Football Manager - Your Career

My Europa league group

Easy 2nd place I'd have thought?

JaseTheVillain said:

Easy 2nd place I'd have thought?

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Well I'm bottom after 3 games this year. Spending my entire budget on Martin Odegaard may not have been wise. My objective is a champions league place as well

Yeahh, never go out on a whim like that.

I guess you were right Jase...

Fucking hell..

So I lasted six months at Loftus Road.

Unbelievable scenes – My young breakthrough stars mixed with some astute experienced signings have seen Waterford United gain promotion to the League of Ireland Premier Division! Albeit through the play off route, but a promotion is a promotion none the less! The season started out much in the same way as usual, with the mix of pre season warm up games against provincial sides as well as a couple of Premier Division sides as a challenge. The one difference between this season & the previous two was the fact that this time round the board were not going to settle for anything less then promotion! Good thing I delivered!

The board improved my wage budget to go along with the promotion attempt & my spending paid off as we came out of the blocks like a bat out of hell notching up a 3 for 3 perfect start to the First Division campaign, this great start wasn’t to last as we soon fell back in to our inconsistent ways. Other then Bohemians stonking off ahead, the division was tighter then ever with around 6 points separating 2nd from 8th for a large portion of the season so our inconsistencies didn’t manage to spoil the party too much.

With all cup distractions out of the way (early exit in the FAI Cup, the League of Ireland Cup saw our best progress to date in reaching the Quarter Finals & the youth army making the Munster Senior Cup Semi Final) we hit slightly less inconsistent form at the right time & consolidated our play off aspirations going in to the final months of the season. Despite a 3 game lose streak right towards the end of the regular season we cemented 2nd place, setting up an initial play off fixture with 3rd placed Salthill Devon.

We had beaten Salthill Devon in 3 out of the 4 regular season fixtures this term & our tag of favourites did not let us down as we came away with a hard fought 1-nil victory at their place before dispatching them 2:0 at the Regional Sports Centre to set up the all important promotion/relegation fixture against 11th placed Premier Division side & Munster province rivals Limerick.

We approached the grand sized Thomond Park venue in Limerick with great caution & unfortunately an incredibly spirited performance didn not help us as we fell to a 1 goal defeat, making life difficult for our 2nd leg tie. It was promotion or sacking for me at this stage as news reports began to circulate that a defeat could spell the end to my Waterford United career & with half time in the 2nd leg fast approaching I was starting to revise my CV but one of my prodigies came good sending us in at the half time whistle 1-nil up in the tie & 1-all on aggregate. 10 minutes after the restart one of my pre season signings doubled our advantage & put us ahead overall for the first time. A switch to all out defending, more commonly known as ‘parking the bus’, saw us withstand the Limerick barrage & the full time whistle lead to massive celebrations as Waterford United were back in the League of Ireland Premier Division for the first time since 2007!

It’s going to be a summer of squad reinforcement for us as some of my starlets have been poached by bigger clubs at the end of their contracts but the core squad will be around next time to try help us avoid dropping straight back down. So, to summarise the ups & downs: we follow Bohemians up to the top flight while our play off final opponents Limerick join Drogheda United in next season’s First Division line up.

Missed out on the PO's again by two points, so just about to start my 3rd season.

Just about sorted the goals out, I think. O'Grady was my top scorer with 23, then Liverpool loanee Sinclair on 14. Signed Will Grigg in February and he scored 7 in 10, and I got him on a free in the summer along with Dwight Gayle for £100k.

Still seem to be very few half decent CM's or CB's about.

season gone to shit again, 23rd after 30 games but in the JPT final and job is secure

Alty said:

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.

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So I'm halfway through the next season and it's the same old story. We're going to survive despite being 1000-1 to win the league, but promotion looks distant. We got a creditable draw with L1 Coventry in the FA Cup but lost 3-2 AET in the replay. So no chance of a big payout in that competition.

I'm going to take a break from this game and come at it fresh at some point.

So, now for my second challenge: Linfield of Northern Ireland. Unusually the Belfast 'Big Two' of Linfield and Glentoran are lagging behind a bit at the moment. But we are in the Europa League Qualifiers which might give us a chance to earn a couple of quid. Let's see how we go

Second season with Cheltenham has finished. I secured league 1 safety on the final day of the season, and won the JPT on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Bury. Contract at Cheltenham is finished as I didn't sign an extension, but 2 trophies after 2 seasons should put me in a good position looking for a new job.

