Football Manager 23 [Archive] - Page 9

ScousePig

29-12-2023, 10:49 PM

Rant incoming.

I decided to start a new Park to Prem type save, holidaying for the first season and taking over a newly promoted side. Bradford Park Avenue came up and seemed an obvious choice - fairly local and I've even played at their ground in real life.

Here's how we're doing after 33 games:

https://i.ibb.co/dWGvwQ7/League-table-Feb-25.png (https://ibb.co/NVZqdL7)

A walk in the park, and promotion will be confirmed in a few games time. This is a team predicted to be in a relegation scrap. Here's my tactic:

https://i.ibb.co/B4sxfWB/Tactic-Feb-25.png (https://ibb.co/Jxk4c6H)

A fairly standard 4-3-3 tactic afaic, with a mixture of gegenpressing and controlling possession. My only real rule was that I needed to be defensively solid - I'd much rather win 2-0 than 5-2, and that my shape should be realistic - none of this 3 advanced forward nonsense or essentially four strikers with two advanced forwards and two inside forwards.

The problem is it's just so easy. I can't imagine this is news to anyone, but any sort of gegenpress style just completely overpowers the opposition, to the point of being quite dull. It's been like this for years, and it's a shame because the gegenpress/controlling possession in the opposition half would be a style of football I'd want my teams to play in real life, but it just isn't sustainable in FM if you want a challenge. Especially when you factor in having plenty of attack-minded duties in your roles, it becomes like gegenpress on drugs.

I've been looking on the SI forums a bit and tactic sites such as FM Arena to see what people are doing about it, and I've (they've) got a few ideas which I'm going to try. Someone posted that to make it more realistic you should think of your players in pairs, and try to have five runners and five sitters, and if you have too many runners then you're effectively exploiting the game. So for the tactic above, I would pair up the two centre backs, wing back and winger on each flank, the two central midfielders, and then the DM and striker as they don't have partners as such and are the only two players left. The BPD is on dribble more so he can be the runner, with the CD(d) as my sitter. On the flanks, the wing backs are clearly runners, which would make the inverted wingers sitters. In CM the CMa is clearly a runner, making the BBM a sitter, and then the DMd is clearly a sitter and and AFa a runner.

This would give me a 5-5 combination, but I'm finding it hard to justify the IWs and BBM as sitters, particularly as they're scoring most of my goals.

So I'm after something different. Someone else suggested that you should just use the preset tactics, and not touch the team instructions at all. I like the idea of this, along with not touching player instructions. The only thing I'll have free reign of is the shape and roles/duties, but even then I'll try to stick with the 5-5 rule outlined above.

I'm still using the Python coding for player recruitment but I'm finding this cuts down on a lot of the 'noise' and gives me a much clearer structure in terms of overall recruitment, so I'll be sticking to that. I am mindful though that it is heavily weighted towards the attributes acceleration, pace, stamina and work rate which in theory would end up giving me players suited to a gegenpress style of football.

13 games left in the season. I'm going to change now and see how it goes.

Rant over.

Baz

29-12-2023, 11:23 PM

Okay sure but can you upload your tactic?

Yevrah

29-12-2023, 11:26 PM

What's a python coding?

Gray Fox

29-12-2023, 11:26 PM

I find the problem with the game its ease too. Problem for us here is we're clearly enthusiasts. I mean this(or the previous board) was originally a place for all things FM so we are all or were at one point. For that reason, playing the game just feels like a matter of time until you do the same kind of cycle you know you need to do to win.

The 4-3-3 gegenpress style has borked the match engine for years now. They seem to have thrown plenty of 'off pitch issues' at you to deal with, to try and slow you down. For example your backup right back trying(successfully) to cause a squad mutiny because he's not getting played in the exact role you specified on signing him, in your quadruple winning, record breaking team. It just feels quite false.

ScousePig

29-12-2023, 11:31 PM

What's a python coding?

Have a look at Squirrel plays FM on YouTube.

Baz, does my tactic not show?

ScousePig

29-12-2023, 11:33 PM

Dark Soldier

30-12-2023, 01:57 AM

I always find it a bit depressing when you have to limit, or challenge what the game offers to create a form of difficulty. Not just FM, but all games. Its hugely a fault of the devs in that regard. From the day they incorporated gegenpress its been broken, and they clearly can't fix it.

I have my TIs set to regroup rather than press, but then I have PIs and OIs saying to press. The formation is fucking stupid (3 players on defensive duty, 3 on support, 5 attack), but I found a save with United 18th in the table at January a few seasons in. They had lost 8 on the bounce. I took over and had 5 wins and a draw in 6 just plugging it in. Morale, atmosphere, all fucked when I joined. After that streak they're buzzing and we look like world beaters. My players just pressed them into oblivion.

Essentially the AI is still way way too passive. It has been for many versions. I watched a streamer play a full match once - 90% of AI passes where along the back 4_5. They're shit scared mate, unless it's say a City or Real. To practically have to nerf your own tactic to imitate what they do and form some form of challenge is utterly fucking stupid imo (not a slant at you, but the devs).

And I genuinely believe FM25, and probably 26 will be an absolute broken mess. I still buy it every year. I still pump hundreds of hours into it. But it's a background noise kind of game now. Winning a league, or CL just gives an 'oh nice' reaction and onto the next season.

I honestly don't think they care enough to fix anything, really. See Miles wanking himself off at record numbers of sales and players rather than address years old issues. Every game in existence has a meta, its just in FM anything but the meta is hugely frustrating.

Sir Andy Mahowry

30-12-2023, 01:19 PM

Something that is pissing me off right now is the fact that teams keep making shit loan offers.

0% of their wages and you'll only offer them fringe playing time? Fuck off.

Manc

30-12-2023, 01:50 PM

https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/580995-avoiding-exploiting-tactics/

ScousePig.

ScousePig

30-12-2023, 05:00 PM

Manc, I read that, and DS, I agree with everything you said.

I completed the season with preset tactics as I said, making no changes to either team or player instructions. Unsurprisingly, my assistant manager recommend I went with the gegenpress still as my squad is built for pressing, as well as the fluid counter attack as we have a lot of pace. I dabbled a bit with the vertical tiki taka preset but my players weren't really good enough to keep the ball. I switched shape a bit too but found the 4-3-3 the most suited still and it allowed me to control games better.

https://i.ibb.co/b7tVgtc/Results-end-of-24-25.png (https://ibb.co/mSpKCpf)

13 games (from Kidderminster onwards), Won 8, drawn 3, lost 2. 27 points, which extrapolated over the season would have got me 96 points and still won the league. All in theory of course, but surprisingly decent.

Despite the league already being wrapped up, I found it much more immersive as I did need to fiddle with roles, duties and shapes (and mentalities, the one thing in the overall instructions I'll continue to amend) and I'm looking forward to next season's challenge. It should be a challenge too, what with the new rules I've put in place and us presumably being one of the weakest in the league.

Baz

30-12-2023, 05:05 PM

Started a network game with my mate after years of him mithering. Problem is he doesn’t have kids or grown up responsibilities so he messages every morning ‘are you playing all day?’ with absolute sincerity. Of course not.

As it is I got sacked from Stoke, and then relegated with Rotherham in the same season. Luckily maxed out rep at the start and now linked with Newcastle.

Meanwhile my mate lost the playoff final with Leicester, and Mike lost the semis with Southampton. :harold:

All in all, a roaring failure. I played a grand total of two games and won both though. :flex:

Adramelch

31-12-2023, 02:38 PM

The quintessential FM experience: We just won a game 4-0, I missclicked on "not happy" in the post-match team talk and every single player was happy with the feedback.

Mike

31-12-2023, 06:26 PM

John Arne

01-01-2024, 04:07 AM

Just had possibly one of the best regens come through on my Crewe save :drool:

https://gyazo.com/9f70f2cde1cb6c70fb98a3373f26350b.jpeg

Adramelch

02-01-2024, 01:40 AM

https://i.gyazo.com/09f30854d281639c184b365c8c1e25da.png

:joy:

We just picked up where we left off after our tactical revamp last season really. While my tweaks were mostly aiming at limiting stupid passes that led to opposition counter-attacks, we didn't really do much better defensively (in fact we conceded 66 versus last season's 57). The changes did, however, end up massively boosting our build-up play resulting in a lot more chances and, subsequently, a lot more goals. And I mean A LOT more, as we scored 116 goals as opposed to last season's 73. We got up to 1st place about half-way through the season and never left. We even got a 9-point lead at some point, but we had one too many a game (6 of them to be precise) where we threw 2-goal leads away. Back to back defeats to Huddersfield and Southampton also made things a bit spicy but we kept our cool and won the whole thing. We also did well in cups, eventually going out to Arsenal in the League Cup after a well-fought 2-1 loss at home (them scoring the winner in injury time) and to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup on penalties after dominating both games but getting superkeeped really.

Our squad was largely the same as last season, which was to be expected seeing as we didn't have all that much money to spent. We signed two new full-backs which has been our most problemsome position for years now (albeit the tactical tweaks were looking to fix that), with Kelvin Abrefa (https://i.gyazo.com/f25ec57b03f8ce20d57dcedf418c2ec3.png) joining us on a free from Reading and Sebit Deng (https://i.gyazo.com/dac1dc5122c6dded16f9b16c20a19574.png) joining us for 175k from Tottenham. With Blake leaving, the decision was to have Cundle replace him in the first eleven, while having Kerry Atkinson (https://i.gyazo.com/96414432a24089bbc3211bc317fcc778.png), who joined for 400k from Hull, as his understudy. Our last notable transfer was Chris Lamb (https://i.gyazo.com/9408e7d894870d2faf818664f27fa97c.png), who joined on a free from Chelsea to add some depth up front.

https://i.gyazo.com/7493328ae1924d377ea01b4c7d1dd875.png

A lot of people performed admirably with Osmanovic and Peña being the cream of the crop, with the former finishing top goalscorer in the league and the latter being voted Young Player of the Season, breaking the all-time Championship record for assists (with 25) in the process. Kerry Atkinson also made the most of the opportunity he was given when Cundle got injured and has been a starter since then. You might have also noticed that Lo-Tutala only had 3 appearances but obviously that's not accurate. Lyon activated his release clause in January so the game is showing his stats for them. The transfer happened with very little time for me to react, so we had to make do with our backup keeper for the rest of the season (which is none other than Sharman-Lowe, our star keeper from a few seasons back that we resigned last January). That probably resulted in a few dropped points here and there, but in all honesty he did much better than I expected so I can't really fault him. In the end, we had 5 players in the Team of the Season in Hausner, Purcell, Cundle, Peña and Osmanovic.

So the Premier League awaits. The board have given me 37m to spend on transfers, while doubling our current wage budget, to 400k p/w, which will be (unsurprisingly) much lower than everybody else in the league (the current lowest is 1.2m p/w). My intention is not to make big changes, but, as I've said in a previous post, I just can't resist the temptation so don't hold me to that. That said, we will definitely be looking for a new goalkeeper, a central defender and a defensive midfielder, and perhaps even a left back as Deng didn't perform as well as I would have expected. Obviously we will fight to avoid relegation and the ties against Arsenal and Crystal Palace showed me that we can handle the big boys to an extent, but I won't be too disappointed if we get relegated but improve our finances and stature in the process.

Adramelch

03-01-2024, 07:02 PM

My intention is not to make big changes, but, as I've said in a previous post, I just can't resist the temptation so don't hold me to that.

https://i.gyazo.com/cf83f0c48a00a4be8a6184a93bcff2c1.png

:henn0rz:

We only signed 15 players (albeit a handful of them just promising youngsters), with the most important being the following:

https://i.gyazo.com/2461c6dcdbe1a208c017a4e374c7d786.png

https://i.gyazo.com/3cde9bb11b8d42d1fea1fd72f4e179a0.png

https://i.gyazo.com/b605d750fdfa4c56c775301cda78f9b0.png

We also did decently in our first ever appearance in the Premier League:

https://i.gyazo.com/1e3d75d14c5f2677d8e99a138b74ed19.png

We went past the traditional 40-point barrier, but it didn't really matter that much as the bottom few teams were abysmal. We generally play pretty well for our standard, with the occasional upset (home win over Chelsea and draws at Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford and St James' Park), but also the occasional drubbing (7-1 at the Etihad as well as five 3-goal losses). The more surprising thing is that we did pretty badly against the teams that finished below with 17 points in 14 games. On the other hand, we were propped up by the games against the four teams directly above us with no fewer than 19 points in 8 games.

We spent big on transfers, we spent a lot of money upgrading training and youth facilities and we have also started repaying three different loans, yet we ended the season on a 41m profit, despite playing in a 5.6k-seater stadium. So with higher reputation, more money coming in and us moving to a new stadium at almost triple the capacity, I think we can already claim to be an established Premier League side.

Giggles

03-01-2024, 07:56 PM

I watched all of SYC's Treaty United building a nation and the fucker never finished it :moop:

Mike

03-01-2024, 09:10 PM

Glamour tie in Europe
https://i.imgur.com/ngvCRW9.png

thommo

03-01-2024, 11:00 PM

After a break over Christmas, I'm back on the Youth Academy save with Folkestone. Form has been so patchy throughout but we've done well to pick up a lot of scrappy draws to make sure we weren't falling completely out of touch with safety. And crucially we've just won consecutive matches for the first time since August - a 3-1 win away at bottom club Basingstoke followed by a solid 2-1 win over Maidstone, who are fighting for promotion.

That leaves the table looking like so, with 6 games to play:

https://i.ibb.co/6vc7dg3/6-to-go.png

The youth intake must be a couple of weeks away, and it's much needed - our RB is only just returning from a lengthy injury and we're missing another player through suspension for the next 2 matches. David Smith is single-handedly doing the business up front with 22 league goals, and he's tied down for next season too (if we make it).

Adramelch

04-01-2024, 08:08 PM

We can't defend a corner to save our lives. Been like that for a few seasons, I make a few tweaks, it works for a handful of games and then back to conceding every other game.

Mike

04-01-2024, 08:25 PM

Had a major fallout with my keeper, left me scrambling around for one. Was going to panic buy but think a loan from Chelsea is the answer

thommo

04-01-2024, 09:59 PM

6 games left for Folkestone and the save on the line.....

Game 41 - Away at Bath City (12th)

Coming into this match off the back of consecutive victories had pulled us out of the relegation zone as well as dragging Taunton and Chippenham into the fight. It also meant I could sit back and defend deeper at at Bath, happy to settle for a point if need be. The first half was completely devoid of highlights, but we started the 2nd half brightly, and managed to take the lead thanks to a horrendous error from the Bath goalkeeper, palming out a harmless cross to the feet of young central midfielder Preston Woolston, who lashed it into the empty net. This woke up the hosts, with chances falling to Fletcher and Tom Smith but the defence stood firm and held on for an unprecedented 3rd win in a row.

https://i.ibb.co/2yPd6tB/bath.png

Game 42 - Home to Dartford (1st)

This was always going to be a tough ask, up against the league leaders with the most potent strike force in the division. We were up to 18th after our last victory, but the fixture list saw Welling play Poole (21st vs 22nd) and Chippenham play Taunton (19th vs 20th), so there was a potential for a big swing of points down the bottom. Dartford were dominant early but we held out well until the stroke of half-time when their centre-back thumped in a header from a corner. 30 seconds after the break, we responded through top scorer David Smith, breaking the offside trap before rounding the keeper and slotting in an equaliser. But parity was short-lived, as virtually from the kick off Luke Coulson rifled one in from outside the box and there was no way back from that point. Two quick goals made it 4-1 (one a dubious penalty), before Woolston grabbed a consolation, slotting in from Scott Heard's pass to cut the deficit.

https://i.ibb.co/bF3mXpD/dartford.png

Game 43 - Away at Southend United (6th)

The fixtures were not particularly kind as we now faced a trip to Southend, sitting on the fringes of the play-off spots and looking to secure their place. But for the first half-hour, we were dominant with a whole host of chances falling to Smith, Coker and Woolston. But we didn't take one, and we were made to pay by conceding in the 45th minute once again. Scott Sinclair, 36 years young, drifted in from the right and slotted it in the opener. But after the break, we responded well and kept on the front foot and got a deserved equaliser - Heard breaking down the right before crossing low for Smith to turn home his 25th of the campaign. As the game wore on, fatigue became the issue and it was fresh legs that would eventually be our undoing. Jack Bridge came off the bench for the hosts to win the game late on with a deflected effort, a cruel way to lose after a really impressive performance.

https://i.ibb.co/qgrXLzz/southend.png

Results elsewhere didn't go our way either - Welling incredibly made it 4 wins in a row, winning 4-2 away at Hampton & Richmond. Chippenham Town snatched a late 1-0 victory over Chelmsford with an 89th minute goal, whilst Taunton travelled to Poole in a huge game for the relegation battle and thumped them 5-2.

