Football Manager 23

[John Arne]

I'd love to see a modern version of Football Manager Live. I loved it for the brief period it existed. Conceptually, it was ahead of its time – even if a lot of the mechanics were quite clunky.

Yup, one of those things that probably happened a bit too early. Surprised that they haven't gone back into it.

[Yevrah]

European Journeyman Game - 2036/37 - Man Utd - Season Update

4th full season at Man Utd, coming off the back of our first league title last season.

The League

https://i.postimg.cc/N09Y2qmT/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

After a pretty close finish last season we won the league this year at an absolute canter.

League Cup

https://i.postimg.cc/QtcR3XZ8/League-Cup.jpg (https://postimg.cc/dktWRc0p)[/url]

Our form wasn't that great as the year turned and Man City dumped us out at the semi-final stage.

FA Cup

[url=https://postimg.cc/bG60hDzV]https://i.postimg.cc/hjn2VTNn/FA-Cup.jpg (https://poemsonly.com/category/sad)

No mistake in the FA Cup though and my first English double with it.

Champions League

https://i.postimg.cc/VLz11sBZ/CL.jpg (https://postimg.cc/DmpRPTN1)

We sailed through the group again, but another 2 goal defeat in the first leg of the last 16 had me thinking that was it. I needn't have worried as we absolutely destroyed Man City back at Old Trafford. That was followed up with a ruining of West Ham and then a ridiculously close game against Spurs, with Bosko being the hero. As in 2035 we were nailed on for an all English final (this time against Chelsea), but once again Dortmund pulled a surprise and we'd face the German side for the second time in the final. Would we get our revenge?


https://i.postimg.cc/W3Mt32WW/CL.jpg (https://postimg.cc/FdHhCQQ3)

Yes, yes we would. :cool:

Our first Champions League and the treble with it.


Other

We'd started the season by winning the Charity Shield and ended it by heading to the World Club Cup in Australia. If memory serves we'd qualified for that through reaching the 2035 CL final, even though we lost it. Given the end to the season I was reasonably confident we'd win it, but some rookie squad management from me saw us absolutely muff it. Basically we had fuck all rest between our 2nd group game and the quarter-final against Barca, which I didn't realise would happen. We were knackered, they weren't and a 3-0 loss ensued.

The board have also finally agreed to do this:

https://i.postimg.cc/TYQ01xB3/Stadium-Expansion.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Which I think will take our capacity to over 90,000.

The four trophies led to a colossal 639 Hall of Fame points, which saw me sail past Brian Clough.

https://i.postimg.cc/QxRtp924/HoF.jpg (https://postimg.cc/7fnw46Y0)

Graham Potter is ripping it up at Madrid and is only 62, so will no doubt be the best English manager of all time before I catch him. The lols.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Palamós CF 2040/41 Season Update:

Transfers In:

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

Just the one, I paid £23m for him. He needs to be re-trained as an AML, I think he's ok but the negatives will probably stop him from reaching his potential so I doubt he's going to amount to much for us.

Transfers Out:

https://i.imgur.com/9izTO1f.png

https://i.imgur.com/9wSBQT5.png

We signed Zonas for just £4.3m and I hoped he would play a key role for us. Sadly he was only ever a decent backup.

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

Signed for £1.3m. His first season he was a backup, then he went out on loan to Cyprus and then he came back and was a starter for us for many years. I had a younger LB who is now better so I cashed in.

https://i.imgur.com/g60azg2.png

I had high hopes for Bastos and he was one of my biggest signings for a while at £40m from Man City. Sadly he could never force his way into a starting role and never really developed close to his potential. He was moaning a lot to start this year so fuck him.

League:

https://i.imgur.com/kzEmL6B.png
https://i.imgur.com/nMhsEJ7.png

https://i.imgur.com/3DjWNbA.png

We SMASHED Real Madrid's record of most points in a season which was 102. Had no idea we were on for breaking the record until the final two games. Also, Barca and Real were lucky to scrape top 4. They were fighting for 6th and 7th for most of the season, they're horeshit now.

Cups:

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

Surprisingly this was only our second Copa Del Rey win as I usually don't take it seriously. Massive props to my keeper who stepped up and took the first penalty in the shootout (he's actually our best penalty taker...) and then saved a penalty to win it for us.

Europe:

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

Nothing major here, drew our two hardest but it was an easy league phase.

Round of 16:

https://i.imgur.com/9XMQlrE.png
https://i.imgur.com/caRHoRe.png

Real Betis were never going to be able to stop us, I was a little annoyed we only won the first leg 2-1 but absolutely demolished them in the second.

Quarter-Final:

https://i.imgur.com/0lSBQqY.png
https://i.imgur.com/1CgO1En.png

After the first leg I was nervous we were out. Taking a 1 goal lead to Manchester was risky but we managed to see it out, unfortunately my main striker Soucase got injured (and his backup had gotten injured in training just before too).

Semi-Final:

https://i.imgur.com/1kYWRfT.png
https://i.imgur.com/dgJA9xk.png

Don't blink, this really is Norwich who are pretty damn good in my save. They've never won the Premiership but they have finished second and third whilst winning the FA Cup twice, the Conference League twice and the Carabao Cup twice.

Never in doubt this though, we were too good for them as they played far too negatively especially in the second leg. Mehdi Lofti the Iranian beast who was my third choice striker came up big here.

THE FINAL:

We had to wait to see who it would be as we played our semi-final second leg first. The other was contested between PSG (our nemesis) and Newcastle.

Newcastle won the first leg 1-0 and the second leg 3-2. They had been to a CL final before where they lost to Man City in 2025.

In my save they have won the Premiership once as well as one Conference League win. A little light for a team with so much money to start the game.

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

The first half only had 1 highlight which was ours which left me feeling nervy. In the second half we grabbed a quick goal through Soucase who was back but near the end they were growing into the game and had a few chances. I made four changes in the 80th minute (I left it late because I always do in big games) and in the 88th minute I made my final change.

I was a little hesitant to do it because he's absolutely fucking shit now but I had to do it. On came Alfred Sors, a man who was in our very first youth intake when we were down in the sixth tier of Spanish football.

https://i.imgur.com/xY16T52.png

He deserved minutes in our biggest ever game and he laid off the ball perfectly to Dorde Nikolic, a long time starting CDM who had become a backup this year, who smashed the ball in. A true club legend getting a special moment in our biggest ever game, it doesn't get better than that.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/t4Mhxez.png

It's a great squad now which doesn't need many changes. I will probably look to sell Medina the £185m RB because he's really injury prone even though he doesn't have that trait.

I will do one more year to take me to 20 seasons. It will also allow us the chance to defend the Champions League and the opportunity to win the Club World Cup which thankfully is this season.

[Adramelch]

So Haaland is still the starting striker for City at 38 and I just noticed he's not considered a club legend, despite being there for 16 seasons (top scorer for the club every season) and having scored 542 goals in total. Bizarre.

[Shindig]

33 goals a season is bang average, clearly.

[Adramelch]

Arsenal 2037/38 Season

I slowly but steadily went through another season at Arsenal. Having won 4 Premier League and 2 Champions League titles in a row meant that there was not much left for me to achieve here, but I still went for it, while waiting for any interesting positions to become available in Spain or Italy. Given how good the team has been, there wasn't much need for change, so we only signed three players, all of which were quite expensive:

https://i.gyazo.com/57f3cf0af5f4a8432c1366a312ef549e.png

Direct replacement for Fresneda who's getting older and hasn't quite impressed at right back for us. We paid 121 million for him, which I think is quite pricey for what he brings to the table but any better players at this position would have cost upwards of 200m and he is quite young so I ended up biting the bullet. His insane mental attributes also didn't go unnoticed.

https://i.gyazo.com/1175b8fb11c18c0245c28a68655e3c75.png

The most important signing of the season. There was one major flaw in the squad and that was the lack of a real alternative to Hernandez. Obviously I wasn't quite looking to replace Hernandez (I am not crazy), but if he was to ever pick a serious injury we would have struggled, so when this guy became available (for 116m, which is a steal for a striker of that calibre) I immediately went for him. Him already having 6 Premier League seasons under his belt was also an important factor in this decision.

https://i.gyazo.com/588896450567390fc878bf674bbda509.png

Not the best piece of business I've ever done. Our backup left winger won't sign a new contract and will be joining Barcelona in the summer, so we'd eventually need a replacement. This guy became available for 72m and I went for him, but on hindsight we could have just waited and looked for someone better. He's done ok in his brief time here mind you, it's just that the transfer fee was probably a bit too high.

With the transfers sorted, we were set for a new league campaign. Having gone undefeated last season with records in most categories, there wasn't much room for improvement. And while our point tally was lower this time around, I'd say we were probably better. We lost one game, to Newcastle, which put an end to an incredible 66-game undefeated run.

https://i.gyazo.com/55e6883d085c37edeca5b4df87e67853.png

Our dominance in the league is perfectly summed up by the Team of the Year:

https://i.gyazo.com/ef6046f16b8aeb753557ed5890e09109.png

I'd even argue that Samson should have been in it instead of Diallo. That's how good we were. And we also showed that in the FA Cup which we finally won (5th time's the charm, eh?), going past Chelsea, United and Tottenham. The same can't be said for the League Cup, which we didn't win for the first time in 5 years as we were knocked out in the semis by Newcastle. We also failed to retain the Club World Cup, not making it past Leipzig who knocked us out in the quarters, but at least we did win the Community Shield and Uefa Super Cup, so that's a 2-1 in pointless trophies. As for Europe:

https://i.gyazo.com/277d5bcd908d73b2fad121013d638db2.png

Yup, that's now 3 in a row. We were undoubtedly lucky in our draws, but we were also a massive force and just demolished the teams put in front of us. Apart from Dortmund, who almost stole the final from us, but we grabbed two goals in the last 5 minutes of the game to claim the title for ourselves.

https://i.gyazo.com/1d84ad00a141728224ac0e15093cf7b0.png

A very familiar picture by now. All the players that have been impressing in my years here were at it again. Hernandez didn't beat his record from last season (62 goals), but his performances this season were actually more impressive, seeing as we also had Samson scoring 32 goals (so 89 between the pair of them, which is bonkers). Praise must also go to our backup right winger Lanza who filled Bejinaru's boots when the latter picked a couple injuries in the business end of the season. As has been the case for seasons now, right back was our only weak spot and it's something I just seem unable to fix. Oh well.

