Gaming Football Manager 2020 (PC, Mac, Switch, Android, iOS, Stadia)

[Maluco]

You've managed to do it the wrong way round as well.
I suppose if you're winning things then you can probably afford to give them another year to see if they just had an off season. I flogged my main striker after he dropped off last season just after getting a new contract. It's worked pretty well though.

I know! It’s such a strange game. Tottenham, Shakhtar, Atletico and Napoli were all at the same level as the teams in our CL group. I just thought the save was taking a downturn and a raft of changes would have to be made. Very strange.

Glad you have decided to play on in yours. Being so close to the CL means that you know it can be done. It would be a great way to finish things.

 

[sebsheep]

Just past the January transfer window now, nothing much happened this time as I was able to reject the offers for players without too much fuss. Did have to give 4 first team players better contracts though. This is the one signing we made, was actually trying to get him in the summer as he looks like he could become pretty good.

Spoiler: Signing

The league is going amazingly well, won 23/23 so far conceding just 4 goals and 3 of them were in the first 2 games.
Won our CL group, United finished 2nd. We beat each other in home games but they drew a game more than us I think. Ended up getting A-Madrid in the 1st knockout round. I'm sure we've played this guys nearly every year! The draw was stacked tbh, don't think there would've been an easy game in there.

Spoiler: CL Draw

 

[Maluco]

Just past the January transfer window now, nothing much happened this time as I was able to reject the offers for players without too much fuss. Did have to give 4 first team players better contracts though. This is the one signing we made, was actually trying to get him in the summer as he looks like he could become pretty good.

Spoiler: Signing

The league is going amazingly well, won 23/23 so far conceding just 4 goals and 3 of them were in the first 2 games.
Won our CL group, United finished 2nd. We beat each other in home games but they drew a game more than us I think. Ended up getting A-Madrid in the 1st knockout round. I'm sure we've played this guys nearly every year! The draw was stacked tbh, don't think there would've been an easy game in there.

Spoiler: CL Draw

This is the year, I can feel it Setting yourself up beautifully to be able to rest players in the business end of it. I think that’s what has helped me last few seasons. Dutch league ends in April and I have been resting whole elevens from March onwards.

 

[V.O.]

I went full Gary Neville...

Spoiler

Never go full Gary Neville.

Pretty baffling result considering last season's games against Barca were a 3-2 win in Andorra and a 3-2 the other way in the Nou Camp that could have easily have gone the other way as well, using the same system and probably 9/11 of the same players.

Set an absolute depth charge to the season as well - was in 3rd after 8 games and now at the halfway point plummeted to 13th and attempting to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic as best I can as the free fall continues.

 

[sebsheep]

This is the year, I can feel it Setting yourself up beautifully to be able to rest players in the business end of it. I think that’s what has helped me last few seasons. Dutch league ends in April and I have been resting whole elevens from March onwards.

I'm a bit worried, we've made it to the next round with 0-0 away and 3-1 at home but our run to the final will now be Man City and then a potential semi-final against either Liverpool or Chelsea. I seem to have ended up in the English side of the draw. Think I win the league with 7 games to if I beat AEK in our next game, games get very crowded in Greece towards the end of the season, last year we played 3 games in 6 days against top teams. The cup has 2 legged ties all the way through as well.

 

[sebsheep]

I went full Gary Neville...

Spoiler

Never go full Gary Neville.

Pretty baffling result considering last season's games against Barca were a 3-2 win in Andorra and a 3-2 the other way in the Nou Camp that could have easily have gone the other way as well, using the same system and probably 9/11 of the same players.

Set an absolute depth charge to the season as well - was in 3rd after 8 games and now at the halfway point plummeted to 13th and attempting to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic as best I can as the free fall continues.

You probably had more possession that Neville's Valencia did though!
Half way point of the season still gives you a chance to turn things around.

 

[MalibuKen]

So on FM 20 so far, I've taken Everton to Champions League glory, and just did the same to Arsenal on another save.

It's time to go a bit lower, as I'd like the notoriety of getting a team promoted, winning things for the first time in their history, getting a new stadium etc.

Realistically, all I'm looking for is a cool kit and badge, and in a league where it's possible to stay relevant (so no random Hungarian teams etc.).

Any suggestions? I toyed with the idea of Salford, but going abroad in Italy or Spain has appeal...

 

[Chipper]

That’s phenomenal going on that salary. You could actually push for automatic promotion if you made a signing or two in January.

Hackett did look like a monster when you showed him. Are you still sticking to the 4-4-2 with big man small man? Any alterations from game to game?

Yep, still 4-4-2 with big man small man for now. I may change in the summer, totally depends on who is out there to sign.

Target men have gone a little out of fashion these days and that is reflected in game. I kind of like that in one way as it's a bit of challenge to find the perfect signing if using one but if I did switch up it might be easier moving forward. Would prefer to stick to this way of doing things as I like how it's a bit old school too on top of the challenge of finding the right TM but will switch if I feel we need to.

We didn't sign anyone in January and actually sold players. It was two of those youngsters we picked up on free transfers a while back in the save. Got 3.9M for Petar Dimitrov that the board accepted on my behalf (I would have taken it too), and £1m rising to £2.8m that we'll probably never see for Stefan Bornemann. I looked at potential future Bosmans but no deal. Offered 3 contracts and they all chose other clubs.

Spoiler: Players out

So now I'm feeling quite wealthy for a club of our stature even though our wage bill increased a small amount with contract renewals. There's a solidarity payment to come from the PL at the end of the season too. I believe it's close to £5m and that will be handy as well. Mind you, it can only be a matter of time before there is a major investment in the stadium and I don't know how that will impact things. We are on 100% sell outs and our lowest attendance of the season is the same as our highest. If we go up something has to happen as PL minimum is 10k and it's very likely to even if we don't.

