Football Manager - Your Career

[smat]

Ok fuck it, I've decided to go with Waren, predicted to finish bottom of the Oberliga Nord (Level 5).

Here's the squad:

ONE PLAYER
WE'VE ONLY GOT ONE PLAYER

 

[yellow]

I can see this being more fun to read than your Dorchester attempt.

 

[smat]

I had to restart it cos I had no wage budget and no-one wanted to sign on non-contract basis (and in fact, only five players in total were interested). So it was a total non-starter. But I clicked the 'add players' or whatever button before starting again and now I've got my squad full of shite regens.

Btw what version is the game at the mo, with the latest patch?

 

[Luke Imp]

Picked my Brighton game back up and it can be summed up quite well with the amount of yellow circles on my fixtures list. Only lost 4 games, but drawn 13 of my 26 thus far.

 

[Alty]

Altrincham 2016/17

Bit of a strange season. Once again I found it hard to attract players. I scoured all L1 and L2 clubs' recently released players and managed to pick up one or two decent players. Colin Daniel was probably the best - tricky left winger from Port Vale.

I also got some promising youngsters through the summer triallist games. Josh Smile who'd been released from Fulham was the best of them.

I then packed the squad full of the best loanees I could find, including a few from Wolves as they're still our parent club.

Anyway, I got knocked out of the JPT in the 1st Round at Bury after playing mostly reserves. I made it to the 2nd Round of the League Cup by beating Fleetwood, before getting raped 7-1 by Crystal Palace. Also made the 2nd Round of the FA Cup with a 2-0 win over Conference side Eastbourne, but was beaten in the 2nd Round by L1 Notts County. 2-0. It was comfortable for them in all honesty.

In the league we put up a good show for the most part. Plenty of progress since last season. We were in with a sniff of the playoffs until well into the new year, but a bit of an injury crisis really hurt us at the end. We didn't win any of our last 10 games which saw us drop right down to 19th. Still an improvement on last season but a bit disappointing after where we were.

Still, progress is progress. Hoping we can get a couple of good free transfers and have a bit more luck so that we can make the playoffs next season.

Altrincham 2017/18.

Hmmmm. So this game seems quite realistic. In that as the team with the smallest budget in the Football League, I find it so hard to attract players. Made a handful of permanent signings, some of them decent enough but nobody that inspiring. TBH it was the loan signings that did the business for me. Lee McKinney, young Northern Irish striker loaned from Crystal Palace, banged in 24 goals in 38 games despite the fact we were a bottom half team.

We went out of the League Cup in the 1st Round after losing 0-2 at home to Wigan.
We made it to the 2nd Round of the FA Cup by beating Chesterfield 5-1 at home. Lost 3-0 at Barnsley in the 2nd Round.
Finished 19th in L2 again. 13 points clear of relegation.

The board and the fans are happy as they expect us to get relegated every season. But I'm finding this a bit frustrating. Looking like I'll need to draw a massive club away in the FA Cup if I'm going to get enough money ever to have a promotion tilt. We'll see how long it takes and whether I'll get bored waiting.

 

[Full of Gas]

Started a game with Rovers recently, just finished my 3rd season, here's how it's gone so far (game started with the lowest rep & coaching badges):-

2014/15 - Vanarama Conference - Finished 4th - 84pts - Lost in Play-Off Semi Final to Woking, 3-1 on Aggregate

Not a bad season, although we were pretty inconsistent which eventually cost us a chance at the title. Barnet went up as champions, with Gateshead winning the Play-Offs. No signings of any note as I turned off 1st window transfers, just a handful of loans through the season. Jermaine Easter finished as our top scorer with 23 (all comps).
We beat Woking 1-0 to reach the 1st round of the FA Cup, before losing 3-1 to Rochdale. In the FA Trophy we lost 3-2 to Eastbourne Borough in the 1st round (the board were not impressed with this!).