Sadly, no interesting jobs came up throughout the season, but with Newcastle and Leipzig sacking their managers and the World Cup taking place, hopefully there's some movement in the summer. At this point I think there's realistically only four jobs I'd go for, Real, Barcelona, Milan and Juventus.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just about to play my first match (against Aston Villa who are one of the best teams in my save...) of the Club World Cup and I spot that both of my first team keepers are away on international duty. So in comes this guy for his debut:

https://i.imgur.com/aahnrf4.png

I feel he compares ok to my number 1:

https://i.imgur.com/2jDukPu.png

We're in trouble.

[Dan]

We've drawn HJK in the 2032/33 Champions League qualifiers, which seems like a winnable tie, and if we do get through it'll be Rosenborg next, so I feel like there's a decent chance we're playing European group stage football at a higher level than the Conference League this year.

--

I'll do a proper Euro 2032 Latvia update with the main end of year one, but we drew England, Belgium & Denmark, so I'm pretty sure you can figure out how that went for us.

NFL draft season is over & I've been watching Loki Doki's FM22 journeyman over the last few days so I've slowly got reeled back in to wanting to play FM & I figured I should at least finish this season, so just a quick update on how it ended:

Ventspils

We managed to qualify for the Europa League group stages this year, having reached the final round of CL qualifiers (https://ibb.co/SKcLyr4) before falling to Partizan, and we've put ourselves in position to make it through to the knockout playoffs having won three & lost three (https://ibb.co/6brHrN7) of our games so far. The down side is that it helped create a big old fixture pile up & half of our players have been dead on their feet for the last couple of months, which in turn led to us dropping just enough points for RFS to pip us to the Virsliga title (https://ibb.co/1qQfWrd) - we had a shot to retain it as we played them in our penultimate game of the season, but we couldn't get the win we needed to jump them in the table. We did at least win retain the Latvian Cup (https://ibb.co/r4bkcTP), beating Riga on penalties.


Latvia

To the surprise of nobody, we went to Euro 2032 (https://ibb.co/rH9C8PJ) & took our kickings from a brutal group, but it was still good to get there & we also gave a decent account of ourselves in the Nations League (https://ibb.co/k83dPtz), where we finished second behind the Republic of Ireland.

--

I'm going to shelve this one now as I want to do another journeyman game, so I'll have an update on the new save shortly.

[Dan]

Right, I wanted to do a proper, global journeyman game so I decided to make a little backstory for my manager that will help steer the save & give me a few rules & goals to work with, so meet Emir Berrada:

https://i.ibb.co/48f9HKs/Meet-the-Manager-Emir-Berrada.png (https://ibb.co/D9bsZzG)


Biography:
- Born in Casablanca, Morocco
- Family moved to England when he was a child & settled in the Moroccan community of Kensington & Chelsea, which unsurprisingly, led to him growing up a Chelsea fan
- Talented footballer as a kid who managed to secure a place in the Chelsea academy system, but suffered a series of knee injuries in his early teens that forced him to give up on his dreams of being a pro
- Quickly turned his focus to coaching instead, travelling the world learning the fundamentals & building connections before he quickly started working through his coaching badges & at the age of 25 he already has his continental A licence & nice list of references from across the globe

https://i.ibb.co/2MrRSsQ/Screenshot-2023-05-24-at-10-25-25.png (https://ibb.co/8xwGbdp)

I tried to set his playing experience as Sunday league but I was getting laughed off of every job I looked at so had to go back & try again with higher experience. The rules are going to make it pretty much irrelevant anyway.

The Goals:

- Win the Moroccan Botola Pro 1 league with one of his home town teams (Raja Casablanca or Wydad Casablanca)
- Win the Champions League with Chelsea & reach legend status


The Rules:
- Emir must manage at least three teams in each of Africa, Asia/Oceania & North/South America before he can move to a European team
- Emir must manage at least five European teams before he can join Chelsea

--

I loaded a bunch of leagues from around the world & holidayed it to this week then started applying for jobs, and after whittling the offers down we've managed to secure our first job:

https://i.ibb.co/tMdczjB/Screenshot-2023-05-24-at-13-08-10.png (https://ibb.co/QF5nkS9)

This was the lowest reputation league I had loaded, but it should be an easy job as they're the dominant team in the league.

https://i.ibb.co/Qrk6836/Screenshot-2023-05-24-at-13-09-13.png (https://ibb.co/18M9st9)

They somehow finished 4th last season, and when I looked at the squad I discovered that basically the entire team is out of contract next summer & want more than I can offer to sign a new deal, so hopefully I'll be able to stroll in & get them back on top before also fucking off as I'm also only on a one year deal!

https://i.ibb.co/61NQt0w/Screenshot-2023-05-24-at-13-11-41.png (https://ibb.co/QCX0HvQ)

Bit of a ropey intro, but you get the drift & it will probably never come up again anyway :D The real challenge is whether I'll make it far enough in to even get to Europe, let alone to Chelsea. I might end up tweaking those rules a bit down the line but it should still be a fun save.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Some say Emir had a higher PA than Endrick back in the day.

[Dan]

Well Endrick would have been about five so Emir would have crushed him on the FM14 database if he’d got there in one piece

[Dan]

ASEC Mimosas 2023/24 Season Review


They somehow finished 4th last season, and when I looked at the squad I discovered that basically the entire team is out of contract next summer & want more than I can offer to sign a new deal, so hopefully I'll be able to stroll in & get them back on top before also fucking off as I'm also only on a one year deal!

Yep, that's pretty much what happened.

https://i.ibb.co/3hV6Zfd/ASEC-Competition-Overview.png (https://ibb.co/h8rQzX9)

We smoked the league (https://ibb.co/5YmMpzW) & went undefeated all the way up until winning the league, then swiftly choked the invincible season shortly after :moop: We also threw the clean sweep of all the domestic trophies by losing in the semi finals of the Coupe de la LPF to a mid-table team in the 91st minute, but we were very clearly miles better than everyone else. We broke basically every competition & club record possible as well - various consecutive wins & unbeaten records, most points etc.

We also had a decent run in the CAF Confederations Cup (https://ibb.co/4F4TjbL) before we got drawn against an Egyptian team, who prompted dumped us out, although we did almost manage to salvage it after losing 4-0 away, beating them 4-1 in the second leg to at least go out in style.

--

We've resigned as manager sitting fourth in the Ivorian national hall of fame already, and have started throwing out applications for clubs in various bigger African leagues, as well as testing the waters in South America & Asia. The plan is to try to jump to a bigger league, keep increasing Emir's reputation & wait for the chance to get an opportunity to return home to Casablanca, before looking to move to somewhere like Australia to start the next leg of the journey.

I've already got one or two interviews sorted, so I should be able to update you with Emir's new team shortly.

[Dan]

It turns out that quite a lot of African powerhouses wanted Emir, with offers from clubs in Tunisia, Algeria & Morocco - we did also apply for the Zamalek job, which would've been the one if we'd got it, but Egypt looks to be a step too far still. It took a while to filter through all the offers, but club number two has been agreed.

https://i.ibb.co/jT4xCLR/Screenshot-2023-05-26-at-21-08-46.png (https://ibb.co/t4CN0bX)

Not sure where they got the 4-4-2 thing from considering we played 4-2-3-1 all last season, but that's journalism for you I guess.

Four different Tunisian clubs made a play for our boy, along with the league winners from Algeria last year & a Moroccan mid-table side, but after doing some digging on league strength, finances, reputation etc Ben Guerdame were the best of the bunch.

https://i.ibb.co/tc8knqz/Screenshot-2023-05-26-at-21-09-30.png (https://ibb.co/xGJPw1Y)

They finished 9th in the Tunisian Ligue 1 last season, which is the second most reputable league on the continent & one that regularly produces Champions League challengers, but they have more money & rep than any of the other Tunisian sides that offered us a job, and it looks like they've also never won a top flight title or a cup, so it's a bit of a different challenge from ASEC, but at least Emir gets to keep using all his old gear as they also wear yellow & black.

--

The squad might need some work as there are a few areas where they're old and/or not very good, but with £2m to spend I think we should be fine to put together a side that can finish on the right side of mid-table next season.

[Adramelch]

we did also apply for the Zamalek job, which would've been the one if we'd got it, but Egypt looks to be a step too far still.

Better that way anyway, what with the 3-club rule you've gone for. Had you gotten Zamalek, you'd mostly likely have to go to a lesser club next if you were to stick to the rule.

[Dan]

Yeah, I think the Casablanca clubs fit in nicely as a final step in Africa, assuming they ever come up.

[Adramelch]

Arsenal 2038/39 Season

At this point in the save and with all the investments I've done to young and academy players at Arsenal, I think I'll just stick it out here, win as many trophies as I can and when, say, Klopp retires at Real (shouldn't be that much longer), I'll just go for that. With that in mind and with a squad that's won 3 Champions League titles in a row, I didn't really think we needed many first team players so I stuck to signing youngsters, but even then, not many of them as we have a lot of players under development. To that end, we signed the following three players:

https://i.gyazo.com/621943d26d0604a6304bb9cbca16c000.png

A player who was very much a case of "we have the money, so we might as well". He's not good enough to play for us yet (although I gave him 4 games throughout the season), but comes with tons of potential and is a home-grown player. Definitely a risk for the 80m we paid for him, but at this point, we might as well take the gamble, especially seeing as right back has been the most problematic position for us. I will be looking to loan him out from next season onwards.

https://i.gyazo.com/2716a56873d4b93ddf94d40ab007b314.png

This guy was a 2-star player when we signed him for just 15m in the summer, but spent a very full season on loan at Monaco, with 6 goals and 11 assists in 45 games, which helped him massively improve, to the point where he'll feature quite regularly for us from next season (albeit on the left wing rather than the right).

https://i.gyazo.com/4cc3a21417a72ee6f8bc12f37d3e95d4.png

The only marquee signing of the season, Eyer joined us in January for 79m. We don't have many players able to fill the ball-winning midfielder role and while Trbuhovic has improved a lot, when he gets injured or banned we don't have that many alternatives, so I was on the hunt for a suitable player and that's where Eyer comes in. It gives me a bit of a headache when I have to select between the pair of them, but that's definitely a good headache to have.

With the transfer window slammed shut™, we went on about our business. We started with two easy wins in the Community Shield and the UEFA Super Cup against Chelsea and United respectively, before proceeding to our league campaign. Unlike the last few seasons, our league form was a bit all over the place, and we actually finished the first round of fixtures just two points ahead of Tottenham, but with them having a game in hand. At that point we had 2 draws and 4 losses in 19 games, meaning that we'd already dropped more points than we did in each of the previous 4 full seasons. The one glimmer of hope was that we had played every single team in the top 8 away from home, so there was a real possibility of turning things around in the second round. And turn things around we did as we went on to win 17 of the remaining 19 games (with 2 inexplicable 0-0 draws against Watford and Wolves), leading to our 6th consecutive Premier League title:

https://i.gyazo.com/25255a7a773f2ab6f5bcfdaabd1475a3.png

In the end we ended up with 7 fewer points compared to last season, even though we scored and conceded the same amount of goals. Much like last season, we also failed to win the League Cup, this time around falling at the very first hurdle as a very weakened side wasn't good enough to beat Portsmouth (although on paper they should have been). We made up for that with a second consecutive FA Cup win, where we had a very favourable draw, with the only big opponent being Chelsea in the final, that we beat 2-0.

https://i.gyazo.com/de457d2e730b16814c1d25171542b4d0.png

I don't think I've ever won 4 Champions Leagues in a row, at least not in the more modern versions of the game. We didn't have the hardest of draws, but we did have to go through Bayern (probably the second best team in the game) and last season's finalists Dortmund. The tie against Dortmund was a nail-biting affair, as we took the lead three times at their place but they ended up winning 4-3 with two injury time goals. We battered them at home, but only managed to score once. They won a penalty out of nowhere in the closing minutes, but Marinelli saved it (he's been very good at that throughout my stint here), to send the game to extra time. But that was not before Eyer was sent off in injury time for a two-footed tackle. Nevertheless we continued dominating the game, with a very early goal in extra time, but again it wasn't enough as they grabbed a fluke goal sending the game to penalties. Marinelli showed them who's boss as he saved two of their first 3 penalties while we scored four in a row to send us into our 5th consecutive final where we'd face a very unfamiliar team in Rennes. They eliminated Liverpool, Juventus, United and Barcelona to get there, in a very surprising run. The final wasn't much of a contest, as we were the only team on the pitch, our only opposition being our inability to actually hit the target.

https://i.gyazo.com/3bf1b9e8b6b17e59bd5beb514f30f85c.png

Hernandez only scored 45 goals. Horrible player. Joking aside, he and Samson had more equal playing time this season and both of them also had to feature a fair bit from the right wing due to injuries so their numbers weren't as impressive. They still bagged a total of 82 goals between them, making us the only team with such a formidable strikeforce. The three behind the striker also posted some incredible numbers, as did Alentejo further back in the midfield. The surprise of the season was Gilberto, the first player in ages to give us consistency at right back.

[Dan]

Ben Guerdane 2024/25 Season Review


The squad might need some work as there are a few areas where they're old and/or not very good, but with £2m to spend I think we should be fine to put together a side that can finish on the right side of mid-table next season.

Emir worked his magic again this season, overhauling the side (https://ibb.co/WB2L3sj) & ensuring they finished well above mid-table, running with ES Tunis & Club Africain at the top of the table in a season that went right down the the dying moments...

https://i.ibb.co/ZfbnzN0/Screenshot-2023-05-30-at-10-44-02.png (https://ibb.co/7S0wtbq)

:cry:

We went full Dortmund, losing 1-0 to CS Sfaxien on the final day thanks to an 88th minute goal that handed ES Tunis their ninth successive Ligue 1 title as they use results against teams as the first decider rather than goal difference. At the end of the game I just sat & stared at the screen in disbelief for a good few minutes - we'd beaten Club Africain 5-0 the game before in the match I thought would determine the title, but we still managed to find a way to throw it away.

We broke so many records, smashed a bunch of teams & should have finished the job, but it was still the best season in club history, we're playing continental football for the first time next year & we're raiding Tunis for some more of their young players this summer, so hopefully we'll get it done next season.

We brought Karamoko Sankara (https://ibb.co/vYGkNjb) over with us from ASEC, moving him from his left wing role to play up front for us, and he immediately became one of our better players alongside LW Fakhreddine Ouji (https://ibb.co/p2J9F0c), club favourite AMC Mohamed Nasr Hamed (https://ibb.co/wKCt9Ht) & RW Kevin Tabet (https://ibb.co/Vv3VKYY). We also got a strong half season from January signing Mohamed Wael Derbali (https://ibb.co/1qqKpRM), who should prove to be a key player next season.

I think we'll be doing one more season here before looking to move on - I've been keeping an eye on the Casablanca clubs but they finished first & third this season so I don't think those jobs will be coming up imminently.

[Baz]

Queenslander has come home on loan:

https://i.imgur.com/PUGw9Pr.png

Sold him for £38.5k halfway through the first season. Now worth £57-69M. Nice bit of business, Mark, you goon.

[Bam]

Defiantly some shenanigans going on here, they've loaned you a player worth over £50m with no monthly fee or wage contribution? :saywhat:

[Adramelch]

Parent club I'd assume.

[Baz]

Nope. I only went for him cos Wycombe did.

[John Arne]

As a manager of a small rep team in a big league with good players (Super Crewe Alex), I've started using the 'asking price glitch' to stop big teams poaching my players. It makes life so much easier, but I do feel a little bit dirty.

[John Arne]

This has to be a record for a proper game in England.

https://gyazo.com/d188955a42b1cf423082f7cfd0bd6575.jpeg

[Yevrah]

As a manager of a small rep team in a big league with good players (Super Crewe Alex), I've started using the 'asking price glitch' to stop big teams poaching my players. It makes life so much easier, but I do feel a little bit dirty.

What’s the glitch?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Set the asking price to something well below their market price, you keep rejecting the offers which will never exceed too much more than that value.

Ensures your board don't swoop in when the offer hits a value they like.

[Yevrah]

I sort of wish I hadn't read that.

[John Arne]

Set the asking price to something well below their market price, you keep rejecting the offers which will never exceed too much more than that value.

Ensures your board don't swoop in when the offer hits a value they like.

This but add in when you reject an offer for a player, say £60m, the player bitches so you say you will agree to sell any bids of £65m (or whatever they also agree). Then just set their asking price to £10m and the AI just constantly bids £10m and the player doesn't get upset.

[Baz]

I wish I’d known this earlier. :happycry:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

This but add in when you reject an offer for a player, say £60m, the player bitches so you say you will agree to sell any bids of £65m (or whatever they also agree). Then just set their asking price to £10m and the AI just constantly bids £10m and the player doesn't get upset.

Didn't know about that.

[John Arne]

To be fair to SI, they're only had 15 odd years to fix it.

[Gray Fox]

It's still better than the right click cheat from a few years back where you could make a club pay whatever you wanted and instead of fixing it their response was "just dont do it."

[John Arne]

My Director of Football keeps, for some reason, keeps suggesting players named Pilenga.

The first guy was great, so I signed him, however, the next two weren't anywhere good enough. Guy has problems.

https://gyazo.com/e16f948d474efad0424a6956b674fb6b.jpeg

https://gyazo.com/0b98ea4edd3028fb09bc296e5d4e2bbc.jpeg

https://gyazo.com/828b3c19f74c9f3d281353abf843f434.jpeg

Unfortunately, no of them are related to each other.

[niko_cee]

Is your DoF also Italian and named Pilenga? Would be some epic coding if that were the case.

[John Arne]

Is your DoF also Italian and named Pilenga? Would be some epic coding if that were the case.

It was the first thing I checked :D definitely something an Italian would do - get the whole family onboard. Alas, it's Neil Bath, who is certainly not Italian.

[Shindig]

I've sometimes wondered if I could field an XI of the same surname.

[Baz]

What an excellent bug. :D

[wullie]

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



https://i.imgur.com/w6M7qmJ.png


For fuck's sake

[Shindig]

Add new manager ---> Manage PSG.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Palamós CF & Spain 2041/42 "The Final" Season Update:

It is time to say goodbye, I've done 20 seasons with Palamós and I've achieved everything I set out to. It is hard to say goodbye to them as I've really enjoyed this save and I was even unsure if I should end it here. I want a Journeyman game before I say goodbye to FM23 though so the journey in Spain is over.

Transfers In:

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

Bayan Ramadan (no other nationalities...) was bought for £42.5m from Wolves and he is listed as the next Michael Owen. He actually played in quite a few games for us this year with almost all of his appearances being off the bench and he did ok.

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

Davide Antonini was bought for £43.5m from Inter. He got a lot more starts than Ramadan but featured in less games, he wasn't amazing but he didn't embarrass himself or the club. Dubbed the next Demetrio Albertini.

https://i.imgur.com/dA9BWl5.png

Auguste Ekwala was bought for £37m from Lyon and I think he's the most interesting purchase this season. He is a natural striker who was accomplished at AMC where I trained him all season to bump him up. I think he's fairly poor as a striker but he looks like he would have been absolutely mustard at AMC. Played in quite a few games and did pretty well. Already two games and a goal for the France national team too which is nice.

https://i.imgur.com/kVZCi6h.png

I was chasing Ramón Redondo a lot last year and the prick kept extending his contract with "Atleti" who kept increasing his minimum release clause by £0.5-£1m. It was originally £30m but I ended up spending £34.5m before he finally agreed to join us. He went on loan to Sporting Gijón for the season in La Liga 2 and he scored a decent amount of goals.

https://i.imgur.com/LF2itez.png

I think I have been chasing Andy Merle since he was 15 or 16 but Auxerre kept pricing him too highly. This season the value dipped to £69m (nice) and I decided to scoop him up. He played a lot for us, mostly from the bench, and he did really well. Think he'd have been a Worldie if I kept playing.

https://i.imgur.com/bp7s2dT.png

Charlie Gamblin is not someone I needed but I thought I might as well take him for just £15m from Sunderland. Barely played but he was ok when called upon.

Transfers Out:

https://i.imgur.com/rvt5X7U.png

Cleocir was bought for £14m in 2035/36 and he got decent game time for the first two seasons for us, mainly from the bench. He then spent 4 years out on loan and did well but he never developed like I thought he would. He was kicking up a fuss and I needed money so he was sold for £44m.

https://i.imgur.com/p5LotH9.png

Manu Prieto was bought for £5m from Almeria. I then loaned him to Ligue 2 Clermont Foot where he played well and developed. I then used him a lot but he was never a nailed on starter, he was always our 3rd or 4th choice CDM. He was moaning a bit and I didn't think he'd sign a new contract so he went to Villa for £90m.

League:

https://i.imgur.com/Fl1eAnb.png

Our best GD, our best points total, second best goals scored total and our second best defensive record. Despite all that it was quite a while until we mathematically won the title as Sevilla came to play this season. Their 92 points ties Real Madrid (in our first La Liga winning season where we won it on H2H) as most points scored in a season by a chasing team.

https://i.imgur.com/NAapfk1.png
https://i.imgur.com/xvDPTMw.png

Cups:

https://i.imgur.com/K1y2CwS.png

Bit shit to lose the Supercopa but I always send out the second team with that. Nice to win the Copa Del Rey too as it's only our third win as the reserves usually play in it.

