The Football Manager Thread

[Disco]

We drew some silly games but still, it's not often you lose one game and come second. Also, this might be the worst Serie A I've seen in any of these games.

http://i.imgur.com/f0RRBb0.jpg

[Gray Fox]

To get 97 points in a season and still not take the title is tough.

Lols to be had at you having almost twice as many wins as 3rd place.

[Disco]

The rest of the league is a sea of mediocrity which Juve have taken full advantage of.

http://i.imgur.com/icQKRLd.jpg

The list of mid-sized clubs that have imploded is amazing, you have to drop down three divisions to find Fiorentina.

[Gray Fox]

I think we need to talk about what happened in 2020?

[Disco]

Yeah that was odd, I was in Spain at the time and only noticed it afterwards (when I was nicking their best player), they only dropped out of Serie A last year.

http://i.imgur.com/zO9uThu.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/u4STdOB.jpg

[John Arne]

Some screenshots from the Winter Update....

https://gyazo.com/6b152792f978a0631d51a24fcb897801.png

https://gyazo.com/f798d04831b039dc7fb5bcc577f4a208.png

https://gyazo.com/3f9ea11d7a8c26423a48061008820015.png

https://gyazo.com/9d10eb3474ab1d7ff38df2d7636a1812.png

https://gyazo.com/b88787af0e8f9dee60cbd1f2b145ed2d.png

https://gyazo.com/56b311e1c002f2994ea64e373281a46d.png

https://gyazo.com/aef993165d9f8cfe591e724712ad55b5.png

https://gyazo.com/c0dd8cb7e9aaf62cb2c3a024e622e8bb.png

https://gyazo.com/afe89639b73dcb93f45ab1a8b8578209.png

https://gyazo.com/8d087ffd51e05d1eac191f9f61e87271.png

[Smiffy]

.....

[Smiffy]

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[John]

Those physical stats are obscene. I wouldn't, but you generally don't give a toss about spending so of course you should.

[Smiffy]

.....

[John]

I prefer the first chap's physical stats.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Disco]

Choices choices. Man Utd have come in with a ridiculous bid for one of my midfielders, the only problem is I was rather planning to build my team around him for the foreseeable future and thus far it's been the hardest position to fill (I use him as a Deep Lying Playmaker).

This is him
http://i.imgur.com/M8ma0Dd.jpg

And this is the bid:
http://i.imgur.com/HBwpCnR.jpg

Am I stupid to be considering blowing them off and taking the potential heat from the squad?

[Smiffy]

.....

[John]

I'd keep him. He's bonkers for nineteen.

[Raoul Duke]

Keep him. That's not that much really, and he's a nigh-on perfect player.

Also re: Lantina above - they always seem to come good in FM. If you play in to the future a bit they always seem to do well.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Disco]

I'm keeping him, we even got a boost to morale when I told the squad they were mugs for complaining. :drool:

[Disco]

Just starting the third season with Roma, my general aim was to put together a team of kids (preferably on the cheap) and see if we could break the Juventus winning streak which now stands at 8 years in a row. Not sure on some of them as yet but there's a few proper little gems in there.

Back 5

Keeper
http://i.imgur.com/TnTWSAf.jpg

Full Backs
http://i.imgur.com/IKhhcws.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/giFgZjJ.jpg

Centre Backs
http://i.imgur.com/fVQGXLf.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/8LboscY.jpg


Midfield

Centre Mids
http://i.imgur.com/zgmgo0y.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/xfoY9qx.jpg

Wingers
http://i.imgur.com/NEecXsf.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/yHByBnK.jpg


Forwards

http://i.imgur.com/wBW1ntl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/OM91xMs.jpg


Subs/Honourable mentions

http://i.imgur.com/rAwfeXD.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/WlaqpO1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Ohh35jf.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/BzOA5sn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/XlaZN38.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/u3ZrNOx.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/8lhP0xI.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/FqJ5PD8.jpg

[Mike]

Crap...
https://i.imgur.com/HEvbYwO.png

[Dquincy]

Man U just splashed the cash. Shit load of money.

http://s15.postimg.org/8omb428kb/Quincy_News_Inbox_5.png

http://s23.postimg.org/xqo0pdbcb/Felipe_Mac_as_Profile_Attributes.png

http://s7.postimg.org/toph9lc7v/Felipe_Mac_as_History_Career_Stats.png

[Clunge]

Decided to start with Villa and see if I can do any better than Remi.

Three weeks in, talks of a consortium buying Lerner out. Bring it on.

[Smiffy]

.....

[John Arne]

Muira :drool:

https://gyazo.com/278be963e64c608c753bc94f10d981b6.png

[Disco]

How are you always spending so much money Smiff?

[Gray Fox]

I bet he's on about £300k a week himself. :tongue:

[Smiffy]

.....

[Disco]

Are you giving everyone crazy contracts?

[Smiffy]

.....

[Smiffy]

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[Clunge]

http://i.imgur.com/AFwdN0a.png

Give me the Villa job. This is with no signings whatsoever, February 2 in season one.

[Lee]

Fucking game. I get through pre-season with Chelmsford, win all my friendlies and draw my first game of the season away at Oxford City with a decent performance. Crash dump. Load up and I've lost a couple of weeks. Lose my last friendly, no big deal. Lose my first league game 0-5 after an atrocious perfomance. Fuck off.

[John Arne]

https://gyazo.com/d6b510f6fadef8a1b0bb4a3e4a00b3c1.png

Not that I particularly need him...

https://gyazo.com/c97d3fe406a97bfdcd144dd8c0e0a506.png

[Disco]

He was still first choice for me until he was nearly 39 so he can still do a job for you.

[John]

Lol at that fan reaction.

[John Arne]

Not a shit given. Ungrateful bastards.

[John Arne]

What's the point? 26,375....
Also, Gradi won a couple of promotions (and a couple of relegations, too) at Crewe... I've won the Premier League, Super Cup and World Club Cup this year, having won the Champions League last season, and the UEFA Cup the year before. Ungrateful cunts.

https://gyazo.com/e9490a8f3ede4e4e481147b8e8716423.png.

[John]

In classic Murphy's Law fashion, the season I spent playing with the mouse only while waiting for my new laptop to arrive wound up being the best yet. I'm just about done the following season, so in summary.

http://i65.tinypic.com/atukhu.png

A team of heroes. It's made me and six of the players who played in that game into club legends, though oddly the goalkeeper who played a 9.2 to keep us in the game isn't one of them. He left as a bit of a whinging twat in the summer, but for him not to even be on the favoured personnel list seems odd. The team wot did it.

http://i64.tinypic.com/dpwizl.png

As above, he left as a bit of a shit, fluttering his eyelashes at any club who'd look and whinging about leaving, but he's been a wall for me since he was seventeen so I can hardly grudge him the move. I got ten million up front with another six million in clauses and a cut of the sell on.

http://i64.tinypic.com/b3wxo2.png

Left for Barcelona in 2017 but he never made the cut there and I grabbed him back for free when his contract ran out. Nothing special but he's a genius compared to his backup, who wound up having to play most of the final after this nugget picked up an injury right on half time.

http://i63.tinypic.com/2chsz5v.png

Another prodigal son, bought back from Kobenhavn in 2018 and he's been a rock since. As above, nothing special, but I've had to take what I can get defensively in this game, because Croatia is a fucking hotbed for flair midfielders and technical wingers but there are not many defenders or defensive midfielders.

http://i67.tinypic.com/2rwq4xt.png

He's absolutely bonkers. I posted about him when he first came through and touted him as a future captain, but he's developed far more than I expected and there's no chance I'll be able to keep him. He knocked Bayern back in the summer just passed after I accepted thirty million for him, but I expect he'll be off this coming summer. He's already too good for this league and he's still a child. If only I could have turned him into the defensive midfielder I wanted, fucking look at those physicals. :drool:

http://i64.tinypic.com/2wdbnl0.png

Not great, but he's solid enough as a limited full back and very rarely makes a mistake, so he'll probably end up setting an appearance record even though his mentals are crap.

http://i63.tinypic.com/710lc3.png

Wonderfully consistent and that pace makes him invaluable. He plays box to box and started the final against Juventus as my most defensively minded midfielder. I love him.

http://i64.tinypic.com/s2y876.png

That wage makes me sick. He was our biggest asset for a long time, probably still is, so I was terrified of losing him on the cheap or on a free and offered him a stinking contract to keep him. He's far and away the best player at the club in terms of stats, but he's nowhere near the top performer. I'm seriously considering just letting his contract expire at this point, fan backlash for letting a club legend leave be damned.

http://i67.tinypic.com/2rg28o7.png

Brilliant. Not best suited to the shadow striker role he plays, but his finishing is good enough that he gets a few goals to go along with his general assisty goodness.

http://i66.tinypic.com/2mzire0.png

An assist machine. He's been in the first team since he was sixteen and a couple of lengthy injury spells aside has donned every season.

http://i65.tinypic.com/xas4sp.png

As above, he's been in the first team since he was a child and he's been brilliant every season but his first. He was nowhere ready that first season but I'd just lost Pjaca and handily he's turned into a sort of poor man's version. Scores far more goals than he has any right to aswell, he's made it into double figures for assists and goals twice.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2mng1ah.png

The other half of the German axis that's donned things for me. Only really has one season of properly brilliant form behind him, but he's consistently hit twenty goals and lays on plenty of assists. He's about to be supplanted by the bloke who eventually scored the winner though.

http://i63.tinypic.com/6p8g35.png

Fucking look at that. He's being touted as the next Mandzukic, which is laughably off base. He's the next Suker, and I love him already. Another one I have no chance of keeping, but hopefully I'll get a few great years out of him before he fucks off to tear it up at Arsenal.

http://i67.tinypic.com/r2tje9.png

The right back who played most of the Juventus game, which shows just what a treat Hudecek is. He's big and quick, but he's dreadful technically and while his mentals aren't terrible, they're not good enough to compensate.

What a team. What a game.

[John]

Coric, the fucking twat, had a whinge about playing time a while back having fallen out of the first team for a while. He's just pitched up again to say he still isn't playing enough.

http://i65.tinypic.com/nlrhj6.png

Fuck off, you little shitbag.

[John Arne]

For some reason, even though Messi isn't due to retire until the end of the season (about 11 months time), I can't transfer list him or offer him to clubs.

Any reason?

[Spammer]

Sup.