We're back in the drop zone...

https://i.ibb.co/vznYdR1/3-left.png

thommo

04-01-2024, 10:40 PM

Game 44 - Home to Maidenhead Town (23rd)

Finally our youth intake came in the day before this match. However, none of the youngsters put pen to paper in time for this absolutely massive game so we'd have to continue with the regular team. It was a scrappy opening to this Good Friday match, but thankfully the first real chance came our way and Scott Heard curled it home wonderfully from the edge of the box after some nice work from Woolston. Maidenhead's keeper kept them in it for the rest of the half with some really good saves from Davies and Penn, but the pressure told early in the 2nd half. Coker got free down the left and lobbed a lovely ball to the back post where the unmarked David Smith nodded home from a couple of yards out. Game over, surely? Of course not - Maidenhead had barely had a sniff but with 15 minutes left, their attacker tumbled over in the box and the ref awarded a very soft penalty which was duly converted. With nerves rising, I dropped back a bit, wasted some time and it looked like we'd survive with no highlights to speak of. Calamity almost struck in stoppage time as my centre-back and goalkeeper both went for the same through ball, leaving Pollock with an open goal from a very tight angle - thankfully he dragged the shot across goal and we held on for a vital 2-1 win.

https://i.ibb.co/sqWKPSZ/maidenhead.png

Maidenhead and Poole have both been relegated, joining bottom club Basingstoke, and it's now 1 from 5 for the remaining spot. Thankfully for us, Welling made it 5 wins a row as they beat Taunton 3-2 in another crucial match, dropping them into 21st spot.

https://i.ibb.co/Pr86zmc/2-left.png

thommo

04-01-2024, 11:12 PM

Game 45 - Away at Slough Town (13th)

Some of the youngsters were fully signed up and made bench appearances for this away game, as I didn't want to tinker with a winning side. We edged the first 35 minutes but Slough built pressure towards the end of the half with a series of corners. Johnson forced our Swedish goalkeeper, Patrick Öhman, into 3 sharp saves in quick succession, but finally he was beaten - a lashed cross deflected off of left-back Will Dempsey into the corner of the net to put us 1-0 down. Shortly after the break and their lead was doubled due to a pretty poor error from our right-back Elliott Moore. His clearing header dropped back into the path of unmarked striker Oliver Lynch who made no mistake. It felt like game over when we gave away yet another silly penalty but Öhman was up to the task, standing tall and saving a poor effort. I brought on two youngsters for their league debuts and pushed up the formation and we soon cut the deficit, Andre Coker thumping in a loose ball in the box to give some hope. And there was a late opportunity for 16 year old Rob Hewitt to make himself a hero, but the Slough keeper got down well to palm his effort behind. Late pressure and several corners were unable to bring an equaliser, meaning the fight to stay up would go to the last day.

https://i.ibb.co/ZS7Hv0m/slough.png

https://i.ibb.co/RPJRYLW/last-game.png

We host Concord in a huge last match, whilst Taunton travel to 7th-placed Havant & Waterlooville, who have unfortunately already clinched their play-off spot.

thommo

04-01-2024, 11:49 PM

Game 46 - Home to Concord Rangers (19th)

A draw would be enough for both us and Concord to stay up, barring a dramatic goal fest from Taunton in their match. We started strongly, on the front foot with a couple of early half-chances. And it was even better news to see Taunton had gone behind to a very early penalty. We then received a penalty of our own when David Smith was bundled over in the box. He dusted himself down and smashed the spot kick down the middle to put us ahead before Scott Heard doubled the lead with a mazy run and finish at the near post just minutes later. It could have been easily 3 or 4 by half-time but the Concord keeper made some solid stops to get in to the break only 2-0 down. Despite Concord pulling one back early in the 2nd half with their first shot on goal, we could almost begin to celebrate as Taunton had gone 2-0 down on the hour. It was still a little frustrating to let our lead fully slip when Evans bundled in a loose ball in the box late on for an equaliser, but honestly it's such an achievement to have stayed up with such a threadbare squad, I could allow a moment of carelessness at the back.

https://i.ibb.co/W000h2J/concord.png

https://i.ibb.co/HrpmTsY/final-24-25.png

A really tough season overall but thoroughly enjoyable. I've signed up all the youth candidates to fill out our squad and give us options. I'll also look to extend contracts where possible - David Smith especially, 26 goals and 9 assists in the league were so key. I still think survival will be the aim for next year as we start to develop the youngsters, it's going to take time to improve facilities and recruitment and see improvements. Coaching courses and improved staff are also on the agenda.

Manc

05-01-2024, 12:09 AM

Loving these lower league escapades. I don't know how you fellas manage in England. The amount of games are sickening.

Clunge

05-01-2024, 08:48 AM

Ngl, I was rooting for Taunton.

Mike

05-01-2024, 09:04 AM

Nicely done! Let’s see those youth intake players.

Sir Andy Mahowry

05-01-2024, 05:00 PM

I have been inspired by Thommo's save and have put 1860 Munich on the backburner and have decided to incorporate the Youth Academy challenge with what I wanted to do on FM24.

I am going to Japan and starting in the 7th tier.

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

I'm not entirely sure this will work so it might be canned and I'll have to start again. I have no players right now and our facilities page is blank but let's see.

Here is the table:

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

Sir Andy Mahowry

05-01-2024, 05:14 PM

Restarted but remembered to click the add players button and it's giving me 6 first teamers.

Here is the Key Player:

https://i.imgur.com/3W5vyn2.png

And the hot prospect:

https://i.imgur.com/RHa6eqn.png

Ben

05-01-2024, 06:00 PM

I've not played FM in years so nice to see they haven't improved the generated heads in that time.

Raoul Duke

05-01-2024, 06:24 PM

Sorry, Miyagi Sensei? As in Karate Kid?

Sir Andy Mahowry

05-01-2024, 06:38 PM

Sorry, Miyagi Sensei? As in Karate Kid?

I guess so, that's why I when I saw the team name I knew I had to go for them. There were no other clubs in contention.

Baz

05-01-2024, 07:38 PM

Giggles

05-01-2024, 07:44 PM

thommo

05-01-2024, 08:12 PM

Nicely done! Let’s see those youth intake players.

Nothing too special in the intake, but there are definitely a few who I think will make an impact next season.

https://i.ibb.co/zxFGZ6P/Filipovic.png

Gustav Filipovic could be a handy option to have either up front or just sitting in behind the striker - he looks quite good on the ball, but it's a real shame about his woeful physicals. He has a good personality for development though so let's see how he goes with some first-team minutes.

https://i.ibb.co/bmcTjTR/Brooker.png

Ryley Brooker is probably the one I have the highest hopes for. I've already stuck him into a mentoring group to try and turn that determination around. His technicals are really well rounded, with good Teamwork and Work Rate - he'll definitely be used in central midfield next season.

https://i.ibb.co/vj51nDY/Hewitt.png

I'm not quite sure what position Rob Hewitt is best suited for. His physicals are good enough for his age and he has very good passing and technique for the level. He'll probably fill in in a number of positions, and we'll see where he performs best.

https://i.ibb.co/mSgh2B4/Douglas.png

Kieran Douglas doesn't look anything special but he is vastly better than my current back-up centre-back, a youth recruit from the previous season. Good determination again so he should develop with game time, but some poor physicals and short stature means he might be best suited to a DM role instead.

wullie

05-01-2024, 09:56 PM

Having followed a handsome opening day win with no wins in an eventual next seven games I went back a little on my plan to stay faithful to my Championship record breakers by signing Tomas Suslov (£12m) and Aliou Balde (£4.7m)

https://i.imgur.com/dY6fEOU.png

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

After an unlikely win at Arsenal it picked up quite nicely to sit me in mid-table comfort going into what I can only assume will be a royal battering by Man City

https://i.imgur.com/810t5go.png

Mike

05-01-2024, 10:41 PM

Following up on the network game with my mate and Mike.

I’m Oldham in national league. Lost in the playoff semi in third season.

Mike recently got sacked from Southampton and just got the Man City job and has £487m transfer budget.

Quite opposite ends of the spectrum. I’ve offered him a player for £10m

Playing with money is well fun! I never do it, so it's very different.

Mike

06-01-2024, 12:17 AM

This is how you do a window in a save you're not bothered about. Back to the slog of Spezia tomorrow.
https://i.imgur.com/fYKGQ34.png

Mike

06-01-2024, 03:22 PM

After already lining up Simone Pafundi after a loan last season, I was given £0 to spend and annoyingly a reduced wage budget. Was a long summer.
https://i.imgur.com/XlgUvC9.png

Mike

06-01-2024, 04:35 PM

Had a falling out with one of my starting centre backs and keeper. Dropped them both to the bench. It's going well (4 games in)
https://i.imgur.com/WUhHWjf.png

Sir Andy Mahowry

07-01-2024, 05:08 PM

Miyagi Sensei 2023 Season Update:

League:

https://i.imgur.com/v6K1h3l.png

My first game was the 4-2 loss against Sunny Reserves. I was using a 4-3-3 wing play formation but it wasn't working so I went to the good old 4-2-3-1 (pushed the 2 DM's to CM's as we have no DMs though) Gegenpress and we turned into beasts.

https://i.imgur.com/PkT7sKV.png

Nice to see we caused Sunny Reserves to drop the title (they were at odds of 1.1 to beat us), especially as they were undefeated before we battered them.

Facilities:

https://i.imgur.com/hPR5vSr.png

https://i.imgur.com/v6KN9rl.png

I assumed we'd move into our own stadium as the game probably didn't like that we were homeless. Stunned to see that it was expanded immediately with the council footing the bill.

No intake this year (I assume the game started too late for them to generate) which is shit but it might also be because we have no youth recruitment.

Mike

07-01-2024, 11:12 PM

Following up on the network game with my mate and Mike.

I’m Oldham in national league. Lost in the playoff semi in third season.

Mike recently got sacked from Southampton and just got the Man City job and has £487m transfer budget.

Quite opposite ends of the spectrum. I’ve offered him a player for £10m

Having a blast. It's a fun little thing away from the hard work (and sheer joy cos it's going well) of my proper save with Spezia.
https://i.imgur.com/P4gG07Z.png

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

Our mate is fuming.

Baz

07-01-2024, 11:25 PM

Having Man City as an unofficial parent club while I’m in League Two with Oldham (just absolute annihilated National League) is also very fun.

Sir Andy Mahowry

08-01-2024, 08:24 PM

Miyagi Sensei 2024 Season Update:

I've just realised that I have completed the second season and have started the third season.

This is the weirdest "season" I've had in Football Manager, here are all the games:

https://i.imgur.com/nnn618A.png

We are now in March 2025 and there is still no Youth Academy (we have £180k in the bank and the board are saying we don't have the funds) but we are semi-pro. Fuck knows what I'm going to do.

Three whole cup games and no league games in 2024...

Oh and that is THE Yokohama, former J-League 1 winners. We stood no chance.

Fuck it, I'm going to keep going until we have a Youth Academy or the whole squad is grey players.

Mike

08-01-2024, 08:54 PM

Europe is fun
https://i.imgur.com/WUtWKIr.png

randomlegend

08-01-2024, 10:00 PM

Having a blast. It's a fun little thing away from the hard work (and sheer joy cos it's going well) of my proper save with Spezia.
https://i.imgur.com/P4gG07Z.png

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

Our mate is fuming.

£225m for a left back is heinous.

Adramelch

08-01-2024, 10:05 PM

We really do love a collapse.

https://i.gyazo.com/2fc8b026f00f4d576e5efe56ec2c85c8.png

Mike

09-01-2024, 03:58 PM

£225m for a left back is heinous.
I know! Wouldn’t dream of it on a proper save.

Sir Andy Mahowry

09-01-2024, 08:15 PM

Miyagi Sensei 2025 Season:

League:

https://i.imgur.com/I3zKXC8.png

https://i.imgur.com/vBvBf7r.png

Well we've won it. Judging from the rules tab we have been promoted to the next tier, however when I check on the leagues in the next tier most of them haven't been played since 2022 so I have no idea what this means for us.

I also don't know if it's going to be a season with just cup games.

Cups:

https://i.imgur.com/mQ24NuD.png

Couple of cup games, probably should have done better in the first cup but in the second we had no chance against the J1 side.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/6nUOqOH.png

What is going to come first? A Youth Academy (still getting rejected despite £220k in the bank) or a team full of greys?

Raoul Duke

09-01-2024, 08:35 PM

Are you playing with some modded league? It looks like it's borked

Sir Andy Mahowry

09-01-2024, 08:36 PM

Yeah, it's Japan down to tier 7.

The author says it's working as intended on the Workshop so fuck knows, maybe Japan is just fucked in the head more than we knew.

Sir Andy Mahowry

09-01-2024, 09:11 PM

The save might be over.

We've passed the date where fixtures for the next league should have been released and I've just had a news item saying we're the favourites for the league, that we just won...

Adramelch

09-01-2024, 09:13 PM

Second season in the Prem is done and dusted. After a solid first season, the plan has been to consolidate our position in the top tier and slowly but steadily rise up through the ranks. Before the season had ended I'd already identified problem positions that we'd have to address, those being the full-backs, the defensive midfielder and the striker. With the money we had available we couldn't find a good right back, so we went for the other three positions and those are the players that joined us:

https://i.gyazo.com/7457232bf4660853ec104b74a1c4273c.png

Great piece of transfer this lad, as he joined us from Red Star for just 7.5m. Tall, fast and good at crossing, what else could we ask for.

https://i.gyazo.com/df3e7177fc7dfb54ee910ebddab8a694.png

This guy was also a major coup. Found himself transfer-listed at United, so we were able to get him for only 15m.

https://i.gyazo.com/f1d514696cbfb175c3e5a7e91aadf71d.png

A physical beast with a 20 for determination? Yes sir. Cost 14m.

We signed another three players to add to squad depth (or rather, they came to slot into the first team and underperformed). With that out of the way, let's start from the big stuff:

https://i.gyazo.com/5d142550c76ebf5f6308b62b11ddd84e.png

We had a great run in the League Cup, which involved wins at home against Liverpool (1-0) and over two legs against Arsenal (0-0 at home and 3-0 away after they had a player sent off in the 15th minute). The final was a very boring affair, save for our goal with Cundle, the only player to have stayed this long at the club (in his 5th season at the moment), who only really played due to suspensions yet scored his most spectacular goal ever for us. And with that, we will be playing in Europe next season (albeit in the playoffs so hopefully we make it to the groups).