Spoiler: Money/attendances

On the pitch, the most important stuff, there's not long to go in the season now and we're still 4th. With a great run there's still a chance of automatic promotion but it's looking like playoffs. 3 games ago we lost 1-0 away Middlesbrough in an even game. That was a proper 6-pointer as if it was us who got the narrow win we'd now be in 2nd. About 9 games back we lost a similar match 2-1 at home to Reading. These could be costly. Rachidi has reverted to type, he hasn't scored in his last 10 appearances and got his last goal at the end of December. It's now mid-March. Had to play him often as Boza, my other poacher keeps getting little injures and also missed some time with the flu. Still hanging in there though and I'm very happy with the season no matter what happens from this point on.

Spoiler: table

 

[Chipper]

So on FM 20 so far, I've taken Everton to Champions League glory, and just did the same to Arsenal on another save.

It's time to go a bit lower, as I'd like the notoriety of getting a team promoted, winning things for the first time in their history, getting a new stadium etc.

Realistically, all I'm looking for is a cool kit and badge, and in a league where it's possible to stay relevant (so no random Hungarian teams etc.).

Any suggestions? I toyed with the idea of Salford, but going abroad in Italy or Spain has appeal...

No idea about Spain or Italy when it comes to logos. Just been having a look at National League ones on here - https://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/club-info?division_id=51775

Don't even know if you want to start quite that low. I like the Farsley, Alfreton and Blyth badges the most in the North. Think Farsley have the best kit out of those. Guisley's badge is alright too.

Switching to the South tab I'd say it's slimmer pickings. Dorking's badge is kind of cool, looks like France. Hampton and Richmond's looks ok to me. Billericay have or recently had a rich owner, that might be something to look at. Dulwich are a quite a hipster club I believe in real life so might be fun. Suppose some would love their pink kit, some hate it.

I know you mentioned new stadiums, one thing I've done in previous versions was to actually find small clubs with a big ground or relatively big one. I don't know what's out there. Little built-in advantage to start out with and if you do become huge they'd still upgrade it at some point.

Edit: Just noitced Maidstone have "MUFC" on their badge. Isn't that where Chris Smalling started?

 

[Chipper]

Just came through that the club may lose me as my contract only had 3 months left. Had to ask for one.

Don't know if they were trying to get rid or if something had gone screwy in the game. Asked to go on a coaching course a couple of times earlier in the season and got a blank screen as a response. I think the course lasted longer than the remaining time on the contract and it might've made something go funny. It's either that or I have a very ungrateful chairman. He now says he's delighted I signed.

 

[Maluco]

So on FM 20 so far, I've taken Everton to Champions League glory, and just did the same to Arsenal on another save.

It's time to go a bit lower, as I'd like the notoriety of getting a team promoted, winning things for the first time in their history, getting a new stadium etc.

Realistically, all I'm looking for is a cool kit and badge, and in a league where it's possible to stay relevant (so no random Hungarian teams etc.).

Any suggestions? I toyed with the idea of Salford, but going abroad in Italy or Spain has appeal...

A bit out there possibly, but what about Paris FC? Great badge, cool kits, and no big prizes in their history. You get to write it from scratch.

The game would have longevity too because of the mountain to climb that is PSG, you in the plucky underdog role!

Empoli in Italy also have nice kits and badge.

Both good challenges.

 

[Maluco]

I'm a bit worried, we've made it to the next round with 0-0 away and 3-1 at home but our run to the final will now be Man City and then a potential semi-final against either Liverpool or Chelsea. I seem to have ended up in the English side of the draw. Think I win the league with 7 games to if I beat AEK in our next game, games get very crowded in Greece towards the end of the season, last year we played 3 games in 6 days against top teams. The cup has 2 legged ties all the way through as well.

You would hope those teams will all be involved in various battles in the league and domestic cups at that stage and you will get them playing players in the 80’s fitness wise. Hopefully you get some good fortune and you can take advantage!

 

[Maluco]

Yep, still 4-4-2 with big man small man for now. I may change in the summer, totally depends on who is out there to sign.

Target men have gone a little out of fashion these days and that is reflected in game. I kind of like that in one way as it's a bit of challenge to find the perfect signing if using one but if I did switch up it might be easier moving forward. Would prefer to stick to this way of doing things as I like how it's a bit old school too on top of the challenge of finding the right TM but will switch if I feel we need to.

We didn't sign anyone in January and actually sold players. It was two of those youngsters we picked up on free transfers a while back in the save. Got 3.9M for Petar Dimitrov that the board accepted on my behalf (I would have taken it too), and £1m rising to £2.8m that we'll probably never see for Stefan Bornemann. I looked at potential future Bosmans but no deal. Offered 3 contracts and they all chose other clubs.

Spoiler: Players out

So now I'm feeling quite wealthy for a club of our stature even though our wage bill increased a small amount with contract renewals. There's a solidarity payment to come from the PL at the end of the season too. I believe it's close to £5m and that will be handy as well. Mind you, it can only be a matter of time before there is a major investment in the stadium and I don't know how that will impact things. We are on 100% sell outs and our lowest attendance of the season is the same as our highest. If we go up something has to happen as PL minimum is 10k and it's very likely to even if we don't.

Spoiler: Money/attendances

On the pitch, the most important stuff, there's not long to go in the season now and we're still 4th. With a great run there's still a chance of automatic promotion but it's looking like playoffs. 3 games ago we lost 1-0 away Middlesbrough in an even game. That was a proper 6-pointer as if it was us who got the narrow win we'd now be in 2nd. About 9 games back we lost a similar match 2-1 at home to Reading. These could be costly. Rachidi has reverted to type, he hasn't scored in his last 10 appearances and got his last goal at the end of December. It's now mid-March. Had to play him often as Boza, my other poacher keeps getting little injures and also missed some time with the flu. Still hanging in there though and I'm very happy with the season no matter what happens from this point on.

