Football Manager (12 Viewers)
- Thread starter ccfc92
- Start date
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Had fun with CCFC then 1860 Munich, then decided to try Man Utd. Signed Haaland straight off the bat and he's scored 350 in 5 seasons
ajsccfc
Well-Known Member
Beta for 23 is out now, although apparently they've got two weeks to sort out a fairly major bug where players don't actually improve so I wouldn't start any long-term saves. I've reverted to bad habits and signed Jordan Willis on a free due to the lack of contracted CBs, the fan reaction is 'we may have too many defenders'. Can't win
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Doesn't seem like they've done more than a few tweaks, so I'll stick with the current version for now.
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
Might have a go
ajsccfc
Well-Known Member
Thankfully the 23 beta going for realism doesn't include us not being able to play a home game for a month so it wasn't fighting back from a terrible start, although the media prediction was 18th. Finished just outside the playoffs but was never in with a real shot of them, the teams above just took their foot off the pedal in the last few weeks.
In the summer was taken over by a consortium led by Czech scoops ahoy master Karel Poborsky (again) who floated the club on the stock market to make money and immediately agreed the sale of Hamer for £20m without me having a say, hooray!
In the summer was taken over by a consortium led by Czech scoops ahoy master Karel Poborsky (again) who floated the club on the stock market to make money and immediately agreed the sale of Hamer for £20m without me having a say, hooray!
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
How’s the new 23 version?
ajsccfc
Well-Known Member
So far I'd say it's more of the same but in a good way, the new additions don't jump out at you drastically so the squad planner is something I've not yet got to grips with. Been waiting for it to come out of beta to start a full game with it so will give it a proper bash now.
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
Might try at the weekend
vow
Well-Known Member
vow
Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
PUSB-We_are_going_up
Well-Known Member
vow
Well-Known Member
He'd already left when I took over, Jordan Willis is doing well though.
Sick Boy
Super Moderator
Just to report back that I ended up winning Serie A with 3 games to go just before Xmas!
HuckerbyDublinWhelan
Well-Known Member
I’ve just been promoted with the super sky blues. Was taken over by a Kuwaiti doctor…. Bought the Ricoh to be fair to him and given me 34m to spend first season - Godden scored 36 goals and Gyokeres 24
vow
Well-Known Member
which version of FM?
HuckerbyDublinWhelan
Well-Known Member
23 - gave Godden a new 2 year contract on 28k a week… just imagine the meltdown on here.
whenever I make a decision on FM - I always think “how would SBT react?”
whenever I make a decision on FM - I always think “how would SBT react?”
stay_up_skyblues
Well-Known Member
I also forgot about Serie A non EU player rules and signed players who won’t be able to play next season as well as the incoming rubbish
Im on a proper journeyman save. It’s 2040ish and I’ve been at;
Cov
Cadiz
Real Betis
Marseille
PSG
Watford
West Ham
Anyhow, when I rocked up at Cadiz I immediately bought four of my previous wonderkids from Cov and a few more from Brazil and Argentina. Only to start the season and realise I couldn’t play most of them
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Waiting until they make bigger changes to the game, it still looks like a database update on FM20
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
Loving my leamington save
stay_up_skyblues
Well-Known Member
A new one on me, I simulated so many matches in the Watford promotion season that the board and fans thanked Jesse March (my assistant) for winning the play offs. Still gone down as a promotion in my trophy cabinet though.
ajsccfc
Well-Known Member
It's a bit like that with all the standard yearly release games, you'd probably need to leave a 5-year gap or so to really notice major differences, it's all incremental stuff for the most part
SBAndy
Well-Known Member
Downloaded FM Mobile 2023. First season finished 9th - let’s say realism has taken a back seat. £6.5m transfer budget, brought in some frankly ridiculous loan signings, defence was pretty weak til January when I signed Nat Phillips and Lee Buchanan, as well as Aaron Hickey on loan. Now got pre-authorised deals for Jonjoe Kenny and Ryan Porteous in the summer. Can’t wait to see what budget I have to strengthen midfield!
vow
Well-Known Member
"Reims are fined £22,000-per-game every time they play under their manager Will Still, due to him not having his pro licence yet…..
He got into management because of his love for Football Manager and has only just turned 30. He’s 5 years younger than argentine legend Lionel Messi.
They are currently unbeaten in
league games under him and drew 1-1 away at PSG last night. "Fantastic, there is hope for us yet!
RoboCCFC90
Well-Known Member
Currently have a save ongoing in FM23, I'm now into season five, it's been a journey to get to where I am now.
