Beta is out.
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Beta is out.
Apparently Newcastle start with a transfer budget of £200M & £600K p/w wages.
£600k for wages sounds low. I guess you can flip some.
On reddit? I see that one too now. I just saw the text post one. That does seem more logical with the transfer budget
600k p/w would be half of the lowest wages from a Premier League team in my current season, so it couldn't be that surely.
I assume he meant £600k p/w unused of their budget.
Here you go.
https://gyazo.com/bf6e0c8f004241efd0ce8c2eff71c637.jpeg
Any other screenie requests?
Some youngsters
Haaland
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Foden
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Bellingham
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Pedri
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Gavi (16 WTF)
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Musiala
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Moukoko
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Siri
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Some immediate annoyances
- Some players have no transfer value set, which means when you are searching for players, you can't simply just sort by value
- The colour scheme is still disgusting: thankfully easier fixed with a new skin (https://www.fmscout.com/a-kojuro-fm22-skin.html)
- Spanish youngsters continue to be massively overrated, most English youngster seem to be underrated
- Feels a little laggy at the moment, but that seems to get sorted after a few updates
Barca looks like a great game:
But with that tasty youth academyQuote:
Apologies for USD currency but they start ~$40M in debt, no transfer budget and about 5M left to spend on yearly wage
Edit: also the projections have them at $175M in balance at the end of Y1 and over $200M after Year 2
€1.1bn in debt with a few loans.
Meanwhile at Newcastle, the AI replaced Brucey with Sir Brendan Rogers who has been a little reluctant to bring in much talent yet.
https://gyazo.com/e278f69c55b9d045ecfcb48148f40b4c.jpeg
The values you see now are what the club will actually sell for, in that range. Its a good change, stops all the moaning about 'they want 200m for a 5m player'. No value set means not for sale at any price. Makes it a tad more realistic as doubt managers just have a list of players sorted by value.
Corners are ludicrously OP, scored 5 in 4.
That’s a horrible change.
I much, much prefer it.
I think I like it as well, but for some things (like player searches), it'll take some getting used to.
Yeah it's a lot better. To have a basic idea of what it is going to cost to get a player makes a massive difference to the game. If I know Mbappe costs 75-100 I know more so where to pitch an offer or what kind of addons I can offer to get the deal across the line. Rather than completely guessing every time I want to make an offer for someone.
I won't get much time to play it before full release so I think I might have a quick game with Newcastle for the next couple of weeks. Just to sign a couple of the wonderkids if I can and just see how they pan out in game before embarking on something a bit more full on once the game is out properly.
I think I stand corrected.
What are your own players valued at by default?
Transfer Deadline Day is also actually good this year. They've embraced the full muppet experience.
Playing this:
https://i.gyazo.com/453e2a7502ac456b...42d30be2f1.png
Leads to this. Good old FM:
https://i.gyazo.com/7a195c7cd65d7347...271ad57a4f.png
Are there any changes to the tactics system?
Just Wide Centre Backs and some renaming, thats about it. Pressing works slightly, but only slightly differently in that as players get tired, you'll see more mistakes if you're playing a high press.
Anyway that's the ME broken, til next year lads
https://i.gyazo.com/dbc068515b28c4a0...cfe38d6440.png
I'm always surprised at how many issues there are during the beta (not big things, but really simple things that I notice immediately), and how easy it is to beat the ME. Surely they have hundreds of testers playing this for a couple of months before release... has not one of the testers tried breaking the ME?
I'm in January and just lost my first game of the season... despite lots of rotation.
Their testing system seems to be fucking awful. Like legitimately one of the worst around.
Hmmm... Mbappe to Liverpool but at a cost of about £123m over 5 years....
https://gyazo.com/2cf5cef5aea409545f4cd86687925006.jpeg
Given he's agreed to reduce his current salary to "only" £240km I may just confirm it - plus I've never managed him before. BUUUT... he only has 10 for work rate....
Do it!
Just lost my first match too. Classic FM'd. Dubravka 8.5 MotM, de Gea 6.3.
Lost 3-1.
https://i.gyazo.com/aa6df31bc64643c5...5191a9e267.png
Ouch. Guess it’s a seriously long haul of a save.
Some proper Niclas Alexandersson vibes here. Defender/Midfielder/Forward (Right/Left/Centre)
https://gyazo.com/91413e7172255206263ceb8e5bc8513a.jpeg
No one from Club Brugge is ever costing north of £56m.
There was an article about him on the BBC the other day: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58916176
This dude is silly for 17:
https://i.gyazo.com/ebccbbb0ecc13300...3f90e9398b.jpg
Two-footed with those stats? :cab:
According to my scouts, shit hot prospect too.
Also here's my tactic if anyone wants to piss about on beta, only tested with United:
https://fm-base.co.uk/resources/14122sirjur.5674/
Griezmann on a 80% yearly wage rise is hilarious.
Question, do you people change the player attribute colours? If so, what is your preferred? This is all a but new to me...
Someone on Reddit is playing Mane and Salah as wide centrebacks (van Dijk between them) and absolutely annihilating everyone.
Broken game is broken.
Stuff like that puts me off playing the latest 2-3 versions. FM19's engine seemed much better, I don't remember silly things like that being possible? And the engine seemed much more responsive to your tactics and less random. (Only played FM21 briefly.)
Overpowered my ass. It could happen on any given week. We'll hit double figures under Klopp eventually.
The wages seem a bit borked on this. Firstly, my DoF always offers a decent young 17yr old $150-a-week and wonders why they say no - I then take over and the said youngster is asking for $50,000-a-week... like most of the young players I've approached all want silly money.
My eyes. :sick:
it just utterly blitzes teams, its mad. Changed GK to SK as they were stationary, the HB and CB basically clear any ball over the top and we smash em with an overload. If you tried it with Brentford you'd get smashed 8-0, obviously.
I have to admire the way you go about utterly ruining the match engine. :cool:
Its great fun mate!
https://i.gyazo.com/ebed7ee2b91573e2...9bc0bbd0d5.png
Beaten in the first leg 0-3, managed to turn it around....
https://gyazo.com/e520998806cfa65a8485a4cc219b255f.jpeg
This formation reintroduces superkeepers, just never for you:
https://i.gyazo.com/a228bfe7c393b4c8...efa6201e38.png
https://i.gyazo.com/be114374e1c6bb80...75f463a973.pnghttps://i.gyazo.com/318b5e7481ea3193...acbcf4e550.png
How much was Haaland?
Cost me £105mil second season. That alleged real life release clause doesn't seem to exist.
He is absolutely fucking insane.
Loving FM22 so far. Match engine decent, new features decent (and there's quite a few compared to FM11), runs nice a quick.
Have started as Liverpool to get the hang of it, but will start a journeyman save soon.
Last one lads but lol at this ME
https://i.gyazo.com/4dfaa8be1111ef84...50e1d24de3.png
I can't remember where, but I heard, and I quote, that "Match engine decent".
It is if you're not breaking it!
It really cannot handle huge overloads. FM's never been good at it but this is mad.
Yeah I am just joking because it's a funny three posts in succession. I know you broke FM21s ME as well, even if not to the same extent.
Is Haaland on for 100 goals?
He's on 15 in 6 in the league.
96m, signed immediately in 2021.
https://gyazo.com/c041215aeb8af8996e7efbf16425ef9f.jpeg
This yearly NxGen top 50 list will remove the need for scouting entirely. :drool:
Is that in association with The Guardian?
Essentially a list with the top performing youngsters worldwide.
Oh. I get that as a Twitter DM every month from @ChernoHunter
https://i.imgur.com/aA4Y22v.png
Even 1 or 2 seasons in plenty of regens started populating it. Standout early on was an Iranian 17 year old CB still playing at Persepolis.
Is the bullshit new Champions League format in this?
Literally stick it on 'Float Crosses' and 'Cross More' on wide players. Win the fucking game. Check the header amount.
Poulsen:
https://i.gyazo.com/a554ec52a602c967...38fff18fce.png
Calvert-Lewin:
https://i.gyazo.com/7dae1cbe1d4edaec...e07663c014.png
Guido fucking Carillo who is absolute shit but tearing the PL a new one:
https://i.gyazo.com/0dd3f4a72c16d27a...957c701c88.png
Also this is my Data Hub stats. See amount of Shots at bottom. This is in 4 matches fucking lol
https://i.gyazo.com/3ea7725977478fc9...f0b5d11636.png
We are the playtesters, aren't we? Fucking hell.
I know things are a lot more difficult then I could imagine, but I do wonder what they've spent the last 11 months doing. A couple of new animations and the data hub. 11 months.
Its an absolute joke. I think their playtesters are literally Miles and his sycophants.
Give the Alpha to people who've been playing it for 25 years and let them push it. Resting on their laurels. The game is, despite my criticisms, great, but this happens over and over and its just lazy as fuck now.
What even is that data hub screen? What the feck are you meant to do with that information and why is a screen that size needed to present it?
If I play it as a normie, rather than trying to crack it, is it good?
To give you an example of how much wingplay is essential to this ME, the below, second lot of stats is Raphinha putting in crosses. 27 key 'passes'. 10 rating despite no assist or goal.
https://i.gyazo.com/2b05ce7e7f744927...cca232992e.png
QoL?
Quality of Life
I think I am going to get a laptop for this, 8gb i5 SSD job with intergrated graphics should do it?
Is there an instant result button, or at least a means of getting one? I thought I’d read somewhere like all the edits like fake teams, kits, crests, etc were all banned now so can anything be edited at all to add it?
Not sure if you're open to it, but the Macbooks with M1 chips absolutely crushed the FM21 performance comparisons.
https://community.sigames.com/forums...arking-thread/
The Air results are absurd.
https://www.fmscout.com/a-kojuro-fm22-skin.html
This skin has it.
You're putting me off even downloading it, DS. :moop:
He did similar things in FM21, so if you enjoyed that one, there's no reason you can't enjoy the new one.
My Liverpool career has already been binned after 3 games. I've deemed myself ready for the journeyman save.
Have started unemployed with no coaching badges and Sunday league experience. Ended up getting a job at bottom of the Chilean second division. Don't have a clue what I'm doing and all the names are too long for me to process.
Anyone have the issue of the game really slowing down/freezing when accessing certain screens. Such as the fixtures, team stats on the competition screen? It's been logged and acknowledge by SI, but again, raises questions of testing if something like accessing one of the main screens is causing issues that obviously weren't previously picked up.
I decided to start my long-term Crewe save early after getting bored winning with Liverpool.
After a very slow start of 1 win in 6, and sitting 17th... we managed to turn it around and win our past 4 on the trot.
https://gyazo.com/fbd01872e71286ba8dd7aab5284e0b0c.jpeg
https://gyazo.com/be09cd878e19fe614b82be3496441787.jpeg
Decided to back to our roots and implement a proper tiki-taka short passing game, boring but effective with lots of sideways passing.
https://gyazo.com/0b43af3641727048105c390e7e4ba60f.jpeg
Our squad is very average, and despite bringing in Asamoah Gyan on 350 quid-a-week, we can't find a striker who scores - fortunately our wingers are doing the job. Our biggest worry is that we have no money, our staff are shit, and our best players are basically all the loanees - together with fucking Brexit meaning we can't sign anyone decent from overseas. It's gonna be a right slog to get any proper development going on.
https://gyazo.com/2917f9d49188a41570a16ec3ea065183.jpeg
Oh, and our best defender, Montserratian big man Donervon Daniels just announced that he will be leaving on a Bosman at the end of the season.
Still, in 20 years we can still hope to be moving into the Dario Gradi Arena :) Lock up yer kids.
https://gyazo.com/e65e9cad2dc66d0a793985cfcd8abb8a.jpeg
I’m glad Miles hasn’t Benoit’d him.
@John Arne I didnt realize that Ng, Pickering and Wintle had all left as well. Jesus.
Yeah, the board clearly don't want to stay in League 1. Most bizarrely they let Owen Dale leave on a loan to Blackpool with them only having an optional, not mandatory fee. Brain-dead.
And, the academy stopped churning out decent quality talents years ago. In fact, around the same time as.... Well, y'know.
The "best players are loanees" is kind of a theme until you get to the Premier League, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
I thought their young homegrown players were untouchable.
Chaps, I swear I pre-ordered this but if I did I have definitely used a different email address as I can't locate it anywhere.
Is it too late now for early access? CD Keys says code won't be released until official date which is the 9th. :moop:
So with my stupid tactic I have Raphinha putting in 40-50 crosses a game. It is literally all he does, down the left wing, cross. What does that equal?
https://i.gyazo.com/036a08dec728fe20...bc92428cb5.png
Love it.
Just been an update, sorts out the hanging when clicking on certain pages.
Regen faces are truly terrifying this time around, what the fuck is up with their eyebrows?
On the other hand, the feature to make an avatar from a photo actually produced something that's eerily similar to myself, just based on one shitty webcam picture.
It turned a photo of you into a picture of you? Well I never.
Can you still not just add a photo of yourself in the game, instead of them stupid generated photo things that look shit?
Man UFC? Is that the same for the rest of you?
Not using sortitoutsi's, no.
https://i.gyazo.com/287bcb6a33b3870c...00d4a68199.png
To the rescue again, aye.
Tell me that's not your first season, DS.
If it's his first season, I'd be less surprised with his performance, given his ME-breaking shenanigans, and more so with City's 65 points. Haven't they been dominating the league early on in the last 5 versions or so?
Just signed Maxi Gomez. 16 Jumping, 18 Heading. He'll get 60 this season.
Fernandez Vial - 2021/22 mid season update
After starting unemployed i managed to get this lot to appoint me as manager. They are in the Chilean second division and there is no way i can be arsed to type out their full club name; fucking ridiculous club name. Anyway, they were bottom of the league when i joined them after 13 games in a 30 game season.
https://i.ibb.co/CpyGgr5/20211024230639-1.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/m0WpqNk/20211026185404-1.jpg
As this is my first venture with a modern FM release, I've basically been stumbling around trying to figure out how to direct my way through this in amongst a mass of data, numbers and foreign names.
This is the league table with 6 games to go. The last game we managed to win and we now find ourselves out of the relegation zone for the first time this season.
https://i.ibb.co/w4hC5pY/20211026225816-1.jpg
Do not plan on staying around for long with this club, but the challenge will be getting another club to take me with no badges and sod all experience.
The current squad. The striker is shit.
https://i.ibb.co/JB2mvCG/20211026232532-1.jpg
Atletico approached me after the season with Newcastle and I accepted. Signed two 6'7" strikers. Lol love it. Pure Moyesball, 100 crosses a game.
https://i.gyazo.com/e794729db5c5b2a2...befa95502e.png
You really should come with a spoiler alert. Mad results, DS. :D
I'm all set up now but unsure where to start. I was tempted to do a YDWAWK with Chester but having just done it with Wrexham, I want to be able to manage and sign the top talents except I don't want to start at the top.
It feels a little premature to start a long term save before the 9th yet I'm impatient and just want to get cracking.
Suggestions?
My board refuses to give me more than 7 coaches after 5 seasons with 4 Swedish league titles, twice qualified to CL. :moop: Many of my players development are stagnating as a result, despite maxing out training facilities.
If you wanna dick around and just do a few seasons, do Newcastle mate. Its brainless fun but still a challenge. Some good talents wanna join but you'll have to overperform for the Haalands etc.
Last result for now. Loved this one, they've got Mbappe ffs:
https://i.gyazo.com/2875505a249fb0e4...af9aa1909b.png
:drool:
https://i.imgur.com/RrAqB2v.png
Might as well see what damage your tactic does from the bottom.
giants upfront and a heading beast CB and ya should be good
So I just launched the game, and been noticing some changes that are so nonsensical, they are just there to differentiate the new version.
- What if, and hear me out, we put the contract length below the wage and fees instead of above?
- Good stuff Jorge, let's get it done and release the game
Does anybody in game development actually think those things matter?
Asked the board to sign Haaland for me as we couldn't afford him.
£99million later...
https://i.imgur.com/fV0NbfC.png
@Mike what formation are you playing him in?
We've played a two more games; won one and drawn the other.
But the other clubs around me are doing well, so we find ourselves back in the relegation zone once again. 3 games still to play...
https://i.ibb.co/f04B90x/20211028103442-1.jpg
Going with a 4231 with Bobby behind him and Salah and Mane on the wings. That’s the plan anyways. I’ve managed to get to the press conference before my first league game so far.
Imagine....Haaland Broken leg and 6 months out on his debut. :drool: That would be a restart scenario.
How are people screenshot'ing their games? F12? I used to use alt+F9 on fm11 but doesn't seem to work on the modern versions.
I use https://getsharex.com/
I just use Gyazo still. Find it the faster solution for my liking.
Sharex is also good, I use it for work on Linux, not sure why I haven't been using it on Windows.
Gyazo. Piss easy.
Ye gyazo does the same thing, it's just a lot more basic, while sharex also lets you edit and stuff.
On a different note, in FM21 everytime VAR was called for a potential offside, the goal was offside. I am like 3 months in and 5 out of 5 have been awarded. Granted it's a small sample but that kind of 180 turn seems so common in game development.
I use greenshot whenever I want to upload anything. Select the area and upload to IMGUR.
https://i.gyazo.com/d05b39fd3594adc4...060950d5f5.png
Mostly yoloed the transfers as I just wanted to see the match engine and play around with tactics. Basically replicated a 4-2-3-1 I was playing in FM21. Direct passing and high tempo didn't do it this time, but swapping to shorter passing, lower tempo and working the ball into the box seems to do the trick.
A few quick notes:
- The match engine on the whole looks a lot better, if you are not doing any DS shenanigans. There doesn't seem to be any prevalent type of scoring/conceding like the long over the top balls from last season. I am also glad to see that the wingers don't shoot from stupid angles like they did before. The thing with players targetting the woodwork persists though, which is a long-term pet peeve of mine.
- VAR decisions actually seem more varied this time around. In FM21, if VAR was checking for offside it was always an offside, if it was checking for a penalty it was a penalty 9/10 times (although that sort of rings true to reality) and if it was checking if the foul was in the box or not, it was almost always out (even when the 3D engine had both players completely inside the box). No more such shenanigans so far.
- Goalkeepers still seem a bit wonky, which has been a problem with FM since the start of time, but it's not too big a deal.
- They seem to have toned down the silly amount of 6-7 goal wins of the big teams vs the small ones.
- I haven't been rotating much, so I expected players to complain, but it's just way too many. I currently have 10 unhappy players in a team that's 3rd in the league. Seems a bit over the top.
- I really like the new value system. The old one was essentially meaningless, but now all the players I signed, I did for a price around their estimated value. The only time a team declined to sell for that price, there was actually a "message" in red in the transfer window to the tune of "Flamengo are not willing to sell in the middle of the season". Top notch job if you ask me.
My Chileans responded in emphatic style.
https://i.ibb.co/F4fQZ1s/20211028104033-1.jpg
Which means the table looks like this with 2 games to go.
https://i.ibb.co/HDQM71F/20211028104046-1.jpg
You've Gotti chance of staying up. :cool:
Who's the standout player and who are your last two opponents?
:D Not with his scoring record. 4 in 21 appearances this season.
This fella is supposed to be my star player, but I've got other players performing better average ratings.
https://i.gyazo.com/bf9871702785c271...b1ee9c5814.png
Did however just get our first crop of YTS players come through. Two of them seem to have potential (for our level).
https://i.gyazo.com/9702b51d8d3a4217...03581cd630.png
https://i.gyazo.com/23961c8df2ab7836...2eb7026c08.png
Results since I've taken over and my last two games still to play,
https://i.gyazo.com/460a8bab0b673aa0...5a91403312.png
You got this. What's the sorting rules? Goal difference or head-to-head?
Create a club save is going to be put on held until the full version is out but in the mean time I've given it a crack with Derby County.
Bottom of the division due to the 12 point deduction but a good start should see that put right and I was optimistic after a pretty decent pre-season although knowing I have both Ravel Morrison and former Liverpool forward Bobby Duncan in the first team, I anticipated a bit of dressing room aggro. It hasn't materialised yet but if we don' turn the corner in the next month or two then I imagine a fuss will be kicked up.
https://i.imgur.com/LkrM5l9.png
I shouldn't be overly harsh on Ravel as he did score against Liverpool, Sam Baldock levelled for us in stoppage time.
We aren't completely useless which is reassuring.
https://i.imgur.com/tLXmgYi.png
August.
https://i.imgur.com/pYZosnk.png
Not bad and we find ourselves drawn against Man United in the 3rd round, at Old Trafford too so it might be a little money spinner. Not much but we're going to be repaying over £350K a month and the debt is already over £50,000,000.
Takeover has been mooted, a new administrator brought in to oversee things but we'll see. Survival is the only aim of the game as we can't sign anyone anyway due to the transfer embargo.
Nathan Byrne is hammering in the crosses as per DS's instructions but I don't really know if it has helped much. We're quite an old side too so hopefully we can get some decent youngsters through. Jagielka (39), David Marshal (36), Curtis Davies (36), Colin Kazim-Richards (35), Richard Stearman (34), Cra.....you get the picture. They'll be crippled by time the festive period arrives for sure.
Feels like you're safe though. You play an already relegated team and you basically just need a draw. And even if you don't get that, it'd take both the 14th and 15th teams winning for you to get relegated.
Final game of the season. Will it be relegation or mid table mediocrity?
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Game could have saved you the bother of shitting yourself with all those points deductions rolling in.
https://i.gyazo.com/eebe54ee4f8ff7e8...561bf5e490.png
Not too shabby. Definitely benefited from half the big teams being garbage though. 69 points just shouldn't be enough for Champions League football. Not that it matters, I was only playing this one season to see the game and try stuff.
My signings (which I really didn't put much effort into, just signed the first competent player I came across in the position I was looking for):
https://i.gyazo.com/1299ac03398318c9...3c0f8e0e6b.png
Livakovic (GK) for 15m, Sule (DC) for 16.5m and Mancini (DC) for 23.5m were absolute steals. Barbosa (ST) and Raphinha (AML) were also definitely worth their fees with 33 goals and 17 assists between the pair of them.
Overall, I am actually very hyped for this version. Usually it's just more of the same with just some pointless new features, but the improvement in the match engine is definitely big and I also prefer the new value system a lot more.
After seeing Adra's final league table, I've started a game with Everton.
Bloody hell it's bloated. Hoping DCL can head his way to 30 goals.
City and Chelsea outside the top six. :cab:
https://i.imgur.com/FJOUapq.jpg
Hell of a start, followed by actual hell
https://i.imgur.com/kOHndvH.jpg
It didn't stay that bad and most defeats were just by the odd goal, now currently enjoying a ridiculous run
https://i.imgur.com/2GLhqYh.png
https://i.imgur.com/cktcHUN.png
Why does Alex Iwobi seem like prime Rui Costa?
Odd to reply to this so late but I thought I had already for some reason. I always change them. I find the green/yellow mix as insult to my eyes. I always change it to a soft yellow for very high ratings, blue for good, grey for anything in the middle and red for bad.
Here's a screenshot from one of my players from an FM19 save:
https://i.gyazo.com/d622788567dfcec7...1f9bd89319.png
I bought the game last night but didnt really open it until today. I do something similar to fox in terms of the colour choices:
Lowest red
Second lowest yellow
Second Highest green
Highest bright blue.
Thanks chaps. I quite like the bright green as the best attributes. But wondering whether to play about with the lower ranges.
Need something to spice up this team...
https://gyazo.com/6e48d06871d0091117853a56d6225084.jpeg
Toggle Spoiler
Derby County - September
Our form showed no sign of changing despite having a hattrick of games at home but other than the loss to Stoke who I thought were quite fortunate, we were well beaten against Bristol and Preston. We went to Old Trafford in the EFL Cup anticipating a drubbing but that was OK because we'd rake in some much needed dollar. We have to repay the PFA before we can sign anyone so a cup run would have been nice, albeit unrealistic as I anticipated an early exit....except it didn't happen. We caused the mother of upsets. :cool:
https://i.imgur.com/iYpoS5G.png
In your face, Greenwood. The feel good factor raised morale and clearly played a part in us picking up our first league win of the season but we're now further behind than we were on the opening day. We've drawn fellow strugglers Middlesbrough in the next round.
https://i.imgur.com/tDFaPWf.png
https://i.imgur.com/7ggIE9H.png
Our goal scoring hopes rest on the shoulders of Sam Baldock whilst at the other end of the pitch, our elderly back four and keeper appear to be pretty darn useless. Graeme Shinnie will be off in January too as the administrators accepted a bid from American side Nashville.
We need to up our game this coming month, six league games, a double header against 'Boro....I do not want to go into November so far adrift as the festive period is likely to kill Jagielka and co.
Derby County - October
https://i.imgur.com/eLD1OWV.png
We recorded our first win of the season at home with the 1-0 win against Blackburn, a tight affair that was decided by Baldock's penalty only to follow it up with another defeat. Our performance against WBA was reassuring and Stretton's last minute equaliser meant a share of the spoils but our defending in our warm up match against 'Boro was shocking. We're so reliant on Sam Baldock it isn't even funny.
On to the EFL and a quick start to the first half saw us race into a 2-0 lead and we held on long enough to progress to the quarter finals where we will now face Leeds United. It's a little bit mad that our league form has been so atrocious whereas we're getting breaks in the cup. I want points dammit!
Zero points followed as table toppers Fulham put us in our place. November needs to be a turn around surely but it does get better....
https://i.imgur.com/0997ZL2.png
Here we go!
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:jayjay:
Fernandez Vial : Pre Season 2022 Update
Thought there was little point in writing up an end of season update as you knew we escaped relegation.
So, the transfers in. As we have no money, it was all free transfers and a couple of loans.
https://i.gyazo.com/a1b5af827ce55c4a...6695d52400.png
The newbies...
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Transfer window has ‘slammed shut’
https://gyazo.com/6c330891b3d852ddd07e1c0cecdba3da
Derby County - 8th January, 2022.
Well, so much for monthly updates. It got tedious very fast which is very much the same feeling the season is giving me.
:moop:
https://i.imgur.com/zPzDqZV.png
We were doomed in November tbh and it just keeps going downhill.
https://i.imgur.com/AfRY06P.png
Birmingham scored in the last minute, we had two goals disallowed against Cardiff before they scored in the last minute, January signing Kevin Mirallas (and Ramires) looked to have sealed us our first league win since the 2nd of October with a late strike only for yet another last minute goal to cost us all three points. It doesn't get better. Max Bird's early bath ended the Reading match as a contest, Bournemouth twatted us and just rub salt in the wounds, Huddersfield scored in the 89th minute. Doomed, I tell thee.
https://i.imgur.com/imcyg76.png
We're now able to operate in the transfer market but we can't actually afford anyone half decent, loans seem very expensive and since I'm over my wage budget already, the board won't sanction them. Nice cup run at least. We ended the year on a rare high with the victory against Millwall, our first in 17 league games, I think. Tragic.
In other news, Jagielka will leave for Lech at the end of the season whilst goalkeepers Marshall (Hearts) and current number one Kelle Roos (FC Twente) will sod off too. I imagine as we're going down a whole host of players will join them come the summer.
That said. Perhaps I will too although there has been no drama at board level thus far, not the fans.
Derby County - 2021/2022
Twelve points didn't seem to be overly excessive and although the aim was to fight bravely, I thought we'd have enough about us to at least make a good go of it but as the season transpired, we were dead and buried from day one, really.
Our relegation was confirmed with eight games to go. :(
https://i.imgur.com/ly50x0Y.png
We actually took more points in those final eight matches than we did all season but even without the points deduction, we would have got done over by a small distance.
The rebuild now starts but we're in a better financial position so an immediate return would be handy.
January we brought in Kevin Mirallas and Ramires, neither were particularly good. Loan moves for Aaron Ramsey (not that one) and Elliot Anderson were arranged to add some numbers, Tudor Baluta and Dwight Gayle joined a few weeks later, Gayle costing nearly £100K for the remainder of the season. I doubt it would have been any different if we'd had them earlier but you never know.
Gonzalo Carneiro was the only other arrival, the latest one too given he needed a work permit but he's probably going to lead the line next season if no one meets his relegation release clause.
https://i.imgur.com/vDiWp1X.png
We're going to save well over £125,000K a week in wages with the releases of so many drains, Tom Lawrence being a prime example as he's on £30,000 a week which just isn't going to be viable in League One.
Still no discontent from the supporters but if we don't challenge for the promotion spots this upcoming season then I'm certain that is going to change. I can't remember the last time I got relegated on FM. I already feel like the managerial CV is ruined.
https://i.imgur.com/JsRKnDD.png
Sam Baldock was our top goal scorer with 11 in 30(5) whilst youngster Jack Stretton was next in line with 9 in 10(12), I imagine he's going to get plenty more minutes next season. Tom Lawrence grabbed eight goals and seven assists, still not worth the weekly outlay though. So yeah, bad times.
Refreshing to see.
https://i.imgur.com/VXpgV1i.png
I thought it may be have coincidental but a later update confirmed it was THE global megastar Poborsky. This is the most exciting news since the game a Tetra-Pak billionaire took over and threw money at me for a decade.
In keeping on topic:
Poborsky's lob.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-m_wU7eLk8
To Seaman's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i_btwGghcg
How's that relevant? Well, I don't know but giants Derby County think it might be. County > City. You can't buy history, right? :D
https://i.imgur.com/8BwZriv.png
Broke the short corner and throw in routines.
https://streamable.com/w8b8l3
https://streamable.com/8z96ej
Ten goals from set-pieces.
https://i.gyazo.com/f39e5e449e96864f...afe0455a92.png
Have you considered applying to SI? They evidently don't have a QA team so you'd be your own boss and everything.
I thought the same thing moments ago when I saw the latest pic. Perhaps we need to apply for him with a Twitter Bomb to Miles.
Was actually thinking of sending out a speculative email to them :D
Started my usual (like JA) Crewe save. As we discussed earlier in the thread there has been some serious turn over. Three of the normal mainstays for me in these saves, Ryan Wintle, Perry Ng and Charlie Kirk have all moved on. The recruitment had been pretty good, atleast in FM terms, but the squad is pretty short of long term prospects that can grow much further.
As this is a YDWAWK save I did no transfer business but did look to tie everyone down to contracts. It took until December to get Tom Lowery, my best player, to extend past the current season. Thankfully he did and I was able to tag a couple more years onto that once the season was over. Udinese were sniffing around until he signed a new deal.
Onto the season. After starting ok I made a few tactical tweaks and started pressing a bit more, not full gegenpress but its intense. I developed a slightly more reserved version of the same formation for when we were under pressure or if I felt we were underdogs.
Story of the season
League
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Cups
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Squad
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Youth Intake
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I finished with a very similar record, @Danny. I also fear that we shall get destroyed next season. I played a very patient game, and to be honest, not sure how we won so many. Of our 4 defeats, 3 came in the first 11 games, whilst the 4th was the last game of the season, I played a very young team.
https://gyazo.com/d08c68d7fba07233c68295a5f738dc37.jpeg
Speaking of Perry Ng.... he's coming home!
https://gyazo.com/18f30ccfe2f3288d83cef3ebedbe46db.jpeg
Also, thank god for Ben Knight...
https://gyazo.com/31d8103400ed2883cb87b8037788e2e1.jpeg
Nice of you to pay £10k to Crewe.
Cashback!
Money laundering at its finest.
Very nice @John Arne.
He would come back and walk right into my team. If only....
Sure, but its only been tested with my stupid 1CB, 3SC formation. Its imperative the corner taker is that sided WB (or FB I guess), to the opposite side WB/FB on a short corner. Also WB/FB take throw in on their side.
https://i.gyazo.com/9127ecc10b6e5697...12f1cd2d1e.png
https://i.gyazo.com/0909494aec520443...0bf17f7d05.png
Also here is the tactic, but you have to build the team to its strengths (tall strikers, Lucca is immense), workhorse CMs, tall physical HB, fast dribbling crossing WBs (you can use wingers here).
https://ufile.io/ezayy4ek
And you will still get the odd battering, as seen below:
https://i.gyazo.com/45e18933d1ed2639...a4671899ea.png
Hi friends.
On the old FM I could select only interested players when searching for new players.
Can I do that on the modern version or has it been removed?
Ta
When you go to Scouting > players > player search it should be on the right near the filters.
Assuming you have an assistant manager that is, otherwise the options are greyed out. Unless they changed that in this version, I haven't checked.
Yeah it’s like loan/transfer interest: doubtful, unsure, interested etc.
Thanks chaps, I'll take a gander tomorrow.
I'm nearly at the half way point in my second season with my Chilean bastards. Shall post a mid season update.
Figured I'd move my FM 19 updates with Slough Town over to the new thread. I may jump onto FM 22 at some point (as I have GamePass) but the Slough save is keeping me going for now.
Slough Town - 28/29 - End of Season Update
In my last update, we were on the back of a really good unbeaten run over Christmas and only 2 points off of the automatic spots as we entered January. And of course, we entered our worst run of form of the season immediately, a spell of 9 games without a league win. In fact, the whole second half of the season was fairly streaky, as we followed that up with 5 wins on the trot to suddenly rekindle hopes of automatic promotion. As it was, we fell away a little as the season came to a close with a disappointing run of draws.
https://i.ibb.co/nDfsnhw/s11-2nd-half.png
The initial run of poor form through January was very frustrating, as we were still creating a lot of chances and on occasion, dominating opponents, but we were conceding incredibly sloppy goals and missing a number of clear cut chances. The Northampton Town loss was the most infuriating - 2-0 up early on and coasting, and then we conceded 3 in about 8 minutes to their only 3 shots on target all game. They were 22nd at the time and it was our first home loss of the season. :moop:
Our cup run was fairly fortuitous, losing to the first Premier League side we faced, but we actually were fairly dominant against Newcastle, and only lost due to a free kick from about 25 yards out.
Form wasn't good enough to push for the automatic spots, with Sheffield United and Southampton taking the top 2 positions, Southampton beating Wolves 3-2 in the penultimate game to leapfrog them. 5th place is a great effort though, and even if we do fail in the playoffs, I didn't expect this from only our 2nd season in the Championship.
https://i.ibb.co/CK3x4d3/s11-table.png
Crucially, however, our talisman Dennis Ball got injured in the Sheffield Wednesday game, and is now out for another month with a broken toe. :( We'll have to manage the playoffs without him and we really don't have a good left wing option in his place. In his 8 seasons at the club, he hasn't had an injury keep him out for longer than 3 weeks..... until now. Gutting.
We beat West Brom 2-0 at home in December, and lost 1-0 away in the penultimate game, so it's shaping up to be an even tie. I'd put us as slight underdogs as we've been on some dodgy form, but anything can happen....
Is there anyway of me playing the old FM games on MAC? Specifically the 05-07 era.
Could run it through https://www.parallels.com or something similar via Steam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ9nOcJ5wAs
I have caught a few of his videos lately and he seems like he really knows what he is talking about on FM in general but in this video he shows a skin he worked with someone to develop. Looks like a massive improvement over the standard skin
Most of the stuff looks kind of pointless to me if I am honest. Just a lot of things that look fancy but won't change anything for me. I am not really a fan of trying to like fit the highest possible amount of information in a single screen, feels just too bloated.
I am the other way. I feel like there is a lot of blank space they could use. Going to give it a try and see how it works out though
Yeah it's down to preference of course. What really struck me as unneeded and definitely ugly though was the color scheme in the tactics, depending on the player's position. That alone makes the skin a no-go for me personally.
That did stick out to me too but I think I would need to use it to see if I hate it/its worth the trade off.
I just think it doesn't make that much sense if I am honest, even if we get past the appearance. If I play a formation with two wing-backs and a DM, are they really in the same category? At least for me they aren't.
So the playoffs. With the home leg first, I was hopeful for a solid result to take to the Hawthorns in 3 days time. The first half was pretty dire, with no real chances for either side. Pushing on a positive mentality helped in the second half and we created a lot more. We deserved the win and probably should have put another opportunity away but the West Brom keeper made a few great saves late on.
https://i.ibb.co/FDGnLNd/1st-leg.png
Could we hold on in the second leg?
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Season 01.
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Derby County - Season 2022/2023
After waving the white flag early doors last season, our stint in League One was always going to be one of change. The aging rear guard all left for pastures new, high earner Tom Lawrence left for Reading for £250,000 which was decent given he only had 21 days left on his contract, he would have taken the 25% decrease in wages due to us being relegated but he was far from irreplaceable. Louie Sibley joined West Ham for £8M rising to just over £10m, the Hammers even offered to loan him back for a season once the deal had been struck so we snatched their hands off.
Summer signing Erik Palmer-Brown came, saw, conquered then left for Charlotte for £5.5M, an easy sacrifice given our past form with financial mismanagement, you just can't turn that down for a free signing. Akin Famewo (Loan - Norwich), Harry Toffolo (£190k - Huddersfield), Tyler Walker (£275K - Coventry) and Dane Scarlett (Loan - Tottenham) were just some of the success stories in what was a very rewarding campaign that saw us break records left, right and centre. None more so than freebie signing and new number one, Matija Sarkic (£34K - Wolves) who broke a club record for most clean sheets, a record that hadn't been bettered since the 1970's.
We shall not be moved indeed.
https://i.imgur.com/1GGwrAk.png
https://i.imgur.com/tuyiaQb.png
An immediate return and we do so in much better shape than last season both on the pitch and financially. A nice £12M transfer budget available too with a huge excess in our wage budget. Prudent. :cool:
In the domestic cups our luck wasn't quite with us as Mansfield raced into a 3-0 lead to knock us out of the FA Cup first round, 3-2 while Bradford's 91st minute equaliser gave them a lifeline in the EFL second round before they went on to eliminate us on pens. At least there was the EFL Trophy though, we eased through our group with 1-0 win over Fleetwood, a 0-0 penalty victory against Manchester City U23's and Salford 4-0. Mansfield were first up in the knock out rounds, a 2-0 win gained a small measure of revenge for the FA Cup loss, a victory by the same score line saw us defeat Tottenham U23's but we came undone in the quarter finals as Dylan Levitt's sole strike was enough for Man United U23's to progress at our expense. They went on to win the whole thing beating Rotherham in the final.
Promotion was always the sole goal but it was nice to do so by recording a club record most points in a season (98), most league wins (30), most clean sheets (28), in fact, we hadn't conceded a single goal in League One until match day 8. The same day our unbeaten run ended as it happens. Screw you Rotherham.
We did have to wait a while to claim the title officially despite being so far ahead, this was largely in part to winning only one league game throughout April, three draws and two defeats could have proven to be the ultimate bottle job if Doncaster and Wayne Rooney's Huddersfield had capitalised.
Next season is still up in air, it could be nice to see if we can challenge for the playoffs with a few additions but equally, a move could be on the cards as this doesn't have to be a one club save.
All in all though, top effort. On we go.
We are about to reach the conclusion of Season 2.
We have performed massively above all expectations and found ourselves sat here with 1 game to go
https://i.imgur.com/hjFMOHr.png
We got this in the lead up
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We had Palace in the final game and went in with a CM retrained to play RB, first choice CB, first choice CB in need of a fitness test and 3rd choice LB. This happened:
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Billy Sass-Davies, I tried for ages to snap him up back in League 2 and he decided to go to Plymouth instead.
Cracking season though Danny, and good luck in the playoffs. I've just played my final....
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Lovely! Whats the plan? Cant imagine that much goes too far!
We drew West Brom in the playoffs. After a 0-0 at home we went to the Hawthorns expecting a tough game. The task got a little easier after 30 minutes when CB Cedric Kipre was sent off, or so I thought. We huffed and puffed for 90 more minutes but couldnt get the break through.
Onto penalties to decide the winner. In a game where every shootout I have seen on YT has taken forever this was over quickly. 3-0. Call the bus company, Wembley awaits!
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Full Season Review
Cups
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Squad
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Youth Intake
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First game of the season
https://i.imgur.com/Egy7MqC.png
:D
Edit. It gets better
https://i.imgur.com/HlH1OXH.png
Zidane is their manager (took over in march), they have a good squad and really shouldnt be in the Champ. Kane and Son left after relegation. What the actual fuck.
Super Tom Lowery :)
Let's see your squad.... I'm 5 games into my Championship season and struggling.
Still, always good to find a forriner with a proper English name...
https://gyazo.com/7b2383d853d815e013474ca72717bc4d.jpeg
Yeah both me and Smjffy had the goalkeeper thing happen in the previous version, so it seems it's still there.
I could see it if they were buying your main keeper to have as backup, but them signing your backups is nonsensical.
None playing 29/30 year old backup. It makes no sense.
He was already getting a bit edgy about "wanting a new challenge" but when a Premier League team comes in asking him to sit on their, probably more comfortable, bench, I think my hands are tied.
Osian Harding. :cool:
Just loading up now, I think I'm going to stick it out with Derby for the upcoming season and see if we can go up at the first attempt as there isn't many jobs available at the moment. Sunderland is after losing in the play offs, I'm wondering if Palace lose the Championship playoff final then maybe that'll be enough for them to sack Vieira.
Slough Town - 29/30 - Off Season Update
A quick look at the heroes that dragged us to an unlikely playoff final victory.
https://i.ibb.co/1LQJzgq/s11-squad.png
The continuity in the squad has really helped us play above our station, but I think this will be a summer of real turnover in the squad. Disappointingly, all of the loanees have returned to their clubs - I would have loved to have kept Della Rocca in central midfield, and unfortunately Rangers already signed Morgan Lomas on a Bosman before I was able to discuss terms with him. The transfer values of all the players have since updated (and inflated) due to our promotion, so I'm looking to sell a fair few of the old guard. Kingsley Brown has already departed to League 1 newcomers Crystal Palace, and 5 year veteran Lukas Puntigam has been sold to Rotherham for £375k. It was hard for me to accept the sale as he was truly key to the side for a number of seasons but we have to move on and improve the squad for the Premier League relegation battle that is bound to occur.
Dimitris Papadopoulos continues to impress and now has a new £20k p/w, 5 year deal. He was EFL Young Player of the Year for the second season in a row and continues to outperform everyone else in the squad. And Dennis Ball has a new contract too, as he enters his 9th season with the club. Another 10 goal season for the left winger and I've loved having a player stick with the club and improve thoroughly during our rise through the divisions. He might not be first choice next season but he'll be getting a fair amount of game time to make his mark on the Prem.
Fernandez Vial : 2022 : Mid Season Update
Chilean First Division B
We've reached the halfway stage and it's safe to say we're massively outperforming our preseason expectations. Despite this, the current form is a right pisser. The last match we were playing against 10 men and had a penalty saved. Fuckers.
This is the league standings so far. Considering the media predicted us to be bottom of the table, we're doing very well.
https://i.gyazo.com/535d616b4e4eb8bd...e54019a0c1.png
The results so far. Undefeated until the last two matches.
https://i.gyazo.com/a3f6b58f9746afbd...fcf05fe8d4.png
https://i.ibb.co/YB8N62r/20211103224628-1.jpg
This is the squad so far. Growing quite attached to them and not sure if maybe i'll stay for another season if we manage to get promoted.
https://i.ibb.co/ZxFrtmf/20211105212407-1.jpg
Some of my key players:
This fella is without doubt my star player. Plays the attacking midfielder position behind the striker. Just a shame he's 32 and not 22. Especially as I'm ageist.
https://i.gyazo.com/5228c3616f4f6abe...979bae1eec.png
A very solid box to box midfielder. One of the first names on the team sheet.
https://i.gyazo.com/c76cdfc75c6d8d03...bc14eae9a6.png
My stand out performer in defence. So much so that i've got bigger clubs sniffing around him at the mo.
https://i.gyazo.com/d5a91658ce37e950...3b18d7fc5f.png
As I push on into the 2nd half of the season, the board seem very happy and have offered me a new contract.
https://i.ibb.co/LSXj56G/20211031221208-1.jpg
Against my better judgement I bought this. Have pissed about for a while and can already tell it's probably a mistake after being so used to 2012. How much superfluous bollocks can they cram in?
Will give it a go properly when I'm not confined to a laptop but not sure I'll be able to get into it.
I've got it, first version since 2019, and I could really do without all the meetings. Might as well call it 'Diary Secretary 2022'.
Season 01.
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Season 02.
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Season 03.
After speaking to Shaun Bailey about the clubs long term goals, the new chairman simply couldn't satisfy me that he wanted to take The Rams to the promise land so I promised to land a bombshell on his table the following day.
https://i.imgur.com/Hpy1ptA.png
Although he was courteous, it was hollow words. Perhaps it was his inexperience, or mine but I was Smjffy and I just landed a league title so, you know, gotta look after ones 'stock'. I decided a holiday abroad to catch some rays would be a good idea only I got turned away for looking like Steve Buscemi in Mr Deeds.
But then an intriguing offer landed in my inbox and the financial package was enough to overlook the fact that they are a bit of a cuntish club. I could change that, perhaps even alter the perception but ultimately, it'll be a short term affair, I imagine.
https://i.imgur.com/AY8ZS7S.png
Oof.
https://i.imgur.com/IlPFiip.png
Millwall, just like Derby, were relegated dead last in the Championship last season and an inconsistent start to life in League One meant they departed with Luis Freire. No one should have been surprised given the 38 year old had never shown himself to be a long term option in any of his previous jobs, barely lasting a year in his last five positions.
On we go. :cool:
Cracking stuff, Smiffster.
Re mine, well i'm getting excited.
https://i.gyazo.com/1f68db5c16744dd0...60440413f1.png
I'm imagining Santiago Evening struggling lower down the pyramid.
Anyone have parent clubs complaining to you about loan players not being played in the agreed position - even through they are??
Season 01.
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Season 02.
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Season 03a.
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Season 3b.
Millwall - 2023/2024
The Lions were sitting in 13th place after 15 matches before the Welsh Dragon took control of the reigns, twelve points off table toppers Sunderland but with enough of the season left to turn things around and challenge for the playoffs at least. The media had put Millwall down for a 4th place finish at the start of the campaign so I assumed the quality was there somewhere.
With just twenty four hours to go until the first game of the new management, it was suggested that we'd take things slowly instead of tearing up everything from the get-go but what was the point when last seasons efforts with Derby County were still fresh in mind? No point so we told the players what we expected and quite frankly, if they didn't abide by it, they'd be out in the January window.
All that said, we beat AFC Wimbledon 2-1, a nice start. We followed it up with a 5-0 win over Northampton in the FA Cup first round, then wholesale changes for the clubs final EFL Trophy game saw a 0-0 draw against Portsmouth turn into a penalty shootout win which put us through to to the knockouts. The well rested first team however returned to action a few days later and got done over 1-0 by Oxford. We beat Leyton to 'turn the corner' only to get smashed 6-3 away to Sheffield Wednesday. Annoying as we took the lead twice.
December hit and the pace picked up but so did the victories, we started the festive period with a 1-1 draw at home to Blackpool then recorded eight on the bounce with six coming in the league. The turn of the year saw no change as we defeated Charlton (5-0) and Wycombe (4-1) which meant our next match, in the EFL Trophy saw us with a chance to make history. Not since 1928 had Millwall won ten on the spin, we'd matched that and now had a chance to surpass it against Fulham U23's. Four goals later and we did exactly that.
It ended the following game however, along with our participation in the FA Cup as Lincoln eased past us 4-2. No drama as success was never on the cards and the league was where our priorities lay. 7 points out of 9 for the remainder of the month continued our good work. Shrewsbury freed up a few dates by knocking us out of the EFL Trophy quarter finals.
February saw us sitting in 3rd place and four wins in five cemented it but March was going to be the decisive one.
https://i.imgur.com/tMx6uvy.png
Ten games from greatness?
https://i.imgur.com/MG2GNwo.png
Avoiding defeat against those in and around us was the aim but we'd been so used to winning that we felt we had more than half a chance.
https://i.imgur.com/XLUmriS.png
And so it came to pass.
:cool: Rampant.
Sunderland taking the points at the Stadium of Light kept them in it but with the Wigan match being moved, we always had that game n hand. The Latics were eventually relegated but we still had to come from 2-0 down to defeat them which would have been an absolute bottle job as Blackburn were on the prowl.
It was Rovers who were our final opponents of the season in fact but at that point, a win for either side would have seen the victor crowned Champions.
Well, League One baby. Not only champions but we did so by recording a new club record for most points (96) Our golden oldie on this occasion was our goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski who at 36 years of age kept 20 clean sheets, a club record. He also became the oldest player in the clubs history in May 2024. Lovely.
The final record was Liam Cullen's 18 overall goals.
https://i.imgur.com/Ax7BUEs.png
:drool:
https://i.imgur.com/vC78vxC.png
Transfers
Aaron Pierre and Mads Bidstrup were swiftly snapped up on free deals in the first few weeks of taking charge and we brought in Arsenal's David Oliver (Loan) on deadline day only for him to go and suffer a broken cheekbone in his first training session which ruled him out for over six weeks. He did eventually get on to the field but only managed five appearances.
Meanwhile, George Saville (St.Gallen £2.1M), Abdul Abdulmalik (Derby £165k), Junior Tiensia (Bolton £105k), Issac Olaofe (Plymouth £84K), Oliver Norwood (Sunderland £1M) and Michael Craig (Stoke £65K) all left the club. The fans weren't too pleased about some of them going but £4.4M in the coffers for players who were nearing the end of their contracts wasn't too shabby.
Anyways, who the hell are they to argue, they just got launched back to the Championship. Now do I accept the new deal or...
