Introduction
Roy Keane, as the leader of a fan-led revolution, has gained control of Manchester United. The fans have seized the control of the club from The Glazer family and Man Utd is now member-owned with Roy Keane as the new manager. You can read all about how it happened here.
A club for the fans
He had liberated the club. His club. But it was not only his, it was a club for the people as well. The fans. He needed them as much as they needed him. After closely following the deteriorating results on the pitch during last season, Roy Keane had a pretty good idea of what needed to be done. Certain players needed to leave and new ones brought in. A different style of football needed to be implemented. But most importantly a new mentality was desperately needed. Either by molding the existing players into true Manchester United players, ready to die for the badge on their chests like he had always been, or by bringing in players ready to sacrifice anything and everything to win a Premier League title. But first, he had to let the people have their say.
The referendum
The members of Manchester United, also the new owners of the club, shared their manager’s opinion that a change was much needed. The club needs to find a path back to winning ways, but more importantly to instill a sense of pride in the players. The greatest honour of them all is to step onto the pitch of Old Trafford wearing the red shirt with the Manchester United badge on the chest. And with honor comes responsibility. The responsibility to stand up for both club and team mates, in times of success as well as in times of hardship. To fight until the very end. In the eyes of the fans and members, this description certainly didn’t fit all of the current members of the first team squad. Therefore, with the blessing of Roy Keane, they called a member’s meeting to decide the future of these players. Who were worthy of the chance to remain in the squad for the climb back to the top and who were simply considered dead wood?
When all votes had been cast, counted and re-counted, the verdict was this:
[DISCLAIMER: IRL THIS WAS DONE THROUGH TWITTER POLLS, WHERE EVERYONE HAD THE CHANCE TO VOTE]
More votes like this will follow, since I want you as a reader and member of my fictional Man Utd to run the club!
Players to keep
Eleven players received more than 60% votes to be kept on in the first team squad. Even though there is a majority of defenders a manager with a bit of imagination could turn this into a starting 11. I highly doubt that it would be good enough to challenge for silverware, but still a lot of the highest rated first squad players are in this group. Noticable is that not a single player aged 30 or above survived the cut. All three of the summer acquirings survived, as a sign of the fans’ faith that the already started rebuilding process.
Players to sell
On the other end of the spectrum, ten players received more than 60% SELL votes. In this group we find all of the players in the squad aged 30 or above, and as expected, most of the players that underachieved last season. The decision to let back-up keeper Sergio Romero go was a bit of a surprise though since he’s a reliable back-up at a fairly low wage. Alexis Sánchez, the highest earning player got the lowest amount of KEEP votes. The only problem is that he, together with second lowest rated player Chris Smalling are out on loan at the start of the season and can’t be sold straight away.
The dilemma
After sorting out which players to keep and sell we are left with three players that didn’t receive 60% of the votes for either “Keep” or “Sell”. Therefore the fate of these players will rest in the hands of manager Roy Keane. They will all get a chance to prove themselves during pre-season, but will mercilessly be sold if they don’t live up to the high expectations. Whatever the fate of Andreas Pereira it will be considered a rather uncontroversial decision from Roy Keane, while Paul Pogba will stir up serious reactions whether he is kept or sold.
What’s next?
Upon full release of the game I will start the actual save. Manager Roy Keane will have 11 players in his first team squad going into the 2019/20 season, with Shaw, Pogba and Pereira on probation or trial if you will. The 10 players that were voted out by the members will, surprise surprise, be sold. If no-one wants them, they’ll be loaned out. If that doesn’t work either, they’ll be put in the U23 to rot…I mean evolve organically…
Then we can start the actual rebuild.
See you soon. Until next time, “take that, you cunt!”
MikaelinhoFM 
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