My favourite games over the years have been taking a side like Bath to the top of Europe.
My favourite games over the years have been taking a side like Bath to the top of Europe.
Just think of all the potential local derbies you've got playing as Slough. There’s Reading, Aldershot, Bracknell. Didcot, Yateley. You know. Winnersh. Taplow.
African Cup of Nations 2025 - Ivory Coast
After bombing out of the MLS playoffs at the first hurdle we only had two months in the new role before our first international tournament, with Côte d'Ivoire (that one's for you Jim).
We would face The Gambia, Cameroon and Zambia and as expected managed to navigate our way through the group fairly comfortably.
Up next in the second round we faced Doctor Congo:
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That is the plan, however there are some problems with that, at least in the short term. Firstly nobody wants to come to the Chinese second tier, not even players who play for Supersport United and secondly I'm only allowed two foreigners in that league and I already have about eight, all of whom are miserable as they don't want to play in the Chinese second tier either. I'd forgotten about this too, but China now imposes a 100% tax on foreign transfers over £2.3m. No idea whether that tax comes out of my transfer budget or the chairman's ludicrously deep Swiss pockets, but it appears the days of singing journeyman wank for ludicrously inflated prices are over. If I can eventually sign some non native talent, even in the top tier I'm only allowed four foreigners on the pitch at any one time.Originally Posted by Baz
So, I'm going to game the shit out of it. It takes five years to get Chinese nationality and I have a couple of players who're less than two years away from achieving that (Joris Gnagnon and Irfan Kahveci) who I plan to do everything to keep hold of, I'll then add to that any players in the same boat that I can get from other Chinese clubs (it's a remarkably tedious process to find these players sadly) and augment it with actual foreigners. We have a year slumming it in the Chinese second tier so that'll eat up some time and give me a chance to blood some Chinese talent as it seems with these odds, even a binman could get Henan back up.
I don't think I've ever seen that before.
Here's my best Chinese player.
Who might actually be the best or at least most promising Chinese player playing in China. Is there a way to train that awful trait out of him or do I just try and convert him to an AMC?
I hope you wore a blindingly white crisp shirt for the tournament.
Absolutely. It went splendidly with my now permanent tan.
It was a bit of a slog, especially in those first two seasons. Going pro should hopefully open up the opportunities for development now, but firstly I need to make sure the finances don't go down the toilet in the first season up. Ultimately though, as you say, Champions League will be the aim.
I love this style of save but I always find it tough to get to the ultimate aim, simply because of the time it takes. I also want to try out a "Building a Nation" style save for FM 22, if I decide on getting it.
Unfortunately, we're groundsharing with Barnet right now so it's not as appropriate. Once we get our own stadium back in Slough, I'll get them walking out to it.
All you have to do now is get grey hair, a 'lived in' face and manage 5 different teams of decaying quality to the next 5 editions, and you will have full Claude Le Roy credentials.
Yes?
Forgone a chance at managing them in next year's World Cup by doing that but it just feels wrong having a club and international job now the Chinese league is about to get going again.
Did you not fancy a crack at the World Cup?
I'm a twit
I did, but running a club job and an international one is too immersion breaking for me.
OMG, just seen that I can make one player exempt from foreigner limits in the second Chinese tier and two in the first. Boom.
Scrap that, they have to be from Hong Kong, Macau or Chinese Tapei. Seems like I have to have one as well. How utterly bizarre.
Was the last manager at this club Slavisa Jokanovic? I'm sure Cesarini follows him around everywhere.
Not on this occasion.
Be nice if I last longer than 150 days.
On the topic of older players, is there some established dynamic for "routine" in the game? Hidden stats usually developing in a certain way as they age or so? The usual is that mental stats go up as physical ones go down generally, right?
Ah, Javi Pereira is a favourite of Slav too, makes sense.
On those odds, I feel like anything other than complete domination of the second division sees you out the door.