I'm a big fan of Mads Bidstrup.
For some reason he ended up at Fluminense in my save. :D
https://i.imgur.com/JDUC8Ys.png
Proper version should launch in 10 minutes.
Live.
Now for the annual (or now closer to an Olympiad, as I flower into adulthood) soothing process of going through the editor trying to edit as many club names as possible to read as they should, which for some reason is an immersion red flag in my brain.
Can you not download something to do that any more?
ME even more broken after the full release, love it
https://i.gyazo.com/3c8fc5391d80a469...ebdebe44a7.png
They make it into the full names, rather than the very precise set which I require. For more on the effects of autism, visit www.thethirdhalf.co.uk and click 'Log in'.
Still set pieces DS? They rarely fix those between beta and launch.
Yes.
@Jimmy Floyd
EDIT: oh
It's basically the pointless letters and things which I need gone. Who the fuck are LOSC, for example? The world knows them as Lille.
Just hovered over the Steam icon on my taskbar but I've zero inclination to play this.
Here's a pkm to show you how fucked it is:
https://easyupload.io/a947l8
Might be years late to this, but FC Andorra look a good club/country option in the Spanish leagues for those who are into that sort of thing (I have never noticed their existence before).
They're the ones Pique owns I think?
Yes. And they don't actually have any Andorran first team players, but presumably they would do from the academy as the game progresses.
Any youth product is eligible as they have it at least as a second nationality, I am pretty sure.
For those that want pain, there is the FC Vaduz challenge.
They are one of 7 teams from Lichtenstein, but they all play in the Swiss league. Because they aren't Swiss, then can't qualify for Europe through the Swiss league system. The only Lichtensteiner competition is a cup between the 7 teams. The winner of this cup goes into the qualifying rounds of the Europa League.
This means that the only way into the Champions League with the team is to win the Europa League. Then after that the only way to stay in the Champions League is to win it again, or come 3rd in your group and win the Europa League again.
There are 6 other clubs you can do this challenge with, but most of those are in the 4th or 5th tier of Swiss football and I believe Vaduz are in the 2nd division.
Could the coefficients get influenced by one club being super awesome? I guess probably not with such a small number of clubs.
At the level Lichtenstein are at? I'd say so but they'll never be able to change the amount of spots they get as it's hardcoded in the game due to them having no league.
Liechtenstein is an anomaly when it comes to coefficients. All the other countries can work their way up the list in theory, but not them.
I plan on starting unemployed with no experience and seeing where I end up.
Yeah, that's my plan too. Although I am kind of disappointed of how the starting rep works (ever since they inexplicably changed how automatic reputation worked), so I am half-thinking of adding some lower greek leagues if they are currently available, taking over my local side (which I think are in the fourth tier?) and then build a journeyman save on that basis.
Mobile is out today too. It allows five leagues now, up from three.
How long has the Latvian league been in the game? I didn't think they'd added one for about 15 years.
It used to put you at the lowest reputation of the leagues you've loaded more or less. I'd say six or seven years ago, they changed it and it seems to be a kind of weighted system instead, which effectively means it gives you a higher rep than it used to. Mind you I haven't tried it in a while so maybe that's not the case anymore.
Hmmm. I think you're right as it seemed a bit different when I had a journeyman game on FM21.
Slough Town - 29/30 - Early Season Update
So with our first Premier League season imminent, I needed to drastically upgrade the squad to be ready for the challenge. Having a look through the PL squads made me pretty worried - the ability level was way above ours, with even mid-table teams boasting some incredible talents throughout.
Even with a decent transfer and wage budget available to me, it quickly became clear that my reputation was really not enough to attract the level of player ready for the Premier League. It was quite disheartening, especially with the transfer window closing very early (as it does on FM19), before I'd even played my first game of the season. I did my best and recruited a few loanees, as well as some young internationals with good potential.
Firstly, I went out to improve the defence and picked up Denis Brecko from Maribor. He's extremely pacey but does have a few holes in his game, but at 21 (when we signed him), he's got room to grow. Only cost £800k too due to a release clause.
https://i.ibb.co/8sdjnzn/Brecko.png
More options became available in the loan market, and I was able to snap up a first-team right back from Bayern for the season, by the name of Gerhard Conrad. He was labelled a wonderkid when we picked him up but hasn't performed particularly well so far. Nevertheless, he's staying first choice for the time being and hopefully will improve.
https://i.ibb.co/tPh5FXs/Conrad.png
Blackburn had a young central midfielder on the transfer list and available for a cut-price £900k, so I swooped in to bolster the ranks. The brilliantly named Eustace Bernard will operate as a deep lying playmaker in a midfield 3 when playing. Unfortunately he picked up an injury that's kept him out for a month.
https://i.ibb.co/gv80QMs/Bertrand.png
I dipped back into the loan market to strengthen the wingers. Dennis Ball has been absolutely brilliant in our rise through the leagues but he really isn't a PL-standard player, so I brought in Vincent Olivier on a season-long loan deal from Lyon. He looks remarkably good for 18 and hopefully will improve throughout the season.
https://i.ibb.co/Bjvh2bd/Olivier.png
The last notable signing I made was a striker, and it was a real struggle to find anyone of real PL quality to join. I had to go for more of a young talent by the name of Michal Kovac, who signed for £800k from MSK Zilina. At 19, he looks quite good but so far he has completely blanked and it may be a bit too much of a step up. Hopefully he can turn it around as the season goes on.
https://i.ibb.co/rF4dmCV/Kovac.png
We brought in another loan winger and a veteran CM (Morten Thorsby) for some experience, and the rest of the summer signings were youth prospects who are either out on loan or in the Under 23s. This is how the start of the season has panned out...
https://i.ibb.co/D4qs0xw/s12-start.png
:uhoh:
It's not been ideal, that's for sure. Opening day was a tough home loss to Leicester, who have somehow managed to get Erling Haaland in on loan - he scored a debut hat trick. We played really well away to Manchester United but their quality told eventually. Then the Swansea game was really crushing. We made a number of chances but couldn't take any of them, and they were brutally clinical. We followed that up by matching Sheffield United throughout at Bramall Lane. As they were promoted with us, I was hopeful that we would get our first point(s) here, but they scored in the 87th and 91st minutes to take the win.
After the international break, it somehow got worse. Chelsea were rampant, and could have scored more. Their squad is frighteningly good and the 5-3-2 they play was devastating. We matched Burnley in a tight contest in the next game, but somehow conceded one of those freak FM goals - my CB lost the ball to a slide tackle from the forward and my keeper watched it trickle into the net past his feet from 15 yards out. Utterly infuriating, and 6 losses from 6.
However, since then, there have been some shoots of recovery. A stodgy goalless draw away at Bournemouth, who were 19th at the time, and a really impressive home win against Blackburn. A solid clean sheet and a better attacking performance, although we definitely still need to do better at converting the chances we create. All of this leaves the table as follows:
https://i.ibb.co/5s8SdNk/s12-early.png
A couple of final points before I delve further into the season:
- Our new home stadium was finally completed in September. We're back home in Slough, playing at the Warren Harris Arena, and we've sold out all 3 games there so far. A request for an expansion might not be far away.
- The two cup wins were actually very helpful in ensuring the morale of the squad wasn't completely destroyed. Beating Norwich is also a good omen for our PL fixtures later in the year, as they played a strong side.
- Going down won't be the worst thing, as long as we put up a fight. We've been promoted really early, with a low reputation and a squad that has a lot of holes. I think it happened to both Adra and Yev as they attempted their climbs up the English pyramid, so it'll just be a chance to rebuild and try again.
I love it. I don't have the patience for the full game these days. It lets me scout youngsters, buy players and pick my team. I'm not really bothered about much else. I tried Touch a few years back and there was too much going on even in that for me to be bothered with.
Do I have to do all that faff again now for the real names etc now its not the beta or will it be the same once the game has downloaded (again?!)
I just tried loading up, I assumed the watermark would be gone but alas, it's having to download the lot. :moop:
You usually have to redo that stuff with every patch, so probably yes.
Table looking silly lads
https://i.gyazo.com/44db57662de2fb73...fa3ae8e9ab.png
https://i.imgur.com/pDYJhVN.png
Not sure what happened here.
Finding this a real struggle. For the difficulty of the game to be worth my time it simply has to process much, much faster than it does, and there has to be far, far less admin to do. I have it set for my staff to do almost everything but there are still endless pointless meetings, 100 loan offers a day coming in, etc.
You can usually go into the preferences and adjust the processing speed. For some reason it isn't always set to fastest.
And in regards to the loan offers, it was a bit ridiculous last version too so I just set it to "Unavailable for loan" on any players I wasn't interested in loaning out.
I'm Sociedad and for some reason I have to deal with a million loan offers for the B and C squads, which I can't seem to give away the responsibility of. It's practically game-breaking.
Edit: Hopefully Adra's way will fix it.
:drool:
Millwall just made the biggest signing of the summer.
https://i.imgur.com/F5ab2OF.png
Would only buy Touch if it had an iPad version so tempted by the mobile one. Last time I played it though it was basically a click through for the most part.
Installed this today. The match engine (2D only for me) seems jerky, and everything seems slower, so I've gone back to my save on '21.
Most likely this one is just a step too far for my creaky ol' piece of shit laptop. My few hours clicking about didn't suggest I'll be missing out on a great deal, though.
Finally starting. Going in jobless
https://i.imgur.com/Odr640J.png
https://i.imgur.com/HPwu2TC.png
Looking forward to reading the updates chaps. I appear to have dropped a clanger in going all out to bring in Minamino.....I can't afford to give anyone else new deals and that's been all that has been asked for much of the first half of the campaign. Greedy bastards. I've caused a right stink amongst a few influential players. ARGH! *Shakes Fist*
I may try and give this a go for the first time in a decade.
1) are all the face packs and logos, additional add-ons?
2) is it stupid complicated now? I dont want to attend press conferences every single day
1) Yes. https://sortitoutsi.net/ has everything you need.
2) It can be but you can also delegate a large amount of things, like press conferences. I dont think I have done one, outside the initial ones, since they introduced them.
When the thing asked me to do hand gestures in a meeting I had to laugh. Well, not in the meeting. I didn't laugh there. In the meeting I opened my arms.
Meetings. Meetings. I mean if you could have an affair with your secretary in the loading time it would be one thing.
Hand gestures?
Heading into the final game of the season, we just need to match QPR's result to secure a playoff place. Our opponents? :D You just know what is going to happen.
https://i.imgur.com/HPQH3cN.png
https://i.imgur.com/aXV7tSD.png
Trying out something stupid. Eleven players, all on Attack duty.
https://i.gyazo.com/98e45f33c2627caf...53205906d2.png
5 games to go and it's getting tense.
Won the last match 1-0 with the opposition getting an 83rd minute goal disallowed. Fluking my way to the title and promotion...hopefully.
https://i.gyazo.com/41c3306112894a09...e39a14e15c.png
You're selling yourself short there. Your GD is bigger than the next three teams combined.
Good point.
Is my team performing well or are they just performing shit. Probably a bit of both.
Looking good as we approach the home straight.
https://i.gyazo.com/ca764f330f91a562...df5505f282.png
A 1-1 draw with 2nd bottom of the league means the gap has closed slightly. Rangers de Talca and Santiago Morning both won their games.
3 games to play. And we play Santiago Morning next. Effectively a 6 pointer.
https://i.gyazo.com/8fb92ad9153b1c64...085c724d50.png
Season 01.
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Season 02.
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Season 03a.
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Season 3b.
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Season 04
Millwall - 2024/2025
After securing our passage back to the Championship, we felt it was important to add some quality to the ranks in what we anticipated to be a tricky campaign and so with that in mind, the Lions welcomed the following during the summer window:
https://i.imgur.com/HRZ6Ezc.png
Sheer firepower. Oli McBurnie, Piroe, Minamino and the January arrival, Mika Biereth all got into double figures, over sixty goals between them with Mason Bennett and Helder Costa providing the assists as well as twenty goals between themselves.
It was our attacking play that led to us securing our league status well in advance and gave us the platform to go into the final day of the season with a chance of making the playoffs.
Former club Derby County lay in wait, they had beaten us 3-1 earlier in the season and football being football, you just sensed they would come back to haunt me again but alas, it never occurred. Costa's penalty ten minutes from time was enough to secure the win, the points and the final spot. QPR drew 0-0 nonetheless.
Brentford were our opponents but we somehow found ourselves 2-0 down at half time, the Millwall faithful furious, it didn't get any better as Samuel Gigot made it 3-0 with minutes to spare. Takumi Minamino's late late strike gave us a glimmer of hope in the return but losing at The Den hurt.
The return offered nothing. Sod all. We lost 2-1. What an anti-climax.
https://i.imgur.com/iiRBAN8.png
I suppose we could at least say we lost to the eventual winners but what use is that. Steven Gerrard's Sheffield United losing in the finale.
In the domestic cups our luck was borderline non-existent as Crystal Palace knocked us out of the EFL Cup third round, the Eagles eventually getting relegated from the Premier League again. Whilst in the FA Cup, Swansea scored in injury time to put us out in the third round, Mason Bennett's 68"minute red card not helping the situation.
My contract ends in one month time and that'll be all she wrote as far as Millwall go. The board should have been happy but were left frustrated that we failed to grow the clubs reputation (I mean? WTF?), we finished higher than our preseason prediction and after a year long drama of listening to players moan about salaries, it's done. Over. Fuck 'em.
One has to think of their own careers so off I trot. Disappointing year though.
Predictably stupid ME as ever
https://i.gyazo.com/0aa4e4351c8040bb...1a5e804649.png
Also just wanna shout out all the career updates, love these and been reading them religiously since the earlier FM threads. Top lads.
I've traditionally found success with highly attacking formations throughout the years as well. Maybe not to the extent of yours (both in terms of the formation and the results) but it seems to work even when you are expected to be the punching bag of the league.
Yeah, especially in FM21 I found cautious and defensive tactics pretty useless - even my away tactics as newly promoted sides tended to be set to "balanced" mentality at least.
Defensive does seem to work a bit better this time around. Started a journeyman save, was rejected by every club for half a year and then ended up at Helmond Sport, second to last in the Dutch Second Division (from which, it turns out, I cannot be relegated this or next year due to some wacky Dutch rules that I won't pretend to understand).
One of my first games was away against powerhouses Jong PSV (aka PSV Reserves). Decided to go with a 5-3-2 Catenaccio, barely conceded a shot on goal and scraped a 1-0 win thanks to a 90th minute penalty. :drool: I'm going to try to somewhat shithouse my way to the top.
They should bring this in the new FM but you can choose to go full 'Football Man' Warnock track suit manager or get your teeth fixed and permatan like Rogers, different styles having affects on the type of players you attract etc.
I am back on 21 Touch in lieu of a laptop, my desktop would probably run it but not very convenient for my needs. Barrow in League 2, finished 10th two seasons in a row, need to push on but my main annoyance with touch (and mobile) is it can feel like you're fishing in a puddle when it comes to finding new talent.
https://i.imgur.com/af6YLAl.png
I quite like the fact it makes reference to the contract being fulfilled. It's always better than assuming you've resigned for no reason.
Also: Season 5 en route.
https://i.imgur.com/UjiCXuK.png
Prove myself in Scotland and surely that should open up a Premier League job.
:drool:
In previous version you just stayed on a month-to-month type contract until you resigned and it always annoyed me.
I'd pay good money to see Manqoba Mngqithi at The Den.
Not sure you're giving him the respect he deserves. You're talking about the four time DStv Premiership champion, the 2022 Total CAF Champions League winner and the five time, FIVE TIME Telkom Knockout champion.
I'll throw in the double Nedbank Cup winner for good measure.
Respect, Manc. Respect.
He has way more titles than Solskjaer so I don't think Milwall stand a chance to be honest.
Also Telkom Knockout sounds like a failed Mortal Kombat clone.
The Man(qoba), the myth, the legend.
https://i.imgur.com/uE46hap.png
Right, got the hang of it I think. Wing backs, baby.
Well, it's all been downhill from here.
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Luckily I'll have a transfer window to try and sort it out.
Two things I've noticed that need to be improved (well, two things especially):
1. my two target men up front are tall but they both have a strength rating below 10, which might explain their disappointing returns. Still, I feel this guy should be doing better in the Dutch second tier:
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2. I have problems getting my crossers to actually put crosses in. I'm not sure what the issue is, they don't have traits that should prevent it, the team instructions basically have getting the ball out on the wing and hoofing it into the box as their sole focus, yet I'm slightly below average both in crosses attempted and completed. More often than not, when they approach the byline, they'll just turn around and pass it back to a midfielder.
I still haven't given up on making my right back something of an assist king.
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That said, those two are basically the only ones that are essential, the rest of the squad needs an overhaul.
If you want help with that crossing thing, post the tactic and the wide player PIs and i'll give it a crack.
This may be anti-cool but I have to say I love the 'Data Hub', even if things like this always sound like I've hired Jack Dee to the analysis team:
https://i.ibb.co/rZz2Ybx/fascinating.png
Yeah for all their superfluous meetings and info panels and whatnot, the Data Hub is a great addition.
Something is seriously buggy in my save. Oyarzabal won't sign a new contract despite no objections to what I'm offering, even delegating to DoF there is the message that they cannot come to an agreement despite no part of it being highlighted as the reason for it.
Also just got a bid of 21 million on Januzaj from United accepted because it "meets his release clause", despite the contract page listing it as 47. :moop:
Edit: Ah damn it United has a buy back clause on Januzaj.
Edit 2: Figured out the Oyarzabal thing, his offered wage took me beyond the registration wage cap for La Liga so it just cancelled the offer to him.
I'm no longer jobless!
https://i.imgur.com/Nz7iTfu.png
It's quite the league over in Latvia. We play 24 games a season..
https://i.imgur.com/K9R21dD.png
Heres 'the lads'
https://i.imgur.com/MpxKavD.png
Got high hopes for Sow
https://i.imgur.com/UCHyx3w.png
Saw a save idea that hooked me on a facebook group, so going to faff with my knackered desktop to give it a go on FM20.
Starting as 1860 München with a view to usurping Bayern as the best team in Munich/Germany. Only 5 non-German players allowed. Use a Libero (Beckenbauer) and Raumdueter (Müller) in every tactic I employ.
The wage structure here is also a joy to behold (none of the contracts are my doing).
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The combined wages of the top three players mean I'm well over my assigned wage budget. I thought I could nab some solid players on a free, but it looks more like I will have to rely on cheap loans. :moop:
None of them wants to leave, either.
What would you do?
https://i.imgur.com/4qycARI.png
We are in the January transfer window and he has 9 goals and 26 assists in 32 games....at 29 he's not getting any younger and we're not exactly flush with funds.
Sell.
I'd also then offer him out after accepting in case another club comes in with a bigger offer.
I have no idea why that isn't working, tbf. The PIs seem perfect for a crossing system, you've got overlap on, and Wide. Its not much different to my CWBs bar a few instructions:
https://i.gyazo.com/659570ec5b83f934...820a19c867.png
Could be the level of player? I'm also a big proponent of one tactic in all 3 slots plus training their specific roles.
What an absolute wanker my chairman is. :moop:
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For context, I just accepted the Ryan Kent bid and then he goes and pulls a stunt like that.
Munro has 31 goals in 30(6) games after coming through the Rangers youth system back in 2021/22. Fuming.
Marseille 2046/47 Mid-Season Update:
It's been a while so I thought I'd give an update.
Transfers In:
https://i.imgur.com/DTQokQq.png
£15.25m, I largely bought him because of his awesome name and partly because he was just 14 when I discovered him and I don't usually find youth that young.
https://i.imgur.com/uCWHGn0.png
£14.25m. I don't need him as I have a load of keepers on the books but I couldn't say no to a really good French prospect.
https://i.imgur.com/UrHP2pj.png
£21.5m and he feels a hole. We had no real cover at RB and I was just using CB's who can play at RB whenever my first choice guy was injured/suspended. I was having problems finding a decent RB with potential that wasn't £80m+ so I was really happy to find this guy who is also French.
https://i.imgur.com/GiI2jAa.png
£13.25m and he's another that I don't really need but I couldn't say no. I feel he could be a star, just a shame his stamina is pretty shit.
https://i.imgur.com/YB83uOz.png
He's coming at the end of the season when he turns 18 for £38m. It's a pretty hefty price tag for a striker who isn't that great of a finisher but my scouts think he could be massive.
Transfers Out:
https://i.imgur.com/Eh4fIai.png
A few more of the dregs that were left in the squad have finally left. I also let a whole heap of youth out on loans which have also made the club an extra £7m.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/Pc1uyMD.png
We're currently on a streak of 48 games without a loss and it's hard to see us losing any time soon.
Europe:
https://i.imgur.com/w0xzypc.png
Easy.
Fixtures:
https://i.imgur.com/UesFeWa.png
https://i.imgur.com/6dSZ50i.png
No real problems, although we did have a game against Rennes in which we just about managed to win 2-1. We were actually 3-0 up after 70 minutes, I then went to make my subs and the screen went black after waiting nothing happened so I force closed the game. We shat all over them but needed goals in the 45+1 and 90+1 minutes to secure the win.
I want to single out this guy as well:
https://i.imgur.com/exh55OU.png
https://i.imgur.com/LMVirg7.png
I signed him last year for £16.5m to be our backup LM but he quickly became our number 2 striker (I play a 4-4-2) after some injuries and he's been incredible, he's also just been named FIFA's best U21 and the European Golden Boy.
In terms of this save I still need the Club World Cup (next one is in 2049), the European Super Cup and the European Championships (2048) to complete my Octadecagon challenge. I imagine I'll stay at Marseille until it's done (I really hope we don't fail and have to wait another 4 years) and then I'll buy 2022 to start something new.
Paying £9M for Alan Hutton. :cab:
Nice little addition tbh. Probably gives a hint as to who did win it.
Update en route.
https://i.imgur.com/R1fZxMz.png
Season 01.Season 01
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Season 02.
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Season 03a.
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Season 3b.
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Season 04
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Season 05
Rangers 2025/2026
After running down my contract with Millwall, the Rangers job was staring one in the face and a stint in the SPL was a prime opportunity to add some more silverware to the two League One titles my fledging career had obtained.
With that in mind, we looked around the market with our limited funds and settled on the following:
https://i.imgur.com/XX2tgXS.png
Ebere Eze, a former Millwall player himself along with Davinson Sanchez were both picked up on loan from Tottenham, Louie Barry joined from Aston Villa, also on loan to add some depth up front and in midfield whilst January signing, Joshua Aryee found himself without a new deal at Dortmund and so we grabbed him to replace Jamal Lewis who we thought would go at the end of the season, as it is, he left in the January window himself so we asked Borussia how much they wanted to bring in Joshua early, £190K they said, OK. He would have been free otherwise.
https://i.imgur.com/m9PBtii.png
Those leaving the club, of which there we a few in the end, all left in the winter window with the exception of Filip Helander. Ryan Kent left for Real Madrid for £30M rising up to £38. Alfredo Morelos went to West Ham for £25M, Jamal said au revoir and joined PSG for a whopping £35M and Linus Wahlqvist moved to Championship side Wolves for £10M. In total we sold £103M worth of talent but we knew by then where we stood and it would have taken the mother of all bottle jobs to have cost us the division. In hindsight, it may have been more prudent to have kept a few but I had no idea what was to come at the very end of the campaign.
It was a bit of a travesty not to go unbeaten given we were so close to doing so but we did smash a number of a records, goals for, beating a long standing one held by Hearts in the 1950's, and 103 points was a club record tally. If we hadn't dropped silly points to Celtic and lost to Hibs of all people, we may have landed a new Scotland record too but alas, a win is a win.
https://i.imgur.com/FuDHKYB.png
Domestically we were dominant throughout and secured both the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup beating Celtic in the final of both.
https://i.imgur.com/CxkM2GU.png
https://i.imgur.com/Vc8sBYT.png
Goals came easy and I imagine if we'd kept the likes of Kent and co we would have claimed many more records, our teenage wonderkid who was close to joining Man United before I kicked up a stink was very nearly ready to smash Henrik Larsson's grand total of most goals in a season too. As it is, Dylan Munro will have to wait another year, if of course either of us are here.
https://i.imgur.com/4KqKRyl.png
33 league goals in 33 games. 52 in 55(6) overall and he's most definitely got further improvements in him.
That's the good news.
The bad news.....we were knocked out of the Champions League as both Liverpool and Juventus finished above us. Why is that bad?
Well....you be the judge. :moop:
https://i.imgur.com/XqTnZaD.png
Bloody Shakhtar of all people. If we beaten them on the final match day then we would have qualified for the knockout rounds but it wasn't to be and so we dropped into the Europa League.
https://i.imgur.com/f8460ab.png
That goals against column makes for awful reading.
Europe's second competition was still European football and we wanted to make a dent and it is fair to say we did that.
https://i.imgur.com/O4LvFXn.png
But the final in Turkey was no delight. In fact, it was a bloody nightmare.
https://i.imgur.com/TfXLzOQ.png
Rinsed.
On the personal side, accolades kept coming.
https://i.imgur.com/youq6JY.png
Manager of the Month in all but two to go alongside the Manager of the Year award, the Football Writers Manager of the Year award and it should have been the Players Manager of the Year award too given the win percentage but promoted side Inverness saw their manager, former Rangers striker Billy Dodds claim it. Wanker.
Records taken during the season was most points (club) with 103, biggest sale both for the club and in Scotland, initially it was Ryan Kent but days later Jamal Lewis took it with his transfer to PSG. Dylan Munro's 52 goal total was the most overall goals by a player in a season, Ianis Hagi's 32 assists was a club record although Kent probably would have surpassed him, Liam Kelly's 28 clean sheets was a new record and finally, Munro's 14 man of the match awards was a new one also.
All in all, a very good campaign and now we have money to play with along with both the youth facilities and the training ground getting a face lift.
I do want to stick around perhaps a little while longer but I have doubts that we'd taste European success and there isn't much to achieve on the home front so instead I'll keep an eye on the job market, specifically Marcelino's time at Newcastle as their 14th place finished has left him in a precarious position.
Brendon Rodgers (119 days), Manuel Pellegrini (292 days), Unai Emery and Diego Simeone all failing to win so much as a bean with the Toon Army, Marcelino looks like he's next on the list. 16th, 16th, 16th, 13th, 14th.....one would say the takeover hasn't exactly gone to plan.
On we go. :cool:
I am waiting for someone to upload the Greek lower leagues so I can start there, but no luck so far. The irony being that I've found the North Macedonia and Cyprus ones (which, one would imagine, are not as popular). I might start in the latter instead.
Fernandez Vial : 2022 : End of Season Update
Chilean First Division B
A very successful season. Having avoided relegation last season in the final few games, the media had us down to finish in the relegation zone. But we proved the doubters wrong and somehow stormed to the top of the league and won it with a couple of games to go.
https://i.ibb.co/jJH8W5J/20211111222105-1.jpg
https://i.gyazo.com/2f3df46624280aa3...273ac6decc.png
https://i.ibb.co/FhrhNXH/20211112204101-1.jpg
Chile Cup
On to the Chile cup, made up of the top league teams and us in the lower league.
https://i.gyazo.com/782f7d1d404bb703...52e9ad2323.png
How we managed to get to the final is amazing. but could we go one further??
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I tend to stay for that extra season personally when I am doing journeyman saves. You get to play with the big boys and then you leave for greener pastures.
Yeah, I think you're right, I'll probably stay another season.
Looking at my league table, I was wondering why the gap at the end of the season was so big between me and the teams below, and why Santiago Morning were so low. Then I realised the points deduction thing kicked in like last season.
https://i.gyazo.com/af6ed42a5feae1e5...5823524dfc.png
I fancied a go in Spain as, to be frank, the place is on the brain a bit, but nothing in the top flight really appealed. Instead it's across to Aragon and Real Zaragoza, who are, if not quite a sleeping giant, then certainly a fellow of a certain size who enjoys an afternoon nap. We were predicted to finish 8th in the Segunda division, which seemed fair. Competition features no real standouts, but plenty of yo-yo Spanish names: your Almerias, your Eibars, your Las Palmases, your Valladolids. 'Super Depor', it turns out, have managed to go all the way down to the third tier, so no sign of them.
The squad lacked standout performers, but did have a fair bit going for it, with several decent teenagers (three of whom found their way into my regular starting XI) and I went for a 5-3-2 formation, aiming to crowd midfield and use the wing backs as attacking outlets. The first three games did not go to plan, with stultifying football served up, and results of 0-1, 0-0 and 0-1 suggesting it would be a season for the purists. However, a couple of tactical tweaks made a big difference and soon our wing backs were running most games. They were helped by brilliance from 18 year old striker Iván Azón, who I called in from the youth team to partner Colombian whippet Narváez. Francho (midfield) and Alejandro Francés (defence) provided extra youth, while there were also plenty of 30-somethings involved. I believe it's known in football circles as 'a healthy blend of youth and experience'. I didn't make any signings.
September and October we were flying, but November we hit the skids slightly with the winning formula inevitably leading to five or six squad members wailing and crying about their lack of game time. We have also started to leak a fair bit at the back, which is basically I think because our defenders are shit, and teams have worked out that if you pump it down the wings at us Egil Olsen-style, there is a lot of space there, so I think every side plays the same 4-2-3-1 wide against us now. Still, we're in a reasonably competitive spot at Christmas so I will look for a couple of additions (with my extremely limited budget) to shore things up in January and see if we can mount a realistic challenge.
The rest are much of a muchness, except for Huesca who seem to be some sort of mad superteam and thrash most clubs out of sight. We got a 2-2 draw and should have won but they got us with two late equalisers. I think we've been the better side in 16 of the 19 games, we are just saddled by our poacher being average, and by the usual clinical finishing from oppo when they get chances. For some reason we get fouled massively more often than other teams in the league, and those set pieces have been a key part of the armoury as well.
https://i.ibb.co/Ry30v8S/segunda-22h.png
So I've discovered setting the wide strikers in a 3 striker system to 'mark specific player' and the opposition fullbacks completely fucks their chance of getting out of a defence by passing. They have to go central or hoof it. It also makes those two strikers as makeshift wide defensive wingstrikers and its glorious.
Red 11 and 28 are my wider strikers. They now go through the middle which I congest and we smash 'em on the counter over and over.
https://i.gyazo.com/0ad8473ef3a283ed...4f5ee8e47d.jpg
Ten goals with just the one ccc smells fishy.
Here's the pkm, you can watch the match. You'll see that what the game defines as a CCC is bollocks, as a fair few of the goals are obviously CCCs:
https://ufile.io/mmlqj45t
Helps that they had a mare
https://i.gyazo.com/9b4c9caf74a57003...78ed36171e.png
First La Real season over (well, Europa League final vs Lazio still to go):
https://i.imgur.com/2QGl7kU.png
Oyarzabal carried me all season. Couldn't make a dent in Barca in the end, and a real shame Valencia couldn't keep them away from the title either, but pretty great to see Madrid miss out on CL.
Transfer wise fuck all has happened (I banned transfers in the first window, and January was quiet). I just can't seem to find many interesting prospects out there at prices this club can manage, the budget is really tight unless I offload Isak or Oyarzabal.
Edit: Well that was undeserved.
https://i.imgur.com/87FrOp3.png
Only been in charge of my Latvian boys for 8 games but I have won the first cup in the teams history!
https://i.imgur.com/4juU915.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/oDfqeeJ.png
It is nice after all these years finally to have solid statistical evidence that I'm getting screwed over by ruthless, clinical AI finishing vs my forwards' inability to hit a barn door.
https://i.ibb.co/PwtWgNt/xg.png
Jimmy Floyd Potter.
Are people using Attribute Masking? I previously never have, but am considering for my new journeyman save. Thoughts?
I think it adds more frustration than enjoyable realism.
Yeah, I've had it on a few times but it just ends up being annoying rather than anything else, especially in the lower/more obscure leagues.
I play with it on. Feels a little too easy to find gems otherwise.
Cheers gents. Pretty much sums up my feeling. I want a challenge, but I also want to enjoy it.
I've never used it. I feel like the challenge of my own scouting (as opposed to the scouting my scouts do) is being able to judge which sets of attributes will make a good player for a position, I don't see the point of putting a time constraint on seeing them.
Plus I like looking at other players in the game world for immersion reasons.
Currently playing my first ever save on a full player database, 400k+. Its glorious spending hours sifting through everyone to find a gem. 3.2k for this dude, plus the eyebrows. Back-up 2. Bundesliga WBR. Bargain.
https://i.gyazo.com/38378dff5010d765...a3896ddc47.png
World class eyebrow.
I am almost to December 2024 and just realized I didn’t update on how 23-24 went.
League
We were very good through the middle part of the season but that collapse was disappointing. Another trip to the play offs for us.
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Cups
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Squad
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Youth Intake
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Sorry Rangers. I couldn't say dim diolch to my country.
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:drool:
I cant even imagine how great that felt when they disallowed it.
Can't get lines up on old games but this was it. :drool:
https://i.imgur.com/m4U0DMJ.png
@Dark Soldier,i took the liberty of dissecting some of the tactics that you have posted and made something of my own in the shape of a 4-3-3 with 3 strikers and some of your suggestions like the wide strikers marking the fullbacks,have made the tactic work like a treat. 2 Complete wing backs with attack mentality, 1 DLP with support and 2 Mezzalas on support for my midfield and 3 Advanced Strikers with the 2 wide ones,operating like an inside forward would with more dribbling,drifting wide and the likes. Good stuff.
Awesome man! The marking thing works so well, the AI FBs don't know whether to follow your strikers, or stick for your WBs and you stretch them all over the place.
Just don't go too overboard like I did last night and try to have 8 of your guys man mark one of their defenders. The game does it too well:
https://i.gyazo.com/3d35ecc7c571d039...eea66a3ea8.png
So I was planning to start a Journeyman save, taking over my local team in the 4th tier of Greece, but I haven't found any files for it. What I did find was the 3rd tier, so instead I will be taking over a team from Vari, a town I was stationed at during my military service (about half an hour outside Athens):
https://i.gyazo.com/1b177db12d036647...ba15b3c7bc.png
It might be a bit too ambitious mind you. We are expected to finish 10th out of 11 in a league consisting of 7 groups, where 5 teams are relegated from each group and only the winner makes it to the "promotion stage", a round-robin group where the top 4 teams are promoted to the second tier. So while a Journeyman save in principle, you might see me stay here for a few seasons (depending how hard it is to get out of this division).
The club is horribly understaffed, with our goalkeeper and defensive options being abhorrent, something I am looking to rectify before the league starts. Our star player at first glance appears to be Giannis Karalis:
https://i.gyazo.com/762761b49d766041...6be526bbd0.png
Great, now you can give team talks like 'Power resides where men believe it resides'. And ugh. A five star player is always ugly as it means the rest are all shite.
'Derek Patel' is proper assimilation goals.
Picked my team based on their badge:
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Got these two bad boys to lead me to glory for years to come:
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:D
I used a tool I found online (Newgan Facepack ) to give people real faces. Meet Mr. Patel
https://i.imgur.com/4s3tg11.png
Oh it gets worse. That's my defense at the moment:
https://i.gyazo.com/c2e672c8875e0956...bbcdf43ac5.png
That just looks like United when Varane plays.
First two games:
https://i.gyazo.com/cbc176ecb931f498...0e58c79eba.png https://i.gyazo.com/451532f297821d36...0708cff4d3.png
:moop:
Edit: As a sidenote I just got a "no injuries in 2 months" achievement, and I've had a player injured in each of the last 3 games.
A little midseason update on the chaos that is Slough in the Premier League.
https://i.ibb.co/qpCxHyq/s11-jan.png
It's been a battle to say the least and this is how the table looks as we roll into the January transfer window. Lowlights include away losses to Arsenal (5-2) and Manchester City (6-1 with 10 men). But ultimately it's been really rewarding when we've snatched our 3 wins, proper fist pump moments. Our latest victory was pretty vital, a 2-0 Boxing Day victory over Middlesbrough in the middle of a really tough run of fixtures.
Dennis Ball continue to be an absolute club legend. Despite being fairly shocking technically, he's still the top scorer with 6 this season in all competitions. Michal Kovac is also getting more involved - it took 14 league games for him to find the net, but he's chipped in with 3 goals and 3 assists and is slowly warming to the league.
With our wage bill still very low for this level the money has been racking up, month on month. Judging by who will enter contract negotiations, our reputation has increased a little and so I'm looking to reinforce in this January window. Full backs are going to be the first port of call.
So I delegated all the staff hiring and whatnot to the director of football and I just realised that we are paying more wages to staff than we are to players, by like 50% or something. No wonder we are hemorrhaging money left, right and centre.
I bought a physical copy of FM and i don't even have a disk drive :face:
Season Complete. Cup win and qualified for the Europa Conference League
https://i.imgur.com/Q5OnnHX.png
https://i.imgur.com/MnZ9G5C.png
https://www.footballmanager.com/news...r-2022-out-now
Quote:
Those purchasing a physical copy of FM22 will notice that, for the first time in the series’ history, there is no disc included in the box. This is part of our continued commitment to reducing our impact on the environment. In place of the disc, you'll receive an activation code for Steam.
I think it's fairly common practice nowadays. And you get the leaflets and the actual box for collection reasons. I know current WoW expansions don't contain discs in the boxes (and, in fact, you can no longer install the game via discs, the old ones that is).
Jesus. I'd be furious if I went out of my way to buy a physical copy only for it not to be physical copy :D
I would assume it's stated on the cover. I've seen that be the case in other games at least.
That’s some jip for people without a blazing high limit broadband package.
Their impact on the environment? The only way for Miles to have a meaningful impact of the environment would be for him to stop making the game so we all go outside and turn the lights off.
All well and good until they pull a Rockstar and yoink all their digital versions from the store so you can't download them anymore unless you buy the 'new' ones. Greta Thunberg must hate me because I am about to pass the big 100 in my physical media film collection.
Asteras Varis 2021/22 Review
So, as I showed in a previous post, we started the season with two losses, in games we essentially dominated. Thankfully things picked up and we ended up winning our group fairly comfortably:
https://i.gyazo.com/2049e4d041088dbb...5b52c88889.png
Aiolikos were up there with us with their anti-football (40 points with just 28 goals scored; we scored 50 by comparison), but dropped too many points in the last few games. That meant we had to play in the round-robin promotion group, where 4 out of the 7 teams are promoted. We were about to face some historic clubs, that are generally a lot bigger than us, with Panionios being the big outlier (they used to feature in Europe fairly regularly, and even made the UEFA Cup Winners Cup quarters in 1999, but were relegated due to massive debts). Still I fancied our chances given our form in the regular season and thankfully I wasn't proven wrong:
https://i.gyazo.com/fb7b5d4d67bc7130...daf52d191b.png
In the end it was all very comfortable, especially given the fact that we had three away games against the other promoted teams and won two of them (losing to Panionios in the other one).
In terms of players, our coaches didn't lie and Karalis was one of our star performers with 18 goals in 27 games. He wasn't the best player in the squad though, as this guy was stunning in the AMC position, scoring 12 goals and creating another 12 in 27 appearances:
https://i.gyazo.com/fb7b5d4d67bc7130...daf52d191b.png
The other standout players were Zervopoulos, who was solid at the back and a prolific scorer from set-pieces (8 goals) and Mangos, who was our creating force in the midfield (9 assists and 3 goals):
https://i.gyazo.com/f45cb90fa979e395...c2a2dce08c.png
https://i.gyazo.com/346ecdf5018087e0...6808e1774f.png
While I did bring a lot of players in, Zervopoulos being one of them, Karalis, Neumann and Mangos were already at the club, so there was definitely a solid base to build on. Next season we will be trying to avoid relegation from Super League 2, and we will have to go through another squad overhaul as we have a lot of contracts expiring and a lot of oldies that I want to phase out of the team. The board have been kind enough to double our wage budget, however we are massively in debt (lost 250k euros this season), so I don't see myself staying here for long.
https://i.imgur.com/Xoa5BIk.png
:D
Has there ever been a manager who managed both Celtic and Rangers? I feel it is too soon to go back to club management as I want to give the Euro Qualifiers my complete attention. After Pepe Mel was let go due to five losses on the bounce, we hit the ground running ourselves and won our Nations League. I think we go to semi's then final? Or is that just the top level Nations Leagues?
https://i.imgur.com/BopUMF0.png
Our Euro group has now been drawn too and it seems pretty simple other than the Italians.
https://i.imgur.com/u8TSAeH.png
Not much in the way of standout newgens for Wales and Gareth Bale retired five years ago so we're reliant on Harry Wilson mostly and Swansea's Tomas Johns.
https://i.imgur.com/yrPSE7d.png
Not as enjoyable as I anticipated but gotta stick it out a while longer as its only been six months since departing Rangers.
Most games you buy physically now is just you putting in the disc as an equivalent to entering the code. The game will then download and install everything onto your hard drive. From then on you're just entering the disc as conformation you still "own" it.
https://i.imgur.com/GjYM1T7.png
Well, now I know what I will spend all my CL money on.
Makes sense.
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:saywhat:
Zaragoza season 1 (Segunda). At Christmas we were a tentative third and form dipped horribly thereafter, and we fell down as low as 8th at one point. However, the 5-3-2 was stuck with and gradually we managed to turn things around and clamber back up towards contention. Eibar were looking strong for 2nd for a while and I was thinking that a playoff place was the best we could hope for, but then they decided to collapse entirely and with about 10 games to go we found ourselves in a race principally against Leganés and a rampant Sporting Gijón, who came from absolutely nowhere with a new manager to spank everyone and force their way towards the top.
The last ten games were absolute agony, with some truly dogshit performances being turned in, mainly against relegation teams, whose method of just popping long straight balls over our back three and pushed-on wing backs was far more effective than the tippy-tappy stuff played by the top sides. That we manaegd to drag ourselves over the line and into La Liga was down to two factors: firstly that our rivals were a bunch of spineless gimps, and secondly the ludicrous performances of teenage centre forward Iván Azón. I promoted this geezer into the starting lineup from the youth team at the start of the season basically because we didn't have much money to buy anyone better, but as the season went on, he turned into this talismanic Drogba-esque figure, able to drag us through whole runs of games on his own. I don't know if heading in general is overpowered in this edition or if he's just a maestro, but it was like having prime Les Ferdinand on the end of our wing-backs' crosses, while his general play (he's a Pressing Forward playing alongside a mostly useless Poacher) was monstrous as well. Azón ended with 28 league goals, beaten only by Huesca's Paraguayan goal machine, Isidro Pitta, who filled (geddit) his boots with 31.
Otherwise, the main feature of the season was that we hardly had any injuries at all and managed to play pretty much the same first XI all year, which was a bit unusual to be honest. The bad news is that I'm not sure this formation is going to stand up to the big boys in La Liga (if Championship to Prem is a big step up, Segunda to La Liga feels unbelievably huge) so I'll have to come up with a much more solid defensive setup to use in certain games next year. I'll also need to get rid of a huge amount of shite that currently pads out the squad and use our quite limited resources to add some quality which will give us a chance to stay up. There is a large amount of good young talent at the club (our U19 side won the cup) so things are somewhat looking optimistic but, yeah, La Liga. I dunno.
Final table:
https://i.ibb.co/qxJSB8r/Segunda-22f.png
The Prince of Aragon:
https://i.ibb.co/cTGZzYr/azon22.png
Crossing/heading is definitely too strong in this version, and it was even worse on beta.
You’re making me rethink my inverted wingbacks.
Do what I do:
https://i.imgur.com/ToN7U5W.png
The IWBs end up sitting like two DMs in attack, and the wide midfielders still get to the touchline fairly regularly.
Added instructions:
Keeper: Pass it shorter
IWB: Dribble more, shoot less often, tackle harder
BPD: Pass it shorter, dribble more, shoot less often, stay wider, tackle harder
DLP: Dribble more, tackle harder, mark tighter
W: Pass it shorter, take more risks, cross from byline, shoot less often, tackle harder
AMs: Shoot less often, roam from position, move into channels, tackle harder, mark tighter
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Season 06
Wales - 2026/2028
Well, I'll be damned. After Pepe Mel was let go, installing a bit of passion is what it was all about as far as the FAW were concerned, a bit of pride in the shirt given the big names had long since retired. Gareth Bale deciding to stick to golf, Joe Allen deciding to become a Director of Football after ending his playing days with Frontale and then Jeonbuk whilst Aaron Ramsey seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth.
No bother though as our Nations League group was one that we eased through but the real fun was just about to start.
https://i.imgur.com/BopUMF0.png
Our European Qualification group gave us an awesome chance of reaching the competition proper and we'd start off against the Italians.
https://i.imgur.com/u8TSAeH.png
A famous win against the Azzurri to give us a great start and we never looked back.
https://i.imgur.com/EjIEllh.png
Italy avenging the 3-1 defeat with one of their own proved too little too late as our goal difference was superior.
https://i.imgur.com/c2MgbhQ.png
I said prior to the competition kicking off that success would be getting out of the group stage and seeing where we ended up. We were drawn against Poland, Portugal and Denmark but other than the Portuguese, I didn't think it was too big an ask, really. No Cristiano Ronaldo either as he retired in 2025 after leading Man United to a league and FA Cup double.
We never let ourselves down and found ourselves in the luxurious position of being able to rest many of the big hitters in our final game against Denmark who at that point had been eliminated.
https://i.imgur.com/NC3RRr7.png
Easier to qualify than it was to be sent home but the victory against Portugal was another scalp in the eyes of the media. I wondered how long it would take them to realise that we are Wales.
We drew Croatia in the second round, a hurdle for them itself given they were eliminated by England at the same stage in 2024 and by Portugal twelve years earlier. In fact, the 2008 quarter final run was the countries best effort and in recent times, we could lay claim to being closer.
https://i.imgur.com/jLYuNpT.png
It turned out to be a routine win. Nothing too dramatic, just a bog standard professional job which was great but France beating Sweden 4-0 meant our own exit was looming against the 2024 European Champions.
But what?!!
https://i.imgur.com/hAWgPiP.png
Au revoir! 0-0 at half time, neither team really threatening to make a go of it until Dylan Lovett popped up with a fine strike. The former Manchester United midfielder had found himself surplus to requirements at Old Trafford and left for Holland in 2024, two seasons in the Eredivisie saw a £68M transfer to Newcastle United. Bossed it but as the Camp Nou went wild, and I mean wild, the French were in a state of shock and that allowed Tomas Johns to wrap up a quick fire double! There was no coming back although the final ten minutes was nail biting against the world number #1.
We had reached the semi finals (again!), knocked out the current previous champions and struck lucky by drawing plucky Norway. We couldn't screw this up against them, surely?
https://i.imgur.com/Hei2Uu7.png
Nope. Hysteria. The Welsh in dreamland and instead of a home nations final, the final would see us pick up where we started our qualification, against the Italians.
We had both recorded a 3-1 win against the other in the run up so it was up for grabs even if it seemed highly unlikely that it would be us. I mean, we're Wales init.
But fuck me.
https://i.imgur.com/a2Vanyb.png
We went in 1-0 down at half time as Nicolo Barella's strike separated the two teams but Matthew Owen's leveller early into the second half ensured it was game on. Ben Woodburn then got in on the act to put us 2-1 up and when the ref awarded a penalty which Dylan Levitt duly dispatched, we were already celebrating the most unlikeliest of successes.
But then....Lorenzo Lucca made it 3-2 with ten minutes to go.....AND THEN.....he grabbed his second two minutes later. 3-3! Heartache. We were like a rabbit in headlights. Dumbfounded. Lost. WTF?! We'd thrown it away and extra time would be needed.
After 105 minutes, nothing. No chances, no one wanting to take that leap of faith but with six minutes to go before the dreaded penalty shootout, one man leapt higher than most as Ethan Ampadu rose to score what turned out to be the decisive goal. Italy 3. Wales 4. CHAMPIONS of EUROPE! WOW.
It meant a lot but for the CV it meant I could now lay claim to being the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be. For Wales at least. :D
https://i.imgur.com/sc6lRAM.png
Lovely. We started off under my reign ranked 50th, a long way from the 8th we once occupied but we climbed back to 17th with a moment to remember.
Cymru am byth!
Now it's time for a six month sabbatical before seeing what club jobs are available but I think it is fair to say I should have my pick. :drool:
EDIT: It's written, 'mon Newcastle.
https://i.imgur.com/Y58jrKt.png
Career To Date:
2021/22 - Relegated (Derby County)
2022/23 - League One champions (Derby County)
2023/24 - League One champions (Millwall FC)
2024/25 - Playoff finalists (Millwall FC)
2025/26 - SPL champions, Scottish League Cup winners, Scottish Cup winners (Rangers)
2028 - European Championship winners.
https://i.imgur.com/rh0IvO0.png
Scenes.
Our first game in the top flight. It's going to make an interesting season! We're predicted to finish 15th (second from bottom).