Alty said:

So I'm halfway through the next season and it's the same old story. We're going to survive despite being 1000-1 to win the league, but promotion looks distant. We got a creditable draw with L1 Coventry in the FA Cup but lost 3-2 AET in the replay. So no chance of a big payout in that competition.

I'm going to take a break from this game and come at it fresh at some point.

So, now for my second challenge: Linfield of Northern Ireland. Unusually the Belfast 'Big Two' of Linfield and Glentoran are lagging behind a bit at the moment. But we are in the Europa League Qualifiers which might give us a chance to earn a couple of quid. Let's see how we go

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Ex NI International Ivan Sproule is my best player...

Tore his hamstring in my first preseason friendly. FML.

Been trying for ages to change the possession philosophy that Brighton have. My formation works ok up to a point with it but it works best playing more direct.

I can't change the Board's mind and when I try and go a few games being more direct I get a slap on the wrists!

Think you're gonna have to develop a new tactic then mate

City169 said:

Second season with Cheltenham has finished. I secured league 1 safety on the final day of the season, and won the JPT on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Bury. Contract at Cheltenham is finished as I didn't sign an extension, but 2 trophies after 2 seasons should put me in a good position looking for a new job.

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Signed a contract at Swansea who have just been relegated to the championship, been given a budget of 3.4 million, not sure of season expectations yet

What a start to my first season in the League of Ireland Premier Division... we fared better against Cork in cup games when we were in the lower division

JaseTheVillain said:

Think you're gonna have to develop a new tactic then mate

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Perhaps, but I can't be arsed so I'm going to keep going against them and request a change in the hope it happens!

So, after 400 odd matches in charge, I can confirm that I have REACHED THE PROMISED LAND!

Back to where it all began across the River Severn, but this time, Swansea rather than Wrexham is the destination.

10 games into the 2017/18 season & we've had a decent start, 5 wins, 1 draw & 4 defeats see's us sat in 7th position in the league 2 table. We've gone out of the Capital One Cup & the JPT in the 1st rounds, losing 1-0 to both Brentford & Plymouth. our results so far:-

League 2 - Away vs Barnet - 0-0
Cap One Cup 1st Round - Home vs Brentford - 0-1
League 2 - Home vs Morecambe - 1-0 (Tom Lockyer)
League 2 - Away vs Fleetwood - 0-2
League 2 - Home vs Oxford - 2-0 (Michael Smith x2)
League 2 - Home vs Shrewsbury - 5-1 (Jack Barmby, Ellis Harrison, Michael Smith, Jonson Clarke-Harris, Tom Lockyer)
JPT 1st Round - Home vs Plymouth - 0-1
League 2 - Away vs Burton - 0-3
League 2 - Away vs Luton - 0-1
League 2 - Away vs Bury - 2-1 (Jack Barmby, Lyle Della-Verde)
League 2 - Home vs Colchester - 3-1 (Lyle Della-Verde, Jake Gosling x2)
League 2 - Home vs Gillingham - 0-2

A mixed bag really, our home form isn't half bad (in the league), but our away form does need improving. Was very disappointing with our latest defeat to Gillingham, we dominated the game, they had two shots on target & scored them both, this sort of defeat is to be expected on this game though a couple of times a season.

New signing Jack Barmby has been our best player so far, & Lyle Della-Verde is again playing well. Disappointed with Jonson Clarke-Harris, another summer signing & he's my highest paid player on £2,100 p/w, hasn't really got going yet so he needs to improve. I also signed Ryan Inniss, a CB from Palace for £48.5k, he's only played a couple of games so far but he hasn't been very convincing yet, again i'm hoping he'll turn his form around pretty quickly.

Finances are looking ok at the moment £1.3m in the black with a projected balance of £1.89m. i've still got about £20k in the transfer budget & just under £16k in the wage budget. I could go out & make some ridiculous signings with the wages I have left, but alot of players aren't that interested in joining & when they are the wages they want are stupidly high. Atleast if our form starts to plummet I do have the money available to bring in some new faces to try & turn it around

This thread is so tempting, I keep popping in here to read each day. Just a quick question. How do you lot go through seasons so quickly? Do you watch the games you play in? What reputation do you start with? How do you set your scouting up? How do you set your training up?