Me and a mate want to play online. We're thinking about playing 01/02 (THE CLASSIC) but he lives on the other side of the world so it'd be a bit tricky with time zones and stuff. I'm out of touch with recent developments of FM, and I was wondering if there's an online game option nowadays where both players can log in and maybe play a couple of days at a time? Where, say, you can play a day or two and then stop and wait for the other person to catch up, or something like that? I can kinda see it working with certain limits, so thought I'd ask as it'd be quite handy.

[igor_balis]

Sup.

Me and a mate want to play online. We're thinking about playing 01/02 (THE CLASSIC) but he lives on the other side of the world so it'd be a bit tricky with time zones and stuff. I'm out of touch with recent developments of FM, and I was wondering if there's an online game option nowadays where both players can log in and maybe play a couple of days at a time? Where, say, you can play a day or two and then stop and wait for the other person to catch up, or something like that? I can kinda see it working with certain limits, so thought I'd ask as it'd be quite handy.

Hm. I'd recommend giving the draft mode a go on the latest FM. Me and Reg did it a few months ago, it is pretty decent.

[Reg]

Hm. I'd recommend giving the draft mode a go on the latest FM. Me and Reg did it a few months ago, it is pretty decent.
:nodd: If you can get online at the same time for just a half hour or something, you can get through a match or two and pick it up later.

[John Arne]

I just managed to reduce Messi's wages from about £150k (plus massive add-ons) down to £25k by offering him a player/coach role :drool:

[John Arne]

Just beat Man City with an all English match day squad (including about 9 or 10 academy graduates :drool: That's probably me done for this save.


https://gyazo.com/a2a57d3719271575e226912ef0c36666.png

[Disco]

What kind of name is Screve.

[John Arne]

Stupid, is what. I kept meaning to change it to Steve, but never did.

[Mike]

Crumbs.
https://i.imgur.com/kjARfab.png

[Disco]

http://i.imgur.com/iFU4D4L.jpg

We won five trophies last year and already have two this year.

[Gray Fox]

The responses to questions like that need improving a little. Unless you have high manager discipline, it can start a dressing room revolt picking the wrong option.

[John Arne]

First game back in the V-League 1 :drool:

https://gyazo.com/df29424dcdb865baeae71d4bf3d7cbc6.png

[Disco]

The responses to questions like that need improving a little. Unless you have high manager discipline, it can start a dressing room revolt picking the wrong option.

That part of the game is woefully underdeveloped in general, the number of times they either leave out blindingly obvious responses or have players contradicting each other is quite annoying. More so because putting it right would take about half an hour. My screenshot was from around October when the season before we'd won pretty much everything we were in, it would not be inaccurate to imagine him asking that question while wearing the medals he so desperately craves.

I can only imagine that no-one who makes the game actually plays it (or listens to their testers) because it's one of the most obvious problems with the extra layer of interaction they've added over the last few iterations.

[Gray Fox]

That part of the game is woefully underdeveloped in general, the number of times they either leave out blindingly obvious responses or have players contradicting each other is quite annoying. More so because putting it right would take about half an hour. My screenshot was from around October when the season before we'd won pretty much everything we were in, it would not be inaccurate to imagine him asking that question while wearing the medals he so desperately craves.

I can only imagine that no-one who makes the game actually plays it (or listens to their testers) because it's one of the most obvious problems with the extra layer of interaction they've added over the last few iterations.

This is infuriating for anyone below a league winning team. The end of season/start of season meetings always end in half the squad thinking you're being over-ambitious and the other half being under-ambitious.

Thankfully I've not yet experienced the full on dressing room revolt yet.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Raoul Duke]

I see Strangl choked when he had the chance of clinching his hat-trick

[Smiffy]

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[Gray Fox]

No he can't. Fine him.

Is it someone like Hoffenhiem?

[John]

No chance. Throttle the bastard, don't stick your neck out for him.

[Smiffy]

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[SincereTheRebel]

Didnt even realise but ive won 33 games in a row. Currently unbeaten in 42 games. Easily, my best form ive ever ran in the game.

[P_3]

https://i.gyazo.com/17beb3bb1a49793967e949e436bd2abc.png

Jesus. :serious:

[John Arne]

It's still pretty annoying that little bugs exist in this game.
The current view on the tactics screen never saves correctly, and the subscriptions is knackered. I'm unsubscribed from things and still receive updates.

[Mazuuurk]

Guys, does tutoring use up players PA when the tutee adopts Preferred moves from the tutor?

[Smiffy]

.....

[Mike]

What I think is going to be my last season at Metz is going well enough:
https://i.imgur.com/a2Vw7cY.png

Drew the last match, which I should have really won.

[Gray Fox]

I've been procrastinating, procrastinating lately. So I've just loaded up my Southampton save with the intention of continuing. We'll see how that goes.

Need to get familiar with everything again.

[Gray Fox]

One thing I have noticed is that all my names fixes have disappeared. But still, short update.

15/16

This was always going to be the building year. No players left originally. Brought in were Ajer(£1m), Balanta(£3.5m), Bentancur(£3.1m) and Andrija Zivkovic(£1.4m). Yoshida and Ramirez left in the January window for small fees as they just weren't playing.

There was no progress made in the FA cup, while we were knocked out in the 4th round of the League Cup. The Europa League started promisingly, making it out of our group, but we drew Valencia and that was that.
League form was inconsistent. Mane was the best player by a mile and top scorer. We ended up 9th in a tight table. 2 points either way could have had us 7th or 13th.

16/17

Handed a bigger budget this year I knew we had to build again. We were dealt blows however with the Emptihad stadium calling for our best performers. We lost full back Cedric£14.5m) and Wanyama(£20m) before we could even sign anyone which set us way back so I had to panic buy. And I did in a lot of places. We also lost Pelle and Jaunmi for a combined £10m.
I went out and spent the cash. Trippier(£5.5m), Patrick Roberts(£8.75m), James Wilson(£7m), Wisdom(£7.5m), Tielemans(£15m), Embolo(£14.5m) and what I thought was a bargain of Benteke for £6.5m. Rulli became our new No.1 for free inbetween the sticks. Mane then decided he wanted to play in-front of a half-empty stadium too and would not be reasoned with. We did however get £51m for him so no complaints.
Wilshere and L.Romero both joined in January for a combined £21m. A lot of youngsters were bought for the youth team too. We made a £12m profit on all of that too.

With so many new faces the league form was going to be a challenge to start with and it was. We ambled to 10th place, not quite recovering from a slow start.

No progress was made in the FA or League cup either. It was a write off. Benteke even left 6 months after joining for a £7m profit to Valencia.

17/18

After the abysmal season, Rulli instantly demanded to leave, he felt above us. PSG came calling and he was gone for £32m. He was replaced by Butland for £2.7m from just relegated Stoke. Trippier and Clasie were the only other notable departures.
Other people incoming were De Sciglio(£16.5m), Digne(£6.5m), Javi Martinez(£8.5m), the other Zivkovic(£4m) and Pereyra(£10m) I also bought in 2 youngsters from Standard that looked tasty for about £21m between them.

I'd decided we needed experience and quality to plug the gaps. It left us with a huge squad for a team not in Europe though. We went out of both cups at the first hurdle too which left us with just the league.

We went on a great run (https://gyazo.com/dfa7c3e06a3ae06c2acbda5eaa359953) as soon as January hit keeping just behind City in 2nd. Towards the end of that run they dropped a few points but the loss to Leicester left us 3 points behind them with 3 games to go, including a game against them at St Marys. We nicked a 1-0 win against them with Roberts scoring the goal against his old team. I went mental but then remembered to check goal difference. We were level on points but 1 goal ahead.
Both had home games last. We ended up winning against Swansea but only 1-0. They had Leicester at home but only scored a 1-0 win themselves. We won the league by 1 goal. (https://gyazo.com/07eb829a4107418e7545d29e59a6a44b)

18/19

Bertrand, Jay Rodriguez and Javi Martinez(£15m) left the summer just gone while we exchanged Wisdom for Januzaj from United. Other incomings were Buffon, Phil Jones and Christensen for cover purposes. Also because Buffon is a legend.

We have Dortmund, Monaco and Galatasaray in our first Champions League group. Nice and tough to start. The squads now look like this:

Main squad.
https://gyazo.com/afef8bc845742a008d427498afca9b05.png

U21.
https://gyazo.com/1734354951f231e8382e77de3cda3507.png

Best of U18.
https://gyazo.com/418bc986e93d8509b53f99b2657cbc07.png

[John]

Is Theophilus Solomon in anyone else's game, and if so has he amounted to anything? He's been with Rijeka since the beginning in my game and despite only having one properly good season to his name, his stats are excellent for a pure striker.

Spurs look like great fun in this. They have an English striker who's apparently odds on to win the Ballon d'Or, the news item for which made me check them out. They're playing Kane on the left wing and a David O'Leary at left back, but other than that they're largely unchanged. This is in November 2024, and Dier, Lamela, Eriksen, Alli, Bentaleb, and Kane are all still first team starters.

[Gray Fox]

He's still there 3 years in for me. 1 in 2 striker by the look of it.

[John Arne]

Started a new game as manager of the DPRK. Started very well, despite 3 of my best players being free agents and not being picked up by any clubs.

https://gyazo.com/fae2914f66f345527964b2217665a2ba.png

Such a shame Jong Tae-se isn't on the game :(

[John]

Twenty titles in a row. :drool:

[Mazuuurk]

So close to a... Seventuple (?!) now. Won all those bogus cups (Community shield, Super cup, World club championship) as well as Carling, FA cups and Permier League.

Only thing left is facing Real Madrid (best team in the world together with me) at.... Bernabeu in the CL final :moop:

[John]

Lost my best striker and maybe the best player I'll ever produce to Chelsea thanks to a twenty five million release clause. He becomes my record sale, but I'd rather have the player. He was obscene. That coupled with Ante Coric and his hundred and thirty five grand a week fucking off to Man Utd means we're in top financial shape.

http://i67.tinypic.com/k55ykl.png

Farewell, sweet prince. :(

[Dark Soldier]

He's obscene for a 19yo, big loss

[Mazuuurk]

John, all the strikers I seem to get/produce look a lot like that one (in style). As in, they are all kind of Poachers / Advanced forwards.

I usually want my lone striker to be more of a Trequartista type player, or Complete forward maybe, with high stats for dribbling, passing and technique as well as the regular striker stuff (pace maybe not as important) but those strikers just don't seem to be produced by the game, even though I set my players on training for Complete forward almost immediately when they are like 16-17.

I'm just starting to believe the game has some sort of stereotype for what a Striker with high PA is supposed to be (=poacher).