Mental stats will always go up over the course of a career. You can sometimes get a message saying "due to off field incident X, Player Y has suddenly gained/lost a lot of determination" but I find those to be rare. Long term injuries will also set mentals back a bit for obvious reasons.
Physicals will also go up assuming the player doesn't have big injury problems. However at a certain point they then get old and their physicals start to plummet. This is set by their natural fitness. Perfect example of 20 natural fitness is Cristiano Ronaldo. He's in godly shape and hasn't missed much of a beat since his 20's. Meanwhile a player with 1 natural fitness will start to drop as soon as they hit the other side of their defined peak. For most players in the game this is 30/31. Goalkeepers are different.
As for the hiddens, I don't think they can change too much after the player has generated. I think tutoring is the best way with this, but game time always helps too.
Indeed. The board also expect me to reach the cup final (which is mental), so even just nailing the league might not be enough.
I noticed Ronaldo had 20 for natural fitness in my save, which made me think he'd carry on into his 40s, but he's already retired. Gutting. Would have loved to bring him to China.
Long time no see chaps.
New one is out Nov 9th apparently.
I expected the next screenshot to be "Yev Bin Man resigns".
And so onto my 7th season in charge, and Slough Town's first in the Football League in their history. A busy summer was in order, and it was very hard to get all of the players onto full-time contracts without causing the wage budget to get out of control. My hopes at the start of the season was simply survival through any means possible. I revamped the team more drastically than in any season before, and although it really wasn't easy to attract players of high enough quality, I was able to get into contract talks with a number of shortlisted players for the first time in years. However, with a wage budget of approximately £17k p/w, it was tough to get all the business done without breaking the bank.
Teddy Jenks and Luke Dreher were brought in to be the first-choice midfield pair, Jenks as Mezzala and Dreher as the ball winner. I was a little sceptical about paying a fee for Jenks but he's more than justified it with some really important performances. Both have chipped in with goals throughout and they've barely missed a game. Oliver Denham was a player I had shortlisted for 18 months before I was finally granted the option to open contract talks with him. A pacy centre-back, he's been first choice all season and is the highest earner on the team, at £1,200 p/w. Will Dennis came in after a trial to be the first-choice keeper, ahead of our stalwart of the National League, Toni Stahl. Unfortunately he fractured his leg in September, and Stahl has played very well in his place, earning the spot on merit even though Dennis has been back from injury for months.
Three of the loanees have played a pivotal role throughout the campaign. Aaron Jones has been the first-choice striker and is probably a step up on the majority of the squad, ability-wise. Lukas Puntigam was brought in to play on the right wing, and Carl Goodwin has rotated in and out of the left-back spot. And finally, one January signing, courtesy of my scouts. They found Steven Williams playing on a month-to-month contract for Barry in the Welsh Premier League - he's a versatile central midfielder and only 18, with a fair bit of potential. He could be vital for a few seasons.
-------------------------------------------------------
At the halfway point, I couldn't believe how well we'd performed. At this point, I wasn't thinking about the playoffs - a lot could change in half a season. But realistically, relegation would only occur if we had a monumental collapse, and a mid-table finish would be a fantastic result for a first season in League 2.
We started the season with 12 points from the opening 10 games - not terrible but things drastically improved once I changed the default starting formation to a flat midfield 3, rather than a 2 with an attacking midfielder ahead of them. We only lost 1 of the next 13 games, and created more goalscoring opportunities, but the defence was still the best thing about the team. McEntee and Denham were very solid in the centre of the backline and it showed, with only Swindon conceding fewer.
He can't resign. They'd have locked the place down after 2 cases.
And Yev wont like how they do the tests over there.
Well I guess I won't be reunited with that legend for a while. He became a wonderkid. I'm so proud.
2025 Season Mid Season Update - Henan
Halfway point in the Chinese second tier reached and we're doing ok.