Loving this version of FM.
https://i.gyazo.com/3f9b19c482d3472a...438ad8dd44.jpg
Congrats Smiffy - excellent achievement
Coventry City season 2021/22
Back at the ex-Ricoh, hoping for a top half finish which looked hopeful after a bad start but then a ridiculous run of wins shot us up the table and then good form saw us into the playoffs, where we absolutely fucked the first semi against a Barnsley side who beat us handily five times over the course of the season. Still, not bad for a team in League 2 five minutes ago
https://i.imgur.com/UNJoQem.jpg
One problem is a team without any functional wingers or money to purchase them so it was a case of playing various strikers there and hoping for the best, which worked in the case of Tyler Walker and to a lesser degree Martyn Waghorn who definitely didn't play enough to make team of the season and somehow convinced Preston to pay £1.2m for him
https://i.imgur.com/bJ0R8hq.jpg
So far in 2022/23 I've learned nothing. Strikers on the wing and the exact same record after the first 15 games, having half our defence go back to Chelsea and refuse to entertain coming back certainly didn't help. Karel Poborsky has taken over and given me a new contract but he's otherwise unwilling to open his Czechbook (weeeey)
Anyone noticed the lack of goals from wingers? I'm in February and my wingers haven't scored once in 3D matchday mode ( played 3 going on holiday and they scored in all them games)
I went down to 10men vs a 20 matches unbeaten ManUtd team and played 3 CBs, only, went on to win 3-1 (Only conceded by set play) I was more in control at the back than I was with 11 men. Decided to play 3 at the back again next game and won 5-0 vs West Ham - 3 CBs, 2 CM (AP & DP) 2 inverted Wingers with Support, AMC and 2 STs.
The 3 CBs just sweep everything up. This is a bug due to the wide players hardly scoring or crossing. I am seeing wide players in a goal scoring position and they just go wide with the ball haha.
Does anyone know where in the datahub I can see the following data? Thanks.
https://static.footballmanager.com/s...ata-Hub_BH.png
Season 07
Tottenham Hotspur - 2028/2029
After eight games without a win, Tottenham decided to pull the trigger on Ronald Koeman who lasted just 280 days in the role, Ronald joining the likes of Marcelo Bielsa, Robert Mancini, Massimiliano Allegri and Thomas Tuchel in failing to make the grade for the unpopular Daniel Levy.
https://i.imgur.com/Ktkddsk.png
Dylan Munro stuck out like a sore thumb (so did his weekly wage!), the Scottish striker tore up the SPL with myself and Rangers but evidently pushed for a move after I left for Wales, a rather poor £28.5M received however their loss would now be our gain although there are rumours surfacing that he wants to join a bigger club. Tottenham having spent nearly £300M in the last two seasons but recouped around £250M. Net spend and all that. I had a lukewarm welcoming from the clubs interim manager, former Celtic midfielder Scott Brown. Go fuck yae self ya wee coont. I'll keep him on hand for the remainder of the season but he's a goner in my mind. Not just because of his Celtic connections but for idiotic statements like this:
https://i.imgur.com/AjxRtqr.png
Of course, mate. We'll forget the fact that barely twelve months separates them and one has nearly 200 more career goals to their name.
Sitting in 11th place and with Champions League spots too far away, I tasked the players with securing Europa League football at the bare minimum and by my calculations, we had three opportunities to do so. The league route, the FA Cup route and indeed, the Europa Conference League route. All of which were obtainable.
https://i.imgur.com/4XRgCko.png
Remaining Fixtures.
https://i.imgur.com/07Nya13.png
Newcastle were drawn in the semi finals who themselves had only replaced their own manager a few months earlier, a position I applied for but was ultimately unsuccessful in getting. Too late to the party they said so now the task was to be the party pooper.
Southampton took the lead through an own goal by Dragowski but an equaliser just before half time and an impressive second half performance secured the clubs first win in the league since January 17th.
This was followed up by a 4-0 dismantling of Beskitas who themselves were well off the pace in the Super Liga and a much changed line up in the return saw no difference as Munro and Gibbins both grabbed a brace each. 8-1 on aggregate. Panathinaikos were to be the semi final opponents, Sevilla and PSV making up the other tie.
Our next game was at Wembley as we took on Newcastle United, safe in the knowledge that our opponents in a potential final would be Chelsea and not Man City. Gabriel Jesus coming back to haunt his former club as the London side won on pens. A double by Colombo (was Brown right?) saw us ease through 3-1 to set up the showpiece finale. Tottenham had reached the 2026 final too only to lose to Man United. Incidentally the clubs next opponents in the league who were spearheaded by the 35 year old Harry Kane.
He didn't score, he didn't even play but despite taking a 1-0 lead, we were trounced 5-1 to bring us back down to earth with a bump. A proper reality check so to speak.
As it transpired, we weren't going to break into the top six and ultimately finished just two positions higher than when I took over.
https://i.imgur.com/bK6oySg.png
Chelsea finally ending Manchester's eight year stranglehold on the Premier League, they also ended our hopes of FA Cup success as Lukaku showed age is no barrier although it was a little tough to swallow knowing that we were just 45minutes away from victory before bottling it in typical Spurs fashion.
https://i.imgur.com/XA1rKp4.png
The Europa Conference League now became our last chance to get back into Europe for next season. I wanted it but at the same time, a season without European travel could have lay the groundwork for some serious upheavals and bringing the club back in line with those above it except we were never going to lose to PSV Eindhoven, were we?
Well, no effin' comment. :moop:
https://i.imgur.com/seW2Jfh.png
Disaster. Huge work in the summer is now planned but very disappointing as that could have been two further additions to the CV. To have lost the Europa League final and now the Europa Conference League final in my career, along with the relegation with Derby, the playoff final loss with Millwall......we have work to do!
Ah, so if I set my wingers to "hold the ball" they will either wait for team mates to catch up and pass or hold it up just outside the box then cut in and have an attempt instead of just running straight to the byline where instructed not to cross from, so they just feck about.
As if fucking Diljeet has just decided to waltz back onto the forum.
After-eventing cunt.
Asteras Varis Season 2022/23 Update
Our first season in the professional leagues and it was always going to be an interesting one given the league structure. Our group consists of 15 teams, 3 of which are B teams and can't be promoted or relegated, therefore in reality you have 12 teams vying for each position. Five teams get relegated so we had to play good to avoid that. Goal was to get more than 30 points from our 28 games and then see how it goes from there in terms of relegation. Much like last summer, a massive overhaul took place with 9 players coming into the first team, most of them as starters.
https://i.gyazo.com/6b9962fc79c4497e...eb19f9c986.png
I am genuinely happy with where we finished, however, we were actually higher at the mid-point of the season, and then proceeded to only get 6 points in 9 games, which made me worried that we were going to get sucked into a relegation battle. We bounced back thankfully with four wins out of our last five outings and ended up at a very respectable 5th place. We were the second highest scoring team in the league, however our defence somewhat let us down.
https://i.gyazo.com/8911a2b6c75d3191...065ab3f09d.png
The big news here is that our best eleven contains a striker with 3 goals in 14 appearances. That's how bad our options in that position were. Karalis scored 9 in 27 which is better, but still not good enough. That is mostly on me, as, during our overhaul, bringing a new striker was low(-ish) in my priorities given the performances of Karalis last season, and, when I decided we would need a better striker, we had already gone above our wage budget and couldn't bring anybody good.
The squad is going to be overhauled yet again, as some people don't deserve a new contract, some people don't want to sign one (De Corte being the main guy here; he wanted to sign a new contract, we didn't have the room in the wage budget, I sold a player two days later and by then he had decided that we are not good enough for him) and some are flat out retiring. The real question, however, is what happens with me. Do I stay or do I leave for greener pastures? I am leaning towards the former, but just for one more year and then I am gone. There's no real prospect of us getting promoted, so there's no point staying any longer. Mostly staying that extra season in order to build my reputation a bit more as I am currently at 15% (or 0.75 stars).
As a sidenote, it is refreshing to have 30-game seasons, after a barrage of 60-game ones in my Gateshead save.
If you hadn't taken six points from a potential twenty-seven then you might have stood a chance. You weren't 'that' far away from the top two. Does second place face a play off against a relegated side from the division above or is it automatic promotion?
I'd stay the extra year too in this instance. You're probably only going to move sideways if not.
The top team (which in this case was Chania since Olympiakos B doesn't count) plays the top team of the other group (which was Xanthi that demolished them) and the loser of that tie plays the second to last team from the division above. But even though we did deserve some extra points from that 9-game run, we did get away with murder in other games so I reckon we got the points we deserved more or less. My main issue is that there's no improvement to be had in the squad. Our wage budget remained the same and the club is hemorrhaging money. Meanwhile I can only offer 1-year contracts (which might be a bug - doesn't seem reasonable for a professional league), meaning that any good player just doesn't want to renew their contract. So basically I think I'll get one more season of the same and then just move on. I was already approached from another team in the same division, but they were in the same predicament so moving there didn't make much sense.
Nearpost corners seem overpowered.
Of all the weird local rules I've ever stumbled upon in this game, La Liga having a minimum weekly wage of £3,000pw in order to league-register a player is one of the top few. Is also a major problem for me and my absolutely dogshit moneyball squad with plenty of players on less than that.
Just lost 6-5, despite being 4-0 up at one point. :cab:
I swear I read recently that Dani Alves wage was going to be one Euro a week with Barcelona. How have they got by that if that's the case?
They haven't, really. They had to let Messi go after he'd agreed to halve his wages. They had to sell Greaseman back to Atletico at a vastly reduced fee. They could only bring in free signings after that but could only register them once the former two left.
They've had to work very hard around these rules to even get Pedri and Ansu Fati new contracts as both expired this year. Ousmane Dembele and Coutinho were both bought for £120m+ and both walk away for free at the end of the season, as it stands.
They now have Aguero who is probably on something like £150k-300k p/w who might never play again, or at least not for a long time, sat on the books too.
It was that bad they went up to Pjanic and Umtiti and asked if they could terminate their contracts, just to get them off the wage budget. Both told them to piss off.
The likes of Biscuits who is 33 now, is on mega money when he really shouldn't be. In fact the only player they really have who is top drawer these days is Frenkie De Jong. And I bet he'll be off to either Bayern or the Premier League in the summer.
Barcelona are still very much in the shitter. They've got to go through more pain yet. The likes of Pique, Alba and Biscuits are still regulars in the team despite being the very wrong side of 30 now. They need an entire new defence and midfield really, yet they've got loads of debt to pay off.
I was referring to Jimmy highlighting La Liga having a minimum weekly wage of £3,000pw in order to league-register a player yet I read Alves weekly wage is one Euro a week so how has he been registered if the rule is legit?
Set-pieces in general I'd say. I had defenders scoring a good 10+ goals a season from far post/6-yard box. Just near post is a bit better than those.
@Smjffy: The few spanish articles I've checked talk about "lowest possible wage". It could be that someone unaware of the rule thought "does that mean £1" and ran with it.
I seem to have entered one of those phases where the opposition are just pinging absolute screamers in from all over the shop, regardless of the team's/player's actually quality.
In addition to echoing the near post thing, the fact that every full back is able to have a throw-in reach the far post regularly seems really dumb.
AS say that Alves has 'the lowest salary in the squad' but a shit ton of bonus triggers. Then again, they also say that Raheem Sterling is about to sign for Arsenal, so I dunno.
I signed a Norwegian forward from Bodo/Glimt on 2,700 euros a week and am now unable to register him because it's under 3,000 euros. Utter nightmare, at least as far as anything in FM league registration issues can be an utter nightmare.
Also, I've noticed some very weird transfers in this game from the big English clubs. They have been raiding the likes of me, Levante, Granada etc for bang average players and then not fielding them. Man Utd signed a 27 year old forward from Levante B for £1.2 million and he played once in the Carling Cup.
The spanish sites have similar reports in regards to his contract.
As for the big clubs making pointless transfers, it's been a thing for quite a few versions now. It mostly happens with English, French and German clubs in my experience.
Im thinking of a team to go with. I like the idea of going down a homegrown route by only having players from the nation the team represents.
Arsenal look good for this given they are shit. A.Bilboa would be perfect
Started my journeyman save... loaded 52 leagues from 22 countries all Asia.
https://gyazo.com/485a11cbf60c0fead762f4a0c817976b.jpeg
Holiday'd for 2 months then started applying, minimum rep and experience. Got turned down for many, however, the first job offered to me, happened to also be the one with the biggest budget.
Welcome to FC Shurtan Guzar in the Uzbek 2nd Tier. They finished 6th of 10 last season, and the board expect another mid-table finish.
Seemed to have landed on my feet finance-wise, with a $120k transfer budget and $12k wage budget.... unfortunately, nobody wants to join.
oh, and this pops up on my second day in the office...
https://gyazo.com/b52e9ba5291670b74cd5bde5f9ae27fe.jpeg
Cushty.
Fuck this.
https://i.imgur.com/kTHO4mo.png
Not the result, the idea that any Cov fan paying for a ticket doesn't do so knowing a battering is always on the cards. It should let you override it and fine everyone involved
Just signed a player on July 1st and he asked me to leave for a bigger club (to improve his chances at playing for Mauritania) on August 1st.:cab:
Edit: 8 days later he wants a chat because he can't settle and he kicked up a fuss when I declined to sell him. What a start to his tenure here.
it is amazing how broken the player interaction is after all these years
It's gotten a bit better as of late in fairness, but you do get the odd case like this one.
Third season with Barrow on my 21 Touch save. After briefly entering the play off berths the previous season I tried to upgrade my keeper and attack to push the team over the edge in terms of quality. Playing route one football with a 4-2-3-1 I found some success:
https://i.ibb.co/8sF1HnS/image2-1.png
This run saw me sitting top of the table in the run up to Christmas. Somehow without any changes (though admittedly some injuries) this suddenly led to a bit of a collapse:
https://i.ibb.co/dKjqR7V/image3-1.png
I fell down into the melee of the top 10, and every game seemed to be a humdinger as the season reached a conclusion. This was a particular highlight:
https://i.ibb.co/xMFt5BH/image1-1.png
Between my players managing to either cough up a penalty or get sent off every game and an unprecedented amount of 25 yard plus thunder bastards rattled past my keeper I ended up with everything to play for in the final game of the season.
https://i.ibb.co/cyR7NkQ/image0-1.png
A tepid 1-1 draw saw this narrowest of failures occur. The board are loving it but I am annoyed I didn't make the playoffs this time. Have got pretty much all the best available kids being released from top clubs incoming on free transfers. I am upgrading my staff wherever possible to try and get an extra boost that way. I think if I sign or develop a top striker I will take the next step, and if I'm honest I fucked up a bit leaving myself short at Right Back too.
That looks like most of my seasons in this game regardless of version Lofty. And it's very typical that the slump happens from mid December to mid/end February.
On the matter of Journeyman saves, it always bugged me how much coaching licenses affect your reputation. It should play a role but I think it's way too much currently, especially for the early ones.
Season 08
Tottenham Hotspur - 2029/2030
After finding ourselves without European football, the target set to those who remained was top four. No if's or buts, it was essential and a great opportunity to do so. It would also have been the first time in over a decade as the last time Spurs finished in the qualification places was 2018/19. As ever, we decided to dip into the transfer market to bring in as we moulded the squad in my image but it wasn't quite as extensive as we had initially planned. It was our outgoings that took up much of the summer.
Transfers In.
https://i.imgur.com/Gg0dlSm.png
£145M was a huge sum given I had spent just £7M throughout my entire career to date but it was all for the greater good.
Carlo Mann was pricey but one for the future more than the present, 9 goals in 12(21) wasn't a bad return given who he had to try dislodge from the first time.
https://i.imgur.com/qfuqnNf.png
Arbnor Aliu found himself surplus to requirements at Bayern. He enjoyed a solid twelve months at the back although there are doubts about whether he's a long term solution to LB/CD.
https://i.imgur.com/PwFr1Zt.png
There are however zero doubts about Bryan Statie or Ibrahima Correa.
https://i.imgur.com/iBF6ldF.png
An impressive season for Vitesse saw his big money move to the Premier League, the winger grabbing 13 league goals and 11 assists. His biography states he's a global superstar and it's difficult to disagree. Definitely one that excites. Not as much as our Senegalese striker though.
https://i.imgur.com/MtJBrlQ.png
40 league goals in 35 games, 15 assists and had he grabbed two more he would have surpassed Clive Allen's 1986/87 record of most goals in a season as his total tally of 47 in 46(1) helped him secure personal accolades the Golden Boot, the PFC Player of the Year, the Footballer Writers Footballer of the Year, the PFC Young Player of the Year, the CAF Striker of the Year, BBC African Footballer of the Year....immense effort. He's also a former Golden Boy winner, claiming that honour off his strike partner, Dylan Munro albeit both before I joined.
Our outgoings saw £343M worth of talent sold starting although it wasn't entirely of our own choosing as our failures last season saw many want to leave for European football.
Season Summary
We were doing very well for the most of the season and it was evident after the turn of the year that we would have to repeat last years bottle job to relinquish a top four place but it took Man City taking 2 points from 9 to give us a real stab at challenging for the league title.
https://i.imgur.com/bHj7CLW.png
Man United never really threatened half as much but as the season unfolded, they would technically be our closest rivals. It was our win over their neighbours at the beginning of May that really got tongues wagging though. We even dropped four points in the final three league games but our goal difference and superiority suggested nothing would have stopped us in our pursuit.
https://i.imgur.com/FcAPOKP.png
We were just magical, as was Munro who added 36 goals to his and our totals, a great partnership up top and youthful enough to continue for years to come. Tottenham league champions for the first time since 1961. Lovely.
It didn't stop there though.
A rampant start to our EFL Cup adventure saw us march all the way to the final.
https://i.imgur.com/4FiN1ca.png
Tottenham had lost the last three finals in the competition to Man United (2009), Chelsea (2015) and Man City (2021) so it was more a case of fourth time lucky and in hindsight, it was quite lucky as penalties were needed to come on top of Leicester City.
https://i.imgur.com/4UcYvI5.png
A domestic cup, a step in the right direction as we didn't imagine winning the league at that point.
It didn't stop there either. We went the whole hog.
https://i.imgur.com/KYZaFgj.png
A return to Wembley, a second FA Cup final in a row but the story told this time round was much different. We'd face long time enemy, Arsenal and we were aching to set the record straight after the defeat to Chelsea last season.
"BOOM".
https://i.imgur.com/TB0m9C0.png
There wouldn't just be a DVD of the success, there would be a lifetime of ribbing the Gunners who bizarrely are now managed by Jurgen Klopp after he left Anfield for London.
A domestic treble, the second of my career after landing a similar feat in Scotland with Rangers.
The good news kept coming too.
https://i.imgur.com/FFB2H6U.png
Our stadium was largely full throughout and the increase means we'll be just 4,000 odd shy of having the biggest stadium in the league.
I felt it would go alongside what became the biggest ever win in the same competition (and for the club)
https://i.imgur.com/i9TNd4h.png
Magical and totally unexpected too as although we'd recorded some handsome score lines throughout the season, April itself wasn't one of them.
https://i.imgur.com/g5M93Rx.png
We did set a few new records, most points in a season (89) surpassing the 2017 total and most league goals (139) which was held by Aston Villa for nearly a century.
It all seemed to be an awful lot so very soon in the day when you consider the FA Cup final was just my 67th game in charge of Tottenham, we'd plundered 239 goals throughout that time.
Plenty of stories to tell the non-existent grandkids one day.
https://i.imgur.com/Zy76VGF.png
I imagine I will see out the entire contract at Tottenham although when the Liverpool job became available, I was tempted to apply but there is still work to be done here now that we'll be competing in the Champions League. Daniel Levy was rumoured to be selling the club earlier in the season, that didn't materialise and tbh, he hasn't been much of an issue.
We keep rolling on but I sense my time in England will soon have to be scrapped as European success is all that remains and then it may have to be a move abroad. I have no long term plans other than to keep improving the CV but two clean sweeps in two different countries did plant a seed.
COYS.
We're getting to the business end of our first season in the Premier League and this is how it looks as we enter April.
https://i.ibb.co/y8R8zBN/crunch.png
We managed to record back-to-back wins over West Ham and Blackburn in February, as part of a 4 game unbeaten run which dragged us out of the relegation zone for the first time all season. Unfortunately we followed that up with a late loss to Southampton which closed up the points gap once again, the goal coming in a scramble in the 89th minute. Next to visit the Warren Harris Arena were Manchester City, and we displayed real signs of improvement in a late comeback to earn a vital point.
https://i.ibb.co/prKYWzg/draw.png
Considering we'd lost 6-1 at the Etihad in November, I was chuffed. It was fitting that it was Dennis Ball who scored the equaliser - a landmark goal as he now holds the record for most league goals for Slough Town.
https://i.ibb.co/30vj7qW/record.png
Ball is now 27, and not improving any further. He's not really PL quality, but I'm remiss to just chuck him aside. He's a true legend of our rise through the leagues and has scored goals at all 5 levels he's featured for us. Ideally he can get a continental goal before he's phased out of the first team picture.
We've got Everton and Newcastle to play in our last 7, but we also have some tough games against Spurs (2nd), Watford (5th) and Liverpool (8th). Newcastle themselves are currently on a run of no wins and just 4 points in their last TWENTY-TWO games, and they've only scored once in their last 10. I'm dreading us turning up at St. James's Park and being the opposition they break their duck against.
A quick word to our January transfer dealings - I spent about £6m on some good reinforcements. Jermaine Yearwood, our new right-back, is now our record signing at £3m, but the one I'm most excited about is Stefan Krstic. I'd had my eye on him for almost a year as he developed at Partizan, and snapped him up for £1.9m thanks to a release clause. I think he could be something special.
https://i.ibb.co/Xy529vb/krstic.png
Last time I wrote about how my squad needed an overhaul. I was going to tackle that in the summer transfer window, but it turns out I was being a bit optimistic.
https://i.gyazo.com/2d1e6a26ea8e3af5...01473455ff.png
I thought I could move on at least one of the three players who are on 8,500€ each to free up some funds, but nobody wanted them (understandably, as they are terrible) and the board blocked me from releasing them. So I was stuck with scintillating attacking talent such as this:
https://i.gyazo.com/21ad9c241f751c2c...4045f56e4c.png
Joint-highest earner in the squad everybody. This is an end of season screenshot, but he wasn't much better at the start. Thank god he's retiring.
The result of all this was that I could not offer any players the wage that they demanded, not even on loans. I tried getting around that with the monthly playing fees on loans but this then exceeded the transfer budget. The best I could do was to bring in four okay players whose clubs accepted me paying nothing and just giving them playing time. This is the best of the bunch:
https://i.gyazo.com/1b56c97cce52660c...e378daf472.png
So, how did that turn out? Much better than I'd feared, actually.
https://i.gyazo.com/810d94dc9887560a...1506c505ee.png
Same amount of goals conceded as last season, with +17 scored. My guess is that two things helped massively.
1. My acceptance within the squad rose a lot due to me having been at the club for a while. Someone upthread commented on the effect of coaching badges, and I felt that a lot in the first season. I started with a "National B Licence", which lead to the Managerial Support being "Very Poor" initially. Going into the second season, this rose to "Average", which I think must have helped with team morale.
2. I streamlined the tactics, taking DS's advice on having the same tactics in several slots. I binned the 4-4-2 I was trying to make work last season and settled on a 4-3-3 (it's the Netherlands, after all) with a DM and cautious mentality. The same tactic is in the second slot, slightly tweaked to make it more suitable for away games. Plus I kept my 5-3-2 Catenaccio when playing against 4-4-2s or massive favourites.
The most significant result of this is that my target man (or target forward nowadays, apparently) finally started scoring, posting much improved numbers compared to last season.
https://i.gyazo.com/da0ae3a453b73a98...2b71c927a9.png
Since he's quite versatile, he sometimes plays as inside forward from the left, with the loanee target man up front.
Toggle Spoiler
I've found it much easier this way to actually get crosses to both of them than when I'm playing them as a proper front two.
Now, with about 2/3 of my budget being freed up by the three high-earners leaving, I can finally strengthen the squad. I desperately need a centre-back and a goalkeeper, then maybe somebody creative in midfield.
We've conceded 20 goals with 13 xG against this season and it's been quite frustrating to watch. We're also the worst team in goals scored/xG in the league.
I was always so poor on FM with the financial side but it is worth taking the time to do what you can to help yourself so one of my biggest things is when sorting out contracts, I don't just cave in any more and would rather pay a little extra in appearance fee's than outright wage, same with the unused sub one, I try to remove that most the time. If player rejects and I have to wait a while to try again, so be it but long term it has paid dividends.
Except maybe current season as I simply don't give a hoot as Tottenham seem to have an abundance of money and the contracts for the top players in the team are already overly excessive so unless they are sold, I ain't fixing that shit given I'm only sticking around until the end of next season.
Definitely doing that as well on this save. I've already walked away from a couple of negotiations because they wanted 300 Euros per week more than I wanted to pay.
In the case of the borked budget above I inherited all the nonsensical contracts though, and had to wait for them to expire. It basically ruined three transfer windows for me. Since I also have attribute masking on, finding bargains (aka free loans) is a bit tricky as well. I have to say, though, getting to a mid-table finish overcoming those obstacles is quite satisfying.
The Wrexham save I did on the last version was the most satisfying one I think I had ever had on FM, I hadn't really done or stuck at at YDWAWK save before. I would have done it on this version too had it not been so recent but truth be told, I struggled a little at times simply because I wasn't signing anyone, you'd a top newgen and there was no "should I, shouldn't I" moment because it wasn't permitted but the financial side of it is what really stuck with me, helped by being able to offer contract extensions etc at an early age but I definitely laid the groundwork to understanding the finances a bit better and in a way it was more enjoyable taking extra time to familiarise myself with the contract, the players attributes and history etc. Normally I fly through the game so fast that you miss a lot of stuff that's actually happened.
So far this version is right up my street, good balance between speed, interaction, current tactic is working wonders and learning how to adjust it little by little. Not DS levels but enough to be getting the most out of the starting line up. I don't really play the game for the tactical side, it's more the 'storyline' for me and it always has been which is why I enjoy doing the write ups in here. I'd expand even more if I knew I wasn't hogging the thread but then I finish work around 2pm every day so I've got at least 8 hours plus game time 7 days a week. Oof.
Slough Town - End of Season Update - 2029/30
With 7 games to go, we were 2 points clear of the relegation zone and I was quietly optimistic that we could keep ourselves in the PL. However, we stumbled a little over the line, losing to Norwich and Watford before hosting Liverpool and somehow pulling it out of the bag thanks to our legendary talisman, Dennis Ball. His 79th minute goal secured a 1-0 win and a vital 3 points. Our next two games were eminently winnable; Newcastle (20th) and Everton (17th). We scraped a draw at lowly Newcastle, confirming their relegation despite being under the cosh for the entire second half, and followed it up with a much more assured performance against Everton, but with the same outcome.
Despite these inconsistent results, we'd stretched the gap to 4 points with 2 games to play. Our last home game was against a Spurs side fresh off battering Barcelona 6-1 in the Champions League semi finals. We showed some good signs but ultimately they were too strong, and we lost 2-0. Thankfully, we were still 3 points clear going into the final game, and with 6 teams battling to avoid the final two relegation spots, it was very unlikely that we would end up in the bottom 3.
https://i.ibb.co/nnwg55b/s12-table.png
A solid 1-1 draw away at Middlesbrough ensured survival, but we were safe nonetheless, with Southampton and Sheffield United both losing on the final day. We were really helped by the sheer number of poor teams in the league this season. 34 points was a low total to survive on, and then when you consider we actually finished 14th with that tally, it's surprising to say the least. We improved massively throughout the season, most notably on the defensive side of the team. Once they developed partnerships and were confident with the tactic, we were much more solid at the back and this is evident in the stats. We conceded 36 goals in the first half of the season and only 22 in the second half.
A quick look at the team that managed to keep Slough Town in the PL at the first time of asking.
https://i.ibb.co/9wn1qY4/s12-lads.png
The loanees will all return to their clubs, and we have a few contracts expiring, but there is a good young core in this team that could really improve together. Papadopoulos was a bit lost to start the season but he came into his own with some important goals and performances. I'm excited to see how Krstic develops up front - we'll definitely need to improve the service to him next season, and that could mean more chances for our playmaker option, Florian Girard.
We also went through a takeover in April, and our budgets have been announced for the upcoming season.
https://i.ibb.co/NTm20Rd/budget.png
:drool:
On the matter of wages, I have a wage budget of 9k and I am paying 11.5k (don't know how the board even allowed it to begin with) with a lot of haggling done. Meanwhile my squad is 20 people. That's how little money we have. :D
I see other teams set their players' value as 'not for sale.' Can I do that and if so, how?
https://i.imgur.com/bMdulbZ.png
Stumbled over the finishing line which ended up costing us the title but really happy to be promoted and even more happy to have managed to get the players to sign new contracts rather than effing off in the Summer.
Here are those 2 after their first season under my tutelage.
Klefisch didn't really set the world alight but his attributes look decent enough. He's insisted on a 250k minimum fee release clause in his new contract so I imagine he'll be off soon.
Toggle Spoiler
Amyn's a striker now and slowly en route to becoming Cristiano Ronaldo, and there's no release clause in sight:
Toggle Spoiler
:alan:
Full squad stats:
Toggle Spoiler
Amyn delivering corners to Greger at the nearpost has been fruitful.
I'm loving all of these read ups.
Best thing is you all seem to have branched off into differing parts of the world.
Same. I havent updated lately but I am a couple of seasons further in.
I saw someone on Reddit say they ordered one of those mystery shirt boxes for their game of FM. That is tempting me for when I grow tired of my current game.
Ordered a what?
Something like this https://www.mysteryfootball.co.uk/
Basically you order a box with a random top in it.
My 10,000 capacity stadium doesn’t meet Bundesliga 2 requirements so they’re building a new 15,000 one. In the meantime we’re playing a season at Leverkusen’s 30,000 BayArena.
Also absolutely haemorrhaging money somewhere (cba doing my accounts like @Yevrah) but the board just provide injections and fix it, so I’m not gonna worry about it. They’ve told me avoiding relegation is vital for not falling into administration though. I tested streaming before and @P_3 commented ‘so much paperwork’ in the chat (how was the stream quality?) and it’s true. Gonna avoid looking after the finances and concentrate on, you know, being a football manager.
Also all my staffs contract are expiring, including my assistant, so complete overhaul incoming. Toyed with the idea of trying to employ female staff exclusively, but not sure I can be arsed with the novelty impeding how good I do. Will see. There’s a class German physio but she wants too much.
So I am sitting at the beach, drinking a cocktail and contemplating my life choices, when @Mike calls me and tells me: "You should leave all that sun and those beaches:
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/me...-beach-bar.jpg
and come over to Latvia for some relaxing time. We have some quite wonderful swamps over here."
Crazy as that sounded at the time, I was quite frustrated with how things were going at Asteras. We were in a decent position but we just didn't take our chances, and then proceeded to concede with virtually every shot the opposition had. So I said adios and flew north to Latvia. I wasn't going to Riga though, as that just sounded too boring, so I went to the wonderful Daugavpils instead, which, as I am sure we all know, is the second largest city in the country. The local club found themselves in quite the predicament:
https://i.gyazo.com/9e13f165096e86d7...82d2d2f186.png
Thankfully, there was still a lot of football to be played, so nothing was set in stone just yet. Speaking of playing football, that's where we play ours:
https://753383666.r.cdnsun.net/addon...es/600/646.jpg
I know many of you will assume that our pitch is next to what looks like a mental ward, but from what I can gather that's the city's actual sporting complex. State of the art indeed. I generally play a 4-2-3-1 and have done so for quite a few versions now, but the club had approximately zero wingers, so I decided to go for a 5-3-2 instead, especially seeing as the club was hemorrhaging money (what a refreshing change from Asteras) and we were already spending every single bit of our wage budget. Nevertheless, it seems to have done the trick:
https://i.gyazo.com/e1b00fc21183c0ae...4850b3bf3e.png
That's 30 points from 20 games which is a decent return, especially given the huge chasm between the top half and bottom half teams. It's not an anomaly either, it's just the status quo here. That's the reason I am half thinking of moving elsewhere already, with some cheeky applications for other jobs thrown here and there, but I could also see myself staying for one more season. In terms of playing staff, there's not all that much to write about, with these three guys being our best performers:
https://i.gyazo.com/c2ad642e51f789c9...bbb1a89850.png
His stats do benefit a lot from raking in the assists (in relative terms) as a corner-taker, but he also always seem to finish games with a good rating.
https://i.gyazo.com/f0c70ee3cc10cf1f...7da1ad1e77.png
A striker that I brought in mid-season. He didn't set the world alight, but he did manage to grab 5 goals and 5 assists in 15 games which is a pretty decent return for a newcomer.
https://i.gyazo.com/e97a11da50b4f1fd...430f382e1d.png
Undoubtedly our star performer. Scored 15 goals in 20 games for me, even if he looks like he can't kick a ball to save his life.
So that's my first (half)season in Latvia done and dusted. As I said, I am looking around for something better, but I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up staying here next season.
As a side note, I had this interesting tidbit:
https://i.gyazo.com/5c1f1cbc0e80feda...b185720357.png
So their manager complained that we didn't give it our all against Valmiera in the last game. Meanwhile we held them to a draw in a game we were meant to lose heavily, which gave Liepaja the chance to grab a European spot at the very last second.
https://i.imgur.com/k8sVvKp.png
Holy shit. :drool:
What the fuck :drool:
It's a bit tricky because I play with 3 AMCs and no strikers, so both Garcia and Ayerdi need positional retraining, but it could be fun to focus the save around this generation and try and keep them at the club forever. :drool:
Question on youth intakes. I've not played a version beyond '19 so I've not dealt with the new screens that tell you things like "this upcoming youth intake has loads of left backs" "There is a very exciting RW in this intake" etc.
Once you get that message is what you're getting already locked in?
I don't think so. I think I got something like "there is a very exciting GK" and no GKs showed up, or at least no GKs of note. It always felt like a pointless message to me. Unless it's something that refers to like the u15s age group so it gives you an idea for what will come through the ranks in say a couple seasons. I haven't really bothered to check if that's the case.
I thought it was locked after the message as they wanted to try and stop people from save scumming their intake. Plus it started to come on different dates every year.
But they could just give you the actual intake instead (on random dates) instead of this message. Not sure what it adds if that's the case. You can still save scum the message if so.
I don’t think it’s locked I just think it’s there to try give you an idea of what’s coming.
The dates certainly do change though. My first few were all in April and the 5th season it randomly dropped in March which was a nice surprise.
I give you Real Sociedad - Class of 2024
https://i.imgur.com/kG3XxTT.png
https://i.imgur.com/NujKG7F.png
https://i.imgur.com/vzJRZyJ.png
https://i.imgur.com/lIWXWwI.png
https://i.imgur.com/AzPum0b.png
I think Garcia is the really special one. Serious lack of leadership in this group overall though. :D
Will check in on them again once they start getting first team appearances.
The goalkeeper looks really promising as well.
Saizar for me Clive.
Garcia looks to have great mentals for a 15 year old. He just looks very meh physically. Hopefully he matures quite well.
My initial reaction was the keeper looks great but I would happily have any of them.
It's more so that it's harder to find a good keeper than it is to find midfielders and attackers.
Hail Saizar. He's gonna be a beast. Determination and Natural Fitness ftw
I enquired about a player. Real Madrid responded saying they wanted £275k. I offered it and they said er nah lol we want £5.5m really.
Toggle Spoiler
Look at the top, clearly says they want £275k. :cab:
Also..
https://i.imgur.com/J7OHF7Y.png
Make your mind up mate. You happy about the captain keeping his armband or what?
Third season is a disaster so far. No tactical approach seems to be working, I just can't create chances without conceding far too many.
Doesn't help that I regularly concede screamers from opposition players with a 5-10 rating for long shots. :moop:
So I have this player that HJK offered me a MASSIVE 2k for, and he started bitching that I rejected it. I slapped a 100k asking price on his head (which is a bit high but within reasonable values), he came knocking to tell me that's insane, so I told him "how about 95k" and he said that's fine. :D
Also:
https://i.gyazo.com/701d2a3b002ab67f...6c38d6487f.png
All of them league games, with no rescheduling. It's the case every year and it makes zero sense.
https://i.gyazo.com/ee4e58e93a53b05f...641d7a5207.png
Pretty great start if I may say so, especially as I feel we've been robbed in some games. And with that performance comes this:
https://i.gyazo.com/7c61e43aaa6e7f59...15d352df9e.png
:cool:
A no-brainer really. They are not that much bigger in terms of rep (1.5 stars -> 2 stars), but they actually have money and they are challenging for titles. And the cherry on top being that they also have players that suit my system.
With Zaragoza I was going quite well in La Liga (12th I think at the Qatar break) but finding the game tough logistically as I wasn't moving along as quickly as I wanted due to having a sort-of life / only really doing a handful of games per night if I play FM at all. This was going to mean three-week seasons unless I spunk the whole weekend on it. As such I have parked it for now and switched tack to a game which should fit in with my schedule a bit better: what I hope will be an 'International Journeyman' game. In short the aim is to take charge of different nations in succession and try to have as much success as I possibly can. Hervé Renard, in other words, without the good looks or the crisp white shirts and jeans.
In true Hervé Renard style, the obvious place to start was Africa, with a Cup of Nations on early in the game as well as a full World Cup qualifying campaign waiting to be played. I scouted out a few nations but the obvious place to start, to ease myself in, was Senegal. The Lions of Teranga have a nice selection of talent at least within the period I'm looking to stay there, which is until the end of the World Cup should we qualify. Sadio Mané, Ismaila Sarr and Boulaye Dia are a potent front three, with Idrissa Gueye screening in midfield, Kalidou Koulibaly at the back and, unusually for an African nation, a top class goalkeeper in Edouard Mendy. The rough plan was thus:
https://i.ibb.co/4FBtrkg/Senegal1.png
These players and the support cast I hoped would give us a decent shot at going for a trifecta of ambitions:
1. Qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
2. Win or do as well as possible at the African Nations
3. Having succeeded at 1, do as well as possible in Qatar itself, and then move on
First up was the World Cup qualifying group, a relatively comfortable-looking one consisting of ourselves, Togo, Namibia and Congo (the one without a PhD). However, with only the group winners progressing to the final playoffs we had no room for slip-ups. It went down like this:
Senegal 1-0 Namibia: we made a bit of a horlicks of this, the only goal coming from Sarr via the penalty spot despite total domination. Substitute midfielder Coulibaly managed a yellow and then a straight red within ten minutes of coming on, which made for a needlessly nervy finish in which Namibia missed an open goal to equalise. The other two drew to put us into the early group lead.
Congo 1-2 Senegal: Congo were a better side than Namibia and I sat back a bit more, which paid dividends with Mané and then Sarr bursting through to score after a wobbly beginning. They then came back at us, scored and the rest of the game was much more of a rearguard than I'd have liked but we clung on to take an already commanding position four points clear.
Senegal 2-1 Togo: we were strolling this for a while as the 4-3-3 clicked, and should have been far more comfortable than two goals up before they came back in the second half. Still, the goals from Dia and Kouyaté proved enough. Yet another draw in the other game saw us 7 points clear of the other three, all on two, and as good as through.
Namibia 0-1 Senegal: a dire game which secured the easiest of passages through without looking that great. Mané with the winner.
Senegal 1-2 Congo: dreadful performance, the less said about which the better. Dia scored.
Togo 2-4 Senegal: we weren't great in this one either, but managed to score basically every decent chance we got. Diallo 2, Mané, Sankharé
As such we progressed through to the playoff round pretty comfortably but also without striking fear into anyone's heart, but that's African qualifying all over: you've just got to find a way.
https://i.ibb.co/c6rJr9d/senegal2.png
Funnily enough the ten that made it through were the exact same ten who did 'IRL', and the gods gave us Tunisia over two legs for a place in the Qatar World Cup. Up first, though, it will be the African Nations in Cameroon, where this group awaits:
https://i.ibb.co/xHV0DBZ/senegal3.png
https://i.imgur.com/hJSULv5.png
Promotion was a mistake.
Season 09
Tottenham Hotspur - 2030/2031
Transfers In:
https://i.imgur.com/6yetuFl.png
We went big with bringing in the talented Ruben Seoane and Real Madrid's mega centreback, Alfredo.
https://i.imgur.com/dvWed77.png
Seoane went on to score 26 times creating 17 assists in 50 (5) matches. Not quite worth the £375K in my mind but at just 23 years old he is only going to get better. I envisioned Alfredo being the modern day Van Dijk who'd transform the club into European contenders. More to come on that.
Danijel Sosic was brought in with them both to add some quality at the base of the midfield and £22M was an absolute bargain, really.
https://i.imgur.com/CyUqrZI.png
In the January window we splashed out £45M on Monaco's Yunus Yilmazturk who is indeed a Turk but he was to replace our outgoing and aging keeper Bartlomiej Dragowski who moved to Real Madrid.
https://i.imgur.com/uUImAoh.png
Excluding those loaned out, we recouped pretty much most of our summer spend with the sale of others.
https://i.imgur.com/XyX7w3a.png
I don't think I got much wrong although losing Jack West was a little disappointing given he's home grown but just couldn't get a game.
Season Summary
Community Shield
It's a nothing competition but it is a piece of silverware so we fielded the strongest first eleven and came up trumps to win it for the first time since 1962. I think at least, I believe Tottenham shared it in 67, 81 and 91.
https://i.imgur.com/vEpF1CF.png
Yes, that'll be the 36 year old Fernandes and the 34 year old Tielemans.
Premier League
We got off to a reasonable start and truth be told there was no outright challenge as we retained the division with relative ease and in doing so beat our previous club record points total. Liverpool finished 10th last season but found their Champions League spot to be non-existent because of Brighton. More to come on them....
https://i.imgur.com/tHyiQxw.png
EFL Cup
We claimed the cup last season so the challenge was to retain it. Reaching the final was easier than anticipated.
https://i.imgur.com/G94oCzE.png
It did however take an extra time strike from Dylan Munro to secure the trophy itself. The last time myself, Munro and Louie Barry were all on the pitch at the same time was back at Rangers. Munro ended up grabbing another 42 career goals this season in 42(7) games. The Scottish striker is now just five goals short of becoming Scotland's all time leading goal scorer too. Che Adams is the current occupant but with Munro being just 24 years old, I sense it's going to be a record beaten and held for a while. Bournemouth did put up a decent effort in fairness. 2-1 and we took it home.
FA Cup
The dismantling of QPR set the tone or so we thought, we'd won a few games by 9 goals over the years. Victories over West Ham and Newcastle launched us into the quarter finals, an encounter with Norwich lay in wait....
https://i.imgur.com/gFhkaKS.png
But no one saw the result coming, least of all ourselves.
2-0 down, we clawed it back but then...
https://i.imgur.com/kT1yEzT.png
Absolutely roasted. It wasn't going to be the last time either....
Champions League
Our group should have been straight forward given the quality advantage we held over our opponents but we were inconsistent from the get go and paid the ultimate price by finishing 3rd and exiting in the group stage.
https://i.imgur.com/mRbUKMe.png
https://i.imgur.com/t8zLHXW.png
At least we still had the Europa League though.
https://i.imgur.com/WDS545r.png
Easy until the quarter finals when we unexpectedly lost to Chelsea, we did turn that around in the return and with Brighton in the semi finals, I anticipated another European final.
But damn. I still have no idea how we Tottenham'd it.
https://i.imgur.com/cwVvJB5.png
2-0 down heading into the final few minutes, 4-2 up on aggregate and yet, well, I don't even know because words escape me. Brighton thus took the Champions League spot from Liverpool despite finishing 12th in the league with just one win in their last six games. A penalty shootout victory over Inter Milan in the final gave Graham Potter's side an unlikely win. Part of me hopes that missing out on Europe's top competition spells the end for current Liverpool manager....Gareth bloody Southgate. Not just the former England manager, no, no. He's the former Real Madrid manager too having spent four years in Spain from 2026-2030. Madness.
All in all, the league win was welcome but there is definitely something sinister about Spurs. We agreed to have a stadium expansion too but that was put to bed when the local council refused planning permission and coupled with the training facilities being downgraded, it just ensured the season was a bit of an anti-climax, really. I have one more year left but it is touch and go as to whether I'm going to see that out.
I could give it one more attempt to do ANYTHING at all in Europe, not just with Tottenham but on a personal level too however I think the time may be nearing to venture further afield and leave England once and for all.
Meh.
https://i.imgur.com/DsjZsmb.png
Oof, that Brighton result. You got FM'ed.
Everyone please post a screenshot of your formation.
If my players will fit into it I will be politely requesting more information.
Can’t buy a win, relegation is definitely on the cards and now the fans are calling me out for not changing things. I feel like Ole, except he didn’t literally just get the team predicted 13th promoted as top goalscorers. Idiots.
https://i.gyazo.com/304632eb334bca8f...125e1291e1.png
You can replicate it by just copying what you see, I don't have any custom instructions on any of the players. The Deep Lying Forward is the one that probably takes improving. It's been better than an Advanced Forward or a second Pressing Forward, but still not as good as it could be it feels like. The Pressing Forward does score a shitton of goals though, so maybe that would "break" if I changed the DLF role.
My main two.
https://i.imgur.com/FPmKmbu.png
https://i.imgur.com/ZUKnZhs.png
[spoiler]Sometimes we use this
https://i.imgur.com/3Bl1Rio.png
Saw that this is on Gamepass, so I downloaded it. What are the things that I should change before starting? You know, the usual name mods and whatnot.
https://sortitoutsi.net/content/5892...t-released-yet
That fixed names and stuff. It’ll disable the leaderboard if that’s something you care about.
They also have facepacks and stuff.
https://i.imgur.com/q1m4Kxs.png
https://i.imgur.com/t2EcEQh.png
:drool:
Its a shame that they missed out on Champions League football last season but it's a decent step forward IMO and gives me some experience in another country. If I can end Bayern's monopoly then that in my mind would be every bit as good as European success at this stage of the 'career'.
I was tempted to go to Spain but it's taken me nearly ten seasons to realise I've had it on 'view only' since the start of the game.
Financially the club are in rude health which is nice and there is enough quality already at the club to be able to make a difference with a few decent additions.
Thus far the career has been Derby > Millwall > Rangers > Wales > Tottenham > Dortmund.
Epic rise.
Amazing stuff Tim!
My game suddenly won't launch :/
Quick google suggests it was a somewhat frequent issue in beta. There's bound to be some solution. Does it instantly crash when you open it up or does nothing happen when you press play? First thing I'd try is graphics drivers. FM seems to really depend on them for a reason I can't explain. @John Arne
https://i.gyazo.com/dd302def9251c4bf...b5e59069a2.jpg
That's offside according to VAR (we are the blue team). :moop:
Senegal - African Nations 2022 (Cameroon)
Senegal 1-1 Zimbabwe: the Zimbos had looked useful in the qualifiers and gave us a right workout in a truly cursed game. They went ahead early from a penalty and then defended like dervishes for the next 90 minutes, particularly prolific in blocking shots as we just couldn't disturb the mass of bodies in front of us. Finally towards the end I went to a 4-2-4 and Mané teed up Dia for the equaliser, which was good as draws in a 24-into-16 group stage can be almost as handy as wins. Guinea beat Malawi 3-1 to lead the group.
Senegal 1-1 Guinea: unlike Zimbabwe, the more expansive Guineans came out to play, and that suited us far better, but horribly wasteful finishing (21 shots, 4 on target) gave us the same result and a sweat on getting out of a very easy group on paper. Mané scored but should have had four or five. This left us needing a win over Malawi to be sure of going through.
Senegal 3-0 Malawi: we weren't really great in this game either but unlike in the others, we found our finishing boots, or rather Boulaye Dia did, the Villarreal man amassing a perfect hat-trick. The other two drew 1-1 which sent us to an extremely spawny group win.
https://i.ibb.co/X4d4Qk2/senegal4.png
The draw however put us in a pretty tough bracket.
https://i.ibb.co/y0rT8JP/AN22r2.png
Morocco in the second round began badly when centre-forward Dia, with four goals in the tournament, was sent off for a shitty tackle. This was basically the only action of a truly dire first half which featured 1 shot at each end. The second half dribbled on in much the same fashion; we were happy behind the ball with ten men, while Morocco were just generally insipid. In extra time they created a little bit more and Mendy made a couple of close range saves to keep us alive towards the end. Penalties arrived and our men prospered, but Edouard Mendy saved from Nordin Amrabat to put the Moroccans out after a truly dreadful example of African Nations knockout football.
Tunisia overcame the Ivory Coast 2-1, and so our World Cup playoff opponents would also be our quarter-final foes. Our group was not looking quite so easy now, with all three sides through to the last eight.
https://i.ibb.co/L1H5rst/AN22qf.png
Tunisia was a much better game than the Morocco shitfest, and after some good control of the game we went ahead before half time when Diallo, in for the suspended Dia, set up Mané for a clinical finish into the bottom corner, one that made him Senegal's record goalscorer with 30 (going past Henri Camara). Diallo himself then doubled the lead in first half stoppage time, and the second half passed by with no real alarms - this was the first time in the tournament that we actually played pretty well, albeit up against a fairly ideas-free and very cautious Tunisian lineup.
https://i.ibb.co/GCxx42n/AN22SF.png
Burkina Faso upsetting Mo's men in the quarter-finals certainly made life easier on paper for us against a side which had only snuck into the last sixteen from Cameroon's weak group. It certainly proved as such when from the early stages they decided the best approach was to start scything down our attackers in the penalty area. Mané and Sarr were bought fouled and Sarr placed both penalties in the bottom corner to give us the most comfortable of 2-0 half time leads. The second half was a complete stroll, so much so that I felt able to take off and rest a knackered Mané, and his replacement Keita Baldé made it three towards the end. For all that we have grown into the tournament, Burkina Faso were very modest semi-final opposition.
https://i.ibb.co/X21GhBC/AN22F.png
The final was going to be a different matter. We had got there without having to play any of the West African giants and that changed as we took on Nigeria, who swept the hosts aside in their semi. They boasted a decent young outfit under Gernot Rohr, with Ndidi running things from midfield and Victor Osimhen the danger man up top. I had played it cautious more or less all the way through the tournament and set up in the same way for the final, with Dia back into the side flanked by Mané and Sarr up front.