2015/16 - Vanarama Conference - Finished 1st - 104pts

Champions! It was pretty much a 2 horse race for the majority of the season between us & Ebbsfleet, they went on a horrid run towards the end of the season though, winning just 2 of their last 7 games. Ebbsfleet did join us in promotion though after beating Eastleigh in the Play-Off final 2-0. We made a number of signings after losing a few players, centre midfielder Lyle Della-Verde being the stand out, he eventually went on to get 7 goals & 11 assists in all competitions, with an average rating of 7.61, he was also voted player of the season in the league. Our top scorer was Andre Brown with 18, who we got in on loan from Crewe.
In the FA Cup after beating Eastleigh in the Qualifying Round (after a replay), we lost 2-0 away to Sheffield Utd in the 1st Round. In the FA Trophy we reached the 4th Round after defeating Whyteleafe (3-1), Bognor Regis (2-0), & Wrexham (2-0), we eventually went out to Cheltenham 3-1.

2016/17 - League 2 - Finished 7th - 73pts - Play-Offs vs Burton Albion (not yet played)

A brilliant 1st season back in the football league, after a very slow start we managed to go on a very good run after the turn of the year only losing 6 games between then & the final game. We have 2 legs to play against Burton & then possibly the final (Tranmere or Gateshead), we've ended up with the best home record but a very poor away record so these games could go either way. Mansfield won the league, despite have a media prediction of 24th, Wycombe & Dagenham finished 2nd & 3rd respectively. We didn't lose anyone of note in the summer. We re-signed Andre Brown on Loan (although he's only ended up with 4 goals this time round so I don't think we'll bring him back for a 3rd time), Chris O'Neil was brought in at RB for 60k from Airdrie, Ronan Murray was also signed in November on a free transfer after my strikers were struggling for goals. He ended up being our top scorer with 14, unfortunately he got injured towards the end of the season & he misses the Play-Offs.
In the Capital One Cup we lost in the 1st round to Bournemouth 2-0, the JPT saw us crash out to Oxford on Penalties in the 1st round, & in the FA Cup after beating Leyton Orient 1-0, we lost 2-1 to Notts County in the 2nd round. Lyle Della Verde has been outstanding again, 9 goals & 7 assists in all competitions with an average rating on 7.27.

So that's where we are, quite a big summer in store, whichever league we end up in, a few players will be on there way out as i've already tied down the players I want to keep. Biggest positions I need to fill are up front & on the wings.

Oh I almost forgot, Jamaica also came knocking on my door in the summer of 2016 so I took that job aswell. We're currently in the final World Cup Qualifying Round, with the USA, Canada, Guatemala, & Costa Rica, & we're also in the Gold Cup group stage aswell. The biggest issue I am finding is there are next to no Jamaican players out there, the average age of the current squad is 29! We've got the likes of Adrian Mariappa, Lloyd Doyley, Wes Morgan, Rodolph Austin, Jason Puncheon, Darren Pratley, & Gareth McCleary, not awful players but all getting on abit & it doesn't look like we're getting any youth players through so I'm not sure how long i'll be in charge here

 

[TractorBoys]

Picked my Brighton game back up and it can be summed up quite well with the amount of yellow circles on my fixtures list. Only lost 4 games, but drawn 13 of my 26 thus far.

Looks like you need a goalscorer! Loan market??

 

[Luke Imp]

Tried, but nothing worth having after Xmas and I had already had my full loan quota of 8 because you start the game with 4 loan players. Top scorer was O'Grady with 12, then Baldock and Maynard on 6.

Got 20 clean sheets, which is why I ended up as high as I did (7th in the end, missing out on the PO's).

Just started my second season.

 

[TractorBoys]

You managed to strengthen up top?

 

[Luke Imp]

Kinda.

The 3rd and 4th strikers are better than last season, but I've still not come across anyone I think will get me 20+ goals. Still got a couple of weeks of the transfer window left so I'm hoping that I can get lucky with a decent loan.

 

[Luke Imp]

Oh, and this is the guy who I picked up at 17 for £675k. Absolute steal for a Championship side and should develop really well. His attributes have dropped off because he's been injured for a while.

 

[TractorBoys]

I'm in 2019 and he's with Napoli, valued at £9m. Consistently performing at 7.4+ a game.