Spoiler: table

You can still do it. I feel like if you can get Hackett back, and add a better striker, you are there next season regardless.

You are doing really well to be honest. I would have splurged by budget on big loans to try and get up. You seem to be doing it with consistency and your system.

 

[MalibuKen]

A bit out there possibly, but what about Paris FC? Great badge, cool kits, and no big prizes in their history. You get to write it from scratch.

The game would have longevity too because of the mountain to climb that is PSG, you in the plucky underdog role!

Empoli in Italy also have nice kits and badge.

Both good challenges.

Fantastic suggestion.

after some research, I've narrowed it down to Paris or Red Star FC. Going to topple PSG for sure!

 

[Maluco]

Fantastic suggestion.

after some research, I've narrowed it down to Paris or Red Star FC. Going to topple PSG for sure!

Their badge and kits look great, so building them up to a big, stylish club should be really enjoyable. Any major silverware being their first. Getting into Europe should be fun too.

The challenge is massive though, but I think that just adds longevity and appeal to the save.

I just got beaten on my save by PSG in the super cup. They have won 2/3 of the last CLs and their front six are Mbappe, Pogba, Havertz, Neymar, Lauturo Martinez and Joao Felix

 

[Maluco]

Summer over, and it all kicked off as soon as I posted the last time...

OUT

Leno - £27.5mil (40% goes to him) to Wolves
Robert - £20 mil to Derby
Fred - £13 mil to FC Zurich
Osimhen - £50 mil to Watford
Dalot - £17 mil to Stuttgart
Ayala - £71 mil to Chelsea
Carrizo - £40 mil to Milan
Martial - £19.75 mil to Sassuolo

We were apparently going to have problems with FFP, although that kept changing, so we have to keep an eye on that one.

The Ayala clause was met almost straight away by Chelsea. Gutted, as he was our best player star rating wise and am concerned we won’t be the same without him. Leno was turning 33 this season so decided to get him off the wage bill and bring in a younger keeper on less money.

Carrizo was our Captain last season because of his stats, but he never really convinced me, and am happy to take that much money for him.

I offered out Osimhen and Watford bid a crazy amount for him. I decided early on that I was keeping my two boys (Kean and Brewster) so he was the odd man out and made us some good cash.

Fred, Dalot and Roberts were bit part players and was glad to make money on them and further streamline the squad.

Martial was the daft one. He leaves without every playing a game for the club. Our wage bill is too high, so I offered him out when I saw a striker at River who was much better with a low release clause and made the trade.


IN

Jean Pyerre - Free from Barcelona
Umtiti - 27.5 mil from Barcelona
Pinga - £20 mil from São Paulo
Guido- £15 mil from Barcelona
Audero- £15 mil from Sampdoria
Tete - £18 million from Monaco
Ilia - £5 million from Newell’s
Oxlade-Chamberlain - Loan
Lindelof - Loan
Theo Hernandez - Loan

Audero comes in to replace Leno and looks capable enough. We have a young backup that I want to give more game time too this season as he qualifies as home grown.

To replace Ayala, I went with one experienced option in Umtiti and one prospect in Guido. Most other viable options were going to cost more than 50 million, so this seemed like a good alternative. Hopefully the latter can grow and take over from the former in a few years.

Tete isn’t good enough, but he is Dutch and we needed another body. Am concerned about full back and will be searching for one in January if we resolve our FFP issues by then.

Jean Pyerre and Ilic are both better footballers than de Beek, who was poor last season and isn’t coming back despite being Dutch. I hope they can adapt to a CM role when we are away from home.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was fantastic last season so it was a no brainer to being him back, while Lindelof was solid and provides another good option at the back.

Only 3 loans this season shows our progress and Theo Hernandez has a buy clause in his loan which I am willing to exercise if he impresses.

The last piece of transfer business is that regen from River who will come in to replace Osimhen. His stats are phenomenal but he doesn’t really fit our system. Willing to take a punt however and make some money back for the club.

Happy enough and a quality FB is the focus next window (if FFP clears up). We have more than 100 million in the bank now but still getting warning messages. I’m hoping the CL money will get us comfortable again. I need to focus on trimming the wage bill next summer.

We have started the season quite well, beating Ajax in the Dutch Super Cup, but we lost the European Super Cup to a stacked and scary PSG, who have Mbappe, Neymar, Pogba, Havertz, Van Dijk, Martinez and Joao Felix among many others. A scary proposition. A league loss to lowly Venlo was worrying but I probably rested too many players in hindsight.

Not perfect, but a good squad refresh. Plenty of money in, plenty of prospects in the squad and we have kept enough of the old guard to have some continuity. Adarabioyo is our new captain after shunning moves to other clubs and Kean and Brewster will start the season up front. Showing faith in our legends!!

Hopefully, we can sort a top FB in January and find a quality Dutch player who actually wants to join us....so we can dump Tete!

 

[Chipper]

Fell away a bit at the end of the season, there's always next year!

Spoiler: ran out of steam

In other news Klopp just got sacked at Liverpool for coming 4th, losing in the CL semis and the FA Cup final.

Edit: I hate end of season team meetings. After that season the absolute highest I could even choose to talk about for next year was mid-table. I didn't even choose that, instead going with the 'avoid a relegation battle' type of option. Would assume that's about 15th out of 24. 10 players think that's too ambitious and say we're not good enough to set our sights anything beyond survival, 7 agree with me, 5 loans don't get an opinion.

In reality I want promotion.

 

[sebsheep]

Fell away a bit at the end of the season, there's always next year!

Spoiler: ran out of steam

In other news Klopp just got sacked at Liverpool for coming 4th, losing in the CL semis and the FA Cup final.