I found choosing my club to be quite challenging this time around, there were a number of candidates that stood out which I eventually dwindled down to two. Wrexham and Deportivo La Coruna. Deportivo really appealed as a save candidate as they're a club that has been in freefall, but I remember growing up in the 90's and Deportivo always being a prominent La Liga team, they've got a big stadium, a big budget in Spain's 1A league, a lot of good young players, however I eventually picked Hollywood Wrexham, to keep myself in the English leagues.
I decided that being Wrexham I would restrict my transfer business, I would not sign more players then I had sold, I didn't buy players for a fee, I decided to focus on free transfers under the age of 25. Before the first ball was kicked in anger in the National League I had sold off eight players, in return I brought in seven players. The aim for the season was simple, get promoted as Champions. That was achieved with five games to go with a points total of 102 points, my nearest challengers were Notts County and Chesterfield. Paul Mullin ended the season with 54 goals in all competitions and I also brought home a second trophy in the FA Trophy.
Season two with Wrexham in League 2, I kept to the same rules again, bringing in free signings under the age of 25 and not signing more players than I had sold. Keeping Paul Mullin and Jamie Soule (the latter I had signed a year previously) was key through the summer as they had scored 75 goals between them the season prior, I was also determined to keep George McEachran, Andy Cannon and Max Haygarth (again, all players I had signed to Wrexham the previous season) as they were the core of my squad and had performed really well in the National League. I signed Randell Williams, Jack Burroughs (from City), Caleb Chukwuemka and Tariq Uwakwe, alongside younger players from Premier League academies to build the future around. The season started off brilliantly, never dropping out of the playoffs and from November - December being in the top three, pushing for a second promotion in two seasons. In the Papa Johns Trophy I had also knocked out Huddersfield (relegated to L1) and Grimsby who had been promoted to L1.
In December 2023 however things were about to change. Mark Robins was sacked by City, with City four points from safety in the Championship, Reading also sacked Paul Ince and Huddersfield sacked Scott Brown. My general rule of thumb in each addition of the FM games is to never apply for jobs, other than Cov, so I applied for the City role, but was overlooked in favor of Mick Beale. Shortly after this both Huddersfield and Reading approached Wrexham about me taking on their respective manager jobs. Reading still in the Championship, but 17th with an alleged £5m budget. Huddersfield in L1, but 19th with a £2.5m budget. I decided to take the small jump from L2 to L1 and join Huddersfield, leaving Wrexham 3rd.
The beauty of joining Huddersfield when I did was that the transfer window was just around the corner and I needed it, the squad was ageing badly, Danny Ward was still playing up front with Jordan Rhodes, Tom Lee's was playing at CB and Lee Nicholls was in goal. I decided that I would remove myself imposed restrictions on players that I could sign, but as I try to at every club I would not exceed the total spend, beyond what I receive into the Club. When the window opened I was resigned to losing Lee Nicholls and David Kasamu who had been promised by the previous manager that they could be sold in January, however I was able to recoup £4.5m, which gave me a comfy budget of £6m in the window.
I signed the following players in January; Louie Barry (loan), Marcus Forss (£350K), Niels Nkounkou (loan), Sam Surridge (£300K) Bendeguz Bolla (loan), Jamie Cumming (loan), Myles Peart-Harris (loan), Lewis Bate (loan). I was delighted to get both Surridge and Forss, in L1 I knew this would be prolific strike force. When the window closed I was 15th in the league, with five games to go I was 3rd, all my signings contributing nicely, the Forss and Surridge partnership had wielded 32 goals in four months, LETHAL. With three games to go in the league there was two points between 1st (P'boro) and 3rd (Plymouth), Huddersfield wedged in between (2nd). My final three games were Bolton (4th @ home), Plymouth (A) and Stockport (15th @ H). A win against Bolton and a loss against Plymouth left me needing two points to secure promotion, one point behind P'boro. The final game against Stockport ended with a straightforward 5-2 win, P'boro lost away at Charlton, meaning I secured a second title in two seasons!
Season three in the Championship with Huddersfield, I bought in nine players; Jamie Cumming (GK - £1m), Leighton Clarkson (CM - free), Nathan Ferguson (RB - free), Callum Slattery (CM - free) and an additional six loans (Shea Charles, Alberto Moleiro, Ben Doak, James McAtee, Zach Awe and Kaoru Mitoma). I was also forced to sell Sorba Thomas for £9m to Boro, as the player wanted £50K p/w in wages. The season started well again, first eight games I had only lost one game against Brentford and sat in the top three. November came around and Mick Beale was sacked by Cov with City sat rock bottom of the Championship, once again I applied for the job, but this time City believed I was ready and they offered me the job. I left Huddersfield in 4th..