Nigeria started the better but we were defending well until out of nowhere, midfielder Ramon Azeez crunched a 35 yarder into the top corner to send us 1-0 down. This was going to prompt a sense of humour failure from me until just before the break, Idrissa Gueye, a hardy holding midfielder, did exactly the same thing for us to equalise. Things continued in a similar vein in the second half in what turned out to be a bit of a classic final. First, Iheanacho came on for Nigeria and promptly planted a header into the far corner to send them back in front. Next, we had a corner, someone dragged down Sarr in the box and it was Boulaye Dia who stroked the penalty in to take us back to 2-2. Both sides had half-chances after that, but that was how it finished at 90 minutes.
Extra time was very much a case of two absolutely knackered teams failing to make any inroads after seven tournament games in a short time, and it petered out into penalties. Or did it? Nigeria had a goal kick with 30 seconds of the 1 minute added to go. We punted it back up front, a Nigeria defender let it go over his head, and Boulaye Dia stole in around the back to fire home the winner to give us Senegal's first ever Cup of Nations.
https://i.ibb.co/TPnRPTm/AN22win.png
I didn't expect this, really: we had a good squad and good players, but I wasn't really convinced I'd found the formula for getting the best out of them, especially after our textbook 'slow start' against Zimbabwe and Guinea. The backline led by Mendy and Koulibaly was important, and it turned out that our front three really came into their own against sides who came at us more and left spaces in behind. This bodes well for the World Cup, but I still have to try and get there first in a two-legged tie against Tunisia which will be the next assignment.
International management really is joyous.
Cracking stuff @Jimmy Floyd. You still playing the 4-3-3?
Season 2025 Update
I told you earlier that I left Daugavpils mid-season when RFS came knocking, since their manager had just left for Khimki. Unbeknownst to me I was the front-runner for the job from the get go, to the extent that I didn't even have to apply, with them just offering me an interview on their own.
To give you an idea of the chasm that exists in this league, a player that was rated at 5 stars in my previous club, is now considered a 2-star player for RFS. And this really showed throughout the season:
https://i.gyazo.com/2f7e2d1ff8e0c32d...999db3740a.png
We played 18 league games with me in charges and we won all 18, with 51 goals scored and just 11 conceded. To say it was a walk in the park is an understatement. It wasn't all flowers domestically though as we somehow managed to lose at home to Liepaja in our very first game in the cup. Broke records for number of wins, losses, clean sheets, goals scored and conceded.
We also had European games, courtesy of the club winning the league the season before. We entered the Champions League in the first qualifying round, where we were drawn against Armenian champions Ararat, in what was supposed to be a fairly even affair. Instead, we recorded what must be the biggest aggregate win I've ever had at 18-0. Up next were Apollon Limasol, in a tie where we were supposed to be heavy underdogs, yet managed to win 8-1 on aggregate. This set us up for a tie against Midjtylland, with Celtic waiting us in the playoff round. It wasn't to be however, as we lost 5-0 on aggregate and got knocked into the Europa League playoffs. After an easy 5-0 aggregate win against Maribor, we entered the group stage for the first time in our history. The group consisted of Atalanta, Standard and Qarabag, which was fairly tough, but could have been worse.
https://i.gyazo.com/5d1f712d4363d524...68c24813bc.png
We were competitive in every single game and could have honestly finished undefeated if a few things had gone our way, but still chuffed from our overall performance. Finishing third apparently means we qualify for the Conference League first knockout round (makes sense I guess), which is amazing news. Sadly the draw was quite tricky:
https://i.gyazo.com/5d14e6f68faa845c...e534cf837e.png
Glad that we avoided Fiorentina and Valencia, but I definitely except us to get hammered by Nice.
In terms of players, these were our best performers:
https://i.gyazo.com/d8ceabca732a6d5d...9d82af6095.png
Very solid defensively and a beast at set-pieces as he grabbed 13 goals in 48 appearances. It might sound a bit excessive, but you do have to consider that we 87 goals in 33 games during my time here.
https://i.gyazo.com/49043a40961fdebe...efc5bf3583.png
My attacking midfielders are generally a bit hit and miss regardless of the tactic I use, but this guy was definitely one of our top performers with 11 goals and 15 assists in 45 games. Being a Latvian is also pretty big.
https://i.gyazo.com/dd1adbe749d53ca0...f68cffbdf8.png
My first signing for the club, that guy is just ridiculous. Although he's meant to be a midfielder, I mostly played him as a left wing-back and he was amazing. 6 goals and 16 assists in 28 games is an amazing return, but what's more impressive is his average rating of 8.26. I don't remember having a player that got 9s with no assists or goals, but he did it quite often.
https://i.gyazo.com/eae71b4b5e379c59...19890e4e8e.png
A player that I've actually heard before (used to be in Bayern's books once upon a time, but I also think I might have managed him at Austria Wien in a previous version). Not much to say, he scored 44 goals in 48 games. Pure class.
So I think I could easily spend another couple seasons here, but this level of domination might get boring pretty quick. I'm definitely staying one more year at the very least though.
Been off this for a bit, gonna give this a whirl. One friendly looks good:
https://i.gyazo.com/3db8cf1b7fcbe510...21431e65f2.png
Case in point:
https://i.gyazo.com/0298c816fcf3393c...23034eb77f.png
Friesenbichler scored a goal and created another, a defender scored a goal (which is often an automatic MotM in FM), yet O'Connor just casually gets a 9.4 with no direct involvement in any goals. Just a case of a player being way big for the league he's in.
Edit: Very next game (6-0 win):
https://i.gyazo.com/43ce0dfdf7591c34...42ddbc8b8d.png
Playing 2 strikers in the MC Mez position, set to man mark the AI's CDs. Pure strikerless, one SS. Game has no idea how to handle it as its interpreting the SCs and their roles wrong, giving space to the SS. Lovely stuff.
Your brain works in mysterious ways.
:D Working so well though.
https://i.gyazo.com/cecda0aa95cfe1d2...01f7e0c254.png
https://i.gyazo.com/4f9dd0d57e3a9cd7...a66d49fd33.png
That Byrne will rule the world, surely.
He is developing nicely. The physicals are catching up. Worryingly his finishing hasnt moved but is obviously very good.
He struggled last season and 4 in 33 not being the return I was hoping for but obviously he is still a kid. 6 in 8 for Wales says he can do it, maybe I am misusing him.
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Senegal - World Cup qualifying
There isn't much to say about the two-legged playoff against Tunisia. The first bit was in Carthage and we were put under quite a bit of pressure, but managed to hold it off for a pretty tiresome goalless draw. We came back to Dakar and again Tunisia were a lot more impressive than they had been in the African Nations. Edouard Mendy had to make a couple of great saves, and then just before half time they had one which hit the inside of the post and rolled horrifyingly along the goal line before being hacked clear by Kouyaté. That was as close as they would come, though, and straight after half time my man Boulaye Dia pounced to give us what turned out to be the decisive 1-0 lead. Tunisia carried on attacking but Dia scored again on the break a few minutes from time to finish the tie off and confirm qualification for Senegal's third World Cup.
A sedate two-legger for the most part, then, but elsewhere there was all sorts of chaos:
https://i.ibb.co/wKN6SRX/WC22q.png
As well as DRC there would be World Cup debuts for Syria and Uzbekistan, who both sprung a surprise in the Asian section, and Israel, who somehow managed to completely mug Denmark and Scotland in their group to make an oh-so-hilarious World Cup bow in Qatar.
The draw was relatively difficult, I think, even though I don't think there was a clear group of death anywhere - maybe F or G, I guess.
A: Qatar, Uruguay, Norway, DR Congo
B: Portugal, Senegal, South Korea, Scotland
C: Spain, Netherlands, Ghana, Japan
D: England, Colombia, Nigeria, Uzbekistan
E: Belgium, Mexico, Australia, Israel
F: Brazil, Italy, USA, Syria
G: Argentina, Germany, Czech Republic, Morocco
H: France, Croatia, Chile, Costa Rica
Before then we had to negotiate an African Nations qualifying section which basically served as a six-match World Cup warm-up programme - I'm not planning to stick around for the finals. Qualification would not be difficult, with two spots up for grabs and Malawi and Lesotho both weak opposition, but the two games against Mali would surely provide a test.
https://i.ibb.co/h110V0C/ANQ23.png
Or not. BUT AT WHAT COST?
https://i.ibb.co/x7mbNNr/Mane.png
:face: :face: :face:
Onwards to Qatar, with the 2nd-24th best players in all Senegal, for my final fling with the Lions of Teranga.
What do you reckon is a realistic goal for the World Cup? Happy with just making it out of the group, I reckon? Although I guess if you make it out, you cross with group A so you have a decent chance of going deeper in the competition.
The board want second round, which is the same as their expectation was for the African Nations, so they're on the wacky baccy. If I got that I'd be delighted, even some good performances and a heartbreaking exit would be OK. Really I'm just here for having qualified to it and hopefully can qualify for a few more with different teams.
I'd be amazed if you didn't get out of the group.
The problem with groups like his is that you don't have the traditional big team to clean out everybody else, nor do you have the traditional punching bag of sorts. It's one of those "anyone can finish first or last" type of groups.
Third season is done, and the less said about it, the better. I thought this would be the year to push for a top-half finish, maybe even a spot in the playoffs. Instead we finished 17th.
https://i.gyazo.com/59860a5c17936765...c32b4e3cff.png
This was the first season in which I could actually afford to offer non-insulting wages to players, and after conceding 56 two seasons in a row, first priority was shoring up the defence. So I raided the German leagues for freebies.
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I bought/loaned others, but those three, while nothing special, were the clearest improvement to the starting line-up. Only Gruev performed consistently though, and while I did concede nine fewer than the previous seasons, my defence still looked far from settled at the end of the season.
What made the defensive problems worse was the fact that I basically stopped scoring for large parts of the season. Boyd Reith, the right wing-back I've been trying to build up as one of the main providers, struggled with injuries throughout, and his form has declined to the point where basically my entire coaching staff wants me to sell him.
https://i.gyazo.com/97bbda3337392829...ecd69cca39.png
None of the other attacking players stepped up, not even Raebiger, an almost-wonderkided I loaned from Leipzig to serve as playmaker.
https://i.gyazo.com/b621e03319b54bc8...2cc670f19b.png
So, fittingly, it's Gruev, the ball-winning midfielder who ends up as player of the season. The xG table reckons I should count myself unlucky, but to be honest, most of the performances looked massively underwhelming, so I can't complain too much.
https://i.gyazo.com/79e5589007e94144...62ad870b09.png
I'll give it another year to challenge for the playoffs. Otherwise I'll be off to another country for a fresh start with probably an entirely different tactical approach.
What is that league like? Is it like a League 1/2 pace merchant festival? I can't see how that kid doesn't go well otherwise.
It seems that way. The highest rated players are usually pacy wingers and/or the defenders that lump the ball towards them. As evidenced by this year's two highest rated players in the league:
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Maybe I'm overcomplicating things by trying to involve overlapping wing-backs and midfield creators.
I've definitely found over the years that below a certain level, you just need loads of pace up front and physical specimens at the back. The ability to pick a pass doesn't mean much when, as you say, some neanderthal can bypass the defence by lumping it over for the pace merchants. It stops working once you get to a higher level and the tempo is higher. That's when technical quality tells.
Might not be the same in all countries, but I bet it's like that in Holland.
Season 10
Borussia Dortmund - 2031/2032
After bidding farewell to Tottenham and English football, it was time to hit the ground running in Germany. The Bundesliga had been won by Bayern Munich every season since Dortmund last claimed the title in 2011/12 but the club had quality in the squad, highlighted by the fact that they had finished runners up no fewer than eleven times during Bayern's dominance however RB Leipzig had overtaken them in recent seasons and that's where I came in.
I wasn't the only arrival, of course. We had to ensure we brought in some additional talent too but it was tougher than expected as we struggled to get rid of a lot of hangers on, this was evident by just £27.5M being brought in as the offers fell far below our valuation so we decided to stick instead of twist.
We did bring in a wonderkid though, our only signing of the season as it happens but one I had clocked last season whilst with Spurs.
Welcome Jose de Jesus Cuadros.
https://i.imgur.com/G4EkfsM.png
He hasn't improved massively since the summer (picture taken end of season) but he did net 14 league goals in 28 games whilst assisting eleven. Overall he had a career best of 29 goals, 22 assists in 45 games. £8.5M was a steal from Cruz Azul who themselves snapped him up for just £1.3M from rivals Atlas. He's going to improve for sure and has already claimed the Golden Boy award as well as the 2031/32 NxGn one. Newcomer of the season too which probably means sod all but definitely my go to guy for the next two years.
Down to business though.
Season Summary
We expected Bayern to be our main rivals and at the start of the campaign assumed we'd be needing to match their results on a weekly basis but it just never happened. RB Leipzig were our direct rivals for the title, a title we weren't given much hope of claiming at the start of the season. Bayern found themselves drawing left, right and centre, ultimately finishing 3rd in a disappointing season for them but one that probably helped us establish ourselves once again.
What's more, our 104 league goals was a new Bundesliga record.
https://i.imgur.com/8U81xiQ.png
Beast mode.
It wasn't to be the only record we claimed as a few club records were also beaten. 85 points was a new club record, 27 wins was a new club record and obviously, the goals for column ensured we beat our previous total. Not sure what it was initially but I'll take it.
Of course it wasn't to be our only success, in fact our first competitive game under my reign resulted in silverware as we defeated the long time champions Bayern in the Supercup, I think it is the equivalent of the Community Shield but still, nice to add to the CV as always.
https://i.imgur.com/qjlrfjQ.png
It didn't stop there.
Last season Dortmund won the DFB-Pokal and whilst I wasn't too fussed if we challenged or retained, we did get to keep it with a solid run through to the final.
https://i.imgur.com/sPP0b9K.png
What the image doesn't tell you though is Monchengladbach took the lead in the 89th minute to lead 3-2. Cuadros levelled a minute later but when Matthew Gibbins landed the sucker punch in injury time, the Olympiastadion Berlin went absolutely mental. Those are the moments you remember.
A domestic clean sweep, technically. It's a shame there is no third cup as a third domestic treble in a third country would have made great reading.
Not so much with where we head next.
Europe.
The group stage was a doddle minus the hiccup against Italian side Atalanta.
https://i.imgur.com/uAaBH1F.png
I desperately wanted this competition having lost each European final in my career to date.
The knockout rounds saw us line up against the heavyweights of Europe, at least historically (kinda), AC Milan were beaten 6-3 on aggregate, FC Porto arrived in the quarter finals and although we hammered them 5-2 at home, we did take our eye off the ball in the return and were fortunate to come away with a 4-3 win. Gibbins and Paulo Leal scoring in the 85th and 87th minute. We'd have still made it but I wasn't a fan of what I saw.
Then.....revenge time.
https://i.imgur.com/5ytESs5.png
Oh yes. Brighton if anyone recalls knocked me and Tottenham out of the same competition at the same stage last season despite winning the first leg 4-0, the Seagulls were unfortunate not to qualify for the knockout rounds of the Champions League having on the tournament last season but their 2-0 away defeat to Lyon proved too costly as they finished 3rd in a group containing the French side, fellow Germans Wolfsburg and Spanish giants, Barcelona.
They did return to Spain in the quarter finals, dumping out Atletico Madrid which was a surprise, Dwight McNeil's away goal in the first leg wasn't really needed as they raced into a 2-0 lead in the return. Brighton actually finished the league season in 6th place, just three points off 4th and only seven off eventual champions Man United.
But this wasn't about the Premier League, this was about me knocking the twats out after ruining what would have been a perfect season last year.
The first leg saw my emotionally drained lads battle hard, it had been a gruelling season considering and one with a lot of players moaning about not getting the minutes they wanted, I couldn't help that as I had a clear objective of obtaining Champions League football but I felt we'd done enough in the first leg. No way Brighton would do us over again.
https://i.imgur.com/2DQ1unz.png
But....
But....
They bloody did. :moop: For a second season running my march to a European final was stopped by such a small club, the holders of the competition who would go on to face Liverpool in the finale.
https://i.imgur.com/HUbZoeT.png
Painful isn't even the word. I just didn't expect it but we were actually second best throughout. William grabbing himself the match ball and his goalscoring exploits wouldn't stop there as he grabbed the second in the final as they once again won the Europa League, this time stopping Manchester City from entering the Champions League proper. Gutted. Absolutely gutted.
On a slightly more positive note, coming first in the Bundesliga gives us a cool £102M which was nice, I don't know how much we'll get to spend but there will be a whole host of changing in the summer as we need to reduce the squad, off load those in the Dortmund II side who aren't going to make it and probably do the same with the U19's and just keep those who are going to make a difference. I'll see my contract out here for sure, two more years to go unless a supposed giant arrives in and offers an interview. I really do need some European success though, it just doesn't feel right that I am getting shafted no matter how good we are domestically, it was the same with Rangers, the same with Tottenham and evidently the same now with Dortmund.
I just don't know why other than rotten luck. Except maybe with Rangers as Arsenal were far too good for us.
Just to keep things up to date, Cuadros wasn't our top goal scorer, that honour went to Arjan Dema who like everyone else bar Jose was at the club prior to my arrival. He scored 37 times in 40(3) games, Araujo as next in line with 23 in 34(13) and then Steve Klein with 20 in 38, all newgens but with just two advanced forward spots, I had to try squeeze them in on the wings which still gave a decent return but I can't help think I'm missing out on something. I don't want to deviate from my current set up as its served me well throughout the career. Perhaps its time to do away with the inverted wingbacks, I really don't know.
So there we have it. Now 47 years old with six league wins to ones name and nine cups, next season will see me hit 500 career games and that'll definitely arrive in Germany and I anticipate at least another twenty years left in the game. I haven't a clear path at this point other than to now try and take the league titles in each of the major nations, perhaps ending things slowly with taking over a club in the lower reaches of England and building them up as a final dynasty.
But yeah, did I mention I was gutted? Fucking Brighton. Fuck yourselves hard and fast.
:(
Screen of Rafael William please.
https://i.gyazo.com/fe7e9d1ced3cdd9b...5e226d877c.png
Get the fuck in. :cool:
We had the easiest possible draw with Faroan champions NSI (20-0 on aggregate), followed by the worst possible draw you'll ever see in the second qualifying round as we were drawn against Zenit (5-3 on aggregate), then back to the easiest possible draw against KuPS (8-5) and then a quite easy draw against Ludogorets (5-1). We are going to get absolutely demolished :D :
https://i.gyazo.com/8ff10c013171fd1c...79cdfcb5d1.png
https://i.imgur.com/S8jjCsX.png
If you're interested:
He signed for Brighton in the summer for £12.25M and scored 16 league goals in 31 games, this was boosted to 32 goals overall during the campaign in 49(1) games. It was a career best for him but he did grab 20 in 40 two years ago too with former club Gremio who signed him from Palmeiras in 2026 for £1.5M.
Landmarks include the most recent breaking of Brighton's most goals scored in a season with the above total, last year he broke Gremio's and the Copa Sudamericana records for most goals in a goal (4). He made his Brazil debut this season too against Colombia, scoring a few weeks later against Paraguay, 3 goals in 5 games for the senior squad, just one appearance for the U20's. Honours include Brighton's double this year, the Europa League and the FA Cup and two random competitions with the U20's which is interesting because he only featured in one of them.
Media opinion is he has 'taken to international football like a duck to water'.
My opinion is both he and manager Graham Potter can go fuck 'emselves.
With regards to Potter, I suppose if you give a man time...
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We have 7m in the bank, but I've gone and upgraded both training and youth facilities twice and we are in the process of building a new stadium, all of which cost about 15m, so the club is very wealthy really.
I think I might just move once this season is done. Reaching the CL proper must be the best I can hope for in Latvia (unless I stay here for like 10 seasons or more), and it is a bit tiresome to be playing the same (significantly inferior) teams at least 4 times per season.
Man marking Opposition DCs with Striker MCs is absolute lol. Game has no idea what's going on. That 5221 wingerless and strikerless is just steamrolling teams and rarely conceding, despite being on V.Attacking
https://i.gyazo.com/7c8d15c097055b5f...9d4b400628.png
I'm reluctant to put money into the facilities when I know I'm not sticking around at a club, especially given the values of players on this version, I don't want to be fleeced by anyone but you really have to put in some work at the moment to get a good deal. I say good deal, I'm not spending £40-60M on a player I don't deem to be top tier so I have to shop around more than I care to.
Totally get the tiresomeness of the smaller divisions, its why I struggle playing in Wales despite wanting to boost the division, same clubs, too small a league and its all a bit same old, same old at times. Probably the reason I only lasted a season with Rangers too for that matter.
Do you have any potential moves in mind? Moving to Latvia to a different country is all well and good but I'm trying to be realistic on my current save with my next jobs, just managing in Lativa makes me struggle what a decent step up would be. Poland or Russia would be the only two that spring to mind but that's because I think they are relatively close in distance.
https://i.gyazo.com/647580c49f35ba56...453eb3fd73.png
I don't think I've ever seen such odds in FM. :D
I only ever upgraded our facilities because we had more money than we could use really. In terms of a next step, I am thinking Scandinavia, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Greece all sound reasonable, but my preference would definitely be Scandinavia. I am not in a hurry in any case (I've only been at RFS for 1.5 seasons and Daugavpils 1 season before that), so I'll just wait for something interesting to show up.
Senegal - World Cup 2022 (Qatar)
Here was the basic XI with which we set out to start the tournament. In Mané's absence, in came Cagliari utility forward Keita Baldé.
https://i.ibb.co/R4VXVw9/WC22team.png
First up (after a 1-1 draw between Portugal and Scotland) was South Korea, from whom we were obviously going to need some kind of positive result, but whose Son-Hwang forward axis worried me. That proved a legitimate worry as they battered the shit out of us for the first half hour of the tournament. At one point Koulibaly had to make a miraculous goal line clearance. Speaking of miracles, we got through that 0-0 and then our first effort on goal went in - Sarr crossed brilliantly for Baldé, Mané's inadequate replacement, to put us in front. Shortly after that he got crocked too and so the next man in was Mbaye Niang from Bordeaux. At half time we were 1-0 up but had already had to make two subs due to injuries. This told as the game went on and Korea's deadly duo finally struck twelve minutes from time, Son squaring for Hwang to sweep home. Thankfully this was as bad as it got as we were out on our feet and were staring down the barrel of a defeat. 1-1 was more than we deserved and kept us alive.
https://i.ibb.co/xKbk6Db/WC22-Senkor.png
Next up were the Scots, who played 3-5-2 with the main threat being the wing backs Robertson and Patterson on either side. As in the first game we were put under extreme early pressure, with regular balls into the box from the above. Our lucky break was that they had decided to field Oli McBurnie up front, which meant that three glorious headed chances were spurned in the first 20 minutes. We were a little more threatening on the break as the half went on but Scotland looked much more dangerous as we went in 0-0 at the interval. On 54 minutes it all changed: Idrissa Gueye launched one over the top, Boulaye Dia gave Hendry the slip, rounded Gordon and slotted home. From there we managed to shut the game down reasonably easily; the Scots huffed and puffed and had lots of attempts on goal, but didn't have the quality to get past Mendy or the monstrous Kalidou Koulibaly. Tournament football is about taking your chances...
https://i.ibb.co/yVzs0yg/WC22-Sen-Sco.png
Korea drew 1-1 with Portugal, which meant we topped the group with a game (vs Portugal) to go. Despite this we were still almost certainly going to need something from the game against Portugal if we wanted to qualify. If we lost to the Portuguese, we would be out unless Korea / Scotland drew with each other or we somehow fluked it over Scotland on goals scored.
In between times, Brazil managed to be knocked out of the tournament after just two games, with a 4-0 demolition by Italy and then this, which must be one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history:
https://i.ibb.co/56QXg8N/WC22-Bra-Syr.png
Back to us and we had to face the Portuguese in Al-Khor. Fernando Santos was going with a front three of Ronaldo, Joao Felix and Bernardo Silva, with Bruno Fernandes behind, but they had all been pretty wank in the first two games, drawing both 1-1. Yet again I set up cautiously looking to rely on our defence, battle in midfield and ping them with balls in behind. We started better than in the other two games, and in the opening exchanges had little to worry about. On 30 minutes that changed as a harmless ball into the box drew a penalty decision, confirmed by VAR, for some kind of pulling. Bruno Fernandes stroked it home. 1-0 Portugal and at the same time, Korea went 1-0 up against Scotland which would put us out.
Half time came and went, we were playing well but finding it hard to make clear chances. I brought some fresh legs on and then Scotland equalised. We were going through again. Portugal sat back a bit and we seized the initiative in the game. Wagué was getting forward a lot from full back and on 70 minutes he served up a cross for substitute Diallo, whose thunderous header was miraculously clawed away Banks-style by Rui Patricio. Then disaster struck, as in the other game the Koreans collapsed like a house of cards, going 3-1 down to the Scots. Suddenly we needed to score. We sent men forward but couldn't create that clear cut chance, and then in the 88th minute Bruno Fernandes thrashed in an unstoppable 25 yarder to break our hearts once and for all.
https://i.ibb.co/f1Zr3P6/WC22-Sen-Por.png
https://i.ibb.co/r61ZrQP/WC22group.png
Foiled by an unholy triple threat of Bruno Fernandes, Korea and Scotland, none of it was to be. 1st place in the group would have earned a tie vs DR Congo, who had knocked out Uruguay. Second place would have seen us face Haaland's Norway. Here's how the rest of it played out.
https://i.ibb.co/pZkmt5L/WC22-tree.png
Grrr, that really should have been us getting pumped 6-0 by Italy in the semi-final. Portugal once again showed their utter cunt status by bowing out to the mighty doctors in the round of 16, and Nigeria went on a proper run (they had even beaten England earlier to top their group).
I think we did miss Mané quite badly but also just picked up too many injuries and yellow cards; Nampalys Mendy was suspended from the Portugal game which was quite a big miss in terms of solidity. Ultimately though it was a really hard, gnarly group with no gimme win, in which we got massively unlucky with other results. Which is almost an exact copy of what happened to Senegal in 2018, actually.
My final record with Senegal: Played 24, Won 18, Drawn 4, Lost 2. Won the African Nations (2022). World Cup group stage exit.
That's a mental result (Brazil/Syria) but equally a pretty shitty way to exit the competition in the manner in which you have.
Who did France have in the group stage as that run to winning the final is pure heavyweight nations. Have Scotland got many decent players? I ask because they seemed to have a bit of a golden generation on my save (2032) with some top newgens looking very tasty, my former striker Munro amongst them and current all time Scottish scorer but he's not even their best player. I was surprised to see them 51st in the world rankings given they have qualified for two Euro's and the World Cup in the game but as it turns out the last four years have been pretty tragic so perhaps the Golden Generation was merely the Scottish version of England's so called one.
What's next, Jimmy? Stick with it or move on?
I'm only in 2022 so they have a very familiar generation.
I'll be moving on now, to Europe.
I've downloaded the demo to see if I can be bothered to get back into FM.
I don't think I've played any version for maybe 8 years and I'm not particularly enjoying a lot of the additional stuff. Will the game penalise me for fobbing off a lot of shit (press conferences, players meetings etc.) to assistants?
Not that I've noticed. The delegate button is your friend.
Yeah just delegate away. You will on occasion be "forced" to talk to unhappy players but that's about it. I'd say all the media stuff is completely optional (can't say I have noticed any differences between handling it myself and delegating it to the assman), while other stuff like training schedules etc do have an impact, but not in a "make or break" sense by any means.
I hate two things:
1. Managers moaning about me playing their loaned players in a different position with a different role to what was initially agreed. I'm sorry I use the DM you sent me, in CM. I feel the fact he's playing week in and week out should count for something, right? Thankfully I can just ignore the old codger.
2. Players handing in transfer requests because of broken "promises" to play them in a particular role. Same as above really, you've been smashing it as a box to box midfielder and we've just been promoted, why would you care that my "promise" to play you as an advanced play maker has been broken. Look at the bigger picture you numpty.
I've been getting both of these on my 1860 Munich save.
Every two weeks or so I get the Anderlecht manager moaning that I'm playing Kana at centre back instead of in midfield. I tell him he should be happy that he's playing and that it doesn't matter where he plays, he agrees and then moans again a fortnight later. This has been going on for nearly 18 months and I've extended the loan twice in that time so he can't be that unhappy about it.
I've also been playing with two cm's, one as a box to box midfielder and one as a carrilero. We won the league at a canter (we were favourites anyway) and got promoted but the player who plays the carrilero role is furious and wants to leave the club because he wants to play box to box.
I think it's a great example of something that has some basis in reality, but because it's been put in as a #FEATURE, they feel like they have to implement it in a heavy handed and unrealistic way. They probably think it's a waste to program something that only comes up occasionally.
Season 2026 Update
https://i.gyazo.com/a06e2b8a32cf184b...f9eb607f2d.png
Not much to say here really, is there? We finished with the same amount of points as last season while scoring more goals (134 to last season's 99) and conceding fewer (10 to last season's 20). Even through that, we managed to lose a game against Liepaja (the only team to have beaten us domestically during my tenure) and draw another two. Not that it matters of course. This time around our domestic success was complete as we also won the cup with 17 goals scored and none conceded in 4 games. As for Europe, I've already talked about it in previous posts, but in short, we beat NSI (Faroe), Zenit (Russia), KuPS (Finland) and Ludogorets (Bulgaria) to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League, where we were drawn against Barcelona, Bayern and Ajax. Unfortunately, I found out that "joining at the end of the season" meant as soon as the league is done, so courtesy of me having agreed to join another club, I only got to play 4 out of the 6 group games. These were a 5-2 loss in the Netherlands, where we were 2-1 up at half-time but were playing with 10 men since the 40th minute, a 4-0 loss in Germany, a goalless draw at home against Barca and another 5-2 loss, this time in Spain, where we again had a player sent-off in the 60th minute (we were losing 2-1 at the time). So all in all, I reckon we did pretty good for our stature and I actually fancied us to grab a win in the home game against Ajax, but alas I won't be there to witness that game.
https://i.gyazo.com/78414f48456b7129...52b209b0c2.png
Some of them stats are ridiculous. We scored 193 and conceded 33 goals in 52 games across all competitions. 43 of our goals came from set-pieces, mainly through our defenders, which is a bit bonkers and sort of feels a bit unfair, but I think the results are skewed a lot from playing in an inferior league, so the jury is still out on that. Our front three accounted for 133 of our goals, with Friesenbichler scoring almost half of that (albeit 18 of his goals were from penalties). But once again, the one player that stole the show and showed that he's way above everyone else in this league was O'Connor. 54 assists in a season is definitely the highest I've ever seen, but, of course, a decent chunk of that came from set pieces. Still, just the sheer amount of PotM awards speaks volumes about his quality.
As I said earlier, I'd already pre-agreed to move at the end of the season and it's a move I am excited about:
https://i.gyazo.com/713eb284d1e0624b...2948cc5257.png
A quite big club and a fairly big jump in reputation compared to RFS (2.5->3.5 stars), but I was already at 3 stars when they came knocking so I reckon it makes sense, especially given the fact that I'd gotten us into the Champions League proper. The club finds itself in a fairly dire situation as they were knocked out of the Europa Conference League by Red Star and they sit 9th in the league, which is way below the media prediction of 3rd:
https://i.gyazo.com/718407152b6e8d4c...18244b5076.png
I am expected to get us top 4 somehow, which will be challenging, but at least I have a WARCHEST™ to strengthen the squad in January. I haven't managed in Russia in ages (I'd say last time was like FM12 or something), so it's a nice change of pace in that regard.
https://i.postimg.cc/tTByj1WY/2223.jpg
13 games in and scored 54 goals! (One was a 11-0 win over 9men Palace) Isak has 20 in 11 apps
Won the title last year, signing Isak and Lewis Cook on loan from Bournemouth haha (Played alot of games for me) Won the title with 97pts 1st season, but have really kicked on this season.
Only really bought Isak and Bastoni for my 1st team. Oh and loaned in Alberto (What a player for me on FM20) On the TL £60mill, decided just to loan him for £1mill pm as 29 yrs old
https://i.postimg.cc/BbCmyDKV/teamfm.jpg
Krasnodar should be a good stepping stone, although I see CL places seem to be down to one so that makes life slightly more difficult.
Would be more annoying in another league but I reckon we don't need the CL money and it's not like I am here to stay forever. Just any European action will do nicely to be honest.
Top work @Adramelch zoomed ahead of me!
Had another annoying December collapse with my Barrow save and seemingly unable to sign any players to improve my squad aside from absolute shite despite having £100k to play with has soured me.
I am going to give my German save idea a go but if it turns out to be 21 Touch being gash I'll rollback to 20 Touch as I got mega mileage out of an Oldham save with it.
So after Senegal's heartbreaking group stage exit, a number of international jobs became available and I applied for the lot. I was offered a vast number of them - possibly too many, really, although I guess my Afcon success had boosted my reputation a bit. But in the interests of a journeyman save I took the strongest-powered job with the clearest short-term goals. It was Belgium.
Bob Martinez had been sent packing after their quarter-final exit to the French. Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard - aged 29 and 31 respectively - had followed him out of the door, retiring from international football at the end of the tournament. My task was very clear. Belgium need to win a major title before the last of the Golden Generation have gone, but we also need to gradually transition away from yer De Bruynes and yer Hazards and introduce younger players for the future. I arrive right at the point of the changing of the guard.
This being a journeyman save, I am not thinking too far ahead: it may be that this will be the country I take to the next World Cup in North America, but we'll just have to see won't we. First of all the job in front of us is to qualify for Euro 2024, which is to be held in the well-known teutonic nation of Germany. As top seeds we have a very negotiable group, albeit one which should give us the odd game to think about along the way:
https://i.ibb.co/7YbMTFg/Euro24-Qgroup.png
First of all I had to construct a new side. Lukaku and Hazard have gone; so have Vertonghen, Vermaelen, while Alderweireld and Witsel are still available for selection but well past their best and will be 36 apiece at the next Euros, so they are out of my plans. Almost the last man standing is Kevin De Bruyne, who at 31 still has a lot left to give at least in this coming tournament cycle. Thibaut Courtois is still good in goal, too, but aside from them, I have to build a new side that can maintain Belgium's place at the top table (we were ranked 2 when I took over).
The first thing that slotted immediately into place in my mind was a Tielemans-Lokonga midfield axis, behind De Bruyne. I then had to weigh up a formation that would fit as many of the country's top talents as possible. So many - Carrasco, Doku, Saelemaekers, Januzaj - are wide men, while up front we were severely lacking after Lukaku's premature retirement. It felt a bit like being Portugal circa 2000.
I settled on a 3-4-2-1 formation, with a very attacking bent, hoping that this will take us through this group and into the Euros with fresh vigour as a side. The back three are all relative newcomers but, crucially, all physically adept and good on the ball. The two key men are the wide players and I have loads of options for these roles, whether it be the more defensive-minded variety like Meunier, or the flying attackers like Carrasco and Doku. With no good striker, and the 4-winger option not too tempting, I found myself with a 'spare man' - this spot I awarded to Charles De Ketalaere but could be moved to anyone suitable. Up front, I was looking for someone to get on the end of all those crosses, and to bring those behind him into play. The Giroud role, if you like. I searched through Belgium's available talent and no one stood out... so into the squad went Benteke, Batshuayi and Origi in the hope that one of the useless bastards would come good at some point.
https://i.ibb.co/fXbvjXR/Belteam23.png
Coventry City 2022/23
In the first season I started with a great win and then lost a lot. An inconsistent first half of the season gave way to a great second half which saw me reach the playoffs but rue the first half that should have put me closer to the top.
This season I started with a great win and then lost a lot
https://i.imgur.com/h79KNyC.jpg
An inconsistent first half of the season
https://i.imgur.com/9oHOLNT.jpg
gave way to a great second half which saw etc etc
https://i.imgur.com/RmMjLYC.jpg
One change is that I finished one place better (and eight better than the lefty liberal MSM predicted) and Barnsley were too far away to send me packing again
https://i.imgur.com/U8v09NP.jpg
Another problem I wanted to address was a lack of wingers which forced me to play strikers out wide. I addressed it by completely ignoring it and hoping it'd work, with Matt Godden only able to play up front I kept him there which worked well
https://i.imgur.com/7XbPn08.jpg
In the playoffs I beat Luton 4-2 away in the first leg and then almost immediately blew it by going 2-0 down in the second leg before a bizarre second half, although this surely makes absolutely no sense
https://i.imgur.com/9RTChcC.jpg
West Brom were waiting in the final and over the two seasons it was fairly level apart from another Matt Godden masterclass
https://i.imgur.com/K9ZERTn.jpg
He scored the opener at our second home before West Brom equalised late. Nearly everyone on the pitch stumbled through injury time on fumes alone before penalties which is always bad news.
BUT NOT FOR ME
https://i.imgur.com/bQrEvvC.jpg
Czechbook well and truly opened!
https://i.imgur.com/RiTl0rS.jpg
Here are the heroes who will go down in Coventry City folklore while also being hastily replaced as I've overachieved and no more than a handful at best could survive in the top flight. Pose for your statues on the way to Reading and Bristol City, lads
https://i.imgur.com/lskZLbo.jpg
Desperate times...
https://i.imgur.com/ufncWDh.png
...call for desperate measures:
https://i.imgur.com/CIgzqwK.png
And here's what the assman thinks of our team going into the first game after the transfer window closed:
https://i.imgur.com/wAO63yZ.png
We must start picking up points soon, surely? :uhoh: Maybe I should sign Matt Godden.
Okay, I admit this was a nice touch:
https://i.imgur.com/pnBOter.png
:youpi:
Mini update from me.
Just lost my first match of the season:
https://i.imgur.com/kkrEdqp.png
Only had one player who is in my first eleven (two at a push as Fall who got sent off is arguably in there too) and I even played a 16 year old with 2 star potential just so I could rest some players. Annoying as we were in complete control until Djibril decided to go in with a two foot challenge absolutely needlessly.
https://i.imgur.com/xmRd2T3.png
https://i.imgur.com/TeFKHth.png
First decent youth prospect I've created in a while. He looks alright but the trait (which will be getting trained away) and strength are pretty worrying.
That's exactly what I did. :D
So I'm a stubborn bastard, and instead of really overhauling my tactics I decided to see if I can tweak them a bit to make them work. Up went the mentality, down went the tempo to make it possible for advancing players from further back to break through the lines before the passes are played, and I added a few individual instructions to make players behave the way I want them to - most importantly I'm encouraging my inside forward to shoot more, since scoring from range seems a distinct possibility in this version and his long shots rating is 16.
https://i.gyazo.com/6341d7ffdc8bcfb6...f46e3e0008.png
On the transfer front, there were no significant highlights. I've decided to replace my German goalie since I wasn't happy with his performances. His replacement doesn't look much of an improvement, but his Handling and mental attributes are better, and so far, he seems much more reliable.
https://i.gyazo.com/ecccf4eeb8d54adb...20956c35fd.png
More important was probably a new left-back, since the previous starter basically had only pace and nothing else. In came an experienced Surinamese player with a fantastic name:
https://i.gyazo.com/21e8f80c3aa8dbe9...5d465e28ba.png
Initially I didn't want to sign him because of his meh defensive attributes, but the physical ones seem to make up for it and he has been very solid so far.
Which brings me to the overall performance: What a turnaround it's been. After a somewhat shaky start the squad turned into prime mid-2000s Chelsea, limiting the opposition to at most three shots on target per game, scoring one or two and seeing out matches without much fuss.
https://i.gyazo.com/ba24c9a235ab1126...ede31a4ebf.png
Due to the odd structure of the league, I'm already qualified for the playoffs due to winning "Phase 1". I'm hoping I can mostly keep this form until then; automatic promotion would be ideal, but is probably not realistic. The last two games were away against Jong Ajax and Breda, and my squad's limitations were pretty evident, I lost 0-4 and 0-3 and barely had a sniff. Hopefully this is not a sign of the wheels coming off.
Sadly, my long-time target man Jesse Goselink has refused to sign a new contract, which is understandable as he's been chased by top division clubs for months now. If I actually manage to get promoted, I'll probably need a significant upgrade. The search has begun for a budget Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
As I'd suspected, our form from the first half of the season wasn't sustainable and we finished with a couple of draws and narrow losses.
https://i.gyazo.com/2a4f3c8882e141cb...cbf1fcd7fb.png
We got VVV-Venlo in the playoffs, who, silly name aside, should be the easiest draw. They are also, however, the most in-form team in the league. I therefore tried to get morale up via a team meeting where everybody more or less told me to fuck off. :D I'm reasonably optimistic to advance to the next round. From then on it will get tricky.
I've rarely had those team meetings go well for me (and I've tried different approaches) so I just avoid them like the plague.
The team meetings (and all player interactions) are just total pot luck as far as I can see.
Yeah they're bullshit.
In one of my first seasons with Hertha we finished second and I wanted to say we could challenge for the title but the top option was qualify for the Champions League. I told them that and they got angry that I was expecting too much from them.
I had the option to hold a team meeting before the playoff final, skipping it is the only reason I got promoted
Yeah I should have stayed away from the team meeting. Duly lost the following first leg 2-0 with an absolutely terrible performance in the first half.
Went on all out attack for the second leg though, and completely blew them away.
https://i.gyazo.com/8fb827b43944182e...894f6f2b44.png
The Second Round against Volendam was a much nervier affair. Most of my players were already knackered beforehand and then my right winger puts in a stupid challenge up the pitch in minute 37 and gets sent off. :moop: I'd only selected him as the first choice was wheezing his way to the intensive care unit (at least that's what I'm interpreting the almost drained orange heart symbol as meaning), so I couldn't make a like-for-like switch. I went for an asymmetric ultra-defensive approach after that and somehow only lost 1-0, though I killed my right wing-back in the process who had to cover the entire flank on his own for the remainder of the match.
For the return leg I again had to rest a couple of regulars, though I decided to field a couple of not-quite fit ones because I was convinced that with them we had the quality to beat Volendam.
Rightly so, it turns out.
https://i.gyazo.com/0739e514f23b7ea1...8d685d6beb.png
Stand-in Gibson Yah with his first (and probably last) goal for the club at a crucial moment, and super-sub Ablinger, who I poached from the Austrian Second Division and usually just let chase after long balls at the end of games, with a brilliant volley after a high through ball.
This sets us up for a playoff final against Excelsior Rotterdam, the only Eredivisie team in the playoffs. The final will be played over two legs, which feels quite old school. Apart from one suspended centre-back I'll have all my regular starters available, so promotion might actually be possible. Whatever happens, this has been quite the brilliant season after almost getting relegated last year.
I'm finding the two games a week fitness levels to be a big thing in this version (especially so in internationals, actually). Quite enjoy that to be honest as it is what real managers moan about the whole time.
Always a balance between playing fit players and playing good players, which is an enjoyable part of the strategy.
I don't remember having my first choice team all with the full green circle too many times over the season. Maybe opening day and the first game after international breaks, other than that it's juggling a group of knackered players and hoping nobody will break.
A weird thing I've also noticed is all the hearts going full green in the last 5 minutes of some games, is that a bug or 'adrenaline'? I'm guessing the former.
If something makes you go :wtf: in this version, 99% of the time it’s a bug.
I've noticed this a fair bit last season and this. I didn't pay much attention in England as the games came thick and fast anyway but in Germany there is reasonable rest time so my players aren't always at deaths door. I think this is why I went down with Derby County in season one (points deduction being the obvious reason) but when your back four are all over 33+ years of age, they were doomed by the hour mark on a regular basis.
Small differences but makes it rather realistic.
In other news...
https://i.imgur.com/f1b7o6a.png
Quite how I am only in the 'favoured personnel' list at Tottenham despite leading them to a domestic treble and two Premier League titles I don't know but I imagine knocking them out of the Champions League group stages has probably tarnished even that. Happy home coming for Smjffy but Massimiliano Allegri has undone most of my work already.
Looking through the landmarks though and I'm gutted to see that Daniel Levy left in January and Omar Al-Enezi took over....an actual tycoon. :moop: The things we could have done together.
Back in Germany, Bayern Munich have stepped it up compared to last season and trail my unbeaten Dortmund side by just three points, Munich's sole defeat coming against us. I'm hoping to make one or two additions in the winter transfer window now that we've qualified for the knock out stages of the European Cup but it's going to be a close one I reckon and probably depends on who stops scoring first, will it be our striker Arjan Dema or Bayern's 31 year old Uruguayan, Martin Satriano.
This version of FM is really, really good in my opinion. I'd probably say early days (although I've lucked out by getting 'into' my first and only save straight from the off) but it could possibly be the best one yet.
It's too easy compared with the previous ones in my opinion.
I find the 3D engine and match experience to be pretty crap (why are the touchlines the width of a man?)
The rest is pretty good.
I am actually close to getting fired from Krasnodar, with those stats:
https://i.gyazo.com/cef9568c2164210d...4f77433afc.png
for "not meeting expectations". Mental. Need to win the last game and Zenit to lose so that we make 4th which was the goal set from the board.
Fair comment, I actually find the toughest part of bringing in players that I consider value for money over the tactical side but then I haven't had to stray too far from my current one at the moment which is nice because tactically, I'm pretty inept. I can at least say this one is about 80% mine at this stage.
I was tempted to add DS's set pieces to it but thought better of it as I get some handsome results as it is. I've stated a number of times, I don't really play the game in the way that it was meant (at least not in my mind), it's all about the 'story' for me. If I am the only one here who sits on his bed talking to himself or randomly searching the game for what I call 'career links' then I won't apologise for it.
Best example I can give off the top of my head is Dylan Lovett. I don't remember the start but there was a point where I saw he'd moved to Newcastle in a big money move after doing well in Holland following his release from Man United, I think the transfer fee stuck but didn't think too much of it, then when I took over Wales and the name stuck out again when players were suggested so I stuck him in, then he went on to score against France on our march to the final. Silly as it may sound, I just imagined the whole story behind him, being released from his supported club, battling back, getting his big move, making waves on the international scene. Then last season I clocked his name again as he moved to.....Tottenham. :D
If I could write as well as Jimmy then I'd delve deep into these things and try paint the picture I form, that's why I save my game 1st June every season, rolling auto save every month etc, just because I like to go back and see what other connections there are. I don't have to have signed that particular person but you know.
Other examples. Klopp leaving Liverpool for Arsenal = Traitor. I imagine the story.
Guardiola, in my mind he's lost the plot and fell on hard times. Why? Because he left Man City in 2023, joined Atletico, then Newcastle, then Leicester, then Hertha and now Bayer Leverkusen. He tried to hard to perfect his game it fried his head and now he's desperately trying to rediscover it except previous three jobs barely lasted a year. Next year will be a whole decade since he last won a single trophy, the last being the EFL Cup.
Sad times. Sorry for the essay.
Marseille 2046/47 Season Update:
Transfers are in the quoted post.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/z2j4PqD.png
https://i.imgur.com/LnOvZxe.png
https://i.imgur.com/qQRSpBH.png
We absolutely pissed it, no club is anywhere near us right now.
Cup:
https://i.imgur.com/Ba9Tuib.png
Played the youth against PSG and would have won if I didn't have someone sent off but oh well.
Europe:
https://i.imgur.com/vqDfnqg.png
We fucked it in the first leg (we scored first and kept missing chances) and from there it was too big to turn around. I tried going for it in the second leg but it left us too open at the back. Annoying as shit but I have 2 more seasons I believe to win it to play in the Club World Cup.
https://i.imgur.com/kvsGnn3.png
https://i.imgur.com/M3DnU1o.png
The team is seriously good and I feel like we're so close to cracking the Champions League.
Here is Perkins who is the true don of this team:
https://i.imgur.com/kUXWYqx.png
In terms of this save it's pretty much done but I'm just chugging along to try and get the Club World Cup (750 days) and the European Championships (383) won. Oh and I need the Super Cup too before I can move onto 2022.
The last one didn't work so now we're like this:
https://i.imgur.com/kKNiZeR.png
:yn:
Plan is for the fullbacks to end up as centre mids, the defensive mid to end up as a centre back, and the rest to get in the box, albeit very cautiously.
Season 2026/27 Update
So as I said in a previous post, I joined Krasnodar mid-season, as Shevchenko was sacked, courtesy of them being at 9th place after the first half of the season with just 19 points from 15 games. There was a distinct lack of defenders and quality wing-backs in the squad, but given the results I have gotten at RPS, I decided to stick to my 5-3-2 formation. There was also a fairly large number of wingers, but thankfully they could also play either in the midfield or up front. So even though several players would have to play out of their preferred position, I had faith that they would be able to adapt. The main problem squad-wise is the registration rules, that only allow for 8 foreigners, that being anyone that isn't Russian, Belarussian, Armenian or Kazakh. On top of that, it doesn't look like players get a Russian passport after X years, so once a foreigner always a foreigner (pretty suitable for Russia to be honest). That said, the club has a great youth setup and there's already many promising youngsters here, so I only ended up signing three players in January:
https://i.gyazo.com/d08443c7a572cc16...f9cd2a9154.png
This is the big one. A player we somewhat overpaid for (22m), but he's young, he's Russian and he was already good enough to be a starter for us so I think he's worth the investment (even though the board are really mad about it and even tried to block the transfer).
https://i.gyazo.com/0c299bc17be55c8b...1eeadda7d6.png
Didn't quite plan on bringing in a midfielder, and a foreigner at that, but considering we didn't have to pay anything for him, I felt the opportunity was too good to pass up.
https://i.gyazo.com/e987c5b6a1d0659d...37b229929e.png
A player that could probably see a decent amount of first-team football here, but due to the registration rules he won't be able for the time being. I loaned him out as soon as he joined, but I am hopeful he and Kabanov will be leading the line for us in a couple of years.
In terms of actual football, here's the league table at the end of the season:
https://i.gyazo.com/0c87c7201a7d0bf9...e9d696f0f7.png
We earned 38 points in 15 games (exactly double what the club earned in the first half of the season), which was far and away the best record in the league. That should have been enough to get us top 4 and a spot in Europe (and it would have been any other season), but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Our singular league loss under my tenure was to CSKA with them scoring a wonder goal and us squandering chance after chance, so in the end we only have ourselves to blame. We also made it to the semis of the cup after beating Rotor and Rostov, but stumbled against Spartak at home, losing 2-1.
https://i.gyazo.com/80ec074f486909fe...0539b29d28.png
Nobody that really stood out. Bryan Gil is a player that can single-handedly win you games, but for every game like that, he also has three terrible performances. Sanabria was also great and horrible in equal measures. The only fairly reliable players were Litvinov, Hyndman and Kabanov really.
The board have decided to keep me on, despite being disappointed with us not getting any European football next season. I have 22 million to spend on players and around 200k p/w in our wage budget that is not currently being spent, but I don't expect too many changes. The squad is clearly good enough to even win the league as is, as we only finished 6 points from 1st despite a horrendous start, so I am willing to give all of them one more season. That said, we have 7 regulars that are above 30 so I will eventually try and replace them.
https://i.gyazo.com/09ae33cbf7be2776...99577dab9e.png
Don't think that was a thing in previous version. Not a big change but a nice QoL.
A year in, and already some interesting developments in either direction.
Ayerdi got a damaged cruciate ligaments 3 months after joining and was out for about 7, so his development stopped dead. No hopes for him to do anything but bounce around Sociedad B/C until we let him go at this point. :(
Garcia, Agirre, Saizar are all coming along nicely, with the last one especially being ranked 10 in the NxtGen kids thingie at just 16 years old. Agirre is also a semi-regular for the Spanish U21, with the others having only featured at the U19 level. Gil is probably not gonna amount to shit with a determination of 5.
Season 11
Borussia Dortmund - 2032/2033
We brought in just three players during the summer window, Joao Eduardo of Santos, Asier Vilanueva from Real Madrid and transfer listed Florinel Rosca from our closest rivals, Bayern Munich for a combined total of £84M but we recovered £117M with a few departures, most notably Giovanni Reyna who moved to Barcelona for £85M which didn't go down too well given he was one of our best but I'm not turning that sort of money down for someone who was about to hit 30 years of age.
Season Summary
We ended Bayern's long winning run in the league last season so the task was to go again and retain it but we quickly discovered it wasn't going to be so simple as Munich were pushing us all the way and boy did it get close.
Too close.
https://i.imgur.com/X0ownPk.png
Just five games left of the campaign and there wasn't a great deal to separate us but largely in part because we dropped two points against Wolfsburg which really did open things up a little but we were confident we'd win our remaining games.
Perhaps too confident as we somehow conspired to lose to Frankfurt and thus lost our position at the top of table as Bayern took first place for the first time all season. I had no doubts at all they would beat Werder Bremen so we just had to be in a position to strike by beating Fortuna if the unthinkable did happen.
https://i.imgur.com/yI55Fpv.png
And it bloody did. A 1-1 draw for Munich meant we leapt back into what was probably our rightful spot given how long we'd been league leaders and took the title on goal difference. Scenes.
We didn't stop there as we repeated last season's feat of claiming the Supercup giving last season's runners up a bit of a spanking and indeed, the DFB-Pokal, the third time in a row Borussia had won the trophy.
https://i.imgur.com/TTaj8LD.png
https://i.imgur.com/ALPP5VN.png
Domestically we were good especially going forward but would that work in Europe too?
Champions League
Not going to dress it up in the slightest. Qualifying from the group was relatively easy, a nice return to Tottenham being a nice moment but after we knocked out Barcelona, I felt we had every reason to be confident in the quarter finals against Real Madrid given our group games were relatively close (albeit without us winning)
Well, I was wrong. We got ruined.
https://i.imgur.com/Ht4UjQU.png
What can you do other than go again. I'm going to splash some cash in the summer since we couldn't find the right players for the right price in the winter window and by time next season ends, so will my contract so I'm hoping to go out on a high. Quite a meh season really and had the final league game not thrown up the welcome surprise that it did then the entire campaign would have been a waste of time.
We march on and with a bit of luck, Arjan Dema (59 goals in 46 games) and Jose Cuadros (46 in 47(1)) will again keep us healthy up top, Oliver Lindqvist recorded an impressive 37 assists in 39(6) games whilst for a second season running we broke some club records, including last seasons most points one by collecting 90 this time round. Our 29 league wins was a club record, just two losses was a club record and with Dema's goals leading the way his 39 league strikes ensured he claimed a personal one. Summer signing Asier Vilanueva, our new number one collected the record for most clean sheets in a season. Decent enough but room for improvement.
Let's see where next year leads us.
Where’s Moukoko?
https://i.gyazo.com/bcee61c9c2c514b4...d5b0514484.png
:cool: Properly limped across the finish line there, but who cares. The tactics definitely needs some... defanging, as having my attacking players sent off every other game is probably not a good plan for the future.
I don't think I can stay up with this squad or with my financial situation. My wage budget will be about half that of the next-lowest team. That said, it seems that, once again this version attacking tactics make the game much easier than trying to soak up pressure with cautious or defensive tactics, even with low-rated teams. So maybe with those I can sneak a couple of results that give me a fighting chance for the playoff spot.
He moved to PSG for £100M in 2026/27 but their success has still been limited to the domestic scene only. Runners up in the Champions League final in 2030 and 2031 losing to Bayern and Man City.
He's wasting his career there in my mind but not a chance would I be able to afford him even if I wanted him back at Dortmund.
https://i.imgur.com/9uA63M0.png
https://i.imgur.com/jM67ZmB.png
Here's an odd one, mind. Real Madrid knocked us out of the Champions League this season, eventually winning it against....Brighton.
The Seagulls have now been in three consecutive European finals. :cab:
Belgium - Euro 2024 Qualifying
We set off for a fairly whistlestop 10 matches of qualifying group, to be played between March and November 2023. Evidently from this group, the expectation was to qualify with plenty to spare.
Andorra 0-3 Belgium: we could have had more goals, so we'll see if finishing becomes an issue (narrator: it did not), but otherwise we were as dominant as you would expect, with 29 shots. Goals to Saelemaekers, De Bruyne and Doku.
Belgium 7-0 Luxembourg: fair to say we were a lot more clinical against the weaker of our neighbours. Origi scored four and earned a 10.0 rating. De Bruyne, De Ketalaere and Struijk got the others.
At this point, an interlude, because this happens, instantly transforming our prospects as a football nation:
https://i.ibb.co/sqGtr11/Lukakuback.png
Belgium 6-4 Iceland: hmm. An illustration of how I thought this tactical setup might go: immense power going forward, completely wide open at the back. Every time Iceland went forward it was an easy goal. Fortunately we got the result by flooding them at the other end. Lukaku hat-trick, De Bruyne, Saelemaekers, Januzaj.
Belgium 1-1 Austria: we got slightly superkeepered here but even so, a disappointing result after being 1-0 up for a lot of the game. I made a blunder doubling down looking for the second, and Austria just flooded relentlessly into the gaps until they eventually equalised. This left us two points ahead of them in the group.
Israel 1-6 Belgium: I was apparently fighting for my job going into this game. They went 1-0 up early which was a concern. Struijk equalised and then De Bruyne scored four. We could have had any number.
Belgium 4-0 Andorra: we had an xG of 5.96. Could easily have had ten.
Luxembourg 1-2 Belgium: the not-so-noisy neighbours gave us a bit of a scare here, or at least a nervous last twenty minutes, but Lukaku's 80th and 81st goals for Belgium carried the day.
Iceland 0-3 Belgium: Iceland had been running 2nd in the group for a while but with a defeat to Austria and then this they faded from view, whereas these three points confirmed our passage to Germany (a welcome one this time). Lukaku, Tielemans and Carrasco scored.
Belgium 3-1 Israel: by this point the campaign was starting to feel a lot like an England qualifying group. De Ketalaere, Lukebakio and Januzaj.
Austria 2-2 Belgium: our final and probably worst performance of the campaign. Once again, there's an easy goal up for grabs any time they nick the ball off us in midfield, with the back three completely exposed. It doesn't bode well for when we play actual good teams, but zis is my philosophy.
De Bruyne actually topped our scoring in the group with 9 ahead of Lukaku with 8, the pair only behind Austria's Junior Adamu and top scorer by miles, England's Harold Kane.
https://i.ibb.co/9vJcQmY/EC24-Qualgroup.png
We then played a couple of friendlies against slightly better sides in Mexico (1-1) and Denmark (1-0 win) while the playoffs happened, which at least slightly allayed the fears that we might get torn apart at the back by better sides.
Then it was time for the Euro 2024 draw. The only notable absentees (if you can call them that) were Switzerland, who didn't get through either the group or the playoffs.
A: Germany (hosts), Serbia, Russia, Wales
B: England, Croatia, Netherlands, Romania
C: Belgium, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia
D: Portugal, Spain, Bosnia & H, Norway
E: France, Denmark, Turkey, Austria
F: Scotland, Italy, Ireland, Poland
This also feels like the exact draw that England would get. Sweden were quite potent in the qualifiers and Slovenia are a lot more dangerous than traditionally due to the presence of Man Utd teenage hotshot Benjamin Sesko. Even so, it's a draw that really should suit a run deep into the competition for the red devils of Belgium. Elsewhere, group F looks like the most fun (Scotland were number 1 seeds) while group D also looks tasty.
Well, I just forgot about the La Liga registration wage limitation and completely fucked it by having my DoF negotiate Oyarzabals renewal even when he dropped wanting a new contract. :moop: He's now on 425k per week and my cap is 1.9 million, so a fair few other players will have to be excluded for him to have a spot... :D
End of my first season in my journeyman save with Shortan Guzor in the Uzbek 2nd division, and it was a bit of a rollercoaster. Predicted to finish mid-table, we started on fire playing a possession heavy passing game - everything was going great as we ended our first 11 games with a 8-1-2 record, sitting joint top.
When then played in some bizarre mid-season league cup group stage competition where we were drawn in a group with 5 Super League teams. We won 1 of 5 and were eliminated.
Unfortunately, that poor run in the cup destroyed our morale and our players forgot how to play football. We proceeded to draw 2 and lose 4 of our next 6, before we went back to an old school 4-4-2, and brought in a few Chinese centrebacks when the transfer window opened. Top 4 qualifies for the play-off stage, and we somehow snuck in on the final matchday despite 1 win in our final 5 games.
https://gyazo.com/9eccf7a9cac5c43f6668d5f4c8c8de08.jpeg
https://gyazo.com/645b9897153a47d6ef2d6d25cd7534ba.jpeg
We entered the promotion group (2 of 4 teams qualify) and with our new signing Wei Zhen tightening things at the back, we managed to get promoted with a game to spare.
https://gyazo.com/7e867e6753820d8fe96d001c62642dbb.jpeg
I seemed to have lucked out finances-wise, with the owners pretty wealthy, and we sell out every home game somehow (7000). Massive budget for next year, but our rep is so low, I'd be surprised if we can bring anyone decent in. I may stick around, I may not depending on what jobs become available. The board also indicated that they want to build a new stadium :)
https://gyazo.com/57c7113f6192e5d6d03e19b3dc2cb95a.jpeg
That has been the situation twice a day, every day for a transfer window lasting 2 months:
https://i.gyazo.com/a8c559447ab355ee...eadfc7aa99.png
I got 49 transfers offers on deadline day, which was about 10 unique ones, just the same club coming in 5 times during the day for the same player. It's gotten to the point where I think I might leave at the end of the season just because I don't think I can go through that for another two windows.
Belgium - Euro 2024 (Germany)
Unlike when I took Senegal to the World Cup, we approached this tournament with a full complement of fit players. We also approached it with the same formation with which we had begun my tenure. It definitely has its moments of defensive vulnerability, but on its day is incredibly powerful going forward with the personnel we have, and was unbeaten across the 14 games of my tenure. The width from Januzaj (Doku) and Saelemaekers (Lukabakio) is definitely key, but De Bruyne's role cannot be underestimated, and nor can that of Lukaku having come back into the side. This may well be the last roll of the dice for Belgium as a top-ranked nation and I will certainly have a look around to see if any more interesting jobs are on offer after the tournament - I doubt this nation's talent will be so potent again.
https://i.ibb.co/HDwnnF3/Euro24team.png
Our first group stage task was against Slovenia. Between keeper Oblak, and forwards Ilicic, Verbic and golden boy Sesko, this was probably the best Slovenian side assembled since independence and they had plenty with which to worry us. Indeed they had us on the rack early on, with Courtois denying Sesko on several occasions and then Ilicic hitting the post from a free kick. We grew into the game a little as it went on but found it difficult to carve out clear chances, Tielemans blowing a great one with about 20 minutes to go. Sesko then had another glorious chance saved by Courtois and Slovenia looked the more likely. It was looking like a 0-0 until late drama as Bornauw was apparently tugged in the area and after consulting VAR, we were given a penalty. Kevin De Bruyne tucked it away for a 94th minute winner. It felt a lot less deserved than these stats suggest.
https://i.ibb.co/BsdvP8X/Euro24-Bel-Svn.png
Next up were Sweden, who had edged past Slovakia 1-0 in their opener. We were unchanged, which in hindsight was a massive error - in these tournaments it has to be 4/5 changes every game or the players just run out of puff. We had the better of the first half until Viktor Gyokeres (in Isak's absence) was sent clear and scored what proved to be the winner just before half time. In the second half we absolutely battered them (with an increasibly knackered team) but Romelu Lukaku kept missing sitter after sitter, in an all-time atrocrious performance. I was left pining for the happy times before he came out of retirement and Divock Origi was piling the goals past Luxembourg.
https://i.ibb.co/PtpH1CR/Euro24-Bel-Swe.png
https://i.ibb.co/ZgcLbfq/BelSweXG.png
I think that massive XG leap was when he decided to miss from basically on the goal line.
Our final group opponents were Slovakia, who had joined us on 3 points with a 3-2 win over Slovenia. It so happened that thanks to other group scenarios, we were all but through before kicking off. I brought Yannick Carrasco in for this game and immediately he repaid me by lashing one into the top corner. He then added a second on the hour which Lukaku nearly deflected wide but it snuck in the corner. Sub Lukebakio made it three to complete a bumming of a really poor side who somehow snuck through with us despite Slovenia beating Sweden (head to head divisors are awful).
https://i.ibb.co/k1pMJbB/Euro24-Bel-Svk.png
https://i.ibb.co/nDzmWGp/Euro24-Group.png
Missing out on top spot gave us a group winner in the last 16, though it was an unexpected group winner: Wales, who had beaten the hosts Germany in the opening game before also slaying Serbia and Russia.
https://i.ibb.co/Bt4q6vQ/Euro24R2.png
The Welsh seemed to be in between eras - four teenagers in the squad but none of them starting, and a functional setup in which everything went through Kieffer Moore. To be honest, they were pretty crap in this game, perhaps having peaked too early while our slow start (a theme among my sides at tournaments, it seems) was starting to pick up. We came haring out of the blocks and Saelemaekers gave us an early lead. We could have had several more but Lukaku finally arrived at the tournament on the hour, thumping one home from 20 yards. A Carrasco penalty rounded things off.
https://i.ibb.co/gdnJ7M1/Euro24-Bel-Wal.png
This took us through to a quarter-final against the tournament favourites, There'll Always Be An England. I could now at least say I had matched the best Euros achievements of Mad Dog Martinez, almost certainly with a worse squad. But could I better him?
https://i.ibb.co/84btQFd/Euro24QF.png
Saelemaekers was suspended for this one so in a slightly cowardly switch, I opted for the 32 year old and more defensively minded Thomas Meunier on the right. I was justified in being a little afraid, as Waistcoat's men had rattled in fourteen goals in their four games, Foden running the show. Here they went with Sancho, Rashford and Kane as their front three.
Ever since I adopted this 3-4-2-1 formation, I had been scared that at some point we were going to come up against a team with good wingers who could exploit the massive gaps in behind the wide men and either side of the centre backs. It's fair to say that England were that team. Jadon Sancho in particular decided it was time for some anal. In the fifth minute he thrashed home a Rashford cross. In the seventh minute, they swapped to make it 2-0. They then repeated the trick on 13 minutes - 3-0 England. Just before half time, Courtois went on a mad dash out of his goal to get the ball, missed it, and Rashford scored again. 4-0. The scene was akin to what must happen in Nigel Farage's wet dreams, but with even more throbbing English phalluses inserted into pert Belgian behinds.
It was at this point that I came to a horrible realisation. I had spent the whole tournament and qualifiers trying to be better than Roberto Martinez. I now oversee the wreckage of a quarter-final defeat, tactically stubborn as I refuse to organise a defence properly or adapt to the strengths of superior opposition, and there is no denying it. Not only have I not managed to better Roberto Martinez: I am Roberto Martinez.
The bumming was compounded with an own goal on 71 minutes. I can rarely remember being on the end of such a fisting as this. My Belgium career ends in quarter-final disgrace.
https://i.ibb.co/XSL6yDx/Euro24-Bel-Eng.png
https://i.ibb.co/9qBsCJZ/Camille.png
Either sarcasm has reached Belgium at last, or Camille has had one waffle too many.
https://i.ibb.co/NKMng7m/Refund.png
Even for footballers, that's one hell of a whip-round. Things washed out like this:
https://i.ibb.co/852JFM6/Euro24final.png
The number of years of hurt was thus extended to fifty-eight, Southgate resigned, and the French reigned supreme. I had singularly failed to add to my African Nations title, and this Belgian side aren't getting any better. Two years until World Cup 2026, and it's time for a move - and a pretty exciting move, at that.
Don the waistcoat!
Season 2027/28 Update
My first full season in the club and given how well we did in the second half of last season I was quite confident that we could challenge for the league and, at the very least, achieve the board's expectation of qualifying for the Europa League. Things started on the wrong foot as we had a barrage of offers for several players, which ended up unsettling a lot of them. Our starting goalkeeper Pau Lopez left in the summer (17.5m), as did Bryan Gil (21m), Reece Oxford (20m) and Masina (free). They were joined in January by Hyndman (1.9m), who wouldn't sign a new contract, Litvinov (38m) and Sanabria (1m). In came several players:
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Now on to the action:
https://i.gyazo.com/941c33566d74b735...dc13672f37.png
It was between us and Dinamo for most of the season, but thankfully their form dropped just as ours picked up in the tail end of the season, which resulted in us winning the title for the first time in our history, with just the one loss. 66 points would have been enough to clinch the title most seasons, so for the 2nd and 3rd team to gather that many is not something you see every day. 71 points is the second highest points gathered in this league, which is pretty satisfying. We also managed to pair the league with a cup win after we went past Lokomotiv (2-1), CSKA (0-0, won on penalties) and Zenit (3-1) to set up an unexpected final against Kuban. We did our best to screw it up but eventually our quality showed and we won the game 2-1.
https://i.gyazo.com/c74a0251d2044d4f...e15bb3c735.png
As the stats show, every player really played their part in our performance this season. If I were to single out a few, it would be our front three, with Kabanov really coming into his own this season, Acosta shining ever since he returned from his loan in January, and Palacios being a very consistent performer through and through.
I am tempted to leave now, but, at the same time, we will play in Europe next season so I imagine I'll stay. After that I am definitely leaving though as I don't think there's much improvement to be had from here on out.
https://i.gyazo.com/52b831acdfd93f77...94e2eed604.png
Their manager left for Barcelona. Very tempting if they do actually offer me the job.
Edit: Well dilemma avoided as they went with somebody else.
Season 12
Borussia Dortmund - 2033/2034
Before we had even considered who our summer targets were, I knew that this season would be my last in Germany and so I hoped we'd continue to sweep all domestically for a third year running but I'd quite happily have conceded the league in exchange for some European success.
Transfers In
https://i.imgur.com/sL1mXrW.png
Big outlay and none more so than on Liu Tonghao who returned to the club after leaving for City in 2027/2028. A club academy product but probably a waste of nine figures given he wasn't that good.
I don't think I'll be so lavish in future seasons given the first player I signed at Dortmund, Jose Cuardros claiming a whole raft of awards, the first newgen to win the Ballon d'Or too.
https://i.imgur.com/gRDFq6C.png
Anyways, moving along.
As ever, we started with the Supercup but we made to battle late on as we looked to have thrown it away, Araugo sparing us having to listen to Munich give it the big 'un.
https://i.imgur.com/nKig8tw.png
We did secure the title once again although losing to Bayern on the final game of the season meant we missed out on beating our club and the Bundesliga records for most points. It wasn't too bad though, a title win in each season at the club, all the more impressive given our first ended Munich's 20 year hold on the division.
https://i.imgur.com/ChYvLO0.png
Finally, at least on the domestic front, we retained the DFB-Pokal. Freiburg unexpectedly dumped Munich out in the semi finals but it was a professional performance in the finale.
https://i.imgur.com/0n9SyyT.png
It was however the Champions League that we wanted and after claiming six wins in six to qualify at a canter, I was optimistic. We didn't lose too many games at Dortmund.
https://i.imgur.com/8pP2by0.png
We were drawn against Sporting in the first knockout round and although we only won 3-1 on aggregate, it probably should have been much more comfortable, as comfortable as the quarters against our league rivals Bayern in fact. Such wins just made me think that this was the year.
A return to former club Tottenham (and eventual Premier League champions) came up next and after dismantling them 5-2 in Germany, we had to rely on Schmid's late late late goal to ensure our passage into the final where we would face Man United. The Red Devils finished in 7th place domestically and although we knew it wouldn't be easy, it just felt like it was time. Time to end the wait, both for Dortmund and personally. Baring in mind I had lost every final to date in Europe. Did we do it this time round is the question.....
https://i.imgur.com/tCCK0Ex.png
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No idea where I'll end up next but I'm thinking a sabbatical may be in order but we'll see what happens on the managerial merry-go round.
As previously mentioned I was getting bored of my Barrow save so giving this a go. This is with FM21 Touch. The side is very 'not great, not terrible', there's no money and attracting loanees who aren't horseshit is a chore. Regardless I soldier on and play this:
https://i.ibb.co/7KH6j4R/image1-2.png
A few square pegs in round holes but on the whole it seemed to do the trick. Took a few pastings here and there and was grateful for the winter break when I was on the verge of an injury crisis. End of the first season:
https://i.ibb.co/cThRkSw/image3-2.png
Shout out to the improbable hero of the campaign:
https://i.ibb.co/djh203X/image2-2.png
None of this early success would be possible without him, however I think he will probably need to be binned off now as I doubt a 36 year old target man will be what keeps me from an immediate relegation.
Mid season I got this message for the first time ever:
https://i.ibb.co/0YG1Cf4/image0-2.png
:drool:
Head of Youth Development was immediately poached after this and anyone remotely suited to replacing him wants €2k a week more than I can offer :moop:
In the most important news of the day, RFS have made the CL group stage again. I obviously built a dynasty, seeing as they have neither bought nor sold any players in the 1.5 years since I left. :cool:
:D
https://i.imgur.com/Gc2bsp3.png
Quite the move given PSG should by all rights be desperate for European success so hiring perennial European flop Smjffy is a match made in heaven, right? After reaching their first in 2020, the French side had to wait a further decade to get to the finale again, again losing to Bayern Munich though. Twelve months later PSG repeated the feat, both reaching the final and losing it, this time to Man City.
Only three times in the last 22 years has the Ligue 1 title ended up anywhere other than Paris so domestic success should be a given and if both former managers managed it easy enough, so should I.
Those managers?
Mauricio Pochettino who lasted just over eleven years winning ten league titles and sixteen cups whilst his replacement....erm, Nathan Ake, who fresh from stints with Lens and Saint-Etienne was deemed ready to manage the countries biggest club, he did lead them to an unbeaten season in the division last year tough so perhaps a bit rough on him being let go.
Some huge names still exist at the club, 35 year old Gianluigi Donnarumma who still looks beastly, Martin Odegaard, 34 year old Joao Felix and sadly the outgoing Matthijs de Ligt who departs for Barcelona.
I do get to manage Yussoufa Moukoko now though. :cool:
Let's go!
https://i.imgur.com/SSNySSP.png
What's that, about 16 seasons in? You're flying Smiff.
It's the save I started on beta but probably helps that I finish work pretty early so have a lot of free time.
Currently into the 13th season and still really into it. As a run down for those interested:
21/22 - Derby - Relegated to League one
22/23 - Derby - League One champions
23/24 - Millwall - League One champions
24/25 - Millwall - Lost in Championship playoffs
25/26 - Rangers - Domestic treble, lost Europa League final to Arsenal.
26/28 - Wales - Won the European Championships
28/29 - Tottenham - Took over after midway, finished 9th, lost FA Cup final and Europa Conference League final.
29/30 - Tottenham - Domestic treble. No European football due to above^
30/31 - Tottenham - Domestic treble, 'that' semi final defeat to Brighton in Europa League semi's
31/32 - Dortmund - Won Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal, lost the semi finals of Europa League again to Brighton.
32/33 - Dortmund - Won Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal, got ruined by Madrid in the Champions League quarters.
33/34 - Dortmund - Won Bundesliga and DFB Pokal, lost the Champions League final to Man United.
:moop:
Subject to change but I think a season or two in France will suffice then it's Italy and Spain to try do the same there. I have got Holland and Portugal loaded also so I imagine I'll travel across there at some point but at this stage it would seem like a drop down given the steady rise thus far. Bayern offered me an interview after leaving Dortmund but I didn't want to tarnish my reputation, maybe once that is done it'll be time to load up China etc to try for the AFC Champions League although I don't want to get too ahead of myself. I can only see myself managing the big clubs from this point on but I do feel at some point building a 'dynasty' of sorts with a club in the lower reaches would be a fine way to bring my career to a close.
Man is only 49 years old so time is on ones side. :D
That's some great stuff Smjffman. PSG used to dominate Europe up until FM20 but from last version onwards that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. They were nowhere to be seen in my Gateshead save in FM21 (they never made it past the quarters iirc). That said they have been a bit more competent in my current save, making it to the last two finals, but they ended up losing to Bayern (that's some pattern forming there) and Chelsea.
As for you looking to take over a lower club towards the end of the save, I think you're probably better off starting a new save, as the game will be much slower at that point.
They're pretty shit in my save:
https://i.imgur.com/ZrLE724.png
One win and that's it. Three consecutive seasons of not making it out of the groups too.
Not up to much during their Europa League seasons either:
https://i.imgur.com/UKBlElP.png
Losing to Spurs ffs.
And right as this discussion happens, PSG just won the Champions League in my current season. :D
I might or might not have spent all day playing FM so here's another update.
Season 2028/29 Update
My contract was to expire at the end of the season, so I thought I might as well stay and play some European football and leave for greener pastures when I am out of contract. There were times where I was tempted to leave with job offers from Bilbao and Lille but I ended up staying in Russia. I didn't think there was much need for strengthening in the squad, or rather there was but we were limited by registration rules and Russian talent was lacking. We started the season with pretty much the same squad as last season, but we did end up making a high profile signing in January when one of our defenders broke their foot. So in came Bogunovic for 7m from Red Star:
https://i.gyazo.com/06d66ba180c4d1de...dd8ced07d7.png
Honestly he's too good for the league so I am surprised he even joined us in the first place. The season started with a very easy 3-1 Supercup win over Dinamo and it only got better from there:
https://i.gyazo.com/4109a98dacc1258c...0413d00d72.png
Much easier this time around. We spent all but 4 weeks in first place and ended up winning the league with 4 games to spare. We broke records for goals scored, conceded and points won and that was even with two freak losses to Lokomotiv and Sochi. This success was once again paired with a cup win, after we beat Khimki (2-2p), Akhmat (2-1), Rostov and CSKA (1-1p).
We also had European football this season. The board expected us to reach the group stage, which I felt was fairly optimistic given that we were unseeded in the playoff, but in the end we were close. We were drawn against Young Boys and almost grabbed a win in the home leg, but they undeservedly got a 96th minute equaliser through a silly penalty. The return fixture was a drab affair as it stayed 0-0 after 90 minutes and it all looked like it was heading to penalties but they grabbed a goal in the 118th minute and then a second as we threw all bodies forward trying to get an equaliser. All in all I thought we gave a good account of ourselves but it wasn't to be. Instead we would be playing in the Europa League. The draw wasn't too kind for us as we were drawn against Sevilla, Rangers and Kobenhavn, but we nevertheless managed to go through. Here's how the knockout rounds looked like:
https://i.gyazo.com/ee2d3a5876b755fe...a20c87d5d1.png
We got fairly lucky with draws as we avoided the Leipzigs, Lyons and Napolis of the world, but I'd say we also played really well throughout. That said, we did our best to sabotage ourselves against PSV and Leverkusen, but in the end we managed to prevail on penalties and extra time respectively. In the end, we would be facing Leicester in the final, which made me hopeful as it looked like a winnable game:
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Squad-wise, I wasn't able to grab the standard best eleven screenshot as I joined a different club right after the cup final, and a big squad means that not all relevant players are shown in a single screen. So instead, I'll just say that our front three were pretty great again, with them bagging 68 goals and 25 assists between them. Our wing-backs also played an important role with a combined 34 assists.
So I mentioned that I'd already agreed (from early March) to join a club at the end of the season, but now it has gotten a bit awkward as the Europa League win means it's a somewhat backwards move. Oh well, I'll stick it out for a year or two and look for something better afterwards:
https://i.gyazo.com/f46b343812371f3d...2a241ad703.png
They also agreed to appoint me whenever they sacked their manager for doing badly, yet the caretaker went and won the league anyway, so there's a good chance we will be playing Champions League football next season.
Great Europa League win, Adra. I know there are good draws and bad draws, but Charleroi in the quarter-finals is taking the piss a bit :D
-------
A few national jobs came up in summer 2024 to pique my interest. I applied for three that appealed: Chile, who were struggling in South American qualifying, and Denmark, with an interesting young side, both offered me their gigs. In the end, however, I plumped for a country that I believed to have its very own Golden Generation.
https://i.ibb.co/RP1s99b/Norwayhire.png
There is obviously one man who rules the roost. Here is the Alien in all his glory. With 47 goals from 44 caps, he is quite good at football.
https://i.ibb.co/ySS52xr/Haaland24.png
However, behind him we have the nuts and bolts of what could be the best Norwegian team ever, and certainly the best since the 1990s. Martin Odegaard, at 25, has just gone to PSG for £86 million and is a stud in the AMC position. Jens Petter Hauge, Anders Schjelderup and Antonio Nusa are all young wingers of great promise. In midfield, a Berg-Berge duo will screen (Patrick Berg, of Napoli, and Sander Berge, of Inter). The centre back pairing of Kristoffer Ajer (26, Arsenal) and Martin Normann Williamsen (20, Juventus) offers a mix of physicality and class.
Norway made it to Euro 24, in a group with Spain, Portugal and Bosnia. They lost the opener to Spain - fine. Then they beat Portugal 4-1, which should have made them dead certs to go through. Instead they managed to be thrashed 4-0 by Bosnia and go out in last place. That earned their manager the sack. To me this is a great opportunity - the team writes itself on paper, unlike with Belgium where I had to come up with a wacky setup to get the best players in. 4-2-3-1 will be the order of the day.
We don't have our World Cup qualifying draw until December, and so the first task is a fresh Nations League. We had just been promoted from League B, and so in a new League A season found ourselves needing to finish top three to stay up in a group containing Spain, Poland and the team I'd just left, Belgium.
The Spain job went to - you guessed it - Roberto Martinez, and his boys were our first opponents.
Norway 2-4 Spain: this game was a bit of a joke, we were probably the better side but every half-chance they had was ruthlessly dispatched. Haaland got our goals.
Poland 1-2 Norway: a strong performance and important win to put Poland under the pump in the group. Berg from long range and Haaland, who already after two games is just a joy to manage. This was his 50th Norway goal.
Belgium 1-2 Norway: :drool: Knee-slides down the touchline all round as we stole victory thanks to two more world class Haaland finishes. Belgium otherwise the better side.
Spain 4-0 Norway: away to a team like Spain there's basically nothing you can do, the game is so stupidly open and their players are so good that they'll get 10-20 decent chances in the game and take several. They just run straight past/through our defenders. They had 15 shots on target.
Norway 0-1 Belgium: a really annoying game in which we dominated for an hour, Belgium nicked one, and then we didn't touch the ball again.
Norway 2-2 Poland: another game that we dominated and didn't win, defensive lapses are becoming quite costly, although Poland went down and we stayed up. Haaland with two more.
That left the Nations League group like this, as we stayed in Europe's top flight:
https://i.ibb.co/7WZh6vF/NL24table.png
Then it was time for the World Cup qualifying draw. We were seeded in pot 2 and with Sweden and a not-so-great Croatia in the top seeding pot, it was very much a draw in which you wanted to avoid one of the big boys. We did not.
https://i.ibb.co/c19bLMx/WC26quals.png
I think we should have enough to deal with the other four, but will we be able to spring a surprise and overcome the Italians? Who knows.
They were taken over by a tycoon a few seasons back so it's not as easy as one might think (topped a group of Valencia, Gladbach and Astana and then beat Lyon in the knockout round), but they were definitely the easiest of the lot. We really didn't play a proper big team over the whole season so we have to count ourselves lucky for sure.
You can only beat who is in front of you, many a famous save has been propped up by a favourable Europa League draw.
Only two games into the Bundesliga 2 season but sat top having had all 5 VAR decisions go in my favour :cool:
I am a couple of years on from my last update. 2026/27 was the last update (full will come) and I have just started 29/30 but the end might be near.
I spent the summer with 4 of my main players getting a bit twitchy (Byrne, McMurtie, Patel and Sucharewycz) about wanting to move onto bigger clubs but the real issue is this:
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Yeah that's not ideal, ultimate poison chalice :drool:
Dario Gradi Park by the way :D
I know. Of all the choices they went with park :uhoh:
I was confused for a bit as my brain just read "Dario Gradi Park after South Korean investor Sang-Hee Park" and thought it was a new stadium named after him for a second or two. :D
Season 13.
PSG - 2034/2035
I said auf wiedersehen to Germany and Dortmund, fulfilling the terms of my contract and went in search of a new challenge, or rather, a better chance of landing some European glory and it didn't take much to say no to PSG when the call came. It was almost a given that domestically we'd be too tough to beat but it was still going to take some going to match the clubs unbeaten league campaign under Nathan Ake.
The club had a prearranged deal to bring in Motherwell's Bobby Adams which I probably would have cancelled because I needed/wanted ready made talent who could get us/me over the finish line.
With that said, the three players we did bring in were pricey, mostly transfer listed but very nice additions to a squad already loaded with quality.
https://i.imgur.com/o2pus6h.png
Jonathan Meijer had outgrown Everton and would slot in comfortably in our defence.
https://i.imgur.com/9dJucIZ.png
Mohamed Saidi went on to score 51 goals in 49(1) appearances in what was a career best for the Dutchman. I'd argue he helped bring the best out of Moukoko too. More to come on him.
https://i.imgur.com/wnA7AmU.png
Christopher Cruz according to the stats had his best season to date too, the centre back scoring 13 times overall, eight times in the league and his average rating of 7.64 was almost .50 higher than at any other time in his career.
https://i.imgur.com/FkB5rkf.png
Season Summary
Let's get to the nitty gritty though.
We didn't go unbeaten, far from it, as Rennes and Saint-Etienne ended the long unbeaten run extending from last year but the title was wrapped up with relative ease however taking over RC Paris's long time record of most team goals was quite pleasing, a record held since 1959/60.
https://i.imgur.com/kJOCU8I.png
Of course the league wasn't the first trophy to come our way as the Trophee des Champions was picked up early doors. Bruno Pires almost taking it out of our hands before Youssoufa Moukoko said nah.
https://i.imgur.com/EV18cQ6.png
The Coupe de France followed later in May but given PSG won it twelve months earlier, it wasn't much to get excited about.
https://i.imgur.com/iECC382.png
A clean sweep on the domestic front which was no more than should be expected.
But for Europe....
We didn't get off to the best of starts after losing in the Camp Nou to Barcelona but our passage to the knockouts was as simple as it looked, the victory in the return fixture enough to send us through as group leaders.
https://i.imgur.com/dB3w4wt.png
We drew Manchester United in the first knockout round, the same team who defeated my Dortmund side twelve months ago and it looked as though they had done us over again.
https://i.imgur.com/as53bf3.png
That was of course until Ince struck in injury time to give us hope. Not that Ince, obviously.
https://i.imgur.com/fu4RI1W.png
Scenes.
As we battled on in extra time, Vitor Manoel's effort ensured there would be no penalty shootout and we went through to the quarter finals where we would face former club Tottenham.
Our 2-2 draw, helped by the already signed Bobby Adams looked to have given us the advantage as I didn't anticipate Spurs winning in France but we were made to work for it and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit nervous.
https://i.imgur.com/JvqjId8.png
Our passage to the semi finals confirmed and we'd be facing Spanish giants Real Madrid who knocked my Dortmund team out the competition the season before we made the actual final.
Whilst we lost 1-0 in Spain, it wasn't the end of the world and that was confirmed in the return where our 2-0 victory sent us through to the finale, thankfully against Manchester City who had beaten Dortmund in the semi finals. I don't think I could have coped with that sort of defeat.
https://i.imgur.com/ZyjHCzA.png
It was at this point that I noticed something that had escaped me. The final was going to be played at the Principality Stadium. How romantic would it be....the most successful Welsh manager of all time, a former European Championship winner with Wales, finally ending his career long wait for European glory at home. It would be too perfect, surely?
Well, it looked like that was going to be the case. Johan Eisenga gave Man City the lead as we trailed going into the break but when Jose de Jesus Cuadros added a second on 58"minutes, it was as good as done. Familiar name? Of course it is, my very last act as Dortmund manager was selling him to The Citizens for £150M. :cry:
However....just after the hour mark, Youssoufa Moukoko gave us a glimmer of hope. The striker had had a wonderful season, scoring 66 times in 50 matches, a feat that meant he took Ibrahimovic's record from 2015 off him. A career best for the 30 year old striker and he was just phenomenal throughout.
We still needed another though and time was running out but Sebastien Vincent, a man who was looking to leave in the winter window struck gold and levelled proceedings on 83"minutes. Saved! We were still in with a chance of ending my wait, PSG's wait and finding some measure of revenge against City who defeated PSG in the final the last time they made it.
But you know, sometimes football is cruel. It just wasn't cruel to us this time.
MORO!!!!!!!!
https://i.imgur.com/eVvw8Uu.png
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS!!!!
Congrats, Smiffy - that's quite the path to the trophy as well with the opponents you had.
As for my Helmond save:
2025/26 Review
Well, it's not really a review since there's one match left to play. Our fate has already been decided, however.
https://i.gyazo.com/946c755c545ae6ed...03887cb087.png
Not that surprising, really. I always knew I'd struggle in the Eredivisie, plus I didn't manage to replace my best attacking player in terms of quality. I guess this is where attribute masking really hurt me as I barely have any knowledge of the leagues outside of the Benelux microcosm.
At least we're a somewhat determined bunch:
https://i.gyazo.com/9449579cad86f67a...608ee5775f.png
I'm currently debating whether I should stay, rebuild and create a legacy or move on to greener pastures.
So, a side effect of the Oyarzabal registration debacle was that fielding these kids became an earlier than planned reality, and...
https://i.imgur.com/8qf5Gn2.png
I give you the 17 year old who won the CL title for his childhood club in ET :drool: :
https://i.imgur.com/gSD1F2Y.png
The rest are also kicking on, and it makes me really happy to see Ayerdi still making progress despite the cruciate ligaments.
https://i.imgur.com/B6K23dH.png
https://i.imgur.com/yy9oQYV.png
https://i.imgur.com/8l3N1qE.png
https://i.imgur.com/d9v3IFM.png
All but Ayerdi (4.5) are still 5-star prospects. Not sure what to make of Gil, but I think his two-footedness plus extreme flair is what could make him a somewhat interesting player in the end.
The amount of European trophies on this page is off the charts. Good job people. :cool:
When we all doing a draft, then? :henn0rz:
Norway - 2026 World Cup Qualifying
Up against Italy, Romania, Finland, Kazakhstan and Moldova. To qualify for the North American World Cup, we had to win the group or be one of the six best second-placed teams. It was a short trip to Helsinki to begin with.
Finland 0-0 Norway: deeply frustrating start, Haaland had so many easy chances and missed the lot. The rest of our team might as well not bother when it comes to shooting. Already massively on the back foot vs Italy.
Norway 1-0 Romania: 28 shots on goal, 3.5 xG, we only won this late through Haaland. The ease with which we dominate games and the complete inability of any of our players to put it in the net are both astounding. 6-0 wouldn't have flattered us. Two points behind Italy.
Moldova 0-4 Norway: a comfortable warm-up for the big game vs Italy in Oslo. A few different people scored, which was nice. Italy beat Romania 7-1, which was not so nice. We are with Finland on 7pts, two behind the Italians.
Norway 1-1 Italy: we gave this as good as we got, and had several late chances to win it miraculously saved by Donnarumma. Odegaard's goal was a long range beauty.
Norway 3-0 Finland: a crucial result for our position in the second place table, it took us over an hour to break down the tedious Finns. Eventually Haaland and Sorloth (2) prevailed. 28 shots to 2. Still two points behind Italy.
Norway 7-2 Kazakhstan: useful for the second place table to pile the goals on. Haaland and Ajer managed two each. Italy won in Finland to remain two clear. Romania 2pts behind us in third.
Romania 1-3 Norway: this was a giant step towards qualification. Romania had been on a good run but we ended it with goals from Haaland, Berge and Berg. Still two points behind Italy but now well placed in the second placed table.
Norway 6-1 Moldova: another barrage of goals and, finally, Italy dropped points with a draw in Romania. This left us level on points with Italy but still 6 behind them on goal difference going into the big clash in Rome.
Italy 2-1 Norway: we were by far, and I mean by far, the better side in this game. Once again, an FM trope from time immemorial, they just ruthlessly savaged it into the back of the net the only two times they had a sniff - that's what the high rep teams do. It's not like they had the best finisher on the park. Haaland pulled us level in the second half after Raspadori's rasping opener, and then the now-ancient Immobile scythed one in with seconds to go. What it meant was that to qualify for North America we still had to get the win against Kazakhstan in our final game.
Kazakhstan 1-3 Norway: and we qualified, but we nearly made an almighty mess of it. Haaland had us up early but then with 20 minutes to go, as we pressed for the second, some bloke called Bobrovski rides in off the fucking steppe into 80 yards of space and buries the equaliser. Cue panic, subs thrown on and all hands on deck but fortunately this time we came up with the goods through Haaland and finally young midfielder Ronningen Jorgensen.
So after a fraught but ultimately successful qualifying campaign, it ended up like this:
https://i.ibb.co/BqFkWfw/WC26-qual-table.png
https://i.ibb.co/ZTVwS7g/WC26-qual-2nd-place.png
Denmark conceded a 95th minute equaliser in their final match, which knocked them out and sent Wales to the World Cup for the first time in 68 years. Some other unusual qualifiers to the expanded 48-team tournament included Venezuela (their first ever), Angola, Panama, U.A.E., New Zealand, Qatar, and Haiti, who went on a remarkable slalom run through the various playoffs to finally beat Iraq on penalties and get into their first World Cup since 1974.
Here's how the draw spun out:
A: USA (co-host), Norway, Venezuela
B: Mexico (co-host), Serbia, U.A.E.
C: Senegal, Scotland, Uzbekistan
D: Germany, South Korea, Tunisia
E: France, Iran, Angola
F: Argentina, Ireland, Saudi Arabia
G: Brazil, Switzerland, Jamaica
H: Belgium, Algeria, Costa Rica
I: Portugal, Chile, Australia
J: Sweden, Colombia, Japan
K: Canada (co-host), Turkey, Ghana
L: Spain, Morocco, Haiti
M: Nigeria, Wales, New Zealand
N: Italy, Peru, Mali
O: England, Uruguay, Qatar
And here's the squad and starting XI we'll be taking to North America:
https://i.ibb.co/y6Ng299/Norway-WC26starting-XI.png
https://i.ibb.co/bPgnx5Y/Norway-WC26subs.png
69 goals in 61 games. :drool: The race to 100 goals vs games is on.
Work Permits. If my player for wolves does not have one and I send him on loan to one of my feeder clubs in league 2. Will he play league games?
You can't play him in the UK, you'd need to send him abroad and then hope he gained the necessary caps/whatever while there to qualify for a permit.
I took a year sabbatical as none of the big jobs in Spain or Italy were cropping up but then....I just couldn't say no.
I might try and stick this one so I can plan further than a season or two in advance.
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109 caps/108 goals.
Which hit 100 first?
1 game left for the mighty Sho'rtan and a victory at home to current champions Olmaliq and we somehow qualify for the Asian Champions League play-off in just the second season of my journeyman save. Probably gonna leave anyway - ideally to the second tier of Korea.
https://gyazo.com/2b433f58dddfc3268e32e5cf9f5b8e64.jpeg
"Smjffy prefers to use the 5-3-2". Appears to be the go to formation this year.
It bugs me because in my mind I am playing 4-1-3-2 which depending on how a game is going can change to 4-4-2 with good old fashioned wingers or 4-5-1 if I choose to drop one of the AF's and put in another midfielder. Sometimes I'll even drop the SS/AM along with the forward, I don't really know if it translates on the field as I tend to quick result or play on commentary mode but even so, none of them are what I consider 5-3-2.
5-3-2 to me looks as though I have three at the back and two inverted wingbacks, although even those inverted wingbacks are slowly becoming a thing of the past, especially last season with PSG but the same formation is always mentioned.
5-3-2 is basically a 4-4-2, but with one person doing all the wide work on each side, and a free extra body in both defence and midfield as a result. It's a proper capitalist 'less is more' solution to all your football needs. Big man little man, can we not knock it, ooh Wendy, 1-0 to the Arsenal. Game solved.
https://i.gyazo.com/5a25200127204d16...a47e5be892.png
Quite the step up in terms of the budget I'll have.
The squad is looking alright as well, with two future prospects that I'll be trying to mould into first-team regulars:
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I'll probably try to go for something completely different than my attempts at 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 so far. Maybe something silly like this:
https://i.gyazo.com/ab2eb97424b7154a...90e4983c4d.png
@Baz My Haaland SUCKS:
https://i.gyazo.com/791599e3aa4bde1f...e8e0c42b05.png
Poor guy.
I can't understand how he's as low as 82 in 101, having used him for a bit. When I took over he was 47 in 44, under me I think he's been 24 in 19 or something. Admittedly I probably keep him on the park longer than AI managers as bringing on Alexander Sorloth for him is proper, you know, 'After the lord mayor's show comes the dustcart'.
Schjelderup has been stealing a lot of his thunder lately. Dude's at 12 in 10 this year alone, including 3 hat tricks. He's 25 in 53 (only started playing as a striker as of late), with Sorloth being at 55 in 104 so it's more of a case of Haaland sharing the love rather than him underperforming I guess.
https://i.gyazo.com/5065ed0d37e9007f...10161c530c.png
Absolute worst fucking rule.
Edit: Top of the league by 5 points, the board is "disappointed" as we are apparently only on course for a top-half finish and now, I've had a question about underperforming in a job interview. I am pretty sure it's some bullshit bug to do with there being a 6-team championship playoff group after the regular season.
Any decent newgens or players in general in your squad @Adramelch? I started a save with OSFP when the beta came out but i never could break the ceiling of a top 16 finish in the Champions League.
There's a lot of very promising youngsters at the club but the only one that's in the first team (as our 4th striker in a 2-striker tactic) is this guy:
https://i.gyazo.com/c1d5e551004db83b...2a845480d2.png
This guy was at the club when I joined in the summer, but the club went over my head and sold him for 27m:
https://i.gyazo.com/16e32acfd741c121...0f1751efcd.png
The only other very notable player I can find is:
https://i.gyazo.com/c8bc2bd6cd1b7256...c32df86199.png
Sold to Atletico for 11m three years ago and has played a decent bit of football for them (113 games) despite his young age.
