Football Manager 23

[Shindig]

No need. Coolest name wins.

[Adramelch]

Today's game: Guess who plays for what team

[Baz]

I’m gonna try and win the Ballon d’Or with one of these young strikers so please go and vote. You can pick up to 10 of them, if you’re indecisive.

Here's our boy:

[Adramelch]

The game said he was injured during a training session, but I'd like to imagine he tripped and twisted his ankle at some point during his flight to Italy.

[Shindig]

He stacked it on the steps like a statesman.

[Baz]

Because I’m only bothered about playing this Icelandic striker I’ve set staff responsibilities so I do nowt and President Florentino Perez does the majority. He sold Vini Jr for £102m to City and bought Sancho to replace him. he has also signed Antonio Silva though so he’s not completely useless.

I’ve stepped in and signed Adam Wharton, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Leny Yoro, Florian Wirtz and some regens.

It’s bizarre how good head of youth development regens are. I got one as my assistant and Celts Vigo have now snapped him up as their manager cos he’s got 20s pretty much across the board.

[Dan]

Djurgården 2027 Midseason Update

It seemed like I was going to end up staying put, particularly as I'd already agreed to a two year extension at Sandvikens by this point, but Djurgårdens finally decided to look through their job applications after Xmas, and so I'll be taking on a job with some pretty high expectations - they want me to make the knockout playoff in the Conference League & finish in the top three, but after that it's win or bust, so I might only stay here for a year or two before looking to move abroad.

I've finally reached the midpoint of the season, so it's time for an update.

Transfers:

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Not a huge amount of business, at least in terms of incoming transfers, but we did clear out some of the dead wood in the reserves & got some of the more promising young players out on loan. Coming in were three of my Sandvikens lads who will provide cover in the midfield positions as well as helping with the home grown quota (you have to have 9 home grown players in every squad), as well as a Swedish left back who was signed on a free for similar reasons. The main area of focus was our back three though, as we needed more quality on the ball, so in came Jamie Lawrence & newgen Paulo Iachini, who should both be massive upgrades on the players already at the club.

Allsvenskan:

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Pretty straightforward here so far. Malmo are our main title rivals so it was nice to get the win over them to round out the first half of the season, although the table is closer than you might think. So far it's felt a bit like taking over the Celtic job as we seem to be a tier above most of the league, and if we manage to continue our form across the whole year I might consider a one & done here.

Svenska Cupen:

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Nice, easy way to begin my time at the helm, as we comfortably made our way through to the final, which for some reason is held two months later, where we'd face Elfsborg.

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Err, yeah. We absolutely murdered them :dunno:

Conference League:
The group phase was already over by the time I got hired, with us finishing in 15th place. Most of the good teams were in the top 16, so I felt like we at least had a chance of making it out of the knockout playoff, but from there on we'd be hoping for some kind draws.

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We almost bollocksed it up at the first hurdle, losing to Rapid in Bucharest & toiling for an hour at home before a few changes completely took them apart. Beating Gladbach was a huge surprise, but we deserved our win at home & battled for a draw in the second leg. Rijeka were a nice change of pace after that, but when we pulled Lyon in the semi finals it was game over, even if we did manage to beat them at our place.

It's a really pleasing run, which I hope will provide a decent bit of rep, but I'm definitely not expecting us to be able to get that far again for a while.

I don't think I'll be making many changes in the midseason transfer window, and hopefully I'll be able to make some quicker progress down the back half of the year with no cup competitions to focus on.

[Baz]

Check out this monster:

[Baz]

Because I’m only bothered about playing this Icelandic striker I’ve set staff responsibilities so I do nowt and President Florentino Perez does the majority. He sold Vini Jr for £102m to City and bought Sancho to replace him. he has also signed Antonio Silva though so he’s not completely useless.

I’ve stepped in and signed Adam Wharton, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Leny Yoro, Florian Wirtz and some regens.

It’s bizarre how good head of youth development regens are. I got one as my assistant and Celts Vigo have now snapped him up as their manager cos he’s got 20s pretty much across the board.

