The FM08/FM09 Ultimate CSE League - Enter your Small Club to Big Club Team Now!

This is a short term project I will be running in the buildup to the release of FM2010. The point of this competitions/sign up is for you to enter your small club to big club challenge teams from FM08 and/or FM09, then I create a selected few on to a database. I'll put the selected 20 teams into the Premier Division and then report back on one season's worth of data. The winner will be crowned the unofficial greatest small club to big club challenge entry of FM08 & FM09!

• Each club entered MUST have been a club you've used in any one of the small club to big club challenges
  
• The club MUST have already completed the said small club to big club challenge
  
• You MUST supply me with a save game to use. I will only create the players and staff from that specific save game you've supplied me with, so player x that you sold 4 seasons ago will not be created. I will also only be creating first team players, as it's only one season there's no point creating Reserves/U18 sides.
  
• A save game is obviously required, however if the majority of people do not want anyone else to have access to their 'data' then I will not upload the eventual database.
  
• There is a restriction of one club per user (sorry).
  
• You can use a save game from FM08 or FM09
  
• Patches don't matter either
  
• You can use a team from ANY small club to big club challenge, whether your team be English, Spanish, Swedish, Argentinian, South Korean, you name it you can enter your team.
  
• As I am editing the original team from the database only one team per 'team' can be in the final competition. That means that we can't have 4 FC United save game's. It wont be first come first serve, I will choose what looks to be the best side.
  

Confirmed Teams -

1. FM08 Softies - Softies team from the FM08 Wallace v Roberts thread - (Fisher Athletic)
   
2. FM08 Monkeys - Monkeys team from the FM08 Wallace v Roberts thread - (Solihull Moors)
   
3. FM09 Softies - Softies team from the FM09 Wallace v Roberts thread - (Braintree Town)
   
4. FM09 Monkeys - Monkeys team from the FM09 Wallace v Roberts thread - (Blyth Spartans)
   
5. Estudiantes Santander - DodgeeD
   
6. Savona - iacovone
   
7. Dartford - dafuge
   
8. Guangdong Rizhiquan - TaylorB
   
9. Barito Putra Banjarmasin - JSalter
   
10. FC Sachsen Leipzig - el sid
    
11. Chippenham Town - MikaelS
    
12. FC United - michaelmurrayuk
    
13. Knockbreda - NepentheZ
    
14. Domegliara - PRDH
    
15. Wealdstone - kaNovi
    
16. Gloucester City - Marky Mark!
    

• 2 Asian sides - Tick
  
• The 4 sides from Wallace v Roberts - Tick
  
  
• 1 South American side - Tick
  
  
• 3 Big Euro sides - Tick
  
• 10 remaining places from Dafuge/Gundo's - 4 remaining spaces
  
  

Club used: Estudiantes Santander

Small club to Big Club challenge taken part in: Razer82's South American Challenge

FM08 or FM09: FM09

A summary of why you think your side should be allowed to enter: First up, this will add a little Latin flair to what I expect will be a league dominated by English/European clubs. Secondly, The side I will send you are the current World Club Champions, North American Champions, Copa Libertadores holders, Copa Sudamericana holders and Mexican champions so I think they can give the others a run for their money. Finally, my star in defence, Juan Manuel Lomelli has been asking to play in Europe for years. Let's see how he copes against the best of the CSE forum.

Link to the latest 'summary table' you posted in the said thread*: here you go (career summary is at the bottom)

Sounds really interesting! Is there a limit on the number of players that can be in the first team? I usually put quite a lot of players in the reserves so would have to see which of players would be chosen to come up. I would be submitting my Mazagao side from Razer's challenge btw.

EDIT - Sorry, failed to see that the challenge had to be completed by the user, so ignore my question!

Well I hope TaylorB puts in a bid for Rizhiquan! He's the only one who has completed my challenge in its 2 year existence.

JSalter and d-machine haven't completed the international portion of the challenge but have won the ACL and CWC.

Sounds really interesting! Is there a limit on the number of players that can be in the first team? I usually put quite a lot of players in the reserves so would have to see which of players would be chosen to come up. I would be submitting my Mazagao side from Razer's challenge btw.

There's no limit as such, but as it's only for one season's worth of games then there's not much point having a massive amount of back-up imo. It's obviously up to you guys to sort out, if you think they'd be backup then by all means include them. But there's not much point including 4 Goalkeepers or Youth Players with a bright future that aren't yet good enough to even be backup.

Well I hope TaylorB puts in a bid for Rizhiquan! He's the only one who has completed my challenge in its 2 year existence.

JSalter and d-machine haven't completed the international portion of the challenge but have won the ACL and CWC.