 

[TheWednesday]

Things have been going extraordinarily well with Maidenhead United, couldn't really be going any better. Just played through the January window and managed to bolster the squad in what I felt was the weakest area, central midfield. Pulled off a coup signing midfielder George Miller from Conference North Gloucester City on a free transfer, as well as bringing in Barry Cogan in on loan from Dover until the end of the season, a very solid player at this level. Not managed to move anyone out though sadly which means I'm £150 a week over the wage budget, not a problem really but still looking to get 3 or 4 players out who've barely featured all season. Currently sat top of the league on goal difference ahead of Whitehawk with a game in hand. Quite proud considering the budget I have but still 12 games to go.

Results
Maidenhead United 0-2 St Albans
Maidenhad United 2-1 Concord Rangers
Maidenhead United 5-2 Chelmsford City
Basingstoke Town 1-2 Maidenhead United

League Table-
1. Maidenhead United 54
2. Whitehawk 54
3. Hayes & Yeading 52
4. Boreham Wood 51
5. Havant & Waterloovile 48
--------------------------------------
20. Staines Town 21
21. Farnborough 22

 

[Pyeman]

I'm in 2019 and he's with Napoli, valued at £9m. Consistently performing at 7.4+ a game.

That's promising. I picked him up at the start of my Burnley save. Mid-way through the second season and he hasn't quite developed as I'd have liked, but I'm hoping to give him more game time in the coming months. Hopefully he turns into a worldie.

 

[Pyeman]

From hero to zero.

Second season with Burnley, third place in the league after 20 games. A historic season on the cards.

After game 38, I just about scraped the top ten. Had horrific luck with injuries, which coupled with a Europa League campaign, my squad just couldn't handle. Think I only won 3 games in the league since January.

Twatbagbumholeshitfacecockfist.

 

[Mr Elmo]

After surviving well enough in my first L1 season with Barnet, I was hoping for a mid-table finish maybe pushing for a PO place

Somehow we got worse, I improved in the areas we needed so most players were good for the division, but no matter what tactic I used we seemed to do awful. As a result I resigned.

I then saw that Championship Aston Villa had a vacancy, so I applied and got the job. They were struggling in the league, although I'm not sure how. Defence were getting ratings of 7+ and the attack had a 4 star Jack Grealish on the wing and Troy Deeney at striker. My job is to take them to the PO's and hopefully win them.

My start has been alright, first game we lost 0-1 at home to challenging Huddersfield before winning 1-0 against Bolton and drawing 1-1 away to Charlton so it was steady. We then had a game against Birmingham at home, massif rivals.

We blew them away. 3 first half goals destroyed them and they found no response, 3-0 win to me and morale will now be on a high, I must continue this now.

 

[Techno Natch]

I am having a horrible session today! Won 1 game in 9 but luckily we are still in the top two.

5 games left and it's going to be tight.

 

[Full of Gas]

1st leg of the League 2 Play-Offs at home Burton ended with a well deserved 2-1 win, Tom Parkes gave us the lead with his first of the season, only for them to level it up before the break. Lyle Della-Verde got our 2nd with a direct free kick. We dominated the game & really should have taken at least a 2 goal lead in to the 2nd leg.

2nd leg ended in a 2-0 defeat, meaning we lose 3-2 on aggregate & miss out on a trip to Wembley. At 0-0 Matty Taylor missed an absolute sitter, their keeper came out the box & headed it straight to his feet, 20 yards out no one near him he hits it first time & sends it 3 or 4 yards wide. Not to long after Burton go 1 up & then grab their 2nd on the stroke of HT (in the 3rd minute of 2 added on! ), in the 2nd half I don't remember us having a highlight. A pretty disappointing performance to end the season with, but we over-achieved massively to begin with so i'm not to worried, I think the step up would have been just too soon.

Out of contract players who'll be leaving:-

Steve Mildenhall - GK
Jermaine Easter - ST
Matty Taylor - ST
Reise Allassani - ST
Fergus Bell - M/AMC
And a handful of yougsters

It leaves me with a pretty thin squad of 14, so a few signings will be needed

 

[Techno Natch]

Gutting end to the season with Shefield Wednesday. With 5 games left we were top and we ended up 5th!

I would have been delighted with 5th but so annoyed our for collapsed. Play offs it is.

 

[Techno Natch]

Lost in the Final 5-3 to Blackburn. A shame but overall a successful season as we also made the Q/F of both cups. The final made us £2m in gate recipts too so that's great.

Some facts:

We didn't have a single sending off all season.