He's sold Bellingham.

[Adramelch]

A double whammy of an update this time (split in two posts because it won't let me make a longer post), courtesy of me spraining my ankle during easter holiday (yay me!):

Season 2030/31

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After a very dominant first season at Basel, a quiet summer window was in the plans. That said, a few release clauses were activated and a few good players were available on a free that would be an upgrade over our current backups, so I still ended up signing seven players. Only two of them are important enough to show however:



Our previous left-back failed to really stake his claim here so when the opportunity arose for us to make a 2m profit within a year I just took it. In came Quarto to replace him for just shy of 7m.



Another youngster, as is my MO. Not necessarily a player we needed, but at a 5m price and with money burning my pockets I signed him nonetheless.



Even more dominant of a season, which was somewhat surprising since we also had European games this time around. Once again we coupled that with a cup win. As for Europe, once more we got the hardest possible opposition in the Playoff round, but this being the Champions Path, that was just Sparta Prague, which was definitely within our powers to beat. And beat them we did, to qualify for the group stage and beyond:



A very very strong run all in all, with massive wins over Arsenal, Fiorentina and PSG (twice!). The Fiorentina one was massive in particular as it improved our goal difference just enough to finish inside the top 16 and get an easier draw in the next round. After a very easy knockout tie against Galatasaray, we were drawn against PSG and just surprised the whole world. Granted, we were clinical in our finishing and the 6-3 aggregate score flatters us, but make no mistake, we were the better team in both games and deservedly went through. Unsurprisingly, we couldn't repeat the same feat against Bayern, but we definitely held our own, so there's nothing more I could ask for.



A full squad screenshot for once. As you see very much a collective effort, especially offensively where we had no fewer than 6 players with goals in the double digits and 5 with ten or more assists. Particular mention should of course go to Reichert who found a bit of consistency and finished the season with 35 goals despite losing about a quarter of our games through injury and a bit of rotation.

[Adramelch]

Season 2031/32

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The following season started with me leaving Switzerland and travelling only a few hundred kilometers south, to become the manager of:



I wouldn't have minded staying another season at Basel, but I haven't managed in Italy for quite a few years now and when the position at Milan became available I thought it was the perfect opportunity. Now, as I'm sure everyone who's managed in Italy knows, the classic Serie A experience was waiting for me: the club had a massive squad, full of aging players and was about 80 million in the red. Thankfully, in this version (and reality) Saudi Arabia exists, which gave me an out. A total of 15 players left the club for a combined fee of just shy of 200 million euros, most of it coming from the transfers of De Ketelaere (80m to Arsenal at 30 y/o), MacAllister (65m to the Saudis at 32 y/o), Theo Hernandez (19m to the Saudis at 33 y/o) and an assortment of decent squad players. Leao was also close to going to Saudi Arabia for 70-ish million, but I decided against it. That meant we had some money to spend so in came a total of 8 players. The most important three were Quarto (the left-back I signed at Basel), who came in as a direct replacement of Hernandez for 13 million, as well as the following duo:



A player, who almost joined me at Basel for less than 3 million last summer, but understandably chose Porto over us. We paid a steep 55m to bring him, but I think it's worth it for a player that can lead our frontline for years to come.



We really struggled with goalkeepers. When I joined, our first-team keeper was a 36 y/o rapidly declining Maignan and our other options were non-existent. I tried to replace him and I was very close to bringing in a real gem, but he (again understandably) decided to join Real instead, so we were stuck with the French grandpa. Four months later, I had seen enough and I decided to sign the best available option for the money we had at our disposal. And that's where Di Giacobbe entered the picture. He was (and still is) not the finished article, but in our dire situation and with him being young and home-grown, I just went for it. Cost us 30m.



That was very, very, very close. In fact, we went into the last day with both us and Juventus at 95 points, with them having the head-to-head advantage, so we were on course to lose a league with 98 points, in what must be a record across European leagues. Thankfully, while we dispatched Como at home with ease, they struggled at Florence, and we emerged as champions, for the first time in 10 years. As an aside, look at the state of Serie A: Brianza (who?), Salento (again, who?), Como, Pisa and Cremonese, among others.

