The Football Manager Thread

[Manc]

I've got these two lads tied up on bosmans for the summer.

http://i.imgur.com/7EKhTwv.png http://i.imgur.com/lfkgrGi.png

Woof.

[John]

As expected, the board's stingy bullshit has left me a bit short and their idiocy in building a thirty million quid stadium financed entirely using loans for a club with a turnover less than that has left the club losing money at a tremendous rate. The loans weren't even due for repayment once the stadium is done, so I'm paying off a thirty million quid loan with a six thousand seater stadium. Arsene Wenger would shit himself.

We're off to an inexplicably good start to the season, and I've had a 'best of his generation' player through the youth ranks who actually looks like amounting to something, so that softens the blow.

http://i68.tinypic.com/210hd13.png

http://i66.tinypic.com/2uiye1i.png

Considerably better than my current left back, but the fact that I have no chance of signing him means he'll be a rotation player at best. Essentially signed to allow Paulo Henrique to move into the centre of defence on a permanent basis.

http://i65.tinypic.com/24ecbdh.png

Signed to be a third choice for the season and give me some time to find a defender with enough quality for the six quid my board will allow, but an injury to Luftner right before the season started means he'll be a first choice for at least three months. Another one I have no chance of signing.

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

My only proper signing of the summer, and he's a cracker. Will step straight into the defensive midfield role, taking Fransergio's place, but I don't expect it to last. He immediately put a non-negotiable release clause of nine million in his contract so he'll be on his way for less than his value at some point. I'm not particularly upset about that though, it's still a huge profit.

http://i65.tinypic.com/seshz6.png

This one is a signing from last January, but I didn't do a transfer thing at the time and he's notable enough to mention. I'll admit I didn't notice his height until after he'd signed, but it hasn't been a particular problem. Neither my attacking midfielder nor my wingers have much call for aerial duels so he just sets about teams on the deck and usually takes them apart. A lovely little player, signed on a free.

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

The next big thing in Portuguese football, apparently. He's already made a couple of appearances, scoring one and setting one up in about sixty minutes off the bench, making him the youngest ever Maritimo player and goalscorer. I thought he might have taken that record in the Europa League too, but it turns out Rangers fielded a kid a few days shy of his fifteenth birthday a few years ago, which is laughable.

Marius Lundemo has become a bit of a wanker in this version, it seems. Any time I've signed him in the past he's been a model professional, but in this one he's been agitating for a move for about a year now. He's currently valued at £7.25m but seems to think anything north of three is perfectly reasonable and starts pissing. If he wasn't still comfortably the best midfielder I have he'd be spending the rest of his contract in the reserves.

[wullie]

Zinedine Zidane is West Brom boss on mine, it's only the start of the fourth season.

[John]

He's at Academica for me. He's the twat taunting me with that Nuno Rolo bloke on the last page.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Smiffy]

.....

[Giggles]

Is that right?

http://i66.tinypic.com/28tsfp.jpg

[Giggles]

About to go into the second season. Major ins and outs and the current squad. I wanted to trim down to allow some of the U21's in, though the squad (Bentacur in particular) are going batshit because I sold Wanyama.


http://i64.tinypic.com/15xn2n9.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/20f53qb.jpg

[Smiffy]

.....

[Baz]

After a sulky hiatus (lost my first game 6-0) I'm back on FM16. C'mon sheff wed. I've signed Alexander Baumjohann.

[Baz]

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

:stamford:

[Clunge]

My guess would be they're separate things:

FM Touch (included) is the version which works with touchscreen computers (as in things like the Surface) which can also use touch. It'll will be the same game, but with a touch-friendly UI.

FM Touch for say iOS or Android is the same thing, but you don't automatically get that (otherwise there wouldn't be much call for it as a separate thing as surely most people own the desktop version?).

So, if you want to have it on both formats, and don't have a touchscreen PC then you need to purchase both.
As I suspected really, SI's info on this is so shit and unclear.

I decided just to buy FM16 in the end (£24 off CDKeys post pre-order ain't bad at all) and will get Touch for tablet later, I think.

[Smiffy]

.....

[John]

Some January business.


http://i66.tinypic.com/11si9h3.png

Signed on a free transfer, he immediately becomes the best goalkeeper in the squad. Jose Sa is likely to kick up a fuss if he's replaced as number one though so I'll try to rotate them until the end of the season. My 'buy to sell' plan has already taken a hit, with Fabio Sturgeon heading off to Bursaspor on a free, so I need to make up some ground with Sa. He's been in the last couple of Portugal squads so hopefully he manages a cap in the back half of the season to boost his value.

http://i64.tinypic.com/2hgu48w.png

Another free transfer, he's part of my ongoing quest to stumble arse backwards into a good defender. I'll be putting him out on loan for a bit, but there's a disparity between my scout's opinion and the coach report which suggests I might have signed a dud.

http://i67.tinypic.com/259x5wn.png

Now we're talking. This one was arranged about two years ago when he was on an unsecured contract, and will end up costing me a bit over three million quid plus a cut of whatever he sells on for. He's off on international duty until a few days into February, which is a bastard, but I'm looking forward to seeing him develop.

I've also arranged the signing of Zach Clough on a free in the summer.

[John]

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

:dance:

[Smiffy]

.....

[Smiffy]

.....

[John Arne]

Well, after I was about to complain that the 'talk to player to persuade him to enter contract negotiations' was a waste of time... it worked for the first time!

Are Benfica a super club on anyone else's game? The produce about 10 world class regens a year on my game. Their B team is probably the 4th or 5th best team in Europe.

[John]

They're excellent in my game but I haven't noticed them producing any obviously world class newgens yet, never mind a full team of them. That said I haven't really been playing long enough for any club to establish itself as a proper quality farm.

In terms of buying newgens I've been doing fairly well on my tiny budget, but Sporting have fucked me with a single purchase, and it's one I could have afforded.

http://i65.tinypic.com/raxoj5.png

£125k in the summer.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Manc]

Some January business.


http://i66.tinypic.com/11si9h3.png

Signed on a free transfer, he immediately becomes the best goalkeeper in the squad. Jose Sa is likely to kick up a fuss if he's replaced as number one though so I'll try to rotate them until the end of the season. My 'buy to sell' plan has already taken a hit, with Fabio Sturgeon heading off to Bursaspor on a free, so I need to make up some ground with Sa. He's been in the last couple of Portugal squads so hopefully he manages a cap in the back half of the season to boost his value.

I've also arranged the signing of Zach Clough on a free in the summer.

That keeper looks nifty, as does Cloughy on my save.

How are you finding the domestic competitions? As aforementioned the amount of stars Benfica & Porto seem to produce is substantial.


Can someone help me set up the scouting? I'm thinking if I subscribe to all the top clubs, U19's competitions then I should be able to scout when they kick off. I can't help but feel I'm not getting the most out of it..

I've had success scouting international youth tournaments & qualifying.

[John]

Marius Lundemo is off to Spurs for £13.75m, his release clause. That should fund the club until the end of next season when we move to the new stadium, particularly since I'm only getting half of it to spend on replacing him. The board are lucky I'm shit hot.

Incidentally, Stevanovic had a bit of a bitch at me for letting Lundemo go, which seems incredibly stupid. Not only was his fee met, so I had no say in the matter, but the player had been agitating for a move for months. When it came time for me to tell him that, there was no option for 'he wanted to leave, pipe down you whinging twat'. That needs fixed.

As for the fourth season, that ended up being a bit of a disappointment. We finished second, the best yet, but were it not for a couple of inexplicable collapses during the season outside of which we were pretty flawless, we'd have won it. Even allowing for those I could have won it on the last day, though that would have required beating Benfica away, which is difficult. Out of both cups by March, out of the Europa to Ajax, and lost the league on the last day to Benfica. Not the best.

[Palmer]

Having one last pop at the perennially frustrating task of doing anything even remotely remarkable with Stockport. I always seem to get bogged down in League 1, and the fact we start off in the Conference North isn't making things any easier to be honest.

Thus far I've survived a board takeover from 'local businessman' Jose Maria Del Nido (Who I assume owns the tapas bar in Didsbury), who was kind enough to pump a substantial abount of Pesos in to the club ,and proudly sit atop the league after 14 games, more through sheer luck than any semblance of skill. Fingers crossed it continues.

[John]

That keeper looks nifty, as does Cloughy on my save.

How are you finding the domestic competitions? As aforementioned the amount of stars Benfica & Porto seem to produce is substantial.

Clough looks shit hot. Absolutely incapable of jumping (4), but as I've mentioned before my tactic doesn't call for a lot of aerial balls so he should manage just fine. Has 15/16 for everything I want in a striker in this system, so he should do very well.

I played with Maritimo on a previous version so I'm used to employing the 'buy to sell' model while trying to keep a coherent side at the same time. I've finished 6th, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, so there's a general upwards trend, and I reckon I'm in with a good shout of winning the league this year.

[Manc]

http://i.imgur.com/BC5mApQ.png

As I was referring to. Portuguese domination.

8 games in Europe so far and were unbeaten having played Inter, PSG & Dortmund home and away. Woof.