We conceded 76 goals this season which was far to high but we were top joint scorers
with 86.

Middlesbrough also had 86 goals but nearly half of them were scored by Danny Graham. (39)

My top scorer was Johnathan Obika with 21 goals. Not bad for a 71k signing who I thought would be back up. He was the only transfer fee I paid.

No idea what happens next season. Most of my defence is out of contract so next year will hopefully see a better defensive record. I played 5 at the back for a lot of the season and we still let in over 80 goals!

 

[yellow]

Unlucky, but like you say..a decent season.

What formation do you play, and player roles etc? Also if you have any transfer money and want a decent defender I'd recommend Michael Duckworth from Hartlepool.

He was one of my first signings when I joined Blackpool and over three and a bit years he averaged 7.2. Incredibly consistent, and never seemed to get injured or suspended. Infact his only suspension was one of my last games at the club I think. Up there with one of the best right backs I've had, in terms of performance levels. Young too so potential to improve!

 

[Techno Natch]

I have added him to my shortlist thanks. FM14 so he might not be as good.

I've used two formations:

5-2-2-1

CWB
DC
DC
DC
CWB

AP
BWM

IF
IF

AF

I did switch the CWB to a normal FB but it didn't help stop the goals. I always play with AML and AMR so it probably leaves my defence exposed.

With this one instructions were:

Exploit Flanks
Retain Possesion
Short Passing
Lower Tempo
Tight Marking
Stand off

Although thats changed from time to time and I had quite a bit of success with that for a while, the goals conceded was a lot better but towards the end of the season my form collapsed.

My other ones a attacking 4-2-2-2 which I used initially at the start and then the end of the season. It was fairly successful too. I'm hoping a entire new back line will help.

Board like me to play attacking too but I could probably drop that now as I am untouchable.

 

[JJH]

I've resigned from Barnet.

Just got promoted from L1 to the Championship, and my already thin squad was made even thinner by 6/7 players leaving such as Luisma Villa who I had had since the Conference, and played a massive part in my back to back to back promotions.

I then attempted to sign some Championship players - to no avail, as they either laughed at the prospect of Barnet as a club, or I couldn't afford their wages.

I then referred to attempting to sign some half decent L1 players, and found myself losing out on players both money wise and in attractiveness to clubs such as Pompy in L2, and Colchester and Carlisle at the bottom of L1.

I went so high with Barnet in such a space short of time I got a nose bleed, and I had my hands tied with players, money etc, there was nothing I could do.

I resigned, and Kevin Blackwell taken over, and they're unsuprisingly 24th after 10 games or so, and are having to field U18 players with a value of a couple of Mars Bars and a bag of Twiglets.

As for my Career - I wasn't out of the game long, I got offered a job at the struggling Southampton who sit 20th in the PL - and my first objective as manager is to make a late surge for mid table, and go on from there.

2 year deal, so depending on how my first season goes will make my mind up as to whether I want to stay there or not.

 

[Techno Natch]

I've just finished pre season and I am pretty happy with my summer business.

I was given £2m to spend and my wage budget had a decent increase. I am expected to finish top half but I expect to challange again.

I released a total of 8 first team players, most of them being defenders and also Chris Kirkland. I sold promising left back Jeremy Helan for £1m to. He was alright but Mattock had the better year with an average of 7.20.

I brought in Finish number 1 Lukas Hradecky for 500k. I hope he turns out as good as Anti Nieme(spelling?) was over here.

Mathieu Baudry £1m defender from Leyton Orient. His stats are good I just hope he can make the step up.

Tom Thorpe - Young CB from Manchester United with decent potential. Free.

Diego Rivas - Experienced Ball winning midfielder from Spain on a free.

John Swift - CM from Chelsea on loan. Had him before and he will be good back up.

Leandro Caberera - Central Defender from the Madrid B Team who I signed for 500k and he's on a massive wage for us at 18k per week. Lets hope he can deliver the goods. Still young at 23.

I will probably get sacked before Christmas making tonight a waste of time. Think I should go to bed.... After playing the first game anyway.

EDIT: 5-0 win against newly promoted Wolves! Perfect start to the season but means nothing of course.