As for the league:

https://i.gyazo.com/e7ecd084b9ec8ab9f121d364fc9e5332.png

We finished one position lower than last season, albeit with the same points total. It was a very frustrating season to watch in many respects however. I've never had a team perform that way below their stats since xG was introduced in the game. Presumably we should have scored 9 more goals and conceded 10 less, although in fairness it would have resulted in just 5 points more and just 1 place gained. It was just very frustrating to watch it happen again and again. The other source of frustration is how incompetent we are at defending set-pieces. 25 out of the 76 goals we conceded came from set-pieces and penalties with 14 of those being from corners. It's been a real issue for us for the last few seasons now and nothing I've tried seems to be working so I've mostly just conceded and accepted that it's how it'll be for us. Very deflating at times. We were also horrible in terms of discipline this time around, with 84 yellows and 3 reds in 38 games. To put that into perspective, the second highest was Tottenham with 70 yellows. A bit bizarre, as it hasn't been an issue before.

https://i.gyazo.com/8ee91e87290759f513fc11897cb03e33.png

Very average across the board, with Atkinson the only exception. He's been a beast for us for three seasons straight and we only had to pay Hull 400k for him. Just mental. I'm even contemplating playing him up front (he's just as good there) to see if he can sort out our striker problems. Peña also found his form again, after a very bad season last time around. I would like to say that our squad is coming along nicely, although it mostly consists of "decent premier league" players and we have a few starters that are championship level, such as Abrefa (his average rating is inflated because of the goals he grabbed from set pieces) and possibly Guerrero (I might look for a new goalie but I do have my doubts as he didn't do that badly). We also need to solve our striker issue asap. Even the 10 goals Rangel scored don't paint the whole picture as four of them came against lower league sides in the cups. If we find someone who can score say 20-25 goals, I could see us finishing higher and higher. Oh well, let's see what this summer will bring.

Sir Andy Mahowry

09-01-2024, 09:38 PM

I believe this is a first for me, we are currently playing on a clay pitch:

https://i.imgur.com/2fL82sC.png

This db is absolutely mental.

Mike

09-01-2024, 09:56 PM

That's brilliant.

Sir Andy Mahowry

09-01-2024, 10:06 PM

https://i.imgur.com/VJ4JkpJ.png

Holy fuck, I'm actually going to be able to do a YA in this YA only save!

Fuck knows what's going on with the league though, I think this might be a cup only season again.

Baz

09-01-2024, 10:18 PM

Your chairman is Wheeler Yuta.

Baz

09-01-2024, 10:45 PM

https://i.imgur.com/GXS9SGg.png

Moron.

Baz

09-01-2024, 10:48 PM

What on earth

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

Gray Fox

10-01-2024, 09:06 AM

Adramelch Red Star always seem to produce 2 or 3 top players like that on every save. Absolute goldmine.
Baz Get that lad tested for multiple personality disorder.

Adramelch

10-01-2024, 09:14 AM

Adramelch Red Star always seem to produce 2 or 3 top players like that on every save. Absolute goldmine.
Baz Get that lad tested for multiple personality disorder.

I routinely do my rounds in the Eastern Bloc for such players. Serbia, Croatia and the Czech Republic being the top contributors usually.

Sir Andy Mahowry

10-01-2024, 11:16 AM

https://i.imgur.com/b2wwugG.png

:drool:

Raoul Duke

10-01-2024, 11:29 AM

It's the hope that kills you...

Sir Andy Mahowry

10-01-2024, 11:32 AM

It's the hope that kills you...

At this point I don't care if every single one is dogshit. It's taken me 3 fucking years to get an intake.

Sir Andy Mahowry

10-01-2024, 12:28 PM

Miyagi Sensei 2026 Season Update:

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

FIVE whole cup games this year with two of them being played on clay :drool:

Bit disappointed that we lost to Tohoku Uni as we were 1-0 up and looking good but they scored in the 76th minute and then got a bullshit pen in the 93rd to send them through.

More importantly though we've had the youth recruitment bumped up again.

Raoul Duke

10-01-2024, 05:14 PM

What is with the ominous black void between the games? Does you team enter the spirit realm to fight demons during that period or something?

Adramelch

10-01-2024, 05:19 PM

Would Messi be able to do it on a cold rainy night in Japan's clay pitches? That's the real question.

Sir Andy Mahowry

10-01-2024, 06:12 PM

What is with the ominous black void between the games? Does you team enter the spirit realm to fight demons during that period or something?

I've never asked my team what they do in their months of downtime. I assumed they were practicing Miyagi Karate but maybe they're now proficient in it and are using it.

Sir Andy Mahowry

10-01-2024, 08:39 PM

Our first youth intake is finally here! Strap in lads because it's a good one:

https://i.imgur.com/qi8XJbs.png

Here is everyone rated at 4.5 CA or higher:

https://i.imgur.com/iiuW6fj.png

https://i.imgur.com/8O0MkkM.png

https://i.imgur.com/ypGGL1i.png

https://i.imgur.com/Cx9kq3m.png

https://i.imgur.com/iVS3nqQ.png

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

https://i.imgur.com/gekSCe5.png

Feels so fucking good to have some players. Now hopefully we actually get some league games.

Sir Andy Mahowry

10-01-2024, 09:10 PM

So, we have officially changed league to "TOHOKU FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO SOUTH" however it still has not been scheduled, there are no fixtures and there is nothing listed in our competitions tab...

Raoul Duke

10-01-2024, 09:11 PM

Katayama with 12 finishing is going to be like Pele's regen out there. Also, it's good how authentically Japanese they all look

Sir Andy Mahowry

10-01-2024, 09:15 PM

Well assuming we actually get some competitive fixtures.

Mike

10-01-2024, 09:20 PM

That intake is the stuff of dreams! Worth the wait :lol:

Adramelch

10-01-2024, 09:25 PM

I think I might have signed the worst goalkeeper I've ever managed. Played 6 games against mostly inferior opposition and has conceded 11 goals from 20 shots, the majority of which should definitely have been saved.

Sir Andy Mahowry

10-01-2024, 09:41 PM

It's another cup season and I just played our first one. We were the underdogs (3.4 odds for us) and this is what happened:

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

Katayama got a goal (and he had a fucking beautiful strike ruled out for offside) and the youth I played in general were just fucking amazing.

Mike

10-01-2024, 09:48 PM

https://i.imgur.com/X8loN4I.png
We're flying!

Mike

10-01-2024, 10:00 PM

Don't save clips of many goals, but I enjoyed this one.

https://streamable.com/ucd0ws

Adramelch

11-01-2024, 11:32 AM

We really do love a collapse.

https://i.gyazo.com/2fc8b026f00f4d576e5efe56ec2c85c8.png

You could say we held a grudge:

https://i.gyazo.com/a0ff9ec233661fd3bfcf0bc11c7e2612.png

Sir Andy Mahowry

11-01-2024, 08:59 PM

Miyagi Sensei 2027 Season Update:

Cup:

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

That 1-1 draw and loss to pens was absolutely gutting. We were looking so good and they equalised in the 91st minute before winning on pens.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/eQoXr4I.png

Tsuchiya was fucking beastly in the 4 games and the new youth lads did really well.

Intake:

https://i.imgur.com/svtbK6F.png

Another good crop but not as good as last year (I imagine because we had such a shit squad last year that they looked better) but here are the two 5* lads:

https://i.imgur.com/fJU4w13.png

https://i.imgur.com/4uts5IY.png

A bit shit on both fronts as we play with AMR/L so Koizumi is wasted and we already have a quality RB.

Youth recruitment is going up, as is Junior coaching which is nice. Will we have league games next season though?

Adramelch

11-01-2024, 10:37 PM

Another season done and it was a doozy. Let's start with the transfers:

https://i.gyazo.com/671d377dc0f3cb7258c5bd922c91f38e.png

This is the big one. He came to address our striker problem and he only cost 7.5m. What a steal.

https://i.gyazo.com/28f5fe5819b042a6886c65a22e72688d.png

With Peña finding his form again we didn't quite need another right winger, but he was available for 24m, he is homegrown and he is a bit of a beast so in the end I thought it was good business.

https://i.gyazo.com/3dafd9ae4d202b0024f4d49caee1b641.png

Yet another great bargain as he joined us for just under 10m. Heaps of potential as well, so I could see him becoming a staple in our squad for years to come.

https://i.gyazo.com/10116d3c176a2cccc58d4f3b4a812adc.png

Joined to be our first team goalie, costing just 5.5m. Had a bit of nightmare start, but soon found his footing.

https://i.gyazo.com/0c1da9965067c9977ba66f971b08e382.png

While we have a great ball-winning midfielder in Veliz, we had no real backup for him whatsoever so in came Poves for just 5m.

https://i.gyazo.com/820ba0a5ee80b693d461ded1f92e8301.png

One more for the future, but he could be our answer for our right back predicament eventually. At 5.5m he wasn't a big gamble anyway.

And with the players sorted, let's go to the season's big news:

https://i.gyazo.com/bd774ad3f7ee63cecc46a5db5a4466cc.png

I expected us to struggle just a bit but we did nothing but. We won every game bar one (where in true Dorking fashion, we were 2 goals up in the 75th minute and then proceeded to conceded three goals out of nowhere), and we did so very, very, very handily. To give you an idea, the record for most goals in the competition was 54 from West Ham six seasons back. We scored 68 in 15 games, including an 8-2 win over Genk in the group stage and a 7-1 aggregate win over Wolfsburg in the semis. The only real big team we faced was Roma in the final and they took an early lead, but from there on we just dominated the game and it could have very easily been 6 or 7 but we stopped at 4 before they clawed one back. Peña was the star in the final but he was also voted as Player of the Season for this competition.

We also retained the League Cup, beating Liverpool in the final after knocking Newcastle out in the semis (both ties settled in extra time but we were by far the better team), while we also made the semis in the FA Cup, before getting eliminated by Arsenal in a narrow 1-0 defeat. An almost flawless season cup-wise.

https://i.gyazo.com/40c11174025ed5f7d6e751d9b35a6a0f.png

We didn't do too bad in the league either. In fact, I'd argue we should and probably could have finished a few places higher, but 9th, ahead of United and Chelsea is just magnificent so I won't complain. We also finished the season as the top scoring team, with 84 goals, but we still proceeded to concede 60. Better than last season's 76 I guess. We still managed to concede 20 goals from set-pieces and penalties mind you, but I might have found something that works a bit better. The biggest highlight was of course the 7-1 win at Chelsea, but we also beat United at Old Trafford and City, Newcastle and Spurs at our place.

https://i.gyazo.com/4a4dfec9fddd95f3cb1ee86d5a4045fb.png

Incredible performances all around. Obviously the stats get inflated by our dominant performances in the Conference League, but I'm genuinely very happy with my squad. Lecourt definitely sorted our striker issues, even though he initially had issues getting into the first team, as he picked a 3-month injury and Rangel decided to start scoring for fun (ended with 24 goals himself). Aizawa also proved to be an amazing signing, with double digits for both goals and assists. In the end we had seven players with more than 10 goals, twelve players that were involved (as in assisted or scored) in more than 10 goals and even more impressively twenty-two players that scored at least once throughout the season. That's every single outfield player we have for those keeping track. I don't think I've ever had that happen before.

Baz

11-01-2024, 10:38 PM

62 apps is insane. And 62(2)!

Adramelch

11-01-2024, 10:46 PM

Bueno is not even that good a player, it's just that we had four central defenders, one of which was Novotny who I eventually started playing at right back and another one that ended up often playing in midfield due to injuries/suspensions so Bueno didn't get to rotate at all.

As for Atkinson he's been legitimately the first name on the teamsheet for 4 seasons straight.

John Arne

12-01-2024, 01:51 AM

Champions League football :drool:

https://gyazo.com/da7bc2d95f5c42156cfc8909a5e813af.jpeg

Adramelch

12-01-2024, 07:29 AM

Which season are you in?

John Arne

12-01-2024, 07:33 AM

Erm.. not sure, I guess around 2032 :D

Finished 14th last season, was hoping to crack the top 10, but managed to be pretty consistent all season.

Gray Fox

12-01-2024, 07:42 AM

If Lino Lecourt has 0 international appearances, I'd love to see who Chile have playing ahead of him.

Adramelch

12-01-2024, 08:14 AM

Erm.. not sure, I guess around 2032 :D

Finished 14th last season, was hoping to crack the top 10, but managed to be pretty consistent all season.

That's a quite the step-up, big props. How did Brentford make it up there as well?

Gray Fox: He's since been capped, it's a World Cup year so I'm assuming there weren't many games and he also missed the first 3 months of the season through injury.

Adramelch

12-01-2024, 05:49 PM

That's quite the effort:

https://i.gyazo.com/65ae51b6063588052c9c6cc906e53ae2.png

Gray Fox

12-01-2024, 07:58 PM

Good lord!

FSG surely are not still in charge?

Adramelch

12-01-2024, 08:09 PM

Someone else took over 7 seasons ago.

Baz

13-01-2024, 01:52 PM

Won National league, won league two, what are the chances of winning league one to make it three in a row with Oldham? :yn:

Dquincy

13-01-2024, 09:13 PM

Won National league, won league two, what are the chances of winning league one to make it three in a row with Oldham? :yn:

Cracking effort. Are you still milking loan players from Mike? Bloody hope so.

Baz

13-01-2024, 09:58 PM

Cracking effort. Are you still milking loan players from Mike? Bloody hope so.Yeah from Mike (Man City) and my mate (Leicester)

I asked for a senior affiliate and got this broken message:

https://i.imgur.com/8dXCrh6.png

So I clicked yes for lols and got this:

https://i.imgur.com/MNGV0h0.png

:jayjay:

Next season should be a cakewalk.

Mike

13-01-2024, 10:15 PM

Cracking effort. Are you still milking loan players from Mike? Bloody hope so.

I got told off for buying rubbish off him for millions too.

Mike

14-01-2024, 09:17 AM

Spezia still at it.
https://i.imgur.com/C2DzRDB.png

Dan

14-01-2024, 06:58 PM

Dquincy

14-01-2024, 09:24 PM

I got told off for buying rubbish off him for millions too.
Well played, has to be done in these types of saves.

Baz is happy to take the Arab blood money. :sherlock:

Adramelch

15-01-2024, 06:26 PM

That's one unfortunate schedule right there:

https://i.gyazo.com/fbc6acacdc6bf4382136cb471ac819e6.png

wullie

15-01-2024, 07:29 PM

That's got 'string of wins and defeat to Vienna' written all over it.

thommo

15-01-2024, 09:12 PM

I'm approaching the halfway point of the second season with Folkestone, and it's been a surprisingly vast improvement over the tense relegation battle we experienced last season. A combination of youth players to rotate in and out, a strong team cohesion and a pretty robust defensive tactic has made us really hard to beat, and we've been grinding out results consistently.

https://i.ibb.co/zJ5QN98/results-after-20.png

Lots of great moments so far this season - the 3-2 win away at Weymouth early on was brilliant, with 16-year-old Rob Hewitt assisting two goals in stoppage time to turn it around. Hewitt himself has been the best of the youngsters, always seems to have an impact when he comes off the bench. Filipovic and Brooker have also contributed, with Brooker even grabbing a 95th minute equaliser against Truro City.

The biggest difference from last season has to be the improved defence - we kept only 3 clean sheets in the league throughout the entirety of the first season, and we already have managed to keep 5 as we enter December. The tactic is quite defensive, with less pressing and the lines quite deep, plus a Cautious mentality. This has really helped to prevent the main source of goals in non-league football - the hopeful punt over the backline for pacey strikers. We do concede more from low crosses as the line drops back into the area, but it's a compromise I'm willing to make.