[Bernanke]

http://i.imgur.com/SdrAK29.png?1

Did this kid change his name to make it in football?

[Gray Fox]

Wanted to pull my hair out at this. Kept making changes to plug gaps and it just wasn't working. Finally gave up and just set us to contain in the 58th minute.

https://gyazo.com/0d1829d61a1cb0f90384148a397fd8b2.png

What the fuck? Still I'm nearly in January and Mane wants to go to Manchester. If they cough up £40m+ I'll be tempted. The defence needs some work and I need a consistent striker.

[Clunge]

Okay, about to boot up my first game in FM16. Who are this year's Balantas, Lucas Romeros, Kennedy Bakiroggllgygyggiggooggopugus, To Madeiras, etc?

[Bernanke]

Okay, about to boot up my first game in FM16. Who are this year's Balantas, Lucas Romeros, Kennedy Bakiroggllgygyggiggooggopugus, To Madeiras, etc?

Andrija Zivkovic and Kristoffer Ajer are the most obvious cases of bargain buys that become world class. Balanta and Romero are still up there as well.

[Greg]

Breel Embolo from Basel. 72 goals in 97 games for my Arsenal side.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Baz]

I've started again. Luton.

[Reg]

CMS' pace up front should do some damage in that league, Baz.

Smith, you could definitely get second from there with the games in hand, which would be no shame given Man City are having one of those indestructible seasons.

[Gray Fox]

Any one else getting fucked off with all the back post cross goals?

[Smiffy]

.....

[Reg]

Fair point.

[Manc]

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

:moop:

90 points should be enough to win the title, but it's going to take something special to surpass a City side that won the lot this season. Mourinho's side lashed us 6-1 in the FA cup and for a successive season Benfica put an end to our European campaign. Adding to our woes, over the summer we lost Balanta due to wp issues and main man Lincoln to Madrid as they met his £50m release clause.

http://i.imgur.com/6BuIOTN.png

On the plus side Ferati, Oliver Torres & Vlasic all signed new deals and a pre season tour of Asia suggests the Italian (http://i.imgur.com/7EKhTwv.png) duo (http://i.imgur.com/lfkgrGi.png) may bed in quickly.

[Baz]

CMS' pace up front should do some damage in that league, Baz.I've tried to bin him off but had no takers.

[Gray Fox]

https://gyazo.com/10770ef29b5a88322606e5d9de55f904.png

1st Season done and it was infuriating at times. 60 goals conceded and not a thing I could really do about it. We also don't really have a proper striker here. The inside forwards were bagging the goals.

I wasn't looking forward to much of a transfer kitty but have been surprised to see the wage budget up from £1.1m to £1,3m p/w with a spending budget of £37m. I'm thinking more established names this time around.

[Gray Fox]

Rugani of Juventus was unsettled through only playing 2 games last year. I had managed to get them to about £10m + Wanyama. Everything was set to go through right up until Wanyama rejected Juventus. Rugani has now agreed a deal with PSG and I'm listing Wanyama this very second.

[Giggles]

Rugani of Juventus was unsettled through only playing 2 games last year. I had managed to get them to about £10m + Wanyama. Everything was set to go through right up until Wanyama rejected Juventus. Rugani has now agreed a deal with PSG and I'm listing Wanyama this very second.

That went so badly for me.

[Gray Fox]

Listing Wanyama or buying Rugani?

[Giggles]

Did an 'offer to clubs' with Wanyama and sold him to Bournemouth. Most of the squad went ape-shit and had to have team meetings and all that. 3 or 4 are still unhappy 5 weeks later.

[Toby]

Things getting a bit silly towards the end of this season:

http://i.imgur.com/NhPMX79.png

Last three games are Everton (A), City (H) and QPR (A), so it's unlikely we'll sneak fourth but very much in our hands. Also into the FA Cup Final where we'll play QPR again.

[Toby]

It's getting sillier... We pumped Everton, Spurs lost to West Ham and Watford beat Liverpool 5-0, so we're third on goal difference.

[Giggles]

Looking decent in my 2nd season. Between a fit Jay Rodriguez and adding Kacper Przybylko on deadline day, goals are easier to come by now. League form is good and the cups/europe have been poor but I've basically sacked them off with my team selections.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2rrxgea.jpg

[Giggles]

Also, I need to stop using tinypic and start using imgur.

[Gray Fox]

After not wanting to do much business I may have gone a little overboard.

[Baz]

Also, I need to stop using tinypic and start using imgur.Get ClipUpload (http://clipupload.net/).

[Giggles]

Get ClipUpload (http://clipupload.net/).

I opened that and have absolutely no idea what it actually does. All I want is the IMG link so I think I need something far less convoluted than that looks.

[Baz]

It's honestly the easiest way to upload screenshots. Once it's installed you simply choose to use Imgur. Then right click on it in the system tray and choose Drag Screenshot, then click and drag your mouse to draw a box around whatever you want to take a screenshot of. It'll upload and automatically copy the link to your clipboard, ready to be pasted onto the forum.

[Giggles]

Sounds great in theory but when I went to install I had a load of stuff checked like ftp and all that guff that I have no idea about so I had to cancel. I'll just stick a shortcut to Imgur in my bookmarks bar.

[Clunge]

Are there no youth teams in FM Touch?

[Toby]

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

Is my game faulty? Am I missing a patch or something?

[Foe]

Started an FM15 game as Fulham because I was bored. Was going quite well until Chelsea knocked 8 past my full strength side in the capital one cup. :cab:

Never seen anything like it. The majority of the goals came from corners/long throws.

[Giggles]

http://i.imgur.com/x9lXth2.png

[Giggles]

Yeah imgur definitely > tinypic.

[Clunge]

The injuries in this version are fucking savage. I've just had EIGHT players ruled out in a single week, three with thigh strains.

[Clunge]

Make that nine; torn groin muscle, eight weeks out.

[Giggles]

I've just had Fonte and Bentacur asking to leave in the space of 2 days :moop:

[Toby]

I've gone from constant praise about good management of finances to completely ballsing up somewhere. At the end of the season there was a message about my initial transfer budget being c.£40mil, but I made one £9-10mil transfer and lined up another £19-ish million transfer, which it suddenly told me I'd have to delay as I only had £17 million left.

I've pretty much covered it with a quick firesale of shit from the reserves (which should have happened ages ago anyway) but it's a bit frustrating as I'd hoped to bring in at least one more.

[Baz]

Started the season without a good goalkeeper. Was playing some bloke called Elliot Justham and he was actually doing okay. Injured for 2 weeks now though and the one I decided would be sub is out for six, so I'm stuck playing this man:

http://www.littlemonstersforum.co.uk/images/q/tp1hmgf9.png

2 silver star current ability with half a gold star potential. :face:

[Gray Fox]

Well after a lot of wheeling a dealing I'm finally at the first fixture of the season. Hopefully no Europa League means I should power on through this season. Ins and outs are as follows:

https://gyazo.com/f84dbe107f418c3fd4d771035686a8dd.png

I wanted to add some star names but will have to settle for some stars of the future. I came so very close to stealing Rugani which would have been a coup, but Wanyama was for some reason put off by Juventus and the deal fell through. I then looked at Stones but United have spent the best part of £40m on him. I'm still looking for a CB now as I expect Fonte will start to decline this year, but they are in short supply. Benteke was listed at Liverpool and I'd imagine even if he flops I'll make most of that cash back. Other than that they were all promising youngsters, but for Trippier who was brought in to be a back up. He's now 1st choice though thanks to the outs.
When City come calling my players don't half bitch and moan. They'd made a bid for Cedric of about £5m which I laughed off, so he spat his dummy at not moving. Thankfully we got them to triple their deal. Then comes Wanyama. After the Rugani debacle City came in with a bid for him. I rejected and it was then I noticed he was in his contracts last year. He refused to negotiate so I had to sell him on. The rest is basically deadwood and players who wouldn't get a sniff going forward.

I may not quite be done either. Both Rodriguez and Clasie want out, with Mané not far behind. I've convinced Clasie to stay one more year to push for Europe. But I may be tempted to cash in on the other 2 if I can bring in about £60m.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Bernanke]

http://i.imgur.com/O4KnnMz.jpg?1

Please Atletico, I'm not THAT dangerous.

[Giggles]

Jay Rodriguez is a fucking monster in this. Had he not been injured for a lot of last season I'd have coasted to top four.

14 games, 10 goals, 6 assists, 5 man of match awards, and averaging 7.79.

[Manc]

Well after a lot of wheeling a dealing I'm finally at the first fixture of the season. Hopefully no Europa League means I should power on through this season. Ins and outs are as follows:

https://gyazo.com/f84dbe107f418c3fd4d771035686a8dd.png
.

Roberts & Tielemans are top signings. Benteke on the other hand.

[John]

Patrik Camilo, who signed at Christmas and quickly became my most effective attacking player, is out for the season. :moop:

Hopefully ten months out with a fucked cruciate doesn't kill his development too completely.

[Giggles]

I've just agreed to let Pelle go for €750k to LA Galaxy in February. Between getting away from using a target man, buying Przybylko, and him hitting 33, it was time to move him on despite the 20+ goals last season.