 

[Paddy]

Ditched my Gibraltar league save. Really just felt so 'meh' about it after completing the first season... started a new career in the League of Ireland with Waterford United & have completed the first season (still using FM14), part way through the second season, so with that in mind here is the review of the inaugural season of my regime -

Waterford United - Season I (2013)
I came, I saw, I didn't conquer & almost got sacked...
​

Took over at League of Ireland First Division side Waterford United at the start of the 2013 season. We were predicted to finish 3rd in the 8 team league (1st is auto promotion, 2nd & 3rd play off with the winner facing 2nd from last in the Premier for promotion) & actually had a fairly decent squad with a good contingent of highly rated youngsters so I felt suitably comfortable about our chances of getting the side back up to the League of Ireland Premier, a division the team had been relegated out of back in 2007.

Pre season went okay with me making a modest amount of first team signings to supplement my side & ended up with a W-D-L record of 1-1-2. Both defeats were against Premier Division sides while the win & tie were against lower provincial league outfits. We came out of the blocks roaring in the first competitive games of the season, topping the league after 6 games with a 4-1-1 record & also progressed through the League of Ireland Cup First Round with ease but then a blip in league form (no wins, 4 ties & 1 defeat) cost us dear as the eventual champions & runners up (Finn Harps & Athlone Town) began to coast the league.

I made a bit of money for the club selling off one of my incredibly talented first team youngsters in Conor Whittle, who made a £45K move across the Irish sea to English side Watford. The deal saw Whittle loaned back to us for the rest of the season & also included a guarantee that we could call Watford over to the Regional Sports Complex for a friendly game as well as a potential 25% of the profits from any potential sell on. This sale gave me a gem of an idea to build the club financially, so I set about scouting & signing all the un-contracted high potential youngsters I could get my hands on with the intention to train them up, ship them on & then reinvest the proceeds in to our own youth system to try turn my plan even more organic & profitable.

Back to the on field action we trundled along picking up almost equal amount of wins, ties & defeats but this was not enough for us to sustain any kind of play off charge as eventual 3rd place side (& rivals) Wexford Youths began to also canter ahead of us. Respite was found in the FAI Cup as we defeated Premier Division side Derry City in their own back yard after a replay in the Third Round - this is what probably saved me from the chop at the end of the season!

With all hope of mounting a last minute play off charge lost & terrible end of season form I decided to spend the last couple of days fielding the youths to give the future of my bank balance a chance to show what they can do, but all this resulted in was the board getting the complete arse with me after the final game of the season, requesting me in for a board meeting to explain myself. Tail between my legs & not wanting to end my Waterford United career after just one season I begged them to give me more time to turn things around, to which they agreed although they were unwilling to officially extend my contract which was due to end, keeping me in on a month-to-month basis.

The end of season league movement saw First Division champions Finn Harps move up to the Premier, while Dublin based former power houses Bohemians moved the other way losing their unique over 100 year league record of being a top flight team since the league was formed in 1922, making next season a little bit more difficult for the other 7 First Division sides. First Division runners up Athlone Town beat Wexford Youths in the divisional play off but lost out to U.C.D in the promotion/relegation play off, meaning they will still be around next season.

League of Ireland First Division: 4th out of 8 (the board wanted a play off qualification so that's a fail)
FAI Cup: Quarter Final (beat expectations of reaching the 3rd round)
League of Ireland Cup: 2nd Round (the board wanted 2nd Round, I gave them 2nd Round)
Munster Senior Cup: 2nd Round (no one cared about this one, so specifically used this competition to give my youths a run out)

 

[Luke Imp]

Around the PO places with Brighton in the January transfer window of my second season.

Signed Jerome Sinclair on loan from Liverpool at he beginning of the season and he's on 12 goals, and Chris O'Grady on 14, so that's helped in the sense I'm now not drawing as many games as last season but I have lost more.

That young CB is wanted by 12 Clubs and he's got a £10.75m release clause that I can't get rid of.

Could do with a DM and another ST if possible. The former is more important because two transfer targets fell through back in the summer so I had to settle for John Welsh on a free from Preston.

 

[yellow]

I have now finished with Uni until next September so I can dedicate my life to this thread.

Bet you can't wait, folks.