Still in the cup at the quarter-final stage too, with a home tie against Super League Shanghai SIPG coming up next.
Cup run could be at an end there then Yev.
So at the halfway stage of our first season in the Football League, we were sitting in the playoffs in an admittedly very tight division. It's easy to get carried away after a start like that, but our form continued in the same manner after Christmas, with a number of solid results against teams fighting at the top. Most notably, we comfortably beat table-topping Swindon 3-1 at home, which sparked a run of 8 games unbeaten.
In this run was a lovely encounter with our old friends Wrexham. Graham Westley, who loves to mouth off at every opportunity, was on shaky footing as their boss - they were one of the pre-season favourites for promotion, and incredibly have the highest wage bill in the division, even as a newly-promoted team, and yet they were in about 15th going into our fixture. I was asked about his job status before the game and I took the chance to say he should have been out the door weeks ago and he shouldn't be in a job like that again, to which he bemoaned my "lack of support for a fellow manager". We went out and utterly dominated the match, but couldn't find a way through until the new young Welsh lad Steve Williams hammered in a winner with 10 minutes to go, and by 5:15pm, Graham Westley didn't have a job.
With 10 games to go, I'd begun to believe, and the playoff dream was genuinely on. Since this point, however, we've played very erratically. Going from absolutely hammering teams, to missing a bundle of chances and conceding late winners to relegation-threatened sides.
The 8-1 win against AFC Wimbledon is the biggest win of my tenure at the club, and it was great to see Aaron Jones score with virtually every effort (he's up to 20 for the season now). But losing those two games to Wycombe (16th) and Gillingham (19th) really hurt our chances and leaves us teetering and needing good results from our final 2 games of the season.
We play Carlisle at home, and Newport County away (currently 12th). If we miss out on the playoffs, it's still been a brilliant first season at this level. But it'd be great to make the top 7, if only for the reputation boost and experience of high-profile games. Wish me luck lads.
Godspeed Thommo, cracking read this.
And you were right, we are indeed out of the cup. Not yet sacked as a result mind, so that's a bonus.
Ugh, I might have to cave and give up Zapata. He's completely full on "handing in transfer requests every window" now, and even though he performs he has become pretty inconsistent.
1.5 years left on his contract, and Barca offered me 175M for him. It does feel like I'm setting them up for being unbeatable though.
2082/83 - Mid Season Update - Gillingham
Before the season started, we made some moves in the transfer market, out went some oldies (30+) and some fringe players that were never going to make it. In came some fresh supplies.
Of the incomers, the main men were Claudio Notari, whom I spent big bucks on (for me anyway as I'm normally tight as a ducks arse when it comes to spending). The other key signing was Nicolas Simo from Palermo who had a minimum release fee clause. Had him as a youngster at Benfica and is a decent prospect. Both go straight into my midfield three.
The season started well with an 8-0 thrashing of Man City on the opening day (after losing the Community Shield against the invincibles Arsenal). Thought this meant we would go on to storm the league with ease, but then proceeded to not win the next two matches.Luckily we have been fairly consistent from then on, which also included ending Arsenal's year long unbeaten run with a 7-0 win.
This is the current league standings at the half-way point. It's very tight. It was ourselves and Liverpool battling it out, but Arsenal have come back into it.
The Champions League run is going ok, got out of the groups in 2nd place behind a very good Real Madrid side. We now have Cannes in the first knock-out stage, which is a shitter as they are 8 points clear at the top in Ligue 1. And they have my old prodigy from Benfica up front who will no doubt stick a hat-trick against us.
We're still in the domestic cups; have a League Cup semi final against Spurs approaching and the FA Cup 3rd round brings an easy tie against Colchester.
This is the first team squad at the end of December.
Not sure if it's a good idea, but I've just transfer listed Nelson Jesus and Salvador Bernal. I brought both over from Benfica, but as you can see they are struggling to put the goals away. I'm planning to replace them with these two lads who have come up through the YTS at Gillingham. It's a bit of a risk not spending money on replacing them with established players for the run in, especially as we're still in all competitions, but our transfer budget is only £17mill.
FYI - I'm training Alan March to be a striker.
Good news boys, they’re making a 2022 game, who’d have guessed it!
https://www.footballmanager.com/game...l-manager-2022
2025 End of Season Review - Henan
Promotion as champions confirmed.
Which led to this.
Time to find out how that tax works.
time to bring Wu Lei back to China?2025 End of Season Review - Henan
Which led to this.
Time to find out how that tax works.
time to bring Wu Lei back to China?2025 End of Season Review - Henan
Which led to this.
Time to find out how that tax works.
time to bring Wu Lei back to China?
I'm a twit
He turned me down.
These chaps didn't though:
£32m from Jiangsu, with clauses that could take it to £37m. Obscene price, but he has one attribute you can't see on that screen that makes this deal very exciting - Only 387 days left before he's a Chinese national.He also signed a contract with no release clauses so he'll be here until I leave. Mwahahaha.
£8m from CSKA Sofia, potentially rising to £9.5m. His agent's a shit bag though, so he has a £14m minimum fee release clause. Can also play as a AMR, which is nice.
Signed on a free from Beijing (who seem to have a wealth of young Chinese talent), his speed and aggression could be of benefit.
This chap will also join from Nacional for £10m when he turns 18.
Not sure what happened with this, but I seem to have only been charged £2.9m in player tax for the above (the rules claim it should be 100% of anything over £2.3m/£5.something, depending on what I'm not sure) and we still have £36m left in the budget. I can only play 4 of the 6 foreigners I'll shortly have at any one time, but three of them will be Chinese nationals next season so if I can bring another one in, I will. If the taxman does ever catch up with us we'll be plunged horrifically into the red, but hey ho.
First touch and technique 17, dribbling 16.
I'm a twit
Last signing of the window, £5m from Chievo.
His contact was expiring and he wouldn't sign a new deal with them, so I snuck in with a cheeky £5m bid that was accepted and I offered him £30k a week when he wanted £25k. Then almost all of the top clubs in Europe came in for him so I upped it to £60k a week and after waiting a few days, he joined us. Good lad.
I lied, one more.
£4.3m minimum fee release clause from our promotion rivals last season, Chengdu.
I have to play a Chinese keeper, so to get one that has 15 handling and reflexes is immense.
He shits on what I have already and may be the final piece to outperform what the board want this year, which is top half, but if the new signings gel I'd like to think we can hit the top 4 and make Europe.
That money for Guga is incredible. He just looks so decidedly average.
A little bit of sick did escape from my stomatch and into my mouth when the finalise deal screen popped up and I clicked accept, but I figured I need to embrace my surroundings and crack on. Compared to any other Chinese right back I could get he's as good as prime Cafu and in 12 months, he'll be Chinese.That money for Guga is incredible. He just looks so decidedly average.
Season's kicked off with a 2-0 win in our new stadium named after our glorious chairman. 41,000 turned up, so very nearly full. We could be a proper giant of Chinese football.
On the downside, I had to leave the Bulgarian out of the CSL squad as I ended up with too many foreigners. He's not happy and now hates me so much he considers me a rival. Will be interesting to see if I can win him over when he's back in the squad next season.
Iggy got injured for a couple of weeks and he's just come back ON FIRE:Not whilst I have this lad:
Both were 7-0 wins.
Two footed players with seemingly lower stats >> one footed players with seemingly higher stats
2026 Mid-Season Update - Henan
Reached the mid-season break and we've had a cracking start to the season. With a defence comprised of three foreigners and a cracking Chinese keeper we've been very solid and only conceded 8 so far.
5 week break followed by an away game at Shanghai SIPG. If we can avoid defeat there we could well take the league. Out of the cup already so that'll help too.
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