Football Manager - Your Career

[yellow]

Nay happy with that.

 

[Techno Natch]

I'm on FM 14 and there is a really minor thing that I miss. Before games on previous seasons it would tell you what personal milestones were coming up for players.

Eg:

Christian Benteke is 2 goals off of reaching 500 league goals for Aston Villa.

It doesn't seem to let you know in this game though? Or any other landmarks for that matter. Is it on the new version?

 

[Libertadores FC]

We've turned to shit after that "no one can touch us" comment.

Lesson learned.

Also, does anyone have the logo pack that has Chroley's real logo? I have the one with the flower on top rather than in the middle.

 

[mente captus]

derbytime in the UEFA Europa League Quarterfinal: Slavia (me) vs Sparta Praha

1st leg Slavia - Sparta 3:0
2nd leg Sparta - Slavia 4:0

i always had the feeling in front of the 2nd leg that my guys will give it away and they delivered.

still number two in town and its deserved.

 

[smat]

Alfreton 0 - 0 Brackley

One down, forty-five to go.

Brackley 4-1 Oxford City
Dover 1-5 Brackley
Brackley 5-0 Welling Utd

Erm...

 

[yellow]

it's coming…

edit: wait I read them all as defeats on first glance. says a lot about your usual standards

 

[Libertadores FC]

We are fucking shameful against bottom of the league.

 

[smat]

Killed Yeovil's 100% record with a 3-1 win as well. We're top of the league after five games, attendances have doubled and I'm among the 'favoured personnel' of Brackley's notoriously hard-to-please ultras.

 

[smat]

Are you meant to do coaching courses? I started as a Sunday league footballer so my coaching stats are awful, but I didn't realise you could do that to improve them

 

[SF_]

Currently 11th in the Prem with PNE in about mid-February.

This is probably the easiest FM in a good while, successive promotions with very few additions and i'm comfortably mid-table in my first season in the top flight.

Current squad

GK - Remy Riou, Jonathan Bond
RB - Loris Nery, Vasileios Pliatsikas (loan)
CB - Tom Clarke, Bailey Wright, Shane O' Neill, Mark O'Brien
LB - Luke Garbutt, Andrew Robertson (loan)
CM - Ouasim Bouy, Lucas Deaux, Alan Browne, Adnan Gurdiel
AM - Josh Brownhill, Luke Williams, Paul Gallagher
WM - Callum McManaman, Bashkim Kadrii, Chris Humphrey
ST - Libor Kozak (loan), Joe Garner, Junior Tallo

 

[Libertadores FC]

Lost in the playoff semi-final to Stockport on penalties. Adam Roscoe was seconds away from becoming the playoff hero but then missed the penalty that lost us the game. Anyways this season we are struggling to even qualify for playoffs which sucks seeing as Jake Adelson wouldn't sign a contract extension. We are so inconsistent. I'm almost sure we'll qualify for top 10, but I can't see us going to playoffs again.

Qualifying for the playoffs in my first season with Chorley was a great achievement I should say. Shame we couldn't win.

 

[ForeverUnited]

Never thought i'd see the day...

 

[Paddy]

Can't remember if I've posted in here before on this forum... if I did, ignore that... that save is dead & buried.

Started a new save on FM2014 a few days ago, did the usual LLM thing by starting unemployed with lowest previous experience settings. First I was offered the Colwyn Bay job (last in Conference North at the time) & in the same week the Gosport job (hovering just above the drop zone in the Conference South) but I decided to reject both of these as I had a feeling that something better would come along.

2013/14 - DOVER ATHLETIC
CONFERENCE SOUTH
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​

Something better did indeed come along when Dover Athletic, then 12th in the Conference South, sacked their manager for under performing, which is a tad harsh as they were only expected to finish around mid table but either way, so I applied for the job & got it. My first port of call was to terminate the contracts of all players who were either crap or overpaid wasters who weren't doing what they were capable of, replacing them with fresh youngsters who had high potential while reshaping my back room team to actually have people in job roles with decent relevant stats.

My molding of Dover saw me shoot way over my wage budget as the team inconsistently went on blinding runs of pure awesomeness only to fall over & play dead whenever we got near the play off zone. After working out who was worth keeping out of the remaining squad I inherited I managed to get the wage bill right down to give me a spare £200-odd (mainly by releasing the aging waste of space Terrell Forbes who was on £700 per week to sit on my bench) which then allowed me to sign what turned out to be the catalyst in maintaining a decent run of form: Maik Taylor, who joined me as not only my first choice GK but also my GK coach (he's so good he even trains himself!).