Previous Seasons
2021/2022 - Season 1
2022/2023 - Season 2
2023/2024 - Season 3
2024/2025 - Season 4
2025/2026 - Season 5
2026/2027 - Season 6
2027/2028 – Season 7
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2028/2029 – Season 8
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This brings us to 29/30 where this happened:
2029/2030 – Season 9
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The summer of 2030 so the change in vision get worse
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Season 2029/30 Update
First full season in the greek top tier is over and it was a fun one. Starting from the squad, the club had a shitload of average to bad wingers that didn't fit my plan. There was also a distinct lack of good full-backs so a massive overhaul was on the cards. In my one season here I signed no fewer than 12 players for the first team as well as a bunch of youngsters, with 17 players going the other way. The main signings were the following:
https://i.gyazo.com/8f460551bf349959...2207703110.png
Joined us in January for just shy of a million euros. Originally brought as a backup, but seeing as our first-team keeper, while good, wasn't irreplaceable, he got a decent bit of football and will be starting every game next season.
https://i.gyazo.com/65a260919e8454fa...3036bff226.png
Also joined in January for a pretty hefty 16m. We definitely overpaid for him just because he's Greek, but he's a strong player nevertheless and was very consistent throughout the season.
https://i.gyazo.com/dc336b0b060c1f70...3dca1cf177.png
Another January transfer, this is a guy I have high hopes for. Cost a pretty significant 9.5m but I reckon he's worth every penny.
https://i.gyazo.com/9e6987c28b559dfd...80524ab97d.png
Getting a player of this calibre and promise for just 1.6m is all that needs to be said.
https://i.gyazo.com/4cfb7b21b83158f2...365ed29473.png
That's a huge one. Only paid 1.1m for him and he was definitely the first name on the team sheet week in week out.
https://i.gyazo.com/3700a133fa7319bf...56c45e819a.png
Originally brought in (7m) to help us with CL registration rules and offer some backup up front, but when the board went over my head and sold our start striker, he took the chance and never let it go.
Our success in the transfer market can be summed up in just the one picture really:
https://i.gyazo.com/7b1c44d4e34b076b...574ab77985.png
For a club of our stature to have 4 players in that list is pretty nuts. Bantounas is a youth product that I showed in a previous post.
https://i.gyazo.com/5d2df67ddd953da2...174016f487.png
That was actually pretty hard as Panathinaikos played insanely good. We basically won the league courtesy of us besting them in the head-to-head as we won all 4 games. If you exclude those, they outperformed us with 85 v 81 points against the rest of the teams. The league was also coupled with a somewhat easier Cup win:
https://i.gyazo.com/bc55c35619d33663...af69f1640a.png
Nobody really put up a proper fight against us, even if some results might look close. On to Europe:
https://i.gyazo.com/d7f04bc90f849d55...8b5a428c3b.png
Now that's what I am talking about. I took my revenge against Young Boys (they were the ones that kicked me out when I was at Krasnodar), was joint first with PSG (the previous winners) in the groups, completely outplayed Atletico in both games, and then went out to Man City in the quarters in a tie that could have gone either way.
https://i.gyazo.com/f98b14882aa734ef...9e75d9038a.png
Let's start from the obvious. We bagged an awful lot of goals from set-pieces, with Nemeth scoring a ridiculous 21 goals. He's an okay player overall but definitely a physical beast. Not many defenders could mark him really. Other than that Grahovac and Panteliadis basically took turns in single-handedly winning games for us. I am generally very happy with the squad as a whole, with the only exception being our second striker. Abraham definitely has the quality to score more than that but never really got going. I have already lined up a replacement and hopefully I can sell him for a decent amount of money.
If I stay here that is, since this is a thing:
https://i.gyazo.com/e2635c31c62503a4...388e34c926.png
I've also had an interview with Monaco, so there's a lot to consider. On the one hand, I do have a very solid structure here at Olympiacos. On the other hand, I reckon both Feyenoord and Monaco are clubs I could spend a good 4-5 years at, while I can't see myself staying at Olympiacos for more than a season.
https://i.imgur.com/f5iWW51.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QxXo0s1.jpg
Note to self: sack all scouts and analysts
https://i.imgur.com/reprmlx.png
:mad:
I've got so many injuries now too, it's ridiculous.
https://i.imgur.com/gTIVYTw.png
5 of those are starters, and 3 are their replacements. :cry:
Norway - World Cup 2026 (USA, Canada, Mexico)
Despite having the hosts in Group A, we were slated to take on Venezuela in the opening game of the new 48-team format. 16 groups of three is an absolute shabby mess, with the side who plays in the first two of the three games surely disadvantaged. Fortunately that was Venezuela and not us. Two of the three sides (us, Venezuela and hosts USA) would qualify for the last 32 knockout round. Our group was to cross over with Group B (Mexico, Serbia, United Arab Emirates) so assuming the former two went through we would be more or less guaranteed a challenging game in the event we could get past our opening group.
First of all we had Venezuela to negotiate. This was their first ever World Cup appearance, having ousted Paraguay, Chile and others to finish 5th in South American qualifying. Their squad lacked star names, with most of them spread around the likes of MLS, other South American leagues, and a handful from mid-table English sides.
This was an anticlimax, as World Cup openers go, in that Venezuela weren't fit to be there. We ripped them to shreds from the first minute to the last. Hakon Evjen, a favourite of mine in the wide right role, banged in the first two early, and Haaland added two more either side of half time. Odegaard poured in the fifth late on for a facile win that put us completely in charge of the group.
https://i.ibb.co/pr7RBnf/WC26-Nor-Ven.png
In the middle game, USA edged out Venezuela 1-0 which sent both us and the hosts through to the knockouts ahead of our group-ending clash. We therefore needed to get a point against the Americans to top the group.
I wasn't sure what to make of Oscar Pareja's young American side, perhaps still a World Cup cycle from peaking. Liverpool's Brendan Aaronson, Man City's Chris Richards and Dortmund's Giovanni Reyna looked like the stars. The game started dully until five minutes from half time, a comically bad American offside trap allowed Haaland through in 50 yards of space and he did the rest. They then gifted the great man another, his 76th for Norway, with a crass penalty giveaway before half time. Jens Petter Hauge made it three after the break and the group was won without breaking sweat.
https://i.ibb.co/F6nc2pH/WC26group.png
Elsewhere there weren't any massive early exits, but a few surprises around. Switzerland, Turkey and Chile were among those to go home, while Jamaica, Uzbekistan and Angola progressed. Here's the top half of the draw:
https://i.ibb.co/s2tNTXM/WC26tophalf.png
And the bottom half, featuring us plus every African side ever:
https://i.ibb.co/Db74ZHf/WC26bottomhalf.png
In the new knockout round of 32, our opponents were Serbia. This was far from the easiest draw we could have had. Among others they boasted Chelsea sharp-shooter Dusan Vlahovic, who had an almost Haaland-esque goalscoring record for his country. We had lost first choice left back Bjorkan to injury, so in stepped teenager Marius Joner, from Bodo/Glimt.
As usual we began the game on the front foot and created numerous opportunities, Ajer particularly to the fore stepping out of defence as is his custom. Half an hour in, though, we got stunned by a big punt forward and an utterly savage left-footed finish from the aforementioned Vlahovic. There then followed a crazy 15 minutes of pressure in which we were farcically clearing it off their line for them among other things. At half time it was a smash and grab 1-0 lead for Serbia.
In the second half they looked a lot more comfortable as we flagged - they had had a much longer gap after their second group game. McDermott had to make a great save from Vlahovic to keep it at 1-0. Then, out of nowhere, Haaland caught Milenkovic dallying in possession, ran through and finished coolly for 1-1. Then with fifteen minutes to go, cometh the hour, cometh someone else - Martin Odegaard, who smoked a left footed finish into the top corner from 20 yards. Haaland headed another in and the scoreline at the end looked comfortable - but for so long, I was sure we were heading out.
https://i.ibb.co/ZK4QjMJ/WC26-Nor-Ser.png
There were precious few upsets in Round 2 and it's fair to say the draw wasn't exactly opening up for us.
https://i.ibb.co/3T2ZPCK/WC26R3.png
This matched Norway's best ever World Cup performances (1998, 2022) but the next opposition, in Pasadena, were World Cup royalty in the form of Ze Germans. Unfortunately, as I hadn't done the relevant box-ticking before the save, it was a largely greyed-out German side. The only thing for it was to send our full guns out at them and attack. And what a start we had - on 19 minutes, Martin Odegaard was slipped in wide and nailed the finish from a tight angle for 1-0 Norway. The game then became about defending against German pressure. We managed this until half time, and shortly after that the teenager Joner cleared off the line. After that the Germans were remarkably toothless despite a greyed-out fitness advantage, and we almost chillaxed our way to a victory which took Norway to its first World Cup quarter-final.
https://i.ibb.co/VtRX7js/WC26-Nor-Ger.png
https://i.ibb.co/pz9qJjG/WC26QF.png
The win came at some cost, as Joner picked up a suspension and so we were left with only one available full back in the squad; centre back Hanche-Olsen would be shoved in at left back as we took on a Smallpockets-led Argentina, in New Jersey. Their penalty win over Brazil was well merited. Lautaro Martinez led the line for them, with Emi Buendia scheming behind him in a 4-4-1-1 featuring a ruggedly set-up backline.
The game could not have started better - in the third minute, Odegaard was tripped in the area, the penalty was given, and Haaland stroked home his seventh of the World Cup. Then, minutes later, Evjen nodded across the area and Haaland volleyed in another. This looked to me to be CLEARLY offside, but the Lebanese referee (lol) was clearly feeling anti-Argie and gave it anyway. In the second half, he evened things up by giving Argentina a penalty, which Lautaro Martinez put away to bring the deficit back to 2-1. Then, on 66 minutes, Martinez was played in behind and smashed home the equaliser. At this point it felt like a proper World Cup classic. We sort of got back on top but their keeper made saves and we got loads of suspension-earning yellows. But, four minutes from time, we got a set piece on the left, Odegaard played it in and young centre half Martin Normann Williamsen planted the header in for 3-2. Even then our keeper had to make two more saves, but we held on to send Smallpockets crashing out and the mighty Vikings through to the rarefied Valhalla of the semi-finals.
https://i.ibb.co/HByjyP3/WC26-Nor-Arg.png
https://i.ibb.co/SBdtJmm/WC26SF.png
England were the opposition, and after the 5-0 skullfucking which had brought my Belgium days to an end, this felt like a chance for revenge. The slightly left field appointment of Francisco Abelardo, after Waistcoat's resignation, had led them away from the 4-3-3 of yore into a surprising 4-4-fucking-2 renaissance. They had been bold enough to rest key players in their quarter-final against Morocco. On the other hand, we had three new suspensions, including key man Ajer at the back and Berg in midfield. It felt very much like we were up against it.
Immediately that proved the case. Saka crossed from the left in the third minute, Tammy Abraham chunked it nowhere, it bounced off Normann Williamsen and into the net for an own goal. But then we went straight down the other end and had our own lucky break. Schjelderup, making his first start of the tournament, put a shit cross in, it bounced off someone, fell back to him clean through and he finished for 1-1. The game then piddled along for a bit until England went back in front with a disastrous clanger from our goalkeeper, who flapped at an innocuous Ward-Prowse floater, and Harry Maguire was there to follow in.
As we got into the second half we were seriously knackered. I had to make two subs based purely on lack of energy. The third and final change was bringing on Sorloth in place of the flagging Odegaard with twenty minutes to go, and to fire it direct at him, in true Norwegian tradition. Soon after, our right back fired one over the English lines, Haaland ran onto it, and dinked one over Henderson into the net. 2-2. A minute after that Haaland missed an absolute sitter three yards out. England came out looking for the winner and the space behind them expanded. Haaland went clean through again and missed. It was costly. Another shitty set piece was not cleared and Mount swept home. Then a ghastly error by Ostigard allowed Ollie Watkins to sprint through for the fourth. We went out having been easily the better side, on the bizarre truth that however many goals Erling Haaland may score (now 81 in 69 caps), this team creates so many easy chances for him that he is still a very wasteful striker. I think that probably says less about Haaland and more about the FM22 match engine.
https://i.ibb.co/ZJSsBMv/WC26-Nor-Eng.png
That meant yet another France v England final, just like Euro 24; these two old foes utterly dominate world football, with no other nation even close to them. Once again it was France who triumphed, for their third major trophy in a row, and England were left waiting once again. We absolutely did not turn up for the third place match and lost 1-0, which was a shame as I felt we merited third, but Croatia were much fitter than us and by that point in the tournament, fitness is much more important than skill.
https://i.ibb.co/hgpJHw8/WC26final.png
I now have a decision to make - as tempting as it is to stay on for a run at the Euros with this historically good Norwegian side, I also can't see myself topping that World Cup run, so it might be time to move on to my fourth nation. There are quite a few interesting jobs open after the World Cup, so we'll have to see where we end up.
I can't buy a point at the moment. Somehow not been sacked despite being dreadful and 4m in debt. Not even sure I'll get promoted back up from the 3.Liga next season at this rate either.
I just had a notification that I'm about to manage my 1500th game in this save and I went and checked to see other long serving managers and Xavi is currently 28 years deep at Al-Sadd.
We've played six league games thus far and four different players have scored a hattrick.
https://i.imgur.com/NElLs2d.png
Smashing it.
As much as people might look at that and say how is that fun?, I want that. :(
10 games in to my Premier League return and I'm one place above the relegation spot on goal difference. DADDY'S HOME
Second season, relegation candidates in Bundesliga 2. Somehow in the top 4 for the opening weeks before sliding down to 10th. Somehow the board and supporters aren't happy with this. I'm German Graham Potter.
Took them from 15th to 8th and probably should have ended up even higher, my chance conversion is pretty bad at the moment.
The above tactic is working quite well, especially in home games. For away games against better teams I'm struggling to prevent them exploiting the space between wingbacks and wide centre-backs and thus dragging everyone out of position. Four at the back with a DM in front seems much more stable for those scenarios.
I hate arriving at a club where everybody has minimum fee release clauses in their contract though. Those two high potential players I highlighted in the last post? Both snapped up by other clubs in the winter transfer window, as was my best central defender. :moop: Thankfully, this has given me a bit to invest after the season and as my scouting network is now able to do more than browse the local newspapers for applications from players, which is what it felt like at Helmond, I should be able to sign key players.
Ball-Playing centre-back and Complete Forward are the main target areas.
Have you tried playing them as actual Wide Centre-Backs? That's the same defensive formation as the one I play and I can't say I have noticed said gaps. It will happen on occasion but it's not regular by any means.
Yes, I have, could not notice any difference. Might also be a lack of tactical familiarity and team cohesion, there has been a lot of turnover in my squad. Both the wing-backs and one of the centre-backs were new arrivals. Also the wing-backs don't have great positioning, the cause might be as simple as that.
I'm still tinkering a bit with roles and instructions, the new season should give me a good indication as to what works.
Halaand becoming the Baggio figure of WC 2026.
Turns out this game is pretty good.
Honestly, even at its worst, FM has always been the best value for money in terms of games for me.
Does everyone use “editor data files” to fix stuff (I have right team names but through the weird steam files, not picking some files when creating a new games database) or have I just got none of you on steam? I’m all about steam leaderboards so plz add me for competition. I promise I’ll never chat to you. https://steamcommunity.com/id/w1ck3d_5k1llz
This season is make or break at Viktoria Koln.
I chose the team cos I liked their badge but then immediately realised they had 2 very promising young players I was hoping to lead to the Ballon d'Or. One of them was lost to a minimum fee release clause but my boy Amyn remains and is going back to right wing this season, hoping to cut it as an Inside Forward.
Fans will know I somehow got promoted in the first season, finishing 2nd, but we've just got relegated back to 3. Liga, following a 6-5 aggregate defeat in the relegation playoff to Kaiserslautern. Last season, in desperation, I signed a load of players based purely on star ratings from my scouts. This didn't go well and we we're bleeding money out of every hole. So I did what any shrewd businessman who couldn't be arsed making a spreadsheet would do:
https://i.imgur.com/WfaDSGr.png
Sold everyone I could and then loaned anyone who would come from my affiliate for free. The top loan is actually my first choice keeper being loaned back to me after I sold him with a 50% sell-on fee. Genius, right? He'll play in net one more year, hopefully see us promoted and open the door to an actual good keeper when we've got some money to spare.
All this activity means this:
https://i.imgur.com/7p8wXDo.png
:youpi:
Actually that's the first time I've realised I've scraped under my budget so as soon as I stop writing this post and try and sign a slightly better goalkeeper that we had on trial but could only offer £350 to and he wanted £1000.
I made a load of friendly cups and they were all on TV so made some decent money off it. Also won every friendly!
https://i.imgur.com/V1rlf2A.png
Tactically we're going for this, and sticking with it cos I'm sick to death of chopping and changing just to appease the fans:
https://i.imgur.com/6M8gAR3.png
I've not put any of the affiliate loanees in yet cos wanna give TEH LADS a chance.
English players suddenly being non-EU (I'm allowed 3) is a kick in the knackers. Hoping someone makes a decent offer for Ro-Shaun Williams.
Anyway, let's get promoted! Board expect top half, media predict 8th (out of 20), players reckon they can reach the playoffs (3rd) and I wanna win the damn thing.
EDIT:
What we saying, lads?
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:drool:
Looks like a battering ram of a tactic, almost everyone attacking through the middle :D Who is providing the width/crosses there, the mezzalas?
Krahl for me.
Has anyone done a stint in the Championship? What an absolute slog.
Season 15.
Liverpool FC - 2036/37
After finding themselves without European football following Gareth Southgate's second stint at the club faring worse than his first, it was deemed imperative that an immediate return to Europe's top table was needed so as to ensure we could feast in future.
I decided against wholesale changes straight from the off and instead signed just the one player during the summer, a relatively modest £40M given what we were getting in return and he didn't do too badly with PSG now interested too so we'll see if they offer anything as the finances aren't as solid as I'd like for a full on rebuild.
https://i.imgur.com/v8o3qHt.png
I would have liked him to score more but it is what it is.
Season Summary
Not much to update from here if I'm honest as our involvement in the domestic cups was fleeting with former club Tottenham knocking us out of the FA Cup 4th round whilst Man City ended our participating in the EFL Cup at the quarter final stage. Both results were disappointing but probably could have gone either way really As it is, this allowed us to concentrate on the league only which we knew before the turn of the year that there was bob hope of challenging for so we had to settle on ensuring a top four finish was obtained.
It was.
https://i.imgur.com/5L0RzGa.png
We beat Man City rather handsomely in April, 4-1 but that was the same scoreline in which they beat us earlier in the campaign and Man United whilst never really threatening to challenge the Citizens, they never really looked like relinquishing second place either.
Our better GD, second only to the league champions ensured we finished above Tottenham and 3rd was much better than the 9th position that the former England manager left the club in.
Speaking of former managers.....Man United's current manager....no other than Jurgen Klopp. Traitor!
The summer is going to be a busy one as I feel I know where the weaknesses are in the squad and I'd like to bring in a few of the old boys in staffing roles, a spring cleaning so to speak and see where we end up because next season I want a trophy at least given this was the first season since taking over Tottenham at the midway point in 28/29 that my team and I have failed to lift something aloft. The first time in the last six that my team haven't been made league champions for that matter too.
Erling Haaland again ended the season as the clubs top goal scorer but he is 37 in six weeks time and missed over ten matches this year with a major hip injury so I'm going to cash in and make this departure a bit of a statement of intent. You will be missed, Erling but it is time.
https://i.imgur.com/E5EHR74.png
Amazon offering FM21 for free.
I didn't even know there was such a thing as Prime Gaming. Tales of Monkey Island is now downloading though. :cool:
Okay, based on the suggestion of @Adramelch I will share stuff from my FM21 CM0102 save here. It was spooky starting the save, cus I could pretty much sleepwalk to setting my starting XI, having probably started about a dozen WBA saves on the OG 01/02 back in the day. This is my current squad:
https://i.ibb.co/ydhdLFh/cm0102.png
and this is the quite frankly absurd Jason Roberts:
https://i.ibb.co/FqztXqh/cm0102-2.png
great fun
Jesus has the creator of that found a way to export the CM database to FM, or has he wasted his entire life creating that?
Let's see Tommy Wirtanen, Cherno Samba and Steve Palmer?
Eldar Hadzimehmedovic.
Just go through the legend - Kerr, Tsigalko, Aghahowa etc.
https://i.ibb.co/sFNFzYF/kerr.png
:cool:
i actually forgot he was a CM01/02 meme until after i'd signed him
Samba's been done dirty there.
I dunno, he's class but his stats have never looked that good on paper. Maybe AI managers just can't get him ticking.
So I ended up joining Feyenoord and the board expects us to reach the CL semi-finals. Even though we were 3rd seed in the group stage draw. :cab:
https://i.imgur.com/HkaVyJK.png
I love it when a plan comes together. :wub:
I'm approaching 4 years with these kids now, and decided ahead of this season to collectively give them as much gametime in the league as possible, except for against Barca & Real. Naturally the rest of the squad started making a fuss in about December on their own playing time, but it's working quite well so far overall.
All 5 are still on track to become good to great La Liga-players (Garcia is turning into a monster), so will get some fresh screenshots of them up soon. Goal is to get as many of them on the Sociedad legend list as possible. :cool:
Just spotted this guy in my save. Fucking ridiculous:
https://i.gyazo.com/dac9c65b8353230f...5b39683dac.png
He deserves a new contract tbh.
I guess not, seeing as he's earning the same as this guy:
https://i.gyazo.com/7eb061b439340d38...6cc6412220.png
After the World Cup semi-final with Norway's golden generation, it was time to swan off somewhere else in search of the next one. I think I may have found it in Bogota.
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By the time I've holidayed through the blank first year/had a few friendlies, I'm hoping they might be even better and ready to take the fight to Argentina and Brazil, as well as get to the 2030 World Cup.
Colombia have been churning great players pretty steadily in my saves in the last few versions. Not so many high profile players in my current one though it'd seem. This is their star player:
https://i.gyazo.com/d2428fc6c78799e8...d2e7c10fb7.png
Season 2030/31 Update
As I mentioned previously, I did end up joining Feyenoord in the summer. Monaco also offered me a job, but they had many aging players and not much money to replace them, a situation I didn't really fancy getting myself into. Staying at Olympiacos was also somewhat tempting as I felt the squad I'd built was pretty strong, but I thought that things would get stale super fast if I did so. The expectations from the board were pretty ridiculous: We were supposed to win the Eredivisie (which is an ok expectation, but Ajax did win the league by 10 points the season before, so there's that), win the Cup (no problem here) and more importantly reach the semis of the Champions League, with the club only going past the group stages twice in the last 12 seasons, getting eliminated in the first knockout round both times. Much like at Olympiacos, there was a lot of reshuffling in terms of players, as I ended up buying no fewer than 17 players (few of them are future prospects), while selling 9.
https://i.gyazo.com/93a940527968e26e...f056bb8ed7.png
Pretty fucking crazy if you ask me. For the last 4 months or so, it was just a case of us and Ajax trying to outscore each other as it looked like it'd come down to goal difference. And it almost did, but Ajax failed to beat VVV-Venlo (the surprise team of the season as they also made it to the cup final) in their penultimate game which gave us the chance to actually leapfrog them and eventually win the league. Had that not happened, they'd have won the league courtesy of their ridiculous 117 goals scored (no idea how, given their 78 goals the season before, with no new signings). Still, I haven't had an unbeaten season in quite some time, so it was pretty satisfying. Especially given that in all but one of our draws we were superkeepered. For those interested in stats, we scored 2 goals out of our 13.56 xG in those 6 games. Nevertheless we set the Eredivisie record for most points earned, while Ajax set the record for most points earned without winning the title. We also set records for most wins, fewest goals conceded (13) and most clean sheets (24). We managed to couple our league title with a cup win:
https://i.gyazo.com/8a89939de573b4c3...85aa23074e.png
Pretty smooth sailing all the way up to the final (with a very satisfying 6-0 over Ajax). In the final VVV actually put up a decent fight and even took the lead twice, but in the end our superiority showed.
In the Champions League we had to go through the qualifiers and even though we had fairly tough draws we made it through. There, we were third seed in the draw (only two places from second seed sadly) and got a fairly tough group.
https://i.gyazo.com/4999affa00a31956...382b2d75ca.png
Apart from the game in London, we gave a very good account of ourselves and I'd argue we were kinda unlucky not to go through, as we should have very easily beaten Celtic at their place, as well as gotten draws in both Juventus games. In the end though it's the mark of the big team that they can get the points in a fairly even match, so no complaints there. An honorable mention must go to our ridiculous 10-1 win over Shakhtar in the qualifiers, in a tie that had a total of 17 goals over two games. Ridiculous. Anyway, our third place in the groups meant we would go into the Europa League knockouts, with the board (unsurprisingly at this point) expecting us to win the whole thing:
https://i.gyazo.com/40becb9c66e6ab78...f94d0156a2.png
A very lucky set of draws once again. If Jim thought Charleroi in the quarters was lucky the last time around, how about Nurnberg in the semis. There's not many times you get a 10-0 aggregate wins in the semi-finals of a European competition, I'll tell you that much. The tie against Lazio was a proper hard one, as they inexplicably got a 2-1 win at our place and were 1-0 up at their with 15 minutes to go, but then our super-sub striker (more on that later) bagged two goals to send the tie to overtime and eventually penalties. Speaking of penalties it was a tense one:
https://i.gyazo.com/002110c16f92ec77...71b35a794d.png
14 penalties a piece. It started horrendously for us but thankfully our keeper brought us back and we ended up winning. Damjanovic got a proper telling-off for missing both penalties though I'll tell you that much. Same thing happened to Belardi one would imagine. Anyway, our win over Nurnberg set us up for a final against Leicester (coincidentally the team I beat two seasons prior when I was at Krasnodar), who after a 4-0 first leg win over Chelsea were all but through. Well as it turns out that wasn't the case, as Chelsea also beat them 4-0 in normal time (with two injury time goals) and then went to score two more in extra time. I was a bit annoyed as I definitely fancied our chances against Leicester, but oh well:
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https://i.gyazo.com/101981f8b7b4e4e2...b98450148a.png
A great set of players all around. The most observant of you will have noticed that I brought three of my Olympiacos players with me, namely Alzate, Damjanovic and Grahovac. I tried to bring a couple more, but it wasn't to be, with one of them even joining Barcelona instead. These were the stand-out performers:
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Unbeaten season :clap:
I'm toying with playing 01-02 and signing only players sharing a surname. Good footballing surnames would be welcome. I'm thinking about Cole.
I stayed up in my second season, avoiding relegation from Bundesliga 2 with a few games to spare. Unfortunately two of my best players refuse to sign new deals and are leaving on a free at the end of the season.
I appear to have been given a faustian pact of a save where I have inexplicably had two golden generation youth intakes in a row but every single prick I enter contract talks with will not accept anything less than important player as squad status :moop:
I managed to get Derby up via the playoffs first season (would've been automatic without points deduction) - then West Ham came in for me in December in 19th place. Had to do it.
Playing Sesko and Vlasic as CMs :drool:
This is what my ass. man. gets up to when I holiday over a game:
https://i.imgur.com/v64kbSl.png
Mind you, this was an internal friendly against Sociedad B, and he has 17 in Motivation.
Edit: Apparently he just showed up with bottles at half-time.
https://i.imgur.com/bnMKFmf.png
I hope the water bottle throws were consecutive, using the same water bottle.
I found the footage.
https://youtu.be/PPEd5y2szLc?t=200
(Start at 3.20)
Haaland April 2031 in my game. I only thought to look due to his absolute bonkers league record this season....
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112/91
fail
Here is the golden generation, 5 years on.
https://i.imgur.com/q9M45xV.png
https://i.imgur.com/tfVfEdN.png
https://i.imgur.com/oe0wr2D.png
https://i.imgur.com/WEM35eB.png
https://i.imgur.com/mVH4InP.png
Sadly, Ayerdi never recovered his potential after an 8 month injury within his first year. He's still a really solid utility player for my system though so no need to kick him out yet.
Gil is an odd one, his output is actually way stronger than his stats would suggest.
Garcia is the real star however. Two-footed with that anticipation/composure/decision/technique is an incredible combination.
Garcia's value. :drool:
Second season at St. Pauli went a bit better, though I'm still struggling to find a proper run of form.
https://i.gyazo.com/d407e1c20c3726d7...7be4c55640.png
I was mostly relying on kids though (most prominent exception being a 34-year-old Patrick Bamford for mentoring purposes) who should come into their own this year. Promotion or bust!
I can tell you with certainty that they weren't. :DQuote:
Match Engine 21.3.0.0:
– Near post corners made less effective
@Serj: I reckon just by sticking to the same squad, you'll see a pretty decent improvement honestly.
Season 2031/32 Update
My second season at Feyenoord is over and done. There were fewer changes to the squad with only one major transfer, a couple youngsters as well as a few players returning from loans:
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And now for some action:
https://i.gyazo.com/44272347f9932f2c...ed51fef716.png
We didn't manage to stay undefeated like last season, but we earned 7 more points and we scored a ridiculous 117 goals (matching Ajax's record from last season), while still only conceding 20 (half of them coming after today's patch which does seem to have messed with our defence a bit). Ajax were nowhere near as good as the previous season, so really the title was ours essentially from the first game of the season. That said, they did manage to beat us in the cup final (on extra time), after we had a player sent off, and ruined our double. Oh well.
https://i.gyazo.com/3101455b43c14adf...70aa94bc3a.png
Pretty fucking crazy I tell you. Once again we were somewhat blessed with the draws, but we did show up and demolished the first proper big club we encountered, so nobody can say we were lucky honestly. That said, we definitely didn't deserve to go past Newcastle and eventually stole the tie with two late (88, 90+1) goals from Satriano in the return fixture. Anyway, we were set to face Bayern in the final:
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https://i.gyazo.com/bb9c0d5de0da5148...f93c7fdbb4.png
Let's start from the obvious. Satriano is an absolute fucking beast. I thought he was insane when he scored 51 in 55 last season, and then he went and scored 54 in 46 this season. Bonkers. This time around, Velenzuela joined him in being amazing, even if not quite at the same level. Baturina, Rogerio Jose, Damjanovic and Nagy all deserved a mention for creating an incredible amount of goals. Lastly, I should mention that Grahovac's stats are not correct in this picture (it's his Inter stats). He scored 10 and created 5 in 23 games before leaving in January.
An incredible season all around, with us even going on a winning streak across all competitions that lasted 5 whole months. I was headhunted throughout the season, as I was offered interviews by Valencia, Hertha and Chelsea without even applying. I decided that I would stay at Feyenoord for at least another season, but I didn't expect us to do so well in the Champions League, so now it sort of feels like there's no way but down from here on out.
And, as I finished that post, this piece of news came up:
https://i.gyazo.com/b18379310823d967...cbeb983f5b.png
23/24 went great, thanks for asking
https://i.imgur.com/z3kg7Ay.png
In the remaining games I somehow stretched out the inevitable by beating Man City at home and the 5-5 draw at Norwich on the last day at least kept me ahead of Wolves, but I believe I've obliterated the record for worst defensive performance by some distance. Turns out retaining a large chunk of your players from League One doesn't carry over too well
https://i.imgur.com/CQPXT84.png
Season two's window.
https://i.imgur.com/AYPVK3u.png
https://i.imgur.com/fZQAuiz.png
Annoyingly, despite the window being open to sign him, I can't register him to the squad!
He's very similar in attributes and wage to the ancient firmino who rocked up in the Scottish championship for me and got a 6.5 average. Legend.
So after surviving my first season in the Prem with Slough Town in FM19, I've shelved the game for the time being. I'll be back to it but because FM22 became fully available on Xbox GamePass (AND modded, which allowed me to remove the fake names and open up the German national team, etc.), I've started a new save on the new game to see what it's like.
I decided to go for Llanelli Town, currently in the 2nd tier in Wales (JD Cymru South), as it's actually the closest playable team to where I currently live.
Firstly, I know some other posters have praised it, but I really dislike the new transfer ranges. I understand why it's in - different teams will value players differently and this fluctuates regularly - but I felt the previous system was fine and you were able to work out the true value of players fairly easily. I also hate how it looks, both on the squad screen and on the player profiles.
Secondly, I forgot about Brexit. :moop: In my Slough save, Brexit was cancelled and so signing youngsters was never really an issue. If I do manage to get Llanelli Town up into Europe, it'll be tough for me to improve with foreign youngsters with the work permit rules in place. If that happens, I'm either going to be jumping ship to another nation or starting a journeyman save with some random leagues across the world. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
And lastly, with this being my first new save in god knows how long, I'm finding it hard to have a connection to the team and players yet. Obviously understandable as I've come from a save where we went from Tier 6 to the Prem and I dragged a lot of players up with me and had a connection to them all. I'm sure over the course of a few seasons I'll be fully invested but it's weird coming from a long-term save and starting fresh, especially on a newer version of the game.
As for the season itself, we've started strongly. We're predicted to finish 6th and the board expect a mid-table finish, but we're unbeaten after 7 games and sit top of the pile. Pre-season favourites Carmarthen Town have had a stuttering start (we managed a 1-1 draw at their place) but I imagine they'll be back up the top challenging as the season goes on. Only the champions go up as there are 2 regional divisions, so it's top or bust if we want to get straight into the top division.
https://i.ibb.co/0jnh05F/llanelli-early-table.png
Yeah I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember signing players and then having to wait months before being able to register them.
https://i.imgur.com/Z1ogWUP.png
Played everyone once.
Mostly down to this man
https://i.imgur.com/id3lOy5.png
Ye he was a beast for me too at RFS once he got going.
https://i.ibb.co/9nwmmj6/Copa28draw.png
Not sure if this is the group of death or the group of life, or how it's been drawn at all, given that it has all of the top three ranked sides in it and the hosts Ecuador.
The Haaland in my game is doing well. Could hit 150 if he doesn't retire.
https://i.gyazo.com/cf91b962f4b8fc60...5b8d7f4353.png
Love it.
My goalkeeper in general is one of my best players, but I have the feeling on some days he just cannot be bothered.
https://i.gyazo.com/17a50726b14978e5...c6db280f34.png
Six conceded from seven shots on goal against, with expected goals against being 0.9. :moop:
THE STREAK is dead :(
https://i.imgur.com/moNimPT.png
https://i.imgur.com/eL2AAkP.png
Easily the longest streak I've had in one of the top 5 leagues.
I just checked and they were the last team to beat us in the league too, back in November 2045.
Satriano has had a decent start to the season:
https://i.gyazo.com/5bfac0aa26879087...8c7f470d89.png
Got a galaxy book, got FM22 on gamepass, got the logo packs ready. Just need some time now.
Has there been a patch?
The match screen always shows my opposition ratings and formation by default now. :mad:
Also:
https://i.imgur.com/1OanRhE.png
:mad:
Just a quick one. I'm managing Qatar SC and pre-season I'm looking to offload sone of the older players. Suddenly Guangzhou offer to take my 31 left back (he's decent, but replaceable) on loan, so I up the loan fee hugely just to fuck with them, $700k-a-month, plus his $23k wages per week. They said yes :D
The cunt then turns them down. Fucking $8m down the fucking drain 'cos this cunt didn't want to spend 12 months in China. What a colossal twat.
https://i.gyazo.com/c84648641e568e2f...9f79048200.png
Mission failed, after another season of infuriating inconsistency.
The board are still delighted with my performance, especially as we made it to the cup semi-final (no chance against a Haaland-led Bayern there). Still, as I haven't met my target I'll resign. England, Italy or Spain next, I think.
I think the 5-1-3-1 that I played around with has a lot of potential, but I never really managed to make it click for more than two or three matches on the trot. I'm tempted to stick with it, but I'll make that dependent on what sort of players are in my next squad.
https://i.gyazo.com/eb9b120272995feb...15f726bbfc.png
Quite pleased with that. Squad looks good as well, apart from up front where they still played an aging Belotti last year. They do have a lot of inverted wingers though, so I'll probably adapt my tactic from 3 central attacking midfielders to one playmaker with two inverted wide players either side of him.
Not enough central defenders either, so three at the back is probably out.
I might try something like this and see if it leaves me too open at the back.
https://i.gyazo.com/a6481eb99f790785...2fee9d0ab4.jpg
The away version will probably have two DMs.
The march goes on.
https://i.imgur.com/wYBQz3B.png
Loving the attacking wide centre backs!
During a 3am, the baby won't sleep, youtube hole, I found this. Something I'll be doing after a few seasons I think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvNG3U2v68Q
I've used that. It's a bit mongy for lower leagues, but good for top leagues.
Doesn't it give you an option to moan?
Anyone else have a hard on for bringing in old players to see out their playing days? I have just had Van Dijk retire at Ajax and now Mo has joined the club for his last hurrah.
https://i.gyazo.com/d55d2f22b32614fc...0c0f2621e4.png
I remember the heady days of Del Piero celebrating his 40th birthday by watching Cov draw from the bench in L1. I can only assume his real 40th was as glamorous
As soon as they hit 30 they're dead to me.
The oldies have grown on me. I'm a particular fan of getting players to rack up high counting records - goals, appearances and so on.
I'm going into my Championship return with a big time Charlie problem. In my optimistic days of Premier League pre-season I nabbed Adam Hlozek from that next gen 50 list for £7.5m in the hope he'd be my talisman to safety as a minimum, instead he spent a year doing fuck all while not being match fit. Now I'm relegated and he's got a £75k a week contract that could fund an entire bench, yet when I offer him to other clubs he's kicked off massively and started an insurrection. He can't be happy with second tier nonsense surely, I'm dealing with a squad of dimwits.
Depends on who I am for me. An almost 40 year old Tevez to Latvia…. Heck yes. No way I’d sign him or someone like that for a proper team though.
When I do, I then do everything I can to keep them on as staff. I had a save with Del Piero, where after making me his last club (I forget who) he then followed me everywhere I went as my assistant manager.
Ye in small clubs you don't really have an option. At bigger clubs I only do it with proper big stars, or good free transfers. I actually had the option to leave Feyenoord for Juventus but declined seeing as like 7 of the first XI were 32+ and I just couldn't bother.
https://i.gyazo.com/5f2691f27745c4b8...5b4663a856.png
Just bonkers. I am at the end of December and he's on 36 goals already this season.
I've started a new save.
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:baz:
I did something similar where I had a 37 (?) year old Alessandro Diamanti join my Hibs side to sort of walk around the pitch doing what he fancied for his final season, including scoring from the halfway line in one game, as we finished about 5th in the SPL, then had him as my U21 assistant manager or something for the next 20 seasons as we won a billion trophies. In my sort of imaginary one-man role playing way of immersing myself in the game (like @Smjffy spoke about a bit), the fans had almost as much affection for him as the 50m champions league winners.
https://i.imgur.com/nSAGe2y.png
:youpi:
@Baz why is your press officer a Troll Doll?
https://i.imgur.com/HymhIWg.png
I'm on the verge of financial ruin but still spent 45 million on this lad:
https://i.imgur.com/BOIU2gR.png
I don't get why my transfer budget is still so high with that financial outlook.
Forgot about Brexit and that he wont join until 18. :moop:
Season 2032/33 Update
One more season done and honestly, it was just more of the same, which really means it's probably time to move on. There were a few players to join the club, but once again it was mostly youngsters, with only two players coming in to play an important role in the squad:
https://i.gyazo.com/3b673c6c027d377c...0118499fa1.png
With Grahovac "stolen" from us last January and with the rest of the squad being at a very good level, I decided to go all out of a world class attacking midfielder. So this guy came in for a ridiculous 75m. To my defence my scouts told me he was a 5-star player and his stats are pretty good, but his crappy finishing really came back to haunt us. Worst transfer I've made in ages, given the price.
https://i.gyazo.com/38b63f2a9f4454ed...2016a62900.png
Not necessarily a player we needed but when you get the chance to sign this guy for 15m, you just do. He was an upgrade on our backup defenders anyway.
https://i.gyazo.com/8a1a0c1557a2dccd...972ff4e28f.png
Not as many points as last year, but we scored more goals and conceded fewer, so it was just a case of us having a few more off-days in an overall better season. This was coupled with a very easy cup win:
https://i.gyazo.com/4ace93c37b5bfa6b...eedf784628.png
And a pretty good European run:
https://i.gyazo.com/1c035178563335d8...0cc953d559.png
A fairly tough group draw, given that we were first seeds, but we remained unbeaten and Atletico didn't make it through so I count that as a massive win. The knockout draws were also pretty harsh, but we completely outclassed Dortmund. As we did Chelsea, so it was a complete travesty that we needed penalties (and 11 of them) to get past them. Then we got Bayern and while the home result really didn't do us justice, we got completely demolished in the return fixture. Still, a semi-final appearance is a great result, so I am happy with that.
https://i.gyazo.com/2b9c7b9fffc753fa...d0517fb28f.png
Sixty-eight goals. Sixty-eight fucking goals. Hands down the best striker (given the level of the club) I've had since the days of abusing the match engine of old. In three seasons, he has scored a total of 172 goals and created another 51, in a total of 150 appearances. The rest of the squad was also pretty strong. Just to reinforce the point I made about Mathieu being my worst transfer ever, he finished with the lowest average rating despite his 75m transfer fee. At least he did improve throughout the season finishing with a respectable 21 goals and 7 assists, which is honestly pretty close to Grahovac's first season, so maybe I am being a bit harsh, although we bought the latter for just 14m back in the day.
Anyway, the season is done and I've already moved on:
https://i.gyazo.com/7e88bcb9cccbbaa5...70613a962c.png
After missing the title by a single point last season, they only mustered a 5th place this one, which means no Champions League football. Might be a blessing in disguise not having to face all those big clubs while we are rebuilding. The squad is massive and has some really good players, but it's very uneven with the central defenders being decent at best. The star player is also joining Bayern on a free which really sucks. Still, I am excited to have a project in my hands, after 4 seasons at Olympiacos and Feyenoord where I really just took over the best club in the country.
8.33 average rating. :drool:
Big fan of this Zealand skin.
Have you seen his facepack?
It is incredible.
https://youtu.be/OtR5Q01f2Co
As good as it is, I prefer knowing a player is a regen.
Checking their history should do that anyway.
That's an extra click on already bloated mess.
Any tips for lowering the 'intensity' of a tactic without losing performance?
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I have everyone on tackle harder and mark tighter. Knocking that off/switching to ease off tackles might make my pressing a waste of time.
Will you be able to nick Satriano for Leipzig, Adra?
He's 32 and I'd have to pay big money so probably not.
https://i.imgur.com/DH6CjI1.png
Another huge moment for the Abel Garcia world domination train. :drool:
Also, 3 in the top 10. :nodd:
Edit:
https://i.imgur.com/Zz7YdFV.png
:eyemouth:
Thats madness. Best feeling in the game
I love it. I think I posted a few pages back there were things I wasnt sure on but its grown on me massively.
:nodd:
Been using it for a while. So much better than the shit they have from SI.
Zealand skin without Zealands shite all over it: https://www.reddit.com/r/footballman...tm_name=iossmf
EDIT:
Tested the Zealand skin myself. The lineup bar at the bottom during the game no longer shows if a player has picked up an injury and you have to rely on him getting the ball during highlights and seeing the orange cross next to his name.
Also this alignment is making me ill:
https://i.imgur.com/SnIiB1L.png
Will try the Rensie skin..
That's pretty insane @Bernanke. You must feel like a proud dad or something.
https://i.gyazo.com/b865f3838ea02b15...fb67511d9b.png
Absolute legend.
And then there's this guy:
https://i.gyazo.com/1be4299d1c0ea004...d2b4fb6486.png
He's getting paid for this. It's because of their preferred foot, but still. :D
Mbappe is absolutely disgusting on this.
As is Fruno Bernandes.
Half way point
https://i.imgur.com/wrvK2GT.png
https://i.imgur.com/Uo3n8I2.png
I really don't understand why my board is giving me such ridiculous transfer budgets with this trend. I'm tempted to just spend it to see what happens, but then I'm sure they'll force me to sell one of my star players for a crap bid all of a sudden.
What's even more surprising to me is that wage budget. All the top clubs in my save are at the 5.5m euros p/w spent. I don't think I've seen a wage budget higher than 7m ever. How have you been doing in terms of results out of curiosity, seeing as you are pretty deep into the save?
Pretty much walking the league with Barca occasionally providing a challenge (maybe won 7-8 of the titles over the past 10 or so).
Couple of CL titles too.
Season 2033/34 Update
As I said in my previous post, I decided to join RB Leipzig after spending (a record for my career so far) 3 full seasons at Feyenoord. True to form, Leipzig have seen very little success despite all the money they have thrown, with their only relevant trophy being a Europa League win back in distant 2024. The squad was ridiculously bloated when I first joined. One of the reasons was that the club inexplicably lacked a reserve team, so that was my first order of business. All the filler players were moved there, but the squad was still really big, with loads and loads of central midfielders so there was a lot of change to be done from the get go. Thankfully, I had a massive 160m transfer budget and the players that I didn't want should add a very decent amount on top of that. As has been my habit so far, a total of 18 players joined the club for a (ridiculous) total of 311m euros, with 10 of them getting to play in the first team and the rest either being loaned back to their clubs or playing in the u19s. On the other end, 10 players left the club permanently with us receiving a total of 189m euros. The club had 3 world class players, with 1 of them sadly going to Bayern on a free at the start of the season. The other two were the following:
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That's not to say that there weren't any other good players in the club, just that those two would be irreplaceable in a sense. As for those who joined, the following were the top picks:
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The board expected the following of me: Champions League qualification (so top 4) and semi-final appearances in both the cup and the Europa League, all of which was very reasonable. The league would definitely be my focus as I'd like to get back to CL football:
https://i.gyazo.com/066ee4e936486125...b61d4544bf.png
Weird season really. I definitely felt that Bayern were the better team, but we threw so many points in all them draws (and most of them being in the typical FM way of us missing a gazillion of easy chances), otherwise we would have actually won the league. If that's not enough for you to get the full picture, Bayern scored 114 goals from 82.64 xG, while we scored 78 from 82.54 xG. Pretty frustrating to watch, I can tell you that much. We were really solid defensively though with just 23 goals conceded. Still, not only did we meet the board's expectation, we also went two years ahead of schedule by "challenging for the title" and "becoming the best of the rest". That latter part hit a bit too close to home as Bayern did look really strong (even though we did beat them at their place), with their striker scoring 47 (!) league goals. They have won 3 out of the last 5 Champions Leagues after all, while also reaching the final once more. They were the only team to beat us, by the way.
https://i.gyazo.com/d0adf7db34ce8e9c...081ebb8ef2.png
Not sure why that screenshot doesn't show extra-time results, but, for the record, we beat Hannover 2-0 and Wolfsburg 4-1. Overall I'd say we got really lucky with draws. Not to the point of getting lower league teams, but the only proper big team we met were Leverkusen in the final, in a game that we dominated and they only really managed to grab those two goals from two shocking errors from my players. First silverware for the club in 10 years. Exciting!
https://i.gyazo.com/85e0f8c46f18b1b1...a5c5ad3432.png
I am basically Unai Emery. That's my third Europa League win in 6 seasons, with three different clubs. Our group stage and second knockout draws were really easy, but then we basically had to beat the biggest teams in the competition (unlike my other two EL wins), so it definitely feels well-deserved. The Benfica and United ties look much closer than they were as we were by far the better team in both. On the other hand the Villareal result probably flatters us a bit. We were the better team, but it was a close contest and we only really edged it with two goals in the last 10 minutes of the game.
For those of you keeping track, the Bayern loss was our only loss in the season and it came early on, meaning that we are currently on a 42-game unbeaten run across all competitions.
https://i.gyazo.com/7e271db044dfc7ca...8f00430a47.png
Turns out I don't really need Satriano. Sergio was honestly just as good. Sure he didn't score 68 goals, but he was in a harder league and he also wasn't our penalty-taker (which accounted for 14 of Satriano's goals last season). Queiroz was a perfect foil for him and while he didn't score as many, he created a ton. I should also give a mention to Nagy, Cris and Flessman who were very good and consistent throughout the season (half-season for Nagy).
Before I finish this post, I have a grievance. What annoyed me the most by far in FM21 (and possibly FM20?) was this "ball over the top" sort of playstyle the AI teams used. It was absent from this version, until the recent patch which sadly brought it back. It's just so annoying to watch and really soured my experience.
Not on par with the Satrianos and Sergios of the world but Mo Salah at 37 years of age did the below for us, whilst playing every single game with his 18 for Natural Fitness. :hail:
https://i.gyazo.com/57933b91c63c0794...cf2645d1e3.png
This cm 0102 fm21 database is a laugh. I'm about 7th in my first season up in the prem with the mighty baggies.
This is definitely a thing on this version, and something tells me it's linked to rep or some other non-logical factor. That Bayern figure is absolutely absurd in terms of how much you would outstrip xG by - just incredibly ruthless finishing to be over 33% up over the course of an entire season.
They have an absolute monster of a striker that I linked a few pages back, in fairness:
https://i.gyazo.com/0c32822d7150f691...7a0489756d.png
lol. I like to imagine this universe's Cristiano Ronaldo watching in tears as he munches through his Portuguese record.
https://i.imgur.com/BGGFj8X.png
MoM in the League Cup final. :cool:
Taking penalties ahead of Salah. Sweet. :lewis:
97% completion rate though. Dude's the british Roberto Carlos.
https://i.imgur.com/saiHC62.png
Staying for an extra season before I move on.
Superb moustache.