[Giggles]

Are there any repercussions for sending out the kids in a league game in this from the board? I'm in the Christmas period have an on-fire Man Utd away but I played Swansea 2 days ago and have Liverpool in 3 days time. I've no chance of getting anything at Old Trafford but I am fearful of the board going apeshit if I rest the whole first team and get walloped 8-0 or something.

[John]

I doubt it. They'll be pissed off if you get bummed 8-0 no matter what squad you've put out.

[Giggles]

I'll take it.

http://i.imgur.com/FGPsN5z.png

[hfswjyr]

Hi gents. What's the cheapest place to get FM16 on Steam?

[John]

http://i66.tinypic.com/28wkn5j.png

Top, top hair.

[Giggles]

Hi gents. What's the cheapest place to get FM16 on Steam?

I paid €30 on CD Keys. It was close to €50 anywhere else I looked.

[Giggles]

:cool:

I'm out of contract myself in June and have knocked back two offers so far.

http://i.imgur.com/8ZrV9iE.png

[John]

Romeo Sensini. :D

[Giggles]

Romeo Sensini. :D

Can't beat a wily old Italian. Though I have the age a bit off.

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

[GS]

He needs only one nun to help him out of a chair.

[John]

Lol at Brendan Rodgers being amongst your footballing mates. That must be killing you.

[Giggles]

He's shitting it up at Villa currently so it's all good.

I did call him one of the good guys in football though, which hurt just a little.

[Bernanke]

Meet Argentinas next star goalkeeper.

http://i.imgur.com/oPVzbVO.png?1

Shorter than Messi.

https://media.giphy.com/media/5YF9dwGZ29rVe/giphy.gif

[Giggles]

I'm not sure how much he'd cost at the start of the game but Joel Pohjanpalo is absolutely banging them in for West Ham in my current save in 2019 and is valued at €31m.

[John]

Summer business 2019.

http://i64.tinypic.com/2cffuh2.png

http://i64.tinypic.com/16jiqev.png

Shit hot.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2q1axau.png

The scout who found him came back furiously wanking, and his form for Egypt suggests the dirty bastard may have been right. Off out on loan for the moment but he'll hopefully be ready to start playing a part next season.

http://i67.tinypic.com/i6ldsi.png

My quest to stumble on a decent defender was ended when an agent turned up with this geezer having just been released by a second division Brazilian outfit. Goes straight into the first team.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2q2mwqh.png

Replaces Marius Lundemo on the extreme cheap from an Argentine side, having come through the youth ranks of the brilliantly named 'Chaco For Ever', perhaps the only football club ever named by a smitten thirteen year old. He's been on my shortlist for about eighteen months and his passing has jumped up three in that time, so his growth seems suitably quick.

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

:drool:

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

A loan deal to offset the loss of Patrik Camilo to injury, he looks handy enough that I shouldn't actually miss Camilo too much.

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

A signing for squad depth and nothing more. Won't get a game unless Guilavogui becomes an amputee.

The season has started well. We fucked PAOK in the first Champion's League qualifier, and then squeezed past Dortmund on away goals in the last one. A group of Man City, Leverkusen, and Ajax doesn't bode particularly well, but I'll hopefully make the Europa League at least.

[Giggles]

Do you have other facepacks installed John? I did a search for Clough in my game and he has a different photo.

[Baz]

Clough looks like that in my game.

[John]

Nope, that's the default picture. Didn't you dick around with a load of stuff from 'Susie' or wherever to begin with?

[Giggles]

Nope, that's the default picture. Didn't you dick around with a load of stuff from 'Susie' or wherever to begin with?

Just logos and kits, I never touch facepacks.

Maybe he's just happier at QPR.

http://i.imgur.com/eG9XQII.png

[Baz]

I have the cut out mega pack and he has that pic.
John how good has Demarai Gray got on yours?

[John]

I had a facepack last year so there's a chance it's just sharing resources without bothering to tell me, but there are players without a picture in this who definitely had one in the pack I was using, so I doubt it.

[John]

John how good has Demarai Gray got on yours?

He went to Celtic in the first season and has been there since, playing well and making an obscene amount of money.

http://i65.tinypic.com/21jvhhc.png

[Giggles]

His stats don't look near as good in mine but he's a regular for Crystal Palace and worth €23m.

Different picture too :D

[John]

Man City have fucked me 6-0 in the first group game of the Champion's Leagiue. That's ominous.

[Giggles]

:uhoh: I should have taken them up on that contract.



http://i.imgur.com/0ZJoTvR.png

[John]

http://i68.tinypic.com/143lrp0.png

FM Escher.

[Gray Fox]

Roberts & Tielemans are top signings. Benteke on the other hand.

Like I say I'm not too concerned with Big Ben. Given the players who were available after, I do now regret signing him.

I've brought in Lincoln and Breel Embolo too, so that should have us set for a while. Still tempted to cash in on Mané to continue the Southampton PHILOSOPHY.


:uhoh: I should have taken them up on that contract.



http://i.imgur.com/0ZJoTvR.png

You can make a board request for a new deal, in case you didn't know.

[Giggles]

Like I say I'm not too concerned with Big Ben. Given the players who were available after, I do now regret signing him.

I've brought in Lincoln and Breel Embolo too, so that should have us set for a while. Still tempted to cash in on Mané to continue the Southampton PHILOSOPHY.



You can make a board request for a new deal, in case you didn't know.

I was sort of hoping it would increase my chances of another job with both Arsenal and Liverpool looking like being in the market. They don't look like they're coming up now so I might indeed make the request.

[Clunge]

Okay, first proper save on Touch is with... Foggia. My perennial favourite LLM Italian team. Shame Parma aren't playable, that would have been a lot of fun.

Anyone picked up this guy on a free? Wages £750 a week, great for LLM teams.

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

[Baz]

Sylvain Wiltord's joined the scouting team and now I have 12 frenchmen on trial. :drool:

And I'm successfully out of all the cups at the first chance, so I can concentrate on getting promoted.

[Giggles]

Just seen a weird one. Stoke sacked Marcelino as manager and then he was hired by Swansea but the report said that Swansea had to pay €3.6m in compensation to Stoke. Must be a bug, though just a strange one rather than an important one.

[Mike]

The 2017/18 season could have gone a lot better. Ah well
https://i.imgur.com/7whUbUj.png

Heres my side:
https://i.imgur.com/RhLtSAu.png
https://i.imgur.com/Llvegro.png

[Giggles]

I'm still in this title race surprisingly enough. I'm dross vs the big teams around me but they all keep beating each other and losing the odd game against the middle tier which is keeping me in it. Haven't looked at the run-in though, don't think I'll look farther than a week.

[Gray Fox]

https://gyazo.com/7753fa271784a93a8bd573de72aed14c.png

Couldn't keep him in the end, even with deciding I wanted to. It can eventually rise to £54m, but they were having none of the sell on clause.

The squad has more of an English feel now after struggling to even meet European requirements last year. One or two more to add and the squad should be set for years. One down side to this is that most of the players I've signed come at a cost of near £40m release clauses to continental competition clubs.

[Giggles]

Draw at 16th placed Newcastle has let Utd back ahead. Still though, a follow up 1-0 win over West Ham has ensured Champions League qualification. That Bentacur cunt better stay now.

[Giggles]

That's not a good finish.


EDIT: West Ham have only gone and beaten Utd :cool:


http://i.imgur.com/HVc99X4.png


http://i.imgur.com/rvK7YXa.png

[Byron]

I've found him lads :cool:

https://gyazo.com/2a0af16d91809df1d0b2a68adc36da45.png

[Giggles]

0-0 in the big one with Utd to stay 3 points ahead. Final game of the season at Anfield (in 15 days :cab:) needing a point for the title.

[Gray Fox]

I've found him lads :cool:

https://gyazo.com/2a0af16d91809df1d0b2a68adc36da45.png

Someone needs to go Barca(mate) and snap him up.

[Bernanke]

And then see how many penalties he can miss. :nodd:

[Byron]

Turns out he has a Wiki page as well.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Edward_(soccer)

[Giggles]

One of the few games I actually used the match engine and near shat it. How I didn't lose 7-1 I'll never know.

Champions :cool:


http://i.imgur.com/4MaLnMd.png

[Gray Fox]

I've well and truly paid the price for switching a lot of the team about. We went on a horiffic run (https://gyazo.com/dce31779145740d20972935d12dd178f) and I've been on the cliff of losing the players since. Benteke being the ringleader in all of this. They aren't really listening to me in team talks now and we're barely winning games.

https://gyazo.com/5d5268ce2d8858b5de318b7ac096e3ea.png

The good news is that the top half is not a million miles away. The bad news is that we have the 3rd worst defence in the league. We need a good run desperately or I may well face hell come the summer.
I've gone out shopping for more established names, with a transfer listed Wilshere coming in for £9m. Unfortunately on the 2nd of Jan we got hit with a takeover embargo. And to top it all off I've just received this news item:

https://gyazo.com/d501de62ea16de3d04b8c1a1f48c3645.png

Not slightly delayed home sickness or anything.

https://gyazo.com/44fdd3916e350437f83473c609c26453.png

[Giggles]

Season done. Was too tired for and screenshots last night.