All this leaves the table looking like so:

https://i.ibb.co/vzcm8Jq/after-20.png

That recent 2-1 win over Slough Town looks even better now. I don't think we'll keep this up throughout the season - there are still times when fatigue really affects the squad and we have busy periods yet to play. But I think a top-half finish is genuinely possible.

Adramelch

15-01-2024, 09:37 PM

That's got 'string of wins and defeat to Vienna' written all over it.

Lost to Arsenal and Liverpool and drew at Vienna (all of them away), while winning the rest. Not too bad an outcome at all.

That's some top effort there thommo. I never had the patience (or the tactical flexibility) to do a save like that so it's so impressive to me.

Adramelch

15-01-2024, 10:55 PM

https://i.gyazo.com/01a235335170061fb24a665b23b20e9f.png

https://i.gyazo.com/6ef54721727c8c2536c0bdd24cb27f80.png

What a season that was! :drool:

I didn't expect us to be that good, but basically take a squad on the up and add some world class (in my mind at least) players and this happens I guess? Let's start with two big departures both of which happened in January. Novotny had been making noises about moving to a bigger club for quite some time now so when United came in with a 100m euro offer for him, I just couldn't say no. The other player to leave was Rangel, who had thrown a fit about losing his place to Lecourt and wouldn't let it go so he joined Flamengo on loan, for 30m in installments and a future fee of another 30m. In came several players, the most important of which are the following 5:

https://i.gyazo.com/fe58d26e8a31f853cdb769ffad923782.png

Vibe was really solid last season so I wasn't in the market for another strong keeper, but this guy became available for just 10m and last time Vibe was injured we really struggled so I just went for it.

https://i.gyazo.com/5089c07adb71d2d575b2f41686838905.png

Probably the only high profile player to join in a position we were severely lacking. Heaps above what we had at the club and with much needed experience in his resume. Our record transfer, joined for 30m from Luton of all clubs.

https://i.gyazo.com/ec9b6f7b01913c819f73d4abae0eb90d.png

One more case of "we didn't quite need strengthening in that position, but he was available so why not". It wasn't a hard decision mind you, as he only cost 15m and he is considered to be the most promising player in the world.

https://i.gyazo.com/2c81f6ca8920a297803f62a47c531d3c.png

Him being available was the catalyst for the Rangel transfer. A player for his calibre only being available for 22m is just one of those bargains I just can't overlook.

https://i.gyazo.com/c0ecdd214703f10aac15c5e20afa12fe.png

Last time I was raving about how great Atkinson has been for us. But then this guy was available for 9m, which instantly made me go "Atkinson who?". My best signing so far in this save I'd say.

https://i.gyazo.com/389fcf9e506db56eff5df60893e84944.png

We reached the top spot around 10 games into the season and never left since. It became close at the end with a few unexpected defeats, but Arsenal didn't do much better. We went into the last game of the season only needing to avoid a heavy (6+ goal) defeat at their place, but we ended up beating them for good measure. We weren't much better defensively than last season but we scored 104 goals and it showed. In the grand scheme of things though, one could argue that Arsenal threw it away with their 12 draws, but they were essentially playing anti-football (63 scored, 25 conceded) so it serves them right I say. As a sidenote, half the clubs in the league qualified for Europe (with all three European trophies going to English sides - us, City and Liverpool).

https://i.gyazo.com/73ec2322d27538189a721de39073b193.png

A very dominant performance once again, as we went through the season unbeaten, breaking yet another record for goals scored (58 with the previous one being 45 including qualis). Funnily, Austria Vienna were the one side that came closest to beating us, although it was (partially) because I played the second string in both games. The final was an affair of two halves, as we dominated the first and should have been way out of reach, but we only scored two and an early goal from them in the second half made things way more tense than they should have been. In the end, we managed to hold on and marked my first time winning both European mickey mouse cups in the same save.

https://i.gyazo.com/11faa1f7823d97b0824ad27c5c224b23.png

Great performances across the board, with Seral and Williams being the stand out performers. Seral was easily the most influential player in the squad, vastly improving our football when he was on the pitch, while Williams was lethal in front of goal, both in open play and from set-pieces. Bringing in a lot of those players that we didn't urgently need meant we were spoilt for options and we could afford to rotate more, which is what probably led to our league title. Special mention should go to Peña and Kunze, who have been at the club for 6 seasons now and will probably be here for more years to come. Another one worth mentioning is Henao, who has flown under the radar (I'm not sure I've even mentioned his name before) but has been a consistent squad player for us these last two seasons. I signed him to be our primary striker three seasons ago (for 600k!), only for him to instantly pick a long-term injury and lose his place to Rangel. At some point we had noone else available to play behind the striker so I just played him and he did really well. A few months later we had noone to play left wing and once again he was there with some great performances. This season, he took advantage of Kunze's 5-month injury, which saw him play a lot more and he didn't disappoint. As for the goalkeepers, you'll notice Vibe in the list with just 30 games to his name. I played him in every home game and Obradovic in every away game and they both performed rather good overall. The latter threw a fit about not playing every game early on in the season and has been holding a grudge since, but I don't really care. Maybe if he stops acting like a child, I'll take him more seriously, who knows?

John Arne

17-01-2024, 09:42 AM

Squeaky bum time.

https://gyazo.com/553f58ef7156f04097bb799d8376ede0.jpeg

My run in is Man Utd, Liverpool, Norwich then Arsenal.

John Arne

17-01-2024, 10:16 AM

I beat Man Utd 5-0, and though "this is on". Then this happened...

https://gyazo.com/e6bb06e00d6250533d681bf60069e305.jpeg

Leaves the table looking like this...

https://gyazo.com/e0ff8cb04a2f3dff4569802811ce5fb9.jpeg

Second'll do.

John Arne

17-01-2024, 11:49 AM

Ended up third. Beaten 0-1 away to Arsenal on the final day of the season.

We go again.

https://gyazo.com/c86edbdc74cd6410686308da065c9277.jpeg

John Arne

18-01-2024, 05:49 AM

A 10 minute own goal hattrick :drool:

https://gyazo.com/15f0f523bb0ab83c0c3fc03844c667d0.jpeg

Dan

18-01-2024, 10:41 PM

I’m still on FM23 but have been messing around with a few saves on a custom database where I’ve added most of the main summer transfers & tweaked a few things. I’ve also been going to a lot of Pompey games this season, and given they’ve started the traditional turn of the year collapse it seemed like the ideal time to do a Pompey save for the first time in a while.

I’d planned to make it harder by handing off transfers, contracts etc to the staff, but when we were a few months in & only had two GK coaches in our coaching team, and every time I tried to loan someone in it said they can’t because of some imaginary rules, I’ve already binned most of that off & gone back to doing it all myself.

Zipped through the 23/24 season keeping the team as it is in real life & we won the league pretty comfortably by engaging Man City mode around Xmas then not losing another league game for the rest of the season. We also won the EFL Trophy & beat Southampton in the FA Cup before getting knocked out by Fulham.

In terms of key players, Colby Bishop & Ronan Curtis scored almost 80 goals between them, but to be honest most of the squad will be phased out over the next couple of seasons as it’s basically all just good League One players who’d be limited in the Championship - I think Alex Robertson, Joe Morrell, Paddy Lane & Regan Poole are the only ones who might stick around for a few seasons.

I’m coming to the end of preseason & I feel like we should have a decent shot at staying up, but we’re also likely to take a few kickings from the better teams - we’re predicted 21st in the season preview & that would be just fine with me.

Just hit the end of 2024 so it's time for an update:

Transfers:

https://i.imgur.com/3M78MKm.png

We had about £4m to spend, which soon became £7.5m when we were taken over just before the start of the season. I converted a decent bit of that into wages since half the team had big promotion wage increases in their contracts thanks to the DOF, so we were basically at the budget before we even did anything.

The first move was to get Alex Robertson back - he was apparently interested in a loan, which was my preference as he was out of contract at the end of this season, but for some reason he kept turning down loans & he was still valued highly by City so we had to fork out £1m up front plus another £2.5m when we get to the Prem, which is good enough for me. We also made use of our affiliation with Man City to get Joel Ndala on loan, and he's joined by fellow loanees Simone Pafundi & Rhys Williams. We tried to work on the cheap, signing a couple of young CBs that had been released in Loic Mbe Soh & Malachi Fagan-Walcott, as well as bringing in Charlie Patino & Aaron Connolly on frees. We also had Antonio Blanco offered to us midway through the season, so I snapped him uo & chucked him straight into the team.

Aside from Robertson, the only bits of cash we spent were on a promising LB in Sean Roughan & a new goalkeeper, with Nathan Baxter looking like a pretty good Championship GK to take over from Will Norris. We also sold the other two senior GKs in the squad, which may or may not be relevant later. Conor Shaughnessy was probably the only notable departure, and a bit of an odd one - he's a CB but can also play DM & CM, although he always played CB for us, which made it rather confusing when he suddenly got annoyed because he decided we'd signed Charlie Patino, a central midfielder, to take his place in the team. I'd already planned to make him a squad player this year, so when he carried on getting pissy about it & the squad started getting involved it was just easier to tell him to fuck off.

Results:

Err...
https://i.imgur.com/mPhIqUM.png

I don't know how this has happened, and to be honest I'm a little bit pissed off that we've come up & immediately mugged everyone off as I was hoping to have a few years in the Championship to complete the overhaul of the team, but as it stands we're legitimately in the hunt for back to back promotions. I think League One players might be a bit too close to the Championship level - in real life it feels like a pretty clear difference in quality between the two leagues but in FM solid L1 players like Colby Bishop & Connor Ogilvie aren't that much different from most of the players on Championship teams.

We've had a fun last month though, as at the start of December both Nathan Baxter & Will Norris picked up 4-5 week injuries on the same day, meaning we had to roll with two pretty rubbish teenage goalkeepers for the whole month as we also tried to sign a free agent GK but they couldn't get a work permit. To top it off, the kid I decided to start ended up getting the flu after three games so we were down to the last man standing for the run through Xmas :D It didn't hurt as as much as it could've, as a couple of those games were against teams in the relegation zone who didn't manage a shot on target & we also got three penalties in one game, but we did lose 3-1 to Ipswich with some pretty questionable play between the sticks.

We're out of the Carabao as we lost 1-0 to Rotherham days after they'd beaten us 3-0 in the league, so that was nice. We've also got Fulham in the FA Cup again this year after they knocked us out in the fifth round last season - I'd imagine they'll see us off again.

We start 2025 off with a game against Norwich on new years day, which seems like a great bit of scheduling, but at this point it's kinda playing with house money so given we also don't have much room for transfers we'll just keep pushing on & see where we end up.

Dquincy

19-01-2024, 05:50 PM

Wow. Although Guinea are ranked 16th in the world.

https://i.gyazo.com/f43ac09a321533834393799cbeb76a46.png

Sir Andy Mahowry

20-01-2024, 08:57 PM

I tried Holidaying a few seasons with Miyagi Sensei (and creating perfect players to win the Miyagi cup) to see if we get league games, we don't. I then tried to add a manager in our league and spotted that we are one of only three teams in the division. As such I have killed the save, RIP Mr. Miyagi I will always wax on and off.

So I have started a new game and I have STOLEN Thommo's idea. I have Holidayed 7 times to get Hitchin Town (my home town) promoted to the Vanarama National League N/S (so I don't have to deal with a shit db) and will be doing YA only:

https://i.imgur.com/4gYuZ97.png

Here is the squad:

https://i.imgur.com/og5p6DB.png

Not much there. Also, there are no players in the U18s and ZERO staff, plus no one in the team is sadly there in real life.

Here is our key player:

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

I have started scouting him with my 0 scouts to see how good he is...

Here are some photos of the club, team and town in general:

https://i2.wp.com/hitchintownfc.club/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TopField-2-1160x420.jpg

https://mickleoverfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/image.png

https://www.hitchintownfc.co.uk/img/Img-1.jpg

https://i1.wp.com/hitchintownfc.club/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TopField-1.jpg?fit=1170%2C500&ssl=1

https://visithitchin.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/st-marys-cover-2048x1815.jpg

https://www.north-herts.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-01/Hitchin%20town%20centre%201500.jpg

https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/06/60/75/6607580_3f6da629_original.jpg

Baz

21-01-2024, 10:07 AM

Do you not have coaches? Why must you scout your own player? Usually you get your coaches assessment or assistant managers rating.

Sir Andy Mahowry

21-01-2024, 10:37 AM

Do you not have coaches? Why must you scout your own player? Usually you get your coaches assessment or assistant managers rating.

There was no staff at all, I was the only one in the building. I have since got staff.

Sir Andy Mahowry

21-01-2024, 06:22 PM

Just lost my first player.

34 year old McQuoid. He was on a non-contract with £500 appearance fee. Hastings United and Bognor Regis came in for him so I offered him a part time deal with £425 a week and £80 appearance fee.

He decided to go to Hastings in the tier below us (so non-playable) for £350 appearance fee...

Fucking moron.

Dan

21-01-2024, 08:20 PM

Portsmouth 2024/25 Season Review

We start 2025 off with a game against Norwich on new years day, which seems like a great bit of scheduling, but at this point it's kinda playing with house money so given we also don't have much room for transfers we'll just keep pushing on & see where we end up.

Just finished the season - could we continue our unexpected push for back to back promotions or would we come crashing back to reality?

https://i.imgur.com/HJX9yW0.png

Yeah, it was the second one. It's a pretty realistic Portsmouth season as we do love to completely collapse around the new year, but we did so in proper FM fashion as towards the end of January we just randomly started two footing people for a few weeks, and then at the end of the season we did whatever the fuck this was (https://imgur.com/qp3OUci), all of which left the final standings looking like this:
https://i.imgur.com/zgwUafg.png

By the end it started to feel inevitable that we'd get jumped by someone, but it wasn't clear who it was going to be as Burnley & Sheffield United were also trying their best to not get promoted. Sheffield United overtook us then immediately lost to hand it back, then when we played each other & drew 0-0 Burnley passed both of us, only to choke on the final day & hand it straight back to Sheffield United.

That meant it was playoffs for us, with Sunderland up first:
https://i.imgur.com/YgY5r4b.png

:moop:

We were looking good at 2-0 up but then decided to just stop playing for a couple of minutes so they could catch up. It's not too bad of a result though, given we have the second leg to come at Fratton Park...

https://i.imgur.com/RO31hot.png

:cool:

Not sure where this came from, but I'm not going to complain. Absolutely mauled them to set up a game against Burnley in the final:

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

:cry:

It was a competitive game & we took the lead from some nonsensical FM defending, but they equalised from a corner that the guy on the post probably could've prevented if he'd moved at all, and after we had a goal ruled out for offside they nicked it in extra time when they went route one, with the keeper hoofing it long, the ball being flicked on & Kasper Dolberg delivering an exquisite chip of the goalie from 25 yards out to send them up.

We also lost to Fulham in the third round of the FA Cup but who cares? Well, maybe Thommo I guess.

The positive is that Southampton got relegated so that's an easy 6pts next year :)

The Squad:

Thought I'd also do a quick overview of the squad & my plans for the summer.