Flash forward to the end of match day 40 out of 42 & we are 7th place, 2 points behind the play offs! We won in match 41 but unfortunately so did Bath (6th place) & Havant (7th place) meaning it was as you were going in to the final game of regular season. The 42nd & final league game saw us claim an invaluable win over Hayes while Havant tied & Bath lost... We did it! 5th place!! In to the play offs!!!

This alone was enough for the board to give me a one year contract extension & thank the gods of football they did it then as we got dicked 3:0 at home by Ebbsfleet in the play off semi final 1st leg followed up by a 2:1 defeat in the 2nd leg. 2014/15 will see Dover Athletic remain in the Conference South & also see me remain in charge of first team duties.

Time to shape the squad up for a title hunt next season!

 

[Libertadores FC]

Inspiring post and I will likely do the same with my save in a few minutes.

I have Maik Taylor at Fleetwood. Should be good in the conference, but he was shite for me!!!

 

[Paddy]

Try & sign Johnny Cosgrove if you can. He is an absolute beast in the Conference North/South. He's bipolar as fuck though, he slates my team talks every other game to the press but I'm somehow one of his favourite people & he signed a new contract because of his admiration for me.

 

[Libertadores FC]

2014/15 Season
​

Conference North: We we're predicted to finish 19th, and we massively overachieved finishing 4th. We had to fight all season for it after a bad start, but we did it by beating Solihull 2-1 on the last day. Nervy match as we we're actually looking like losing. Anyways we qualified for the playoffs and got Stockport County. We looked finished in the first leg. Being down 3-1 at home in the first leg to Stockport, and we ended up scoring 4, almost 5 too. We won 5-3. We then went to their stadium and lost 3-1. Roscoe scored a goal in the 85th minute making me think we we're in the final, I switched to contain and they score a 3rd. We went to penalties and we score all ours except our second in which first leg hattrick hero Adam Roscoe misses his penalty which if he had scored it and we won that shootout, he would have been the hero. Shame we couldn't get promoted but I'm happy with how we did regardless this season as I never expected to finish so high up the table.

FA Cup: We reached the 4th round before getting knocked out by Nuneaton. They are a league above so I shouldn't be angry about it but I am seeing as we we're 2 goals up and just gave up after they turned it around. Plenty of time to score a 3rd and play a replay but we lost in the end. Shame as I wanted to go as far as possible to make some money of the FA Cup.

FA Trophy: Didn't really care much about this and got knocked out immediately.

Our 2 best players we're Stephenson and Roscoe. Our 2 strikers. Henry Cameron deserves a shoutout too. Bought him from Blackpool at the beginning of the season and he was quite good I must say. Ashton, our goalkeeper had some pretty good moments this season, so I need to give him some credit also.

 

[Techno Natch]

I had a enjoyable game with Dover a while back. I'm still on my glory game at the moment. Well if you consider winning the FA Cup glory. When I've finished I will be looking towards the lower league.

 

[Paddy]

You know, after years of wondering what the hell the Dover badge was all about (originally thinking it was a mouldy old submarine) I've just realised it's the white cliffs of Dover.

Go easy on me people, I'm a fucking idiot haha

 

[Cardsfan]

You know, after years of wondering what the hell the Dover badge was all about (originally thinking it was a mouldy old submarine) I've just realised it's the white cliffs of Dover.

Go easy on me people, I'm a fucking idiot haha

You're a fucking idiot

 

[Paddy]

You're a fucking idiot

An idiot... but my moldy submarines are on fire. Not sure that's good for a submarine but the chairman seems happy so it's all good.

Having been told at the start of the season that after my play off exploits last time round the board expected a bare minimum of promotion to the Conference Premier. No pressure then. Fortunately my wage budget was marginally increased to just shy of £8K per week which allowed me to have a bit of room to play around with the squad, aided by letting a few replaceable players go at the end of their contracts. The fact that after 5 league games I'm currently spending a mere £9.4K per week is neither here nor there.

To add to the unwanted pressure brought on me by the board expecting promotion, the media got involved too by making us favourites for the league title. This worried me a little... but I shouldn't have been worried as an outstanding pre season (which began with a skeleton crew of about 17 first team players) saw us win all but one exhibition match. PSV's Joung side, Margate, Cambridge United (away), Bradford City - now in the Championship, Hastings United & Aston Villa's Under 21 side were all bested leaving me to think we might actually live up to expectations.