[Mazuuurk]

BTW I won my Septuple :cool:

[Dark Soldier]

John, all the strikers I seem to get/produce look a lot like that one (in style). As in, they are all kind of Poachers / Advanced forwards.

I usually want my lone striker to be more of a Trequartista type player, or Complete forward maybe, with high stats for dribbling, passing and technique as well as the regular striker stuff (pace maybe not as important) but those strikers just don't seem to be produced by the game, even though I set my players on training for Complete forward almost immediately when they are like 16-17.

I'm just starting to believe the game has some sort of stereotype for what a Striker with high PA is supposed to be (=poacher).

Setting Youth Rating to 200 for all nations seems to create more diverse regens, rather than the typical creative but shit tackling MCs, DC's who can't fucking jump. GK's who don't rush out etc. I've seen a few Africans come through in the Drogba role and Crimea for some reason produces some quality Treq style regens.

Also helps having a spread of them, Albania is producing a few good youngsters in my current game.

[Disco]

My own obscene 19yr old has come along nicely, I am having to fight off every big club in Europe with a big stick and I think if I go one season without winning something major he'll be off.

http://i.imgur.com/j5n24hF.jpg

[John]

That sort of striker is quite plentiful in my game.

http://i63.tinypic.com/21mtdf6.png

My staff reckon I should sign that guy because we're short of quality up front. The fans are excited by the prospect. It does kill the immersion somewhat to think that I'm disappointing my fans eight times a year because I never sign any of the players who get their loins frothing. Last summer they were excited by the prospect of Raheem Sterling. Not going to happen lads.

[Dark Soldier]

I used FMRTE to set this guy's ability to his max potential (198, also gave him a couple of PPMs) as its a piss about game I'll be dropping soon, picked him up for 4mil when 16 from Slovan Liberec. if I'd had the patience for a long term to develop him, holy shit :drool:

https://i.gyazo.com/7540634c77942ea415b63c2594d1d566.png

This is my 3rd choice CM, unedited. 1.7mil from Deportivo Cali:

https://i.gyazo.com/74aed9574923f4216ba831ac0187bbf0.png

And my primary CB already, at 18. Appeared due to that "add players to playable teams" box at start of game, snapped him up from HSV for compensation. His physicals were already class:

https://i.gyazo.com/c77b168b19c033e0510f6afd2535a860.png

[Dark Soldier]

Really wish I could be arsed to play a long term game on FM these days, but even unedited straight up proper games I get bored 3/4 seasons in. Its too easy to dominate once you have a tactic, scout system and coaching system in place, and I haven't the patience for starting in the 25th tier of England or whatever.

[John]

My two best central midfielders are technically poor pace merchants, but I've had a kid through who looks like he could be a genuinely good midfielder.

http://i67.tinypic.com/28wgn7o.png

He'll get some game time this season.

[Dark Soldier]

Yeah I've noticed a lot of CMs are either technical Gods, or physical Gods, rarely a mix of both unless a DM and then most of the time they get like a 3 in bravery.

Regen system, while it pops up some curios does need some tweaking as many do follow a very similar mold.

[Dark Soldier]

This 4231 I've got from FMBase months ago, forgotten who made it, is insanely fucking lethal though. You just win everything, even with bang average teams.

[John]

I've had a couple of players come through with bizarre attribute distribution. My current defensive midfielder is a nineteen year old with appalling technical stats with the exception of thirteen finishing. He does fit the physical beast category though.

[Mike]

Really wish I could be arsed to play a long term game on FM these days, but even unedited straight up proper games I get bored 3/4 seasons in. Its too easy to dominate once you have a tactic, scout system and coaching system in place, and I haven't the patience for starting in the 25th tier of England or whatever.

Have a save where you can only sign one contract with each club then have to move on? Start low down and try win the CL with a big side.

[Giggles]

Need to take another shot at this after realising I've zero interest in anything outside the Premier League. Going to sim a couple of seasons tonight and then start like I did last time.

[John]

And now I've lost my best central defender to Barcelona. :moop:

[Dark Soldier]

Have a save where you can only sign one contract with each club then have to move on? Start low down and try win the CL with a big side.

Tried a lot of different games, still get bored sharpish. Been playing since CM2 though, more than likely fatigue when you've done it all on previous versions.

[Spikey M]

I've had a couple of players come through with bizarre attribute distribution. My current defensive midfielder is a nineteen year old with appalling technical stats with the exception of thirteen finishing. He does fit the physical beast category though.

I didn't know Yaya Toure had a son?

[John]

His name is Danijel Bosnjak, so his dad's more likely to be named Ivan.

[John]

'The Arsenal FC manager, John Terry'

:harold:

[Gray Fox]

Lost my best striker and maybe the best player I'll ever produce to Chelsea thanks to a twenty five million release clause. He becomes my record sale, but I'd rather have the player. He was obscene. That coupled with Ante Coric and his hundred and thirty five grand a week fucking off to Man Utd means we're in top financial shape.

http://i67.tinypic.com/k55ykl.png

Farewell, sweet prince. :(

He looks bloody mental. Even for £25m I'd be annoyed there. Could have expected 2/3 times that easily.

[John]

It was a release clause and I'm Dinamo Zagreb. I'm never getting close to triple that. It has left me with a bit of a hole in the side though. I've been hammered by injuries at the start of this season too, so I'm struggling a bit. Salvaging late draws in half my games isn't the way to go about winning title number twenty one.

[Gray Fox]

I hadn't realized you were Zagreb. How was his goal record there?

How do you stay entertained winning the league all the time?

[John]

Mid twenties in each of the last two seasons. I knew he was destined to leave though so I was rotating him with another striker who's more than good enough for this league but not quite good enough that he's desperate to move on. The magnificently named Bernhard Driller.

I'm only using players who have come through my own youth system, with the long term plan being to win the Champion's League. That makes the game different enough that there's still plenty of life in it yet. Won the Europa a couple of seasons ago, with Ante Supe scoring the winner as a seventeen year old.

[Mazuuurk]

Really wish I could be arsed to play a long term game on FM these days, but even unedited straight up proper games I get bored 3/4 seasons in. Its too easy to dominate once you have a tactic, scout system and coaching system in place, and I haven't the patience for starting in the 25th tier of England or whatever.

What I do is every year I get the game, though usually a little late, and I'll play as Arsenal every year. It's about the same every time, but i do it seldomly enough that there's some novelty value each time at least. Then I play up until about 2022-25 or so at best, then just give up on it, usually by kind of forgetting to boot up the game for a few weeks.


Last year I did do a longer game with Portsmouth as well, which is fun once you get into like the Championship, but not before then. Lower league management is really boring I think.

Now, I mainly see how many goals I can score in a season, I find silly targets like that to keep me motivated.

[SincereTheRebel]

Tight..

http://i63.tinypic.com/35by4c2.png


Edit:
Swansea, watford and surprisingly southampton went. Southmapton lost their last five league games. Dumped then right into things.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Gray Fox]

In the words of Lucas Leiva. "Unlucky!"

[John]

:D

That's been in the game for a while now.

[Sam]

This 4231 I've got from FMBase months ago, forgotten who made it, is insanely fucking lethal though. You just win everything, even with bang average teams.

Got a link for it? My home made tactics are alright but after missing out on promotion for the fifth season running I'm wanting something extra.

[Dark Soldier]

Got a link for it? My home made tactics are alright but after missing out on promotion for the fifth season running I'm wanting something extra.

Found it. Think its the same one, he released it earlier than this but musta created a thread since:

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/share-download-fm-16-tactics/356320-maffa-tweaked-4-2-3-1-knap.html

Set it to all three tactics slots to learn it quicker, as per. Training to match tactics til fully understood etc

[Sam]

Found it. Think its the same one, he released it earlier than this but musta created a thread since:

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/share-download-fm-16-tactics/356320-maffa-tweaked-4-2-3-1-knap.html

Set it to all three tactics slots to learn it quicker, as per. Training to match tactics til fully understood etc

Lovely, much appreciated.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Dark Soldier]

Lovely, much appreciated.

Just one heads-up, its set to Defensive Forward, but change the role based on striker. Vardy bangs them in for fun (50 in one season as a DF), but CF and AF work well too. Aboubakar was my back-up and he scored for shits and giggles too.

[John]

http://i67.tinypic.com/dr2v0i.png

:drool:

Dinko Jurina is my current first choice right back, since the actual first choice right back broke his leg at the start of the season. Jurina is out for 3 months with a fucked achilles so I'll be left playing a kid with four non physical stats over ten. :moop:

[John]

And we've drawn Liverpool in the next round. We're cleansing the tournament.

[John]

In one youth intake I've gone from not having enough strikers, two of sufficient quality in the squad and one of those is a child, to having far too many. Three four star strikers in one intake, with absolutely nothing else of value.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Well it seems that my Journeyman turned Fiorentina save is officially dead after SI finally got back to me.

I did try to do something new during the down time, holidaying 100 years into the future and taking over a sleeping giant. Sadly you can only holiday 5 years at a time so I got bored after about 20 years.

I'll start a new mental journeyman either today or tomorrow.

[John]

http://i68.tinypic.com/2rc1o1w.png

http://i64.tinypic.com/2evggt4.png

:drool:

Two wins in four years. We're like a pound shop Sevilla. I was about to Google cheaty ways to have a player murdered in the game as a means of dealing with that twat Ivica Klaric. I'll settle for selling him if a bid comes in.

That win has caused my player values to fucking rocket. Before the win only one of my players was worth more than ten million, and that player is now worth thirty.