Goalkeepers
Nathan Baxter (https://imgur.com/MrtkG5T) is the number one & will stay there next season - he performed slighly above expectations with +0.12xg prevented per 90mins, although his save percentage (80%) was three points below expected so it's not exactly been a stellar season either. Will Norris (https://imgur.com/DK6Oh0Y) was the primary backup, although with his contract ending next season I'll probably think about moving on from him, despite the injury problems at the end of 2023 that saw us playing Toby Steward (https://imgur.com/HJ08jkq) & Malachi Osei-Owusu (https://imgur.com/5tEqlFN). We did bring in Kayode Bankole (https://imgur.com/9iThT6D) in January as extra insurance in case it happened again, and he'll be the most likely candidate to take over as the backup if Norris leaves. I'd like to send the kids out on loan, but they kept refusing to join any of my parent clubs last season so hopefully we'll have more success this time.

Defenders
There was a lot of rotation here as for some reason most of our guys struggled to play 90mins despite us not playing high tempo, or running a high gegenpress system, but the main four were probably Sean Roughan (https://imgur.com/3iHeOQK) at LB, Regan Poole (https://imgur.com/PctlxLY) & Loic Mbe Soh (https://imgur.com/k2DMHYh) at CB & Joe Rafferty (https://imgur.com/uOyoLmX) at RB, although we did start to move Poole to RB & use Rhys Williams (https://imgur.com/PmWSlTf) at CB instead towards the end of the season as I think Poole might have to be the guy there next year if we can't bring someone else in & we have a few other good CBs out on loan who can cover the gap.

Zak Swanson (https://imgur.com/0es2yGF) is a decent squad player due to his versatility, but he got injured a lot in the second half of the year & he's not someone I'd imagine will be getting another deal here, and we'll probably also try to move on from Connor Ogilvie (https://imgur.com/Je5Xjdy), who would be following Sean Raggett (https://imgur.com/65Yho7R) out the door - I'm hoping he becomes a decent coach though as I'd like to have him back some day.

Midfielders
We mostly rolled with Charlie Patino (https://imgur.com/yeWtERO) as the deep lying playmaker, with Antonio Blanco (https://imgur.com/KLjajID) replacing Joe Morrell (https://imgur.com/Hojo7li) as the box to box midfielder after his arrival. Alex Robertson (https://imgur.com/EY3P7h1) has done well as the attacking midfielder, and then we had Miguel Azeez (https://imgur.com/ekDSg7E) & Simone Pafundi (https://imgur.com/JnRdes4) as the next guys up to fill those three spots. Club captain Marlon Pack (https://imgur.com/FzxtIdJ) didn't play a lot this year but came back in towards the end of the year when we were wobbling & immediately took control of the game, but he's looking for more playing time so we'll see whether he stays, goes or retires. We've already moved Ben Stevenson (https://imgur.com/U3Os8Fm), so we'll probably ask about getting Pafundi back & then maybe look for one other guy to round the group out - we have a couple of guys out on loan who could probably do the job, but I won't rule out us bringing someone in from elsewhere either.

Wingers
Joel Ndala (https://imgur.com/28hcBPe) was the main guy on the left wing & there's an argument that he was our most influential player - when he played well during the first half of the year we were rolling, then we dropped off as he went through a lull in form down the back half of the season. i've already managed to get his loan extended until the end of next season, so hopefully he can keep his level high for the whole campaign. On the right it was mostly Paddy Lane (https://imgur.com/cIHz3IJ), with guys like Gavin Whyte (https://imgur.com/lILJ6TM) & Anthony Scully (https://imgur.com/SVT696e) coming in when needed. We also brought through our first newgen here, with Dan Davis (https://imgur.com/xHw8fRd) coming from our youth intake last season & getting the odd game since he was too young to loan out, which will hopefully be what happens next year.

Strikers
I wasn't overly impressed with our guys here, so it's going to be a focus for the summer. Colby Bishop (https://imgur.com/2jXSvA8) went from almost 50 goals last year to a fringe player by the end of this season, so I'd like to send him back to League One where he belongs. Ronan Curtis (https://imgur.com/I56atGf) had a decent campaign playing both up front & on the left wing, but he was also the chief culprit of the stupid red cards, which goes against him slightly as much as I love him - ideally he'll be playing mainly from the bench next year, but I feel like he'll end up seeing more time than anticipated. Aaron Connolly (https://imgur.com/vOqn8ry) was the guy I was hoping would lead the line this season, but he struggled out of the gate & at one point I was considering cutting my losses & trying to move him on. He improved as the season went on though, and ended up tying Curtis for the top scorer on the team, so it's not out of the question that he starts the season as the guy, although the leash will probably remain fairly short.

We were struggling a bit for money by the end of the year, running out of transfer budget, wage budget & scouting budget on a few occasions each, so I'm not expecting to be handed a big stack of cash to spend, and I doubt we'll be doing any upgrades to the stadium or facilities either. Might be another year or mostly loans & free agents :D

wullie

21-01-2024, 08:40 PM

Sir Andy Mahowry

21-01-2024, 08:44 PM

Is it Josh McQuoid? If so based on his real life spell with us you've had a result there

It is indeed.

He was doing alright but I needed him as he was my only AMC.

I now only have 11 non-grey players until my youth intake.

Baz

21-01-2024, 09:04 PM

Nothing worse than losing the playoff final. Feels like such a waste of a season.

Our network game got accidentally holidayed too far but Oldham are now in the premier league in 2038. My mate was asked from Leicester for not doing anything for 8 years, so he’s got the Man Utd job. Mike completed it with City by doing six in a row so says he’s not rejoining.

Baz

22-01-2024, 01:38 PM

Which keeper shall I give the number 1 spot to?

https://i.imgur.com/y0oRWpE.png

John Arne

22-01-2024, 02:16 PM

Which keeper shall I give the number 1 spot to?

https://i.imgur.com/y0oRWpE.png

Either of them like/not like big matches? What is each personality?

Manc

22-01-2024, 03:46 PM

Agility & reflexes are king when it comes to goalkeepers.

Mike

22-01-2024, 04:11 PM

Baz

22-01-2024, 04:18 PM

Either of them like/not like big matches? What is each personality?
Perez relishes big matches and is spirited.
Pereira enjoys big matches and is model citizen.

Mike

22-01-2024, 04:20 PM

Model Citizen.

Is the bug still in where if a model citizen welcomes a new signing they become one too?

Mike

22-01-2024, 10:29 PM

This might result in a change of formation if the AM is good.
https://i.imgur.com/Wr7JWb0.jpeg

Was a busy January deadline day
https://i.imgur.com/xvcaP0P.jpeg

We have had a real dip in form, but it's all still looking good.
https://i.imgur.com/xbiCYpw.png

Sir Andy Mahowry

23-01-2024, 10:04 AM

My only left back has decided to turn down a £130 a week part time contract to drop down to tier 10 with AFC Whyteleaf. His contract? £0 a week...

:moop:

Down to 10 non-grey players.

Mike

23-01-2024, 09:11 PM

We can beat Brøndby
https://i.imgur.com/UpYFASw.png

Dquincy

23-01-2024, 10:02 PM

Into the year 2087 on my FM11 save. As I approach my 104th birthday, I feel a retirement is on the horizon. Not because I want to, but because it's borked my reputation so I am struggling to get job offers from any high profile clubs.

Story of this season is summed up by the post below. We won all major competitions.

https://i.gyazo.com/53ad0ca7daf12754cddfab2b781803df.jpg

Having done this, I wanted to leave the club for a new adventure, but as per above I'm not getting a sniff at any of the high profile clubs. Not wanting to join a low level club each time I want a new venture, I am deciding to retire. With this, I post below my profile and career stats.

https://i.gyazo.com/6aff0dad1612b35875e82bf331dd00e3.png

Lastly, a list of the clubs and nations I managed along the way.

https://i.ibb.co/pnzkF9y/0f28a586999cbe3d22ed330e08c51aab.png

Mike

23-01-2024, 10:45 PM

That's some impressive stuff. Both Barce and Real, and love how often you return to Ayr

Manc

24-01-2024, 01:15 PM

3935 games is some effort.

Sir Andy Mahowry

25-01-2024, 04:36 PM

Hitchin Town 2024/25 Season Update:

League:

https://i.imgur.com/b1gD7lV.png

https://i.imgur.com/aA7PQlI.png
https://i.imgur.com/CJ9kvBb.png

Really happy with how we did, we never slipped into the relegation zone (20th was our worst) for a single minute this season. February really saved us as I was starting to get scared after January that we might be in trouble.

Cups:

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

Disappointed we didn't make the FA Cup proper as we should have beaten the flamingo fuckers.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/SBVwZ9C.png

We lost two senior players in the season which hurt us as we only had 10 actual players for a while, although the grey LB we had did fairly well.

Youth Intake:

Here are all the players so I'll spoiler it:

https://i.imgur.com/DhNVA06.png

https://i.imgur.com/uAEe9yG.png

https://i.imgur.com/KXaiAd3.png

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

https://i.imgur.com/kjQj5ex.png

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

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

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

https://i.imgur.com/1agDrMl.png

https://i.imgur.com/EETpTs7.png

https://i.imgur.com/5QACMF5.png

https://i.imgur.com/g2Ay14s.png

https://i.imgur.com/UwQAk6p.png

https://i.imgur.com/P6Hrlim.png

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

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

Not a bad intake for our first, we've got a lot of physical specimens which will do well at this level but it's hard to see any of them being with us throughout our journey. Not sure why we have so many non-English lads (all my staff are English bar the U18s Ass Man who is English/Angolan).

Facilities & Finances:

I didn't ask for any training/youth facility upgrades but I did ask for Youth Recruitment upgrades and both times they were accepted by the board which is great. I will continue to ask.

In terms of cash, we have £126k in the bank and we're making money, although we now have a lot more players on the books.

Baz

25-01-2024, 09:38 PM

Bit sick of pootling along with Oldham. Are there any super broken exploit tactics?
Dark Soldier

John Arne

26-01-2024, 03:40 AM

Another one for the great names compilation.

https://gyazo.com/798d79d0876a36b081b7e1250e0c10d6.jpeg

Dark Soldier

26-01-2024, 01:26 PM

Bit sick of pootling along with Oldham. Are there any super broken exploit tactics?
Dark Soldier

No idea mate not played it in ages.

Mike

26-01-2024, 10:03 PM

On we go
https://i.imgur.com/DobS4L9.png

John Arne

27-01-2024, 06:51 AM

Bloody Newcastle won the Europa League and took my Champions League spot. Cunts.

https://gyazo.com/6f61b53be44038c5a3030cad75289955.jpeg

Adramelch

27-01-2024, 10:18 AM

That seems like a bug? I am fairly certain that winning the Champions League/Europa League gives an additional spot rather than taking it away from the 4th team.

John Arne

27-01-2024, 10:26 AM

That seems like a bug? I am fairly certain that winning the Champions League/Europa League gives an additional spot rather than taking it away from the 4th team.

Fortunately, England was awarded the extra coefficient spot, so I got in $$$$$

Mike

27-01-2024, 11:28 PM

Milan have drawn three in a row.
https://i.imgur.com/vaYFr7x.png

Mike

28-01-2024, 08:51 AM

Anyone elses team look like world beaters, then just fall about for a game?
https://i.imgur.com/JgNyutx.png

Dan

28-01-2024, 11:37 AM

Portsmouth 2024/25 Season Review

We were struggling a bit for money by the end of the year, running out of transfer budget, wage budget & scouting budget on a few occasions each, so I'm not expecting to be handed a big stack of cash to spend, and I doubt we'll be doing any upgrades to the stadium or facilities either. Might be another year or mostly loans & free agents :D

Portsmouth 2025/26 Midseason Update

After falling apart in the second half of last season, we're back to try again & as expected we're on a budget, and with West Ham & Southampton dropping down into the Championship this season there's a decent group of big name teams for us to scrap with if we're going to go one better this time around.

Transfers:
https://i.imgur.com/M3Ujaq4.png

Unsurprisingly we had to rely on a lot of loans to improve the side this summer, and thanks to some contract extensions & the board deciding they didn't want to let me play with the budgets, we found ourselves going from £40k under budget on wages to over budget & unable to bring anyone in that wasn't a free loan, so that was fantastic.

We were having a pretty quiet summer window until the last few days, as we'd only brought back Joel Ndala & added Rory Wilson, but a few more players became available on free loans in the last few days so we managed to also get Simone Pafundi back again after his move to Liverpool, along with Joao Fonseca, and then on deadline day things kicked off.

Out of nowhere we got offers for Antonio Blanco & Nathan Baxter, both of whom immediately then handed in transfer requests once I rejected the offers. Since we were desperate for money I decided to let them both go, so we ended up moving Blanco to Fulham for £9m & Baxter is off to RB Salzburg for around £14m, although his deal dragged out long enough for him to actually still be here until January. Obviously we replaced them with free loans :D

You might also notice another name at the bottom of the incoming transfers - I decided to get myself a Christmas present by bringing in a 40 year old Luka Modric on a free to help with mentoring & provide some cover at AMC. He only wanted £750 a week & is still amazing so seems like a bargain to me.

Results:

Once again we've made a quick exit from the Carabao Cup, losing to West Brom on penalties in the second round, but the real focus in the league:
https://i.imgur.com/HrWF9SD.png

We're in great shape again, so hopefully we can see it through this time. The first few month of the season were a bit inconsistent, with a lot of average performances that we managed to turn into draws or good performances that we managed to turn into draws, but in the last 5-10 games we've picked it up a bit & have started to look like we actually belong towards the top of the table. I'd be a bit disappointed if we fall back into the playoffs again this year, but hopefully we can't collapse quite as badly this year so automatic promotion is the goal, and the title would be a bonus.

I don't think we'll be going very far in the FA Cup this year as we've drawn our parent club Man City in the third round, but maybe we'll spring an upset & go on to win the whole thing...

Mike

28-01-2024, 12:47 PM

So near, and yet so far.
https://i.imgur.com/5gvrEN7.png

Mike

28-01-2024, 01:11 PM

What a wet fart of an end of the season.
https://i.imgur.com/J7MYWrM.png

Mike

28-01-2024, 08:18 PM

Sulked all day. Anyways, heres the season:

https://i.imgur.com/67iFxYf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LJZWk79.png

https://i.imgur.com/P8xWFAy.png

https://i.imgur.com/V9XdRdY.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/ruwXqKx.jpeg

Dquincy

28-01-2024, 08:31 PM

Oh Mike. That's a shitter. Sack them all in anger and replace with a new first 11? Or, remain calm and give the same players another chance next season?

Mike

28-01-2024, 08:57 PM

They'll mostly stay, but, as I always do, I've lined up way to many players to join in the summer. Got like 4CB's coming in haha. My big worry, is bigger teams coming in and buying my better players.

In better news..
https://i.imgur.com/jM4Rxz9.png

Adramelch

28-01-2024, 09:09 PM

I do the same but it's all youngsters. I currently have 5 right-backs that are 20 years old or younger with 4+ stars potential.

Gray Fox

29-01-2024, 09:23 AM

You've got to get your loan farm up and running.

Adramelch

29-01-2024, 09:29 AM

I'm trying to get them to qualify as home-grown is my issue, so given they all signed at 18 loaning them out ain't it. I guess I don't need all 5 of them to be home-grown, I just can't choose. :D

Clunge

29-01-2024, 12:33 PM

I’ve been having a very enjoyable save with Parma which, in season five, is now seeing me go toe-to-toe with Milan and Inter for Serie A.

I’ve backed off that for a bit to do a more YDWAWK style save with Red Star in France to see if I can start a new communist dynasty in Paris.

Manc

29-01-2024, 12:56 PM

I'm in 2032 with Red Star (Paris) and having a lovely old time. Took over just prior to the 2026 World Cup. Might post an update at some point.

