Football Manager 23

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Players over 30

[Bernanke]

11 Modric on the field.

[thommo]

Players over 30

[Jimmy Floyd]

Players over 30 are very underrated/underused by the FM world, obsessed by the wonderkid. The mental stats on some of them

Can probably leave the gegenpress at the door, though.

[igor_balis]

Using wonderkids and youngsters generally is pretty much the META way of winning the game, which is why I'm fairly ambivalent about challenges where using youth is a key restriction. Being restricted to older rather than younger players feels like a much better challenge, long term anyways.

Youth academy challenges are the obvious exception, but fuck knows how anyone ever completes those without Indoctrinating them.

[John Arne]

I don't get through seasons as quick as you guys, so here's my second season Buriram save. Managed to upgrade last season foreigners to some decent guys (thanks mainly to the NextGen list).

As previously noted, SI screwed up the Champions League and AFC Cup qualifying which meant I played in both comps - used the in-game editor to allow myself to register different foreigners for each comp (as the game wanted to use the same players for both). We ended up playing 64 games in the season.

All in all, another decent season, retained the league, and reached the quarter final of the Champions League - that said, the board and some key players were disappointed that we didn't win it.... not sure why...we are Buriram, we aren't going to win the Champions League (yet)... however, we did manage to find our first every continental competition, beating some turd teams in the later stages of the competition to win the AFC Cup.

The comps



The squad



The best player, who after stalling for 12 months, finally extended his contract. Bonus fact, Muenta and Sarachat are half-brothers.



The AFC Champions League



The AFC Cup



Finances are terrible, again not sure what SI have done, but I just lose money constantly.

[Spikey M]

Players over 30

Nonce.

[Jimmy Floyd]

On my '22 save, Thailand quickly became an Asian superpower, winning the Asian Cup several times and reeling off quality players for fun. Not sure if it was just a freak occurrence in that save or if they have a bent researcher involved.

[John Arne]

On my '22 save, Thailand quickly became an Asian superpower, winning the Asian Cup several times and reeling off quality players for fun. Not sure if it was just a freak occurrence in that save or if they have a bent researcher involved.

Some of my academy prospects do seem a little OP for the general state of the game in Thailand.

[Baz]

On my '22 save, Thailand quickly became an Asian superpower, winning the Asian Cup several times and reeling off quality players for fun. Not sure if it was just a freak occurrence in that save or if they have a bent researcher involved.

Maybe the young players playing in multiple continental competitions makes them improve twice as fast.

[John Arne]

Maybe the young players playing in multiple continental competitions makes them improve twice as fast.

My 17yr old goalie playing 52 games should do him wonders

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sampdoria 2032/33 Season Update - THE FINAL:

Transfers In:





He had a very cheap release clause and I snapped him up. He is injury prone which is shit but I think he could be quality.



I felt we were missing a quality CB next to Soave. I wanted to buy him (and a few others) in the Summer but Arsenal wanted £200m+ and the day after the Italian window closed he requested to be transfer listed He was still angry a few months later so I secured a deal for him to come in January.



I don't remember the fee being this expensive for him. I didn't need him (although I did need another body in CM) and he was someone I had shortlisted for a while.



The most I've ever spent on a player in any CM/FM game. He isn't even someone we actually needed as we are stacked at ST and I wouldn't have done this deal if this wasn't my last season. I decided I wanted to use as he looks bonkers.

Transfers Out:





He was a big part of the team for a while but he had picked up a lot of injuries and our youth ST's had moved ahead of him and he had become 6th choice or so.



One of my boys, he is someone I wasn't sure about buying when I did (for £46m) as he isn't my typical striker but he was so damn good for us. Sadly I felt we had outgrown him so I cashed in.



Injuries had struck and he wasn't scoring like a demon when picked which was becoming an incredibly rare occurrence.

League:






We were challenged hard for the title but we had it wrapped up on the penultimate day.

Cups:



Shitty that we couldn't win the cup with our last chance but oh well.

Europe:



Worried when we dropped points against Austria Wien as we had a very hard run in but we sorted our shit out and finished 8th in the league because of GD (I think).

Round of 16:




Very tight first leg but we battered them at our place which has been a real fortress in Europe.

Quarter-Final:




Very much like the last round where our home form was just too strong.