Edit: I hate end of season team meetings. After that season the absolute highest I could even choose to talk about for next year was mid-table. I didn't even choose that, instead going with the 'avoid a relegation battle' type of option. Would assume that's about 15th out of 24. 10 players think that's too ambitious and say we're not good enough to set our sights anything beyond survival, 7 agree with me, 5 loans don't get an opinion.

In reality I want promotion.

That's still a really good 1st season, should mean that with a few additions you'll be in a good spot to push for promotion next season.

 

[sebsheep]

Summer over, and it all kicked off as soon as I posted the last time...

OUT

Leno - £27.5mil (40% goes to him) to Wolves
Robert - £20 mil to Derby
Fred - £13 mil to FC Zurich
Osimhen - £50 mil to Watford
Dalot - £17 mil to Stuttgart
Ayala - £71 mil to Chelsea
Carrizo - £40 mil to Milan
Martial - £19.75 mil to Sassuolo

We were apparently going to have problems with FFP, although that kept changing, so we have to keep an eye on that one.

The Ayala clause was met almost straight away by Chelsea. Gutted, as he was our best player star rating wise and am concerned we won’t be the same without him. Leno was turning 33 this season so decided to get him off the wage bill and bring in a younger keeper on less money.

Carrizo was our Captain last season because of his stats, but he never really convinced me, and am happy to take that much money for him.

I offered out Osimhen and Watford bid a crazy amount for him. I decided early on that I was keeping my two boys (Kean and Brewster) so he was the odd man out and made us some good cash.

Fred, Dalot and Roberts were bit part players and was glad to make money on them and further streamline the squad.

Martial was the daft one. He leaves without every playing a game for the club. Our wage bill is too high, so I offered him out when I saw a striker at River who was much better with a low release clause and made the trade.


IN

Jean Pyerre - Free from Barcelona
Umtiti - 27.5 mil from Barcelona
Pinga - £20 mil from São Paulo
Guido- £15 mil from Barcelona
Audero- £15 mil from Sampdoria
Tete - £18 million from Monaco
Ilia - £5 million from Newell’s
Oxlade-Chamberlain - Loan
Lindelof - Loan
Theo Hernandez - Loan

Audero comes in to replace Leno and looks capable enough. We have a young backup that I want to give more game time too this season as he qualifies as home grown.

To replace Ayala, I went with one experienced option in Umtiti and one prospect in Guido. Most other viable options were going to cost more than 50 million, so this seemed like a good alternative. Hopefully the latter can grow and take over from the former in a few years.

Tete isn’t good enough, but he is Dutch and we needed another body. Am concerned about full back and will be searching for one in January if we resolve our FFP issues by then.

Jean Pyerre and Ilic are both better footballers than de Beek, who was poor last season and isn’t coming back despite being Dutch. I hope they can adapt to a CM role when we are away from home.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was fantastic last season so it was a no brainer to being him back, while Lindelof was solid and provides another good option at the back.

Only 3 loans this season shows our progress and Theo Hernandez has a buy clause in his loan which I am willing to exercise if he impresses.

The last piece of transfer business is that regen from River who will come in to replace Osimhen. His stats are phenomenal but he doesn’t really fit our system. Willing to take a punt however and make some money back for the club.

Happy enough and a quality FB is the focus next window (if FFP clears up). We have more than 100 million in the bank now but still getting warning messages. I’m hoping the CL money will get us comfortable again. I need to focus on trimming the wage bill next summer.

We have started the season quite well, beating Ajax in the Dutch Super Cup, but we lost the European Super Cup to a stacked and scary PSG, who have Mbappe, Neymar, Pogba, Havertz, Van Dijk, Martinez and Joao Felix among many others. A scary proposition. A league loss to lowly Venlo was worrying but I probably rested too many players in hindsight.

Not perfect, but a good squad refresh. Plenty of money in, plenty of prospects in the squad and we have kept enough of the old guard to have some continuity. Adarabioyo is our new captain after shunning moves to other clubs and Kean and Brewster will start the season up front. Showing faith in our legends!!

Hopefully, we can sort a top FB in January and find a quality Dutch player who actually wants to join us....so we can dump Tete!

I'm sure I saw someone else having an odd issue with ffp constantly bouncing between being fine and being in trouble.

That's a pretty crazy turn around transfer wise, some very nice additions as well. Just give Kean and Brewster a kick up the backside before the season starts.

 

[Chipper]

Summer over, and it all kicked off as soon as I posted the last time...

OUT

Leno - £27.5mil (40% goes to him) to Wolves
Robert - £20 mil to Derby
Fred - £13 mil to FC Zurich
Osimhen - £50 mil to Watford
Dalot - £17 mil to Stuttgart
Ayala - £71 mil to Chelsea
Carrizo - £40 mil to Milan
Martial - £19.75 mil to Sassuolo

We were apparently going to have problems with FFP, although that kept changing, so we have to keep an eye on that one.

The Ayala clause was met almost straight away by Chelsea. Gutted, as he was our best player star rating wise and am concerned we won’t be the same without him. Leno was turning 33 this season so decided to get him off the wage bill and bring in a younger keeper on less money.

Carrizo was our Captain last season because of his stats, but he never really convinced me, and am happy to take that much money for him.

I offered out Osimhen and Watford bid a crazy amount for him. I decided early on that I was keeping my two boys (Kean and Brewster) so he was the odd man out and made us some good cash.

Fred, Dalot and Roberts were bit part players and was glad to make money on them and further streamline the squad.

Martial was the daft one. He leaves without every playing a game for the club. Our wage bill is too high, so I offered him out when I saw a striker at River who was much better with a low release clause and made the trade.


IN

Jean Pyerre - Free from Barcelona
Umtiti - 27.5 mil from Barcelona
Pinga - £20 mil from São Paulo
Guido- £15 mil from Barcelona
Audero- £15 mil from Sampdoria
Tete - £18 million from Monaco
Ilia - £5 million from Newell’s
Oxlade-Chamberlain - Loan
Lindelof - Loan
Theo Hernandez - Loan

Audero comes in to replace Leno and looks capable enough. We have a young backup that I want to give more game time too this season as he qualifies as home grown.

To replace Ayala, I went with one experienced option in Umtiti and one prospect in Guido. Most other viable options were going to cost more than 50 million, so this seemed like a good alternative. Hopefully the latter can grow and take over from the former in a few years.

Tete isn’t good enough, but he is Dutch and we needed another body. Am concerned about full back and will be searching for one in January if we resolve our FFP issues by then.

Jean Pyerre and Ilic are both better footballers than de Beek, who was poor last season and isn’t coming back despite being Dutch. I hope they can adapt to a CM role when we are away from home.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was fantastic last season so it was a no brainer to being him back, while Lindelof was solid and provides another good option at the back.

Only 3 loans this season shows our progress and Theo Hernandez has a buy clause in his loan which I am willing to exercise if he impresses.

The last piece of transfer business is that regen from River who will come in to replace Osimhen. His stats are phenomenal but he doesn’t really fit our system. Willing to take a punt however and make some money back for the club.

Happy enough and a quality FB is the focus next window (if FFP clears up). We have more than 100 million in the bank now but still getting warning messages. I’m hoping the CL money will get us comfortable again. I need to focus on trimming the wage bill next summer.

We have started the season quite well, beating Ajax in the Dutch Super Cup, but we lost the European Super Cup to a stacked and scary PSG, who have Mbappe, Neymar, Pogba, Havertz, Van Dijk, Martinez and Joao Felix among many others. A scary proposition. A league loss to lowly Venlo was worrying but I probably rested too many players in hindsight.

Not perfect, but a good squad refresh. Plenty of money in, plenty of prospects in the squad and we have kept enough of the old guard to have some continuity. Adarabioyo is our new captain after shunning moves to other clubs and Kean and Brewster will start the season up front. Showing faith in our legends!!

Hopefully, we can sort a top FB in January and find a quality Dutch player who actually wants to join us....so we can dump Tete!

With all those transfer sales you've got be right for FFP. Ok, it's an assumption but you brought in loads of money there, you just must be.

It's nice reading your transfer news as I get to see famous names. It's more relatable in a way compaed to my save and the signings I've been making so far. Newgens or "Who is that?" for me much of the time.

 

[Maluco]

I'm sure I saw someone else having an odd issue with ffp constantly bouncing between being fine and being in trouble.

That's a pretty crazy turn around transfer wise, some very nice additions as well. Just give Kean and Brewster a kick up the backside before the season starts.

It is crazy, isn’t it? I had no intention of changing so much, but a few cheap opportunities turned up, and losing my best player meant I had to act. I also want to try and get away from loans, so am pleased we are able to cut those in half now and have some great young prospects in midfield

With all those transfer sales you've got be right for FFP. Ok, it's an assumption but you brought in loads of money there, you just must be.

It's nice reading your transfer news as I get to see famous names. It's more relatable in a way compaed to my save and the signings I've been making so far. Newgens or "Who is that?" for me much of the time.

It’s sad seeing the great players retire and the younger players reaching 30. I always quit games before this version when the real players disapppeared, but for the first time, am enjoying getting in a few regens.

It’s sort of cool that they only exist in this universe and that it’s a unique experience. Makes it more memorable.

I still have a nice mix though for now!

 

[sebsheep]

Just finished up the season, was a late one this time as we qualified to the CWC after managing to finish as runner up in the CL last season, didn't do that this year though. Won the league again, hitting the 100 point mark despite some poor results towards the end of the season, easily won the the Greek Cup as well after we beat pretty much all the big teams on the way to the final. Faced off against Panetolikos and smashed them 5-0 to lift that and remain unbeaten in the competition for about 6 years now.
Made it to the final of the CWC and beat Barca 2-0 to lift that.

Spoiler: CWC

Star of the season has to be this guy playing as our roaming playmaker, never actually managed to get a settled role for his CM partner

Spoiler: Mendez

The CL was a pretty rough ride. We faced Man City in the 1/4 finals, beat them 4-0 at home and then lost 2-0 away to go through, then got Chelsea in the next round. We won 2-0 at home and then the away leg nearly broke me. After 8 minutes they scored some insane header from the edge of the 18 yard area, 8 minutes later Mejbri unleashed a thunderbolt from 20 yards to level the tie. I'm then nervously sitting through this game seeing us have more and better chances but the score re,aims the same, until the 82nd minute. They scored another header and we're heading out, I shift my midfield up, make a couple of subs and go attacking. 90th minute, we go forward and the ball drops to our sub Novak on the edge of the are and he guides it in. Smash on defensive and manage to see it out to go through to the final on away goals.

The final was and odd one...

Spoiler: CL Final

Completed it mate!

 

[Chipper]

That's still a really good 1st season, should mean that with a few additions you'll be in a good spot to push for promotion next season.

Cheers, and that's definitely the plan. About to kick off the season now, all transfer activity done.

This season's loans see the return of two familiar faces that were with us last season, Tim Hackett (DR - Man Utd) and Emanuel John (CM - Liverpool). In addition to those we've taken a goalie from Schalke who is good enough to be our #1 although he's nothing amazing and two big headline loan signings, both wonderkids. First there's Theo Bonnet a CB/DM/CM on loan from Man City, the plan is to play him at CB. Last but not least there's Denis Mas, a £41m valued ML/AM RLC/ST who will mostly be played a ML to fit our tactical setup and might get some game time up front.