Will really need to add to the squad now to push on if I want to do anything in the Champions League. I've been given €42m and I have Matej Mitrovic coming in for €15.75m of that. Strengthening will hopefully convince Bentacur to stay too. He's no longer really low morale actively seeking a move, but he won't do contract talks as he feels the squad is too weak. I'd also like to bring on some more players from the youths. Harrison Reed was a great addition this season but he's been the only one really. I'll play O'Connell more the coming season and I've a really good looking Northern Irish striker that came in from Burnley (George Walsh) out on loan too, along with Slattery and Walden who are shown in the squad.


2019 Squad

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


2019 Ins and Major Outs

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


Final Table

http://i.imgur.com/FbPYt95.png

[Giggles]

Forgot I'd brought in this guy on a free during the season too, he's just joined. Only 17 but I had to offer him rotation and a big contract as Barcelone and Real Madrid had also made contract offers. He'll be seeing action anyway.


http://i.imgur.com/0n6d7tR.png

[John]

He'll be excellent.

[Bernanke]

There's a shitton of good Czech regens this time around.

[John]

I've noticed plenty from all the Eastern European nations. Brazil and Argentina are still miles ahead of everyone else, and Belgium and France have produced a Superman each, but as a region I reckon Eastern Europe has probably been the most productive in my current game.

I had a good lol at the history of the Portuguese league last night. Other than Boavista in 2001 and Belenenses in 1946, only the big three have ever won it.

[Giggles]

He'll be excellent.

Definitely looks the part, will be throwing him straight in the deep end.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Reg]

:cool: That's a cool career story.

Any aims now you're back there?

[Smiffy]

.....

[John Arne]

A sign of things to come...

https://gyazo.com/0662248c19a6f55b792d65d727b1d45a.png

[Giggles]

Fucking Utd have came in for Bentacur :(

[Manc]

I've brought in Lincoln and Breel Embolo too, so that should have us set for a while.

Woof.

[Giggles]

Held onto Bentacur so far and have made a roaring start to the season with 3 wins vs City, Liverpool, and Fulham.

Ended up bringing in the two mentioned above (Dobrovolny 89k and Mitrovic 15.75m) and also added a much needed top class right back in Nelson Semedo for 21m from Chelsea. Duda is the only first teamer gone out on loan for the season. It'll be a lot harder manage playing time but it'll be needed with the Champions League coming as I'm determined to reach the knockout stage.

[John]

I've won the league. :cool:

My entire squad's value has fucking skyrocketed, which is a bit of a relief as we're going to get raided in a big way this summer. The window has been open for twelve hours and I've already had bids in for two of my best players which matched their release clauses. :moop:

[Samadini]

Just spunked my whole budget on Demarai Gray to partner Redmond on the wings at Norwich. Scored on his debut :drool:

http://s27.postimg.org/na0gpy9hv/ffs.png

Also died on his debut. As soon as he went down, I knew it was going to be a joke of an injury. Fucking rage quitting.

[John]

http://i64.tinypic.com/jhevi8.png

:drool: The league was won with a ludicrous run in the second half of the season. We went unbeaten from the end of December through the end of the league season, only dropping that run in the cup final against Benfica. The upshot of that was a faintly ridiculous goal difference for a team with a cobbled together defence and its most effective forward out for the season.

We stunk the place out in Europe.

http://i64.tinypic.com/2n6svoo.png

Look at the fucking state of that. We conceded more in those six games than we did in the thirty four game league season, which is more lol than I care to acknowledge, but I reckon going out of Europe completely by Christmas had a lot to do with that mega run in the second half of the season.

Now, to the summer business.

http://i63.tinypic.com/9fwhs4.png

The raid I was expecting never quite materialised, with the two big bids that came in as soon as the window opened being the only two, but losing two members of the already makeshift defence is still less than ideal. Stevanovic has been the best player in the side for the last two seasons, averaging a hair away from an eight rating over that time, so he's the biggest loss. Luftner was replaceable but given my three season struggle to find a partner for him I wasn't confident.

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

His other preferred moves include 'stay back at all times' so he'll share the defensive midfield role with Guilavogui, who inexplicably remains at the club. The game tells me he's consistent and enjoys big matches, which is a combination I always love seeing.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2hx8vly.png

I smashed the transfer record to bits with this one, but I've been looking for a defender for ages and he looks the part, so in he comes. Upon signing though I've realised he might be a duff. My coach report reckons he's a lazy twat with the talent but not the will to improve. Fingers crossed that's not the case.

http://i68.tinypic.com/ip6w7c.png

:drool: I already have two players for his position and he isn't as good as either, but my scout was so excited he'd have harmed himself if I didn't sign the geezer. He should be a serious beast in a few years though so it's money well spent.

http://i63.tinypic.com/xqm5ow.png

A bit of a man without a country, but with those stats and for that price it was a no brainer. He can't jump, so he's useless to me as a centre back, but his off the ball movement and laughable lack of stamina make him completely unsuitable as a full back. Despite that, I'll be training him as a right back and putting him on intensive stamina training, so hopefully his PA allows for a fairly large swing in a couple of attributes.

http://i66.tinypic.com/8zious.png
http://i64.tinypic.com/5nupmv.png
http://i65.tinypic.com/f1mo8.png

Three young players signed speculatively for no money, primarily to round out my lower squads, but who could all go on to do something.

We've been made favourites to win the league, and drawn a Champion's League group of Real Madrid, Shakhtar, and Twente. I'm hopeful of making more of an impact this year.

[Gray Fox]

I've abandoned plans I had to move from a 4-1-2-3(what I call a 4-3-3) to a 4-2-3-1. It wasn't working as per my update before. I've moved back to similar to what we had before but it's barely getting better. I've brought in Rojo and Romero to try and bring some impetus at the back. We've stopped losing (https://gyazo.com/522068f3d93d07337cb15bc04d68a4f5), but winning is still tough. Stopping United from scoring, when they can bring Gabigol and Bernardo Silva off the bench is encouraging but I'm in need of some tactical inspiration.

Having members of the squad continually threaten a mutiny is pissing me off the most though. I've had most of the squad against me for 2-3 months now and it can get in a spiral very quickly.

[Gray Fox]

Oh please.

https://gyazo.com/17cfe71b27275d523784df22d8d881a8.png

[Reg]

Impressive stuff just four seasons in, John.

Surprised to see Samper progress so much worse than he did on FM15. He still looks a very good signing for free though.

[Bernanke]

I finally found a team I like. Lazio. :drool: Candreva is immense, and I got Keita Baldé valued at £47 million in the second season. :serious:

Won the treble of league, cup, CL first season. Second is going worse, third place in the CL-group and out early in the cup. Tied in the league with Juve in January.

Got a nice Argie duo up front in Calleri/Astina, they just keep getting better. Can really recommend Astina. :nodd:

[Gray Fox]

Season done and we salvaged some kind of pride. We were only in the top half for the final 2 games of the season but the board is happy. They've set next seasons budget at £42m and £1.6m p/w. That being said, that's the current lot. If that tycoon lead consortium comes in it could all well change.
If they get it sorted sharpish I'll be in for Shaqiri from the relegated Stoke. As for now I can't bid.

https://gyazo.com/421b18ac5fbf4fd967d235dcb1311efe.png


EDIT: Takeover done. £35m PUMPED into the coffers and facilities upgraded all round. Let's hope these guys know what they're doing.

EDIT 2: Chelsea definitely know what they're doing. :cab:

https://gyazo.com/63c8c56e673cafa1105f9b6c4d1de532.png

EDIT 3: Proper update to come but I had to post this kid. Was trawling the u-21 sides for 16/17 year olds and found him. Signed for £1.6m

https://gyazo.com/9f5f1a05d8d00453b0936a235171e4f1.png

[John Arne]

It's fucking annoying when the AI accepts bids from the AI for $1.2m, but then ask me to pay $4.2m. Cunts.

[Charlie]

So my 7th season with Milan has just finished.

Won our 7th league title in a row, with my first 100% record since the days of CM1.

http://i62.tinypic.com/1z6zat1.jpg

And did a clean sweep in the cups again.

http://i58.tinypic.com/2rr2rya.jpg

And we're now 195 games in a row without defeat in all comps, including 149 in a row in Serie A.

http://i58.tinypic.com/1s07jn.jpg

And there's now clear daylight between Fergie and Mourinho and I.

http://i59.tinypic.com/so382h.jpg

http://i57.tinypic.com/2ywikw5.jpg

And with that, it's time to leave Milan. I'll keep a copy of the save at this point for posterity and I may go back for shits and giggles one day, but now I'm rank bored and need a new challenge. We have the best players in the world by an absolute mile and a shit load in the bank, so it'll be interesting to see what happens to the club after I'm gone.

Yevrah, would you mind letting me use your tactic for a bit? Like always, I enjoy playing FM but never have the time to make a tactic perfect. I'll give you a nice review.