My first full Conference South season as manager of Dover Athletic began with a hard fought 1:0 win at Bath City, this wasn't exactly the starting point of champions but it was 3 points none the less. Another 1 goal win saw us beat Whitehawk at the Crabble before my heart was ripped in two as I had to defeat my beloved Kingstonian with a 2:1 scoreline to make it 3 wins in 3. We rounded off the first 5 Conference South fixtures finally showing our attacking potential scoring 8 goals evenly spread over the 2 fixtures after defeating Concord Rangers 4:2 & Weymouth 4:3.

Top of the league. Like we're apparently supposed to be... only another 37 games left to go then.

 

[Libertadores FC]

How on earth does one succeed in the non-leagues? No team I use no matter what tactic I use I can't find any success. You know you're bad when your defender is averaging 6 point fucking 17

Currently Cambridge City by the way.

 

[Paddy]

One signs Johnny Cosgrove.

I tend to use season 1 as a set up season as I ship out older players on high contracts in favour of young prospects on the cheap. The experience the youngsters gain from playing most of season 1 serves them well going forward.

Season 2 is usually where the good stuff happens... the youngsters signed in season 1 are that bit better & then you plug any gaps with released players from teams relegated out of the Conference Premier (sometimes League 2).

Tactics are largely irrelevant in lower league management as most of your players have terrible stats in the grand scheme of things & just do what they want on the pitch anyway but just in case you want to try it I'm using a 4-5-1 with my wide players as inside forwards, striker varies in role per game/player, I've got a BBM & a CM in the middle, BWM playing the defensive midfield position & my defence consists of CWB's & limited centre backs. High tempo (train fitness hard during pre season) & exploit the flanks as main instructions.

 

[Luke Imp]

How on earth does one succeed in the non-leagues? No team I use no matter what tactic I use I can't find any success. You know you're bad when your defender is averaging 6 point fucking 17

Currently Cambridge City by the way.

With difficulty.

There didn't seem to be anything that really made things work as such.

 

[smat]

How on earth does one succeed in the non-leagues? No team I use no matter what tactic I use I can't find any success. You know you're bad when your defender is averaging 6 point fucking 17

Currently Cambridge City by the way.

Structured tactics. Disciplined, stick to positions. The best CB pairing I've found so far has been Limited Defender - Defend, and Central Defender - Cover. I use 'look for overlap' in home games for a bit more attacking power. Don't go too attacking - even 'standard' is enough for me most of the time at home, with 'counter' away. Sort out your set pieces (having one man zonally marking the six yard box from corners seems to work). Remember your players have pretty poor mental stats, so they can't follow instructions as reliably as Premier League players. Give them as little to think about as possible, really.

Sign players based on current ability (your training facilities won't be good enough to help young players reach their potential anyway). Watch the highlights and figure out where things are going wrong. Limited full-backs (with 'mark tighter' and 'close down more' on player instructions) seems to provide a bit more solidity. I've had good success by pairing inside forwards with one deep-lying forward, but you have to find the right players for that really (ie a winger who can play on the 'wrong' side to his preferred foot).

All that said, I probably got lucky.

In the world of Brackley... I got offered the job at Fleetwood Town, who have a £2.3m wage budget and are in League 2 (my wage budget is £364,000). Turned it doon. #loyalty

Also the idea of Fleetwood Town just seems awful.

Had a nice little cup run (ish). Put out Maidenhead 3-1, and got a PLUM draw with League 1 side York City. Smashed them 5-1, in my greatest moment in charge of Brackley (they had lost 6 in a row beforehand, but still, League 1!). Played Doncaster (L2) in the next round, eventually losing 3-1 at their place in a replay. Shame as Sheffield United would've been next, which would've been a reasonable little earner.

The league form has suffered tho. Just about in January now and we've plummeted to 15th, albeit with 2-3 games in hand as a result of the FA Cup replays (and one in the FA Trophy). Still optimistic we can get back up into the top half (and I hope it's not going to get worse because I've adjusted our wage budget to accommodate a 'mid-table position' and I don't want to get sacked. OH GOD).

 

[Libertadores FC]

Structured tactics. Disciplined, stick to positions. The best CB pairing I've found so far has been Limited Defender - Defend, and Central Defender - Cover. I use 'look for overlap' in home games for a bit more attacking power. Don't go too attacking - even 'standard' is enough for me most of the time at home, with 'counter' away. Sort out your set pieces (having one man zonally marking the six yard box from corners seems to work). Remember your players have pretty poor mental stats, so they can't follow instructions as reliably as Premier League players. Give them as little to think about as possible, really.

Sign players based on current ability (your training facilities won't be good enough to help young players reach their potential anyway). Watch the highlights and figure out where things are going wrong. Limited full-backs (with 'mark tighter' and 'close down more' on player instructions) seems to provide a bit more solidity. I've had good success by pairing inside forwards with one deep-lying forward, but you have to find the right players for that really (ie a winger who can play on the 'wrong' side to his preferred foot).

All that said, I probably got lucky.

In the world of Brackley... I got offered the job at Fleetwood Town, who have a £2.3m wage budget and are in League 2 (my wage budget is £364,000). Turned it doon. #loyalty

Also the idea of Fleetwood Town just seems awful.

Had a nice little cup run (ish). Put out Maidenhead 3-1, and got a PLUM draw with League 1 side York City. Smashed them 5-1, in my greatest moment in charge of Brackley (they had lost 6 in a row beforehand, but still, League 1!). Played Doncaster (L2) in the next round, eventually losing 3-1 at their place in a replay. Shame as Sheffield United would've been next, which would've been a reasonable little earner.

The league form has suffered tho. Just about in January now and we've plummeted to 15th, albeit with 2-3 games in hand as a result of the FA Cup replays (and one in the FA Trophy). Still optimistic we can get back up into the top half (and I hope it's not going to get worse because I've adjusted our wage budget to accommodate a 'mid-table position' and I don't want to get sacked. OH GOD).

Cheers. I was hesitant to use stick to positions, but now that you recommend it, I'll have a go with it.

 

[Sparrow]

How on earth does one succeed in the non-leagues? No team I use no matter what tactic I use I can't find any success. You know you're bad when your defender is averaging 6 point fucking 17

Currently Cambridge City by the way.

Set your Director of Football to be able to sign first team players. Has found some gems for me in the past.

 

[smat]

If you are successful I will finally have vindication over yellow.

Sparrow I tend to keep Directors of Football well away from me if I can help it! I've got two scouts on the go in the UK at all times and that tends to work.

Oh, and in the summer, like a sad sap, I go through all teams' outgoing free transfers (Prem down to League 2) to find youngsters who can do a job. Most of the time they don't want to join, but there are always a few brilliant players going free.

 

[Libertadores FC]

If you are successful I will finally have vindication over yellow.

Sparrow I tend to keep Directors of Football well away from me if I can help it! I've got two scouts on the go in the UK at all times and that tends to work.

Oh, and in the summer, like a sad sap, I go through all teams' outgoing free transfers (Prem down to League 2) to find youngsters who can do a job. Most of the time they don't want to join, but there are always a few brilliant players going free.

I do that as well. Not too hard to convince them either. Probably will be difficult for me though seeing as I'm Cambridge City.

Anyways I found this awesome regen. His name is Wes Winter. 16 years old, 32 goals in 30 appearances. Not sure how he'll do once we get promoted to the Conference South, I can imagine he'll be a good player for relegation battling Conference Prem teams.

 

[yellow]

If you are successful I will finally have vindication over yellow.

Sparrow I tend to keep Directors of Football well away from me if I can help it! I've got two scouts on the go in the UK at all times and that tends to work.

Oh, and in the summer, like a sad sap, I go through all teams' outgoing free transfers (Prem down to League 2) to find youngsters who can do a job. Most of the time they don't want to join, but there are always a few brilliant players going free.

Woahhhh what?!

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Anyone have any advice on under-performing players with great stats.

I'd have two strikers in my squad like this (Championship level). One was 22 years old, had 16 for finishing, 14 composure, fairly quick and decent well rounded stats. Should have been more than good enough to score a reasonable amount - yet couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo and struggled to hit 7 rate performances. I managed to sell him for about the same as I bought him for after just one season.

I then replace him with a great regen I found, 19 years old with 19 for finishing 16 for composure, technique, 14 for pace and stuff. Great little prospect, one that I will persevere with. However again he can't score, not a single goal, and can't get above 6.5 performances.

Both of them I benched for a spell and started them in reserve games, and they scored for fun in the reserves.

I have on paper far lesser players doing very well in my system and my side is successful enough, I score enough goals around the side. Just these individuals who should be doing far better given the ability they have. Just a case with sticking with them? Tinkering with their individual instructions until you hit upon something? Or just the way it goes?