Winning the Champions League with a Non League Team

With FM2008 arriving for Christmas I thought I would have one final FM Handheld Challenge. Can English Non League Team win the Champions League?

I have chosen Crawley Town as they start with -10 points, so this has to be worse team to pick?

As soon as I finish my first season I will report back.

With FM2008 arriving for Christmas I thought I would have one final FM Handheld Challenge. Can English Non League Team win the Champions League?

I have chosen Crawley Town as they start with -10 points, so this has to be worse team to pick?

As soon as I finish my first season I will report back.

well i did it with FC United as you have seen. Its all about being able to spot the next generation of superstars via the regens and building a strong squad so that if your top players are injured/suspended you have players just as good to step into the team

Thats my advice

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">With FM2008 arriving for Christmas I thought I would have one final FM Handheld Challenge. Can English Non League Team win the Champions League?

I have chosen Crawley Town as they start with -10 points, so this has to be worse team to pick?

As soon as I finish my first season I will report back. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good luck!!!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ridley99:

well i did it with FC United as you have seen. Its all about being able to spot the next generation of superstars via the regens and building a strong squad so that if your top players are injured/suspended you have players just as good to step into the team

Thats my advice </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Do you have any advice on spotting the regens?

after about the 3rd or 4th season do a player search and look at all the players 15-18 years old that play for lower teams you should spot a few as well as players in south america, eastern europe and small european teams.

Try using the expiring contracts to, if you see a player that you want dont offer a contract offer £0 to the club they will accept it and you will get the player asap.

hope this helps you.

im trying this as well im grays

Season One Update.

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts

1st Crawley 46 36 5 5 119 43 76 103

Used Jambos Tactic and I won the league with two games to although it was very close and I was only 4 points in front of York. I am very happy with that as Crawley start the league on -10 points.

I was given 1K to spend so you have to get the loan players in. My fav team to get my loan players from is Portsmouth as they have lots of youngesters and are very happy for them to go out on loan. The players I got from Pompey are

DC Tom Roberts 18 and my best defender.

AM/F LC Jack Compton 18 great for the middle midfielder in Jambo's tactic or on the left wing.

I was able to buy both these players when their contacts were about to run out. Rather stupidly I offered them a contract instead of offering Pompey 0 for them. So in the end I had to pay a total of 140k for them both.

I did get one other player from Pompey but I have been unable to sign him so far.

AM/F RC Daryl Fordyce 19 year old. A very good player could be better than Compton if he was actually able to play more than one game. Just seem so to get too tried so I have have to rotate him and Compton to stop Fordyce get injured.

On thing I did notice was that I had several players who on returning for injury were never able to get back up to 100% fittness. So I had to play them in the 90% area as they never seemed to go higher. Anyone else had this?

OK season two here I come. Which I am expecting to be a lot tougher do to very little or zero money to be spent. Again it will have to be loan players.

im trying to take dumbarton to the spl. top of the league at christmas. challenge cup runners up. super tommy lennox is my heroe at the moment. (also my PE teacher)

can someone please explain the marking in jambo daves tactic

anyone

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Hillbily:

anyone </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Maybe me then

It's man marking for the DC's and DMC. Rest is just

none.

the 352 tactic

the 3-5-2 is actually a 3-1-4-2.

thats 352 defensive

Hmm. Ok, if you're so sure..

i think when i used the tactis i just used the normal 352

Season Two Update

Finished top of the league with a Record 105 Points and scored a league record 124 goals in the season. Including a 6-0 win at home to Rotherham and a 5-0 away win against Stockport.

Player of the season for me was Giovanni Torre on loan from Portsmouth who scored 29 goals 5 assists, 9 MOM in 50 games. He was on loan and he was worth 4.7M when the season was over but was still only getting 110 a week from Pompey as wages.

Jambos tactic is still working a treat. I have now taken Crawley up two divisions in two season. But I am still to be given any transfer budget and the club are still saying my wages are too high.

Again this season will be decided on what players I can bring in on loan.

can you explain the marking then

hogan ephraim would be a good loan deal, not sure if you can get him 3rd season though...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by westhamrob:

hogan ephraim would be a good loan deal, not sure if you can get him 3rd season though... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was unable to get Hogan Ephraim, he is for loan I guess League 1 is to much of a step down.

But I was able to get Jordan Spence and James Tomkins who will hopefully be very good in defence.

