we ended the match winning 3-0 at home quite easily. Then we made the long trip to Australia, to play the favourites for the newley formed A-League, Sydney Fc, led by former Man Utd striker Dwight Yorke, who played a major role in Man Utd's treble success in 1999, of the league, FA Cup and European Champions League. Yorke gave van der Saar and our defence many problems, but just could not put the ball in the back of the net. In the end we returned home with a 0-2 win against the Aussies, in a match that could have gone either way. My next and final friendly, was against Parma at Old Trafford. This proved to be our toughest pre season game yet, and we ended the match with only a 1-1 draw.
Following the sale of Tim Howard to Middlesborough, i noticed the Middlesborough had put the ever so consistent Mark Schwarzer into their reserve team, so i made a quick bid for him and before the transfer window closed i was able to sign him on a two year contract for a fee of 1.9 million pounds.
It was then time to start concentrating on the important matches, starting with the third round qualifying stage of the European Champions League, in which we were drawn against Polish champions Wisla. Our first match against Wisla was in Poland, and the result was a 1-3 win for me and my Man Utd squad.
Our first two Premier League matches were against Birmingham at home and Charlton at The Valley respectively. Both seemed like easy matches to start the season with and i was confident that my team could beat both of them with no problems. I ended up being right. We beat birmingham 1-0 at home, followed by a 0-1 win over Charlton at The Valley.
The 2nd leg of the 3rd round qualifying phase of the champions league, against Wisla, ended in a 1-1 draw meaning a 4-2 aggregate win and qualification into the group stage of the European Champions league, in which i was drawn into group D against Benfica, Olympiakos and PSV.
My career had taken off. 4 games played, 3 games won, and 1 game drawn. 6 goals scored, and 2 goals conceded. It was the perfect start to the season.
Our league campaign continued to go well. Come Christmas time, we had notched up 12 wins, 3 draws, and 2 losses, and was leading the table, by 6 points in front of 2nd place Arsenal.
In the Champions League, i qualified for the first knockout phase easily after four group phase matches, after recording a drew against PSV, and wins against Olympiakos, and Benfica twice. I then finished off the group phase with a draw against PSV and a loss against Olympiakos, to secure top place in group D, and move onto the first knockout phase against FC Bayern Munchen.
The local cup competitions were going well also. In the League cup, our campaign began in the third round with a 3-0 win over West Ham at Upton Park, and then were drawn against Newcastle in the fourth round. My cup run was proving more difficult as i was being handed Premier Division opposition. But i dispossed of all that were put in my way eventually, continuing the run with a 0-2 win over Newcastle to book a place in the Quarter Final against Manchester City, who we overcame with a 2-1 win to book a semi final spot against Aston Villa.
The FA cup third round draw was produced and i was drawn against Bolton Wanderers, with the match to be played in early January.
After christmas things continued to go well. Come the end of the season in the Premier League, we had won the league, finishing 11 points in front of second place Liverpool.
When the January transfer window opened, i couldn't help but notice Mark Viduka sitting on the bench for Middlesborough Reserve team games and then i noticed his name on the transfer list, so i put in a bid for him of 425 thousand pounds, only a quarter of his overall value, and 4 million punds less what Middlesborough paid Leeds for him, and was able to bring him to Old Trafford on a two year deal. It was a bargain.
Our FA cup campaign also went well with a 3-1 win over Bolton in the third round, a 2-0 win over Plymouth Argyle in the 4th round, a 0-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the 5th round. In the 6th round we drew with Birmingham 2-2 and then in the replay we won 2-0. In the semi final, we lost 2-3 against Chelsea and didn't progress any further.
In the league cup, we beat Aston Villa despite a 4-4 aggregate score, on away goals, to move into the final against Arsenal. The final was a one sided affair, which we won 0-4 in the end.
In the 1st knockout phase of the Champions League, we knocked out FC Bayern Munchen 5-2 on aggregate and then faced Chelsea in the quarter finals. We lost to Chelsea on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate score. We were out of the Champions League.
What was even more exciting than anything else was that my hard work had paid off. On Friday 31st March 2006 Manchester United offered me a new contract. A new contract had been agreed upon within a day, and i was at Old Trafford to stay till at least 2009.
Well that brought season 2005/2006 to an end. The boys went for their holidays, due to return for preseason training on 26th June 2006.
To sum up a season in such a short space of time, giving absolutely no description of any of the matches played and no storyline whatsoever means that if you are lucky this will be closed quite quickly.
If you are unlucky however, in the morning the regular frequenters of this forum will find this thread and then.. and then... No! It's too horrible to describe.
Look, this is getting ridiculous. Do we want to become what LLM were? This is far more of a story than anything the don or his cronies ever posted, and as such I'm inclined to let it go at the moment. No, it's not perfect, but it's a lot better than half the sh*te that morons have been posting recently.
What we don't need is to become an unwelcoming, insular community who jump down people's throat at the first mistake they make. I know it's cumulative frustration, but seriously, punch the wall or something, don't take your anger out on one of the lesser transgressors.
united_forever, generally we think of a story containing a little more detail, but it remains a good attempt to sum up a season in a single post. I hope you're not put off by some of the barracking you've received (though this isn't as bad as they get, you should see them when the don shows his face) and that you continue to write and continue to improve
Hats off to Terk for his response. Most new guys here will respond to a gentle prod in the right direction, but downright abuse ain't going to help nonbody.
And so, united_forever (even if you do support ManYoo), keep it up, listen to the constructive bits and who knows, one day you might take Terk's FMSer of the Year title off him !
A United Story 
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