In the cup, we unceremoniously went out to Atalanta in the quarters. As for Europe, we would be playing in the Europa League this season after finishing 5th, which is why the previous manager was fired. The club expected us to reach the quarters, but I knew we had to do better than that as we were the biggest club in the competition. And that's exactly what we did:



It wasn't as comfortable as I expected, but in the end we got there. Lyon almost cut our journey sort by grabbing a (very undeserved) 2-0 win at their place, but we rallied and manage to score three in the return fixture. After a brief respite against Betis, we were drawn against Frankfurt in the semis, which was probably the second best team in the competition. We were the better team in both games and deservedly went through, but again it was too close for comfort. That meant we would be facing Feyenoord in the final and it was quite the nailbiter:



We were second best throughout the night, but our clinical finishing gave us the trophy. It was a game full of twists and turns, starting from Thiaw scoring and then picking two yellow cards within 10 minutes, Di Giacobbe saving their penalty only for us to immediately concede from the resulting corner and Leao scoring a Maradona-esque winner, by picking the ball in our half and going past 6 players before slotting it into the corner. Oh well, second best or not, I'm very glad we won the trophy.



Our front four might just be the best front four in Europe. 116 goals and 81 assists between them is just ridiculous. If I had to pick my player of the season, it would have to be Popovic. He's probably the worst out of the four in terms of quality, but even though he was to be our backup striker, he got a couple of games on the left wing early on and was so good that Leao was relegated to a bench warmer. That's how impactful his presence was. Also props to Quarto, who made a big step, with big shoes to fill and he rose up to the challenge.

So with that settled, more rebuilding is to come. The club is once again 50m in the red, so a lot of players will be leaving and a lot of bargain hunting will take place. The goal for next season is above all to steady the ship financially, but I wouldn't say no to a repeat performance in the league and a deep run in the champions league.

[Dan]

I did think you must’ve joined Milan when you posted the screenie of the new signing getting immediately injured. Definitely a nice upgrade, especially as you’d done about all you can in Switzerland.

Brianza are Monza & Salento are Lecce, I believe. At least you managed to avoid Capitolene.

[Adramelch]

I did think you must’ve joined Milan when you posted the screenie of the new signing getting immediately injured. Definitely a nice upgrade, especially as you’d done about all you can in Switzerland.

Brianza are Monza & Salento are Lecce, I believe. At least you managed to avoid Capitolene.

I figured something was going on since I couldn't find who they would have replaced. I guess it goes to show that I haven't managed in Italy for quite some time. I'd noticed of Parthenope/Napoli through our European encounters but not much else.

[Raoul Duke]

How does Quarto look now? He looks like he could be mega (albeit one of those with low natural fitness who'll be on the way to Saudi Arabia up by early 30's ish)

[Adramelch]

Not much different since the previous picture was at the end of said season, but he has progress a bit physically:



I also think I would be doing you all a disservice if I didn't post a screenshot of Bruno Santos:



He had 36 assists without taking any set-pieces. Probably the highest I've seen in that regard.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Didn't play my Hitchin save for a week. First game back one of my CDM's gets sent off after 1:46 and then a CB gets sent off after 21:44.

Here is the squad for our next game, an FA Cup qualifying game against Bamber Bridge:



Lads, simmer the fuck down.

[Adramelch]

Seems to mostly be defensively-minded players as well, just to make it even harder for you.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Thankfully it didn't matter, we won 6-1.

[John Arne]

Get Stuck In on?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Get Stuck In on?

It was off.

I checked player instructions though and every single player was on "Tackle Harder", whoops.