Although I've been playing for years, for one reason or another I can just never get it right in any game, unless they have a shit load of money or a great squad in place. The only time I'm remotely good is taking over in a relegation crisis and signing a million premier league loans.

Saddlerrad said:

This thread is so tempting, I keep popping in here to read each day. Just a quick question. How do you lot go through seasons so quickly? Do you watch the games you play in? What reputation do you start with? How do you set your scouting up? How do you set your training up?

Although I've been playing for years, for one reason or another I can just never get it right in any game, unless they have a shit load of money or a great squad in place. The only time I'm remotely good is taking over in a relegation crisis and signing a million premier league loans.

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I just got lucky in having Zach Clough and Simeon Jackson getting something like 55 goals between them in the championship. Then got relegated from the prem and had £20 million to spend in the championship. It's hard to not do well with that sort of money.

Saddlerrad said:

This thread is so tempting, I keep popping in here to read each day. Just a quick question. How do you lot go through seasons so quickly? Do you watch the games you play in? What reputation do you start with? How do you set your scouting up? How do you set your training up?

Although I've been playing for years, for one reason or another I can just never get it right in any game, unless they have a shit load of money or a great squad in place. The only time I'm remotely good is taking over in a relegation crisis and signing a million premier league loans.

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I'm on paternity leave, so other then the occasional delving in to soiled nappies I have all the time in the world to play FM at the moment!

I never start big... always bottom division in whatever nation I load up, always start with Sunday League rep (playing on FM14 so none of this coaching badges business).

Saddlerrad said:

This thread is so tempting, I keep popping in here to read each day. Just a quick question. How do you lot go through seasons so quickly? Do you watch the games you play in? What reputation do you start with? How do you set your scouting up? How do you set your training up?

Although I've been playing for years, for one reason or another I can just never get it right in any game, unless they have a shit load of money or a great squad in place. The only time I'm remotely good is taking over in a relegation crisis and signing a million premier league loans.

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I've found the game processes alot quicker this year, which helps getting through the seasons so fast.

I watch every game, usually on extended highlights, but sped up slightly. As for reputation it all depends on what sort of game i'm looking to play, the game i'm in at the minute (Rovers) I started with the lowest rep & lowest coaching badges. I find it more fun with the lowest rep etc.

I tend to do alot of fitness & tactics training in pre-season, then once the season starts I tend to go with Defending or Attacking (depends how we're playing at the time), & then for the match prep it's either Def positioning or Att positioning (again this depends on which training I'm doing at the time

There's a lot of bullshit at the start of the game you can get rid of.

Let your assistants take care of pre-match and tunnel interviews, let them arrange and take charge of friendlies, sort the news subscriptions out so you're not notified who's in the teams of the week in some random country.

I only use commentary during games (full speed), don't have replays on either and rarely bother with scouting/youth teams until Championship level (mostly due to cost but quality of players coming through aren't going to be good enough).

Training is pretty straight forward because, individually, it should just mirror your formation. I only bother with weekly training in pre-season but change the general training and pre-match bits every month or so.

The main bulk of the work is done right at the start of the game when it's just one-off things you need to change/turn off and sort the staff out. Once you've spent 15-45 minutes doing that, it should be pretty easy to crack on with player recruitment.

My reputation is normally in line with the league I'm playing in, although I tweak the attributes slightly i.e. GK's and fitness coaching on 1 because I sign a GK and fitness coach to do that.

City169 said:

Signed a contract at Swansea who have just been relegated to the championship, been given a budget of 3.4 million, not sure of season expectations yet

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After competition money came in and a parachute payment, I've been given a budget of £10.8million for my first season as Swansea manager.

Expectations I have been set are to win the Championship, reach the FA Cup 5th round and the Capital One Cup 4th round.

Pre season has been mixed, losing 1-0 at home to Tigres, winning 1-0 at home against Teplice before losing 1-0 away against ADO Den Haag. Final two friendlies were both away, first at Port Talbot, the against Newport County and both ended in 3-0 wins where we had over 20 shots.