Semi-Final:




Got our work done in the home leg with Watkinson who was bought from United came back to haunt them. We even looked great away this time and the scoreline should have been more. Fuente, a former City boy, haunting United this time as I used a rotated side.

Final:



I was worried that we were going to lose this as we were the better side but Chelsea had some decent chances and I was sure the game was going to punish us. Thankfully it didn't and Fuente came off the bench in the 73rd minute and had an immediate impact. I think that has been our biggest improvement this year, goals from the bench.

Squad:



Here is everyone's attributes:

Toggle Spoiler

I think he's the best keeper in my save, only Donnarumma who is 34 is close to Sosa's ability. The guy is top quality.



My second choice who I really haven't used that much and his potential has suffered. Bayern did try to buy him as their first choice keeper in the Summer though so he's still decent.



Cheap third choice.



A steal at only £11m, he's been our first choice RB since the day he signed even though he was only 17 at the time.





He almost wasn't with us as Man City made a HUGE offer of £200m+ a season or two ago but I rejected as no one else that I found was at his quality for the price that was interested in us. A true beast and only £5.25m.



I tried to sell him in the Summer as I thought we could do with an upgrade at LB but no one was interested in the price I wanted so I kept him and he had one of his best ever seasons for us.



A backup who has never really kicked on to realise his potential.



Kolawole struggled to hit his potential due to this guy who is better and younger and thus played more games.



Not really someone I like too much but my scouts liked him. Hasn't played much for us.





He's been with us for a long time but he's always been a backup who has never managed to carve out a starting role. Disappointed he's supposedly so far from his potential as I have given him lots of minutes over the years.



He was a starter in the first half of the season and I think he's quality.



A backup who has barely played but had a lot of loan spells.



I think he could have ended up as our starting LB next season or the season after.



When I signed him I didn't need him but he was cheap and he's done well for us whilst carving out a starting role. Not a game changer but he's solid although I might have sold him in the coming Summer if I played on.



Largely because this guy is ready to start a lot more games.



A cheap backup option who seems to be struggling to kick on.



He's been our best CM for a while but he was a lot less effective this year and I didn't notice him as much this. £2.5m was a steal as he went on to play in 256 matches for us.



He hasn't done as well as has in previous years and really I would expect more from him as he looks bonkers.



He had become a big part of the squad last season and he did even better this year. Might have had to sell him in the Summer as he's not happy because his agent is a dick who hates me.



He's done really well as a DLF for us but I think if we played with an AMC he'd be an absolute game changer for us.





Probably shouldn't have loaned him out this year as we could have done with him at times and I did end up buying another CM in January but he did ok in his loan spell.



When I signed him I wasn't sure why. I didn't think he was good enough to start up front and we don't play with an AML, I was wrong though and he's been great as a ST. He's a little streaky with his goals but with the options off the bench I'm ok with that.



He's someone I really should have tried to give more minutes too but there were just too many bodies in his position.



He doesn't score huge amounts or gets too many assists but he does so much work for the team. He's constantly dropping deep and helping out, he's not my usual type of striker but he's been a joy.





He's injury prone which is shit but I think he's amazing. He's scored a lot of big goals for us and he seems to get in some great positions.



I expected more from him but he's never really progressed despite having a lot of loan moves. He's also really struggled to score other than this year even though I had him pegged as being a future god tier finisher.

I will play on a bit longer to do the Club World Cup which is this year but after that I'm done and onto a brand new save.

[Baz]

How’s Endrick progressed away from Sampdoria?

[Bernanke]

375 million.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Newcastle signed him from Brentford in the Summer. I had a 50% next sale clause so I got an extra £40.5m.

He helped them to a 9th placed finish.



He did ok in the Prem but he never had a season close to his one season (I could have sworn it was more ) with us.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

375 million.

£75m up front with £300m in instalments because I knew the save was done.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

14 players at the U21 Euros or Nations League semi finals for the Club World Cup.

I hope they can at least come back for part of it or my swansong has been ruined.



Look at the available squad, how is this fair?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sampdoria at the 2033 Club World Cup:

Group Stage:



Everyone was dead just after half-time and the game was done so I did the only respectable thing. I took off my LB and both my CB's for 3 goalkeepers because this piece of shit competition only allows 3 subs. My second choice keeper coming up with a goal at a free kick



I thought we were fucked and then we were back level. In the second half we took charge and won it.

Quarter-Final:



For some reason this was 2 days after our last group game and we looked ok except for whenever they had the ball near our box and our defenders were falling over each other being mongs. Nice of my keeper to have his worst ever game in my last ever match.

[randomlegend]

£375m for 15 finishing and 13 composure? Give your head a wobble.

[Baz]

Aye, he’s no Yev.

[Gray Fox]

Damn right he isn't.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

£375m for 15 finishing and 13 composure? Give your head a wobble.

£300m was on instalments. If I had cash straight up they'd have taken £200m or so.

Plus his mentals more than make up for it, largely because "finishing" doesn't actually matter.

[Baz]

Damn right he isn't.

Clearly had beef with the [regular] England manager. Was unreal for the U21s!

[Gray Fox]

Problem for a lot of the lads is the low CA meant by the time they were ready for England (age 26 or so), so were all the shit hot regens.

[Baz]

David Moyes has LIED about Yev being a regular starter and is instead playing for the U18s.
@Dark Soldier has missed 3 penalties in 2 games, so I've taken them off him

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

RIP Sampdoria, long live Palamós CF.





The club was founded in 1898, a year before Barcelona. It will be my task to take them to the promised land and make them THE club in Catalonia. Currently the club is in the sixth tier of Spanish football although they have been as high as the second tier and were only 2 points away from a promotion playoff. They lasted 6 seasons total in the second division before they finished in the relegation zone and were sent down to the 4th tier due to financial difficulties.

They did manage to claw back to the third division a couple of times after but have been a 4th tier team at best for most of the time. Their best honour was winning the third division which they managed once, other than that they have won the Catalonia Cup as well as the fourth division on three occasions with the last being in 2001/02.

Notable players include Jordi Condom and possibly Musa Fatty a Gambian lad who I'm not entirely sure is real.

Here is the stadium:



Here are the lads:



Here is our key player:



I added ticked the option to add players to clubs and they've generated this beast who is apparently a leading third tier (I think) player.

Hot prospect:



Squad:



Because of the mental key player the game has generated we are predicted to finish top comfortably although I believe it was third pre-player generation. The board only want a top half finish (11 teams) so I'm sure that will be easy.

Plugged in a 4-3-3 wing play for now but that will change I imagine. I'm not going to allow myself to search for players, they all have to be DOF recommendations or from the scouts. I will not be able to use the "players in range" page. I will also limit staff hires to job adverts.

Hopefully I'll win some Champions Leagues on the way (I imagine I'll have to) but the goal will be to pass Barcelona in the rep rating list.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Here are the leagues I'm running btw, large DB and the player count is at 63k. Hoping to get some tasty regens in the game down the line.

[Baz]

EDIT:



Deffo not loaning everyone out next season.

[Baz]

Got my first youth recruitment and one of them is called Cole Shearer. He scored four in the first half vs the U18s. I mean, of course Cole Shearer scored five.

Toggle Spoiler

Don't get me wrong, none of these non-TTHers will be in the team, but I'm hoping they'll be good enough to make us money to be able to upgrade the facilities and whatnot.

[Baz]

Annoying that the future regens all seem to come through at the first opportunity, with the exception of Taz and Panda Bear.




Anyone wanna see themselves, let me know.

[Waffdon]

The next Reece James

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Smiffy at United

Glorious.

[John Arne]

This is why I am constantly skint...

[thommo]

2022/23 - Season 1 - Persela Lamongan

With the board and fans expecting a playoff appearance and potential promotion back to the top tier, the pressure was on after starting the season with 2 defeats. Switching out from the 5-at-the-back abomination I was trialling made all the difference, and it was a bog standard 4-4-2 that took us to the top spot in the Central Group, qualifying us for the playoff stage.



The playoff stage had two groups of 3, with the top sides in each group being promoted (and playing each other in a "final" to determine the champions), while the 2nd placed sides in each group played each other for the 3rd promotion spot. We opened with a tight 2-2 draw with Persipura Jayapura before comfortably seeing off Persewar Waropan 3-1 a few days later, thanks to a MOTM performance from our 41-year-old striker Hilton. However, in our return match against Jayapura we put in a woeful performance as we were comfortably beaten. Thankfully we snatched a late consolation to pull it back to 2-1, an important goal for our goal difference. It wasn't to matter in the end as we beat Waropan 1-0 in the final game to take us to 7 points and promotion. We ended up losing the final (to our Central group rivals Gresik United) but it wasn't the main priority at that point in the season...