Looks like Amazon Support Mumbai.
Got to play a team I've heard of!
https://i.imgur.com/a2zh7On.png
"why you doing Movember?"
"It'll make my FM manager look funny"
Got thumped
https://i.imgur.com/QqVDWA4.png
Honestly 3-0 and 3-1 are both respectable scores given the difference in level.
Wasn’t too upset, played our normal game which involves attacking mentality. Can’t help but wonder if we could have done better if I’d have parked the bus or something. Ah well. Hopefully a league win is on the way then another crack at Europe next season.
I always play my tactic regardless of the opposition or home/away. And it's been a successful strategy so I can't see me changing it.
Having had a play with the first full fat version I have played properly in years I decided to go for a Newcastle save opening gambit. However, rather than the predictable angle of trying to buy the best and brightest I am instead trying to go for a more realistic approach and bring in players who will improve the squad but are more likely to sign in real life. Looking to make a team from 'the best of the rest' poaching the better players from the rest of the league and hoovering up useful players who are transfer listed.
Expected Isco to mug me off. Lolled when Ross Barkley did the same. Currently lining up the likes of Chambers and Kolasinac to join already recruited Mcginn and Tarkowski. David Neres poised to be the Geordie Robinho :drool:
Get big Divock in up front.
I tried but he thinks the Toon are beneath him. He would have started every game the pleb.
Season 1 complete:
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As you can see by the 'form' column, the 2 defeats came very late on when everyone was shattered. Also won the League Cup, as previously posted.
But how did our Bailey do?
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Evidently out of his depth in the Champions League but held his own elsewhere.
His attributes have mostly declined. :wtf:
Finally up and running on a new laptop so am getting stuck into my first FM proper since Touch 17 (well, not quite FM proper, Touch 21).
Has anyone ever seen a better 15-year-old? :|
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@Baz
Good one.
Affiliate link reference next and it’s bingo for the day.
For any Haaland fans out there, here he is in my 2029, fresh from sticking seven past Malta in an 11-0 Norwegian triumph.
https://i.ibb.co/x7L1dHy/haaland2030.png
I had two years with Colombia, which didn't really go as well as planned, a Copa America quarter-final defeat the only spoils. I'm now trying to take Austria to World Cup 2030, spearheaded by this legend:
https://i.ibb.co/F4z65wZ/Ehrlinger29.png
A rare sight, an actual wide midfielder.
I love the idea of a coach looking at his jumping reach and attempting to retrain him as a centre-back.
https://i.imgur.com/mOaA5hY.png
This is fun.
Ok, here is the dilemma. I have £9m to spend. I can either buy these 3 players or the 1 guy at the end. However, worth noting that the first 3 guys all have £5m or £6m release fees (and only 2 can be registered, 1 will be loaned out). The last guy, clearly the best, agreed a deal with no minimum release clause - but only 11 for shooting.
Thoughts?
These 3
https://gyazo.com/c6a0754f80eab696058621bf5091b0ef.jpeg
https://gyazo.com/92b54e2e286172c5bc88117048a0e0c2.jpeg
https://gyazo.com/a8067fb28ce63eddaee4c8c1fc27b821.jpeg
Or this guy
https://gyazo.com/da5cf99a11a25a225b53c3cc8ed68ac9.jpeg
I'd buy the trio, he's not that much of a step up.
Yeah you are probably right, I particularly like the look of Tonkovic. I think I'm just second guessing myself as last year I cancelled a deal to sign this bloke for £6m. 6 months later he joined Man Utd for £30m :/
https://gyazo.com/40295791be4554a1da6903a87c25cb6f.jpeg
Please tell me he was injury ravaged or something? :|
I'm assuming you're still in Qatar, the answer is always to buy the first 3. You want to essentially turn your club into Dortmund. Hoover up all of the young talent and you can develop them because your league is bad enough that they can start every game, but still good enough that they can develop. Bring them in, play them for 1-3 years, then sell them on for profit. Use said profit to upgrade your facilities and better develop the prospects you buy after that.
At the time I already had 7 foreigners, in a league with a 5 foreigner quota, so I didn't want to sign him and then fuck around trying to offload more players that I had just signed. But yeah, it was a fucking stupid decision :D
I'm taking the approach of signing youngsters, however, as noted previously, 99% of them have a locked in 5-6 million release clause request, so the actual profit made on them is pretty low - it's not really a decent way of making genuine bank.
Ah I thought you meant those release fees were for you to activate.
If it's still profit you should do it. There's always a chance a year in that they tear it up and are willing to sign a new deal.
Indeed - release clauses they want in the contract with me. The good thing is that most clubs seem to accept bid of around 3m-7m for them - in previous FM's they would be wanting 15m+ for that type of player.
Every few months I keep attempting to offer them a new deal to try to remove the minimums, as you suggested.
If FM22 is anything like 21, Tonkovic is the best of those players anyway. Acceleration, pace, agility, dribbling, balance and vision are your go-to stats for pretty much any position except centre back and defensive midfield. That player you didn't sign is a beast.
I've heard FM22 has more emphasis on stamina and you need to be wary of really high intensity tactics killing your players...?
Just to add, concentrate on jumping reach for your centre backs, then look at mentals such as anticipation, decisions, positioning and off the ball movement depending on positions.
This may have changed somewhat now, but it's been a great basis for FM21. If I'd picked up on it sooner in my career save I might have won the Premier League before 2037...
Yeah, the high intensity tactics (with most of my sides I've been on a Gegenpress) smash the players' condition. To get through international tournaments with games every three days I generally have to rotate heavily, if you get a group dead rubber you HAVE to change all eleven, or most of them.
It makes sense to an extent, as the high intensity gegenpress-like tactics seem quite overpowered. As long as you rotate sensibly, you don't even need to worry too much about a players' work rate or natural fitness.
It got to the stage where building a possession based tactic is/was largely pointless - getting your players on attack duties, taking more risks, dribbling more, tackling harder was the way to go. Some of the supposed best players in the world have acceleration and pace of 13 and they're not really worth touching - give me a player with 17 or 18 in those attributes but average technicals any day of the week, as they'll have the best stats.
A bit like real football.
Only one round of fixtures to go
https://i.imgur.com/Ij3vEDM.png
John Arne, It's all about Yilmaz
Love that kitbasher program, but the base team colours stay the same whatever you choose for the kit. Do you have to buy the in-game editor to fart about with that? I'm ok sticking with the set colours but it means I can't have a proper brown kit, just a lovely trim
https://i.imgur.com/23kyBCQ.png
https://i.gyazo.com/e55c97489e3e1c40...a0074ddf79.png
:cool:
Almost thought we'd fucked it with one or two inefficient performances too many.
I've got 8 million € to add a bit of defensive stability and a proper central forward. Otherwise I think we should be able to survive Serie A, mid-table might be realistic.
When you do the Wiki import you should see the list of clubs. You can edit the kit colours there. When I imported Crewe I had to set away and 3rd kit colours.
The menu on the right at this point in the video (5:30) https://youtu.be/SvNG3U2v68Q?t=330
Yeah that part I've done, it's in-game I mean. On my screenshot where you've got the home/away/third colour bars, they would stay the same even if I had set new orange and yellow kits. I'm not sure it actually makes much difference apart from being a cosmetic thing really
Ah, sorry. I misread that as the kits not changing. I think you are right, probably screwed there without an editor.
Does anyone know how the new Club World Cup works?
Which eight UEFA teams are selected? Is it the Champions League winners and Europa League winners from the four seasons in between each?
What if there are clubs who have won multiple times?
We won the Europa in 2044/45 so I think that should be us qualified (assuming we don't end up winning the Champions League this year). It's the last club competition on my list so I really want to make sure I'm at a club (ideally Marseille) to try and win it.
Edit: Wiki says Champions League winners & Runners up plus Europa League winners so we should be good.
Based on my game it looks like the last few CL finalists plus most recent Europa League winner.
If my experience on here is anything to go by, the 48 team World Cup is going to be an absolute shitshow when they bring it in. Some teams qualified after 1 match, some teams out before others have played their first game, two teams on 0 points locking horns in winner takes all to qualify for the knockouts.
My Austrian heroes (first Austrian qualification to the World Cup for 32 years) benefited from this shambles as, after having our pants pulled down by Uruguay in the opener, we got a 94th minute winner to beat Japan and this result alone got us into the knockouts. This is our probably doomed reward (where's your Archduke gone etc)
https://i.ibb.co/L89KM2R/WC30-Aut-Srb.png
Vlahovic, at 30, is 100 caps / 96 goals. Love these records.
Make that 101 caps / 100 goals.
https://i.ibb.co/TMRHX3z/Srb40Aut.png
When you come up against the top strikers in the game, it's basically impossible to keep them out. For the last 20 minutes I set the team up in the shape of a gaping arsehole as a kind of tribute to the man.
Oh well, after France won their 4th straight World Cup, and I avoided what I thought might be my first sacking, I waited for the job offers to flood in.
https://i.ibb.co/7S6gMNh/joboffers30.png
Obviously only one winner there.
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https://i.imgur.com/v1GXbI7.png
Man knows. :cool:
Took over at Italy for the upcoming Euros and here is our group:
https://i.imgur.com/nnpcN6c.png
Tough but doable, I better not lose this.
First seed courtesy of our Europa League win and we get a group of Atletico, Napoli and Tottenham. :moop:
Potential title decider (although it's super early in the season still) so of course FM decides to be FM:
https://i.gyazo.com/d0e5f3c8fdc8ec89...9ca6e29e32.png
Marseille 2047/48 Season Update:
Transfers In:
https://i.imgur.com/2Rlo4lt.png
£8.25m. I'm not a huge fan of him but my scouts love him and he was from Lyon so I couldn't refuse.
https://i.imgur.com/xZ5oeaF.png
Only £1m and I think it's a bargain, especially as my scouts rate him so highly.
https://i.imgur.com/1Qga2vT.png
My big signing at £38m. It's probably a little on the high side but I think he's going to be massive.
Transfers Out:
https://i.imgur.com/IDgMqPP.png
Surprised that I got as much as I did for Kemajou as he's a pace merchant who offers not much else.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/ZuwdfX2.png
https://i.imgur.com/Tltm4lC.png
https://i.imgur.com/cxh5vC5.png
So close to a perfect season. Records for most wins in a row, total wins, points and goals scored though.
Cup:
https://i.imgur.com/TH5pMNb.png
Europe:
https://i.imgur.com/ssbdumr.png
We struggled in the groups, especially against Southampton and then we lost in the Quarter-Finals for the third year in a row. Our problem throughout every game was not putting away our chances.
Squad Stats:
https://i.imgur.com/IIltPQB.png
https://i.imgur.com/ebcAsLx.png
We're good enough to win the Champions League (and hopefully the Club World Cup) but we seem to be a bit gun shy in those big games. Pretty infuriating.
On to the Euros with Italy next, if I don't win my challenge gets extended by at least four years which would be a bit of a shitter.
Moussa Dembele the new St James' Park darling after netting a debut hat trick against Arsenal :cool:
Raphael Rump sounds like someone from Allo Allo.
Italy at Euro 2048:
Group Stage:
https://i.imgur.com/vpFVsOq.png
We destroyed Serbia and were 3-0 up at HT but it could have been more. In the second half we eased up and they got one back but they had no chance. Against France it was fairly even, their goal came from a dodgy penalty and we needed two in the final 3 minutes to take the victory. Against Sweden I sent the second eleven out and they should have won.
Second Round:
https://i.imgur.com/0rfXBQz.png
Turkey never stood a chance and they were lucky we didn't hit double figures.
Quarter Final:
https://i.imgur.com/do9ZoQN.png
Another easy victory against an easy opponent.
Semi Final:
https://i.imgur.com/QEbqIys.png
This is the easiest route I've ever had to a final. We dominated from the first minute and Top Ireland were not going to get another surprise victory.
Final:
https://i.imgur.com/mruL2Lj.png
I was scared shitless when they opened the scoring as I just kept thinking that we were going to lose against the first decent team (France doesn't count as it was in the groups) we had come across. Thankfully my RM popped up with a goal not long after, however, he pulled his groin. I decided to take him off just as my RB, who was making his second start, scored with his wrong foot from outside the box.
In the second half we took charge and Zucco (who was only in the squad as he's one of my players at Marseille) scored his fifth and sixth goals of the tournament.
Squad:
https://i.imgur.com/1K7IDdu.png
Boncaglia came into the tournament as our starting ST next to Giunchi but Zucco took that spot off him after the first game (although I did go back to Boncaglia against Top Ireland but he didn't do much) and he was brilliant. Rizzo was someone I wanted to sign so many times at points in this save but Man City bought him before I was at a club that could afford him and he wouldn't budge. He was a star at LB and he popped up with 4 massive goals. It's a shame he wasn't fit enough to start the final.
Just the Club World Cup remains on the list...
Club World Cup is bizarro. Felt like it arrived straight after the season finished, then my assistant somehow crammed in three friendlies in a week and then the league started. Nice break. :cab:
Lads, provide me with a screenshot of Dušan Vlahović profile after 2025. Thanks in advance.
Soz, I hadn't loaded the game up since your request. Here he is in 2030:
https://i.ibb.co/HhNvgbX/Dusan2030.png
Moved to Chelsea in 2022 and has been there since, despite playing a weirdly small amount of football for them. 148 games / 70 goals in 8 years. He was behind Lukaku until 2026 or so.
I would have thought his profile would have been better than that, but he is backup and hasn't played as many games being behind Lukaku.
Im hoping that a Peter Crouch-type regen appears in my save as i want to be part of LongBall FC in a 352.
At the risk of being booed, branded and hounded out forever, are we allowed to post FM21 stories in here? I don't generally buy the new releases until the new year when bugs have been ironed out and the ME has settled down a bit, and with a recent personal isolation period being tackled and the Christmas holidays upon us, I decided to give myself one more run out on an FM21 game that, in general, I would say I've thoroughly enjoyed.
For a bit of context, my main save is usually a career starting in non-league with a view to working my way up (which I imagine is quite common). I don't usually have too many preconceptions, and I'm happy to see how things pan out. This time around I begun at Barnet, before moving to Huddersfield, Brentford, Bournemouth, Wolfsburg, Brighton and currently Wolves. I'm in the year 2039 and have just won the Premier League title for the first time. I've probably averaged around three seasons at each club, and only really Wolfsburg could be looked upon as being a bit of a failure. I also tend to run a parallel 'test save' with a top club where I can do some tactic testing and just have a bit of fun.
For my final save I decided to begin unemployed, but with a good reputation as a top former footballer. I holidayed through the first (Covid) season and started up in May '21 to find Premier League jobs such as the Wolves and Leeds posts vacant, as well as Stoke and West Brom in the Championship. I was given interviews and offered the two Championship jobs more or less simultaneously, and decided to take on the West Brom job - someone who I don't think I've managed before (or at least for a long time), and ironically my career save's big rivals.
Approach/recruitment
As I mentioned upthread a few days ago, I approach the game in a specific way (apologies in advance if I'm teaching anyone to suck eggs). I look for players first and foremost with pace, acceleration, agility, dribbling, balance and vision. Next in the list of importance are mental attributes focusing on the intelligence of players, namely anticipation, decisions, positioning and off the ball, and finally I look for players with good passing and jumping (for centre backs).
Below are my transfers in the first summer. Hopefully this works as I'm useless at uploading images.
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Next, I use quite specific parameters when recruiting players - namely young players with good personalities, who have good acceleration and pace and will develop other areas as they get older.
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My key attribute DNA looks something like this.
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Squad screen
I've also attached what my squad screen looks at, and it's the same when looking at opposition squad screens. It lets me straight away see who my key players are and the dangers of the opposition.
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Tactics
I'm a fully-fledged, fully paid up member of the strikerless fan-boy club. The main reason being that it actually works. I'm also very much in the 4-3-3 camp when it comes to team shape. I've tried numerous versions of False Nine and Deep-lying forwards trying to link up the rest of my team, but they're never anywhere near as effective as using a Shadow Striker, who basically does everything you'd want from a False Nine plus much more.
I do a lot of reading on tactics and tactical theory these days, and a bit on data and statistics. It's far and away my main source of reading material. I'd recommend anything from Michael Cox, Jonathan Wilson, Lee Scott and Michael Calvin (not necessarily tactics) and I also subscribe to The Athletic and Total Football Analysis. I honestly think that without this aspect, my interest in football would have waned a fair bit.
I have a number of different shapes but these versions of the 4-3-3 are my favourites.
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There are three styles (cautious, positive and very attacking) and around ten shapes in total which I find effective. In all of them my player instructions where possible are set to take more risks, dribble more, move into channels, tackle harder, shoot less often. It's a very aggressive and intense way of playing football, and it seems clearly the most effective. The downside is that unless you are a top team, you may end up with sub-50% possession. For anyone wondering, I've created them myself but I do look on the tactic creating website for ideas and then try to work them to the benefit of my team and my own preferences. I don't think there are any tactics which are the same as mine on those tactic testing sites (however there are similar ones for obvious reasons).
Training
Pre-season it's important to do intense physical sessions, especially on quickness. Other than that the most effective schedules for preparing players for games and keeping them together is attacking movement, defensive shape and team bonding. There's nothing overly complicated about this.
Anyway, this is the table after 14 games.
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The schedule.
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The squad (as posted earlier).
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I don't envisage any issues this season.
Yeah, there's quite a few people that's been posting from older versions, it's more than fine @ScousePig.
Season 2034/35 Update
Second season at Leipzig and, given that we were relatively close last season, I think we should look to go for a proper title challenge this time. That said, given the gulf in class, I won't be too disappointed if we don't make it, as long as we're close. To achieve that, three high profile signings were made:
https://i.gyazo.com/983ffc9f7e1f7e0a...70babde6b3.png
Very impressive central defender and magnitudes of order better than anybody we had at the position. He didn't come cheap at all, at 88m, but he's a world class player so I think the fee was warranted.
https://i.gyazo.com/375d78aeee219020...6678eda0b4.png
Second central defender and an even more expensive one at 96m. He's German and young though so again, I think it's money well spent. He joined on January after my many bids eventually made him put in a transfer request.
https://i.gyazo.com/42d65206bd0f3627...aaee63745e.png
Not very happy with his finishing, but great mental and physical attributes that I hope will make up for it. Cost relatively little at 59m, so hopefully he will prove to be a bargain.
https://i.gyazo.com/fce65c9d2a29b445...c6dfc8f55b.png
We did it in the end. It took a win at home over Bayern to put us in first place with 3 games to go, but we somehow managed to squander our lead in the very next game, losing at Hannover. Thankfully Bayern still had to go to Leverkusen, and a goalless draw there meant that the title was firmly in our hands and we took advantage. Bayern might feel a bit hard done by, losing the title with 84 points but I think we were the better team over the course of the season, including the games between us, both won by us.
https://i.gyazo.com/f53cbc561872b1e9...b123378f76.png
Very undeserved win by Dortmund I'll tell you that much. They ended up losing the final to Bayern.
https://i.gyazo.com/cc1d9046d5446155...0791cc2212.png
Heartbreaking honestly. We got royally fucked by the draws, with the hardest group by a countrymile (from 1st seed), that we absolutely blasted, and then we got the hardest team available in the knockout round. We were by some margin the better team yet lost 3-1 on aggregate. Nothing more to say really.
https://i.gyazo.com/564d7323546a7186...a591540ff7.png
Sergio was a beast once again. A lot fewer goals than last season but it was an injury in mid season that really broke his rhythm, or else I think he'd have easily finished with 50+ goals. Ramos was solid, but not better than Queiroz (who scored 14 and created 6 in much fewer games), so that's gonna be a headache next season. I think Queiroz probably deserves to be starting so we'll see. Our main issue was the central midfielders. We lost a solid one to PSG, signed one for 50m to replace him and he was horrible so I just sold him for 40m 6 months later. There's a great German one that plays for Leverkusen, I tried to sign him two times, the transfer was all but done, only for him to sign a new deal with them both times. Ahumada was also fairly problematic this season, but good goalkeepers are hard to come by so I am not sure we'll manage to find someone better.
And now that all that is over get ready for a rant:
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I've gone 28 games undefeated in the league while getting knocked out of all the cups. The 30th game, to wrap up the title and I lose at home to 2nd bottom in the league
30 games in and things are looking fairly rosy still.
https://i.ibb.co/0jy4s19/Table-30-games.png
We've drawn a few too many games over December and January, but I've had to do a little bit of rotation and we also lost three first choice defenders to the AFCON.
https://i.ibb.co/mDyZ1kq/Squad-30-games.png
Looking at the squad screen you can see that Mavididi has 20 goals, and the wide players Diangana and Wallace have 14 and 10 goals respectively, and 13 assists apiece. Which is obviously great, although the idea of the wide 4-3-3 is to ensure the full backs are occupied by the wingers, opening up space in the channels for the central midfielders and even sometimes the inverted wing backs. My central midfielders have been okay but nothing more, however Mowatt is on a good scoring streak at the moment. A couple of times I've played the more narrow formation if one of my wide players has needed a rest, which is good as it allows Mavidid and Grant to play together with an attacking midfielder in between them, but we lose our natural width and end up overloading the centre.
https://i.ibb.co/gDyZxvV/Schedule-30-games.png
Our one defeat (which you can't actually see there) came at the hands of Stoke, and you can see where our couple of patches of draws have crept in. If we beat Aston Villa in the cup replay we'll be at home to Liverpool, which would be fun.
They aren't related...
https://gyazo.com/d98fb25ddcdd3d4e2f687deee0ba7062.jpeg
I prefer Ahmed Al-Enezi.
He's definitely better than Ahmed Al-Enezi.
They all look the same to me.
Ive never had any scorching Asain/Middle Eastern regen in none of my saves.
South Korea tends to spit out a few worldies every now and then.
The rest of Asia, not so much.
I do also get the occasional chinese player, but not quite at world class level. I've found that most of them come through ranks of European clubs rather than Asian ones though.
The chances are that those "worldies" would be League 2 standard at best elsewhere, they're just exciting prospects by the standard of whatever dump John Arne is managing.
Yeah, star ratings are per the standard of your current squad.
England just lost the 2022 World Cup final on penalties and it deemed 'untouchable.'
Does he tend to quit? I want the England job. :stamford:
So since this newest patch came out I have fallen to pieces. My tactics just all seem to have stopped working at once. Doesn't seem to matter what I do.
I've got a decent looking Cambodian lad:
https://i.imgur.com/FY1UusY.png
Which is the first time I've ever seen someone decent from the nation. A few Japanese lads have obviously been pretty good too, with this guy being one of the best keepers on the save:
https://i.imgur.com/zu382BO.png
Produced by Koln and decided to become a full German.
Tremendous name.
It raised a smile. :D
What does everyones matchday "tablet" look like?
I've got this:
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The crowds have magically disappeared from my save.
Halfway through first season as Newcastle, Moussa Dembele 17 goals in 19 appearances :cool:
First season in the top flight with Torino is over.
https://i.gyazo.com/0e22f4089351048d...e2d0bc7934.png
We were cruising to a comfortable mid-table spot at the beginning of March, but then out of nowhere went on a run of 9 losses out of 10 games. Made the finish a bit nervy.
Some of the younger players I nabbed from South America are developing quite nicely. At the moment they're still a bit inconsistent, but some of them have already replaced more expierenced players in the regular starting line-up, these two being the top performers:
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I still need a regular goalscorer. My best striker has 8 league goals because some of the crosses being launched at him bounce into goal, most of his stats other than jumping mean I mainly want to keep him as back-up, though.
https://i.gyazo.com/9d41a45ecfcca616...e50d2718dc.png
I had bought two other players who I'd thought would comfortably replace him in the starting line-up, both of them disappointing so far. They're 20 and 21 however, so they might still come good.
The most annoying part of the season was definitely the winter transfer window. Being a newly promoted team, most of the offers coming in were from higher reputation teams, and I basically had a mutiny on my hands when I rejected the offers for my key players. After various individual conversations and team meetings in which I told them all to get on with it they one by one dropped their 'concerns' over the following months. Tedious doesn't cover it. I might hand over all communication with the players to my assistant, if that's possible.
https://i.ibb.co/TRcHCGW/Table-end-of-season.png
About as straightforward of a promotion campaign as you could imagine. There weren't really any blips and our one defeat was fairly early that we didn't ever have to think about going for an unbeaten league season. Southampton managed 98 points after we beat them 6-0 on the opening day, and Palace with their 94 points won the play-offs.
https://i.ibb.co/Mhrmzn5/Squad-end-of-season.png
I've put the squad in average rating order. It's good to have a mix of positions scoring highly, but the central midfielders were the lowest performing overall which I hope to address. You expect it with the defensive midfielder because he has a bit of a thankless task, but the attacking central midfielders should contribute significantly. In fairness to Mowatt, he did end up with 12 goals and 8 assists.
https://i.ibb.co/chvzzq9/Schedule-end-of-season.png
In the last 16 games you can see we only conceded four goals. I could have used a more positive mentality for the away games rather than sticking with cautious, but we'll need that cautious approach a fair bit next season anyway so it's good to have the players playing that way now. I'm quite sure we'd have scored a lot more goals, but we'd probably have lost one or two along the way too.
https://i.ibb.co/Tk9jtdc/End-of-season-summary.png
https://i.ibb.co/SXcfLWw/End-of-season-accolades.png
https://i.ibb.co/XD0t004/End-of-season-Mavididi.png
The summary, accolades and my top scorer. Unless we upgrade, he should be fine in the Premier League. I am on a bit of a mission at the moment to find young, quick players with good personalities to add to my squad, but I'm not planning on anything major yet in terms of upgrades.
11 points clear of the current record. Woof.
Here are my summer signings. I've signed nine players however only two or three will be regular first teamers. Three were free transfers, four cost between £1.9m and £4m, and there were two more major signings at £18m and £14m. They all generally fit the philosophy of being young, quick and good personalities.
https://i.ibb.co/6mR2TT3/Onyeka.png
Onyeka was my main signing at £18m. As I said I was a bit disappointed with the central midfielders last season and he should be an ideal upgrade.
https://i.ibb.co/DWNdn3G/Cornet.png
As far as cost goes, Cornet is my second major signing at £14m. He's in for competition all down the left side, especially left wing as we struggled for natural width last season when Diangana was injured.
The rest are ordered more or less by position, and were either free transfers or a couple of million. They're either good enough to be squad members or have potential.
https://i.ibb.co/vdxCMMk/Bianda.png
https://i.ibb.co/Q8hRrQh/Hickey.png
https://i.ibb.co/Wpqy57Z/Sousa.png
https://i.ibb.co/55vH031/Clarke.png
https://i.ibb.co/L6Rbygz/Ivan.png
https://i.ibb.co/QfVx81b/Jade-Jones.png
https://i.ibb.co/zGHmkJQ/Nzola.png
Looking at squad comparisons with the rest of the league, in terms of pace, acceleration and dribbling we can more than hold our own. Agility and balance we're pretty average, but we're struggling in terms of passing and vision which isn't surprising. Our anticipation, decision making, positioning and off the ball movement really needs to be better, but I'm optimistic we can have a decent season.
https://i.ibb.co/JCByvby/Start-of-season-schedule.png
Looking at the schedule, we could do with getting Man City, Spurs and Liverpool out of the way.
What's your tactic like? Apologies if you've already posted it.
@Baz
Finished my first season at Newcastle, pipped City to 4th resulting in Pep getting sacked, I expect my blowjob from Amanda Staveley in the morning.
Got to the FA Cup semi final before losing 4-3 to Liverpool. Been given another 200m to spend for the second season, need to get a better keeper in than Dubravka, a decent back up striker, another good midfielder. Really need to win a trophy in the second season, board expect another top 4 finish and reach the knockout stage of the CL. Went a bit Bielsa with my outgoings in January (11 players out :D) which saw some bad results despite the excellent overall season.
@ScousePig Onyekas attributes look like a carbon copy of prime Mulumbu, you just need to find a Claudio Yacob clone and you'll have the double pivot to fire the mighty baggies to upper-mid table like the halcyon days of Steve Clarke.
I've booted up FM 19 after buying it and never playing. Straight into Maritimo B after starting unemployed. Bottom of the lowest league in Portugal after the previous manager lost the first 9 games of the season.
Bit of a weird challenge as they're a feeder team. They have loads of restrictions in who can play with only one over u23 and 12 of the squad needing to be home grown. The last manager must have been a gimp as we are now P8 W3 D2 since.
https://i.imgur.com/RYAMg5t.png
https://i.imgur.com/86JAwwb.png
He's so fucking good.
It's such a shame that this is going to be my final full season on this save (I'm buying 22 and hopping over after the Club World Cup, win or lose) as I'd love to see how he progresses fully.
Fernandez Vial : 2023 : Mid-Season Update
First season in the Chilean top division and we are somehow outperforming our media prediction to finish in the relegation zone.
This is the situation with 5 games to go. Tighter than a camel's arse in a sandstorm.
https://i.gyazo.com/41b9a8cfee2ef159...f20d30c7ee.png
4 games to go (albeit 3rd and 4th have a game in hand).
https://i.gyazo.com/c605178a9e8fe3fc...a227e95ba6.png
https://i.imgur.com/sbH0GyR.png
I think there might be a bit of a kit clash in this game...
Has anyone been playing far enough into the future to see if the dynamic youth rating thing works well?
I'm only 3 seasons in, so not for me. @ Mr Fox
Speaking of which, we may be close to bottling it. Got hammered 3-0.
https://i.gyazo.com/b0e80d810f038b40...3e0dc1b89c.png
Which leaves the league table looking like this as we head into the final 3 games of the season.
https://i.gyazo.com/7974eed0523c6f5e...6a820fc463.png
2 games to go...
TOIGHT!
https://i.gyazo.com/58039933fd161811...a026cb89fa.png
Congrats Quincy. That's a hell of a lot of deducted points.
Thanks. And yeah, this happens every season in Chile so far and I'm not sure why.
We will get our arse handed to us in the South American 'champions league' as our squad just isn't that good.
As I'm a relative unknown, will I be able to get job in Europe, or is it best to first climb the ranks in South America? (Brazil or Argentina being the obvious locations)
Other than within a country, I don't think the game factors in regional reputation much.
You could turn it into a challenge save. Try to win all south American leagues?
Not a bad shout. I'll see who will take me first and go from there.
Not sure on this version if the board will sack me immediately if they find that I'm applying for other jobs.
Not much has changed from previous versions in that regard. Just apply away and if at some point they get really annoyed they'll tell you before sacking you.
Feels like I'm averaging two disallowed goals per game.
This is exciting though:
https://i.imgur.com/IT1OIFL.png
Looking good, Baz.
Re the disallowed goals, I'd say it's the opposite for me. Especially when they check VAR.
Been a decent 50-50 for me. It boggles the mind that they still haven't figured out how "interfering with play" works though. I see I'd say a good 3-4 goals disallowed per season, where it's just a long shot, but there's a player that's in the extended field of view of the goalkeeper and the game treats that as interfering with play.
https://i.ibb.co/3f8t4fx/10-games-table.png
Ten games in for us and as you can see things have gone according to plan.
https://i.ibb.co/SyrQ42R/10-games-squad.png
Some of the new signings have hit the ground running; Cornet is just about ousting Diangana as first choice right winger, and Sousa has been a superb acquisition in central midfield.
https://i.ibb.co/GCJWrzp/10-games-schedule.png
We've continued to play with a positive mentality at home (against tough opposition) and cautious away from home. The cautious, counter attacking mentality saw us tear Leicester apart.
https://i.ibb.co/Vpfw78m/Team-1.png
https://i.ibb.co/Nns0syD/Team-2.png
The squad is also well balanced now for the tactic, with two full XIs to pick from. Grant and Mavididi are alternating up front at the moment as there's not a lot between them, and as I say the two left wingers have both been excellent. We've had to make a couple of tweaks such as switching to the narrow 4-3-3 when we had a bit of a right winger crisis, but in general the wide 4-3-3 works so well as it easily transitions to both a 2-3-5 (covering the whole pitch) and a 4-1-4-1 when defending.
Looking at FM22, I think I'd need to change the shadow striker to false nine, as they appear effective again on the new game. That will allow us to play with a bit more possession, and also allow a more technical striker to play.
Marseille 2048/49 Season Update:
Transfers Out:
https://i.imgur.com/2tAHrIA.png
The big one there is Leask who was our number 1 striker. He had been banging in goals for fun in the league and cup but really struggled to find the net in Europe last season so I decided to cash in. Not a bad amount considering we bought him for £5.5m (we secured a deal to sign him on a free in the Summer but paid to bring him in during January a few seasons ago).
Transfers In:
https://i.imgur.com/VsDkIa9.png
Our only signing this season, £109m and the replacement for Leask. He wasn't great for me in the Euros in the Summer but I signed him originally at United and thought he'd fit my system with a bit of time.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/MCi0MgU.png
https://i.imgur.com/yKBzjgZ.png
https://i.imgur.com/zEeUhlf.png
Broke our records for goals scored and conceded which is nice. The sole loss was because I played all my shit youth to conserve energy.
Cups:
https://i.imgur.com/6s9Cnyc.png
https://i.imgur.com/PsClA1L.png
Simple.
Europe:
https://i.imgur.com/lpXotnu.png
So glad we didn't have another quarter final exit as we pumped Barca, I was worried we'd be dumped out by United as they have been far too good for us and that looked the case after the first leg as we failed to put away our chances. Thankfully we rose up and reached the final.
https://i.imgur.com/axRkp5f.png
Bonaglia who was Leask's replacement got a goal and we kept making chances which we couldn't put away and then Leask (:moop:) finally put one of his many chances in. Thankfully they shat the bed on penalties.
Also:
https://i.imgur.com/y7UR0Jn.png
Zucco :cool:
Squad stats:
https://i.imgur.com/LFvJbBh.png
https://i.imgur.com/JzWRSG3.png
It's a shame Zucco didn't hit 60 but he struggled at the start as he got injured and took him a while to settle in, he then wouldn't stop scoring until he got a 2 week injury near the end of the season so had to miss a few games. He's absolutely bonkers though.
Onto the Club World Cup and the end of this save...
There's been a fair bit of discussion on the si forums. The basic gist, which I'm sure will come as a great surprise, is that it's been really badly implemented and designed, but anyone moaning has had Miles arse-licking mods and admins say no actually it's meant to be like that and it's great so shut up. Twats.
Club World Cup:
The elusive white whale, I had qualified with different clubs many times across my career but I was always out of the door and onto a new challenge before getting a chance to play in the competition. I always thought that my time at a club would end up matching up nicely and I'd walk in and win the thing easily. Sadly I only got one chance at winning the competition and thus one chance at succeeding my challenge.
Group Stage:
https://i.imgur.com/LZp8BWp.png
Obviously I expected no problems in either of these two games and that proved to be the case as we had way too much for these two.
Quarter-final:
https://i.imgur.com/TVzNgUz.png
We faced off against my old club, a club who were floundering before I came in for a season and changed them completely. We had met them numerous times in the Champions League and they had almost always gotten the better of us, until this year. Thankfully my players were a little bit fitter and that proved to be massive, they couldn't get close to us and we made sure to put chances away.
Semi-Final:
https://i.imgur.com/MxdKdTu.png
A team I've not managed on this save but a team that I've "destroyed" across the years. I've made it so that Hertha and Leverkusen were bigger clubs than them and we've beaten them a few times (including this year) in the Champions League.
Final:
https://i.imgur.com/cT3b9YY.png
A repeat of the Champions League final and we managed to put them away again and this time we didn't need penalties. Zucco being fully fit for this game (unlike the final) was absolutely massive as he ran them ragged and was named MOTM. I was worried when they scored early but thankfully I didn't have to wait long until we equalised and from there it was all us.
Career Stats:
https://i.imgur.com/1HvGkJg.png
It's a shame I couldn't get to 5000 career goals but I'm happy with that, a little surprised the transfer fee figures for received and spent were so close to each other but I did spunk quite a lot up the wall during the United and Marseille seasons with very few big outs at either club.
https://i.imgur.com/p9lcTXk.png
https://i.imgur.com/eD1xtqp.png
https://i.imgur.com/H20b1KR.png
A lot of nations that I had never managed in and I had a lot of fun with this save. Loved my time at Palermo, Hertha, Leverkusen and Marseille.
https://i.imgur.com/MBuwA9C.png
https://i.imgur.com/4Mld3Sd.png
https://i.imgur.com/ZDePPHZ.png
https://i.imgur.com/ndqubp3.png
https://i.imgur.com/BAjhX2d.png
An absolutely mammoth save that I will never attempt again.
https://i.imgur.com/mb5pO7b.png
https://i.imgur.com/a25HpvK.png
I end the game being the best English manager in the Hall of Fame. On the various continents I'm 11th in Africa, unranked in Asia (just 9 points behind 20th), 8th in Europe, 18th in North America, 13th in Oceania and unranked in South America. In terms of Worldwide I finished 4th with 5,672 points behind Allegri (6,570), Marcelo Gallardo (6,344) and Thomas Tuchel (5,774).
The List:
FIFA Club World Cup - Won with Marseille in 2049
UEFA Champions League - First won with Palermo in 2039
UEFA Europa League - Won with Marseille in 2045
UEFA Super Cup - Oh fuck
African Champions League - Won with Pyramids in 2031
Copa Libertadores - Won with Alianza Lima in 2025
O-League (Oceanic Champions League) - Won with Team Wellington in 2032
Asian Champions League - Suwon Bluewings in 2029
North American Champions League - Won with Toronto FC in 2028
International competitions:
FIFA World Cup - Won with France in 2042
Olympics - Won with Brazil in 2028
UEFA European Championship - Won with Italy in 2048
Nations League - Won with France in 2043
African Cup of Nations - Won with Nigeria in 2035
Copa America - Won with Brazil in 2032
Oceanic Nations Cup - Won with New Zealand in 2040
Asian Nations Cup - Won with South Korea in 2039
Shit, I've just seen that the Super Cup has not been won. I need to do one more game :moop:
Only need to score 19 goals in it. Good luck.
Pretty epic game. :cool:
Weird that your scouting knowledge doesn't include the countries you've been to.
Yeah, I was thinking that maybe they got wiped when I removed various leagues but I still have the German league loaded.
Nice one 'how. Great read.
I wonder if someone's attempted to be the #1 manager on every continent before?
https://i.imgur.com/9qm0mbW.png
And now the challenge is actually complete.
They didn't have a single shot on target in the first half and we were in complete control. Only issues we had were Perkins and Babalola getting knocks in the first half.
That's a superb career Mahow, I'll have to have a catch up when I get chance.
I've bought and loaded up FM 22 but for some reason all bar 1 of the skins I downloaded (which I like less than the default) and none of the views are showing up in game so fuck screenshots until tomorrow.
I've decided to do a club and country save as Pogon Siedlce and Poland. There will be restrictions (most of which I'm still thinking of) but at the very least I wont be able to use any players that are not Polish.
Why Pogon Siedlce? It's because Siedlce is where my family live. Here is the stadium:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/U4cclETp--I/maxresdefault.jpg
I don't think I've ever driven past it though as it's not in an area I've visited. Here are some other shots of the town:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._panoramio.jpg
The town hall.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...8202255%29.jpg
The cathedral.
https://fajnepodroze.pl/wp-content/u...08/Siedlce.jpg
A street in the centre of town.
https://galeriasiedlce.pl/wp-content...ia-Siedlce.jpg
Outside the shopping centre.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Siedlcach.JPG
The train station.
http://podlasie24.pl/upl/articles/a9...98a8b4efbb.jpg
Finally, a favourite of mine. The local prison which is right in the middle of the town.
Yeah you can't say bad words against The Chosen One on their forums.
I was interested because on I think FM19 I think, I went in on the editor and set everyones youth rating to 200 once and then set the game to sim for 20 years to see what would happen.
It essentially went by population, but most countries managed to get at least one great player. Couldn't manage it for San Marino though. :(
Here is the Pogon Siedlce squad:
https://i.imgur.com/BHgomze.png
Obviously the two Spaniards and the Austrian will have to be sold ASAP but other than that it's not too bad. We're predicted to finish 11th by the media. Currently we have a £19k transfer budget but our wage budget currently sits at a measly £303 p/w.
Key player:
https://i.imgur.com/7XIx2Ly.png
Hot prospect:
https://i.imgur.com/05nqJL8.png
https://i.imgur.com/ZsVx5ZZ.jpeg
Three games left to play.
It's quite fun playing on a DB that doesn't have 400k+ players. I went for this setup:
https://i.imgur.com/Uoo5xix.png
And it's absolutely lightning quick compared to my FM20 save.
Also, if anyone has any ideas for difficulty modifiers for my save throw them at me. Right now I'm doing Polish players only for the club and using my own tactics (something I've not done since 14 or 15).
I'd have liked to have done the whole DOF thing too but he'd have ended up signing non-Poles at some point.
DOFs are pure garbage in this game still anyway. I usually have them sign staff members at lower clubs and they always come up with absolute dross. Like at Feyenoord he would routinely try to sign Dutch scouts (so not for scouting knowledge purposes) with like 5s and 6s at scouting abilities. And it's been a constant theme for me. Would assume it's not much better for players.
When 42 year old Lewandowski signs. :drool:
He scores freekicks for fun for me
https://i.imgur.com/NElTmaa.png
me vs City next. :flex:
Just won the FA Cup Final vs Everton too.
I've departed my Chilean league winners for pastures new. Haven't travelled too far...
Toggle Spoiler
Having previously signed Frenkie de Jong, Mbappe, Lewandowski and Haaland, my squad is now obscene. Latest additions are Eden Hazard, Fernandinho, Benjamin Sesko and Jude Bellingham.
https://i.imgur.com/RFOKGKu.png
Can't see them making it big.
Pogon Siedlce 2021/22 Summer Update:
Transfers In:
https://i.imgur.com/3x5IQDZ.png
Free transfer and he gives us some cover at CB.
https://i.imgur.com/sE0b9wH.png
My big summer signing at a whopping £6.25k, he's now our starting left mid and he's doing alright so far.
https://i.imgur.com/vQtzWR9.png
£1.4k, I was beginning to give him a couple of starts after I changed my formation up but he's spent the last 3 weeks recuperating from a groin injury which is a bit annoying.
https://i.imgur.com/9qmUKv7.png
My main striker was being a bit shit and the others were injured or I was freezing them out to try and sell so I brought this guy in on a freebie loan. He's not as good as my main striker but I've been giving him minutes and I hope he'll progress a bit for the end of the season.
Transfers Out:
https://i.imgur.com/BCbaUMV.png
I wanted to sell at least 3 others but I just couldn't manage it as the demand wasn't there. Although I did accept some decent offers for one guy from three teams and the dickhead rejected all of them.
Fixtures:
https://i.imgur.com/p5rPNll.png
A really rough start especially as we were 2-0 up in the first game before bottling it. This really started to drag team morale down so I decided to move to a much more disciplined and compact tactic to just try and pick up some points and it worked. We got a point against Radunia thanks to a 93rd minute equaliser, stole a victory (0.65 xG compared to their 1.9) against Znicz and we got into a groove. We should have beaten Garbania too as we were a much better team but sadly we missed too many chances.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/peBGweX.png
Fairly happy with were we are in the league right now after the shit start and hopefully we can push on. I can't see us getting promoted this year but hopefully we can get close and put ourselves into a decent position to have a chance next season.
National Side:
Only one game which was a 7-0 victory against San Marino. Lewandowski with all 7 goals, obviously.
Still no Lewandowski?
At Pogon? I might have to wait another 5 years, minimum.
I look forward to it
https://i.ibb.co/qD9xctr/20-games-table.png
Twenty games in and it's safe to say we're doing better than I expected. We've stuck to a plan, signed the right kind of player and we're flying. Europe is looking very likely next season and the squad depth remains good.
https://i.ibb.co/6NCvr4J/20-games-squad.png
Sousa continues to impress in midfield, but the whole team (and back up players for the cup games) are pretty much performing as a unit. I'm slightly above my wage budget and don't have any transfer funds to spend, so recruitment wise it's just been a case of keeping an eye on future talent, some of whom I'll look to bring in in the summer.
https://i.ibb.co/ns0L23z/20-games-schedule.png
The Man United game was a pisser as they were still 100% and they won it virtually the last kick of the game. I've posted the Everton game below which was just bizarre.
https://i.ibb.co/74nvFZy/9-0-vs-Everton.png
I haven't played my save for a fair few weeks and having just loaded it up, the 'feel' for it just isn't there. I think I made a minor error joining Liverpool, in fact so I'm not going to retire it completely but I will try to go again some point down the line as I want to win the top flight in each top nation. I've done it in England, Scotland, France and Germany so I definitely want La Liga and Serie A before I hang the save up completely.
However, a few days off coming up and I need something to get my teeth into so, unless someone has any suggestions, I was thinking giving Ellesmere Rangers (level 10) a sugar daddy style make over in the same way I did with Wrexham in the last version, merely giving them the best facilities and nothing less and going YDWAWK again.
Suggestions, if any?
I took advantage of Amazon giving away FM21 for free(offer ends some point today) yesterday and I've spent the day getting the logo/kit packs done right and having a fiddle about with the menus.
It's time for a save game and I'm torn 3 ways currently. There was a 4th but I'm canning that idea for now I think.
1. Glory Hunter challenge - 20 year time limit. Must win all competitions in Europes top 5 leagues in that time. Free club choice to start.
2. Home Grown Heroes - Home grown players of that nation only. Aim is to win the Champions League with your entire squad being from one country.
3. Smaller League - No restrictions, but the aim is to take a league outside of Europes top 10 as high as it can go.
Home Grown Heroes would be my vote.
Join me and my local lads.
https://i.imgur.com/puAc2ug.png
Good to see you're not using a dodgy database, Mahow.
Now add Vlahovic :wtf:
Such a shame fixing the league and team names breaks the leaderboards.
It doesn't if you just use the replacement db/lnc/edt files where you delete the ones that break it, does it? I think it's just when you add files to the 'editor data' like those that fix kit colours or whatever. Juventus, Porto and Man Utd have the correct names on mine.
Unless everyone else can't see me on their leaderboard, of course.
I'm probably just being thick but where is that leaderboard from, Baz?
Gray Fox - I like the idea of those challenges.
If you can see yourself then you're eligible, I've never seen my name on one until just now.
Although I do usually buy the in game editor when I do my Journeyman games. It's to see the finances of teams because I think the FM system is horseshit. A team with "Secure" finances could be well into the red and "Okay" can be in the green for example.
Thanks Baz, I was thinking more about how you've found the TTH players.
I've even got Mr Chorizo "Benny" on my list.
He's on 4.8m with Pompey.
Newcastle got relegated on my save. :eek: Spent £276m first season and came 16th, then spent £111m and came 19th. :happycry: They’ve spent £36m this year so will see how they fare in the Championship.
They got relegated on mine too. But then, they bough Paulinho, so they clearly deserved it.
https://i.imgur.com/A5W6SNh.png
A for CB's :drool:
Although the way the team is playing I might not even survive to see how good they actually are.
I'm absolutely SEETHING, when I bought the guy for £6.25k (see last page) I could only offer him a 1 year contract.
He's now agreed to move to another club at the end of the season as he didn't want to negotiate with us.
Island Invaders: The Portu-Geezers are Coming
After having a look around some leagues and also those being played in here, I've decided Portugal is the place for my challenge. I narrowed it down to 3 teams almost immediately but a closer look has landed me in the Azores.
https://i.gyazo.com/26bc9500b31d4eb1...407f74723b.png
What drew me here? Well like most of you probably are aware, the Azores are an island off the coast of Portugal. What I didn't know until looking was just how far they are away.
https://i.gyazo.com/e2101ed74a112788...a071094d94.png
The best part about this is there are 2 clubs in Liga NOS not even in this picture. Maritmo and Nacional are both below where the image ends on their own island.
As for facilities, there isn't much out here. Training facilities are below average, youth facilities are poor. Youth recruitment is also basic.
We play at Estadio de Sao Miguel. It's old-ish, finished in 1978 and can hold 10,000 spectators on a match day. A quick Google suggests a good day will see us half fill it. It is also owned by the council, though the rent is listed as nominal.
https://www.europlan-online.de/files...df29fa06c4.jpg
Portugal
The country itself is an interesting one in football terms. The country has 2 cup competitions which are in the most part hotly contested. The Taca de Portugal, the main cup, has actually been won by 7 different clubs in the past 9 years. No one has retained it since 2011.
The more recent Taca de Liga, known by sponsorship name, the Allianz Cup, has also had 4 different winners in the past 5 years.
I do not believe the Allianz Cup provides any European entry with winning it, but the UEFA Conference League does not start first season in FM21.
Currently the Taca de Portugal provides entry to the group stage of the Europa League to the winner.
As for the league itself. In case you didn't know, there have only been 5 separate winners of Liga NOS since its inception in 1935. Two of those winners have only the one league title to their name as well. The rest have been hoovered up by the "big 3." Even calling it that would have been pushing it a few months ago. Sporting had not won a title since '02, before they won one in real life the season just gone.
Benfica are the clear top dogs in terms of money and sponsorship income.
https://i.gyazo.com/3395457b6b22c44f...f4d616ec8c.png
Santa Clara
We have a media prediction of 14th. The board seem to accept this quite well too as even their 5 year plan(great feature addition) only has us breaching the top half at the end of it.
In terms of money, we have no money. Well, there's just shy of £800k in the kitty. Likely just not enough for an upgrade to any of the facilities either.
Looking to the playing staff, we have a lot of Brazilians on board. This raises a question on a home grown players only save. Some of them have Portugal as a 2nd nationality. Am I allowed to keep these or no?
However far and away our best player is CB, Fabio Cardoso:
https://i.gyazo.com/c1d8fa1de57b5240...da76c36567.png
Note, he is already wanted. Given the financial situation we face, it would be quite tough to turn down an offer around or above his value.
To put the finances into perspective, our wage bill is £46k p/w, highest earned gets £2.1k p/w. Jan Vertonghen at Benfica is on our entire wage budget by himself.
We are however in a sweet spot for potential young players here though. The league is of good enough quality, if a player is any good he'll also likely be straight into our first team. Prime for development.
The challenge from here seems simple but may well be quite tough. Take our bunch of Portu-geezers and invade from the island. I've not done a challenge like this before so I may need some luck.
I vote yes. I am allowing second nationality Poles in my team.Quote:
Looking to the playing staff, we have a lot of Brazilians on board. This raises a question on a home grown players only save. Some of them have Portugal as a 2nd nationality. Am I allowed to keep these or no?
"Good talents":
https://i.imgur.com/74W0eYR.png
Decent dickheads:
https://i.imgur.com/7bem0Fj.png
:moop:
https://i.gyazo.com/5956b9f63da69a8f...690a4a490b.png
Sometimes I hate this game. :moop:
It's a yes from me, Gray Fox.
Lost in the World Cup Playoff final with Poland and then Lewandowski (who has scored about 95% of our goals) retired :moop:
Yeah, second nationality gets a yes from me too.
Santa Clara 😎 I'm in the Portuguese third division at the moment slumming it up. Welcome
Situation after my first 5 games at Penarol. As expected we are duelling it out with Nacional. Nothing to split us so far.
https://i.gyazo.com/dec7d5165783d791...1b3d5f0073.png
Got to the first pre season game only to have it crash repeatedly on leaving it. :(
Try holidaying through that one (or have your AssMan take charge)?
Couldnt get past the date no matter what. Out of interest tried setting up a new save and the same thing has happened.
Suggest either something is wrong with the install of the game(perhaps the real name fix being dodgy), or something is wrong with my PC.
Here are our generated kits for the first season:
https://i.imgur.com/Ml2zH39.png
https://i.imgur.com/vXLBtpG.png
They're alright but I might re-roll them. Some of the other kits in the league do look brilliant though.
Settled on these:
https://i.imgur.com/pI5gT9F.png
https://i.imgur.com/w6QmkG3.png
This thing is amazing.
Unfortunately some of the away kits look a bit shit because the guy who made the Polish sponsorships didn't make any silhouette versions, hopefully he fixes that.
Has anyone noticed anything a bit odd with how MLS teams deal with players?
I signed Julian Araujo on a free at the start of my 3rd season. I noticed his career stats said he'd had 22 clubs which I thought was a bit much for a 21 year old.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tw...-no?authuser=0
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mM...-no?authuser=0
I'm now into March of this 3rd season and Toronto have just offered me over £1m for him. I'm half way inclined to accept on the assumption that they'll just release him for a 6th time and I can have him back on a free.
I've also had LA Galaxy sign a player who was on my shortlist for £1.4m and release him less than a month later (I currently have him on trial).
https://i.imgur.com/KlP630e.png
Absolutely fucking seething.
Pogon Siedlce & Poland 2021/22 Season Update:
Transfers In:
In the mid-season window we added the following guys on a free:
https://i.imgur.com/GJQkWAT.png
Barely played but I think he could be quite handy for us next year with his pace.
https://i.imgur.com/rmNJJJo.png
Another bought for next year, he was found by my scouts.
I also brought in a load of loans to try and pack the squad out a bit.
Transfers Out:
https://i.imgur.com/zRQ8CtK.png
Mis was one of my better players when I took over but he was consistently one of our worst performers, in my monthly staff meetings I was always being told to speak to him about his bad form. By December I had grown tired of his shitness and decided I'd sell him in the February window, he went to a fellow second division team and didn't do all that well.
The other two were non-Poles and had to be sold, I'd have liked to have kept Boda as his potential was alright.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/ujgToAv.png
https://i.imgur.com/ecXSfpM.png
https://i.imgur.com/uGusvYQ.png
It was rough and I thought we might have got dragged into a relegation scrap, whilst it was possible for us to be relegated until the penultimate game I don't think we were ever in any real danger. So streaky though and I was constantly tweaking my tactic trying to get more out of the team but it usually didn't result in much.
Oh and we got dumped out of the cup in the first round as I played the reserves.
Squad Stats:
https://i.imgur.com/ae6Iprt.png
https://i.imgur.com/gVv5L9T.png
Player of the season is probably Gorski although Chelmecki (who I hoped would end the season well) ended the season on fire and pushed him close.
So many players were utter dogshit though.
Finances:
https://i.imgur.com/8T1UG98.png
We're in a spot of bother here. We're making fuck all money and we have a loan which is taking £12.5k away from us each month (thankfully the repayments end in two months) and the player wages are too high, even though I've been below budget all season. I think I might have to send most of the team out the door and just loan 99% of the squad next season.
Poland:
https://i.imgur.com/rXEHqET.png
https://i.imgur.com/EhlwZnd.png
We were never going to toppled England (who we've drawn along with Spain and the Czech Republic in the Nations League :moop:) so it was down to coming second. Thankfully we managed it despite a wobble against Hungary.
In the playoffs we easily beat Top Ireland and despite being better than Sweden they got a late goal to see them to the World Cup. This awful news was then followed up by Lewandowski retiring from international duty to really fuck us over.
https://i.ibb.co/wJf5R1P/End-of-season-table.png
The end of our first Premier League season and it's been a pretty successful one. Man United didn't lose until they'd won the league and their incredible points tally would have gone some way to seeing our haul enough for a Champions League spot.
https://i.ibb.co/BnVLk1M/End-of-season-schedule.png
Losing our final two games of the season saw us finish fourth instead of runners-up, but I wasn't overly fussed. The other two defeats on that screen were in the domestic cup finals, on penalties in the league cup to Man United and after extra time against Man City.
https://i.ibb.co/yYkMS00/End-of-season-squad.png
We'll look to see where we can strengthen in the summer. Iirc we've been given about £40m to spend and with the lure of European football, our scope should be wider. Priority number one and two will be to see if we can make any obvious staff improvements, and see which youngsters we can bring in.
Quite the achievement considering your squad looks bereft of any standout quality.
100 points :cool:
Grant putting in some serious yards.
Karlan Grant's stats are skewed slightly by his piss taking against lower league opposition in the League Cup.
You're right Baz, there's no genuine stand out quality. We're just solid enough all round, have a deep squad and play to our strengths (quick counter attacks). Once I have a more technical squad, my plan is to change the player instructions on the five attack minded players to shorter passing. At the moment it would probably be too disadvantageous.
I'm also currently scouting over 800 players who fit my criteria.
https://i.ibb.co/7K3rSqk/End-of-season-expectations.png
The expectations suit us - I'm still planning on deploying the cautious mentality style away from home so we'll stay solid defensively, and counter attacking is a given at the moment, as is signing young players.
Aiming to avoid relegation is a bit daft, but I imagine next season we'll still be one of the favourites for the drop.
https://i.imgur.com/r4uabDG.png
https://i.imgur.com/26BeM76.png
:drool:
What a fucking don. I brought him on at halftime and he shat on those Spanish pricks.
Proper FA Cup head that guy
My summer signings have been mostly youngsters who won't join for anywhere up to 18 months.
My main signing:
https://i.ibb.co/4ghhPt0/Nikoltsis.png
He should be fantastic. Already a natural in the position I'll play him, ticks pretty much all the boxes, and will possibly become our best player (on paper) despite being only 20. The only slight concern might be that he likes to come deep to get the ball. As a conventional striker or deep-lying forward that would be ideal, but as a shadow striker I'll need to make sure he isn't dropping too deep.
https://i.ibb.co/2tCpTmH/Ramadani.png
Another young lad and another forward, but one I couldn't resist. I've been tracking him for ages but had nothing in terms of transfer budget or wage until the summer, so was glad we could still get him. He's about as good as Karlan Grant but I'll consider loaning him as he won't get loads of opportunities unless I change tactic.
And in somewhat surprising news:
https://i.ibb.co/LtDSQ1c/Thiago.png
I base my team around acceleration, pace and dribbling first and foremost, as well as youth of course. The one position where acceleration and pace isn't necessarily required is defensive midfield and the deep-lying playmaker. I'm still experimenting with this position as it's an area where a player is needed, but it's hard to get the best out of them. Thiago has brilliant technical ability, vision and all round mentals, and it'll be interesting to see how he performs: it'll give me a much better idea of what is needed in that role.
I do also have a 17 year old centre back from Mexico arriving soon who looks a superb prospect.
https://i.ibb.co/Ykg0NB2/Garcia.png
Said defender has now turned 18 and arrived.
20 determination. Woof.
After taking over halfway through the season in the first year and winning the teams first every silverware with the Latvijas Kauss hopes where high for my first full season in charge.
It went well.
https://i.imgur.com/361gCfA.png
https://i.imgur.com/TA6R1u2.png
https://i.imgur.com/kb4Zl2U.png
https://i.imgur.com/HPBqX7W.png
https://i.imgur.com/K5MDMT5.png
Mostly down to one man!
https://i.imgur.com/47OdPGy.png
The plan was to only stay for the length of my contract, but a crack at Champions League qualification rounds is too tempting, so I signed on for another year.
Yeah you get a decent chance at proper European football as well as (if memory serves me well) you just need to win one tie to make it to the Conference League groups at least. Or maybe it's two but the first tie you play is an absolute joke.
https://i.ibb.co/5YgdnsK/Ten-games-table.png
Ten games in and we're unbeaten. It's been a solid if unspectacular start - unbeaten is obviously great, however there's a little bit of inconsistency creeping in and a fair bit of rotation happening due to the squad dynamics and Champions League games.
https://i.ibb.co/qjBQ3vK/Ten-games-squad.png
As you can see, the players are generally performing well.
https://i.ibb.co/Fh42kCY/Ten-games-schedule.png
Defeat on penalties in the league cup but everything else has been fine.
https://i.ibb.co/NKD8XK1/Nikoltsis-injury.png
However this was a bit gutting, just days before the Man United game. He's been superb (nine in seven in the Premier League) and very much becoming a star player, but we won't see him again until January. For comparison's sake, he's a similar sort of player to Martial, with much better defensive stats.
https://i.ibb.co/PN466rG/Three-games...ons-League.png
Champions League is going well.
I've made some medium/long term plans now that I'm seeing how we're coping with the Champions League. This season I want us to qualify for the Champions League again whilst obviously doing as well as we can in Europe, and if that's successful I think we can put a title challenge together next season. At the end of next season I'll see where we are and perhaps think about another challenge.
Pogon Siedlce 2022/23 Mid-Season Update:
Transfers In:
https://i.imgur.com/74ccFcI.png
Freebie and he's been massive for us, we've conceded quite a few goals but with our old keeper we'd have conceded so much more.
https://i.imgur.com/iHjFPN8.png
Freebie, has mainly been used as an option off the bench thus far.
https://i.imgur.com/Sji0OBH.png
Freebie, signed to be one of our main strikers. His finishing is gash but he's done well so far.
https://i.imgur.com/S7vZ96b.png
Freebie again and he's been Strozik's main partner.
https://i.imgur.com/yKTYZ6D.png
Freebie who I'm hoping to make some coin on at some point.
https://i.imgur.com/L8ZGAnr.png
Freebie, mainly signed for that determination/flair combo.
https://i.imgur.com/oCsumaY.png
Scout recommendation, also on a free. Sadly he broke his ankle as he's done alright the few times I've used him.
https://i.imgur.com/9r3at4j.png
£1.4k and he's been our best player this season, he's come up with some big goals.
https://i.imgur.com/kdACLHb.png
Freebie and he's been great but he's been struggling for fitness throughout which has caused some problems in some games.
https://i.imgur.com/i3bd71P.png
Free. I don't like him at all but we were struggling massively for goals and I panic bought him.
I also brought in quite a few loans. Sadly two of the best loanees I had were recalled as, despite playing in every single game, they weren't being played in the right position...
Cup:
https://i.imgur.com/7epDjt5.png
https://i.imgur.com/FuH1dAw.png
We played so well against Slask who are currently 6th in the Ekstraklasa, sadly they got a lucky goal at the end. The sad part is that it was played at our stadium which wasn't sold out (only 1300 people of the max 2.9k) with only 67 Slask fans appearing. It wasn't televised either so we didn't get a nice payday.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/dV42qGr.png
https://i.imgur.com/bC9LG4c.png
We started well (the 3-1 loss was harsh, we deserved a point) and then we fell to shit. I changed my tactic to some park the bus bullshit to get those three 0-0's to try and stop the bleeding but it wasn't working. I then decided to just try and use one of the tactics I had made for Poland and then everything clicked. Hopefully we can keep it going through to the end of the season.
Squad:
https://i.imgur.com/ESq6zGP.png
Poland:
https://i.imgur.com/W83GrwQ.png
https://i.imgur.com/xxNJZQq.png
England are our kryptonite, thankfully we don't have them in our Euro qualification group. Lewandowski is back and scoring and he's now at 92 goals for Poland. Matty Cash (Mateusz Gotowka) said he might be interested in switching but he instantly told me to fuck off which is a shame as RB is a bit of a problem for us.
https://i.imgur.com/AbVRFBC.png
https://i.imgur.com/mS5tE8E.png
:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:
Didn't think I'd make that much so soon from him.
Three clubs came in with 20k or so offers, I rejected and offered him out for £250k, 50% next sale and a friendly. Another team came in for him too with a worse offer which the board accepted but thankfully he chose the right team.
Youth Intake day hasn't been too bad for me this year:
https://i.imgur.com/cz8CtuW.png
https://i.imgur.com/mOhp5NS.png
https://i.imgur.com/EHwrCJK.png
Here are the 3 TOP talents:
https://i.imgur.com/k2zFRZS.png
https://i.imgur.com/mumWn2o.png
https://i.imgur.com/nTEGmIW.png
Pretty happy with that, although Pietrzak isn't natural in any position in my tactic.
Do all youth intake players always have dual nationality for the country you’re in?
I believe so.
I've never seen it not happen.
No idea how we've produced a Guinean player we've got no staff from there and we have 0 affiliate clubs.
Pogon Siedlce 2022/23 Season Update:
Transfers In:
https://i.imgur.com/eQBTrTk.png
I bought him as cover as one of the defenders I had loaned in was recalled as I was playing him out of position. He didn't get much work as I managed to loan the defender back.
https://i.imgur.com/LevVtC0.png
Same story with this guy.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/qAudWsL.png
April was a seriously good month for us but we struggled after the long break and then struggled to finish the season well due to injuries.
https://i.imgur.com/qNaUX29.png
We had a real chance at winning the thing which is insane considering how poorly we started the season. I thought we were going to win it when we beat Skra who had been leading for a while but we shat the bed at the end.
I'm not sure what is happening with the promoted sides as Legia II aren't allowed up (at least they aren't in real life) and the news item said only us and Radunia are going up but three sides have been relegated from the first division. Also not sure what the playoff means because the creator of this has fucked it up. It's meant to be two sides auto promoted and then a 4 team playoff for the final spot.
Squad:
https://i.imgur.com/v5wQwn8.png
I'm going to be keeping quite a lot of the non-loans at the squad as I like this side. However there are a few who have already secured deals elsewhere including our goalkeeper, we're only allowed to offer 1 year deals (assume that's a league thing) so a number of players got poached in February.
Finances:
Despite the big sale of a player and the promotion we're still in a bit of bother. We're currently 365k in the red however we no longer have any loans. Hopefully I can push for a senior affiliate next season but so far my board have been against it completely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMuYfScGpbE
https://i.imgur.com/KWzmX8M.png
They came in with a 50k offer which I rejected then decided to offer him out for a million with 50% next sale and they came back with that.
Haaland retired from international play in 2029 in my save at only 29 years old, and now in 2032 Norway have made it to the Euro Championship finals without him. :D
Edit: Won it against Italy. :cab:
https://i.imgur.com/0ZoEP3R.png
Is it okay though?
What the actual fuck?
The keep giving me 100+ million transfer budgets and 8 million wage budgets when I was at 6. Figured I'd start maxing out the credit card.
Just crossed 500 million in the red. :drool:
Back in Santa Clara, I think I've managed to fix the game not going beyond a certain date. I reinstalled it, removed the real name fix I had and have turned off saving to the cloud after every game. I'll assume it was one of those 3 wot done it.
So a bit of further detail on the club. Here is the current playing squad:
https://i.gyazo.com/ff6675cd417d031b...7c9d049b40.png
The first thing to note is that we don't have an ancient team. We do however have a lot of Brazilians here. I know that's a thing for Portuguese football in general, but it was one of the philosophies of the club when I arrived. I have since managed to negotiate that away. We already have 14 Portuguese qualifying players so we are in decent shape there.
The problem is there's a lack of true quality beyond about 4 players. Cardoso is our best defender by some way and entering his prime, but he is wanted by another club. A potential £3-5m fee has been mooted. While that fee seems a bit low at first, that could get us a new training ground down the line. I also have no idea how the clubs finances will change through the season. I also can't see what prize money is there for the league finishes for now.
We have already had a bid for Costinha, on the day I'm currently at. It stands at £450k, but he was listed through unhappiness when I arrived and wants to talk to the club, so my hands may be a little tied. I'll have to negotiate a fee there.
I already asked the club to give me a new everything and they've said no. Not due to finances, but because I'm new and 'should work with what I have.'
https://i.imgur.com/kAayGys.png
This guy has had one of the oddest careers I've seen since he left me.
Pogon Siedlce and Poland 2022/23 Mid-Season Update:
Transfers In:
https://i.imgur.com/h791Mj6.png
Signed on a free as a backup.
https://i.imgur.com/AvoTWVu.png
£3.5k, he was on loan with us for the last two seasons and when we got some money I couldn't say no.
https://i.imgur.com/3HT4Vc6.png
Free and he's quickly become our number 1 CB, although I do need more quality there.
https://i.imgur.com/AXcIeAY.png
Our number 1 keeper left on a free in the Summer and I couldn't find anyone I liked other than this guy due to his potential or another lad who was first team ready but he wanted £2k a week. He's done alright but we need an upgrade.
https://i.imgur.com/8NtUOrW.png
Free and he's mainly been used as a backup so far.
Transfers Out:
https://i.imgur.com/ni4RS8B.png
Kusztan was the biggest loss there as he was great for us and he's also been great for Miedz this season. The Idzcak sale was absolutely massive for us and dug us out of a hole. I would have liked to have gotten more for Leszczuk but he was pissing and moaning and would have left on a free. There's also a 50% of next sale on him so hopefully he comes good.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/uehY9QH.png
https://i.imgur.com/Ke3Hdg5.png
We started so well and it looked like we might end up winning the league at a canter, sadly it all fell to shit in October. Our goals have dried up despite creating lots and we've been conceding a lot of stupid goals. Miedz and Radunia games also saw us lose points with very late goals for our opponents which was infuriating. Hopefully we come back firing after the break and I can bring in some decent defensive options.
Cup:
https://i.imgur.com/ZsVIfcj.png
We're into the Quarter-final and we'll play Miedz. It's been a good run but it's a shame we haven't played an Ekstraklasa team yet for some nice cash.
Poland:
https://i.imgur.com/jhPh9vZ.png
It's not just England who are our kryptonite, it seems it's the whole of the UK & Bottom Ireland. We went into the last game a point behind Scotland and needing Bottom Ireland to take something from them to take the group.
https://i.imgur.com/zlxyKwV.png
Thankfully they beat them 3-2 having been 2-1 down to send us top and themselves through as one of the best second placed teams.
I'm a bit fearful of the Euros, the squad is pretty shit. Lewandowski is 35 now but thankfully he's not regressed much and he's still banging them in for us and Real Madrid who paid £33m for him last season.
Outside of him the cupboard is a bit bare and I really could do with some good newgens popping up or we'll be in serious trouble soon. I've been trying to get Kozwolski and Musialowski into the team recently, Kozwolski has looked a bit shit but Musialowski has done alright in his first 2 games scoring 4 goals, although they were against Estonia and San Marino.
https://i.ibb.co/8ryGgqd/Midway-table.png
The mid-way point in the season sees us challenging at the top and still unbeaten. There's no reason we can't challenge for the title this season really.
https://i.ibb.co/8PBHS9P/Midway-schedule.png
We lost to Inter Milan after already securing top spot in the Champions League, other than that it's been fairly straightforward.
https://i.ibb.co/1swgHtR/Midway-squad.png
Nikoltsis is back which is a massive boost, and the players continue to perform as expected. The one disappointment is the young Mexican centre back I showed you last time, who hasn't really settled or been given too many opportunities.
https://i.ibb.co/C88Grrz/Six-games-Champions-League.png
Atalanta in the last 16.
Eww Windows 11.
What should I be on?
Returned to the game after a bit of a hiatus and the players welcomed me back wonderfully:
https://i.gyazo.com/b55172b035d6df8c...4d9db2301a.png
Let's ignore the fact that we scored from basically every chance we got while they wasted some pretty decent chances.
Pogon Siedlce 2023/24 Season Update:
Transfers In:
https://i.imgur.com/wYhJVAL.png
Freebie, I wanted to upgrade my keeper and I did. He still let in some annoying goals but he was a lot more solid than the previous starter.
https://i.imgur.com/epaASky.png
£2.7k. We agreed to sign him on a free at the end of the year (like everyone else bar one who comes after him) but bought him now. He was pretty disappointing sadly.
https://i.imgur.com/OOFCicN.png
£3.2k. He didn't play too much after signing as I had someone on loan in his role who is slightly better. I'm hoping he has a big year in the upcoming season.
https://i.imgur.com/vvRrqdO.png
Our biggest signing yet at £7.5k, I didn't think I would get this done before the transfer window but thankfully I did. 18 and he's already our best player in the squad. He played quite well but he was picking up cards for fun.
https://i.imgur.com/hCJw5Nt.png
£1.7k and a bit of a disappointment thus far.
Youth Recruitment:
Only two that stood out this year:
https://i.imgur.com/2ArZRVO.png
https://i.imgur.com/tlBP2ML.png
Neither are stars but I'm hoping Stryjek can at least be sold for a decent chunk of cash.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/YQ1kb0E.png
I hoped we'd kick on after the break and we did until it fell to pieces again. Our strikers stopped scoring (one went over 24 hours without a goal which is a record for me, but he was playing well) and we kept letting in foolish and/or late goals. I think 90% of the matches in that run which we failed to win were games in which we had a much better xG than our opponents.
https://i.imgur.com/TvHocVF.png
Delighted to be promoted but it was very up and down:
https://i.imgur.com/yZXHYZA.png
At one stage I thought we'd run away with the league and then we just stopped finishing matches and we needed to beat Bruk to get automatic promotion. Thankfully they stopped being dickheads in that last game.
Cup:
Only one cup game after the break for us:
https://i.imgur.com/mIzFIei.png
And our league form was well and truly with us in the game. Played against our old keeper and he had a storming game. Quarter-finals is a great result though, just a shame we never played an Ekstraklasa team in the run for some cash.
Squad:
https://i.imgur.com/klQNNHZ.png
There will be a fair few leaving again at the end of the year and the only loanee I'd let to extend is Daniel but his club are SEETHING at me for not playing him in the right role. Oh and Struski.
Edit: They're fine letting Daniel be re-loaned but Struski is a no as they want to sell him for £170k.
Finances:
The promotion has been huge.
https://i.imgur.com/CEj86Tz.png
https://i.imgur.com/xJftSUs.png
It's so beautiful.
Kits:
https://i.imgur.com/lfHfeqW.png
Here's what Kitbasher produced for us this season, the home one is alright but I hate the away one. We did have a better kit but I had to re-roll as the sponsors logo wasn't appearing on the away kit.
Poland update will be later tonight or tomorrow when I finish the Euros.
Away one is a terrible Sociedad take. What the hell is that diagonal stripe on the sponsor section.
Euro 2024:
Group Stage:
https://i.imgur.com/jizbJur.png
Nice and easy 4-1 win over Finland to start. We looked great and I'm really liking the Lewandowski and Musialowski partnership up top.
https://i.imgur.com/bazZyg7.png
The duo grab another goal a piece against Greece to see us through to the second round.
https://i.imgur.com/7FU3Wuz.png
We needed a draw against Denmark to finish top of the group and we did that despite changing up most of the team.
Second Round:
https://i.imgur.com/gcv7v7G.png
We were up against the arch-enemy Ukraine and we dominated them in the first half, in the second half though we wilted and were hanging on massively. Thankfully we held on and Musialowski managed to seal the deal. We did lose Szymanski though who has been our third best player thus far.
Quarter-Final:
https://i.imgur.com/iLzAJ43.png
Up against Belgium and we were doing really well until two major fuck ups happened. The first was Walukiewicz attempting a sliding tackle which he missed which allowed Origi to slip a ball to Lukaku who went one on one with the keeper as our defence was pushed up. The second was Piatkowski getting show a second yellow seconds before the final whistle for a challenge on Origi just inside our half. He didn't need to make the tackle and ultimately it meant we had no hope in Extra Time.
Belgium ended up winning the whole thing so that makes me feel a little better but they were there for the taking and we blew it. I just hope that Lewandowski doesn't end up retiring soon.
Haven't gotten around to playing much FM recently, but managed to complete the second Serie A season recently.
https://i.gyazo.com/e8406aecae82e67c...613331c128.png
A jump from 16th to 6th and from 38 to 63 points compared to last year means I'm quite chuffed with the season overall, especially as one of my main centre-backs was poached before the season and the second one in the winter transfer window (bloody release clauses :moop:).
Defensive stability is the main issue still with 61 goals conceded. I usually win games with silly scorelines like 4-2, 5-4, etc. Quite entertaining to watch, but it also means that when a team with really good finishers rolls around they often annihilate us (Guardiola's Juventus won 8-1 against me in the cup semi-final :D).
There are a couple of positions where I have good but not great players in the starting formation, but I'm unsure whether to look for replacements because in previous FM's taking those players out often caused more damage than it was worth. I'm sure there'll be a lot of offers coming in during the summer, so I'll probably decide depending on who throws their toys out of the pram.
The average squad age is 23 as well, so there are a couple of candidates which I hope will step up next year, like this guy, who so far has been useful as target man but I'm hoping will still improve a bit:
Toggle Spoiler
https://i.imgur.com/Ce9J6SZ.png
Well that was exciting.
From thinking we had stolen a point to fuck all to stealing the point.
I've been offered both the France and Norway job, having never managed in either country. :D And my biggest achievements so far are promotions to the top divisions of Holland and Italy. Good to see the reputation system is still borked.
I've turned down both. Managing both club and country would be too much micro-managing for my liking and I don't want to leave Torino yet.
Career recap and season 2035/36 update
I returned to the game after having taken a break of sorts for about a month and I decided to continue with my Journeyman save, seeing as I haven't yet achieved all the goals I'd initially set (ideally winning the Champions League, but at the very least more league titles in the big leagues). Since it has been a while, here's a brief overview of my career so far:
2021-2024: Asteras Varis (Greece)
G' Ethniki (3rd tier) champions
2024-2025: BFC Daugavpils (Latvia)
Nothing of note, just general improvement of the club's reputation
2025-2026: RFS (Latvia)
2x league titles, 1x cup, qualified to Champions League group stage
2026-2029: Krasnodar (Russia)
2x league titles, 1x cup, 1x Europa League, 1x Supercup
2029-2030: Olympiakos (Greece)
1x league title, 1x cup
2030-2033: Feyenoord (Netherlands)
3x league titles, 2x cup, 1x Europa League, 2x Supercup
2033-Present: RB Leipzig (Germany)
1x league title, 1x cup, 1x Europa League, 1x Supercup
After having narrowly (2 points) won the league the prior season, I was looking for more of the same this season, but a better performance in Europe (knocked out in the first knockout round last season). We didn't make many moves during the transfer window, although we did secure a player I was going after for quite some time now:
https://i.gyazo.com/c25b38d8f235077b...c95d2099dc.png
A weird signing in a sense as he cost 71m, which is pretty hefty considering that we already have a high quality player in Traore at that position. The thing, however, is that his performances just don't quite match his stats so I felt an improvement was needed, and Tamura being trained in Germany on top of his pretty amazing stats made the move a no-brainer.
https://i.gyazo.com/7b54419a813d23b3...f81d7767be.png
The young spaniard was our only other signing of note, in my continuous bid to find actual good central midfielders. He cost 44m, which, while not huge, was still a fairly hefty sum, but he's still very young so hopefully he more than makes up for it.
https://i.gyazo.com/1fb513e985e0ad39...f3b9fd8f9a.png
Well that was easy. Really easy. Bayern were nowhere to be seen this time around, and the rest of the contenders didn't fare much better either. I don't recall a single game where we were second best, although we did somehow manage to lose 3-0 to Werder of all teams, in one of those classic FM games. We scored 105 goals (still quite a bit off Bayern's record 114 a few seasons back), while only conceding 22, breaking our own record of 23 in the previous two seasons. We've been really consistent defensively if anything. Sadly, we didn't manage to pair the league title with a cup win:
https://i.gyazo.com/9e6265a804e585f8...d21cd0f853.png
A bit unlucky to be drawn away against Dortmund that early on, but even more so given that we missed a lot of good chances and they scored twice in the last 5 minutes to pull the rug from under our feet. They lost to Bayern in the round after that, who eventually went on to win the whole thing.
https://i.gyazo.com/a307247e38f88ba3...f7e8ae1779.png
We didn't learn our lesson against Dortmund and did the exact same thing against Juventus. So many chances missed and then their striker just decided to win the tie on his own with two wonderstrikes late in the second leg. Very disappointing really. As consolation, Juventus defied all odds and went on to win the trophy, so no shame losing to the eventual champions right? RIGHT?
https://i.gyazo.com/1584b07e14d4947f...65b81c1aa8.png
In truth, we were hit hard by injuries. Losing our two best and most consistent performers in Sergio and Fleßmann for basically half the season didn't help at all. And they weren't the only ones as Neubauer and Hummels also suffered the same fate. Thankfully Queiroz stepped up big time, and singlehandedly won us quite a few games, while Mark, Nagy and newcomer Tamura were also pretty sublime. If I am to improve the squad, I think a new goalkeeper is needed, as Ahumada is good, but feels like he's just worse than the rest of the squad. Ideally I'd like to also find a good midfielder, but nobody has really worked for me there. The tactic is probably underutilizing them, but I did have a few at Feyenoord who excelled there so it's not just that. I tried to buy those aforementioned Feyenoord players but they are just too expensive.
You might have noticed that I used a couple ifs in that last paragraph and that's because the Bayern job is available and even though I'd rather go to a different country it just feels too tempting.
He may not be able to jump, but Tamura looks absolutely nuts.
I genuinely don't get player decisions in FM and it's been like that for quite some time. I just had one of my Leipzig defenders (I am in his favoured personnel list and all) choose Liverpool over us (Bayern that is) despite us being a much higher reputation club and offering him 50% more in wages.
Bayern 2036 Squad Overview
I did move to Bayern after all, so I thought it might worth giving you a detailed look at the squad, including whatever happened in the summer transfer window. Speaking of moving to Bayern, they sacked Nagelsmann at the end of May, I applied the very same day and they just weren't offering me an interview for the longest time. They came to me on the 3rd of July, we did the interview and they offered me the job 2 days later. So weird.
Let's see what the status is at Bayern. They are absolutely minted, offering me a bonkers 470m to spend in transfers, coupled with a 7.5m p/w for wages, which is more than double what I had at Leipzig. Just a massive step up in finances really. And they were needed as the squad was ridiculously lopsided. They had two mediocre goalekeepers, a grand total of one natural centre back and just a couple more people that could fill in, as well as two full backs. On the other hand, they have some amazing midfielders, wingers (who are thankfully versatile as my tactic doesn't use any) and strikers. Starting from the standout players already at the club:
Toggle Spoiler
So as you see, there's only one defensive player of note (although Davies is still at the club at 35 and is going to be starting on the left wing) and everything else is up front. That pretty much meant that my job was clear. Take our massive warchest™ and bring in defenders, and a lot of them. And that's exactly what we did. I spent no less than 466m euros and brought the following:
Toggle Spoiler
All in all, it was a gamble (a small one but still) taking the Bayern job, given how uneven the squad was, but I think I've made the most of it. I don't think we'll be challenging for a Champions League title from the get go, but maybe Marcos can singlehandedly lead us to glory. I fully expect us to win the league (and hopefully the cup, but that's less important) and I think we have what it takes to become a CL challenger from next season onwards.
Squad looks insane, Adra. Nice time to join in that there's a great current group but they're old-ish, so bringing through the academy/youngsters will be the game
6ft 5 with 20 agility, balance, jumping and composure. :p
That lad could win you it all.
I don't know about that, he's been a bit underwhelming so far with just the 20 goals in 8 games.
https://i.gyazo.com/df811b3c7b43d79d...159426e05b.png
4 players in the top 10 and 10 in the top 50. Not shabby.
Bayern 2036/37 Update
I have already updated you on the squad and the transfers that I made, so let's get to the action.
https://i.gyazo.com/06a54c6ba7ed3205...a5da70bca2.png
Very easy overall. We broke records for most points (92), most goals scored (122) and least conceded (21). Even though they dropped off the pace, I am still happy to see Leipzig remain the best of the rest and in fact they even managed to beat us twice, once in the Super cup (1-0) and once in the league (2-1). Werder was the other team to beat us.
https://i.gyazo.com/3c50ecb12e157226...e0a3ba9cd1.png
That was even easier. The only remotely close game was the one against Leverkusen. In fact we only conceded a singular goal, but it was a doozy as it came 5 minutes into the final with Dusseldorf gaining the lead. We promptly punished them after that with no fewer than 8 goals.
https://i.gyazo.com/4b443b12a07f6b2a...be14b9f1ca.png
Notice a pattern? That was way too easy, even though all our knockout draws were pretty brutal. Had it not been for Arsenal scoring 4 goals from 5 shots on target (hilariously the one that didn't go in was a penalty kick) in that draw and we would have won every single game in the competition. At no point did it ever look like we were going out. Just flat out insane honestly. Who knew that if you inherit a squad with like 6-7 world class players and then be given 500m euros to fill in the gaps, you are going to see some success. Still I didn't expect us to be that dominant.
https://i.gyazo.com/24aa94ab4e589080...ac714a63e3.png
Marcos "only" scored 57 goals (so a bit far from Satriano's 68 in that one season), but that's only because he spent a total of 4 months injured. The man is an absolute beast, but I guess I knew that just by looking at his stats. Speaking of stats, here's some for you: He's won the CL Golden Boot 3 times, the Bundesliga Golden Boot 8 times in a row and the Ballon D'Or 5 times. He wasn't the only one to shine though. Obviously the whole team was immaculate, but I have to specifically mention Washington Luiz and Quieroz, who were sort of impulse buys, but they proved their worth with 60 goals between them (the latter even scoring a brace in the CL final). Keranen was also ridiculous and, as I expected, solved my "I can't make my midfielders work in this tactic" conundrum. Finally a special mention needs to go to Davies, who at 36 is still a monster contributing no fewer than 20 assists over the course of the season:
https://i.gyazo.com/6155cac8251f7a25...5c800542fc.png
Sadly he has decided to retire in the summer and no amount of talking was enough to make him change his mind. He will most definitely be missed, although I have already lined up a replacement, with Tamura being the 3rd player to join us from Leipzig (there's a screenshot of him further up the page and he's even progressed since). Other than him, I was looking at maybe a better goalkeeper and a better central defender but both Ene and Bendjelloui actually improved significantly over the second half of the season and "vindicated" me in terms of how much I spent to bring them here. So I will be focusing my efforts into bringing youngsters and I have arranged no fewer than 12 transfers of u20 players. Oh and I also did sign a central defender in in January for squad depth, who while really solid is not worthy of a screenshot really.
https://i.gyazo.com/a06bfc6fb096c064...1e82256d6b.png
This also happened. It wasn't anywhere near as easy as the rest of the competitions though. We went through the groups by beating Vasco Da Gama 2-0 and FC Tokyo 4-0 to set-up a quarter final against Arsenal. Much like the return leg in our Champions League tie it was a back and forth game with us eventually clinching a 4-3 win in extra time. Barcelona were up next in the semis, in probably our easiest game, as we won 2-0 with them barely creating any chances. The final was against PSG and we went into half-time two goals up but they eventually brought it back with a 90th minute equaliser. We did, however, have a fitness advantage by the looks of it and got a goal in the 118th minute to win us the trophy.
So where do we go from here? I will be staying at Bayern until the end of my contract I reckon (3 more years), trying to win more Champions League titles and then move to any of the other big leagues, preferably Spain or England.
I left Qatar SC for Salernitana. 9 wins in 14 and we have climbed from 9th to 2nd. It's hella close at the top of Serie B.
https://gyazo.com/e81aa811a766e28559aba1206600353d.jpeg
Despite conceding an 88th minute goal and drawing 3-3 on the final day - we go up :)
https://gyazo.com/3996716b51540ec175448aa562865d3a.jpeg
EDIT: $3.4m transfer budget for next season. Looks like we are heading straight back down.
Pogon Siedlce 2024/25 Mid-Season Update:
Transfers In:
https://i.imgur.com/vWTBr0T.png
Free transfer and he's someone I had agreed to sign in March/April. I was hoping he'd thrive in my tactic but he's been crap, the strikers I had last year weren't great goalscorers but they were doing so much for the team as false nines. Jan though has been abysmal and I will be looking for another striker when the transfer window opens.
https://i.imgur.com/C50x9qN.png
Free as well and he's been an absolute beast. I was hoping he'd make an impact likely as a sub but he's been a starter since day 1 and he's rarely let us down. His pace has been something we've been missing and he's been lethal on the right cutting inside. He's so aggressive though and I spend so much of the match telling him to calm the fuck down.
https://i.imgur.com/9ua3a6Z.png
Another freebie and we needed wingers badly, scouts absolutely love him.
https://i.imgur.com/CrqNhP9.png
Another free winger who was shuffled out on loan.
https://i.imgur.com/1jEYDYC.png
£8k which was an absolute steal. He's been a rock at CB with another signing this Summer. He is exactly what we needed.
https://i.imgur.com/LZcnwjj.png
The club's record signing at £38k, the whole defence needed an overhaul and that's what I've done. He's been solid but nothing more.
https://i.imgur.com/DXRafbh.png
Our second CB, £14.5k rising to £17k. He's been brilliant alongside Deren, he also brings a bit of experience to the side.
https://i.imgur.com/7jHpYPJ.png
£18.75k and the last piece of our defence, he's been ok but I've expected more from him.
https://i.imgur.com/WFS01yz.png
He was on loan with us last year and I tried to bring him back, however, his team wanted a mandatory £24k fee in the loan despite not wanting a penny to sell him now. This was annoying as he was not interested in joining us permanently for a while but thankfully he ended up agreeing to join us on a free.
Transfer Out:
https://i.imgur.com/uVygn81.png
The only non-loan of the window was our former LB who left for £5k.
League:
https://i.imgur.com/075icFB.png
A tough start for us as our first 3 games were against established Ekstraklasa teams including last years runners up Lech. Thankfully we showed some grit in the third game and stole a victory (screenshot is a few posts up). From there we've done alright, sadly our last 3 games stopped our great run because Zyro got injured for those and we struggled at the back without him.
https://i.imgur.com/pM35Y4c.png
I can't see us sneaking into Europe but I'm really happy we're not in a relegations scrap in our debut season.
Cup:
https://i.imgur.com/FNCrDXm.png
Played the reserves and one of them decides to two foot a guy through the back of the legs within 11 seconds... We had no chance after that sadly.
Squad:
https://i.imgur.com/j8cmfk4.png
I've not done too much rotating so players are starting to kick up a fuss and some of the starters were starting to tire, thankfully we weren't hit with too many injuries.
Daniel has been a lot better than his last season as he's adding in more goals to his good all round play. Really happy with our wingers too who have done a lot and I think our first 11 is really good. The rest of the team though is not and if injuries hit us hard we'll struggle.
Poland:
https://i.imgur.com/YIzH6Dt.png
We were 5-1 down to England and we went all out attack after 70 minutes and we almost pulled a point out of the bag, still struggling against Ireland though which is annoying but at least we ended up finishing second.
https://i.imgur.com/dtdnutt.png
We also can't get away from England which is really annoying as we can't touch them right now.
I've decided to start a new journeyman save alongside my West Brom save. I'm beginning with a minimal reputation and therefore pretty much from the bottom. I holidayed a season as I often like to do to get us to summer 21, and then started applying for vacant jobs. The first that came up was recently relegated East Fife, and I was very swiftly put in place. They're only semi-professional which buggers training up, and had a really depleted squad, but they're pretty healthy financially and are expecting a decent campaign (play-offs) in the Scottish League Two this season.
As mentioned with West Brom, what I generally do is look at the best players in terms of acceleration, pace, agility, dribbling, vision etc. and start to build my plans from there. I'm really looking to get the best out the players at my disposal in this save, as opposed to turning to tried and tested tactics that, whilst not exactly plug and play, almost guarantee success with just a little bit of tweaking. My squad was threadbare at the beginning so this became a bit of a sticking point until I had some of my own players in.
And here they are:
https://i.ibb.co/jh8skhk/Crawford.png
https://i.ibb.co/GHvKWSF/Dangana.png
https://i.ibb.co/gtsh146/Flanagan.png
https://i.ibb.co/xGcQhZC/Fleming.png
https://i.ibb.co/hVT96Fv/Garrity.png
https://i.ibb.co/c2y1M8q/Greene.png
https://i.ibb.co/DKtgfj8/Ramsay.png
Notice that I switch the attribute colour thresholds depending on the standard I'm managing, so 12+ is the holy grail here. Those players are generally young, quick, and there are some good footballers too.
Next up was trying to create some tactics which got the best out of them. The tricky part. They're most suited to a 4-4-2, as a couple of my best players are forwards, and there are some decent natural wide options.
https://i.ibb.co/2YVhJz1/4-4-2.png
Tactic number one. As usual I need to train my strikers into shadow strikers, and they will provide the central penetration. That meant I really had to drop my wingers back, but it suited us fine and our wide two will be our other natural attacking players. This gives us four conventional attacking options across the pitch, and the two central midfielders on support will get into dangerous areas (moving into channels) behind them to offer a second line of attack. The inverted wing backs will cover the central areas. It could be a bit too attacking, and playing out of defence will be interesting, but it's fairly straightforward and should suit a poor team quite well.
https://i.ibb.co/S6FCMsM/4-3-3-narrow.png
The problem with the 4-4-2 was I couldn't really justify an inclusion for my best player already at the club prior to my arrival - an advanced playmaker. I definitely need a system which incorporates him, so I've sacrificed the wingers in favour of a narrow 4-3-3 with the shadow strikers attacking either side of the playmaker. Both my advanced and deep-lying playmakers have excellent passing and vision for this level, and the attacking players have the good physicals.
https://i.ibb.co/DwVK2Hg/4-3-3-wide-control.png
My final formation sees a change in style completely, however the shape is identical to the West Brom save. I have four pretty decent technical players, so at times I'm going to attempt some form of lower league total control/total football. All four in the central diamond can play a bit, so that's the plan with them. I'm unsure whether to get the penetration from my wingers or central midfielders, but this is what I've opted for for now. It might not work with lower league plodders, however I'm satisfied I have three formations which look to get the best out of my individual players and, in theory, should work collectively.
https://i.ibb.co/NnzWztB/Squad.png
There's my squad in order of pace. They're very young, and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. Job number one is to get the attackers familiar with playing as shadow strikers.
Bayern 2037/38 Update
A quick second season with Bayern, since the transfer windows were very calm, what with no real improvements needed in the squad. All the signings we made were basically already agreed before the season even started and they were almost exclusively youngsters.
https://i.gyazo.com/f4ee17c8bcdcd9fa...2f90e7668b.png
Another dominant league campaign, albeit one with fewer (but still a lot) goals scored. Unfortunately Leipzig weren't anywhere near as good this time around, but at least they did still manage to qualify for the Champions League.
https://i.gyazo.com/38e8d649a99da912...14e2f73d9c.png
Easy Super Cup win, and an even easier cup win, what with no goals conceded.
https://i.gyazo.com/76f3349edbc1dcbe...7bbb552ed6.png
I have had back to back Champions League wins in previous saves but none that felt that easy. That said we came really close to actually getting knocked out by Ajax, as I decided to play the second team in the return fixture and they promptly punished us. It wasn't even a case of them getting lucky, they just flat out played better. Thankfully we did grab a goal in extra time and then went on to win the whole thing. We did, however, lose in the European Super Cup. A nothing competition, I know, but one that I have failed to win three times now so hopefully next season will be our turn (although it will be against City ao nothing easy there).
https://i.gyazo.com/c5bd2721b267bcc3...079ece3bd8.png
82 fucking goals. I will leave it at that because anything else I could say would just pale in comparison to what Marcos did this season.
Amazing. :D
How many did you concede in the league?
Conceded 20 so one fewer than last season.
Turns out that one of the headline features of FM22 doesn't really work as intended, if at all really.
https://youtu.be/WaklUnCR60M
Back into FM22 after Christmas and I rounded off my season with Llanelli Town with a comfortable title win and promotion to the JD Cymru Premier.
https://i.ibb.co/6tccwSP/21-22.png
We eased to the title with 3 games to spare, losing just once all season long (a disappointing 3-1 home loss to Cambrian & Clydach in early January). At this point Swansea Uni were hot on our tail, but we won 9 of our next 10 to stay ahead comfortably. Morgan Gore topscored with 20 goals (25 in all competitions), and James Loveridge was influential on the right wing, chipping in with 7 goals and 8 assists. We had a young CB on loan, Morgan Weaver, who was an ever-present with an average rating of 7.55, and we've also managed to keep him here permanently after his contract ran out at Penybont.
The ability to easily pick up players in this league really helped. I was able to bolster the squad with free transfers throughout, adding a couple of central midfielders for depth and improving my defence with a really good CB in December (Thomas Williams, who will keep the place for our next season). Even players under contract can be picked up for free - if you offer £0 to the club they will usually accept. I've managed to snaffle a young 15 year old striker for the upcoming campaign from Airbus UK doing exactly this.
My youth intake was incredibly good for our level - a number of youngsters went straight into the first team setup. The most impressive of the lot was 15 year old Gwion James - an attacking midfielder who can also fill in on the left wing or central midfield. I gave him a few sub appearances as the season wound down, but our (admittedly terrible) coaches rate him as our best player already.
https://i.ibb.co/DCN7FmP/james.png
In other world news, Newcastle have gone crazy with their influx of cash. They spent £220m in January alone, bringing in Trippier (£33m), Marcos Acuna (£55m for a 30 year old), Oriol Romeu (£36m), Kramaric (£33m) and Gianluca Mancini (£52m). The summer window has just opened and they've just bought Leon Bailey from Aston Villa for £68m....
Meanwhile, Mbappe has gone to Manchester United on a free, and Paulo Dybala has moved to Liverpool (PL champions) on a free also. PSG finally won the Champions League, beating Chelsea 2-0 in the final, with Mbappe scoring in his last PSG game.
Seems reasonable I guess:
https://i.gyazo.com/a64aace5d21e3fe2...cc448b2412.png
@thommo: What's your overall plan with the save? Move around, try and make Llanelli a European power slowly and steadily, or just take it one day at a time and see where you end up?
Danny (I think) posted this not long ago.
I don't think it works at all. Workthespace had a sim game where he made a Mr Perfect for Gibraltar, they never managed to qualify for a tournament but the player was obviously the best in the world and ended up playing at Juventus, PSG, Man City and Real Madrid. He won plenty of league titles, a few Champions Leagues and won the Balon D'or et al many times. The youth rating did not go up at all.
He also did a 500 year sim which had lots of weird winners of the Euros/World Cup. Sadly he didn't check the youth ratings but if anyone has the in game editor they should download it and check it out.
Initially I wanted to make Llanelli a European power, but I did forget about the new rules for work permits and whatnot due to Brexit. Not to mention the dynamic youth rating not working properly (or as we all thought it would). I'll give it a few years and see how progress goes, and move if it takes my fancy.
I'd love to keep him at the club for his whole career, but unfortunately I feel he'll be off if he does improve due to that Mercenary personality.
Oh yeah, it's even on this page :D
Anyway, I think this could/should have been even bigger news. I'm not really doing a nation save, but if you were doing it, and it turns out that you could win the Champions League 40 times with a club without it affecting the youth rating - that's pretty fucked up after they sold it as such a new feature.
After being relegated very swiftly I went back up again via the playoffs and then was on course for another season of sitting in 19th and flirting with 18th until March hit and suddenly we became amazing. By the last game we were comfortably safe in the giddy heights of 16th so put the kids out against Liverpool
https://i.imgur.com/sP29Qjr.png
https://i.imgur.com/rF24ZkY.png
https://i.imgur.com/785AItk.png
https://i.imgur.com/v8Jh8Na.png
Unambitious on the first lad is a real bastard. The left back though is already almost as good as my backup which is nice.