[John Arne]

[Adramelch]

Another season done and a very successful one at that. As I mentioned in my previous update, the main goal this season was to steady the ship financially, so that we can start building something more permanent, which we definitely accomplished. To begin with, we only replaced two starters, one of which was aging and wanted to leave and the other we could get a significant upgrade on, while making a profit in the process. Apart from those two, we moved to improve the quality of the bench players and we also sold some more than solid backup players to make room for some youngsters. All in all, we only signed six players (two of of which were youngsters that were instantly loaned out) for a (still hefty) combined fee of 83m, but we more than offset by selling a dozen or so players for a combined 212m. The more relevant players that joined are the following:



A side-grade at best for the right back position, but Kalulu wanted to leave and he was getting old so I pulled the trigger. It was a bit of an indirect swap, as Kalulu joined Barcelona for 20m and we then proceeded to sign Sandoval from them for 48m.



One of the aforementioned youngsters. He joined from Sparta Prague in January for just 9m but stayed with them for the remainder of the season. He will probably see some first-team football from now on.



Easily the best bit of transfer this summer, but quite possibly one of my best transfers overall in this save. He only cost 7m and was a significant upgrade over the player he replaced, who was the wrong side of 30 and we managed to sell for 35m.



He wasn't as good when he joined but he's already become a great player and he was only a squad player this season. I think he's earned a chance to impress in the upcoming one. Cost 21m from Estoril.

With the transfers done, let's continue with the results. The season started strong with a relatively comfortable European Super Cup win over Manchester City. We didn't continue as strong though as we struggled to close out games and we found ourselves in a 3-way battle for the league with Inter and Juventus. Right as we regained our previous form, they both started to falter, so in the end we retained the league title without much hassle:



This was almost coupled with a Coppa Italia win, however we couldn't beat Inter in the final. Truth be told, they were the better team on the night, however marginally, so kudos to them. At least we managed to win the second tinpot trophy of the season, the domestic Super Cup, by beating Inter in the semis and Juventus in the final. What about Europe:



That picture makes it look dominant and it was, but only in the knockout rounds. We struggled in the group phase and only made top 8 by the skin of our teeth, when Bayern failed to win at home against Ajax on the final day. And this proved to be massive, since not only did we avoid the extra tie and the tough draw, we ended up getting very lucky in drawing Nice. After dispatching them with ease, we were drawn against Inter and let me tell you that scoreline doesn't reflect the truth, as we should have scored at least a couple in each leg. As it were, a 1-1 draw away was followed by a narrow 1-0 win in the return leg to set a semifinal tie against Barcelona. They weren't as strong as I expected and after a deserved 5-3 win at home in the first leg, I had confidence in reaching the final. The return leg was even more sided, but they somehow managed to hold us to a 1-1 draw. As for the final:



We were comfortably the better team and it only looks like it was even-ish because they had the good old FM injury time spell where they threw everything at us, but thankfully we held on to our lead. Now, I didn't expect to win both the Europa League and the Champions League within 10 seasons in this save, but honestly this version has been very easy for me in every save I've played. Oh well, it is what it is.

We also played in the Club World Cup this summer, but only made it to the quarters where we were beaten by United through a Rahsford brace. Disgusting.



As you see, the stats aren't as impressive as last time around. We scored fewer goals in all competitions, but at least we were much better defensively so it more than evened out. I am also very happy with the amount of rotation I was able to do. I am really happy with the squad that I've assembled and I don't expect any major changes the following summer, not because there's no improvements we can make, but more so because I don't really want to spend the money needed to achieve that. I will also look to involve even more youngsters into the rotation and we have some really juicy ones coming through our academy.

In terms of plans, I did throw a speculative job application at Tottenham, but they opted for Inter's Luis Enrique instead (who then proceeded to sign De Zerbi, who had just been sacked by Tottenham; just FM things), though I can't say I was disappointed. Even though I've found some early success, I intend to stick with the save and manage clubs in the other big leagues before calling it a day.

[Adramelch]

Have a look at this disgusting left-back United have:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Got to the FA Cup third round again with Hitchin this season and drew Dulwich Hamlet who are in the same league but doing a lot worse than us.

They FM'd us to win 3-1 and got Liverpool away in the fourth round, I'm absolutely fucking SEETHING.

Probably a mill or so lost out on.

[John Arne]

Have a look at this disgusting left-back United have:

Just as comfortable on the left wing as he is centre back