With ZERO to spend in transfere money I think this is going to be a very difficult season

when i was peterborough, i loaned ephraim and torre first season.

i became there favoured personall, so i managed to sign them on bosmans.!!!!!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by westhamrob:

when i was peterborough, i loaned ephraim and torre first season.

i became there favoured personall, so i managed to sign them on bosmans.!!!!! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Torre has gone to Palace but only one loan

A very big if I would like to sign him and I have just noticed I am his favorite person

shame you couldnt get him on loan first season, and them get him on a freebie and the end of the season

good luck with this season

What League 2 or Conference team would you suggest I be ?

bluenose go on the thread in handheld discusions "try this" see how ive done with posh lol,

yh so be posh and see how we compare lol

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by PJ Bluenose 4 Ever:

What League 2 or Conference team would you suggest I be ? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Normally if its the first time I have tried a team from a divison I pick the team with the most money as that always helps. So in the conference that would be Oxford. I picked Crawley but they start with -10 points so that might be too much of a challenge.

Lets us know how you get on please.

I'll have a look at Peterborough I've had an Oxford team but it got load game failed but i might be then and yes i will keep u up to date on who i be thanks

Season 3 Update.

Another Season and another promotion but this time the lack of money hurt the team. With £0 being offered by the board in the way of transfer budget Loans and free players were the way to go.

I found this time that it was a lot harder to get player from the Premier League to come to Crawley. Not sure why to be honest as the people I loan are normally played every game if they are fit.

I was sitting in 3rd for most the season and then I went on a brillaint 7 game winning streak to put in my in 2nd with 4 games to play. Of course I lost the last for games and finsihed 5th

I beat Plymouth in my playoff game and then beat Millwall in the final. Interestingly no message from the board or the fans about the promotion.

Now I am starting on the Championship with a whopping £100K to spend on players. The team is starting to look very poor compared to the rest of the team in the division. So I think it will be impossible to get promotion to the EPL at the first attempt.

I did about the same thing with Sutton Utd.

When I got promoted to the Championship I got 150k to spend. That year a few of my youngsters started to repay my confidence and I made it to a tenth place. Next year my budget decreased to 120k but I did get promoted via the playoffs, again backed by my youngsters.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Feddemaster:

I did about the same thing with Sutton Utd.

When I got promoted to the Championship I got 150k to spend. That year a few of my youngsters started to repay my confidence and I made it to a tenth place. Next year my budget decreased to 120k but I did get promoted via the playoffs, again backed by my youngsters. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Can you remember how much you got in the EPL for transfer budget?

How far did you go with Sutton?

I quit when I knew we were gonna relegate in our first prem. season. I got an offer from Aston Villa

and at that moment I didn't want to be in the Championship so I took it.

Now i'm sorry for it.

My budget was 4,5 million of which 3,5 was obtained from a sell.

have won the champions league with Gravesend seversl times.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Feddemaster:

I quit when I knew we were gonna relegate in our first prem. season. I got an offer from Aston Villa

and at that moment I didn't want to be in the Championship so I took it.

Now i'm sorry for it.

My budget was 4,5 million of which 3,5 was obtained from a sell. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

So basically buy as many youngesters as possible and sell them on for a profit is the name of the game?

Well, I don't sell everyone. I had a midfielder named Philip Guy who scored almost the half of all free kicks he took.

But I had a defender who always hated one of the other players so when I got a bid I raised it a bit and sold it.

4th Season Update

Reality Bites at Crawley Town.

A terrible season lots of draws and many heavy defeats. So Crawley finish 12th, I made a major mistake by letting several players go as they were not 1st team players. This left me with a very small squad and we the normally injuries hit the team. Points were very hard to come by but 12th was OK.

I was very shocked by how difficult it was to get EPL teams to loan me players. Normally I would pick up 4 EPL players and use them as the back bone of my team. But this time I was only able to get 2 players who were better than my current squad.

I was also very surprised by how much money the Championship teams have several teams were able to buy players for over £1 Million and many good lower league players were bought for around £400K. Made my £100K seem useless.

But the season did have a silver lining I was able to pick up a certain Michael Ballck on a free transfer

not exatly a non league team but i am trying to take hibs to glory.

1st season uefa cup 1/4 final

spl winners

scottish cup winner

scottish league cup winners

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by LIVIforLife:

not exatly a non league team but i am trying to take hibs to glory.

1st season uefa cup 1/4 final

spl winners

scottish cup winner

scottish league cup winners </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Can you let us know how you get on in Europe?