Yes I was thinking about that. I think if JSalter or d-machine were keen to put their teams in or up for possible entry I'd definitely not rule them out, since they've completed the domestic part of your challenge then I don't see why they shouldn't be eligible to take part.

Brilliant to see this idea come to fruition Paul

This could potentially be an epic thread .

Club Used: Savona

Small to Big Club Challenge Used: JoseRR's Challenge

Version: FM09

Summary of why: As the first completed side in JoseRR's challenge () I think the Savona boys deserve a place in the Premier league. We took 20 years to complete the challenge and even had to cope with a relegation from Serie A in there too. I would like to think the great Savona players deserve an opportunity to prove how good they were in this league - Michele Badini became one of the best strikers in the world, complemented with the colossal captain Tommaso Cilona and the best right back in the world Roberto Pecoraro. There is a summary of the seasons here, detailing our rise through to eventual Champions League winners. Hope to confirm our rightful place as the greatest CSE side of all time

Congratulations DodgeeD and iacovone, you have both made the cut. I know I said it wasn't first come first serve, but tbf that was to stop the first 20 teams all being English ones from dafuge's challenge

Nice one. I got a save ready for you when I came to the end of the 2020/21 season a couple of hours ago. PM me the details of when you want it and how I should send it.

I'm all but finished doing the FM08 Monkeys, I just have about 50 percent of the staff to finish and it will be completed. After that I'll do the Softies, then I'll PM the next person on the list, which at the moment is DodgeeD. However once I have confirmed your place then could you email it to me ASAP. My email address is in my profile somewhere

*cries* Well I cannot enter AD Fafe as we have yet to complete even though I have a stunning team (I believe), I guess I will just have to follow along and chant and cheer for Savona all the way home.

Iacovone would you like a lend of Radakovic?

Yes I was thinking about that. I think if JSalter or d-machine were keen to put their teams in or up for possible entry I'd definitely not rule them out, since they've completed the domestic part of your challenge then I don't see why they shouldn't be eligible to take part.

I'm fairly sure my Indonesian bunch would get battered in every game Some went on to play in Europe, but when I won the CWC and ACL I think my only international played for East Timor, none of my Indonesians could even get into the national team. I'll have a look though to see when I've got a save from, and if used you'll have a team almost guaranteed to finish bottom!

I'm fairly sure my Indonesian bunch would get battered in every game Some went on to play in Europe, but when I won the CWC and ACL I think my only international played for East Timor, none of my Indonesians could even get into the national team. I'll have a look though to see when I've got a save from, and if used you'll have a team almost guaranteed to finish bottom!

Every league needs some whipping boys! But in all seriousness I think it would be good to have to have a couple of Asian sides in the competition, adds a bit of variety to it even if they do lose every game

Can we enter the 09 Softies?

I had planned to have the FM09 Monkeys & Softies, however it depends on when we call time on this year's game.

Club used: Dartford

Small club to Big Club challenge taken part in: dafuge's

FM08 or FM09: FM09

A summary of why you think your side should be allowed to enter: Although they were perhaps stronger 5 years ago, this Dartford team have dominated the PL and CL, winning eight PL & CL doubles in the last nine years.

Link to the latest 'summary table' you posted in the said thread*: Link

p.s. so glad to see this idea finally happening

Every league needs some whipping boys! But in all seriousness I think it would be good to have to have a couple of Asian sides in the competition, adds a bit of variety to it even if they do lose every game

Others who have completed my challenge (club wise)

• ShootTheRunner - Salgaocar - VVV's brother apparently. He posted exclusively in my thread it seems. Probably won't be back though to give you the save
  
• Scab - Guizhou
  

If you want anymore cellar dwellers and Asian teams.

Congratulations to dafuge, as his Dartford team become the fifth confirmed entry.

Others who have completed my challenge (club wise)

• ShootTheRunner - Salgaocar - VVV's brother apparently. He posted exclusively in my thread it seems. Probably won't be back though to give you the save
  
• Scab - Guizhou
  

If you want anymore cellar dwellers and Asian teams.

I think a nice variation of teams, sort of like in the World Cup would be good. It's quite hard to think off the top of my head but say:

• 2 Asian sides (not including daemonic)
  
• The 4 sides from Wallace v Roberts
  
• 2 South American sides (using daemonic and DodgeeD's as dafuge's wouldn't be eligible)
  
• 4 Big Euro sides (iacovone, Ohanzee, el sid & PRDH)
  

That leaves 8 places for teams from Gundo & dafuge's challenge (that is presuming all of the above are interested in taking part). There would be 8 sides eligble from Gundo's (including Nep's FM08 effort which I'm sure the majority would love to see included). As well as 17 sides from dafuge's (dafuge's FC United, daemonic and TaylorB would all be ineligible). There are also a couple of teams that have completed dafuge's challenge multiple times. FC United x3, Bradford Park x2, Dover x2 & Boston United x2.