Okay, so Cov.. There were two positives, firstly the club had been taken over not long before I took the job, the club had also managed to retain all its best players somehow, the likes of Gus, Vik, COH and Sheaf were all at the club, however Godden, Allen, Tavares and others had been sold. The squad was made up of youngsters, star players (the aforementioned) and players who needed moving on (Dabo, Moore, Bidwell, Bapaga). My task was to keep City in the Championship which I ultimately did, managing a solid 14th place.
The following season I was aiming a lot higher, with the core of players in the squad, I believed with a few solid loan signings and the high potential players coming through the academy there was a chance of play-offs. In the summer I was only able to sign seven players due to a lack of budget; Dylan Stephenson, (ST, loan) James Trafford (GK, loan), Shea Charles, (CB, loan), Josh Wilson-Esbrand (LB, loan), Jonathan Panzo (CB, £250K), Luke Plange (ST, free) and Charlie McCann (CM, £125K). I missed out on Joel Piroe, Cameron Archer and Miguel Azeez (all on frees) which was frustrating. Prior to the January window I was 10th, in the December I was able to pick up James Garner (CM) on a free after he left Everton.
January, the aim was to keep the squad together and add if possible, early in the window I managed to add Michael Obafemi (ST, £250K) from Swansea and a wonderkid from Hibernian, Reuben McAllister (son of Jamie McAllister, CM). Unfortunately, I lost Gus Hamer on deadline day, a condition of Gus signing a new deal was a £10m domestic release clause to a club in a higher division, which meant Crystal Palace were able to pick up Gus much cheaper than what I would've wanted. I also tried to re-negotiate with Gus who wasn't keen on signing a new deal. I reacted by signing Billy Gilmour (CM , £500K), Lewis Fiorini (CM , £500K), Lewis Bate (again, on loan!) and another wonderkid from Toronto FC, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (LWB/RWB) on loan with an obligation to buy if promoted for £7m.
The second half of the season the team came alive, City played 21 games in the Championship and scored 49 points, 14 wins and 7 draws, no losses. With two games to go in the regular season I was sat second in the league behind Southampton (by a single point) and in front of Middlesbrough and Watford, by a point. My final two games were Southampton (A) and Boro (H), a draw with Southampton at St Mary's left me needing a win to secure promotion which I achieved by beating Boro 3-0. Promotion to the Premier League was ours. Southampton went us as Champions and Watford via the playoffs.
I am about to start my next season in the Premier League, I start at home to Wolves, followed by games against Newcastle, Man City and then away at Leicester.. My current XI is; James Trafford, Rico Lewis, Zach Awe, Jonathan Panzo, JMR, James Garner, Billy Gilmour, James McAtee, Andy Herd (regen from the academy, five star wonderkid worth £40m), COH and Viktor up top. Currently I am playing a 4-3-2-1 Custom Gegenpress, throughout the entire save I've played the same Custom Gegenpress, but mainly with two up front.
I am obsessed with Football Manager games and have been for years, I always buy the new year editions and can talk about the game for hours. I do get heavily engrossed in the games, which might come across in this reply Does anyone else get like this? Has anyone else got any rules that they set themselves or have had any great success with Cov?
I found choosing my club to be quite challenging this time around, there were a number of candidates that stood out which I eventually dwindled down to two. Wrexham and Deportivo La Coruna. Deportivo really appealed as a save candidate as they're a club that has been in freefall, but I remember growing up in the 90's and Deportivo always being a prominent La Liga team, they've got a big stadium, a big budget in Spain's 1A league, a lot of good young players, however I eventually picked Hollywood Wrexham, to keep myself in the English leagues.
I decided that being Wrexham I would restrict my transfer business, I would not sign more players then I had sold, I didn't buy players for a fee, I decided to focus on free transfers under the age of 25. Before the first ball was kicked in anger in the National League I had sold off eight players, in return I brought in seven players. The aim for the season was simple, get promoted as Champions. That was achieved with five games to go with a points total of 102 points, my nearest challengers were Notts County and Chesterfield. Paul Mullin ended the season with 54 goals in all competitions and I also brought home a second trophy in the FA Trophy.
Season two with Wrexham in League 2, I kept to the same rules again, bringing in free signings under the age of 25 and not signing more players than I had sold. Keeping Paul Mullin and Jamie Soule (the latter I had signed a year previously) was key through the summer as they had scored 75 goals between them the season prior, I was also determined to keep George McEachran, Andy Cannon and Max Haygarth (again, all players I had signed to Wrexham the previous season) as they were the core of my squad and had performed really well in the National League. I signed Randell Williams, Jack Burroughs (from City), Caleb Chukwuemka and Tariq Uwakwe, alongside younger players from Premier League academies to build the future around. The season started off brilliantly, never dropping out of the playoffs and from November - December being in the top three, pushing for a second promotion in two seasons. In the Papa Johns Trophy I had also knocked out Huddersfield (relegated to L1) and Grimsby who had been promoted to L1.
In December 2023 however things were about to change. Mark Robins was sacked by City, with City four points from safety in the Championship, Reading also sacked Paul Ince and Huddersfield sacked Scott Brown. My general rule of thumb in each addition of the FM games is to never apply for jobs, other than Cov, so I applied for the City role, but was overlooked in favor of Mick Beale. Shortly after this both Huddersfield and Reading approached Wrexham about me taking on their respective manager jobs. Reading still in the Championship, but 17th with an alleged £5m budget. Huddersfield in L1, but 19th with a £2.5m budget. I decided to take the small jump from L2 to L1 and join Huddersfield, leaving Wrexham 3rd.
The beauty of joining Huddersfield when I did was that the transfer window was just around the corner and I needed it, the squad was ageing badly, Danny Ward was still playing up front with Jordan Rhodes, Tom Lee's was playing at CB and Lee Nicholls was in goal. I decided that I would remove myself imposed restrictions on players that I could sign, but as I try to at every club I would not exceed the total spend, beyond what I receive into the Club. When the window opened I was resigned to losing Lee Nicholls and David Kasamu who had been promised by the previous manager that they could be sold in January, however I was able to recoup £4.5m, which gave me a comfy budget of £6m in the window.
I signed the following players in January; Louie Barry (loan), Marcus Forss (£350K), Niels Nkounkou (loan), Sam Surridge (£300K) Bendeguz Bolla (loan), Jamie Cumming (loan), Myles Peart-Harris (loan), Lewis Bate (loan). I was delighted to get both Surridge and Forss, in L1 I knew this would be prolific strike force. When the window closed I was 15th in the league, with five games to go I was 3rd, all my signings contributing nicely, the Forss and Surridge partnership had wielded 32 goals in four months, LETHAL. With three games to go in the league there was two points between 1st (P'boro) and 3rd (Plymouth), Huddersfield wedged in between (2nd). My final three games were Bolton (4th @ home), Plymouth (A) and Stockport (15th @ H). A win against Bolton and a loss against Plymouth left me needing two points to secure promotion, one point behind P'boro. The final game against Stockport ended with a straightforward 5-2 win, P'boro lost away at Charlton, meaning I secured a second title in two seasons!
Season three in the Championship with Huddersfield, I bought in nine players; Jamie Cumming (GK - £1m), Leighton Clarkson (CM - free), Nathan Ferguson (RB - free), Callum Slattery (CM - free) and an additional six loans (Shea Charles, Alberto Moleiro, Ben Doak, James McAtee, Zach Awe and Kaoru Mitoma). I was also forced to sell Sorba Thomas for £9m to Boro, as the player wanted £50K p/w in wages. The season started well again, first eight games I had only lost one game against Brentford and sat in the top three. November came around and Mick Beale was sacked by Cov with City sat rock bottom of the Championship, once again I applied for the job, but this time City believed I was ready and they offered me the job. I left Huddersfield in 4th..
Okay, so Cov.. There were two positives, firstly the club had been taken over not long before I took the job, the club had also managed to retain all its best players somehow, the likes of Gus, Vik, COH and Sheaf were all at the club, however Godden, Allen, Tavares and others had been sold. The squad was made up of youngsters, star players (the aforementioned) and players who needed moving on (Dabo, Moore, Bidwell, Bapaga). My task was to keep City in the Championship which I ultimately did, managing a solid 14th place.
The following season I was aiming a lot higher, with the core of players in the squad, I believed with a few solid loan signings and the high potential players coming through the academy there was a chance of play-offs. In the summer I was only able to sign seven players due to a lack of budget; Dylan Stephenson, (ST, loan) James Trafford (GK, loan), Shea Charles, (CB, loan), Josh Wilson-Esbrand (LB, loan), Jonathan Panzo (CB, £250K), Luke Plange (ST, free) and Charlie McCann (CM, £125K). I missed out on Joel Piroe, Cameron Archer and Miguel Azeez (all on frees) which was frustrating. Prior to the January window I was 10th, in the December I was able to pick up James Garner (CM) on a free after he left Everton.