Spoiler: Loans in

Transfers out:
Rudi Beisel - Chemnitzer FC - £190k. 22 year-old German goalie who had been first choice for the past two seasons after signing on a free. He's an early bloomer and is unlikely to develop much more. Hagner Bergner who we brought in on loan is better than him and Bernard Acheampong, our #2 is practically as good as he is now and is improving faster.

Benrandy Abdhally - Angers SCO - £275k. Right back and occasional RM who had 3 seasons at the club in 3 different divisions. Last season he was Hackett's back up and would have been again this campaign. Motherwell put in a low bid pre-season that was rejected and he got pissed off because the SPL is a better division according to him. Eventually sold for his market value.

Joan Rojas - Preston - £150k. Central defender who made 52 league appearances in 2 1/2 years. He would have been 4th choice again this campaign just like he was last when he only started 7 games all season and came off the bench another 7 times. He also had a few injuries last campaign, thought I'd freshen things up.

Tom Eaves - Released and has been picked up by MK Dons in League Two. Our main target man for the past 3 seasons on the journey from League Two the Championship. He scored 49 league goals in 107 for us. He's 33 now and it's beginning to show a little, and unsurprisingly his goal scoring rate declined each campaign as we moved through the divisions. 22 for us in League Two, 15 in League One, 12 in the Championship. He was a fighter, a team leader and was a fan favourite, we wish him well.

Gabriele Bernardotto Released. Eaves' backup player. Had him for 2 years after signing on a free. 24 (23) league appearances - 10 goals, 2 of which were penalties. Not very good but he was never supposed to be, just an extra body. He's in talks with Novara in Serie C.

Wojciech Toporkiewicz - Released. 31 goals in 67 for us, and helped fire us out of League Two with 22 in 38. 9 in 29 in League One the following season and lost his place in the starting XI midway through the season. Spent last season on loan with Carlisle in the National League and scored 13 in 36 for them. Free agent.

Spoiler: Players out

Transfers in:
Lorenzo Lucca - Free. Big 6'6" target man comes in as Tom Eaves' replacement after being released by Torino. I like him, he's going to be good. Jumping Reach = 19.

Alberto Cerri - £850k - Benvento. New second choice target man and another with experience in Serie A. I hate his wages. Excluding the 2 wonderkids in on loan he's our highest paid player and is only a squad player. Options were few and far between so what can you do? He is better than Bernardotto was easily. Might have been swayed to sign him because I remember him scoring the winning goal in an amazing match I watched on TV earlier this season, Cagliari 4-3 Sampdoria. He doesn't get many in real life.


Matt Clarke - Free. Central defender who will be in my best XI alongside Bonnet at the back. Last season we had 2 loan defenders starting at the back so needed someone esle to come in. Confident he'll do well enough for us, was released by Hull.

Kyron Gordon - Free. Signed to be 4th choice central defender, replacing Rojas in that slot. He's marginally better than Rojas, younger and homegrown in nation. Was with Sheff Utd for 7 years and played 3 times.

Eduardo Perez - Free. 2nd choice right back signed to sit behind Tim Hackett in the pecking order after Abdhally threw his toys out of the pram. He's not very good to be honest but there wasn't much out there. Was with Osasuna and played a lot matches for their B team.

Spoiler: Players in

I'm confident we'll do well again this season. Last season we were predicted to finish 23rd and ended up 6th. This season the media reckons 15th.

Off the pitch there was talk of a new stadium over the summer, just beginning the planning stage. Absolutely nothing concrete.

We made a couple of changes to the backroom team too. Out went Jon McCarthy as assistant manager who has been with us through the leagues. Former Real Madrid player Guti is the new ass man. Brought in ex-Chelsea and Russian international goalkeeper Dmitri Kharine to be a goalie coach. Kharine is no better than the guy who left but wanted £300 a week less. A small saving but it all counts and we have to pay Cerri's wages somehow. Speaking of wages, our wage bill doubled from one year to the next.

 

[Maluco]

Just finished up the season, was a late one this time as we qualified to the CWC after managing to finish as runner up in the CL last season, didn't do that this year though. Won the league again, hitting the 100 point mark despite some poor results towards the end of the season, easily won the the Greek Cup as well after we beat pretty much all the big teams on the way to the final. Faced off against Panetolikos and smashed them 5-0 to lift that and remain unbeaten in the competition for about 6 years now.
Made it to the final of the CWC and beat Barca 2-0 to lift that.

Spoiler: CWC

Star of the season has to be this guy playing as our roaming playmaker, never actually managed to get a settled role for his CM partner

Spoiler: Mendez

The CL was a pretty rough ride. We faced Man City in the 1/4 finals, beat them 4-0 at home and then lost 2-0 away to go through, then got Chelsea in the next round. We won 2-0 at home and then the away leg nearly broke me. After 8 minutes they scored some insane header from the edge of the 18 yard area, 8 minutes later Mejbri unleashed a thunderbolt from 20 yards to level the tie. I'm then nervously sitting through this game seeing us have more and better chances but the score re,aims the same, until the 82nd minute. They scored another header and we're heading out, I shift my midfield up, make a couple of subs and go attacking. 90th minute, we go forward and the ball drops to our sub Novak on the edge of the are and he guides it in. Smash on defensive and manage to see it out to go through to the final on away goals.

The final was and odd one...

Spoiler: CL Final

Completed it mate!

Excellent!! I had a feeling after the heartbreak of last season that this was the story for this season. I bet you are glad you didn’t call it a day??

What a season! Congrats

 

[sebsheep]

Excellent!! I had a feeling after the heartbreak of last season that this was the story for this season. I bet you are glad you didn’t call it a day??

What a season! Congrats

I wasn't feeling that great when Chelsea went 3-0 up
But yeah, even though I spent a lot of the games towards the end of the season shouting at my players it was well worth it. Might sim a few years into the future at some point just to see how they get on after I retire.