The Piala Indonesia was the only cup competition we were entered into, and there were no real expectations for the board to worry about. We opened up with a scrappy 1-0 win over 3rd division side Hizbul Wathan, and we were drawn in the next round against Bhayangkara, who were in 2nd place in the top division at the time. Step up Hilton, who tucked in a 2nd-half hat-trick to give us a 3-0 win in the home leg. It got a little nervy in the final minutes of the away leg, but we scored a crucial away goal from the spot to confirm an aggregate victory and progression to the 3rd round.

Up next was Perserang Serang, a fellow 2nd tier side. We struggled with the home leg, being held to a 1-1 draw, but we outclassed them a week later in the away game, comfortably winning 3-0 with Hilton adding another 2 goals. The quarter finals pitted us against Persib Bandung from the top division. Both legs were very even, with a real lack of high quality chances. Nonetheless we were able to eke out a 1-0 home win, with centre-back Aji Saka playing the role of hero in the second leg, as he thumped in a 25 yard rocket to seal a 1-1 draw and a semi-final spot.

Arema Cromas were the opponents, another side sitting right at the top of Liga 1. They were happy to play possession football and we barely touched the ball in the 1st leg, but somehow scrambled two late equalisers to keep it level going into the home leg. And despite once again foregoing possession for the majority of the match, we created much better chances throughout and stormed through to the final with a 3-0 win, where PSM Makassar were waiting. We were awful in the 1st leg, and yet somehow maintained parity thanks to an injury time equaliser from our sub. But the 2nd leg was a different matter. We cruised to a 4-0 lead inside half an hour and strolled to an eventual 5-1 victory to win the Piala Indonesia in our first season in the job!



The cup win means we've somehow cracked continental football already, being entered into the 2023/24 Asian Confederation Cup. With promotion to the top tier, we're also finally able to sign non-Indonesian players. Unfortunately, Hilton (who has just turned 42) has announced his retirement in July, but I've already lined up a move for a 46 year old striker to replace him. I'll play out this 2nd season to try and boost our reputation, and maybe look to move on if any jobs open up in the next off-season.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Bonkers to even attempt that.

[John Arne]

2022/23 - Season 1 - Persela Lamongan



The cup win means we've somehow cracked continental football already, being entered into the 2023/24 Asian Confederation Cup. With promotion to the top tier, we're also finally able to sign non-Indonesian players. Unfortunately, Hilton (who has just turned 42) has announced his retirement in July, but I've already lined up a move for a 46 year old striker to replace him. I'll play out this 2nd season to try and boost our reputation, and maybe look to move on if any jobs open up in the next off-season.

Indonesian football

The confed cup is good fun - just be prepared to play 14 zone games, 20 playoffs and 10 semi finals.

Check out Egy Maulana - a great striker at that level.

[randomlegend]

Is it still shit DS?

[CJay]

Annoying that the future regens all seem to come through at the first opportunity, with the exception of Taz and Panda Bear.




Anyone wanna see themselves, let me know.

Where did I go?

Just noticed I made it to the big time already.

[randomlegend]

Annoying that the future regens all seem to come through at the first opportunity, with the exception of Taz and Panda Bear.
Anyone wanna see themselves, let me know.

Where am I?

[Baz]

Where did I go?

Just noticed I made it to the big time already.

Mark sold you to Fulham, who kindly loaned you back for the rest of the season.

Where am I?

Still with us. One of the very few who hasn’t been loaned out.

[randomlegend]

Yeah the rest of you scumbags need to learn about loyalty.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

This lad is far too good for this division. He's on a non-contract so I really need to free up some of the wage budget to give him an actual contract.

[Gray Fox]

Where did I go?

Just noticed I made it to the big time already.

You're the dogs bollocks on my first run.

[randomlegend]

Let's see mine.

[Gray Fox]

Let's see mine.

[randomlegend]

[Manc]

Don't be shy.

[Gray Fox]

Don't be shy.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

We can't all be world beaters.

[Gray Fox]

We can't all be world beaters.

Speaking of which.