[Giggles]

I've finally got this fired back up after a couple of days on the road. First Champions League draw upcoming, needs to be kind but I expect I'm 3rd or 4th seed.

EDIT: 1st apparently. You must get that automatically for winning the EPL.

Monaco, Porto, Copenhagen. I'll take it compared to some of the groups even though Monaco and Porto have rode me in recent preseason games.

[Pavel]

Finished up the 2024/25 season with the third year in a row of blasting everything entered; was feeling that the boat was rocking around December/January time whenever all three of my star forwards were laid up months each with injury, but the young'uns who stepped in performed far higher than anticipated.

Dyson and Scanlon scored a goal a game easy throughout the second half of the season, whilst all the rest continued to impress.

http://i63.tinypic.com/242zl1d.png

In particular the youth really came into their own in the cup runs.

After Dowie's six months out with a broken leg, and a few youth loans in defence coming up strong, both him and Sciacca are on the way out for a combined £100m it would seem. Money well taken, although I'm sad to see Dowie go, he's been with us since day one.

http://i64.tinypic.com/ta51xw.png

http://i67.tinypic.com/e6deeq.png

http://i66.tinypic.com/2n71f00.png

Now twelve years in, I've just Fergie to chase down. Everything clicked into place with the arrival of Honda, Patino, Scanlon and Zawadski four/five years ago respectively with the rest of the squad coming of age.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2djxt76.png

[Toby]

I really don't understand how people power through double digit numbers of seasons on this. I've just started my third (on a so far very successful save) and already completely bored of it. I think I've only ever had one CM/FM save that lasted significantly longer than that as well. Guess I just have a short attention span.

[Sam]

I really don't understand how people power through double digit numbers of seasons on this. I've just started my third (on a so far very successful save) and already completely bored of it. I think I've only ever had one CM/FM save that lasted significantly longer than that as well. Guess I just have a short attention span.

Mostly through doing other things at the same time.

[John Arne]

Eder Balanta has just turned down my $63,000-a-week contract and joined Toronto on $8,000-a-week.

[Pavel]

Mostly through doing other things at the same time.

Aye, pretty much.

Although I always thought that the main point of the game was its unique selling point as an essentially 'how long is a piece of string' simulation.

[Manc]

http://i64.tinypic.com/315edkx.png

What a nightmare. City walking the league, whilst seven teams battle it out for the remaining three CL spots. I'd like to think Villa and Norwich will fall by the waste side, but that may not be enough. In a bid to secure top four I've gone all out on these two lads:

http://i64.tinypic.com/jai254.pnghttp://i66.tinypic.com/2hp7vjt.png

Kuki won the golden boot in the 2022 World Cup and replaces Lincoln, whilst Matheus comes in for Meyer, the German joining Madrid for £42m.

Mon.

[Pavel]

Plus being able to build an epic oul' team completely from scratch/youth, and see them come of age is one of the most rewarding long games in gaming that I've ever come across.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Giggles]

20 games unbeaten going back to last season and have won my first 8 league games and 2 CL games this season, going unreal well and just beat Tottenham 2-1 away which is a game that would always have been a loss. That young Czech is a beast and Sczecsney is playing out of his skin.

[Manc]

20 for positioning. Woof. Keep him, Smiff.

[Toby]

Was going to do a review with pictures but my router just laughs at me when I try to upload anything, so text shall have to do.

As mentioned upthread I've just started my third season and I'm now midway through September. Last year we won both domestic cups and managed to finish third in the league (we were second until QPR scored a last minute, last day equaliser).

That was a huge overachievement that had me worrying I'd never be able to recreate it, and I think that may have reflected in my transfers which I'm a little worried may have been panic buys. The senior signings were Begovic from Chelsea (£4m), Eder Alvarez Balanta from Leicester (£10m probably rising to £12m) and Mattio Destro from Bologna (£18m probably rising to £21m). Those were my three weakest areas and I had set out specifically to find signings there, whereas previous windows I'd just cast a wide net and bought whoever looked good. Each of those stats-wise are very good, and my perfectly capable scouts and coaches rate them among the highest in the squad, but so far I'm not that convinced.

Balanta's decision making doesn't seem ideal, and he tends to get caught out of position as he rushes in and steps up too early. It'll hopefully be fine with his partner set to cover but my other first choice centre back - Alejandro Arribas, signed last January from Deportivo - isn't a natural in anything but CD - Defend and I'm still gauging how he's getting on with the Cover command.

Destro has great off the ball movement and his attacking stats are good, but I'm a little worried he doesn't suit our play that well. All of my attacking has been rooted through my wide players, so I'm wondering if I would have been better with a big target man or complete forward who could link others in to play and bang in the odd header. I've finally got him scoring at least, but it took seven league games, a bollocking about his form and using an easy-ish game against Blackburn to play 4-4-2 and basically have Van Wolfswinkel play as a supporting forward to tee him up.

The other issue with our success has been that a few players held me to ransom over contracts. Luckily I got Mulumbu and Redmond to agree to small pay rises to remove their highest earner clauses before Pjaca came along asking for £92k/week. I gave it to him as well, because I'm a big softy and he's almost single handedly won us everything we've won so far with man of the match performances in almost every big game.

The board agreed to upgrade both training and youth facilities, I'm pretty happy with my staffing setup and I'm finally starting to get on top of youth development. My best XI is now:

GK - Begovic

DL - Aaron Cresswell
DC - Alvarez Balanta
DC - Alejandro Arribas
DR - Lukas Klosterman

DM - Mulumbu
DM/MC - Sandro / Jonny Howson
AMC - Graham Dorrans / Mauro Zarate

AML - Marko Pjaca
AMR - Nathan Redmond

AF - Mattio Destro

My gripes aren't really reflected in the results so far. We lost to Chelsea in the Community Shield (albeit only 3-2) but since then have won all but one game, an away draw against the vastly overrated Crystal Palace. The issue is that - aside from the Blackburn game where I managed to get them to bang a few goals in - it has been scrappy one goal wins against weaker opposition. We're now heading in to a horrible run of games, made worse by a tough Champions League draw:

City (A) - League Cup
Liverpool (A) - League
Real Madrid (A) - CL
Manchester United (H) - League
Juventus (A) - CL
Spurs (H) - League
Chelsea (A) - League
Juventus (H) - CL

And Mulumbu, Sandro, Tettey and Howson are all injured or suspended so I have to spend a couple of games without a natural holding midfielder.

[Toby]

I love Alexander Tettey. Ten minutes in to the Madrid game, he gets a straight red card for breaking Ronaldo's ribs. It's the sort of thing Chelsea fans used to joke about using Paolo Ferreira for but he just goes out and actually does it.

Sadly we were already 1-0 down at the time, although we manage to keep things down to a reasonably respectable 3-2 defeat.

[Bernanke]

I've hired Jan Olde Riekerink as my assistant manager, and the news items always cracks me up. What is Olde Riekerink up to this time?

I'm easily amused.

[Giggles]

I gave Dobrolovny a new deal to tie him up and never fucking noticed there was a €27m release clause in it until the press asked me about it.

That's what I get for playing half asleep :face:

[Bernanke]

http://i.imgur.com/z6HNTS8.png?1

I have an offer of 52 million non-negotiable from United, and I'm really torn on whether to accept or not. :( He's only averaged around 7.15 two seasons in a row, and I already have Felipe Anderson on left wing. He's on paper a bit better than all of my strikers though.

[Toby]

I've been playing a lot more attacking recently and think some of my boredom may have been down to the cautious way I was approaching every game, never quite backing the team to go out and win comfortably. I've switched to 4-4-2 (sometimes 4-2-4) and Van Wolfswinkel and Destro are banging the goals in. We're top of the league having beaten Liverpool 3-2 away from home, and drawn to United while they lost to Watford. Still, however enjoyable attacking football may be, these are the results I live for:

http://i.imgur.com/F7JPyd8.png?1

[wullie]

I've always had a thing for Destro in this. I could have had him spearheading the Cov attack if Genoa didn't inexplicably demand £18m despite being near the foot of Serie A.

[Bernanke]

Good start to the third season.

http://i.imgur.com/ZYsDp4v.jpg?1

Shame Candreva couldn't get a 10.0 :eyemouth:

[Foe]

Started as Fulham on FM 15. Came fourth after a surge at the end of the season and won the playoff final 9-8 on pens.

:cool:

James Wilson stormed the league the second half of the season.

[Raoul Duke]

I have an offer of 52 million non-negotiable from United, and I'm really torn on whether to accept or not. :( He's only averaged around 7.15 two seasons in a row, and I already have Felipe Anderson on left wing. He's on paper a bit better than all of my strikers though.

I wouldn't take that offer. You can get higher than that, I reckon.

[Baz]

http://www.littlemonstersforum.co.uk/images/q/53bbb9mz.png

Haha F U Tyler Walker.

[Toby]

My board gave me another £30m in the transfer budget so I thought I'd try to bring in Mata, who's requested a transfer at United.

Offer accepted at a reasonable cost of £20m, but fucking lol at his wage demands.

[Bernanke]

I wouldn't take that offer. You can get higher than that, I reckon.