I remember winning everything in my first season as Celtic manager, got the CL final and had 1/2 the team called up to international games. I was completely gutted. I lost 2-1 to AC Milan took me another 3 season to get back to the final which I won.

hibs are probally one of the best teams to go asd they have loads of young quality player like steven whittaker, scott brown, steven fletcher 31 goals in first season. i also brougt chris mcguire(spelling) from aberdeen for 75k and his value has shot up to 700k.

Sorry I have forgot to update you I was going to do either a Droylsden, Histon, Salisbury City or Farsley Celtic but I couldn't do this due to lack of funds and wage I didn't really want to put Sugar Daddy on loads of times to get decent wage I instead took a bit of a hitn from ChangNoi and started a Crawley I really wnat a challenge anyways I am doing ok just about to start my friendlies and this time I will update you just a question about Crawley to ChangNoi who shall I keep/sell and who to get and another one to anyone how come they start with -10 points

To be honest the Crawley team is OK but they start with -10 points due to financial problems.

There is one player Tony Scully who is on crazy wages at the club and it is tempting to get rid of him but keep him as he is a very good winger. Of course there are a few very poor players but in the first season I like to keep everyone.

Basically it all about the 4 players you can get in on loan.

WestHamRob mentioned he was able Torre from Pompey and Ephraim from West Ham on loan in his first season. If you can get these two players you will easily have the best two strikers in the league. Midfield is where the game will be one in this league. Blackburn who is at Crawley is a first team starter and I still have him as a very useful back up player in the Championship.

I always get Compton from Pompey as my attacking central midfield player. You can get him on loan no problem and I have been able to sign him for free after the first season.

Defence is also not that bad but I like to get good defender in on loan. I normally get Roberts from Pompey(again) who I sign on a free at the end of the season.

One tip I will give you is when the season is running and you want to buy you loan players. Don't do what I did and just offer them a contract as you will have to pay a compensation fee to their club if they are under 24. Just offer the club zero and most of the time they will take it.

If you are lucky to get any more spend it on youth players 18 and under as you move up the league you will be able to sell these players for good money.

Anything else you want to know just ask

I have decided to strat again and be someone else due to the fact that my team was going the wrong way in the table does anybody know a tema taht will give me a good challenge apart from the 4 promoted teams ??

Welcome to the Promise Land

Finally Crawley have made it to the Premier League. It took 6 season but we are there. After some very good buys for free at the start of Season 6 and the fact I was able to sell one of my players for £1.5M I was able to guide Crawley using Jambo's tactic to the Premiership. Since I left League one I have found it impossible to get the good young Premier League players on loan for the season.

Out of 46 games I won 30 drew 10 and lost 6 mainly due to Ballack playing like a super star and scoring or assisting in every game he played. But the main difference was the people I was able to pick up on free transfer at the of the season they game my squad depth and allowed me to rest players for the first time.

As was explained to me by ridley99 you have to look out for the regen players they appear in the lower leagues in England or in the small Italian teams. These players are very young and better than most of the real players in the game. Normally you can pick them up for pretty cheap money.

Ok Old Trafford, Anfield, Stanford Bridge and Ewood Park here comes Crawley Town.

well done, getting from the conference to the premiership in six seasons with no money is pretty good!

Unlucky 13th??

The first season in the EPL for Crawley was a lot like the first season in the Championship. Most the current players I have are not good enough to play at the level or are very young and need a season or two find their feet.

Ballack my best midfielder is no too old with his stamina and pace down to 1. Which is a shame as he is easily my most skillful player but only being able to get 45 mins out him in every 3rd game is not enough.

At the start of the season I was given £3.2M to spend and I still have it all. I was not really able to find anyone good enough and available at a cheap price. I was also sad to find that this season there was very few good players available on a free transfer. Normally this means the next year will be extra good.

I am happy with 13th in my first season. Lets see how I get on next season. Hopefully my younger players will have learnt for a hard first season.

I've done it, I did a whole 29 seasons with Lewes, I made them the world's best team, won whole loads of premierships and champions leagues. Quite a few of them consecutively. It wasn't really that difficult to be honest.

what tactic did you use through out the 29 years

Due to a technical fault I am back in the Championship.

Of course I was not stupid enough to turn off auto saving and then let my PSP run completely out of battery

I am now Droylsden I am currently working on a wage of £1.2k a week with Mark Delaney (former v***a man) Gary Kelly (with over 400 caps for Leeds) and some other free agents wish me luck

Good luck PJ