Europe:

https://i.imgur.com/CF88yvX.png

Tottenham won the Europa League last year so got to face us in the Super Cup where we slapped them.

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

Annoying to get battered by PSG and lose to Milan but we still were top 8.

Round of 16:

https://i.imgur.com/vjyTJRa.png
https://i.imgur.com/A8lQYNT.png

We were poor in London but they never stood a chance in Spain.

Quarter Final:

https://i.imgur.com/V4WHIqD.png
https://i.imgur.com/CspxMRZ.png

Really lucky to have won that tie. We were battered in London after the early sending off but we stole the win and our ground is too hard to get a win.

Semi Final:

https://i.imgur.com/fkSMOWf.png
https://i.imgur.com/zOBifkk.png

Nice was obviously a piece of piss, fuck knows how they managed to do so well this year.

Final:

https://i.imgur.com/2Ty9LvF.png

We absolutely dominated them but their keeper (who finished on a 9.2) wouldn't let us score. To get an 89th minute penalty a miss crushed me as I was sure the game would fuck us over (the guy who missed was our backup AMR, I then sold him for £54m to West Brom). Hero of the shootout was obviously Matthias Jensen our goalkeeper. He stepped up and scored the first penalty (he's genuinely our best taker with a penalty taking stat of 12) and then saved two of their penalties to win it.

Spain:

With a month to go before the World Cup I decided to take them over to try my hand at winning an international competition. They also had not won the World Cup in my save or the European Championships. Plus I thought it would be a nice ending.

Group:

https://i.imgur.com/Yy0gaYe.png

We were pretty poor against Uruguay but we did enough and Gambia were no match against the second 11.

Second Round:

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

Serbia was a nice tie for us and we were never in danger of losing.

Third round:

https://i.imgur.com/USG4imE.png

Probably should have rotated more for this game as it was a piece of piss and we struggled for fitness later.

Quarter Final:

https://i.imgur.com/TygTY3J.png

Bit nervy, especially when we missed the penalty but we managed to get the win.

Semi Final:

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

We were horrific in the first half and England really should have punished us more. At half time I went ballistic at the players and I made a couple of changes including bringing on my boy Redondo. The media were STUNNED when I called him up but he turned the game around for us and England couldn't deal with him, after he scored his goal they collapsed.

Final:

https://i.imgur.com/ISCWz66.png

I expected this to be easier but fitness was a real issue in this game and we seemed to be lacking sharpness up front but we managed to win it before going to penalties which is nice.

Career Stats:

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

Bit of a shame I didn't hit 1000 games total but I'm happy with that. Annoying I couldn't crack the top 10 for Worldwide or Continental but not too shabby for 20 seasons with a team who started in the 6th tier.

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

Not sure why the U18s show up for two seasons, I never managed a game.

Damn happy with how this save unfolded.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.imgur.com/qEp4kJZ.png

344 leagues from 140 nations, it's go time.

[Yevrah]

Fuck me Mahow, what sort of rig have you got that runs that?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.imgur.com/Ag3P8KA.png

Nothing special. the save runs like a pig but I don't mind.

There are so many fucking jobs though. The Ecuadorian league system in particular is bullshit, 20 groups of 12 teams each in the third tier alone.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I looked more into what the Ecuador third tier is liked and ended up choosing that. The promotion battle is absolutely disgusting.

240 teams across the 20 groups and the top 3 qualify for the Promotion playoff first round (the rules state that there are 56 teams that qualify not 60 though so fuck knows). The winners qualify for the second round, then the quarter finals and then the finals.

How many of the 60/56 get promoted to the second tier you ask? Just TWO.

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

Here is our beautiful stadium:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Estadio_Alejandro_Ponce_Noboa_1.jpg

https://753383666.r.cdnsun.net/addons/default/modules/stats/img/venues/600/3836.webp

https://images14.fotki.com/v1640/photos/2/1471202/7236047/AAAA0006-vi.jpg

Latin America Wiki suggests we share the stadium with a few other teams in the city of Guyaquil:

https://res.cloudinary.com/rainforest-cruises/images/c_fill,g_auto/f_auto,q_auto/w_1120,h_732,c_fill,g_auto/v1622313142/shutterstock_1053699263-church-top-of-the-hill-guayaquil/shutterstock_1053699263-church-top-of-the-hill-guayaquil-1120x732.jpg

Here's an old photo of the team because Google isn't finding much:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Liga_deportiva_estudiantil_archives-17.jpg?20230213000215

Here is the squad in game:

https://i.imgur.com/ktbQ0Aj.png

Key Player:

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

Hot prospect:

https://i.imgur.com/RxaBO4b.png

League table:

https://i.imgur.com/ewPxOo9.png

Currently on course for one of the playoff spots which is grand.

Finances:

There's just under £5k in the bank and £384 spare in the wage budget.

Speaking of wages, in terms of salary per annum we are joint 37th paying out £26.67k. The top dogs in the tier? They're paying out £5.05m a year and are only one of 3 teams spending over £1m. Said £5m team have also won all 11 of their games this season scoring 48 goals and conceding 0, I think they're going to be tough to beat if we meet them.

Tactics:

Team played a 4-2-3-1 DM system in their last game and I will probably do the same assuming I can bring in a DM or two as we're light there.

[Clunge]

So I play at a snail's pace compared with everyone else here, but I finally jumped ship from Spartaks Jurmala after two-and-a-half years in which I got them to the top four in season one, won the league in season two and had a good Europa Conference run, and then left them mid-season in season three (start of June) which is when Latvia has a summer break and coincides nicely with the end of the season for most major European leagues.

I've worked my way up to three-star rep and a continental A licence so the job offers have been pretty tasty, although I don't want to rush things too much career wise. Here are the four jobs available I've had successful interviews for, and I just need to decide between them:

https://imgur.com/W6uCYQp.png

So Vojvodina are a Serbian top division side with a good youth set up. Objectives are just to strive to make progress. No European football. Maribor are one of the top sides in Slovenia, who finished third last season. Focus would be on developing youth and winning the title. They're in Europe too + they are offering me a £7m transfer budget.

Nurnberg are a bit of a fallen giant, they were Bundesliga not so long ago but are languishing in Germany's third tier. Another £7m'ish budget so could be quite a good fun rebuild job with no player restrictions either. Monza, meanwhile, have just been relegated to Serie B by a good 10 points so it'd be another youth-focused rebuild job and a rebound to Serie A.

Not sure which path to tred... my first instinct was Vojvodina, as Serbia always produces great youngsters. And it'd be a nice, logical step from the Latvian first tier. But then, I don't plan to stay there long enough to build a youth dynasty, and I doubt I'll be able to topple Red Star or Partizan. Plus, no European footy either. So Maribor makes a bit more sense in that respect. But both Nurnberg and Monza could be fun rebuilds. I reckon my Nurnberg budget would actually be a fair bit more as I'll have to gut the squad in all likelyhood.

[wullie]

Took PSG to penalties this time before losing, so that's four seasons in a row and three FA Cup final defeats in a row also. If either happen in my next season that's my sign to start a new game elsewhere.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Liga Estudiantil 2022 Season Update:

League:

https://i.imgur.com/dO55TQd.png

Here are the results I had with the team:

https://i.imgur.com/bow71B2.png

We did really well playing a 4-3-3 fluid counter attacking system and it really suited my main striker Antonio Viale who just kept scoring. League "won" but now we move onto the playoffs to see which two of the 60 teams get promoted.

Playoffs:

First round:

https://i.imgur.com/9sPRsw6.png

https://i.imgur.com/cdill8l.png

Easier team to deal with in the first round (they finished third in their group on 47 points) and we saw them off well.

Second Round:

https://i.imgur.com/FYiOH8o.png

https://i.imgur.com/kHvkO6S.png

Much harder team who finished first in their group on 56 points and they have people on actual part-time contracts and it was over after the first leg. Happy to see the team come back from 2-0 down in the second leg to draw the game though.

Cup:

https://i.imgur.com/O0IHyqP.png

I only had one game (the team did win 2 before I came) and it was against a top division side who slapped us.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/fy82yYi.png

Squad is ok but I'm at the max wage budget and unfortunately one of our best players (Pico) signed too late to be registered as he kept wanting contracts with £250-£500 in appearance fees which we couldn't afford. Bastard dropped to £60 right after the window closed.

Viale is a god.

Future:

I've decided to resign (although the board did not want me to), I would have loved to try and get promotion but I think with the mental rules of only two from sixty getting promotion I think it would be a 3+ season job and I want to explore the World some more. Plus technically I have won "the league" here.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I have a new job:

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

All hail Kim Jong Un.

Here is the stadium:

[REDACTED]

Here is the town:

[REDACTED]

Here is the team:

[READACTED]

All hail the glorious leader Kim Jong Un.

Here is the squad:

https://i.imgur.com/TDWAw5W.png

Key Player:

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

Hot Prospect:

https://i.imgur.com/n5WHhvw.png

League:

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

Easy promotion system. Top 2 go up to the Premier League.

Finances:

https://i.imgur.com/oCszxX0.png

No transfer budget and we have £730 wage budget, of which the club is spending £600.

It's a drop down from Ecuador but I can't remember ever managing in North Korea so I thought fuck it.

[Shindig]

Kim Jong Hun. What a good name.

[John Arne]

Got tired of my scouts not finding any good players, so I booted up FMSE and checked for high potential players.

Found this 15 year old Egyptian, so I flicked back to the game and sent my chief scout with JPA and JPP of 19 to check him out.

https://gyazo.com/773f174148e807e87b2e2d09b7af3e44.jpeg

In game, he looks very good for his age;

https://gyazo.com/8de7664c71735e0a6b8be1a6069cc634.jpeg

The scout report comes back and gives him just 3 stars for potential ability and grade 'D'. So, I send another scout out to him with 20 JPP, same report.

https://gyazo.com/36b82f9427310efa8804b57f7e4632d9.jpeg

Something doesn't add up.

[niko_cee]

Creative midfield player, needs more work on his marking and tackling. Sounds like the sort of shit IRL 'football men' scouts would come up with.

[Gray Fox]

I guarantee if you sign him the star ratings will change.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Scouts also look at other hidden shit (consistency, adaptability, big matches etc etc) which contribute to their assessment of a player.

They can also just be wrong. Even without knowing his PA I'd have taken a punt on him because those cons aren't too bad and he looks mustard for his age.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Ponghwasan 2022/23 Season Update:

League:

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

We were flying high at the start of the campaign but stumbled as my strikers couldn't find the goal even with maps provided. We were stout defensively but had so much trouble breaking down teams in the middle of the season.

Here is the xG table:

https://i.imgur.com/UAELgf6.png

...

I would show the schedule list but there is a bug in North Korea where the schedule list is completely blank for every team.

Cup:

Only played one game in the second round against a top division side (who are on course to finish third):

https://i.imgur.com/JdJG71u.png

We played fairly well in 90 minutes but in ET we completely folded. We even had a great chance at the end of the 90 minutes to win it but useless striker couldn't hit the target.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/WC62iDE.png

Annoyingly the second transfer window opened really late and despite bringing in some great loanees (Ryo Jong-Chol on the right wing and Ri Il-Song up front) we were too far gone to challenge the top 2.

Future:

I'm already working on my Continental B badge because the North Koreans loved sending me on courses and I think Africa is calling me for my next stop.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I have a new club.

FC Quince De Agosto of Equatorial Guinea.

Here is the stadium:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Estadio_de_Libertad_Bata_Guinea_Eq_Jul_2010.JPG

Which looks pristine. The game says it's a 10k all-seater stadium. Wiki says it's a 4k capacity stadium.

Here is the city:

https://megustavolar.iberia.com/wp-content/uploads/ltf/2016/04/L2F-Apr-16-pic-Equatorial-Guinea-Bata-waterfront-alarico-shutterstock_258361529.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Torre_de_la_Libertad.jpg

https://heroesofadventure.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Screen-Shot-2016-08-26-at-09.17.35.jpg

Wiki says it's known for it's nightlife and it is the former capital of the country.

No team photos that I can find sadly.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/l3AyLxK.png

Key Player:

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

Hot Prospect:

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

The team finished as champions in the second division last season (two groups in the second division, they won one of them) so we're going to the top division. There are two groups of 8 and the top 3 qualify for the Champions Playoff. The board want us to attempt to avoid relegation.

Finances:

£42k in the bank and I've got a transfer budget of £8.5k and there is a wage budget of £3.5k or which we are currently spending just £113. So it's pretty much a blank slate for me to work with.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjsrAsq8rcM

lol.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.footballmanager.com/news/future-football-manager

However, as a sneak preview, I can share progress that’s been made towards one of the most requested features from our forums over the last 20 years – and that’s the ability to transfer saved games from one version of FM to the next.

:drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

"...and we're calling it... Project Dragonfly."

https://media.tenor.com/xRnWsx8A7F4AAAAC/alan-johnson-charming.gif

[Dark Soldier]

I genuinely don't get wanting to transfer saves over. Just play the previous version, changes between them are so small anyway.

[Danny]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0yxq4-gn-Y&ab

[Dark Soldier]

It will be a good laugh seeing all the content creators who've been highly vocal about how much they hate the game currently and are thinking of stepping away from the series now praising SI out the arse in a desperate attempt for FM25 early access and potential content.

[Gray Fox]

If I grasp this right, they seem to be getting out ahead of the bad reaction they're going to get for FM24, by saying '25 will be the dogs bollocks.

Why would anyone buy FM24 now?

[Dark Soldier]

Yeah it makes no sense. They're claiming it'll be a love letter to previous versions so just expect nothing to work and it to be a chore to play

[Baz]

It absolutely sucks donkey bollocks cos Warrington will no doubt have been relegated back to a non-playable league by FM25. :mad:

[Danny]

Yeah it makes no sense. They're claiming it'll be a love letter to previous versions so just expect nothing to work and it to be a chore to play

:D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It absolutely sucks donkey bollocks cos Warrington will no doubt have been relegated back to a non-playable league by FM25. :mad:

Buy FM24 when it's dirt cheap, start the game on FM24 then carry on the save in 25.

[John Arne]

FYI, been reading some stuff and as expected FM24 is basically going to be exactly the same game as FM23, but with the women's database added. Bit of a piss take.

Having said that, the game has basically been the same as the previous version for a good few years now.

Does anyone use the squad planner?
I visit the scouting screen perhaps once or twice a season
I don't even bother with training anymore.

This was spot on then.

Even with FM25, as someone who still plays commentary only, there isn't much else to look forward too.

Still no idea why they aren't getting back into the online world.

Also, one interesting tidbit that Loki noticed was the use of the phrase "service model" in one of the press releases...

[Spikey M]

They will continue doing this until either people stop buying the game or a competitor arrives on the scene. As it is, just updating the squads and the kits is enough.

I'm still playing FM22 (occasionally) and I can't see any reason to change that.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Whoever that chode is in the video above is on some grift. Sit there in your beard and glasses, over-pronouncing every syllable, shilling for Miles Jacobson. He probably genuinely thinks he works really hard.

They're going to move to a subscription model, I'm guessing? From FM25. Don't know why you would bother relaunching otherwise as the current model clearly works well financially and involves relatively little effort.

[wullie]

When I read 'Football Manager 2024 will be the 20th game in Sports Interactive’s Football Manager series, and will be the last of its kind.' I assumed a service model was coming in, instead it just said how the faces won't be as scary.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Whoever that chode is in the video above is on some grift. Sit there in your beard and glasses, over-pronouncing every syllable, shilling for Miles Jacobson. He probably genuinely thinks he works really hard.

They're going to move to a subscription model, I'm guessing? From FM25. Don't know why you would bother relaunching otherwise as the current model clearly works well financially and involves relatively little effort.

I used to like him a lot but he's a prick who is really grating and you see that the more you watch him.

[niko_cee]

Was 03/04 the last Champ Manager? Was that the 'dot$' one that had a Leon Osman focused magazine to promote it pre-launch?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Quince de Agosto 2024 Season Update:

League:

https://i.imgur.com/YjXxUS3.png

We did incredibly well in the league group phase, we were meant to finish bottom but we were great and had a lot of momentum going into the playoffs.

https://i.imgur.com/2sBkZ89.png

But we completely bottled it.

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

https://i.imgur.com/8SqVo0N.png

We battered our opponents in the first two games but instead of the 6 points we should have had we only picked up 1. We then completely shat the bed against Mogomo before playing well when it was too late and we didn't turn up for the last game.

Cup:

https://i.imgur.com/YbAZu17.png

When we dumped out Akonangui I thought we were going to win it. Sadly in the semi-final we got an early red and really should have lost before penalties where we were awful.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/aq4Xzzd.png

Santiago Ferreira was massive for us. On the mid-season transfer deadline day our main striker decided to drop down to the second division (he was the joint top scorer in the first league at the time) and I quickly picked up Santi who, after a slow start, went bonkers.

Future:

I'm staying here for another season at least, I want to win the league here and possibly the cup too.

[Clunge]

I want to do a youth academy only save. Obvs, I know there are loads of clubs with great youth setups, but I'm looking for a club/save where the club's board's core aims/objectives are to actually do this, produce a dynasty based solely on their own youth setup/academy and actually have the time/patience to let you achieve this. Is there one out there? Large or small, I'm not fussed, but I like the idea more of building up a smaller club this way, if there is one.

[Dark Soldier]

I used to like him a lot but he's a prick who is really grating and you see that the more you watch him.

Hes better than Benjy and his fucking Easter Island teeth tbf. Only really Zealand who is a semi decent FM 'star' (lol)

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Hes better than Benjy and his fucking Easter Island teeth tbf. Only really Zealand who is a semi decent FM 'star' (lol)

Benjy would be alright if he clearly didn't hate the game and as such keep quitting on series.

I'm a big fan of WTS (although he can be annoying) and Loki Doki.

[Gray Fox]

I want to do a youth academy only save. Obvs, I know there are loads of clubs with great youth setups, but I'm looking for a club/save where the club's board's core aims/objectives are to actually do this, produce a dynasty based solely on their own youth setup/academy and actually have the time/patience to let you achieve this. Is there one out there? Large or small, I'm not fussed, but I like the idea more of building up a smaller club this way, if there is one.

Athletic Bilbao is the obvious one, with a slight bit of wiggle room for signing Basque players from other teams.

You have Altınordu F.K. in Turkey, who only sign Turks.
Paksi FC of Hungary only sign Hungarians.
Chivas Guadalajara in Mexico only use Mexicans(this would be my pick)
Deportivo El Nacional only use Ecuadorians.

[Clunge]

Definitely looking for a European side. Atalanta seem like a good option. I think I'm looking at first or second tier.

[Waffdon]

Maidenhead might be a fun save next year if it’s true they have a 25% sell on fee for Max Kilman

[John Arne]

Maidenhead might be a fun save next year if it’s true they have a 25% sell on fee for Max Kilman

FIFA stopping him from representing Ukraine because he played for England Futsal was a dick move, too.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Quince de Agosto 2025 Season Update:

League:

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

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

We started the season well but we had a weird middle where we wobbled massively. It looked like we were going to win our group again but the stumble meant we were hanging onto third by the end.

Playoffs:

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

https://i.imgur.com/8RQrbzO.png

Really hurts this one, we were so close. The 3-0 loss especially was a shitter as we got an early red and were the better team but after I went more attacking we conceded in the 89th, 91st and 94th minutes.

Cup:

https://i.imgur.com/w9L8d7R.png

Not great but the board didn't give a shit so I kept sending out a second 11.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/ffMR7Ww.png

There was A LOT of changes here as I was hoovering up talent and I think I signed about 40 players (some of which I then let go as I couldn't register everyone) and quite a few left. The Dickhead who left us on deadline day mid-season last year came back which was nice and he did score a couple of important goals.

Youth Intake:

It was labelled as a GOLDEN GENERATION and when I saw this lad I knew why:

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

Our next best CB is rated at 3* CA, he's already the best CB in our group and he's our key player. There are a couple of other potentially decent players but they need work.

Future:

I'm doing one more season, we're in the African version of the Europa League (I can't find rules as to qualification in the league notes but I guess the two "winners" of each group get continental football with the highest placing team in the playoffs getting Champions League) after last season's heroics which kick off in a few weeks. I want a taste of that and I want one last crack at winning the league here.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Quince de Agosto 2026 Season Update:

League:

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

https://i.imgur.com/mMMfrl3.png

We were on fire at the start of the season and when we beat Deportivo Mongs 8-1 I thought we'd cruise to the title. Akonangui pushed us in the league phase hard but we never lost the top spot after the 8-1 win.

Playoffs:

https://i.imgur.com/VDqXM10.png

https://i.imgur.com/cTw7m3A.png

Akonangui battered us in the first game but needed a 91st minute goal to win and as soon as they did that I knew it was going to be tough to win the championship. We battered Unidad but they held on and grabbed a late winner and I then played the reserves in the last game because we couldn't win.