January, the aim was to keep the squad together and add if possible, early in the window I managed to add Michael Obafemi (ST, £250K) from Swansea and a wonderkid from Hibernian, Reuben McAllister (son of Jamie McAllister, CM). Unfortunately, I lost Gus Hamer on deadline day, a condition of Gus signing a new deal was a £10m domestic release clause to a club in a higher division, which meant Crystal Palace were able to pick up Gus much cheaper than what I would've wanted. I also tried to re-negotiate with Gus who wasn't keen on signing a new deal. I reacted by signing Billy Gilmour (CM , £500K), Lewis Fiorini (CM , £500K), Lewis Bate (again, on loan!) and another wonderkid from Toronto FC, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (LWB/RWB) on loan with an obligation to buy if promoted for £7m.
The second half of the season the team came alive, City played 21 games in the Championship and scored 49 points, 14 wins and 7 draws, no losses. With two games to go in the regular season I was sat second in the league behind Southampton (by a single point) and in front of Middlesbrough and Watford, by a point. My final two games were Southampton (A) and Boro (H), a draw with Southampton at St Mary's left me needing a win to secure promotion which I achieved by beating Boro 3-0. Promotion to the Premier League was ours. Southampton went us as Champions and Watford via the playoffs.
I am about to start my next season in the Premier League, I start at home to Wolves, followed by games against Newcastle, Man City and then away at Leicester.. My current XI is; James Trafford, Rico Lewis, Zach Awe, Jonathan Panzo, JMR, James Garner, Billy Gilmour, James McAtee, Andy Herd (regen from the academy, five star wonderkid worth £40m), COH and Viktor up top. Currently I am playing a 4-3-2-1 Custom Gegenpress, throughout the entire save I've played the same Custom Gegenpress, but mainly with two up front.
I am obsessed with Football Manager games and have been for years, I always buy the new year editions and can talk about the game for hours. I do get heavily engrossed in the games, which might come across in this reply
Does anyone else get like this? Has anyone else got any rules that they set themselves or have had any great success with Cov?
Last edited:
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
Done two leamington saves currently just been promoted to the championshipCurrently have a save ongoing in FM23, I'm now into season five, it's been a journey to get to where I am now.
I found choosing my club to be quite challenging this time around, there were a number of candidates that stood out which I eventually dwindled down to two. Wrexham and Deportivo La Coruna. Deportivo really appealed as a save candidate as they're a club that has been in freefall, but I remember growing up in the 90's and Deportivo always being a prominent La Liga team, they've got a big stadium, a big budget in Spain's 1A league, a lot of good young players, however I eventually picked Hollywood Wrexham, to keep myself in the English leagues.
I decided that being Wrexham I would restrict my transfer business, I would not sign more players then I had sold, I didn't buy players for a fee, I decided to focus on free transfers under the age of 25. Before the first ball was kicked in anger in the National League I had sold off eight players, in return I brought in seven players. The aim for the season was simple, get promoted as Champions. That was achieved with five games to go with a points total of 102 points, my nearest challengers with Notts County and Chesterfield. Paul Mullin ended the season with 54 goals in all competitions and I also brought home a second trophy in the FA Trophy.
Season two with Wrexham in League 2, I kept to the same rules again, bringing in free signings under the age of 25 and not signing more players than I had sold. Keeping Paul Mullin and Jamie Soule (the latter I had signed a year previously) was key through the summer as they had scored 75 goals between them the season prior, I was also determined to keep George McEachran, Andy Cannon and Max Haygarth (again, all players I had signed to Wrexham the previous season) as they were the core of my squad and had performed really well in the National League. I signed Randell Williams, Jack Burroughs (from City), Caleb Chukwuemka and Tariq Uwakwe, alongside younger players from Premier League academies to build the future around. The season started off brilliantly, never dropping out of the playoffs and from November - December being in the top three, pushing for a second promotion in two seasons. In the Papa Johns Trophy I had also knocked out Huddersfield (relegated to L1) and Grimsby who had been promoted to L1.
In December 2023 however things were about to change. Mark Robins was sacked by City, with City four points from safety in the Championship, Reading also sacked Paul Ince and Huddersfield sacked Scott Brown. My general rule of thumb in each addition of the FM games is to never apply for jobs, other than Cov, so I applied for the City role, but was overlooked in favor of Mick Beale. Shortly after this both Huddersfield and Reading approached Wrexham about me taking on their respective manager jobs. Reading still in the Championship, but 17th with an alleged £5m budget. Huddersfield in L1, but 19th with a £2.5m budget. I decided to take the small jump from L1 to L2 and join Huddersfield, leaving Wrexham 3rd.