Ended up accepting 60 on deadline day from Arsenal. Not that I need the money, but he wasn't really that important for the team.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Pavel]

I'm slightly miffed that I have to start my season again, I didn't get too far but I'd searched for hours for youngsters. :moop: Mental note: Save and shut down. Don't go to work and return to a house with no electric.

There should be an automatic claims process for that shit.

Football Manager saves' have rights too!

[Bernanke]

http://i.imgur.com/yNLueX5.png

Life imitating art.

[Giggles]

That'll do.


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

Bernanke what's that skin?

[Giggles]

Balls.


http://i.imgur.com/JsB2c2k.png

[John]

Lol at that Borussia screenshot. That's even the same goalscorer and within a minute of when he actually scored.

[Dquincy]

My life with Dortmund has started fairly well. They were 8th or 9th when i joined them at the end of September; this is the table now we've reached the Christmas break. Bayern are doing their thing, but i think 2nd palce is up for grabs.

http://s12.postimg.org/wbi2kvact/1_Bundesliga_Information_League_Table.png

Also progressed from the Champions League group stage, despite having a mare of a start, 3 points after 3 games. But managed to turn it around and sneak in runner up in the group. Now have Valencia in the first knockout stage.

http://s24.postimg.org/aoohzwcxx/UEFA_Champions_League_Information_Stages.png

[Bernanke]

That'll do.


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

Bernanke what's that skin?


Lol at that Borussia screenshot. That's even the same goalscorer and within a minute of when he actually scored.

People, please. :face: It is from the game this week, the 'life imitating art' thing is for all the times you've in FM lost 0-1 in a game where you won the shot statistics by 30-1.

[Toby]

For some reason Mario Gotze is kicking around as a free transfer in mid-November 2017. Does that happen often? I've offered him a contract but it's hard to understand why he isn't in huge demand. He hasn't had a club since the summer.

[John]

People, please. :face: It is from the game this week, the 'life imitating art' thing is for all the times you've in FM lost 0-1 in a game where you won the shot statistics by 30-1.

Not quite worthy of a :face:, but the slight difference in the goal time threw me off. Should probably look at screenshots for more than a second, because the Facebook tabs etc should have been a dead giveaway.


For some reason Mario Gotze is kicking around as a free transfer in mid-November 2017. Does that happen often? I've offered him a contract but it's hard to understand why he isn't in huge demand.

He's still at Bayern into the fifth season in my game, but his contract is running down and they only want five million quid for him. I remember he went six months without a contract on my Rangers game on the last version though, so it seems like maybe he's just one of the players the game doesn't rate particularly highly for whatever reason.

[Giggles]

Oops.

:face: indeed. Though someone needs to make that skin a reality.

[Toby]

My scouts are giving him 4.5 stars and saying "sign him whatever the cost" so even his underlying numbers must be good. The wages are above what I'm paying anybody else but don't seem like they'd be huge for a side like Bayern (or those at a similar level). Just seems like something must be borked for him to still be available, but I won't be complaining if he agrees to join me.

[Gray Fox]

I've seen a couple of people play beyond his original contract extension. Bayern have tended to bring someone just as good in and not play him. I'd imagine his wage demands to be quite high for most clubs though.

[Toby]

I've signed him on £135k a week. I was able to give him a huge signing on fee and some fairly generous bonuses due to the lack of a transfer fee, but that doesn't seem too unreasonable given his ability.

We've also powered through that horror run having only lost to Real Madrid. Four points over Juventus puts us through to CL knockouts with a game to spare, and we're second by a point in the league behind City. If Gotze can hit the ground running I think we could power on and have a seriously good season.

[Toby]

Although for perhaps the best example yet of expectations being completely mad, I present this:

http://i.imgur.com/o8Wq81w.png

[Toby]

I thought it mildly ridiculous when we snatched a plucky win against Juventus but we've just beaten Real Madrid 3-0... They were already guaranteed to top the group but that still has me back to thinking the game is broken.

[John]

We've won the league for a second time running. :cool:

http://i67.tinypic.com/28t8k95.png

We were second going into the last game of the season, having lost against Porto a few weeks earlier when the game decided that eight of my first team fucking off on international duty wasn't reason enough to request a postponement. In the end it didn't matter though, as Benfica drew while we won.

Patrik Camilo finished the season as both the best player and top assister in the league. Previous top striker Zach Clough left in January for his release fee of £8.5m, so Pedro Marques, who has spent the last three seasons out on various loan deals, finished the season as top scorer.

The new stadium move was delayed from its original date at the start of last season to a new date in November, and then again until February, so we've only been in the new place, 'Maritimo Stadium', for a couple of months.

On the transfer front, Nuno Rolo has been letting his contract with Academica run down so I've arranged to bring him in on a free transfer at the end of the season. :drool: Get fucked Zidane you lanky bald twat.

[Bernanke]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLLmHYSHP4o

This is great.

[John]

The Portuguese league seems to be less of a joke in some ways, and more of a joke in others, than in previous years. 'The Big Three' used to be so far ahead of everyone else in terms of income that you had to sell about twenty million quid of players every season just to keep up, but I've just completed my fifth season and apparently we're already the highest earners in the league in terms of sponsorship.

Our stadium is still miles behind and the fact that they each have players on about eighty grand a week suggests they still have alternative revenue streams that are letting them support fairly obscene wage bills, but the entire league seems to have had the money drained from it this year.

EDIT - On another glance it looks as though Sporting actually have a fairly similar wage cap to my own, but they're paying far more players their top wage, and Porto seem to be behaving themselves with their top earner on about sixty grand a week. Benfica are a joke, but then that seems to be a running theme in the thread.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Gray Fox]

Fine him for that hair cut Smiffy.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Gray Fox]

After much planning on bringing in a big time striker, I've been frustrated twice. First Aboubakar. I sent through an offer which was 'leaked' and got to offer him a deal. We agreed on him signing for about £105k p/w. As soon as I advanced a day along came Valencia and matched my offer, who went on to sign him and he now plays there on something like £79k p/w.
Then came Babacar. Almost the exact same situation but with Napoli as the stealing club.

I have Embolo, Wilson and Rodriguez as strikers but the problem is only one of them is really reliable at it. From a quick scout around there's no one really left who is ready to come in and smash it. My only real options are Werner, Zivkovic or Donis. That or just save my money.

[Bernanke]

After much planning on bringing in a big time striker, I've been frustrated twice. First Aboubakar. I sent through an offer which was 'leaked' and got to offer him a deal. We agreed on him signing for about £105k p/w. As soon as I advanced a day along came Valencia and matched my offer, who went on to sign him and he now plays there on something like £79k p/w.
Then came Babacar. Almost the exact same situation but with Napoli as the stealing club.

I have Embolo, Wilson and Rodriguez as strikers but the problem is only one of them is really reliable at it. From a quick scout around there's no one really left who is ready to come in and smash it. My only real options are Werner, Zivkovic or Donis. That or just save my money.

How far into the game? Jovic, Moldoveanu, Saponjic, Calleri?

[Giggles]

Les Reed has announced he is retiring at the end of the season as Director of Football. Do I need to hire another or will the board do it?

[Charlie]

Why wouldn't you want to hire your own?

[Baz]

http://www.littlemonstersforum.co.uk/images/q/g0iluwwf.png

"Cutting it short" at 41 years old; such a shame. Serves him right for turning my Luton side down.

[Giggles]

Why wouldn't you want to hire your own?

Because it was him that hired me, so I presume I can't hire the person above me. What I really want to know is whether I'll get the option to continue with none.

[Gray Fox]

How far into the game? Jovic, Moldoveanu, Saponjic, Calleri?

Of those only Calleri is on my game and he's moved to Monaco. I'm surprised to see Jovic isn't as I had him last yeah when I loaded a large database.

I had a look for Berardi, as I completely forgot about him. Only to find Napoli have him, Babacar, Gabbiadini and Drmic as a strike force. I don't know if their attributes translate to the game but that looks a pretty awesome front 4.

[Gray Fox]

Because it was him that hired me, so I presume I can't hire the person above me. What I really want to know is whether I'll get the option to continue with none.

Check your staff responsibilities screen. It will tell you there.

I'm at Southampton too and it's down to me to hire/fire all staff.

[Baz]

Just sold MAckail-Smith for free on the last day of the first January transfer window and someone got upset. I told him not to worry because he didn't play anyway. Team meeting alert! They're sad about how I spoke to the guy moaning:
http://www.littlemonstersforum.co.uk/images/q/ss4k4dyn.png

Idiots. How many times did he play since the start of the season?
http://www.littlemonstersforum.co.uk/images/q/l80ocfuk.png

He came on as a sub twice and stank it up.

F you, Luton.

[Giggles]

Check your staff responsibilities screen. It will tell you there.

I'm at Southampton too and it's down to me to hire/fire all staff.

Matias Sammer is free as a DoF but I may wait for Reed to go I suppose. Hopefully he's still there after the retirement as he looks decent.

[Browning]

I've finally gotten into this again after quite a long while not playing, and continued a game on FM15 that I started quite a while ago.