[Ian]

Still in FM '15 and my Newcastle side have just won a third consecutive Champions League..... all three on penalties. :moop:

I've also gone thirty games "unbeaten" (in open play they mean) in the FA Cup but have only won it once in my entire save. European penalty shootouts: Good. FA Cup penalty shootouts: bad. :face:

[John]

The team wot done it.

http://i68.tinypic.com/rk91sm.png

Is small and crap at the moment, but this is what I'm reduced to since Boris Dubski left. I need my youth system to throw up a proper goalkeeper soon, or at the very least I need this twat to stop moaning that training his jumping reach won't be beneficial.

http://i65.tinypic.com/34q1aoz.png

Spent most of the season out with a broken leg but came back in time to get a few games under his belt going into the final, and didn't disappoint once he was there. He's laughably injury prone so he's only played one full season of the four since he returned from Barcelona, but he's averaging well over eight in that time so he can hang around the physios as much as he wants.

http://i67.tinypic.com/2h33kex.png

His second full season playing regular football, and he's developed very nicely. Yet to attract any interest at all from elsewhere, so hopefully he glides under the radar forever.

http://i68.tinypic.com/fdwym0.png

Has just signed a new contract and seems very happy to stay, which is delightful. If he continues developing as he has been he's going to be fucking class.

http://i64.tinypic.com/28moc61.png

As predicted the last time I posted the full squad, he's become a solid, reliable, but unspectacular mainstay at left back.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2mds076.png

Mentioned in passing before as a player with awful technical stats, he's developed quite well. My youth system doesn't often throw up defensive midfielders so he's been first choice for two and a half seasons now, and unless he decides he's outgrown us will likely be around forever.

http://i63.tinypic.com/107vom0.png

Fucking twat.

http://i64.tinypic.com/rmuzih.png

Came through with no mental stats but technical stats that made him a useful sub, but he's gone on to be a very good player. He's an injury prone, inconsistent shit, but when he's on it he's great.

http://i67.tinypic.com/2mhg1z6.png

Criminally ignored by the national side, but then I suppose with Coric, Kovacic, and Vlasic ahead of him it's definitely justifiable. Top scorer this season playing from a shadow striker role.

http://i66.tinypic.com/33kbvr6.png

Has played about a season and a half of first team football and I suspect he must have twenty for every stat even tangentially related to growth, because his development has been incredible. He was a speed demon and nothing more when he came through, and though he developed reasonably well out on loan he didn't look like anything special after two years. He then went on loan last season and his stats started to rocket, and that's continued this season to the point where he's just blasting teams off the park within ten minutes. I might have to sell him since he's now decided we're not good enough for him and won't sign a new contract, but I'm going to keep trying to talk him round.

http://i68.tinypic.com/nmjcdt.png

His eighth season of regular football, and he's continued his mediocre to good form.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2a92zvc.png

Came on as a sub in the final and went on to score the winning goal. Has gone back and forward between wanting to leave and loving the club, so the plan is to just offer him a contract any time he swings toward the latter. Performs well under his stats in general, but when you've a player of that quality there's always the potential for him to explode.

[Ian]

Also Messi is retiring at the age of 39 after 4 glorious years in the Toon.

Appearances - 112 (60)
Goals - 71
Assists - 56
Average rating - 7.25

He'd properly gone off a cliff in the last season though, just barely scraping into double figures for goals at the death. Some man, though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Back in the room with my biggest game yet.

204 leagues from 119 countries.

http://i.imgur.com/zz8Nabu.png

Originally wanted to give myself one badge but I got 284 interviews the very next day so it's back to being a bum who decides to try his hand at football management.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/7hDnpQ5.png

We're predicted to finish second but I'm targeting the title.

We only have 7 real players and here they are:

http://i.imgur.com/dFKweeW.png

http://i.imgur.com/kX4nXle.png

http://i.imgur.com/IX2oFrg.png

http://i.imgur.com/BAPcsqB.png

http://i.imgur.com/kSb68Q5.png

http://i.imgur.com/CGiRQug.png

Only £1.7k in the bank account with no transfer budget and nothing left in wages, however that's probably because the season doesn't start for a few months.

The team has won the title 5 times including the last season so a little pressure as I want to retain it.

[John Arne]

Why is this game still so buggy at times.

https://gyazo.com/3c58dd2938babd524c784ca13b60b56b.png

My tactics are all 'accomplished' and I am still working plenty of match prep.

Anyone have this issue? How did you solve it?

[Gray Fox]

Taking such a big break from the Southampton save has almost killed enthusiasm for it. I think I need to start again.

I've been put on to two future saves. Involves two teams who have been taken over by Tycoons and are in the Championship. But I don't think I can do England again.
Somewhere with closer to 30 league games without about 20 cups a season would be good. Maybe I've just been drawn in by Johns save, but trying to win the Champions League in a lesser European county is appealing.

[John]

It's early, we're a quarter of the way through the season, but Rijeka look capable of mounting a genuine challenge for the title this year. They've finished second every year bar one, but they've always been fifteen points back. This season they have four strikers better than my best, and a loan keeper who's considerably better than mine. We're level on points but they've outscored me, so they're sitting top. This could get interesting.

http://i64.tinypic.com/120jqcg.png

Their best striker. He's been steadily averaging a goal every two games for four years now, but last year he went bonkers and scored thirty one in thirty five along with ten assists, and he has nine goals and five assists in nine games so far this year.

[Smiffy]

.....

[John]

Being willing to offer you a new contract but not fundamentally change the club on your say so doesn't seem like much of a bug. Asking you to improve when you're streaking clear at the top of the league is a bit shit though. They'll probably grant that request when you've actually won promotion.

[Ricobran]

I've noticed a lot of threads about conceding late goals, I don't seem to have that problem, but I do struggle to score late goals for a win or draw. Any advice?

[Smiffy]

.....

[John]

26/27 ended on a bit of a bum note. After holding Atletico to 1-0 away from home in the Champion's League semi final I was fairly confident of doing them at home, then Nikola Babic broke his leg in training and that was that. :moop:

The twat has decided he's definitely leaving too, so not only do I have one year of the best player in the squad left before he fucks off for nothing, but he'll be injured for half of it. I fucking hate this game at times.

This year's youth intake featured nothing but a four star striker and a three star striker, meaning in two years I've gone from having two passable striking options to having to find a way to accommodate eight strikers. The best of last year's crop is already turning into a beast, and the midfielder I posted before with hope that he might be the first genuinely good central midfielder I've had through is looking like the next Luka Modric.

[John Arne]

14 games without conceding :drool: Rock solid.

https://gyazo.com/44ad674e63621bda1f35ab32c0485013.png

[John]

I didn't have a run like that but in the season just gone I conceded nine league goals in total. Defence. :drool:

[John]

http://i63.tinypic.com/8wceav.png

Sums the season up perfectly.

[Gray Fox]

Have you found the rest of the league improving along with you in any way? Your good runs in Europe should be benefiting the coefficient and getting the league more money in theory at least.

[John]

Yes, but Rijeka are still miles ahead of the pack, and in turn I'm still quite a way ahead of them. They had their best season since the start of this game, finishing on seventy five points and with the top two scorers in the league putting away a combined fifty two goals for them. I also had my best season yet though, finishing with ninety one points thanks to my defence playing out of their skin.

The prize and sponsorship money hasn't changed much so the other sides aren't going out and splashing the cash, but the reputation of the league is a bit better, ranked ninth, so they can hold on to their better players for longer, get more for them when they leave, and replace them more easily. The league rankings have yet to update to take my Champion's League semi into account so hopefully that bumps us up another spot.

On to season thirteen.

[John]

The league remains ninth, but the club is up to eighteenth. That'll do me.

[John Arne]

Finally conceded after 18 games, after Dybala crossed it on from way out on the left wing and it managed to fly over Neuer.

https://gyazo.com/bf44762f362443a8f0737344d4d0523e.png

Still 15 clean sheets on the trot in the league.

[Mike]

What should be my last season is going well..
https://i.imgur.com/1tH8d6I.png

:cool2:

[Gray Fox]

I think I've got back into my Southampton save so I've been looking at something to freshen it up. After looking through my youth teams again it's clear that there's a wave of them ready to step up almost right now. I'll be looking at selling rotation players while calling up some, if not most of them, next season. My selling for profit almost every year has me with £50m still left in the bank for now though so I'm scouting for positions I'm lacking in.

Positions identified are ST, DC, GK and maybe a back up at AMC/AMR.

This guy is coming in for about £6m. A lot for a 15 year old but as with all my young signings, he'll be learning his trade(and the language) with the youth team until he's closer to 18/19.

https://gyazo.com/93689138420f674bf4250a7200ec9630.png

Now the goalkeeper. My scouts think he will be the dogs bollocks so I'm willing to put £9m down for him. He apparently wont gain a work permit but I have feeder clubs for that.

https://gyazo.com/0c784869a5a8aecfb0e0cf272fa9a4e4.png

The striker I've found ticks a load of boxes. Promising, English etc. Being English though his price is up. He'll cost me £11m. I can still pull out of this one for now though.

https://gyazo.com/e69bda04d7aa18a3d9e573c0dc71bd0f.png

The other two options to buy at striker are these:

The more expensive of the three. Probably closer to £15m but he's the one my scouts love most. Even if he's the least ready to slot in straight away.

https://gyazo.com/5041d457784f30be7ef1beb5d4b06176.png

Unhappy at Racing because he keeps being linked to me. Would cost £14m at most.

https://gyazo.com/6d5d89af80988c798479de36b9ee13c5.png

Other than those there's the more expensive all round, Divock Origi.

[John]

Loaded up a game on the new update just to have a look at who'd been upgraded. Schmeichel has 19 kicking. :harold:

Lee will be chuffed.

[Gray Fox]

I have a wonderkid who has 18 months left on his contract. I obviously want to renew this and almost everything his agent wants is reasonable. Except for his release clause. It's £13m and non negotiable.

Any way to get around this?

[John]

Not that I know of. Walk away and try again in a month.

[Gray Fox]

Through some googling I've found that if it's there as soon as you go into the contract offer screen, you can't get rid of it. Sacking the agent, if you get the option, might do the trick but it's a low chance. So he now has a new deal with a £13m release clause.

[Gray Fox]

I've just seen an odd sending off. Image is spoilered below. You can see number 10 Lincoln has just skipped by his man and is in the action of switching the play out to Roberts(7) on the other wing. As the ball is in the air Zivkovic(28) moves towards Roberts to offer some help but the defender who is tightly marking him trips him. Defender is given a straight red and we ease to a 6-1 win. I've still no idea why he was sent off.

https://gyazo.com/88340775f4bf549210d56599f15ff1c3.png

Anyway I've just hit 1st January 2019. So update shots.

League is looking good. Retaining looks a good possibility.

https://gyazo.com/c7351aad79f143ad71ed6f7f99db9203.png

Over the next 2 windows some of the older players are making way for their younger counterparts. Claiming as much silverware as possible this season becomes priority.

Europe. Our first crack at the Champion's League. Navigated the group well finishing top.

https://gyazo.com/4065086a71b147390cbcf0c2850e38f1.png

Our reward is a trip to Atletico, the holders from last year.

In terms of signings I brought in Hibbert after all and decided not to pick up anyone else up top as I need to shift a couple players on.

https://gyazo.com/fdae53cc05f0ed34f9a823cb3def3afc.png

Bogren was offered about by his agent. He had no club so is worth the punt. Not bad back up.

https://gyazo.com/2fda19aaa74a44d23b7129f4380dc61d.png

Valade needs some work, but physically he's got that turn of pace to make up for what he lacks technically.

https://gyazo.com/222a32939f22f27102848bf049d1c186.png

Palomino comes in along side Ricci who I've shown earlier. Unfortunately he couldn't get a work permit so he goes out to Heerenveen(best feeder club they'd give me) until he gets one. Very raw but the scouts love him a lot.