Absolutely gutted as we had the quality to win but we fucked up the playoffs again. The club was promoted from the second division when I came in and we were predicted to finish 8th, 8th and 3rd in the regular league. I took us to 1st, 3rd, 1st so I've done a good job but I still feel it's a bit of a failure.

Cup:

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

Not the hardest run but not the easiest, other than the semi-final where we played the weakest team left.

Final:

https://i.imgur.com/5r7h9te.png

Can't believe we lost this, we were so good in this match but some shocking defending and goalkeeping kept putting them back into it. When it went to penalties I knew we had no chance.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/3ooNAp3.png

Ended up streamlining the squad a lot, mainly because our wage budget went from £3.7k to £2k because we're losing money like crazy. Star of the team is this man:

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

I knew he'd be too good for this league but I didn't expect him to bag 46 goals in all competitions. Sadly I almost instantly upset him because I forgot that he locked in a promise to bring in another Ethiopian which he never got over and is now leaving the club at the end of the season.

Future:

My time in Equatorial Guinea is over and I'm really sad I don't have more to show for it even though I did exceed expectations. Plan is to go east either to Asia or Oceania.

[Mike]

I've very slowly been playing in Mexico after getting a kit for Christmas. Anyway, the league structure is confusing. I won the Expansion League Opening Stage, then went into the playoffs for the Expansion League Opening Stage, and won the final. Now I'm in the Expansion League Closing Stage.

Anyways, the trophy for winning the Opening Stage playoff final is something you'd win in primary school.
https://i.imgur.com/1FHPaSx.png

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I have a new club!

Lae City Dwellers of Papua New Guinea.

Here is the stadium that is used in real life (in the game we have a new stadium though):

https://www.postcourier.com.pg/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ignatius.jpg

https://preview.redd.it/sir-ignatius-kilage-stadium-lae-papua-new-guinea-v0-hjkbpwu86gta1.jpg

At least I think that's where we play. The club has a weird history, they were called Toti FC then changed the name to Lae City Dwellers FC, then to Lae City FC and finally another club called Lae City Dwellers FC was set up claiming to be the original club.

Here is the city:

https://lca.gov.pg/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Lae-4-1500x650.jpg

https://tribalmystic.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/sam_2843.jpg

The city is the second largest in Papua New Guinea and is called the Garden City. It's also the main port hub and the main industrial area.

Here is the squad in real life:

https://i.imgur.com/6ShdQmG.jpg

The FM squad:

https://i.imgur.com/LA0SZ4D.png

Key Player:

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

Hot Prospect:

https://i.imgur.com/r2zeGkX.png

League:

https://i.imgur.com/QCR2jcz.png

The team has won the title for the last two seasons and they also got to the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League this season. Board want a top 2 finish, season preview has us in second and the media have us coming top.

[wullie]

My least likely win to date

https://i.imgur.com/ZW5SUge.png

If I can beat Benfica with 8 men, surely this is the year I beat PSG with 11

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.imgur.com/oG2RN67.png

We pre-date mother fucking Jesus.

WE ARE IMMORTAL.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Lae City Dwellers 2026/27 Update and New Job:

Transfers:

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

Basile was the big transfer here and you'll see why later. Also, I went a bit too hefty on the forrin signings so Ashley Seddon couldn't be registered and he wasn't a happy lad during the season.

League:

https://i.imgur.com/BHqfIj8.png

https://i.imgur.com/suC24Zd.png

We led from start to finish and even the games we lost we should have won. We were miles better than everyone else.

Cup:

https://i.imgur.com/4ktvJ9t.png

Again, miles better.

Continental Football:

https://i.imgur.com/eCwp3XE.png

When we beat Auckland City so convincingly I really thought we had a chance of going all the way. Sadly we just didn't turn up against Rewa, especially the keeper.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/7VbDJtB.png

Basile was so damn good and he just couldn't stop scoring. I think there were only 3 or 4 games in which he didn't score a goal in, the man was a machine. Also, it's a shame it took Eyob quite a while to get going (he was signed to be my main striker until I saw Basile) but he ended the season on fire. Had he been like that earlier I think we could have won the OFC.

Future:

Took me a while to finds a new job, I was originally searching for something in North America but there wasn't much there so I decided to expand my search. It became clear that it would either be South America or Asia and I was favouring South America. However, I was lolled at for the better jobs there and the clubs that wanted me had fuck all money. As such I chose:

https://i.imgur.com/m0k6E5T.png

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

We're not spending that much so I will have plenty to play with.

City:

We are based in Turkmenbasy in the great country of Turkmenistan which is a major seaport on the Caspian sea. The city has had a few different names in its history but my favourite has to be SHAGADAM.

here is the glorious train station:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Turkmenbashi_Railway_Station.jpg

The wonderfully colourful city::

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/B9ACX8/view-of-the-city-of-turkmenbashi-B9ACX8.jpg

The beautiful airport:

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2ecb10_69bd54ad79e2409b9a9683fcd36d5e57~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_640,h_426,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/2ecb10_69bd54ad79e2409b9a9683fcd36d5e57~mv2.jpg

The Stadium:

https://footballtripper.com/wp-content/uploads/Shagadam-Stadium.jpg

What an entrance.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Shagadam_Stadium_05.JPG/1920px-Shagadam_Stadium_05.JPG

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Shagadam_Stadium_07.JPG

FM says it holds 5k fans, I call bullshit.

Team photo:

https://assets.the-afc.com/Domestic_Leagues/Central_Wrap/Shagadam-FC-Turkmenistan-Cup-Final.JPG

https://turkmenistan.gov.tm/storage/app/media/Images/2021/12-2021/20122021/shagadam.jpg

FM Team:

https://i.imgur.com/C1x702z.png

League:

https://i.imgur.com/4IQemAP.png

We have two games of the season left. The first is today against Yedigen in 8th away and then we play Asgabat in 3rd away in 2 weeks. A point is all we need to secure safety.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Here are the results from the league this season:

https://i.imgur.com/VO8Cml8.png

I came in for the last two games and we did well. Even battered Asgabat and really should have taken 3 points there.

Table:

https://i.imgur.com/7QJ7oJ8.png

I genuinely think with the money we have I could get us into the top 4 with an outside shot at a title challenge.

[John Arne]

Just 17, but only 4 star potential.

https://gyazo.com/5c3ab8329d95c7eccc05e8efa060dd21.jpeg

[Spikey M]

I'd be training him as a CM.

[John Arne]

I'd be training him as a CM.

Cheers - will give that a go.

[Clunge]

Just got this chappie in a youth intake. Any thoughts on what his best position might be? Bizarre spread.

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

[Baz]

What’s with the drop shadow?

[Clunge]

Just how Macs take screengrabs :sorry:.

[Mike]

Won the second half of the season league, having already won the first half of the season league, and the resulting knockout competition. My reward, nothing but another knockout playoff competition thing.
https://i.imgur.com/6Cukcuz.png

[Mike]

Won it!
https://i.imgur.com/jygJ4FW.jpeg

Lost the first leg 3-1, Won the second leg 7-0, because I told them off.

Meaning we won two early to mid 90's Sports Shield Trophies.
https://i.imgur.com/EWXEw2g.png

https://i.imgur.com/cO01wq8.png

[John Arne]

Mmmm... money.

https://gyazo.com/1ce418dfa82070a2d8f1cf4c434c2aba.jpeg

[John Arne]

Didn't Yevrah do this first?


https://youtu.be/oA1H1AW6yQ4

[John Arne]

Decent name, decent player.

https://gyazo.com/7a2677fafb4004a3a1077c2fd54427bd.jpeg

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Stunned he's only got the 1 cap.

[John Arne]

For some reason there are loads great players constantly being overlooked.

[John Arne]

This seems like a lot....

https://gyazo.com/63b0998ce89e5f84314ac169e0cac6ae.jpeg

[Raoul Duke]

FM23 is free on Prime Gaming now apparently

[Baz]

FM23 is free on Prime Gaming now apparently

September 7th.

Will be an epic games serial key.

If anyone wants it, let me know.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I have Prime but I already have FM23 so if anyone wants my key, hit me up.

[Waffdon]

https://www.fmscout.com/a-fm23-transfer-data-update-by-pr0-fmtu.html

Transfer update out :cool:

[John Arne]

Phoning it in.

I'll still buy it, like a good little simp.

1701597156334010397

[Waffdon]

Any confirmed broken tactics from fmscoout/base that folk have been using recently? Preferably a narrow one if possible.

[Gray Fox]

They already basically said no point buying this one lads, wait until '25. Only the saves carrying over thing will help them.

[Dark Soldier]

Any confirmed broken tactics from fmscoout/base that folk have been using recently? Preferably a narrow one if possible.

FMBase has a ranking test system now. But they are tested via holiday mode and no matter what the fuck Miles or SI says tactics perform different via holiday/instant result rather than you playing every match.

[Danny]

1701598475488800913

Set piece refresh. Finally. Maybe the game will hold me for more than a month this year.

[Dark Soldier]

Hopefully it let's you put players anywhere for set pieces like the old wibble/wobble stuff so you can stick ten players at the near corner and score 15 corners a game.

[Baz]

If anyone finds it (steam code) cheaper than £40 giz a shout.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

If anyone finds it (steam code) cheaper than £40 giz a shout.

https://www.cdkeys.com/football-manager-2024-pc-steam-eu

If you don't mind dodgy, barely legal keys.

https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/football-manager-2024

Or here if you want totally legit. Last year all the content creators had extra discount codes. FM23 was £32 from here last year with the discount codes.

Edit: Seems it's £35.05 with the content creator codes this year, fucking inflation.

[Baz]

Barely legal. :drool: Cheers.

[John Arne]

2036, helluva title run-in.

https://gyazo.com/a473f8726c090299a94007bc33516e67.jpeg

[John Arne]

Urgh.

https://gyazo.com/6e1edb2c6e60fbbff030a027f500e92d.jpeg

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

:lol:

[John Arne]

Went from losing just 3 games last season, to 9 (NINE) this season. Awful stuff. Still ended up the highest scorers and best defence though :/

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1704151684526518533

1704153954949472709

These are pretty interesting.

Hopefully the dynamic income streams will allow AI teams in wank leagues to be able to challenge when you pull away.

[Baz]

Does he mean FM24 in the first one?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

He does.

[Baz]

Lad has one job and he can’t even hype the right game.

By the way everyone should start playing War of Worldcraft, it’s so good.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1704809768588623924

:drool:

J-League (top 3 leagues) is being added so hopefully the modders will add in that league system.

[John Arne]

Brutal.

[Jimmy Floyd]

J-league finally back? In your face, Konami.