The beauty of joining Huddersfield when I did was that the transfer window was just around the corner and I needed it, the squad was ageing badly, Danny Ward was still playing up front with Jordan Rhodes, Tom Lee's was playing at CB and Lee Nicholls was in goal. I decided that I would remove myself imposed restrictions on players that I could sign, but as I try to at every club I would not exceed the total spend, beyond what I receive into the Club. When the window opened I was resigned to losing Lee Nicholls and David Kasamu who had been promised by the previous manager that they could be sold in January, however I was able to recoup £4.5m, which gave me a comfy budget of £6m in the window.
I signed the following players in January; Louie Barry (loan), Marcus Forss (£350K), Niels Nkounkou (loan), Sam Surridge (£300K) Bendeguz Bolla (loan), Jamie Cumming (loan), Myles Peart-Harris (loan), Lewis Bate (loan). I was delighted to get both Surridge and Forss, in L1 I knew this would be prolific strike force. When the window closed I was 15th in the league, with five games to go I was 3rd, all my signings contributing nicely, the Forss and Surridge partnership had wielded 32 goals in four months, LETHAL. With three games to go in the league there was two points between 1st (P'boro) and 3rd (Plymouth), Huddersfield wedged in between (2nd). My final three games were Bolton (4th @ home), Plymouth (A) and Stockport (15th @ H). A win against Bolton and a loss against Plymouth left me needing two points to secure promotion, one point behind P'boro. The final game against Stockport ended with a straightforward 5-2 win, P'boro lost away at Charlton, meaning I secured a second title in two seasons!
Season three in the Championship with Huddersfield, I bought in nine players; Jamie Cumming (GK - £1m), Leighton Clarkson (CM - free), Nathan Ferguson (RB - free), Callum Slattery (CM - free) and an additional six loans (Shea Charles, Alberto Moleiro, Ben Doak, James McAtee, Zach Awe and Kaoru Mitoma). The season started well again, first eight games I had only lost one game against Brentford and sat in the top three. November came around and Mick Beale was sacked by Cov with City sat rock bottom of the Championship, once again I applied for the job, but this time City believed I was ready and they offered me the job. I left Huddersfield in 4th..
Okay, so Cov.. There were two positives, firstly the club had been taken over not long before I took the job, the club had also managed to retain all its best players somehow, the likes of Gus, Vik, COH and Sheaf were all at the club, however Godden, Allen, Tavares and others had been sold. The squad was made up of youngsters, star players (the aforementioned) and players who needed moving on (Dabo, Moore, Bidwell, Bapaga). My task was to keep City in the Championship which I ultimately did, managing a solid 14th place.
The following season I was aiming a lot higher, with the core of players in the squad, I believed with a few solid loan signings and the high potential players coming through the academy there was a chance of play-offs. In the summer I was only able to sign seven players due to a lack of budget; Dylan Stephenson, (ST, loan) James Trafford (GK, loan), Shea Charles, (CB, loan), Josh Wilson-Esbrand (LB, loan), Jonathan Panzo (CB, £250K), Luke Plange (ST, free) and Charlie McCann (CM, £125K). I missed out on Joel Piroe, Cameron Archer and Miguel Azeez (all on frees) which was frustrating. Prior to the January window I was 10th, in the December I was able to pick up James Garner (CM) on a free after he left Everton.
January, the aim was to keep the squad together and add if possible, early in the window I managed to add Michael Obafemi (ST, £250K) from Swansea and a wonderkid from Hibernian, Reuben McAllister (son of Jamie McAllister, CM). Unfortunately, I lost Gus Hamer on deadline day, a condition of Gus signing a new deal was a £10m domestic release clause to a club in a higher division, which meant Crystal Palace were able to pick up Gus much cheaper than what I would've wanted. I also tried to re-negotiate with Gus who wasn't keen on signing a new deal. I reacted by signing Billy Gilmour (CM , £500K), Lewis Fiorini (CM , £500K), Lewis Bate (again, on loan!) and another wonderkid from Toronto FC, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (LWB/RWB) on loan with an obligation to buy if promoted for £7m.
The second half of the season the team came alive, City played 21 games in the Championship and scored 49 points, 14 wins and 7 draws, no losses. With two games to go in the regular season I was sat second in the league behind Southampton (by a single point) and in front of Middlesbrough and Watford, by a point. My final two games were Southampton (A) and Boro (H), a draw with Southampton at St Mary's left me needing a win to secure promotion which I achieved by beating Boro 3-0. Promotion to the Premier League was ours. Southampton went us as Champions and Watford via the playoffs.