Added to those, there's going to be some players leaving over the next couple windows, hopefully for large sums of money.


EDIT: A couple of sales have happened. Roberto Pereyra being the biggest. He came to me in the last week of December asking to join City and I have AM/MC types coming by the bucket load. I agreed but it was Spurs who made the offer. After some negotiation they gave us £16m up front, with another £20m coming in installments. I've done it that way to help cover off the £88m of loans we'll be paying over the next 8 years. If he makes another 10 international appearances we also get another £5.5m. It's Copa America year too so we should see that back quickly. We got a good deal. Paying £10m and then selling for closer to £42m after 28 games for the club isn't bad.

James Wilson also leaves for a small fee of £2m. He was a decent rotation player but one goal per 4/5 games isn't up to scratch from a lone striker.

Wilshere will also be going if I have my way. He hardly plays and was, before the latest round of contract renewals, my highest earner.

I've also noticed I've gone way, way overboard bringing in promising central midfielders. By my current reckoning at the beginning of next season I'll have about 10. I do play 3 so using 5-6 of them isn't a stretch. There seems to be a lot of the same kind of newgen about though. Attacking midfielder with great first touch, technique and passing straight out of the bat but severely lacking in dribbling, finishing or anything else technical.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

And the season is done in Cuba.

http://i.imgur.com/3FFruTq.png

First few games were a bit touch and go but when we got going we were grand. No idea how Villa Clara beat us and we really should have beaten Arnett Gardens despite them having the better players.

http://i.imgur.com/pHt7aoy.png

We also won that first cup too:

http://i.imgur.com/3TRHIIQ.png

And by winning the third placed playoff in the Caribbean Club Championship the club has qualified for the North American Champions League.

The club wanted me to stay but I'm off to find some greener grass.

Edit: Fuck sake just got a crash dump.

Can't get past it either, what a fucking shambles.

FM clearly hates my Journeyman games so I might just do a low level English tier game :(

Edit: Manager of Keymer & Hassocks in the 23rd tier.

[Gray Fox]

I've seen a lot of people complaining of crash dumps in journeyman style saves. Do they actually know what causes them? It makes me save like a mad man just incase I get one.

My season is over. Just before it ended I got some good news.

https://gyazo.com/6b58dd4e142d2887f046201866070fa9.png

The very first game in the new look stadium was to be a Champions League Semi Final 2nd leg against Barcelona no less. I got a message telling me the game was a sell-out and I noticed a button in the corner of the message. It allowed me to ask for another expansion. This is 2 days after the last one was completed.

https://gyazo.com/eca4bd6fb7635ff0e60442812d7959d8.png

Apparently they'll only take a few months to complete too. I would have asked for a new stadium but we're only in 2019 so we're not quite clear of the 20 year rule yet.

On the pitch it was good.

https://gyazo.com/772a0727a7c81f97a9603baf6eebbe74.png

The league was wrapped up well in advance. Helped by not having a challenger past Novembe. But it's 7 more points than last year and you'd be hard pressed not to win the Premier League with 89 points. We were shit in both domestic cups so that only left the Champions League.

https://gyazo.com/ac0c45c23ac5dd1c0249f9728f485806.png

This one hurts. Only against Spurs did we look even challenged up until the final. We played pretty well in the final too, but wasted a lot of chances. City took theirs and that was that. This was the first CL final since the game started that didn't involve Bayern too.

Squad stats:
https://gyazo.com/013df7a31092f49f306b9fa57755ae6a.png

[Mike]

https://i.imgur.com/94Wkbih.png

And we've just gone top of the League on goal difference after everyone's played 26 games.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've seen a lot of people complaining of crash dumps in journeyman style saves. Do they actually know what causes them? It makes me save like a mad man just incase I get one.

My season is over. Just before it ended I got some good news.

https://gyazo.com/6b58dd4e142d2887f046201866070fa9.png

The very first game in the new look stadium was to be a Champions League Semi Final 2nd leg against Barcelona no less. I got a message telling me the game was a sell-out and I noticed a button in the corner of the message. It allowed me to ask for another expansion. This is 2 days after the last one was completed.

https://gyazo.com/eca4bd6fb7635ff0e60442812d7959d8.png

Apparently they'll only take a few months to complete too. I would have asked for a new stadium but we're only in 2019 so we're not quite clear of the 20 year rule yet.

On the pitch it was good.

https://gyazo.com/772a0727a7c81f97a9603baf6eebbe74.png

The league was wrapped up well in advance. Helped by not having a challenger past Novembe. But it's 7 more points than last year and you'd be hard pressed not to win the Premier League with 89 points. We were shit in both domestic cups so that only left the Champions League.

https://gyazo.com/ac0c45c23ac5dd1c0249f9728f485806.png

This one hurts. Only against Spurs did we look even challenged up until the final. We played pretty well in the final too, but wasted a lot of chances. City took theirs and that was that. This was the first CL final since the game started that didn't involve Bayern too.

Squad stats:
https://gyazo.com/013df7a31092f49f306b9fa57755ae6a.png
They probably don't because they're fucking useless. I do save like a mad man (at least once a week) but they still fuck you over.

I think the last time I didn't get a dump in a Journeyman was 13 or 14 :(

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/ezKyl67.png

:cool:

We're a proper club now, sadly it's only a part time contract so he's still available to spout drivel for Sky.

[Baz]

After a very long hiatus from FM I've loaded it up but just can't get back into my Luton save. It's my fourth season, and first in the Premier League, so it should be interesting, but I'm just not bothered. :(

[Smiffy]

.....

[Mike]

8 points clear, 4 games left including playing PSG in the final game. It's very much mine to throw away now.

[Samadini]

Loaded up a game on the new update just to have a look at who'd been upgraded. Schmeichel has 19 kicking. :harold:

Lee will be chuffed.

I was going to start a new save with Newcastle the other day. Took one look at his and Vardy's stats and just shut the game down.

[Lee]

Fucking Schmeichel. When he was spooning balls into touch yesterday Alan Smith was banging on about it being unusual. I've seen him at the ground several times this season and have heard him commentate on a few of our aways so he must know he's talking bollocks. They're probably not allowed to slag any of our players off. If they're not going to get LAST DAY TITLE DRAMA then I suppose they still need the FAIRYTALE.

[Mike]

8 points clear, 4 games left including playing PSG in the final game. It's very much mine to throw away now.

https://i.imgur.com/odj5J6j.png

[Raoul Duke]

Utd will probably sign Schmeichel for £50m when Dave goes to Real

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/E2tupJp.png

What a squad we have :cool:

Oh and here is our best player:

http://i.imgur.com/gjR9mwo.png

My scouts say he is at 7th tier level in the English system so he should absolutely tear the 23rd tier a fucking new one.

[Gray Fox]

So assuming you get promoted every year you're looking at 24 seasons by the time you hit the BPLSBB. Are you trying to take the one club all the way or are you just trying to work yourself up to the top?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Take the mighty Hassocks all the way.

The lowest side that I've taken to the top before (and won everything there is to win) was Hitchin who were in the 7th tier.

[Gray Fox]

You'd best make sure that database is stable then just in case.

As for me, I've got season 5 at Southampton to shape up for. The Champions League final loss to City is still hard to take. But the board have given me £67m and a £2.4m wage budget(£1.5m currently) to spend. I've also got a new deal earning £54k p/w until 2023.

I could also sell Embolo for £40m+ and fans player of the year Digne could also go for £20m. The latter has 12 months left on his deal and after last season will easily want to double his current 50k p/w. I'd have money to burn if I cashed in.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Knowing FM, it will probably cave in the day before I can secure promotion to the Premiership.

[Gray Fox]

The offers are coming in. Zivkovic offers are low balling. Less than £20m for a guy who scored 22 in 22 in the league. Pfft.

It just got interesting for Embolo. City have made an opening offer of £59m.

EDIT:
https://gyazo.com/248f69ce44cfc0a17b39cf51e64fe24a.png

That's £36m straight away with £20m over 2 years and then £14m after 10 international appearances. Pretty hard to turn down that deal. Should be in the Swiss team for years yet.

https://gyazo.com/b1f306e7ed89317b8043bb336bdeae38.png

£20m up front, £5m for a year and then another £5m after 10 international appearances. He's tripled his wages and that's nearly £30m on a guy with one year left on his deal

I now have £134m to spend and about £1m p/w spare in wages.

[Mike]

https://i.imgur.com/odj5J6j.png

Finished the season:
https://i.imgur.com/DbdSQI6.png


https://i.imgur.com/iWc6bgo.png
https://i.imgur.com/ICLDIG3.png

https://i.imgur.com/MTJF10f.png
https://i.imgur.com/8ARdp2X.png

https://i.imgur.com/hkcI970.png

https://i.imgur.com/hzesApU.png

https://i.imgur.com/5Fk3EkC.png

https://i.imgur.com/V6kNA8I.png

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Here is our best youth:

http://i.imgur.com/otcv9t4.png

He can run around the pitch all day long (slowly), work well with his team mates and never fall over.

What a hero.

[Gray Fox]

So I think it's fair to say I've made a killing in selling players. A good European run can really work wonders for a players value.

Jones and Wilshere didn't play all too regularly. The others are being replaced by players promoted from the youth team too, hence why I've allowed them to leave.

https://gyazo.com/33366f972e80eae498fbb7d47674f275.png

I've not bought anyone yet but Zivkovic, Roberts, Van Dijk, Bentancur and Ward Prowse are all entering their final 12 months. Those first 2 could prove costly after the seasons they've just had too.

I do now have transfer funds of near £200m at my disposal and I've put the club in a very healthy shape. There's £170m in the bank with a stadium about to be upped to 50,000 seats and money coming in over the next few years to cover the loans used for the new board to take over way back in the day. There's talent here in all but one or two positions to see us out for the next 8-10 years at least.

I may have also discovered an almost cheat when it comes to contract deals. I'll report back after trying it out a few more times.

[Mike]

So I just found that if you let your contract expire the club just keeps you on a month to month deal, forcing me to resign.
https://i.imgur.com/9l1fZUc.png
https://i.imgur.com/gFn5x7D.png

[Mike]

Bienvenido a Boca
https://i.imgur.com/ll2U8TH.png

[Smiffy]

.....