Dan

29-01-2024, 01:28 PM

We're in great shape again, so hopefully we can see it through this time…hopefully we can't collapse quite as badly this year…

Yeah, about that :uhoh:

Adramelch

29-01-2024, 07:40 PM

Not being able to sell certain players is so frustrating at times. I get it when it's a player that's not necessarily at the club's standard and all, but I got an insane new keeper and I'm trying to offload my previous starter. We won the Europa League and Premier league with him just last season, he has interest from Saudi Arabia and Liverpool, he is valued at 60m, yet I'm fine going down to even 30m (what we paid for him) and he's on practically no money (68k a week). On top of that he also wants to leave, yet we're only getting 10m offers.

Mike

29-01-2024, 09:02 PM

Yeah, the lack of offers sometimes, when the AI then asks for silly money is annoying.

As is this rather predictable summer, I suspect its the first of many
https://i.imgur.com/LQjmHC9.png

Also had my hand forced into accepting a bid on my keeper because he's kicking up a stink over a contract and we got offered double his value plus extras.

Adramelch

29-01-2024, 10:02 PM

Also had my hand forced into accepting a bid on my keeper because he's kicking up a stink over a contract and we got offered double his value plus extras.

Can't you just keep him and have them buy mine instead?

Mike

29-01-2024, 10:13 PM

I can use the money to buy yours, I hear you offer them out on the cheap.

Adramelch

30-01-2024, 03:35 PM

https://i.gyazo.com/ca689c4eb307bac85038e90fea75b0c6.png

Not a bad first leg of the quarters me thinks. Quite the smash and grab as well.

As a sidenote, something I've been wanting to ask but keep forgetting. Is a high amount of goals starting from ridiculously bad passes that get intercepted (or the receiving player not moving/moving away from the ball) or is it just my tactics? I'd been thinking it might be the latter, but it seems to also happen to the opposition as well, so I'm not too sure.

Adramelch

30-01-2024, 07:20 PM

https://i.gyazo.com/1a296b0ad7b4a2050e86b5136012efd0.png

So this happened. That's all 3 European competitions back to back for us and while the first two I kind of expected, this one came as a real surprise. We were lucky with that 3-0 win in Madrid, but other than that we actually played really well, also beating Bayern and Dortmund in the group. Getting a semi-final against Porto was quite lucky admittedly, but we still showed that we were a force to be reckoned with. As for the final:

https://i.gyazo.com/2e424746c7d23e181ba2854d49b790d6.png

We were the better team, although it was a fairly trash game with virtually no chances until we got the lead in the 88th minute, before getting a second deep into injury time.

We signed a lot of players in the summer, a lot of which were promising youngsters, so they didn't feature much. Only four players signed to go into the first team:

https://i.gyazo.com/7335d8d079775bd97312c5339133b591.png

This guy was actually signed for his potential and he was a 2-star player at the time. But with our first-team right back also being a youngster, he got to play more and he impressed. We only had to pay 8m for him and he's already worth 10 times that. Not that he'll be going anywhere of course.

https://i.gyazo.com/7cf64fc266433ac96bdaf94455818927.png

This guy was meant to provide us with options on the left wing and possibly cement the position as his own. He came with tons of potential but didn't progress whatsoever. He wasn't terrible by any means, but I don't think he justified the 20m we paid for him.

https://i.gyazo.com/8edeab21b83ba1e2a67597728cc38f94.png

Our big summer signing. Well sort of. He was only at 3 stars when he joined, but better than the alternatives. He had a slow start, but kept improving and he soon find the way to also score more than a few goals from set-pieces. 26.5m well spent I say.

https://i.gyazo.com/a4d922709268110f3ff5f57fa5807cd7.png

The goalkeeper I mentioned yesterday. We didn't exactly need him, but our previous starter was a bit shaky at times and this guy was a massive upgrade. Broke the club record to sign him for 55m in January, but I think it was a great investment.

https://i.gyazo.com/2cf67ad9e5d84f72596956e09b1cae6e.png

I was a bit curious how we'd do in the league, as last time around we went from finishing 9th straight to winning it, so I had my doubts. I didn't feel we were as good as last season honestly, but the teams around us were way worse, so even though we didn't hit the top of the league until February, it still felt like it was quite an easy title. We also did pretty well in the cups, reaching the FA Cup quarters where we were knocked out by City on penalties as well as the League Cup final, losing to Tottenham on penalties.

https://i.gyazo.com/d42009b56979f2e390c88e91b6548643.png

Seral is genuinely two times as good as the second best player in the squad. He's just incredible. I would show you all the awards he's won in his 2 seasons at the club, but I'd need 3-4 separate screenshots to fill all of them, that's how good he's been. And we only signed him for 9m. As for the rest, Williams was really good once again, even if his stats feel worse than the season before, the reason being that Rosa took his place as our main goal scorer from set-pieces. Lecourt was good, but not great and the rest were just above average I guess.

So that Champions League win is a bit bittersweet in a sense, as it was meant to be the long-term goal for this save. I will keep on playing for a few more seasons I reckon, especially since I don't think we'll be repeating it any time soon, but it definitely removed a bit of my excitement for the future of the club.

Mike

30-01-2024, 09:14 PM

Top work that. Go defend your CL

As for keepers, mines off. Down to two to replace him. As it really seems keepers are hard to come by this year.
Green or Blue. I'm edging for Keller, just because he doesn't wear a head band, but he is a heck of a lot more.
https://i.imgur.com/QexStBS.png

Mike

30-01-2024, 10:29 PM

Went for the one who doesn't look like a tit.

Dan

30-01-2024, 11:44 PM

I'd be a bit disappointed if we fall back into the playoffs again this year, but hopefully we can't collapse quite as badly this year so automatic promotion is the goal, and the title would be a bonus.

Portsmouth 2025/26 End of Season Review

After once again putting ourselves in position to reach the Premier League, we just needed to avoid a patented Pompey new year wobble, or at least not fall apart so badly that we found ourselves having to do the playoff roulette. Could we do it?

https://i.imgur.com/Ux2dx2U.png

We did have a wobble for about 5 weeks from the end of January to the start of March, with some pretty underwhelming performances throwing us right back into the pack, but for the most part we finished pretty strong & won our last two games pretty emphatically. You'll notice, however, that two of our losses were to Ipswich & Leicester, and it turned out that the three of us were fighting right down to the final day...

https://i.imgur.com/iX4d59Y.png

:cool:

Luckily the team decided to show up when it mattered, taking apart both Middlesbrough & Birmingham to ensure we went up with the trophy. As it happened Ipswich still went up through the playoffs, which seems like a fair outcome & also means Southampton don't go up as an added bonus.

We have £32m to spend on reinforcements, and about £200k p/w in wages, although a decent chunk of that is going on extending some of the young core players & important squad guys, so we might end up moving some money around to give us more wages as I doubt we'll be throwing huge sums of money around this summer.

Players:

Not gonna go through the entire squad this time, just the key guys & some thoughts on summer business.

Once again Joel Ndala (https://imgur.com/5slVGPQ) showed his quality & remained a key part of the team - only 6 goals this year, but 12 assists & showed a bit more consistency through the second half of the season than he did last year. He's now a wonderkid, and we've managed to get him back on loan for a third straight season, which is great news. We also got important contributions from a few more loanees in Rory Wilson (https://imgur.com/HRKppSI), who was our top scorer, Simone Pafundi (https://imgur.com/NZVh0P8), who has also deservedly become a wonderkid, and Joao Fonseca (https://imgur.com/8q92PAU), who was a solid presence at the back whenever he played.

Not many players that we actually have under contract stood out, but we got solid play in midfield from Charlie Patino (https://imgur.com/I21gDug) & Alex Robertson (https://imgur.com/c9QVRNP), Paddy Lane (https://imgur.com/bYXU6GE) played well on either wing, Loic Mbe Soh (https://imgur.com/BoSIofi) was the foundation of the defence & Regan Poole (https://imgur.com/fnWD6mu) did a decent job in his enforced move to RB. Also gotta give some love to the walking corpse Luka Modric (https://imgur.com/McFRqNo), who still looked good at aged 40 - shockingly he's now retiring, but sadly he's a shit coach.

As for summer plans, the key areas of focus are goalkeeper, striker & full back. Selling Nathan Baxter gave us a lot of money, but we don't have a number one GK on the books now so it'll be essential to get someone in who can actually play. Up front we'll be sending Rory Wilson back, which leaves us with Ronan Curtis (https://imgur.com/GnhfJ4d), who wants to leave, and Aaron Connolly (https://imgur.com/KDj9aXZ), who isn't that good, so a proven goalscorer would be huge, and we'll probably need a second guy too. I'd consider an upgrade at both full back spots, as Sean Roughan (https://imgur.com/3NhP4lz) seems to struggle to play a full 90 on the left, but getting a good RB is the main thing as I'd rather not have to send Poole out there as the first choice all season. I've already started making a few moves to address these areas, but we'll see how things comes together by the start of the season.

I think we've got a huge season ahead, and whether it's a success or a failure could come in large part down to how successful I am at revamping the squad this summer. No pressure then.

Baz

31-01-2024, 12:17 AM

Spurs job interview. Offered 7m transfer budget. :cab: I’ve 75m at Oldham.

Baz

02-02-2024, 10:07 PM

At Spurs my captain said he wanted to leave to play in the Champions League. I said not to worry cos we’ll qualify for it and he was like lol no we won’t we are bad, and now he’s crying that I took captaincy off him. Fool!

Baz

02-02-2024, 10:18 PM

Never mind, got sacked for applying for the Liverpool job. Didn’t even play a game. :happycry:

Shindig

02-02-2024, 10:38 PM

That sounds like unfair dismissal. Get a claim in.

Baz

02-02-2024, 10:58 PM

I promised not to apply for jobs when I took the job, but never mind cos I’ve got the Liverpool job :jayjay:

Gray Fox

02-02-2024, 11:15 PM

Baz he said to me you know
You'll never guess who's gay you know
He said so
DCL loves men and he feels fine
I'm so glad that Baz knows who is bent
I'm so glad he delivered what he said

Sir Andy Mahowry

04-02-2024, 11:24 AM

Hitchin Town 2025/26 Season Update:

League:

https://i.imgur.com/iO5eot3.png

https://i.imgur.com/msFjkSI.png
https://i.imgur.com/1gg9baE.png

This season was really hard and I was sure that we were going to get relegated. I kept switching up tactics near the end and I finally stumbled on something that worked well for us. Sean Wilding (who was produced last season) became a real hero. I went to an asymmetric 4-2-3-1 (DM, CM, AM) as I thought it suited us and my main AMC got injured but Wilding stepped into that role superbly well.

Cups:

https://i.imgur.com/G7bgsgm.png

The Flamingo wankers are officially on my hate list, every time we play them we play so much better than them but they get jammy goals to gift them the result. Fuck them so much.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/oceOg4f.png

Wilding and Hemmings really saved us down the stretch, they are heroes.

Youth Recruits:

https://i.imgur.com/bLrh5iM.png

https://i.imgur.com/hoQz841.png

https://i.imgur.com/AvmsN7A.png

https://i.imgur.com/DPFEwy3.png

https://i.imgur.com/Juccm67.png

https://i.imgur.com/8mrFcr6.png

https://i.imgur.com/zV3x0BW.png

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

https://i.imgur.com/tKkvH3N.png

https://i.imgur.com/2cmex87.png

https://i.imgur.com/F5wFzia.png

https://i.imgur.com/T7UnVfO.png

https://i.imgur.com/uS6k93z.png

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

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

https://i.imgur.com/Qy1NNGr.png

Really excited about Adel Bramble, high determination super consistent and an alright personality, although he does have a weird head. He's been a regular since he was produced, the same as Nico Dowie although he's not been as good.

Facilities:

https://i.imgur.com/dvud5HR.png

They're rejecting the recruitment lately which is shit (as well as coaching courses, I still haven't been on one) but the facilities are ok for now. £185k in the bank so hopefully they're willing to start spending again soon.

Adramelch

04-02-2024, 07:55 PM

After what was a surprisingly great season, the task at hand is somewhat simple. Noone (including me) expects us to repeat it, but with the massive increase in reputation, we should at least be able to cement our place as one of Europe's elite clubs. Kids around the world should be dreaming of playing for the mighty Dorking Wanderers. As such it was a summer of a lot of movement, where I thought it was time to get some world class players in. Despite finding it hard due to sentimentality, I decided to let a lot of the old(-ish) guard go, since they wouldn't be getting much playing time here and that wouldn't be fair to them. So out went Deng (6 seasons), Atkinson (6 seasons), Henao (4 seasons) and Klinka (4 seasons), joined by some of our most recent signings like Aizawa, Obradovic, Fernandes and some youngsters for a combined 238m euros. A total of 10 players joined the club, most of which were expected to feature heavily in the coming season (sorted by order of importance):

https://i.gyazo.com/c042f43b26306e288da12d964884e335.png

The personification of my addiction in wheeling and dealing. We already had two great right wingers in Williams and Peña, but when this guy is available on a free, you just don't say no. At least I didn't.

https://i.gyazo.com/cea381d81246a52f3f08758dea753765.png

I was mostly looking for a player to cover for our two starting central defenders, but when I came across this guy I couldn't resist. He cost 60m, which for a player of his calibre and experience is honestly a bargain.

https://i.gyazo.com/ffefa9c2b3cfdc80abca88bc8415315b.png

The left wing is a position we have somewhat struggled to find a consistent performer. That this player has spent his entire career at Southampton (even though he's not at say Abiala's level) was a bit baffling. He cost a pretty penny at 69m, but we do have the money so I just decided to give him a shot.

https://i.gyazo.com/e6fcd4ee221a2b8b8d531ec6f8d6ba86.png

I sold Aizawa specifically because I found this guy. He cost 60m, but with Aizawa leaving for 30m, I think it is a bargain for what is a significant upgrade.

https://i.gyazo.com/be80286cd83137f520727dc73d5f867d.png

The first of the youngsters, but not a player to be underestimated. He was my second choice for the water carrier position, but the first one would cost us upwards of 100m and Gorski only cost 18m. No-brainer.

https://i.gyazo.com/5bd0c8e661d8572326adb7cdd82500d0.png

Second young midfielder to join. We didn't exactly need him, but I had money left and he had a 22m release clause so I couldn't say no.

https://i.gyazo.com/05bb11ba2d6b6ea605403b25f853995c.png

Yet another midfielder that we didn't need, but was too good a bargain (27m) for me to resist. He joined us in January but stayed at Anderlecht on loan for the remainder of the season.

https://i.gyazo.com/ac413466491263c8fd173c2f76c4f322.png

A player to cover for Marjanovic. He's nowhere near the finished article but he could/should end up being better than the former. A great deal at just 10m.

https://i.gyazo.com/f9490ac76df2a8d9541437f836f7796c.png

Again one for the future and unlike the rest, the 30m we paid for him was somewhat steep, but comes with tons of potential and scored a hat-trick (!) in his debut, so clearly signing him was the right choice.

https://i.gyazo.com/4a7765f13ac213337309be6aa8b3b200.png

Nothing crazy to right home about, but he was the last player to join and I thought it'd be rude not to include just him. At 5m he'll probably be more of an investment rather than a player I see shining at this club.