 

[Chipper]

Just finished up the season, was a late one this time as we qualified to the CWC after managing to finish as runner up in the CL last season, didn't do that this year though. Won the league again, hitting the 100 point mark despite some poor results towards the end of the season, easily won the the Greek Cup as well after we beat pretty much all the big teams on the way to the final. Faced off against Panetolikos and smashed them 5-0 to lift that and remain unbeaten in the competition for about 6 years now.
Made it to the final of the CWC and beat Barca 2-0 to lift that.

Spoiler: CWC

Star of the season has to be this guy playing as our roaming playmaker, never actually managed to get a settled role for his CM partner

Spoiler: Mendez

The CL was a pretty rough ride. We faced Man City in the 1/4 finals, beat them 4-0 at home and then lost 2-0 away to go through, then got Chelsea in the next round. We won 2-0 at home and then the away leg nearly broke me. After 8 minutes they scored some insane header from the edge of the 18 yard area, 8 minutes later Mejbri unleashed a thunderbolt from 20 yards to level the tie. I'm then nervously sitting through this game seeing us have more and better chances but the score re,aims the same, until the 82nd minute. They scored another header and we're heading out, I shift my midfield up, make a couple of subs and go attacking. 90th minute, we go forward and the ball drops to our sub Novak on the edge of the are and he guides it in. Smash on defensive and manage to see it out to go through to the final on away goals.

The final was and odd one...

Spoiler: CL Final

Completed it mate!

Well done! Suppose that brings up the question as to what next? Carrying on for complete domination and winning multiple CL trophies, becoming one of the greatest club sides of all time or this is it having reached the pinnacle?

 

[Chipper]

Still getting the occasional crash and it always tells me to install the latest graphic drivers. I thought I had, but I've just installed some again to see if that sorts it.

It crashed late last night and while it auto saves every 2 weeks now I still managed to lose 4 matches-worth of game time, the first of which was a 5-1 win against Spurs in the Carabao Cup 3rd round that I was proud of. They had Kane, Rashford, Pickford and a whole host of famous names in their side still. Re-loaded it up just now and lost 1-0. I don't care, reloading this save until I win that game again, not bothered about matching the other 3 results, think I had 2 wins and a draw.

Feel a tiny bit shady doing that as some people routinely do it, don't they, re-loading after any bad result? Only doing it because of the crash and if I was someone who did that all of the time I'd pick a more significant game than the 3rd round of the Carabao Cup, like last season's play off final loss.

 

[sebsheep]

Well done! Suppose that brings up the question as to what next? Carrying on for complete domination and winning multiple CL trophies, becoming one of the greatest club sides of all time or this is it having reached the pinnacle?

I'm going to start a new project, either looking at taking over a smaller national team or working in a league with less games.

 

[sebsheep]

Still getting the occasional crash and it always tells me to install the latest graphic drivers. I thought I had, but I've just installed some again to see if that sorts it.

It crashed late last night and while it auto saves every 2 weeks now I still managed to lose 4 matches-worth of game time, the first of which was a 5-1 win against Spurs in the Carabao Cup 3rd round that I was proud of. They had Kane, Rashford, Pickford and a whole host of famous names in their side still. Re-loaded it up just now and lost 1-0. I don't care, reloading this save until I win that game again, not bothered about matching the other 3 results, think I had 2 wins and a draw.

Feel a tiny bit shady doing that as some people routinely do it, don't they, re-loading after any bad result? Only doing it because of the crash and if I was someone who did that all of the time I'd pick a more significant game than the 3rd round of the Carabao Cup, like last season's play off final loss.

Tbh if you've already won the game then it's not really save scumming. You do have the option of saving after each game to preserve the games as they go, used to do it years ago when I had similar issues with crashing. Probably saves you time overall if your crashes are often.

 

[Chipper]

I'm going to start a new project, either looking at taking over a smaller national team or working in a league with less games.

Cool, sounds interesting. Anywhere in mind?

Tbh if you've already won the game then it's not really save scumming. You do have the option of saving after each game to preserve the games as they go, used to do it years ago when I had similar issues with crashing. Probably saves you time overall if your crashes are often.

Had some stuff to do and then it took a few attempts but I beat them again and immediately saved. Went:

Won 5-1 (game crashed)
Lost 0-1
Lost 2-2 (penalties)
Lost 4-5
Won 4-1

It doesn't crash that often, it's only when I've had the game running for 3 or 4 days non-stop. If I closed it or shut down my PC at night it wouldn't be a problem I don't think. FM 2015, the last one I played I used to literally leave running for a month or two in real time without closing it or shutting down and never had these problems.

 

[Maluco]

If you won the game fair and square, I don’t see any issue at all there!

I stupidly played my save sleep deprived late at night and think I might have ruined the game. Got beaten 4-0 by Liverpool and went a bit tyrannical in response

Cold light of day now, wondering what I have done.

 

[V.O.]

Used to savescum all the time playing FM as a kid, fortunately I figured out as I grew up that nothing means anything if there's no risk and you can just win every game with any team if you're persistent and scummy enough.

The only time I ever do it now are in transfer negotiations, because they're ridiculous. There are situations where you can ask for £33m for a player and the team will give it to you on the spot - you ask for £34m and they run for the hills and never want to bid for the player ever again.

 

[Lay]

Save scumming after a crash is fine in my opinion. My game crashed as I was about to win the Europa (laptop hard drive is has almost given up currently) I was leading 2-0 against City in the 68th minute and it just closed. Replayed it and lost 3-0, save scummed but it didn’t feel the same, but neither did the loss.

 

[sebsheep]

Cool, sounds interesting. Anywhere in mind?