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/esOiJuQ.png

http://i.imgur.com/44uNQIw.png

http://i.imgur.com/UQ5f4Ak.png

Our best player was Jesse Darko who never played for Cardiff City in his 3 seasons at the club, went on loan to AFC Wimbledon not doing anything, then pissed off to Greece for a few games before coming back to the 7th tier of England. We snapped him up from Kingstonian and he went bonkers:

http://i.imgur.com/8qSdNxI.png

I've pissed off the whole squad as I told them I plan on winning the next league which they disagreed with despite humping three teams in said league (including an 8-0 win), dickheads.

The reason we started so slowly is because I didn't bring any players into the club until the 28th of October.

Edit: The board gets me though:

http://i.imgur.com/jQtxn5x.png

Lads :cool:

[John Arne]

I didn't even realise that I was on such a run....

https://gyazo.com/c4c9dac518b4909032b6210f0d3f13ab.png

[Mike]

Three games into life at Boca...
https://i.imgur.com/7BbTPIe.png

[Gray Fox]

So you got full credit for that? Did the former manager get anything?

[Yevrah]

Why would he? They won it on Mike's watch.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/pDAWPuK.png

Our first former Premiership 'star' :drool:

http://i.imgur.com/twq4s8B.png

Good enough for League 2 says my assistant manager.

[Gray Fox]

Why would he? They won it on Mike's watch.

It does answer the question I've always had about a manager leaving just as his team is about to win a title. Is that the easiest anyone here has ever won a major trophy?

[Gray Fox]

So I counted 9 players that have made the move up from the youth squads to the senior team. The squad now looks like this:

https://gyazo.com/87e7f1f2f5bb8b555379c0a31e0493ec.png

It's very much youth oriented and I now have an average age of under 21. The problem is in the middle. There's a lot of players there who are 18/19 and need to start getting game time, hence why I included HG status. I don't want to loan them out because they're foreign and I need them as there's a lack of available English players. There's 27 players in the 1st team squad too so that could maybe use trimming by one or two. I've earmarked Januzaj to go as it'll hand Vincent below him more overall game time.
I'd also like to move JWP on. It's his renewal year but he wants to be on over £100k p/w. He's ranked 3rd of our MCs by my ass man, which also doesn't help him. The big factor for him is that he's an academy product and as mentioned, I quite need them.

I still have £190m to spend so it's not like issues can't be fixed. I was however wondering if it's a good idea to bring people like 39 year old Xavi in on a 1 year deal for essentially tutoring some of the other players? There's a few older guys like him kicking around with amazing mentals that could be passed down. I had Buffon tutor Ricci for a few months and it seemed to get a big rise in some of those mentals. Also, is it worth trying to have the same Tutor/Youngster repeat again or have the Tutor go around a few players?

[Mike]

So you got full credit for that? Did the former manager get anything?
Of course not, that chump guided them to 3rd half way through the season.

Why would he? They won it on Mike's watch.
Heck yes. was 2-0 down after the first leg of the semi final. I used all my knowhow from my days at Winterthur and Metz to turn things around.


The squad isn't very good, it's made up of half and 1 star players with lots of potential and 3 star players who won't get any better. Aim is to try win the league this season then perform a major overhall in the summer, or winter, I'm not sure whats what.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It is but I guess the slog is part of the fun.

I've been going a bit mental in terms of players. Every week I hoover up players in anticipation of my better players being poached, turns out that I've been hoovering them up far too fast. 114 players right now because so many players are rejecting offers.

Squad harmony is absolutely shot to shit too.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Not one but TWO current internationals in the squad :cool:

Although our Liechtensteiner goalie, Benji Buchel can't even get into the first team.

We are fucking mega.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm going to miss this chap when he eventually gets poached to warm the bench of an eighth tier side:

http://i.imgur.com/CbQCmu1.png

http://i.imgur.com/c28Tl9A.png

http://i.imgur.com/RtVCZy7.png

He's also reminded me of this thanks to his name:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYj5o4kQsXs

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/99ootw2.png

http://i.imgur.com/ZV9Vgmp.png

Kabongo added a hattrick in each of our last 2 games too, which took him up to 42 in 20. Legend.

The board has also decided to try and buy our stadium so shit is picking up on that side too.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Disco]

1.8k a week is surely mental at that level, are you at it again Smiffy?

[Smiffy]

.....

[Gray Fox]

I'm currently on one of those transfer hunts where you play about an hour without actually advance beyond a day. Checking all the u21/18 national sides takes a while but it sure can pay off.

I'm looking for a top class potential striker and centre back. The only problem is that Bayern and Madrid have the two best striker prospects and want about £50m each for them. Wolfsburg have the defender, but will only cite his £64m release clause.

[Gray Fox]

I've done enough trialing my little trick when it comes to contract talks. It's an obvious one but most seem not to do it.

The secret is to get the optional extension for 3 more years into every contract you negotiate. Only the most impatient of agents will get put off really quickly.
They usually respond by upping the wages another £10-20k p/w but it doesn't matter all too much. as I'll explain below.

Let's say for example you sign a player at 17 as that's the earliest a player can sign a professional deal in England. If you sign him to a 4 year deal and then add the clause for an extra 3, you have him tied down for 7 years. This takes him to the age of 24. By then you should more than know if he has a future with you. If he does then you probably want to negotiate before his last year, as he's going to be unhappy that he's been in your team for 5/6 years while still at the low wage you originally got him for. There's going to be a lot of bitching if he's one of the worse personalities. Luckily you will hopefully by this time have turned your team into somewhere he wants to stay. Be it title challengers or in Europe.

The idea is that now he's say 23, you're going to be doing your negotiation. Stretch out the contract length and add the clause again. You'll probably have to pay up here but you'll be tying him down for another 6/7 years, so adding another £10-20k p/w isn't greatly bad.

The idea is you're getting the player from 17 to 28 while not having to negotiate a new deal every 2-3 years. Instead you're only doing it the once to get your guy to the point where most people would be thinking of selling him. If you still want to keep him past 29 then he probably deserves his payday.
The obvious risk here is that he gets too pissed off to negotiate when going into his final year and you lose him for nothing. Or if he's a weaker personality his performances will suffer due to his unhappiness. But to me only potentially negotiating the once in his career makes this worth a go.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Baz]

Just played the second half of a match like this:

https://i.imgur.com/dRaTxDP.png

And there were zero highlights. Thankfully I was 2-0 up at half time.

[Gray Fox]

We seem to be playing transfer dominoes in my save, with strikers. I was looking to use my hefty bank balance to go out and buy someone top class up front. My ideal target was Dybala as he looks lethal but Chelsea turned down my near £60m offer to sell him to Madrid for £50m. Barcelona not to be outdone, followed up by buying Morata from Man City for £52m. United have bid £45m for Vietto too. I'm tempted to try and hijack this but I fear his wages may be close to double my current top earner.

The 2 options left for a big name beyond those are Alcacer who would cost in the 40's from Monaco or there's Icardi. He's the lowest valued of the lot however he has just recovered from a broken leg.

EDIT: Martial has now moved from Madrid to Arsenal to play up front with Higuain. Chelsea came in late and stole Vietto from United too. All going off.

[Gray Fox]

Has anyone here had this before? Is it something I should be greatly concerned about?

https://gyazo.com/983ad610a43ea22f9f227a4b6bd31863.png

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/2WHiSns.png

No idea how 'Um Bongo' hasn't been poached yet.

It's obscene how good he is at this level.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/8SvKSku.png

Firstly, why does an amateur player have an agent?

Secondly, I'm not entirely sure how going from £0 a week to £0 a week on an amateur contract is an improvement.

[Gray Fox]

I've forgot how long a pre-season can take when you take charge of all the friendlies. I've been very busy on the outs side of things.

https://gyazo.com/d45cb76d272a819fbd2ed04dd7c79cc3.png

I had wanted to stop at Reed but the 3 below were wanting new contracts. Virgil and JWP entering their final year too so to cash in that well was good to see. That's £215m in sales and other clauses in there could see that rise to close to £240m. Mental.

https://gyazo.com/d9e489ad6297d9a023bdc7272aa4cdfe.png

I replaced Virgil straight away with Vallejo. De Rossi is just coming in as a tutor/coach. If he actually plays something has gone badly wrong. Meyer was unsettled and I was able to pick him up relatively cheap. I had wanted to go out and buy a big name or two, but despite us winning the BPLSBB twice running, we're still not quite up there. The top names weren't too interested.

I'll spoiler the new names and lads being brought up from the youth teams below.


https://gyazo.com/38e3100379983cf7d32787d293f1a9b4.png

Had him on loan at Rangers and then Celtic(traitor). Rated as a wonderkid and a 6ft 2 full back is a handy thing to have.

https://gyazo.com/02c4c070c9847e6a51ed6fdb55299f3a.png

My assistant rates Penn as worse than Granger but his attributes look in a much better state despite being only 17. He actually played 19 games in the back end of last season to a 7.55 average rating so he's well in his depth even only at 17.

https://gyazo.com/d928558beee8fb1dd52ff7e02e409e6f.png

Another one who played the back end of last season. We picked him up for free after he left Malmo. He's never going to be a top centre back I think, but he'll be in and around the team for a while. He becomes our 3rd choice this season.

https://gyazo.com/8b9ea9fe3195f6073727a5cd9e3bcaac.png

I bought him the same time as Penn but I don't see such a great future for him. I couldn't find him a loan club last year and he spent all season in the u21's and it seems to have harmed him. He refused to go on loan this year and when you see a squad screenshot you'll see why that's hurt him.

https://gyazo.com/9762b56420a01c0c94d8626b80c63345.png

Fassione is another one in the joined last January club. But he sees a bigger role this year after a great impact in those 6 months. His 7.56 rating didn't show how good he was for us. He's a great passer and physically very good. Popped up with crucial goals in our run to the Champoins League final. One of the only players to come out of that loss with his credit left intact too.

https://gyazo.com/5f790b85c4154fc72164ddd1984fe972.png

You'd be forgiven at a glance to think I'd just posted the same player twice, but Ragusa is a little different. Mentally better but he needs a little work.

https://gyazo.com/7dbe43bdb830dbf86b8ad7738a0dea92.png

At this point you're probably seeing the problem I was hinting at earlier. This is a lot of players in the centre. I had hoped to loan a few out but oddly couldn't find clubs they'd go to.

https://gyazo.com/c3f1a5ed2c0965d02d7395b39a8cfcb4.png

Last of the midfielders to come up is the one my assistant thinks is the best, potential wise. But as you can probably tell I've got a job fitting them all into some game time.

https://gyazo.com/417a7396ae61d9dd20ba8791a462f460.png

He's been here a while developing nicely. I'd like to see him knock a few in, in the first team this year.

https://gyazo.com/6fe68d5429be811ec353351aa9a1ece9.png

Hibbert is deceptive. He doesn't blow you away until you realise how much growing room he apparently has. Now onto the transfers.


https://gyazo.com/8aa332c9eb4aee2d20a8cc8c53160ff0.png

Best as a false nine but I'm going to try and train him hard into a deep lying forward(which is what I use). Looks pretty decent for 16.

https://gyazo.com/8d5354f9ce7451135c6a9b9a447677ca.png

Cardoso is our back up right back and is another very good for his age. Another tall option at full back too. Very raw technically but very solid everywhere else. He's already played one game away against Everton and got a 7.9 rating. Bodes well for him.

https://gyazo.com/5998ab3ea4dec3433b1937972ecec5eb.png

Campos comes in to go straight back out on loan to feeder club Oviedo. He'd have been 5th choice here and is now getting regular games in the Spanish 2nd tier.

https://gyazo.com/ef4f3bf0e40022a5b3d63a691b329bc7.png

Last but not least our new 4th choice centre back. Plenty of potential and will play in the cups. Injuries could yet see him get some game time.