With all the transfer stuff done, let's get on with the results:

https://i.gyazo.com/40f53c7b5becce26a870fc528d9fc81c.png

That was SO close. Our ineptitude to finish off games, especially at home, meant that we just couldn't build a considerable lead over Norwich (of all the teams) and it actually went down to the very last day. Norwich had two more points going into that last game so the ball was in their court. The saving grace was that they were playing City away, so it was highly likely that a win in our game would see us clinch the title. The bad news was that our game wasn't an easy one either as we were playing Tottenham at White Hart Lane. City did us the favour by edging out a 3-2 win, but it looked like it would be for nought as we just couldn't score. Thankfully supersub Kunze grabbed the only goal with 5 minutes to play and we managed to claim our third title in a row. Fair play to Norwich, however, as they were incredible this season. Especially since they didn't really have any important players joining them, it was practically the same squad that saw them finishing 10th the season prior.

We also made the quarters in both cups, but we went out to City in the League Cup (2-0 away) and to Huddersfield (!) in the FA Cup (2-1 away after extra time). As for Europe:

https://i.gyazo.com/5de0fef72eafa99194feeb4b5b1e150c.png

We were better than last season throughout the competition, however it just ended up being much tougher this time around, mainly due to us squandering a lot (and I mean A LOT) of chances. As a matter of fact, we were losing 3-1 on aggregate against Atletico with 45 mins to play, and also 3-1 to Real with 60 minutes to play, but we ended up actually going through both ties. This meant that we would be facing Tottenham in the final, so the odds of a repeat win were quite high, however they were better on the day and deservedly grabbed the win in extra time. Still, very encouraging to see that last season wasn't just a fluke.

We also played in the Club World Championship right after, where after easily going through our group we faltered at the very first hurdle, losing 3-2 to Newcastle. To their credit they made it all the way to the final, only to lose on penalties to Flamengo (which we easily beat in our group) after a 3-3 thriller of a game, where they were 3-0 up only for Flamengo to grab three goals of their own in the last 20 minutes.

https://i.gyazo.com/4358caf8fe60b261db8f653375128acf.png

The main outlier here has to be Maltoni. After a great first season, Lecourt had been good but never consistent, so I thought this season it was time for Maltoni to get his chance and boy did he take advantage of that. Including the Club World Championship, he scored 41 goals, breaking a 15-season record for the club that held since my very first season here when Seager scored 37 back in our National League days. The other standout has to be Abiala. His numbers are similar to what Williams was posting, but the former has just had a lot more impact in our overall performance, with his goals and assists being more spread out than the peaks and valleys that Williams (who, to his credit, also had 11 goals and 12 assists this season) typically has.

So for next season, obviously the main goal will be to retain the league title, but also have another go at the Champions League. I would also not say no to an FA Cup win, since that one still eludes us. In terms of players, I think it might be time for Marjanovic to take a step back as he's been very error prone for a few seasons now and also has a tendency to pick up a lot of cards. I am also not very happy with our goalkeeper (as has been the theme for this entire save), but whether he gets replaced will depend on who's available since there's not that many options that are significantly better.

Dan

04-02-2024, 08:21 PM

Portsmouth 2026/27 Midseason Update

I think we've got a huge season ahead, and whether it's a success or a failure could come in large part down to how successful I am at revamping the squad this summer. No pressure then.

After reaching the big time last season we're pretty much just looking to survive this year - we're by far the smallest team in the divison, as you can see from the commercial income (https://imgur.com/T5emr3c), the sponsorship income (https://imgur.com/XkS3JOR) & the wages (https://imgur.com/GS4e2WK) - and we're predicted to go straight back down (https://imgur.com/yzZu29R), so we had plenty of work to do to get a team together that can hold its own this year.

Transfers:
https://i.imgur.com/BXj3qkK.png

https://i.imgur.com/CeVNxF8.png

As mentioned in the end of season post, I was looking for roughly half a team, with goalkeeper & striker being the biggest priorities, however aside from renewing our loan deals for Joel Ndala & Joao Fonseca our first notable bit of business was to snap up Junior Kroupi for what seems like a bargain price of £8.75m. We then got striker sorted by bringing in Arnaud Kalimuendo off the transfer list & after failing to get Zack Steffen on a free we brought in young Norwegian goalie Magnus Smelhus Sjøeng, along with veteran model citizen Josh Vickers to be the backup.

With the main areas of concern addressed we moved on to filling out the rest of the squad, with a couple of young rotational fullbacks arriving in Adam Aznou & Simon Walde, depth midfielders in the shape of Filippo Ranocchia & Felix Lemarechal, who was a beast for me on a previous save, on free transfers and attacking reinforcements on loan in Shaqueel Van Persie & Yousef Chermiti. We also signed a few very promising newgens, but I'll discuss them a bit more at the end of the year as they're likely to be on the loan list for January.

Overall I was satisfied with our business, but still a bit concerned by our options at either end of the pitch - there weren't many great options in goal & after we lost out on Steffen we had to take a shot on a young guy who looks decent, but isn't quite as good as I'd hoped we'd be able to get. Up front, we have a couple of guys that look decent on paper, but feel like they could go either way in Kalimuendo & Chermiti, so we could have some problems if neither of them are able to find their feet. I do think we should have enough to stay up, but it'll just be a question of how much of a fight it'll be to get there.

Results:
https://i.imgur.com/O4NZQDM.png

It's been a bit of a mixed bag so far, as we started off strong & sat 7th after the first 8 games, only for injuries to kick in as the fixtures got tougher, and we soon found ourselves sliding back down to the bottom half of the table. We stabilised things in the last month of the year & currently sit in 12th (https://imgur.com/aF4uZN6), which is hilariously one place above Arsenal, who hired Pep in the summer only to sack him within a few months. Chelsea were down with us too until the last couple of weeks, and they now have an interim manager as Carlo Ancelotti is taking the job at the end of the season.

The two ends of the pitch I was worried about have so far delivered very different results. Arnaud Kalimuendo has been great & we've pretty much gone as he has - he has 11 goals in the first couple of months when we were good, then got injured for a few weeks & struggled to regain his form, but he's back in the goals now so hopefully he'll fire us to safety. Magnus Smelhus Sjøeng, however, is already in my bad books as he's been prone to injuries & bombscare moments, so I'm definitely going to need to look at this again in the next couple of windows.

--

We've drawn Ipswich in the third round of the FA Cup, which is annoying but winnable & have somehow made it to the EFL Cup semi finals, although we've got Man City next so that'll be the end of that.

Other Stuff:

Unsurprisingly given the ocean of money in the league, our finances have improved a lot & we're up to about £25m in the bank. As such, I decided to ask for a present from the board in the shape of a stadium expansion (https://imgur.com/34YcN48), which they've agreed to. We're filling Fratton Park every week so it makes sense, although they're only adding about 3,500 seats so it's not quite as much of an expansion as I'd been imagining.

The board also agreed to give us some extra money for transfers (roughly £10m), so I've got a couple of newgens lined up to arrive in January & the rest will probably be saved in case someone interesting becomes available.

After a pretty underwhelming intake last season, the youth preview looks pretty encouraging this season, so hopefully we'll get some exciting youngsters through in a few months time.

--

Overall I'd say it's going roughly as expected, but we have a big few months ahead & we definitely can't afford a new years slump like we've done in the last couple of seasons, or else we'll be looking at a proper fight for survival.

Adramelch

04-02-2024, 09:08 PM

28 points by New Years is pretty big, even more so since you're 15 points above the relegation zone. I'll be surprised if any of the bottom 3 even reach 28 points at this rate.

Dan

04-02-2024, 09:57 PM

28 points by New Years is pretty big, even more so since you're 15 points above the relegation zone. I'll be surprised if any of the bottom 3 even reach 28 points at this rate.

Yeah, I think we’re pretty likely to avoid any kind of relegation battle but I’m just waiting for everything to fall apart. It does kinda seem like the bottom three are all bad enough that it won’t matter even if we do implode though.

Mike

06-02-2024, 09:49 PM

A busy window for Spezia. Started with £0 budget.
https://i.imgur.com/zesARu4.jpeg

Adramelch

07-02-2024, 03:04 PM

Ah yes, breaking the transfer record (I'm assuming) on deadline day. An age-old FM classic.

Baz

07-02-2024, 03:04 PM

All this time I thought you had Andy Robertson. :cab:

Adramelch

07-02-2024, 05:26 PM

https://i.gyazo.com/0d9b346239bc7ad3782f404e1b7503f7.png

For a left-back. One of the best players in the world, but still.

Edit: https://i.gyazo.com/7795edb33d1f39b814f349afd74e6f8b.png

Okay game.

Dan

07-02-2024, 05:52 PM

I bet if it was the other way round they’d be offering £15m & asking you to pay half his wages.

What’s the transfer record in your game at the minute? Is that even something we can see easily in FM? Don’t think I’ve ever looked

Sir Andy Mahowry

07-02-2024, 05:58 PM

World > Transfers then select leading transfers in the drop down menu.

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

Here are the leading transfers in my Hitchin save. Saudi clubs going mental.

Dan

07-02-2024, 05:59 PM

John Stones :D

Sir Andy Mahowry

07-02-2024, 05:59 PM

https://i.gyazo.com/0d9b346239bc7ad3782f404e1b7503f7.png

For a left-back. One of the best players in the world, but still.

Edit: https://i.gyazo.com/7795edb33d1f39b814f349afd74e6f8b.png

Okay game.

That 301m has to be on instalments, I believe the game is coded to auto-accept 300m straight up.

I remember on one save wanting to buy a player from a rival team. They would not accept £299m with added bonuses but they would accept £300m straight up. I did not go through with the transfer.

Sir Andy Mahowry

07-02-2024, 06:00 PM

John Stones :D

A 30 year old John Stones.

Adramelch

07-02-2024, 06:16 PM

Yeah it was 185m up front, 58m in installments and another 58m after 20 league appearances. I don't even have that much money (my limit was hit at the first 227m offer), I just wanted to see how much it would take.

Record in the save is 220m, with 133m up front. In terms of lump-sums, 167m is the record.

https://i.gyazo.com/05c2653f0dfbb8064af8a386dccc995d.png

Mike

07-02-2024, 06:53 PM

Ah yes, breaking the transfer record (I'm assuming) on deadline day. An age-old FM classic.
More than doubled the old record too!
Anyone finding teams are willing to lower optional transfer fees in loans if you offer them more monthly and wage fees or have I just got lucky?

Adramelch

07-02-2024, 07:01 PM

I mean, it makes sense if they are looking to offload the player through the loan right? Have you mathed out the total cost in either case?

Mike

07-02-2024, 08:15 PM

I guess so. They've always been listed too.

Adramelch

07-02-2024, 08:53 PM

Mike

07-02-2024, 08:56 PM

I think I love Federico Redondo. Him and Spezia OG Salvatore Esposito are oustanding as my CM's, and just helped us rip Monaco apart in France.

https://streamable.com/ke03g1

Raoul Duke

07-02-2024, 09:04 PM

Fourth best player in the world Nick Gunn is currently without a club. Surely I should snatch him up, no?

I kinda think you should, just for the SCIENCE. Did he have a massive injury or something?

Gray Fox

07-02-2024, 09:08 PM

I think I've seen that top guy trying to make an account in here from time to time...

Sir Andy Mahowry

07-02-2024, 09:14 PM

https://i.gyazo.com/64aca43af19bf4287985e2fc7e6e19a0.png

Fourth best player in the world Nick Gunn is currently without a club. Surely I should snatch him up, no?

https://i.gyazo.com/75be64af3a1c5c4c58477dc688b50764.png

He looks utter wank though and has horrendous traits.

Weird that he'd be ranked at all let alone that high.

Adramelch

07-02-2024, 09:27 PM

I kinda think you should, just for the SCIENCE. Did he have a massive injury or something?

When he was 15 maybe?

https://i.gyazo.com/b39601761e18549ddfac4cbb63172c1e.png

Just a bug I guess.

Gray Fox

07-02-2024, 09:28 PM

A classic case of high potential, but never played during ages 17-21 so he stagnates and just drifts into the shit.

Sir Andy Mahowry

07-02-2024, 10:07 PM

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

I've put the Flamingo cunts in their place finally :drool:

Adramelch

07-02-2024, 10:40 PM

Came through our academy about 8 months ago (at 2-star ability at that point), already has become our starting left-back (with 3 player of the match awards in 14 appearances might I add). I don't think I've ever had a youth player have such an immediate impact before.

https://i.gyazo.com/f8d34dc6801aaa9f97d6dd7a1a24e947.png

Sir Andy Mahowry

08-02-2024, 11:26 AM

Eat a dick Baz

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

Gray Fox

08-02-2024, 11:55 AM

Isn't Baz from St. Helens?

Sir Andy Mahowry

08-02-2024, 12:05 PM

Yes but he did manage Warrington.

Gray Fox

08-02-2024, 12:15 PM

A lot of wool behaviour going on.

Adramelch

08-02-2024, 03:41 PM

Having massively improved the squad last summer, I decided to limit my transfer dealings this time around. I was looking for a left-back and maybe a goalkeeper replacement and not much else. The only left-back that I was really interested in was that Norwich player and they wouldn't part with him for all the money in the world, so I stuck with my current roster, with Yaroshenko massively benefitting from that decision. I did however find a better goalkeeper, who was one of the three players that we signed:

https://i.gyazo.com/478d4c6d5636d4f911cb0a63478bda92.png

Not necessarily an upgrade over our previous one stat-wise, but the scouts reckoned he was quite a bit better and the other guy wanted to leave so I just went for it. Cost a rather significant 72m, but with him being very young I reckon that's a fair price.

https://i.gyazo.com/bfeb9f9428595d84df75c0905a8cb7b6.png

As is my modus operandi, we didn't need this guy but he was available for just 15m, so I just went for it.

https://i.gyazo.com/1ba3e95b5dba4c2a55dd7926e09fa919.png

Henson picked a 4-month injury in early January and I had van Dinter in my sight for some time now. With money burning a hole in my pockets, I just pulled the trigger and signed him for 83m, breaking the club record (which had already been broken in the summer when we signed Toumi).

https://i.gyazo.com/13130e63e5863052f72f84e263e7359d.png

Usually in this kind of save, it becomes easier and easier for me to win the next league title, but that hasn't been the case in my stint with Dorking. Mind you, we had a massive lead for months, so it was never in doubt, but our points total was a 4-season low and we weren't the highest scoring team in the league for the first time in 5 years. We had an incredible start, but then our form just startied deteriorating. Much like last season, we went out of both cups in the quarters, losing 0-2 at home to Newcastle in the league cup and getting knocked out by Villa on penalties in the FA Cup. As for Europe:

https://i.gyazo.com/be6282b7ac1bd966773a6f07868aa679.png

We were by far the better team against Villa, but somehow they went through. It sort of matched the theme of the whole season where we would create loads but never take our chances. Missing Seral in the last few months of the season didn't help either.

https://i.gyazo.com/de3fcd1c7f7bfa1f2c87207b24de7328.png

Toumi was actually incredible when he first joined, with 7 clean sheets in 8 league games, but then he went to AFCON and he just hasn't been that good ever since he returned, which was a bummer. van Dinter took a couple of games to get used to our tactics, but since then he was just world class and has already justified his price tag. You will also notice that Maltoni isn't in the best eleven, but that was not by choice. He just kept picking month-long injuries throughout the season. Thankfully Jose Costa proved to be up to the task, with a very solid, if unimpressive by our standards, goal contribution. Last but not least, Yaroshenko really was the revelation of the season. He isn't at the club's standard yet stat-wise, but he's been playing his heart out and has been the first left-back in a few seasons to finish with an average rating above 7. He also scored the Premier League goal of the season and was voted best young player. Pretty exciting. I will still try and sign that Norwich left-back mind you.

Adramelch

08-02-2024, 05:26 PM

Only 185m (100 up front, 50 in installments and 35 after 50 league apps), because might as well:

https://i.gyazo.com/021173c2db14b65213525cdd6fc50eb4.png

Gray Fox

08-02-2024, 05:29 PM

Duru and Van Dinter on the same side is absolute filth.