 

[TheWednesday]

An absolutely unbelievable first season with Maidenhead United, expected to finish no further than the top half at the start of the season, and with a very small budget have gone and won the league and gained promotion to the top level of non league football for the first time. A great run of form during the last 15 games saw us wrap up the league with 2 games to spare, all while steadying the finances leaving us with a decent bank balance of £50,000 which was expected to be £-200,000 in August. Think my January additions saw us through, strengthened the midfield which is such an important area in my counter attacking away system and controlling home system. Can't wait to have a go at the Conference Premier next season, expect we'll still be part time so a challenge for us to compete with the big clubs.

Havant & Waterloovile 3-0 Maidenhead United
Maidenhead United 2-0 Whitehawk
Ebbsfleet United 0-2 Maidenhead United
Maidenhead United 2-1 Boreham Wood
Chelmsford City 1-2 Maidenhead United
Maidenhead United 1-0 Gosport Borough
Hemel Hempstead 1-0 Maidenhead United
Maidenhead United 4-2 Bromley
Weston-Super-Mare 2-3 Maidenhead United
Maidenhead United 2-0 Wealdstone
Sutton United 1-1 Maidenhead United

Top Scorers
Guiseppe Sole 25
Dave Tarpey 15
Danny Green 13

Players of the season
Guiseppe Sole 7.65
Mark Nisbet 7.02
Duran Reynolds 7.01
Danny Green 6.99

 

[RavenBish]

WOW.

Final day of the League 1 season and I can pretty much finish 1st, 2nd 3rd or 4th in League 1. A win gets me 2nd and 1st depending on other results and a draw/loss can see me finish outside the top 2.

I play Gillingham who have been relegated the previous week....and well, this is the game.

Bottled a 2-0 lead which had me down in 3rd with a 2-2 draw and then in the 92nd minute, captain Curtis Nelson pops up and gets a winner from a corner. A goal elsewhere meant I then finished top and took the title in dramatic fashion.

Here's the final table...as you can see, I conceded A LOT (joint 5th worst defensive record in the division!) and still managed to somehow win the league.

and my #squad for the season. Some very good performances but christ, it doesn't half need a lot of strengthening for the Championship.

 

[JoeJoeJoeJoe]

I haven't done a large update for a while so after getting back to back promotions and having Cov in the Prem, I was given a tiny budget with pretty much gave me the impossible task of surviving.

Admittedly, the signings I made bar Reach, Michel and Rekik were terrible. Rodelin started well but got a bad injury and didn't come back till it was too late. I finished 20th but the board kept me on for the next season.

The beauty of parachute payments. After being given barely any money in the Prem, I was given a transfer budget of around £23 million to spend in the championship. I got rid of the majority of the deadwood and spent big in an attempt to get back to the Prem at the first time of asking.

This was the easiest season I've probably ever had on FM and ended up walking the league winning it with a few games to spare.


Having won promotion back to the Prem, the board again gave me a large transfer budget to use. The fact that my squad already had the basis of a solid lower end top division side made this another fairly simple season with my main objective of securing safety achieved easily.

Now, to my last full season. I was once again given a decent sized budget in order to achieve the objective of remaining competitive in the league.

The signings of Hazard and Costa were probably the pick of the lot. Both were brilliant and cost me next to nothing. Juanmi was great but missed 3 months after a hamstring tear.

I started the season really poorly losing my first 4 league games and thought it was gonna be a long season. But, my form picked up and I went on a run of two losses in 12 games which had me around 8th-10th place. At the turn of the year, things were looking good and signing Okore and Henriquez to add depth to the squad helped, even if Henriquez was pretty shite. The good form continued leading to an FA Cup semi-final which I lost to Villa after going down to ten men and leaving me needing a win from my final game against Hull in order to secure 6th place and a europa league spot.

Absolute scenes as Juanmi bagged in the last minute to save my spot in Europe.
Player of the year Cauley Woodrow's stats:

I'm currently at the end of August in my current season and have won every game. I beat Rangers 6-2 on aggregate in my first qualifier and then beat Sivasspor 7-1 on aggregate to reach the group stage. I've been drawn in a group with Spartak, Sporting and AGF (Danish). I was given a weaker budget and so couldn't strengthen in all areas and some of my signings already seem poor (especially Saphir Taider).

A summary of my seasons in charge: