“I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one.” – Brian Clough (Me in my bathroom mirror).

We are continuing our Football Manager challenges for you to take on this new year, and this time focussed on ‘club rebuilds’. Several fallen giants of the game often go underutilised in the game, and with potential to make these challenges between 1-5 years and bring back some of the games top sides, the rewards are clear to achieve.

We will be putting together several of these lists through the year, so as always, let us know if you have any challenges you’re trying out this year (@NextGoalWinBlog on Twitter) or let us know if you’ve taken on any of our suggestions, we’d love to hear from you.

So, let’s get going with these challenges, grab your suit and tie, iron your shirt, and do a bit of media training for those bathroom mirror interviews on cup final day, and most importantly, good luck out there!

Sunderland AFC

We’ve mentioned this challenge near enough every time we put out our challenges, as despite their obvious size and stature within the game, Sunderland still sit helpless in League 1. Having so much optimism and attempts to turn around their fortunes, they are realising that a full stadium doesn’t necessarily make the English 3rd tier any easier to conquer. As a result, they now once again sit just inside the playoff places in League 1, hoping this year will be their year, and I imagine so are their Netflix documentary makers. If you want to know what’s what at the club and which players are putting in the work, the 2 series documentary on Netflix will make great watching alongside your attempts to take them back to the top-flight and compete once again with their neighbours, especially considering the money floating around North-East football clubs.

Portsmouth

Our 2nd rebuild selection, is former FA Cup winners in not too distant times, Portsmouth. Now, this is not the Pompey many will remember with Harry Redknapp leading Kanu and Kranjcar to success at Wembley, however they are in a much more stable state than they have been in the last few years. After spending time in League 2, they now sit in midtable in League 1, struggling to break through to the competitive Championship in a much similar vein to Sunderland, and with off-field issues seemingly behind them, you can really crack on with the rebuild job and see if you can take this side back to Wembley (and maybe bring back an old face or two).

Wigan Athletic

Another recent FA Cup winner makes our 3rd suggestion, as Wigan Athletic have dropped significantly since their cup glory in 2013, over Manchester City. Since that time, they have dropped to League 1 suffering relegations, off-field financial issues, a failed Europa League run and Will Grigg spontaneously combusting. Quite a lot in less than 10 years at the DW. Now, sitting in League 1 after points deductions in 2020, they task to rebuild is to not only recapture top-flight football, but also relive the trip to Wembley and see if you can bring the FA Cup to Greater Manchester (but not for either of those two clubs). If you can manage this, there’s a cushty Belgium job for you on the horizon.

FC Barcelona

From Wigan to Barcelona, this more exciting prospect is a task to rebuild one of Europe’s elite who have fallen on very rocky ground in the previous 2/3 years. Having overspent and underprepared, Barcelona have been in freefall off-field and on it in the past year or two. Your challenge in this one, is to take them back to the top of not only Spain but Europe in the Champions League. Can you find the next Messi? Can you emulate Guardiola? Can you do better than Xavi? Well first of all you need to overhaul several big names and go from there, and with no transfer budget at your disposal, you may have to raid the infamous youth setup at Barcelona. Could be worse I suppose.

Newcastle United

Our final challenge selection is quite an obvious one which many will be undertaking in FM22 as their transfer kitty is the most appealing on the whole game. Taking rebuilding challenges to the next level, you will be taking a current relegation threatened Newcastle United to the top, and with £200million+ to do it, the pressure may be less than elsewhere, however the big spending will also come with higher risk, as failing to make quick, significant progress will have the board questioning your employment. So spend wisely, and maybe… just maybe you can go one step further than Keegan’s entertainers. Either that, or you’ll have Mbappe banging in goals for fun at St James Park. Win-win.