Overall results placed Manchester 5th nationally. Helvecia were crowned as national champions for a third time in a row, after beating Spartans in an exhilarating final. The team also qualified and competed in the FA Futsal Cup 2010, topping their qualifying group unbeaten and in the process avenging their previous years National Finals loss to Team United Birmingham. The team were eventually knocked out in the quarter finals via a controversial "ghost goal" 1–0 loss to Northern rivals Sheffield. Helvecia were again the eventual winners of the tournament, beating rivals Spartans in an extra time final. At the start of the year the club's top scorer Samuel Richardson was selected for the England training squad and later made his full international debut for the National team in October 2010, vs. Macedonia. Manchester's manager and coach, Rodrigo Freitas, announced that the FA Futsal Cup would be his last in charge. In October, the club announced Periklies Antoniou as the new coach of the squad, together with the introduction of assistant coach Daniel Berdejo-del-Fresno to complete the new management line-up. Over the course of the pre-season the new management evaluated the team and the final squad for the National League 2011 was selected in November. After the previous season's achievements, the club started as strongly tipped contenders for the Northern title. The first game of the season suggested that winning that elusive title would be no guarantee as they drew at home to a strengthened Leeds team. After dropping these two points, the team went on a six-game winning streak, including a 6–4 win over Sheffield, that put the club in pole position midway through the season. Sheffield, the reigning Northern champions, again proved the club's closest rivals come the season's end and after an incredibly tight 25 minutes of action in the returning tie; Sheffield showed a final third ruthless streak that ended in a 7–2 loss for Manchester. The title was still a two horse race, but Manchester held the advantage and only needed to win their remaining fixtures to take the top spot. In the club's final game, a resilient Middlesbrough held on to spring a surprising 3–2 victory over the club, allowed Sheffield to pip the club, with a final fixtures victory over Tranmere Victoria. For the third successive year, the club qualified for the National Finals. In their first group game, vs Helvecia, the clubs were quite