Had some stuff to do and then it took a few attempts but I beat them again and immediately saved. Went:

Won 5-1 (game crashed)
Lost 0-1
Lost 2-2 (penalties)
Lost 4-5
Won 4-1

It doesn't crash that often, it's only when I've had the game running for 3 or 4 days non-stop. If I closed it or shut down my PC at night it wouldn't be a problem I don't think. FM 2015, the last one I played I used to literally leave running for a month or two in real time without closing it or shutting down and never had these problems.

Not that sure yet, have places like the A-league or Peru in mind, smaller leagues seasons and they're not the top leagues in their areas so adds a bit to the CL challenges. A-league has a wage limit similar to the MLS as well I think. For international one of the smaller American nations or and Oceania area one.

FM really does lack leagues outside of Europe and the Americas.

 

[Chipper]

Not that sure yet, have places like the A-league or Peru in mind, smaller leagues seasons and they're not the top leagues in their areas so adds a bit to the CL challenges. A-league has a wage limit similar to the MLS as well I think. For international one of the smaller American nations or and Oceania area one.

FM really does lack leagues outside of Europe and the Americas.

All sounds fun, suppose the plan would be to try and win the regional tournaments with the international sides and qualify for world cups/do relatively well?

Meant to update halfway through the season but forgot. Was sitting 2nd in the table and it's all going to be close again:

Spoiler: spoiler

 

[sebsheep]

All sounds fun, suppose the plan would be to try and win the regional tournaments with the international sides and qualify for world cups/do relatively well?

Meant to update halfway through the season but forgot. Was sitting 2nd in the table and it's all going to be close again:

Spoiler: spoiler

Pretty much yeah, gone with Jamaica originally ranked 54th in the world and have some exciting players like Bailey.

Your season looks to be going well, just have to make sure you are in a good position when other teams start to drop off.

 

[Chipper]

Got the job done, wahey!

Spoiler

Had a bad middle of the season otherwise that would have been an automatic promotion. Started tweaking here and there to try and come out of it but it only seemed to make things worse until I hit on something.

First 16 matches = 36 points
Middle 14 = 16 points
Last 16 = 34 points

 

[sebsheep]

Got the job done, wahey!

Spoiler

Had a bad middle of the season otherwise that would have been an automatic promotion. Started tweaking here and there to try and come out of it but it only seemed to make things worse until I hit on something.

First 16 matches = 36 points
Middle 14 = 16 points
Last 16 = 34 points

Congratulations. Hopefully the extra season you spent in the league helped you a bit financially. What sort budget did you get for next season?

 

[Chipper]

Congratulations. Hopefully the extra season you spent in the league helped you a bit financially. What sort budget did you get for next season?

Thanks, got a £25.9m transfer budget and a wage budget of £376k a week. Sliding all the way to the left I can change that to £6.4m and £753k, or to the right £37.4m and £156k. Currently spending £169k (£137k after loans leave). We've rented out Burnley's stadium for next season at a cost of £148k per year. Sounds like a good deal to me but I've no idea what attendances are going to be like.

Began the process of making a big list of players I want to scout before the window opens. I do have one player arriving, John Yeboah, a winger from Wolfsburg on a free.

Toying with changing my tactics again. I altered them slightly during this season anyway which helped turn form around after the bad spell. Went to higher line of engagement and defensive line instead of very high. That seemed to make us more solid at the back. Less vulnerable to balls over the top and players weren't leaving their positions to chase the ball quite as often and getting caught out of position. Might have stopped us winning it back quite as high up a few times too but I thought it was an improvement overall.

Anyway, seen this and I'm intrigued by it - https://fm-base.co.uk/resources/mrcx-4-1-4-1-doublemez-20-4-0-v2.667/

Not too hard to adjust to from my current 4-4-2. It's not proclaiming to be the best tactic but looks like one of the more solid ones defensively which is something different from most of the plug-and-play downloadable tactics. It also has a much lower foul count than nearly all of them on FM Base's tactics tests which is interesting. https://fm-base.co.uk/tactic-testing/ I think most of those have you press like a lunatic, tackle harder and get stuck in. The one I downloaded certainly started like that and I've toned it down as I've gone on.

 

[sebsheep]

Thanks, got a £25.9m transfer budget and a wage budget of £376k a week. Sliding all the way to the left I can change that to £6.4m and £753k, or to the right £37.4m and £156k. Currently spending £169k (£137k after loans leave). We've rented out Burnley's stadium for next season at a cost of £148k per year. Sounds like a good deal to me but I've no idea what attendances are going to be like.

Began the process of making a big list of players I want to scout before the window opens. I do have one player arriving, John Yeboah, a winger from Wolfsburg on a free.

Toying with changing my tactics again. I altered them slightly during this season anyway which helped turn form around after the bad spell. Went to higher line of engagement and defensive line instead of very high. That seemed to make us more solid at the back. Less vulnerable to balls over the top and players weren't leaving their positions to chase the ball quite as often and getting caught out of position. Might have stopped us winning it back quite as high up a few times too but I thought it was an improvement overall.

Anyway, seen this and I'm intrigued by it - https://fm-base.co.uk/resources/mrcx-4-1-4-1-doublemez-20-4-0-v2.667/

Not too hard to adjust to from my current 4-4-2. It's not proclaiming to be the best tactic but looks like one of the more solid ones defensively which is something different from most of the plug-and-play downloadable tactics. It also has a much lower foul count than nearly all of them on FM Base's tactics tests which is interesting. https://fm-base.co.uk/tactic-testing/ I think most of those have you press like a lunatic, tackle harder and get stuck in. The one I downloaded certainly started like that and I've toned it down as I've gone on.

That's actually a pretty nice budget. Should give you a good chance of getting in players with enough quality to stay up.

That tactic doesn't look too bad, at a guess it'd be the 'stay on feet' that leads to less fouls because those other off the ball ones usually up them for me. Not sure if they're just very strong this year but I had a lot of fun and great success with Inverted Wingers.