I am about to start my next season in the Premier League, I start at home to Wolves, followed by games against Newcastle, Man City and then away at Leicester.. My current XI is; James Trafford, Rico Lewis, Zach Awe, Jonathan Panzo, JMR, James Garner, Billy Gilmour, James McAtee, Andy Herd (regen from the academy, five star wonderkid worth £40m), COH and Viktor up top. Currently I am playing a 4-3-2-1 Custom Gegenpress, throughout the entire save I've played the same Custom Gegenpress, but mainly with two up front.
I am obsessed with Football Manager games and have been for years, I always buy the new year editions and can talk about the game for hours. I do get heavily engrossed in the games, which might come across in this reply
baldy
Well-Known Member
Currently have a save ongoing in FM23, I'm now into season five, it's been a journey to get to where I am now.
I found choosing my club to be quite challenging this time around, there were a number of candidates that stood out which I eventually dwindled down to two. Wrexham and Deportivo La Coruna. Deportivo really appealed as a save candidate as they're a club that has been in freefall, but I remember growing up in the 90's and Deportivo always being a prominent La Liga team, they've got a big stadium, a big budget in Spain's 1A league, a lot of good young players, however I eventually picked Hollywood Wrexham, to keep myself in the English leagues.
I decided that being Wrexham I would restrict my transfer business, I would not sign more players then I had sold, I didn't buy players for a fee, I decided to focus on free transfers under the age of 25. Before the first ball was kicked in anger in the National League I had sold off eight players, in return I brought in seven players. The aim for the season was simple, get promoted as Champions. That was achieved with five games to go with a points total of 102 points, my nearest challengers with Notts County and Chesterfield. Paul Mullin ended the season with 54 goals in all competitions and I also brought home a second trophy in the FA Trophy.
Season two with Wrexham in League 2, I kept to the same rules again, bringing in free signings under the age of 25 and not signing more players than I had sold. Keeping Paul Mullin and Jamie Soule (the latter I had signed a year previously) was key through the summer as they had scored 75 goals between them the season prior, I was also determined to keep George McEachran, Andy Cannon and Max Haygarth (again, all players I had signed to Wrexham the previous season) as they were the core of my squad and had performed really well in the National League. I signed Randell Williams, Jack Burroughs (from City), Caleb Chukwuemka and Tariq Uwakwe, alongside younger players from Premier League academies to build the future around. The season started off brilliantly, never dropping out of the playoffs and from November - December being in the top three, pushing for a second promotion in two seasons. In the Papa Johns Trophy I had also knocked out Huddersfield (relegated to L1) and Grimsby who had been promoted to L1.
In December 2023 however things were about to change. Mark Robins was sacked by City, with City four points from safety in the Championship, Reading also sacked Paul Ince and Huddersfield sacked Scott Brown. My general rule of thumb in each addition of the FM games is to never apply for jobs, other than Cov, so I applied for the City role, but was overlooked in favor of Mick Beale. Shortly after this both Huddersfield and Reading approached Wrexham about me taking on their respective manager jobs. Reading still in the Championship, but 17th with an alleged £5m budget. Huddersfield in L1, but 19th with a £2.5m budget. I decided to take the small jump from L1 to L2 and join Huddersfield, leaving Wrexham 3rd.
The beauty of joining Huddersfield when I did was that the transfer window was just around the corner and I needed it, the squad was ageing badly, Danny Ward was still playing up front with Jordan Rhodes, Tom Lee's was playing at CB and Lee Nicholls was in goal. I decided that I would remove myself imposed restrictions on players that I could sign, but as I try to at every club I would not exceed the total spend, beyond what I receive into the Club. When the window opened I was resigned to losing Lee Nicholls and David Kasamu who had been promised by the previous manager that they could be sold in January, however I was able to recoup £4.5m, which gave me a comfy budget of £6m in the window.
I signed the following players in January; Louie Barry (loan), Marcus Forss (£350K), Niels Nkounkou (loan), Sam Surridge (£300K) Bendeguz Bolla (loan), Jamie Cumming (loan), Myles Peart-Harris (loan), Lewis Bate (loan). I was delighted to get both Surridge and Forss, in L1 I knew this would be prolific strike force. When the window closed I was 15th in the league, with five games to go I was 3rd, all my signings contributing nicely, the Forss and Surridge partnership had wielded 32 goals in four months, LETHAL. With three games to go in the league there was two points between 1st (P'boro) and 3rd (Plymouth), Huddersfield wedged in between (2nd). My final three games were Bolton (4th @ home), Plymouth (A) and Stockport (15th @ H). A win against Bolton and a loss against Plymouth left me needing two points to secure promotion, one point behind P'boro. The final game against Stockport ended with a straightforward 5-2 win, P'boro lost away at Charlton, meaning I secured a second title in two seasons!