Baz

08-02-2024, 06:09 PM

Yes but he did manage Warrington.

My favourite player scored, at least. :cool:

Adramelch

09-02-2024, 06:40 PM

It's I think my 5th game this season where I'm hosting a smaller team at home and they score with their first shot, typically within the first 5 minutes and it's been the exact same thing, their winger shooting diagonally and my keeper falling the opposite side. I've won all of those games so far, but it's been very weird. Almost a carbon copy.

Dan

09-02-2024, 09:11 PM

Portsmouth 2026/27 Season Review

Overall I'd say it's going roughly as expected, but we have a big few months ahead & we definitely can't afford a new years slump like we've done in the last couple of seasons, or else we'll be looking at a proper fight for survival.

Our first season back in the Prem is over, and after an inconsistent start to the season we were well positioned for survival, but certainly not able to stop looking over our shoulders.

The League
https://i.imgur.com/DN5N0uP.png

Pretty much the same as the first half of the season, with one good month, one bad month & a lot of inconsistency the rest of the time. In the end we were never really in any threat of relegation & we finished a respectable 12th place, just ahead of Chelsea, who won the Champions League with a caretaker manager, which sounds oddly familiar.

https://i.imgur.com/PI338JO.png

Overall I'd say the season went about as well as we could have realistically hoped, as we looked like we could hang with most of the league & I'm optimistic we can build towards a challenge for Europe in the next couple of seasons if things go well. We've got about £50m to spend next season, although the wage budget didn't really increase so I'll probably have to move some money around to ensure we can get deals done.

The Cups
https://i.imgur.com/jHsf0pS.png

Very happy with our performance here as we made the semi finals of both the EFL Cup & the FA Cup before losing to a Manchester side in both. I'm not really bothered about either competition though, so this will probably be as good as it gets for a while.

The Players

I'll break these down by position group again:

Goalkeeper:
We brought in Magnus Smelhus Sjøeng (https://imgur.com/Dcxus46) to be our number one this season, but his first year with us was pretty frustrating as he was frequently injured & played inconsistently when he was healthy, so I'm a bit uncertain about his long term future between the sticks. We have a solid veteran backup in Josh Vickers (https://imgur.com/GRZGtrC), and I also signed promising youngster Christ Asumani (https://imgur.com/K4htY3X), who might be the long term solution, but I'm keeping an eye out for potential upgrades so maybe we'll make another move over the summer.

Defenders:
This was mostly the same unit as last year, with Sean Roughan (https://imgur.com/HKKTaVC) at LB, Loic Mbe Soh (https://imgur.com/1FqytQN) & Joao Fonseca (https://imgur.com/oc36Srt) in the middle & club captain Regan Poole (https://imgur.com/Lo3pexx) on the right. We added Simon Walde (https://imgur.com/dDF6sGu), who will hopefully develop into our starting RB, although he's suddenly got some competition in the form of Zbigniew Urbanski (https://imgur.com/3FPR9Oj), who came through this year's youth intake & immediately joined the first team squad. We also loaned in Adam Aznou (https://imgur.com/VF3nuQB) on the left, but he's agreed to join Real Sociedad at the end of the season so I'll be looking for another left back for next season.

Malachi Fagan-Walcott (https://imgur.com/9ZQgcIH) played well as our third CB, and we've managed to sign Fonseca permanently for £10m, which seems like a great price for the current European Golden Boy (https://imgur.com/f2IpKRi), so even though I have a few interesting CBs on my shortlist I doubt we'll be making any moves there as we can always move Poole back if needed.

Midfielders:
Eli Junior Kroupi (https://imgur.com/5P8j6pi) proved to be the steal I'd expected, as he put in some excellent performance at both AMC & AMR, winning PFA Young Player of the Year (https://imgur.com/70q37hU) in the process. I think his long term future is at AMC, but we still have Alex Robertson (https://imgur.com/ASzNMOa) too so EJK might find himself splitting time again next year. Paddy Lane (https://imgur.com/nyfWrkS) continues to be a solid performer on either wing, but after three seasons on loan it looks like we'll be losing Joel Ndala (https://imgur.com/wnV4UuN) as he doesn't want to join permanently, and fellow loanee Shaquille Van Persie (https://imgur.com/yGsTgSj) will also be leaving having given us a solid year of football. We have a couple of talented newgens in Martin Hansen Nygaard (https://imgur.com/QHQRhgs) & Hamza Bensabouh (https://imgur.com/YXRFN92) who should help fill out the attacking options in the squad, but it does feel like wingers will be needed for next year.

Charlie Patino (https://imgur.com/tTVNPNj) had an injury hit season, allowing Miguel Azeez (https://imgur.com/1fD3EHn) to get some extra time as our deep lying playmaker, and next to him we started the season with Joe Morell (https://imgur.com/obVJm0W) getting most of the time, with Felix Lemarechal (https://imgur.com/ZpSFokp) & Filippo Ranocchia (https://imgur.com/LNWGBIF) serving as the next guys up. In January we added Leopold Uhlig (https://imgur.com/NvN4ifV) for a bargain £3.5m, and he quickly took over as the second CM - we also have a lot of good newgen CMs that have come thorough our academy in the last few years, so I'm planning to move Morrell to make room for one or two of them to join the squad.

Strikers:
Arnaud Kalimuendo (https://imgur.com/MAMbP4k) was our most important player in my eyes, finishing second in the league with 27 goals & our results seemed to have a strong correlation with his play. At the complete opposite end of the scale, however, was Youssef Chermiti (https://imgur.com/GpwaEzD), who had a miserable time, scoring only three goals all season, two of which came against Championship sides in the FA Cup. He will not be back, and Leo Scaltriti (https://imgur.com/zmqt0AF) will probably be the main backup striker next year, although I do think we'll need to look at adding someone here to be safe.

-

Other Stuff

We're now getting the big stadium expansion (https://imgur.com/XMWCdkZ) I'd hoped for, with 10,000 seats being added to Fratton Park, although it does mean we have to move to Southampton for a year :sick: We're also continuing to improve our youth setup (https://imgur.com/5D0eFca) & training facilities (https://imgur.com/GJp3RXT), which seems smart when we've made £50m this year.

I don't think this will be a particularly exciting summer, but there are definitely a few spots I'll be looking to target & if we can hit on our moves we should be well set up for a good future.

Mike

09-02-2024, 09:14 PM

We all seen this...
https://www.reddit.com/r/footballmanagergames/comments/1amwpgd/testing_the_viral_exposing_the_fm_match_engine/

Gray Fox

09-02-2024, 09:39 PM

Haven't we always kind of known that the game skews towards the physicals? Anyone who has done lower league stuff knows that you just need people with all of the pace and you're good.

I'm hoping the great refresh of 2025 will change this up a bit.

Mike

09-02-2024, 09:58 PM

So, on my Spezia save, we're in the CL, so have like £50mil in the bank, but they still refuse to give me any money to spend. It's very annoying.

Mike

09-02-2024, 10:36 PM

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

:rosebud:

Sir Andy Mahowry

09-02-2024, 10:39 PM

Hitchin Town 2026/27 Season Update:

League:

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

https://i.imgur.com/zxGeaA2.png
https://i.imgur.com/HqJgNJZ.png

We looked great a few months in and we were just 3 points off the playoffs and then it all just went to shit. I didn't think we'd get sucked into the relegation battle as we seemed too far away but we got dragged back hard.

Just before those 3 wins in a row near the end we were in the drop zone, 4 points from safety and it looked bleak. We then had our youth intake and things turned around. Andrea Lisa a 15 year old CM scored and grabbed an assist in his debut and Osin Flannery came off the bench to grab a dramatic last minute winner against Blyth.

I thought we were safe when we won those 3 but we didn't quite have enough to be safe and we needed just 1 point but we couldn't get it. Thankfully Southport and King's Lynn couldn't get the points they needed either and we were safe.

A weird season as no one has been relegated on 45 in my save (previous highest was 44) and last season 38 would have been enough for safety, this was a really competitive year down at the bottom.

Cups:

https://i.imgur.com/FEaK00h.png

I wanted to do more but meh.

Youth Intake:

https://i.imgur.com/aTr75kW.png

Was called upon as my first choice keeper got a neck injury for two weeks and he did well in the two games. Grabbed a clean sheet (our first in months) and saved a penalty. I then used him in a third game when our keeper was back but he was crap.

https://i.imgur.com/53tAdn3.png

https://i.imgur.com/YJBlS1q.png

https://i.imgur.com/Mh3txmk.png

https://i.imgur.com/Vqdw2Tc.png

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

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

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

Arguably the man who saved us. We looked buried but then he scored and set up the winner on his debut, sadly he was wank in the rest of the games but the spark gave us hope.

https://i.imgur.com/2tKXpr6.png

The other man who gave us that spark.

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

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

https://i.imgur.com/80ZWU4N.png

https://i.imgur.com/Oig9Zqq.png

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

https://i.imgur.com/ylph74a.png

https://i.imgur.com/bqpTbn5.png

Facilities/Coaching:

We have finally been given our first coaching badge, the board finally relented and let me go. In terms of facilities we were allowed another bump to our youth recruitment (up to 2.5 stars now) and junior coaching was upgraded for the first time.

This season was the hardest I've ever faced in an FM save I think but it was also the most fun. The final 10 games or so were a mixture of absolute despair and insane highs with a nail biting finale. I'm not sure if we'll ever get out of this division but I'm loving the ride.

Mike

09-02-2024, 10:54 PM

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

Got a few funny looks off the wife during this one.

Manc

10-02-2024, 12:50 AM

https://youtu.be/e2DBI311qbY?si=4ofPViSUtq07WiLE

Adramelch

10-02-2024, 12:35 PM

Usually in this kind of save, it becomes easier and easier for me to win the next league title, but that hasn't been the case in my stint with Dorking.

Got my wish I guess. Club records for points, goals scored and goals conceded.

League

https://i.gyazo.com/2723fc2406fe8316eabbe53101c586df.png

This was coupled with cup wins:

League cup

https://i.gyazo.com/6558c5f074ed5cb186eaea9f62e49528.png

Very easy run-in, other than the quarter-final tie against Arsenal, which we still made look easy.

FA cup

https://i.gyazo.com/7d1b6e3ddefcec90c5b6f557d0bf18c9.png

A harder run-in here (also including a 3-0 win at Old Trafford in the fourth round). Toumi saved 5 penalties out of 8 in the semis and the final. We should have won both games before it got to that, but what a legend. Our first FA Cup win.

Champions League

https://i.gyazo.com/62c51b8724c4e1d1cd31ac590bd54603.png

One of the easiest run-ins you'll ever see, courtesy of Porto shocking Real Madrid in the quarters. We scored 49 goals in the competition, a new record. The previous one was also held by us, with 39 (!) in our previous Champions League win 3 years ago.

Signings

https://i.gyazo.com/c9a9ce6da25460a0d52e4120c6e8fffb.png

Already showed that one. One of the most expensive transfers in history (185m), and the most expensive for a defender, but that's where we're at.

https://i.gyazo.com/0a31211c6d27c24a1233f9173554551f.png

Just 30m for a future star? I'll take that.

https://i.gyazo.com/eb25266cd3ab43bf7848014efcba9a12.png

Our annual tradition of signing a player we didn't need, just because he was available. At a rather steep 60m, he was still a bargain.

https://i.gyazo.com/7face61f1ab2e79c29ea437fc9a89566.png

With Abiala reaching his 30s and dropping off in terms of form, I just saw this guy and thought let's go for it. 96m is nothing to scoff at, but at his age and quality it was probably a shrewd investment.

https://i.gyazo.com/076e3337d354e614cb43ee30a4bb991c.png

Incredible performances all around. Van Dinter was very much the world class star I expected him to be, Maltoni returned to his previous form and Williams regained his place as a starter after a couple seasons playing second fiddle, with some great performances. We scored a total of 197 goals in 66 games.

Not sure where I go from here. Might play a season or two more, but not sure yet.

John Arne

11-02-2024, 01:12 PM

Annoying.

https://gyazo.com/9e3ad444a129b19fc05921c9f424c196.jpeg

Mike

11-02-2024, 02:10 PM

Things are going worryingly well this season
https://i.imgur.com/UnikEs4.png

https://i.imgur.com/GrfLV7x.png

https://i.imgur.com/toI7chX.png

I'm sure the wheels will fall off soon.

Sir Andy Mahowry

11-02-2024, 02:35 PM

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

They want him to get coffees for the rest of the team?

wullie

11-02-2024, 11:02 PM

Finished 26/27 in 8th and was surprised to then be offered the job at Arsenal who'd just finished 6th. Took it, feeling I've left Cov with a solid footing for the future

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

They've since won one in the first 11 in 27/28 but at least they're loaded.

Baz

11-02-2024, 11:23 PM

quite a ridiculous season:

https://i.imgur.com/uvNNvd6.png

Gray Fox

12-02-2024, 12:08 AM

Who is scoring all of those goals?

Baz

12-02-2024, 08:40 AM

Who is scoring all of those goals?

Darwin Nunez (https://i.imgur.com/xHUUWEw.png) got 52.

https://i.imgur.com/saesirj.jpeg

Adramelch

12-02-2024, 09:02 AM

That must mean he hit the woodwork at least 150-odd times.

Gray Fox

12-02-2024, 12:06 PM

Darwin Nunez (https://i.imgur.com/xHUUWEw.png) got 52.

https://i.imgur.com/saesirj.jpeg

1745255309940003323/video/1

Mike

13-02-2024, 08:55 PM

I'm sure the wheels will fall off soon.

https://i.imgur.com/t3wmT59.png

There we go :lol:

Dan

13-02-2024, 09:17 PM

Yeah, that seems like the exact part of the schedule where that would happen.

Sir Andy Mahowry

13-02-2024, 09:25 PM

Hitchin Town 2027/28 Season Update:

League:

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

https://i.imgur.com/IdZUsG6.png
https://i.imgur.com/Hz7emTP.png

Again we started well and looked like we'd avoid relegation comfortably before a total collapse. This time wasn't as nervy as I never felt we were fucked but it still ended a little too close.

Cups:

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

Meh.

Squad:

https://i.imgur.com/jL9Jq2Z.png

Our best player was probably Beckford but no one really shone consistently. Flannery did well as a youngster as he was used a lot in one formation that did well at the start and he was pivotal. I think I'll be letting some go this year like Vowles who has dropped further down the pecking order at RB now.

Youth Intake:

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

https://i.imgur.com/y1zLIGN.png

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

https://i.imgur.com/fTmpO6V.png

https://i.imgur.com/6BMIXhF.png

https://i.imgur.com/dPP5CZS.png

https://i.imgur.com/7H290A7.png

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

https://i.imgur.com/MHR755k.png

https://i.imgur.com/0yPSehk.png

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

https://i.imgur.com/ot8Ixky.png

https://i.imgur.com/Dbr6J5u.png

https://i.imgur.com/qd9THeH.png

https://i.imgur.com/vBy3GSy.png

https://i.imgur.com/xrGirJ0.png

Really excited about the RB Afeez who has instantly come in as our new starter and performed well in the 4 games he played. I'm also excited about the ST Sammon (that finishing, determination, consistency and work rate is incredible) and the CB Aminu. They're the pick of the bunch this year and I think they'll contribute a lot next season.

Facilities/Coaching:

https://i.imgur.com/6MHEFw4.png

Got another upgrade to the Youth Recruitment so it's looking great for us and I finally got my second badge although they've refused the third one for now.