After all that it was time to get our Champion's League opponents and we got a relatively kind group.

https://gyazo.com/06abfa1bad90213978d440f1558beefb.png

We did get Dortmund again but the other two teams present winnable games. We could have gotten a much tougher group so we'll be looking to advance again.

We've still got over £150m of funds to spend with £169m in the clubs coffers. Stadium to be a 50,000 seater by November and the future looks very rosy.

[John]

Greatorex is one of those 'face in the game' players, I think. I've certainly noticed that name in more than one game before.

[Mike]

Easy this:
https://i.imgur.com/1uU8o6J.png

https://i.imgur.com/iiBXO1X.png

https://i.imgur.com/D0QE1Qy.png

[Smiffy]

.....

[Dark Soldier]

I just had that with a 5 star (four gold, one black) Scottish regen keeper at Torino, season 3. His determination went from 17 to 8, so I sold the prick for four mil to Arsenal. I've got a young Danish keeper who's a better prospect anyway.

[Dark Soldier]

Also its really fricking hard to break Juve's stranglehold in Italy. They just demolish everyone.

[Mike]

https://i.imgur.com/Lz2g0KL.png

Getting silly now.

[Gray Fox]

I wouldn't say so although I'd try tutoring him with someone who's a tad more professional and ask them to show him the ropes off the pitch.

Downside of having a squad full of 20 year olds is everyone is too young to tutor. I've googled and seen it happens randomly. It can affect one of a few stats although Determination is the usual one. I've seen people go from say 16 all the way down to 1.


Also its really fricking hard to break Juve's stranglehold in Italy. They just demolish everyone.

They're really dominating on my save too. Winning the league by 20 points almost every year. If I get bored at Southampton, breaking their hold could be a challenge.

[Mike]

Last one
https://i.imgur.com/T3PYMs6.png

:cool2:

[Dark Soldier]

Seriously look at this shit:

https://i.gyazo.com/5673d8dadddf0949963db0d28dee9224.png

Also look at the form bit. We would've won the league if my team hadn't decided to just go on fucking holiday for the final day and make us lose 2-0 away to fucking Empoli.

That's three second places in a row, two of them within three points. First season Juve won by about 15 points and we scraped second on the final day.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Gray Fox]

I wonder if they're hinting at something.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Smiffy, you might be the only person worse than me at FM finances.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Snap :(

[Disco]

Called it.

[John]

Mahow and Smiffy wanking every team into the ground is a theme of this thread. Long may it continue.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah but unlike Smiffy I'm usually able to get the club out of the shit.

At Fiorentina I kept swinging between huge amounts in debt and massively into the positive.

Making major bank at Keymer & Hassocks though :drool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/1TCjRaV.png

http://i.imgur.com/RywzHaY.png

It's a first for me, despite having some mega teams (the Anorthosis team was probably the most unbalanced I've had) I had never gone a season without losing before. As such I never thought I'd have a season where we won every single game but we've done it. We scored 87 league goals and only let in 8 during our 18 matches so we did it in style too.

Kabongo wasn't quite as lethal as the previous season where he averaged 2.1 goals per game but 61 from 34 isn't too shabby.

Counting on from last season we're on a 58 game winning streak now. Bonkers.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/gQHLd6a.png

http://i.imgur.com/GtMcaMz.png

The technical and mental stats:

http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/67/285x214/148498_1.jpg

The physical stats:

http://s.weltsport.net/bilder/spieler/gross/21814.jpg

What a signing.

[Gray Fox]

Bastards. Utter, utter bastards.

https://gyazo.com/b07543faca92ee165f0e51d796969874.png

[Gray Fox]

In the November international break my players almost all came back to me completely knackered just as you hit the 'game every 3 days until January' phase. As such we've been finishing with players regularly in the mid 50% area. This is leading to a lot of late goals conceded. One of them was crucial.

Scored by Enzo Perez of Marseille in the 93rd minute, it turned a 0-0 into a 0-1 defeat at home. Because of this we've not gone through. In fairness 8 points is an awful return, even in what turned out to be a tougher than expected group.

https://gyazo.com/b9d8c5d792082a56a7e748ea2064d3a9.png

We get Ajax in the Europa League. If we get through that it's Valencia or Spurs.

[Gray Fox]

Halfway through the season that started by me selling £220m worth of players. There's been a few bumps, like losing Ragusa for the season and the Champions League exit but it's looking okay.

https://gyazo.com/418f61fbb6ccd0ea57964b68fe93429f.png

Our last game was a smash and grab 1-0 win away at United. Butland was on fire in that game. Next game is Chelsea away and we can open up a comfortable gap with a win. City have really struggled this season and just sacked their manager a week ago. I've been forced into a 4-4-2 during some games which surprisingly worked so I started with it a few times and it seems to have some legs. I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to it fully though.
There's also some tasty free transfers available(Gotze is one, for example) with some good newgens on the transfer list. January should be fun.

St Marys now seats 54,000 too so good times.

[Mazuuurk]

Wroooong thread!

[Gray Fox]

https://gyazo.com/1bcf0aa154e0633f016bf0607352302a.png

This lad was available for £9.5m from Barcelona. Yet another South American joins the ranks. There's now 8 in the first team squad. There were 6 after Ragusa was demoted down to the u21s, but I've brought in Borghi and this chap below(£14m). Assistant reckons he's 4* CA already, but he joined injured for 5 weeks so we won't see yet.

https://gyazo.com/f9136e7a2d99868b7294142c3c62ce7f.png

I'm hoping this completes the full convert to 4-2-3-1.

Phil Coutinho is available too for about £35m. As a Liverpool fan and him being my favourite player I'm tempted to add a 9th South American.

[Dark Soldier]

Shit has gone a bit crazy on my Torino save. Midway through fifth season, 8 of my starting 11 are regens and over the past two season I've made £508mil from player sales. The three biggest being £68mil for Hirving Lozano to Real. I got Lozano on a free and he was my back-up left IF. I got that £68mil just as I snatched a still phenomenal Ronaldo from Real on a pre-contract and a £3.1mil buy now price lol.

Lozano:

https://i.gyazo.com/181a98b85eefa5a54626bbb093e843c7.png

The other two major sales are Mario Budimir to United, and Jhonatan Sanchez to Real, £57mil and £60mil respectively. Both regens with insane potential and fantastic stats but my youth teams aren't losing any games due to the talent I've got in my ranks.

Budimir:

https://i.gyazo.com/bbfed2f812babd232ce12633ca796350.png

Was sold as he complained, at the age of 18, that I wouldn't sell him to PSG for £25mil. Promptly put into the under-18s learning to be a sweeper and the dives into tackles PPM. Ended up offering him on loan, 250k a month with future fee of £60mil. United took him then offered me £57mil, which I snapped at.

Sanchez:

https://i.gyazo.com/62f22541e7ca69988caca9cd1241074d.png

Came in halfway through first season as a raw but clearly going to be good talent, he played seven games that year. Was always in or around the first team, but in the summer I evolved my tactic, moving the AMC to a F9 striker, so I had no need for him. Absolutely beasted it the last season, was sad to see him go but I already had two leading MCs.

My current cream of the crop:

https://i.gyazo.com/8f0062144cd7fe5c2502631ec102343c.png

Been there since first season, had 20 in det to begin with and he's just got better and better at an insane rate. Pretty much the best CB in the game currently.

https://i.gyazo.com/54b93636dcedc908662af72b57c6e44b.png

Cost me £27mil halfway through third season, with a loan back to Kiev til end. Turned up last season and cemented his place as my leading MC. Has another star of development at least.

https://i.gyazo.com/7215bc219ed0c9bd5e341d40ada7a5e9.png

Not quite a starter yet, but just brutal going forward due to dribbling and crossing. Another season or two and he'll dethrone Giraudo as starting LB.

https://i.gyazo.com/c7ca6eb8f71aa1937e6a4a240e3466ca.png

£13.5 mil from Roma two seasons ago, stepped up midway through last season and now pushing to be my star AMR. At least two more stars of development.

https://i.gyazo.com/68524c2058a4d5124ca767554b7c0645.png

Been tutored by Ronaldo, and will be again. At least two stars of development and my coaches and scouts went ballistic over him. £6mil from Colo Colo end of second season, broke into main squad midway through last term after a great loan at Livorno.

And my jewel, purely from name alone and the fact that he is easily my best player performance wise. Just batters the opposition:

https://i.gyazo.com/64e972c4b1c189fa4f8771130d708b22.png

£15mil from Mineiro end of third season. Had to train him to play AMR as he was weak there. Been a regular ever since. Phenomenal.

Two biggest prospects:

https://gyazo.com/1dbdcef420eb3cf14bb41135e5c34196.png

£10mil at 16 from Ajax. Scouts went mental for him, probably going to end up the best keeper in the game (Dragowski is my current number one, and fucking brilliant he is too).

https://i.gyazo.com/d141804d7793fe6ab10343f93163fad7.png

Already voted European Golden Boy despite not too many appearances. Already the Czech's third best player for the country, and being trained to be a F9 for me. A ton of potential still and has been four gold, one black potential since joining at 17 (£2.6mil from Plzen).

There's a shit ton of others I could list, but the post would be huge. Genuinely into this game, we're loaded (just over £400mil in the bank, have no reason to buy anyone but youth anymore (unless Messi/Suarez/Newmar become available, despite the age of the first two) and am currently the fourth biggest team in the world after winning absolutely everything the past 18 months.