[Shindig]

That's a sentence I never expected. :D

The other bloke I know who plays eFootball has finally thrown in the towel on that. PES works when you have NORMAL FOOTBALL COMPETITIONS like leagues, cups and not just some Ultimate Team clone.

[Waffdon]

Downloading FM24 later. Think I’ll start with West Ham - Paqueta/Kudus/Bowen/JWP is a very fun base to start with.

Or maybe Everton and trying to break the game with their giant strikers.

[Dark Soldier]

Is 24 out yet?

[Waffdon]

Nah, but footballers get given the Alpha version so got it through that. Think Beta is out at the weekend

[John Arne]

FM24 Beta should be ready to download in a couple of hours.

[Waffdon]

Ahh. That’ll explain why my game was doing loads of different updates and I couldn’t get in.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Beta is out.

[Dark Soldier]

Sweet. I'll post a few 12-0s later.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.imgur.com/S7n91xF.png

Was that always in the game? :cab:

[Raoul Duke]

Finally can cos-play as a pirate manager

[wullie]

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/6hiLle89BUeDMeyXWVn2SA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MDtoPTQyNw--/https://media.zenfs.com/en_US/News/TheWrap/Jimmi_Simpson_Thinks_8216It8217s_Always-9b82dec490d521216db97be5fad1243a

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Finally can cos-play as a pirate manager

No hooks or peg legs sadly.

[Baz]

Installed it. Back to WoW.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I usually go for Man United in beta/early access but I've decided to sack that off.

My first thought was J-League 3 but I want to play lower in the Japanese league later on.

I have chosen 1860 Munich.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.imgur.com/ti3bGnp.png

It seems Keepers can get injured this year...

[Waffdon]

I don’t even notice a single difference other than a wee bit more in depth with the set pieces.

[Adramelch]

It's a filler version (more so than usual) until their major overhaul next year presumably.

[Baz]

…which will inevitably be a broken joke of a game on release. Ahem, CM4.

[wullie]

Where's the best non-dodgy place to get this?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The cheapest is CDKeys (which is a little dodgy) at £32.99 or for complete cleanliness you're looking at Fanatical which is £35.05 with a content creator's code.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Loads of injuries in an early release of FM?

I'm stunned.

[Waffdon]

West Ham have great owners on the game. They’ve increased my transfer budget by £20m and £35m so far this season.

I’m in February and I think I’ve got about 5 players left from the original squad at the start of the season.

[wullie]

The cheapest is CDKeys (which is a little dodgy) at £32.99 or for complete cleanliness you're looking at Fanatical which is £35.05 with a content creator's code.

Perfect, thanks. I'm too wary of CDkeys but £35 will do nicely

[Waffdon]

Loads of injuries in an early release of FM?

I'm stunned.

Yeah. This is ridiculous. Don’t think I’ve had a fully strength start XI

[Gray Fox]

From the limited takes on this I've seen, it sounds as if this is more what people were expecting from FM23. Some QOL updates, some animation updates, with everyone knowing the big series update was further down the pipeline.

Aside from the to be expected bugs, from an SI game, reception seems quite positive?

[Adramelch]

FM23 presumably had the most sales in the series so they could legit release the exact same game and be fine by the looks of it.

[Lofty]

I've never had a problem with CD Keys? Hardly G2A or Kinguin.

[Waffdon]

Saudi clubs are gonna come in so clutch. £40m and £50m straight up cash from Al Hilal for Edson Alvarez and Thomas Lemar (bought at start of game for £8m).

[Waffdon]

First season done with West Ham. Qualified for CL through the new 5th place shenanigans. Sometimes good, sometimes very shit. The away form was patchy is fuck - mostly against mid table team which made it even more infuriating. Scoring goals is easy enough but couldn't find a happy medium. Should really have finished 2nd or 3rd considering the amount of good teams I smacked about.

Table:

https://i.ibb.co/Wp61x45/Screenshot-2023-10-20-183401.png

Away form:

https://i.ibb.co/SvS3tsF/Screenshot-4.png

Results:


https://i.ibb.co/LpkxXyN/Screenshot-1.png

https://i.ibb.co/2c0LfpB/Screenshot-2.png

https://i.ibb.co/4FZjc3b/Screenshot-6.png



Looking forward to another transfer window of needlessly selling players to fill the addiction of bringing news ones in

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've never had a problem with CD Keys? Hardly G2A or Kinguin.

I've never had a problem with them either but they are shady.

100% grey market.

[Baz]

Who’s arsed though, so long as the key works. Could be stolen off a Palestinian child and I’d be happy so long as it adds FM to my steam account.

[Dark Soldier]

I'm positive about it, and been very very harsh on the last two.

EDITY: Didn't see there was another page fml.

[Dark Soldier]

Anyway, for igor_balis

https://i.gyazo.com/9d6dc09d61c7085d46bd4ecd162aa22a.png

https://i.gyazo.com/4f184cd17b701d2e626f8e6a86fe62ec.png

[Baz]

Any corner exploits yet?

[Dark Soldier]

Near post still works, just not as good. Just whack ya big lads on.

[Mike]

No new thread this year?

[Adramelch]

I see they're calling it early access instead of beta on their site.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I see they're calling it early access instead of beta on their site.

1715003088627523813

[Gray Fox]

I've seen a few(Ben most notably) suggest it's because it's in a lot better state than the game usually is when the Beta versions would come out.

[Dark Soldier]

I've seen a few(Ben most notably) suggest it's because it's in a lot better state than the game usually is when the Beta versions would come out.

Its by far their most stable beta. Only found small bugs, easily ironed out. ME plays well, new intermediaries are a God send. New set piece creator is a lot better.

[Mike]

Started my Beta save as Liverpool, as always, and Miles will have to suck it up and accept it.

[Mike]

Mostly because I get the word BETA in my save name. 'Liverpool EARLY ACCESS be good' isn't as fun.

[Gray Fox]

What kind of budget have they given you to go and sign Andre and Hincapie/Inacio with?

[Spikey M]

Can you still only play up until Christmas?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That stopped ages ago.

You can play as much as you like.

[Dark Soldier]

Any corner exploits yet?

Short works well

https://streamable.com/d8qd53

https://streamable.com/3bpzmq

https://streamable.com/o2bnka

https://streamable.com/8nftg9

EDIT: Keep adding links as I score them. Six in three matches.

[phonics]

I've read it multiple times but I still don't understand this players move clubs if they move in real life mode.

[wullie]

I had a look and as Cov it's just that the players we've signed over the summer are listed as future transfers to match the day they signed in real life rather than you having the full squad on July 1st, don't get the point of it really

[Bam]

Can you still only play up until Christmas?


You still stuck in 2006? :D

[Gray Fox]

I've read it multiple times but I still don't understand this players move clubs if they move in real life mode.

Havertz will move to Arsenal in-game on the same day he did in real life.

It adds a little immersion layer in there. Nothing groundbreaking but a nice touch.

[Spikey M]

You still stuck in 2006? :D

Probably the last time I pre-ordered the game.

I'm still playing FM2020 at the moment and I haven't touched that for months now.

[Giggles]

If you can play it on and it's not a beta then they didn't they just release the fucking thing?

[Mike]

I mean they kind of have?

[Giggles]

So what's the 'Early Access' about at all then?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Buy the game and play it early.

It happens a lot with games these days, usually with an ULTIMATE or more PREMIUM version though.

[Mike]

Just means you get it early for pre ordering. As it's officially out in a few weeks, you're currently still pre ordering, so get it now. The 'Premium' version of Starfield for example, was out 5 days or so earlier than the Gamepass version.

Does mean I am tempted to just start my full save, rather than my usual two weeks of being Liverpool first.

[Dark Soldier]

Had never even heard of this cunt. He's fucking mental.

https://i.gyazo.com/76fcdc879f2bd6e8f003f96a6fa15fb2.png

Brought him in after Bruno moaned that he wasn't playing enough. Despite starting three and featuring in the other two of the first five games of the second season. Sent him off to PSG for 60mil.

[Mike]

It is very tempting to bring Jay Spearing off the bench enough times that if we win the league, he gets a medal.

[Waffdon]

Clean sheets are hard.

[John Arne]

Only been playing for a couple of hours, but FM23 games running on FM24 run very fast compared to FM23.

[Dark Soldier]

Yeah they've nailed optimisation. My PC is about 5/6 years old now and its flying along.

[John Arne]

Any decent tactics DS? I'm struggling with my old 2-3-2-3

[Danny]

Yeah they've nailed optimisation. My PC is about 5/6 years old now and its flying along.

This is good to know especially as FM is the only PC game I play. I am due a new one but my surface is handling daily use well enough.

[Dark Soldier]

Any decent tactics DS? I'm struggling with my old 2-3-2-3

Can plug mine with my corner exploit:

https://fm-base.co.uk/threads/42121sirjur.182809/#post-2612443

Mainly for the top, top teams though.

3 DMs/3 MCs is the early meta. Wingers beat inside forwards as you can now tell wingers to cut inside.

[John Arne]

Can plug mine with my corner exploit:

https://fm-base.co.uk/threads/42121sirjur.182809/#post-2612443

Mainly for the top, top teams though.

3 DMs/3 MCs is the early meta. Wingers beat inside forwards as you can now tell wingers to cut inside.

Cheers, will give it a go.

The corner exploit is short corners basically, right? I seem to have a weird bug where my GK is taking corners, and I'm unable to change it :D

[Dark Soldier]

Cheers, will give it a go.

The corner exploit is short corners basically, right? I seem to have a weird bug where my GK is taking corners, and I'm unable to change it :D

Short corners but needs a particular set up basically. I've posted a thread about it open FMBase in FM24 discussion.

Also report that bug wtf :D

[Adramelch]

Chilavert built a career off of a similar bug.

[Dark Soldier]

My one and only stupid result, I'll keep em on the down low this season

https://i.gyazo.com/19bfca88e555333d840adc991eda4a8a.png

[Waffdon]

https://i.ibb.co/8MyvD7k/Screenshot-2023-10-24-234931.png

Eoiii

[Yevrah]

Is the Saudi League in this out of the box?

[Baz]

Is the Saudi League in this out of the box?
No.

[Waffdon]

Is the Saudi League in this out of the box?

They buy all your players though. Legends.

[Baz]

Someone on Reddit sold Varane for 195m.

[Danny]

I saw a post of someone playing as Leeds making 500m. Needs a patch

[Waffdon]

Yeah it’s definitely broken. They bought Flynn Downes (who?) from me for £18m and gave him 600k a week :lol:

[Yevrah]

Mystifying that they didn't put the league in.

[Adramelch]

Probably a license thing.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Wouldn't have had time to research it either. Maybe next year. I fired this up and noticed Gibraltar is in, there's the ultimate sicko save. Not for me alas as I have a full time job.