I started unemployed with the lowest rep and ended up getting my first job at Woking who looked destined for the drop. I saved them in Season 1 and lead them to promotion in Season 2, not the greatest achievement as they should have been up there before I arrived, but it felt good. Up in League 2 we did well in our first year, but the second year, despite me strengthening the team, we struggled badly and were battling the drop when I got fed up. I usually love a relegation scrap but there was just absolutely nothing to get excited about with how it was going, so I resigned. For some unknown reason League 1 Gillingham came calling not long after.

Up in League 1 with Gillingham things have gone.... OK-ish. When I took over they were outside the drop zone but didn't look in any particular danger, and that's how it ended up. Results picked up a fair bit but not dramatically, and we ended up in a safe lower mid-table position.

So then came my first proper transfer window (I could do nothing in January as the old boss had maxed out wages on shit loans, and also maxed out our allowed number of loans.... except for 1 which I used to sign James Tavernier on loan who then got injured for the year). I bought in some experience at the back and some quality in other positions, but it just didn't work. MY "big" signing, at least in terms of wages, is Callum Robinson from Villa, but he's been dire so far. Granted it's only been 3 months so hopefully he can pick up.

There always seemed to be one "saga" or another in the team. The biggest one was probably at Goalkeeper. I had Stuart Nelson as the number 1 last year, but at the age of 36 he's not got much left to offer. His understudy Jamie Jones and a regen keeper who I'd loaned out to the conference and he'd bossed it the previous year were probably better options. I gave the youngster a try and he was OK, but not great. I felt I needed more experience. I decided to turn to Jones, but the day before his planned first game we got an offer for him from Exeter. I turned it down as I planned to use him but he kicked up a fuss about it. He told me he wanted to leave, or for us to build the team around him. I said I would do the latter, as I figured a few games in the first team would calm him down. He then asked for a new contract to reflect his status. I agreed to it but when I failed to offer one that day he went to Unhappy and wouldn't negotiate with me at all. As he was my best option I stuck with him and despite constantly having Abysmal morale and "looking uninterested" he performed reasonably well. After about 2 months of this he decided he was happy to stay.... so I triggered a contract extension to tie him down on his shit wage. Fuck you.

I dropped into the drop zone recently and after 180 minutes of goalless, shit football saw us knocked out the FA Cup by League 2 Wycombe... I decided we had to play 2 up top from now on, despite the fact all my strikers had been shit (which was the leading reason I was only playing 1). It seems to have worked and back to back wins over Bolton and Bradford have got us 6 points clear of danger and roughly to where we were last year. I just need to find someway to improve things and help us kick on. I really hate agents on this game though, and how there's essentially no such thing as a Free Transfer anymore. You can't even renew contracts without money in the transfer kitty, can you? I wish they'd get rid of that to be honest, even if it is more "realistic".

It's good to be back into it though, hopefully I won't lose interest soon.

[Mike]

Started a save as Winterthur in Switzerland. I've signed Del Piero :cool2:

[Gray Fox]

https://gyazo.com/e13af84a764de6b6db922f21dd8bffd6.png

My game is broken.

[Giggles]

https://gyazo.com/e13af84a764de6b6db922f21dd8bffd6.png

My game is broken.

He had a great time at Arsenal in mine after Wenger retired and then took over at Milan.

[Gray Fox]

He's gone from Sociedad to Athletic on mine. After an 8th place finish and not much else he's moved on to PSG. Right now we have De Boer at Arsenal, Rudi Garcia at City, Mancini at Spurs, Low at United, Monk at Everton and Conte at Liverpool.

It's only been 2 years!

[Giggles]

In mine in 2020 it's:

Man City - Unai Emery
Man Utd - Rudi Garcia
Arsenal - Sinisa Mihajlovic
Chelsea - Paco Jemez
Spurs - Mauricio Pochettino
Liverpool - Jurgen Klopp

Pellegrini, Wenger, and van Gaal have all retired and Mourinho is managing Germany.

Villas Boas is at Barcelona since 2016.

[Gray Fox]

Transfer business relatively done. I wanted players to add to the 1st team this time around. I was also expecting to lose a fair few players after a disappointing season.

https://gyazo.com/479f58e836ae6d046b217ee3c2c7cd21.png

The only big one going out is right there at the top. Quite disappointingly Rulli was straight onto me after the last game of the season wanting to move to Liverpool. I tried to keep him and he kicked off. I tried using the 'I'll accept if they make an acceptable bid' option, but it's quite flawed in game. They just take it was you will accept their next offer, no matter what. They offered the exact same again and I rejected, leaving to a mini revolt. Offered him out to clubs and the French came calling. That deal can go up to £33m. I was able to snag Butland from relegated Stoke so it wasn't all bad.

Coming in, there are 2 new full backs as my current ones weren't cutting it. Assensio comes in on loan. I tried to buy him permanently and he showed why with 3 assists on his debut in a 4-0 win against Everton. Martinez for so cheap seemed a no brainer. The last signing was Stancu. I'll post a shot of him below.
That was all set to be me done, but Embolo has just picked up a 4-5 month injury so I ideally need a striker now.

https://gyazo.com/ceefc07109fc93c32e9003a9e8f33055.png

[Giggles]

Bit of a wild finish.

http://i.imgur.com/mr887MU.png

[Pavel]

Coming in, there are 2 new full backs as my current ones weren't cutting it. Assensio comes in on loan. I tried to buy him permanently and he showed why with 3 assists on his debut in a 4-0 win against Everton. Martinez for so cheap seemed a no brainer. The last signing was Stancu. I'll post a shot of him below.
That was all set to be me done, but Embolo has just picked up a 4-5 month injury so I ideally need a striker now.

https://gyazo.com/ceefc07109fc93c32e9003a9e8f33055.png

God damn that's a sexy-regen.

In all truth I'm becoming a bit annoyed in my game that over the last few seasons I've not seen more that two or three really high potential regens (4 to 5 star) - and I've been scouring every seasons' youth intake.

The highest rated youth players coming through my own ranks over the last three seasons have been around the 130-145 mark, despite everything being pretty much maxed out. I've got some great youth players coming up, but they regen-ed into life four-six years ago.

Seems there's a lack of potential talent knocking about, anyone seen this before?

[Smiffy]

.....

[Bernanke]

http://i.imgur.com/RCA9ABx.png?1

Goddamn. Goddamn. :drool:

[Giggles]

Finally got Bentacur to enter into contract talks. He wants €425,000 a week, €49,000 appearance fee, and a €5m signing bonus :D

I did manage to get another contract offer to Dobrolovny to get rid of that €27m release clause, Had to bump him up to €125,000 a week but now he can't go for under €60m.

[Gray Fox]

Some deadline day deals saw me reduce the bloat of the squad somewhat. Rojo, Tadic and Clasie all left permanently for a combined £15m or so. They went a little cheap but take with them a chunk of wage budget and they weren't really playing now anyway. I had also told Clasie he could move on if we failed to get Europe last year. Targett and Reed also both went out on loan.

The other Zivkovic is in for about £6m total and Thomas Lemar comes in on loan. I plan on training the latter into a left winger. This all leaves me with £50m in the bank and basically all of that left to spend. This is even after the new board decided to increase the stadium capacity by about 4,000.

Elsewhere deadline day went mad. Bale, Barkley and Markovic all moved. I did have a deal in place to get Barkley for £25m but he chose City over me once they had bid.

[Greg]

Is this the worst league season ever? Somehow achieved back to back promotions with mostly the same squad. I'll get molested in the Bundesliga, but at least I'll be rich.

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

[Baz]

Do Jak Alnwick and/or Taylor Moore get any good on FM16?

[Giggles]

I applied for the Ireland job after Stephen Kenny went following Euro 2020. Just been offered it but I see a spanner in the works now.

http://i.imgur.com/xeXcDS2.png

[Giggles]

Took the Irish job. Heading into the 2020/2021 season now and have decided to spash out a bit and see can I go a round better in the Champions League this time round. Bentacur will be a big loss but has funded a lot of the outlay.


Main transfers:

http://i.imgur.com/8q5Y4Qc.png


Squad going into the season:

http://i.imgur.com/BH3paf5.png


And that's a nice start for the debutants in the Community Shield:

http://i.imgur.com/mDdHO9e.png

[Charlie]

Lads, you need to help me out. I've got a 20 hour flight back to England in a couple of days and intend to play FM for the entire time. However, I have been unable to make an impressive tactic yet.

Just stuck with the ones that can get a team promoted, but it's far from special, incredibly inconsistent etc.

If anyone has one I can just plug in and win lots that would be great for wasting time.

I'm fairly sure I just play FM so that I can scout young players and try and make them awesome, as well as my team. I suck at the tactics part

[Dark Soldier]

Lads, you need to help me out. I've got a 20 hour flight back to England in a couple of days and intend to play FM for the entire time. However, I have been unable to make an impressive tactic yet.

Just stuck with the ones that can get a team promoted, but it's far from special, incredibly inconsistent etc.

If anyone has one I can just plug in and win lots that would be great for wasting time.