Season three in the Championship with Huddersfield, I bought in nine players; Jamie Cumming (GK - £1m), Leighton Clarkson (CM - free), Nathan Ferguson (RB - free), Callum Slattery (CM - free) and an additional six loans (Shea Charles, Alberto Moleiro, Ben Doak, James McAtee, Zach Awe and Kaoru Mitoma). The season started well again, first eight games I had only lost one game against Brentford and sat in the top three. November came around and Mick Beale was sacked by Cov with City sat rock bottom of the Championship, once again I applied for the job, but this time City believed I was ready and they offered me the job. I left Huddersfield in 4th..
Okay, so Cov.. There were two positives, firstly the club had been taken over not long before I took the job, the club had also managed to retain all its best players somehow, the likes of Gus, Vik, COH and Sheaf were all at the club, however Godden, Allen, Tavares and others had been sold. The squad was made up of youngsters, star players (the aforementioned) and players who needed moving on (Dabo, Moore, Bidwell, Bapaga). My task was to keep City in the Championship which I ultimately did, managing a solid 14th place.
The following season I was aiming a lot higher, with the core of players in the squad, I believed with a few solid loan signings and the high potential players coming through the academy there was a chance of play-offs. In the summer I was only able to sign seven players due to a lack of budget; Dylan Stephenson, (ST, loan) James Trafford (GK, loan), Shea Charles, (CB, loan), Josh Wilson-Esbrand (LB, loan), Jonathan Panzo (CB, £250K), Luke Plange (ST, free) and Charlie McCann (CM, £125K). I missed out on Joel Piroe, Cameron Archer and Miguel Azeez (all on frees) which was frustrating. Prior to the January window I was 10th, in the December I was able to pick up James Garner (CM) on a free after he left Everton.
January, the aim was to keep the squad together and add if possible, early in the window I managed to add Michael Obafemi (ST, £250K) from Swansea and a wonderkid from Hibernian, Reuben McAllister (son of Jamie McAllister, CM). Unfortunately, I lost Gus Hamer on deadline day, a condition of Gus signing a new deal was a £10m domestic release clause to a club in a higher division, which meant Crystal Palace were able to pick up Gus much cheaper than what I would've wanted. I also tried to re-negotiate with Gus who wasn't keen on signing a new deal. I reacted by signing Billy Gilmour (CM , £500K), Lewis Fiorini (CM , £500K), Lewis Bate (again, on loan!) and another wonderkid from Toronto FC, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (LWB/RWB) on loan with an obligation to buy if promoted for £7m.
The second half of the season the team came alive, City played 21 games in the Championship and scored 49 points, 14 wins and 7 draws, no losses. With two games to go in the regular season I was sat second in the league behind Southampton (by a single point) and in front of Middlesbrough and Watford, by a point. My final two games were Southampton (A) and Boro (H), a draw with Southampton at St Mary's left me needing a win to secure promotion which I achieved by beating Boro 3-0. Promotion to the Premier League was ours. Southampton went us as Champions and Watford via the playoffs.
I am about to start my next season in the Premier League, I start at home to Wolves, followed by games against Newcastle, Man City and then away at Leicester.. My current XI is; James Trafford, Rico Lewis, Zach Awe, Jonathan Panzo, JMR, James Garner, Billy Gilmour, James McAtee, Andy Herd (regen from the academy, five star wonderkid worth £40m), COH and Viktor up top. Currently I am playing a 4-3-2-1 Custom Gegenpress, throughout the entire save I've played the same Custom Gegenpress, but mainly with two up front.
I am obsessed with Football Manager games and have been for years, I always buy the new year editions and can talk about the game for hours. I do get heavily engrossed in the games, which might come across in this reply
Apparently FM24 is going to be the ‘ultimate’ version of FM before they bring out a whole brand new look FM 25 - I’ve not bought the last few but I might buy FM 24 if that’s the case
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
What!!!!!!!!!!!!
RoboCCFC90
Well-Known Member
I was tempted to start this season with Taunton Town, who were in the National League South, but I’ve seen a number of people get great success from Leamington saves.
Something about them it seems!