[wullie]

It was only when one of our released players signed for a club there last week did I find out that Gibraltar has an entire league where every game is played in the same stadium. That's a value for money season ticket.

[John Arne]

Players get unhappy all the time is still a thing. Salah was unhappy because I sold Matip (for $35m)... I told him we were fine. All my squad were then unhappy at my treatment of Salah. Seriously, fuck off.

[Baz]

When’s the full version out?

[Danny]

Next year.

[igor_balis]

Players get unhappy all the time is still a thing. Salah was unhappy because I sold Matip (for $35m)... I told him we were fine. All my squad were then unhappy at my treatment of Salah. Seriously, fuck off.

The annoying thing about this shit is that the game is just inherently too easy, and they probably did need to add things to make it more of a challenge, but the cack-handed implementation of stuff like this just feels so artificial, and rather than making it harder it just makes it fucking tedious. I wouldn't mind it if it made sense, but after however many years it's so broken. Useless wankers.

[John Arne]

The annoying thing about this shit is that the game is just inherently too easy, and they probably did need to add things to make it more of a challenge, but the cack-handed implementation of stuff like this just feels so artificial, and rather than making it harder it just makes it fucking tedious. I wouldn't mind it if it made sense, but after however many years it's so broken. Useless wankers.

Yes, spot on. They throw stuff like this into the game to make it harder, which is does, but only through frustration and a bit of unrealism. It's the one reason I use the in-game editor... 'remove all unhappiness', unless it's somewhat realistic.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Christ, it's more than hard enough. The last/only time I was able to do well at it was during lockdown when I had mountains of time.

[wullie]

The only bug I've noticed is that when I get to 23rd August the game immediately cuts out entirely, tried holidaying past it but does the same thing. Would start a new game but I'm hesitant to if this is something that can happen, so now I'm going to leave it until it updates to the full version and see if it lets me proceed. If it's still fucked, the world will never know how Sunderland (H) would have gone, although it can't have been more dull than the 0-0 in real life.

[Yevrah]

Wouldn't have had time to research it either. Maybe next year. I fired this up and noticed Gibraltar is in, there's the ultimate sicko save. Not for me alas as I have a full time job.

Wasn't that in previously? Either way and now you mention it I'm hankering to give that a go.

How does your board accepting offers on your behalf when a bigger club comes in for your players work in this version?

[Waffdon]

I’ve not had it and was able to reject bids of £110m for Marcos Leandro. (Sign him)

[Manc]

Two questions from me. How is the match engine looking? Do AI teams now build coherent squads?

[Jimmy Floyd]

I've played about 8 games and the match engine seemed decent.

[Waffdon]

I only play 2D classic but even with them you can tell the engine is much better.

[Gray Fox]

As has been mentioned before this seems like the game is in a far better state than it usually is at this stage. It seems like a fair few QoL style changes/updates as well as a few nicer animations. The ball looks like it travels more naturally etc.

I believe the prize money also scales a fair bit better this year too. For example, if you did make the Gibraltar league up to be like the number 1 in the world rankings, you'd be bringing in the premier league style prize money.

[Baz]

Funny that Miles wants everyone to say they're using the early release or whatever, when the game literally says BETA VERSION in the bottom corner.

[ScousePig]

The only bug I've noticed is that when I get to 23rd August the game immediately cuts out entirely, tried holidaying past it but does the same thing. Would start a new game but I'm hesitant to if this is something that can happen, so now I'm going to leave it until it updates to the full version and see if it lets me proceed. If it's still fucked, the world will never know how Sunderland (H) would have gone, although it can't have been more dull than the 0-0 in real life.

That's the exception to be fair: we're quite an exciting side these days, partly due to not being able to defend.

[wullie]

Going by the season so far I think we're largely to blame for nothing happening that game. To think we were one penalty away from still being this rubbish but at least getting more money for it

[Waffdon]

https://i.ibb.co/gmS23vL/Screenshot-2023-10-28-000851.png

Genuinely can't lose this season. 3-1 in CL semi final with 20 mins left and win 5-3. My two tactics are pretty great to be fair.

[Yevrah]

What's Bellingham like in FM24?

[Waffdon]

Probably not as good as he’ll be in the January update.

[Baz]

What's Bellingham like in FM24?

CyoJoQ0o_0r

[Waffdon]

League:

https://i.ibb.co/VpCMjQB/Screenshot-2023-10-28-205317.png

FA Cup/CL:

https://i.ibb.co/0BkhbpV/Screenshot-2023-10-28-205451.png

Tactics:

https://i.ibb.co/C1xDnjp/Screenshot-2023-10-28-210223.png

https://i.ibb.co/nbqVLrk/Screenshot-2023-10-28-210939.png

Being able to get money from Saudi's and also getting mega players on loan makes this quite easy. Might try a save with Bilbao

[Manc]

An unbeaten season with West Ham in year three is a bit worrying. Are you always this successful?

[Waffdon]

West Ham by name only. Tchouameni, Upamecano, Xavi Simons, Vitinha and Frimpong all in on loan. Never mind Endrick, Theo Hernandez and Wirtz on the bench. Saudi clubs buying gimps like Edson Alvarez for £50m has broken the game

[Baz]

Those loans are insane.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtbnrq4kpcI

:lol:

He even managed to score an own goal a minute earlier.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1860 Munich 2023/24 Season:

Transfers:

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

Fuck all money so it was mainly loans from me when I took over.

League:

https://i.imgur.com/sKVSno3.png

https://i.imgur.com/CPL4wlG.png
https://i.imgur.com/LMp2MLr.png

Going into the season the board and media thought we were a mid-table side and we showed them that we're not. We led for most of the season but we completely collapsed in February and didn't even get a promotion playoff. Really gutting as we were 6 points ahead of the league at the end of January and looking really good for the title.

DFB Pokal:

https://i.imgur.com/zKjrS5j.png

Got so excited when we scored the first and then a potential second which was ruled out. Really good fight from us but it was tough to take the late loss.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/sMQWr42.png

Really disappointed with my strikers. My original (Sulejmani) was crap so I brought Tezgel in during January and he started on fire with 4 goals in his first 2 games but then he went missing.

Really could have done with promotion due to our finances (we owe £53m although most of that isn't payable until we hit the Bundesliga) but alas.

[John Arne]

Keep the updates coming!

I've been wildly inconsistent. Best Forest 11-0, then next game beaten 1-2 away to Villa. I also keep forgetting the sub out Kelleher after cup games :D

[Waffdon]

https://i.ibb.co/YR9sKzV/Screenshot-2023-10-30-145035.png

Hala Madrid

[Manc]

Really disappointed with my strikers. My original (Sulejmani) was crap so I brought Tezgel in during January and he started on fire with 4 goals in his first 2 games but then he went missing.

14 goals in 63 games for my VfB Oldenburg side and that's in the third division. Sent him packing to Turkey for £250k (Sulejmani that is). A few strikers I'm currently having success with:

Niklas Dorr
Semir Telalovic
David Philipp

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'll give them a scout, cheers.

My current first choice striker is Lorenz Knoferl who was produced at the club in 2018/19. 2 in 3 so far to start the season off but I'm trying to find someone better.

I wanted this lad:

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

But he rejected £10k a week (rising to £11k) from us as he wanted £12.75k. So it's lovely to see he went to Bordeaux for £4.4k.

[Danny]

Never change FM.

[Adramelch]

In fairness it is Bundesliga 2 vs Ligue 1 (I am assuming). Classic FM is people choosing lower clubs for lower wages (which, I am certain, will in fact never change).

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Bundesliga 3 v Ligue 2.

I've managed to bring this lad in on loan though:

https://i.imgur.com/GN2OCCI.png

[Dark Soldier]

New tactic, stupidly effective:

https://i.gyazo.com/b056993c49a164b5fa9e3e5f5ded844e.png

https://i.gyazo.com/43a3ca0c89b51ab3d8d7b9c366393059.png

[Waffdon]

League:

https://i.ibb.co/VpCMjQB/Screenshot-2023-10-28-205317.png

FA Cup/CL:

https://i.ibb.co/0BkhbpV/Screenshot-2023-10-28-205451.png

Tactics:

https://i.ibb.co/C1xDnjp/Screenshot-2023-10-28-210223.png

https://i.ibb.co/nbqVLrk/Screenshot-2023-10-28-210939.png

Being able to get money from Saudi's and also getting mega players on loan makes this quite easy. Might try a save with Bilbao

Not bad. Defending was a mess similar to first season at West Ham. XG table had me 10 goals over for conceding which is annoying as the 'keeper is literally the best player at the club.

https://i.ibb.co/5T8nLYC/Screenshot-2023-10-30-205814.png

https://i.ibb.co/ZX9rLXQ/Screenshot-2023-10-30-205858.png

Now to try and steal some Sociedad players.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

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

I almost pulled out of the deal for this kid (I delayed it once or twice) but decided to pull the trigger and he's been amazing:

https://i.imgur.com/X9EsEsR.png

£90k only and he's been our best performer by far. Really well rounded and my coaches say he'd be a good Bundesliga 2 player.

[Dark Soldier]

Lads

https://i.gyazo.com/5c283128fb26d6d9f9687e424461075c.png

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Always knew you were a sell-out.

[niko_cee]

Wouldn't that email be more accurately titled Joel and Avram count the money?

[John Arne]

Players get unhappy all the time is still a thing. Salah was unhappy because I sold Matip (for $35m)... I told him we were fine. All my squad were then unhappy at my treatment of Salah. Seriously, fuck off.

And now he's unhappy because I didn't buy more goalkeepers, despite having Alisson and Kelleher... and I signed two new keepers just to shut him up. Stupid cunt.

And of course, all the other players are upset with he because of the way I treated him. Roll on the in-game editor to stop this stupid shit.

https://gyazo.com/98273196efe1d7d22fed28f92b641d09.jpeg

https://gyazo.com/ddf67fbaff7fa4b397f34e0eac8c2c86.jpeg

[Waffdon]

Yeah, that part is annoying as fuck. Then have to suck them all off at any opportunity to try get the atmosphere back to good

[John Arne]

I putting on the knee pads as we speak.

[Baz]

FM24 is easy. THREE hat-tricks. :drool:

https://i.imgur.com/eQk0SmL.png

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1720073877936807998

:lol:

Speaking of, I've now had my keeper get injured twice now.

[Manc]

Straight down the middle. Always keep them guessing.

[Waffdon]

The injuries are pretty fucking annoying. Nico Williams has been injured 4 different times this season for weeks on end. I barely even play the cunt compared to other players to try ease him in but without fail he picks up another injury.