I'm fairly sure I just play FM so that I can scout young players and try and make them awesome, as well as my team. I suck at the tactics part

Try this:

http://www.filedropper.com/4-1-2-3a8c75496c-326f-49d9-87c4-2de16b05c8ea

Set it to all three tactic slots so they learn it quicker. You need industrious CMs though.

CM should take corner (the one who's not set to attack ball from deep), and preferably left footer on the right IF and vice-versa. Will take time to gel, as they all do on this version.

[Gray Fox]

Lads, you need to help me out. I've got a 20 hour flight back to England in a couple of days and intend to play FM for the entire time. However, I have been unable to make an impressive tactic yet.

Just stuck with the ones that can get a team promoted, but it's far from special, incredibly inconsistent etc.

If anyone has one I can just plug in and win lots that would be great for wasting time.

I'm fairly sure I just play FM so that I can scout young players and try and make them awesome, as well as my team. I suck at the tactics part

There isn't really such a thing this year. The AI has been a lot faster to crack on so you need to change it up a fair bit unless you're managing a top team.

That being said I'm having success with this:

https://gyazo.com/9532de02061a0fc797c3ec127d698900.png https://gyazo.com/1ec03d1286909932de68f1c9d5f13a3a.png

[Giggles]

Gray Fox that's very very close to what I'm using with Southampton too.

[phonics]

Just got this, can anyone give me a couple of cheap names/youngsters that'll come to a mid table Premier League club? Playing as Swansea and I've only got 5 mil to do anything with and there's gaps everywhere.

[Bernanke]

Just got this, can anyone give me a couple of cheap names/youngsters that'll come to a mid table Premier League club? Playing as Swansea and I've only got 5 mil to do anything with and there's gaps everywhere.

Ajer + Zivkovic are the "broken" ones this time around. Rodrigo Mora if you want to spunk it all on a striker.

Aside from Ajer, there's a ton of good Norwegians still in that league. Rossbach, Zekhnini, Tobias Svendsen, Fossum, Sander Svendsen, Elyounoussi, Selnæs, Sæter.

[Gray Fox]

Just got this, can anyone give me a couple of cheap names/youngsters that'll come to a mid table Premier League club? Playing as Swansea and I've only got 5 mil to do anything with and there's gaps everywhere.

:nod:

Signed for £1m

https://gyazo.com/332d086df04b077ef0cabdd93efb6cd4.png

[wullie]

http://i.imgur.com/bQ7Li6t.png

Big game coming up, as luck would have it against Arsenal at home. I've won one and lost three against them so far, so not counting on too much.

73 points would have won the league the previous season.

[wullie]

Made it ma, top of the world! 2-0 win, no bother. I'll go out of the CL before the group stage of course, but I've at least got a summer of hope.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Charlie]

Try this:

http://www.filedropper.com/4-1-2-3a8c75496c-326f-49d9-87c4-2de16b05c8ea

Set it to all three tactic slots so they learn it quicker. You need industrious CMs though.

CM should take corner (the one who's not set to attack ball from deep), and preferably left footer on the right IF and vice-versa. Will take time to gel, as they all do on this version.


There isn't really such a thing this year. The AI has been a lot faster to crack on so you need to change it up a fair bit unless you're managing a top team.

That being said I'm having success with this:

https://gyazo.com/9532de02061a0fc797c3ec127d698900.png https://gyazo.com/1ec03d1286909932de68f1c9d5f13a3a.png

Thank you friends. If my inflight campaign is unsuccessful, though, I will be disappointed in you.

[Baz]

Do Jak Alnwick and/or Taylor Moore get any good on FM16?C'mon, screenshots please?

[Giggles]

C'mon, screenshots please?

If you're going to go that far you might as well look up their PA in the editor.


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


http://i.imgur.com/dg9GvsC.png

[Baz]

Cheers. Will try to get both. :drool:

[GS]

Tempted to download this. Someone talk me out of it.

[Foe]

It'll get in the way of your Christmas drinking and womanising plans.

[Shindig]

More importantly, it'll get in the way of Jesus.

[Danny]

Tempted to download this. Someone talk me out of it.


I didn't take a single point and we're about to be relegated to a league that doesn't exist.

I've had to resign before getting sacked.

:moop:


This bunch of scum couldn't pass fucking water, never mind a football.


4-0 down after half an hour with my Hong Kong team. This is disgusting.


It's alright lads, we're 3-0 down after 26 minutes away from home to Killy-fucking-moon.

I live here and I don't even know where it is. :face:


Yev is an inspiration in this thread. Fucking hell, it's a shame I'm totally bollocks at this game.


I got twatted in the first five games, although I did score goals. I just conceded shitloads more.


Four points from four games and now 5-0 down at half-time away to Linfield using Guido's tactic.

Shambles.

Two versions back but probably a decent reminder.

[GS]

Excellent work, Daniel.

I'm persuaded it's not worth the seethe.

[Danny]

Or download the demo and decide after that?

I downloaded it (the demo that is) but just cannot get into it.

[Gray Fox]

Maybe it was just Guidos tactic...

[Reg]

Set it to all three tactic slots so they learn it quicker.
Pretty sure this wouldn't work.

Wouldn't it be kind of a major bug if it did?

[The Merse]

Annoyingly, I've taken Morecambe up to the Championship, kept them there with fuck all money, and still cannot get a move to another club. :moop:

[Smiffy]

.....

[Raoul Duke]

:D

Get that boy scouted.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Gray Fox]

It's time to scout out the players with 6 months left on contracts. Out there now only seems to be Will Hughes and Jack Grealish. It's tempting to try and pick them up after looking at the table.

https://gyazo.com/ce02f1a6566338f8c305915baf21a582.png

We flew out of the gates. It's slowed down lately but we look a hell of a lot more solid than last season. The young player policy of the old board has helped but now they've all started clicking. A win in our next game sees us go 12 points clear of 5th place. There could well be champions league football next year. I'm hoping this rolls on so we go straight into a group stage.

[Dark Soldier]

Pretty sure this wouldn't work.

Wouldn't it be kind of a major bug if it did?

Well it seemed to work for me, first season at United it had gelled about six games into the season, fully fluid. Training set to match tactics.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Bernanke]

I think the processor thing is your four cores different workload? It looks like red and green are your cores 1 and 2, and therefore take the most load more often.

[Bernanke]

Man, found another amazing German in addition to Timo Horn, Niklas Süle. Absolutely dominating my central defence.

http://i.imgur.com/4F288vG.png?1

Can someone check how much he is at the start of the game?

[Smiffy]

.....

[Sam]

Pissing about with an edited database, essentially the Champions and Europa League have been replaced with the 'Fifa World League' and the 'Fifa Champions League', following quite a semi-realistic format in terms of slots and allocation. For example, playing in Tajikstan, I've won the league and ended up the World League which is the Europa League equal and the lowest qualification round, winner of the World League can gain automatic entry to the Champions League, which is pretty much the Champions League as it is plus some of the larger South American, Asian and North American sides.

Pretty damn fun idea as the Asian Champions League is a bit of an easy one to win.

Completed my first season and got dicked by Al-Shabab of the United Arab Emirates in the first qualification round. Fuck.

[Raoul Duke]

There are some mega Germans on this version. I'm almost tempted to take over Bayern and build some epic German-only team there.

[Baz]

I'm getting absolutely bummed by injuries.

6 first teamers out, and I'm dropping points left right and centre.

http://www.littlemonstersforum.co.uk/images/q/bj9lba87.png

So frustrating because the league was all mine, but now Portsmouth have gone 3 points above with 9 games to go, and we don't play eachother.

[Foe]

I'm somehow clambering about 6th with Fulham in FM15 after taking them up last season. Signed some south american geezer called Rincon and him and Parker are dominating CM.

My team is pretty wank but I've got 4 pretty damned good strikers to rotate (Mitroglu, Woodrow, Wilson (loan) and Zivkovic).

[Bernanke]

There are some mega Germans on this version. I'm almost tempted to take over Bayern and build some epic German-only team there.

Okay, I'm stealing that when Lazio is done.

[John]

Sule has been shit hot for about three versions now. I remember him and Robin Knoche donning things for me on FM14, I think it was, when I had a reasonably long running save with Nurnberg.

Niklas Stark and Marvin Plattenhardt were two other Germans who donned things for me in that save. Both were at Nurnberg at that point, but both are now at Hertha. I'm also considering a save in Germany for my next game, with either Hertha or Hamburg.

[Raoul Duke]

Schalke have about 3-4 or so absolute beasts (Goretszka, Meyer, Sane and Advijaj). I might go with them actually.

If you could pick up Sule, Brandt and Draxler (plus the rest) you'd win the lot.

[John]

I'd imagine Schalke would be a bit of a newgen farm aswell. They haven't been a particular menace in my current game, but the two best Germans in this game came from Stuttgart and Gladbach, so I'm not sure it's representative.

[Raoul Duke]

Yeah they seem to churn them out pretty solidly.

[Gray Fox]

Halfway through the Jan window in 2018 and Pereyra from Juventus is listed for £10m. He's valued at £30.5m so I'm imagining this is a bit of a bargain?