Board has also gone mental and we now bring in about £90mil a season from sponsorship alone. Goal is to make Torino the greatest ever, then fuck off to manage the increasingly fucked Man United.

[Dark Soldier]

Oh and I'm also gonna spunk £80mil + on Odegaard because why the fuck not.

[Gray Fox]

Dark Soldier can you transfer some of those over to my save please?

I'm thinking it's because I didn't change all the youth levels before I started this save but for example, Budimir that you just sold is far better than any newgen striker in my save that my scouts have found, and I think we're about the same distance into the future.

[Dark Soldier]

Yeah every country is set to 200, as in every save I play, and my current training facilities can't be improved any. Plus all my coaches through all youth levels are at least four star in something so development is quick if you give them time in the main squad.

I follow the old technique of scouting intake days like a lunatic, then giving any amazing youth a good sign on fee to get them immediately so they're with me essentially from being created in game.

I've noticed AI developed youth, bar the odd one or two, take forever to reach a high level.

Using Genie Scout shows Budimir at 174 ability and 191 potential. Woulda been around 160ish when I sold him.

Soto is 197 potential and has the chance to be the second best player on the game behind prime Messi :drool:

[Gray Fox]

You can snatch them on the day they're created? Did not know that. I thought you have to wait until the following transfer window to get them.

[Dark Soldier]

Well yeah you have to wait til the window, but you can make them yours the day they're created. Pre-contracts because yoof innit. Generated March or whatever, will be in your youth side June or July.

[Dark Soldier]

Also the setting youth to 200 thing is special as Africa shits out potential world greats everywhere, and the next wannabe God like left back on my game is Crimean ffs.

Means you end up a few years down the line with potential world beaters galore leaving Harbour Point and Wagwan Massif or whatever on frees.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Dark Soldier]

I don't play that many serious games tbh, if I was going for a huge career I'd play the game exactly as intended. Floods the markets with phenomenal talent in the shortish term (5-10 years) though.

Going off Genie Scout there's around four world beaters at 190+ potential spawned per year, and an absolute shit ton in the 170 to 190 range.

[Baz]

On our three player save I got sacked from Liverpool early doors :baz: and have ended up at SR Colmar in the murky depths of the French league. We play in lime green and have one good player, Youseff "Good Boy" Traore, who I'm hopin I can sell to one of the interested Greek teams to start my rebuild. Just finished the first season and came 11th out of 18.

[Baz]

Meanwhile on my Luton save:

http://www.littlemonstersforum.co.uk/images/q/3cinhyj3.png

19 year old Romanian regen that John complimented. He could be posting Ronaldo numbers soon. :drool:

He's valued at £9m now but has a £23.5m minimum fee release clause. Hopefully I can get rid of it, or at least increase it, at the end of the season.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Baz]

Getting a bit annoyed at the players the press are linking me too. Sure we're Luton Town and sure we're atrocious, but somehow it's December and I'm in 4th with a legitimate title challenge, yet they link me to tat like Grenada's Dani Romera. :nono:

[John]

Getting a bit annoyed at the players the press are linking me too. Sure we're Luton Town and sure we're atrocious, but somehow it's December and I'm in 4th with a legitimate title challenge, yet they link me to tat like Grenada's Dani Romera. :nono:

I get the opposite problem in my Zagreb save. I'm linked with about four world class players a year, despite us still being in an incredibly low ranked league and me not buying anyone at all. It's not a big problem in real terms, but it kills the immersion somewhat.

[Mike]

So having won EVERYTHING EVER at Boca in the space of three months, this has happened
https://i.imgur.com/794iUkB.png

Winterthur > Metz > Boca > Manchester United.

:D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Another season done.

Sadly Kabongo wasn't the lethal force he was in the past 2 seasons, partly because he was injured a lot and then was shifted out wide to make way for this monster:

http://i.imgur.com/cWKNCA2.png

Coaches say he'd be a leading player at League 1 level so he's clearly a bit too good for where we are.

http://i.imgur.com/aTH9YrA.png

That's what he managed but I think he's going to absolutely don everyone senseless next year.

http://i.imgur.com/FjbcSA1.png

Win streak is now at NINETY FOUR which is pretty mental. We also scored 2 more goals and conceded 3 less in the league.

Bank balance is up to just a touch under £750k too. I honestly don't know when a team might be able to challenge us, we're probably looking at the conference.

[Mike]

Wish I had the patience for a super lower league save. Would love to take St Helens to the top.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It's all worth it when you finally hit the big time.

Before that though it's just getting through so many shitty seasons.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Gray Fox]

Last game of the season v Man Utd at home.

https://gyazo.com/e88f9c214c1984c292962fd311d0ca65.png

Squeaky bum time.

[Gray Fox]

https://gyazo.com/9dadda2a5d698908bff496ec274b5026.png

That got very. very tense at the end.

[Mike]

Even on FM I couldn't bring myself to touch that shower, Mike. That's a save ender.

Ha, normally I'd stay away but the aim of my save is to simply win the CL having started at a tiny club.
They're loaded, have a massive stadium, a good squad and wanted a top half finish!

[Mike]

This united squad are in such a bad state. They've hardly any home grown players, or even players trained in England. The money is so bad too that they just blocked me selling a player are they couldn't afford his compensation. They're a joke.

[John]

That's reasons one and three for joining them out the window.

[Gray Fox]

At least they still have a big stadium?

[Mike]

They do. Sorted them out. Sold £107m worth of players, most on big wages too. Easy. Signed 4 players all signed in England too to make up the numbers.

I signed these:
https://i.imgur.com/5sZXU4Y.png

While selling these.
https://i.imgur.com/RH8Um8E.png

[Gray Fox]

Season is over with now. Won a 3rd straight manager of the year, Idris won PFA player of the year and oddly we only got 2 players in the team of the season (Idris and R. Zivkovic). The latter came 2nd behind Hazard for the golden boot. He's been going mental in terms of goals this save.

Squad stats:

https://gyazo.com/f89a8e47071c013d9e6c24852b736a32.png

There's a big problem now in lack of English in the team. In terms of the home grown rules, we are okay as some of those Jonny Foreigners were signed in time to get them status. Might have to sign up some English this summer.
Goals were nicely spread through the team although only 2 players hitting double figures is a little concerning. You could really feel our lack of of presence up front when Zivkovic was out. I was really hoping the two young lads up front would come on a bit, but it might be time to cut our losses soon.

Been given £164m to spend with a wage budget of £2.4m. 900k of that wage is still free so I might end up trying to add a big name if possible.

[John]

That's the lowest potential star rating I've ever seen on Zivkovic. Assuming that's not one of those glitchy ratings which pop up now and then I'd probably look to bin him and make a new striker your big name.

Haven't played this in about a fortnight but I think I'll boot it up tonight.

[Gray Fox]

He's an odd one, his potential rating does go up and down through the season. It is based on Piccareta, my assistants rating (17JA, 17JP) so that could be why.

Actually finding a striker is proving difficult. Most of the big real names moved last year for crazy money. While there are no younglings that have properly developed on yet. I may be about to steal one from Chelsea though in the first instance of actually talking to a player to convince him to join working.

EDIT: He signed a new deal with Chelsea :moop:

[Gray Fox]

After the promising English striker rejected me I've had a look around. The following are the best 3 available. Well, that didn't want £60m for their 18 year old...

Luca Dornbusch
Bid accepted for £16m(He's on loan from Dortmund) wants £28k a week.

https://gyazo.com/c6596f26f1818e5f0000f0b9690b1c56.png

Uche Kalu
Bid accepted for £22.5m plus clauses(currently on loan from Juventus). Wants £50k a week

https://gyazo.com/bd77a8a3dc2d8008de394c97f6f8bf2c.png

Jurica Milic
Bid accepted for £15.5m although the cheeky scamp came in with £140k p/w as his opening wage negotiation. And a £30k appearance fee.
Those physicals are tempting me to work out a deal but that's not a great starting point.

https://gyazo.com/d25a6844d31b4b48b23605c74f2ed8e1.png

[Baz]

How good is FM :drool:

Considering most of us have been playing it for 20 years and will probably continue to do so for another twenty if they continue to make it. Such a massive part of my life.

[Raoul Duke]

I'd take Kalu out of those three, Gray Fox. He's got the best determination, natural fitness and most of the striking attributes and is the best balance in terms of age and development potential, for me.

[Gray Fox]

I'd take Kalu out of those three, Gray Fox. He's got the best determination, natural fitness and most of the striking attributes and is the best balance in terms of age and development potential, for me.

I've gone with him. The guy with the ridiculous wages, wanted ridiculous wages. Go figure. He wanted £140k p/w with that rising to £205k p/w as a squad status of Hot Prospect. I set it to Rotation and knocked him down to £50k and his offer upped to £190k to 'befit the squad status offered.' Prick.
I've actually trailed Uche when he was at Lens and matched Juventus' offer but he chose them as I was a 10th place team at the time. Unfortunately he's not really played since then, (https://gyazo.com/dfa1c576e8ee253a63b0e001c351eb90) But at 19 there's still time to save him.

The AI really does seem shit at developing the star newgens it gets.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/2JCDnFT.png

http://i.imgur.com/MBDGrIs.png

Scenes, although it's pretty fucking boring. I really hope we'll get some actual competition soon but I doubt it, we're still only in the 19th tier and could possibly go another 10 years or so without winning which is utterly mental.

[Gray Fox]

I'd imagine you'll get through the divisions pretty easily, just whether you lose momentum with the save. After all in 10 seasons, you'll still realistically be another 10 years from the big time. Maybe next time don't go so far down?

My own quest for another striker has come up with 2 final options.

Tércio
£14m offer accepted and he'd be on £37k p/w for 8 years.

https://gyazo.com/02fe0c9681f453b70186669b01ab413d.png


Sergio Rodriguez
Mine for £7m and less than £20k a week.

https://gyazo.com/94c1911c5871efdde8f6e6c54de73871.png

I'm thinking of going for Rodriguez. Unless I fully commit to 2 up top then I can only really take one of them. Tércio has him technically, but does have 2 years on him. Rodriguez has him elsewhere though. He lacks as much presence in the box but he already has high off the ball and anticipation. He also looks like he could be quite fast. A lot of things the game seems to love in a striker.

[John]

Rodriguez is the man there. The right development focus and he's Inzaghi.

[Reg]

Rodriguez. He's cheaper, younger and better.

[Sam]

Do you not just use the instant results button for that Mahow? Makes life easier.