Good job my other efforts are ineligible, I don't have them anymore

Ooooh Des could you imagine a Badini/Radakovic front line? They'd be the most prolific forward line in the history of football I reckon

Paul much appreciated to be signed up so soon

Can I ask are you going to do anything to prevent transfers between teams, or is that an unfortunate inevitability?

Ooooh Des could you imagine a Badini/Radakovic front line? They'd be the most prolific forward line in the history of football I reckon

Paul much appreciated to be signed up so soon

Can I ask are you going to do anything to prevent transfers between teams, or is that an unfortunate inevitability?

I'm not really sure what I can do about that. The one way of stopping the teams buying in players would be to just give them no transfer budget, however their board could eventually give them one anyway. FMRTE can only swap players iirc, so I would be able to put players back to the rightful clubs, but they'd still be transferred. Since it's only the oneseason, I could load all of the 'Best Leagues' and if anyone that is considered more than backup is looking like they might be transferred to a club outside of the CSE League, I could always create a new manager and cancel the transfer. However I don't really see how I can stop transfers between the 20 clubs.

FMRTE may be the only option - just reverse any transfers that occur. Also what are your plans for manager profiles/stats?

Ooooh Des could you imagine a Badini/Radakovic front line? They'd be the most prolific forward line in the history of football I reckon

That was my exact thought haha, even though now Radakovic is past it and I have got Maradona being partnered by a Brazillian. (5 goals in 4 league games since Jan 1st signing)

Wow I need to have a read of your Fafe updates!

* Club used: Guangdong Rizhiquan

* Small club to Big Club challenge taken part in: Rancers

* FM08 or FM09: FM09

* A summary of why you think your side should be allowed to enter: Being the first to complete Rancers Asian challenge on its own I think merits Rizhiquan's place in this league. Although, I will complete the season I started over the next couple of days because iirc the team is aging and is poor now:D

* Link to the latest 'summary table' you posted in the said thread*: Will edit the link in when I've completed this latest season.

FMRTE may be the only option - just reverse any transfers that occur. Also what are your plans for manager profiles/stats?

I was planning on creating the manager based on the stats in the save game.

I was planning on creating the manager based on the stats in the save game.

Will they not be all 20s for the majority of us? I suppose the hidden stats could be interesting to look at. And you could set each manager to have preferred formations and styes based on what we tell you.

Will they not be all 20s for the majority of us? I suppose the hidden stats could be interesting to look at. And you could set each manager to have preferred formations and styes based on what we tell you.

Yes, I think they will be. I presumed there would be a hidden stat or something showing the manager's favorite/most used formation, but obviously if you all have a certain formation/style you want to be your manager's favorite then I don't have a problem putting it in the game.

Yes, I think they will be. I presumed there would be a hidden stat or something showing the manager's favorite/most used formation, but obviously if you all have a certain formation/style you want to be your manager's favorite then I don't have a problem putting it in the game.

Cool thanks for clearing that up . This is gonna be great

I've got my save ready. It's a little too big for email so I will do a secure upload and send you the link if that's ok Paul.

This is going to be a cracker - I'm really curious as to how my side will do as most of them are still young/in their prime (except for Ochoa in goal )

As for the transfers, if this will just be done for a single season, why not give the players future transfers? That way nobody could leave.

I've got my save ready. It's a little too big for email so I will do a secure upload and send you the link if that's ok Paul.

This is going to be a cracker - I'm really curious as to how my side will do as most of them are still young/in their prime (except for Ochoa in goal )

As for the transfers, if this will just be done for a single season, why not give the players future transfers? That way nobody could leave.

that's fine DD. That's actually a very good idea regarding the future transfers, yes that will make sure that nobody leaves. Making sure 20 clubs don't sign anyone will be tricky, but hopefully manageable.

You can make sure of no transfers in July/Aug by selecting none in first window, and then just make sure they all have 0 balance (Actual Bank Balance) should make it simple enough. But the future transfers will stop people leaving.

I just thought of the possible problem of Work Permits to play in England, might have to make all nations EC members just to make sure they can have all their players playing.

I'll definitely be following this. Shame I don't have a team to enter at all. Maybe next year. I'll be rooting for Savona.

At least for the start of the game, transfer budgets can be disabled. Maybe by January we will need new recruits!

Actually, if transfer budgets are disabled in the first window, it might be interesting just to see if anyone leaves/tries to leave in January. I'm sure everybody's who has done one of these challenges (especially gundo's, rancer's or razer's) has had to deal with players wanting to leave even once you've won it all - will they still do that if they think they are in the Prmeier League?