My first game of the season was at home to Ipswich, things got off to a flyer with Bafetimbi Gomis scoring a penalty in the second minute, another penalty was given on the 7th minute and Gomis doubled the lead. Amazingly I was given a third penalty before half time, and after 41 minutes Gomis had scored a hat trick all from the spot. On 63 minutes Ipswich pulled a goal back through McGoldrick, but it was no more than a consolation. Things then got worse for Ipswich as Luke Hyam got sent off on 90 minutes, but there wasn't enough time for me to capitalise on this. FT 3-1 win
http://images.akamai.steamuserconte...187/DBA1FD67C3B7B269E41E968A4BA536C4B80961B2/

Saddlerrad said:

This thread is so tempting, I keep popping in here to read each day. Just a quick question. How do you lot go through seasons so quickly? Do you watch the games you play in? What reputation do you start with? How do you set your scouting up? How do you set your training up?

Although I've been playing for years, for one reason or another I can just never get it right in any game, unless they have a shit load of money or a great squad in place. The only time I'm remotely good is taking over in a relegation crisis and signing a million premier league loans.

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A lot of it is just getting used to it.

There's so much involved in the game, it's hard to remember to do everything and get it done well.

1 Season takes about 24 hours game time I've found, but I'm quite slow and careful about things, and watch extended highlights and goal replays in games. I'm in a Save at the moment where I started with Barnet, as I'd never tried in the Conference, and I got back to back to back promotions, and then resigned and got offered the Saints job in the PL.

You set your scouts scouting assignments, or you can ask them to scout individuals by selecting 'Scout Report' on player profiles.

Training is an option down the side bar, and you just simply select what you would like your team to train that week, and the coaches will take the sessions. You also select what Match Preperation you'd like your team to do.

Coaches is one of the key things I do first when taking over a club, I sack the shit ones, and replace them with ones who specialize in certain areas, such as attacking, defending etc.

Finished my first season with Southampton, and I'll be entering my first full season next.

I took over when they had 4 points from 11 games, but managed to gather together 44 points in the remaining 27 games in the league, overturning the 8 point deficit that I walked into, and consolidating lower midtable. I also boast a 52% win ratio at Southampton since I taken over, which I was pretty impressed with given the circumstances and the croc of shite I walked into.



I also decided to give the FA Cup a proper go this year, fielding strong teams for every round, whether I was Away at Torquay in the 3rd round, or against Manchester United at Wembley. So yes - I made the Final, after beating Champions Liverpool Away from home, and West Ham in the Semi Final, only to find myself on the end of an unfortunate 0-2 loss AET. Shame - but I had my fun the week before, where on the final day of the season I won 0-3 at Old Trafford

I have made nearly £60m in clearing out the squad, selling the likes of Mane, Tadic, Okore, Ward Prowse (20m+ ) etc, and I turned an already financially secure club into a rich one.

Seeing as I'd gained such money, I had around £50m in the transfer market to play with, and with the selling of Ward Prowse taking place after the start of the transfer window, that only added to the kitty, bringing it up to around £70m. As the finances were good - I have decided to give the Top 4 a proper go with some big name signings, big fee's. Remarkably, in my time in charge, I've still managed to make profit in my transfer fee's, and I've very much turned a shite big squad, into a fantastic short squad in a very short space of time, keeping only a few players such as Clyne and Forster. This squad has a feel of my own about it, and I'm going to be making a very optimistic push for the Top 4 next season, and my signings are certainly worthy.

I'll leave you with some screenshots of my transfer activity since I joined Southampton:

Note: Okore, Lens, Vuillemuier and Schar joined before I was in-charge, and have now been moved on due to being incredibly shite.



And here's this Summer's activity, and I look to be set for the season:

League of Ireland Premier Division: 9th out of 12 (avoid relegation was the aim, mission accomplished!)

FAI Cup: Quarter Final (bloody Sligo Rovers… at least we surpassed the expectations by one round)
League of Ireland Cup: 2nd Round (out on the first attempt in this meaningless competition)
Munster Senior Cup: 1st Round (despite this being the least important competition to the board I feel it represents a great chance to show what some of the future Waterford United stars can do but this season unfortunately it seemed like what they could do is not much really)

Just in case anyone wants to read about my previous seasons without being arsed to look back through this thread please direct your cursor over this little link & give it a click: https://kingstontilidie.wordpress.com/. Other then the ramblings I post up here there isn't much more currently on there - just an honours list & competition history throughout the save so far but I might expand it with more random crap if I can be arsed.

If Carlsberg did Pre-Season friendlies...



Weakened team as well