EDIT: LLR beat me to it with the transfer budget idea.

With the leaving I loved beating ManU 2:1 at home and then two days later the Striker who got both goals wanted to go to ManU, seriously was baffled.

Yeah, my star defender in this save wanted to join Barcelona shortly after we had beaten them 4-0 in the Club World Championship...

Club used: Barito Putra Banjarmasin

Small club to Big Club challenge taken part in: Rancer's

FM08 or FM09: FM09

A summary of why you think your side should be allowed to enter: Because every league needs some whipping boys The first team to complete the club side of rancer's challenge on FM09 iirc, Barito Putra will add Indonesian flair to the league, with a squad almost exclusively of local talent, with a Laotian and East Timorese international thrown in for good measure. I've found a save from the end of the season in which I won the ACL and CWC, off the back of 4 leagues wins in 5 years, so the team is probably at it's best, and with an average age of 24 there is still room for improvement (if I didn't have to sell my best players to Europe).

Link to the latest 'summary table' you posted in the said thread*: Here

I've added both Asian sides to the list.

• 2 Asian sides (not including daemonic) - Tick
  
• The 4 sides from Wallace v Roberts - Tick, once FMO9 sides are ready
  
• 2 South American sides (using daemonic and DodgeeD's as dafuge's wouldn't be eligible) - 1 down 1 to go
  
• 4 Big Euro sides (iacovone, Ohanzee, el sid & PRDH) - 1 down 3 to go
  
• 8 remaining places from Dafuge/Gundo's - 1 from dafuge's
  

Indonesian whipping boys FTW \o/

For any of the foreign players I'll just give them a second nationality of English, that should mean we avoid any work permit problems.

Just checking, will the data that you are collecting from us remain confidential?

I'd hate to have any of my CA/PAs or any other hidden information to be made available as I'm still playing my game. I'd also be against the database being made available for download for the same reason.

I said previously that if anyone didn't want their data to be shared publicly then I wont upload a database for download.

Great idea Paul that i'll be following. Just wish I had someone available to participate.

What info will you be using exactly? Obviously player stats and CA/PA but what details about the clubs (rep, stadium, finances etc)?

I know you said you wouldn't include any old players or extra things but you'll see from my save that about three days after the date o which the game loads, we'll be moving into a new stadium so if you could incude that, it would be great.

What info will you be using exactly? Obviously player stats and CA/PA but what details about the clubs (rep, stadium, finances etc)?

I know you said you wouldn't include any old players or extra things but you'll see from my save that about three days after the date o which the game loads, we'll be moving into a new stadium so if you could incude that, it would be great.

I'll try and include that. I haven't actually looked at the FM08 Monkeys save game at all, I've just been using the FM08 version of Genie Scout. But yes I have added in reputation, the stadium and finances etc.

I said previously that if anyone didn't want their data to be shared publicly then I wont upload a database for download.

I meant will there be any revealing of database information within this thread? Or will it just be a straight report on the progress of the clubs with no 'behind the scenes' comparisons?

I meant will there be any revealing of database information within this thread? Or will it just be a straight report on the progress of the clubs with no 'behind the scenes' comparisons?

oh. I wasn't planning on doing any 'behind the scenes comparisons' as like you said that would give away data which people might not want me to do.

oh. I wasn't planning on doing any 'behind the scenes comparisons' as like you said that would give away data which people might not want me to do.

Great, that's what I wanted to hear

Brilliant stuff Paul. Know this idea's been knocking about for ages, so will be good to see it get off the ground. Out of interest, have you done any trials to see how accurately the players are recreated in the game? Does it play about with ther stats much?

Guess you can use the 'current' softies/monkeys teams at whichever point you're ready to get going. We've completed it on both sides, so they're really ready to go just whenever you are, could be now, could be in a few weeks.

Regarding avoinding players moving about - there's an option to prevent it in the first transfer window, after that you'd just need to worry about January.

* Club used: FC Sachsen Leipzig

* Small club to Big Club challenge taken part in: JoseRR Challenge

* FM08 or FM09: FM 09

* A summary of why you think your side should be allowed to enter: Quickest in terms of years taken to finish the JoseRR Challenge (could be all challenges as well but I'm not sure), FC Sachsen Leipzig can proudly call itself the best team in Germany and arguably in Europe in the year 2016. The team probably also has the distinction of the team containing the most non-regens boasting of big name real players such as Modric, Ramsey, Rakitic, Fleck, Laurito, Mandanda, Fernandez and the pure awesomeness that is Marquinhos

* Link to the latest 'summary table' you posted in the said thread*: Here but I don't use the summary table

Good luck with this Paul