When do you start a new game?

A great thing about FM is being able to have a long career (ok, when the newgens are decent). Now in that career a lot can go wrong. You can answer questions in press conferences wrongly, you can play after drinking 20 beers one night and notice you have sold your best striker the next afternoon or the game can crash without you having saved it the day before.

Which occurences make you start a new game?

And for those who have or had a long term game: how do you hold on to a save?

I would love to have a long term career, but I find myself thinking ah I shouldn't have done that, or I rather have that team now...and I start a new game. How do you manage to hold on to a save for a long time? You have to be very flexible I suppose.

Only time i start a new save is when other one corrupts and even then, as i got a rolling save, i got go back to an older save

and how do i hold on to a save. Easy. I get a team from Blue square and take them to either championship and Premier league and the quit and start as a lower league team again. Simples

One of the important things for me about a career game is sometimes making mistakes and trying to rebuild your team or move to a different team and restore your reputation. Like David Beckham after world cup 98 type thing. Nothing better than being hated somewhere but then turning into a ledgend elsewhere all on the same save!

Crashes can be frustrating and make you alot less motivated but i just try and keep going and make up the difference. Pretend its some external influence that could happen in football!! lol

Then eventually usually around 2020 sort of time i start a new game.

Nowadays I try and keep with the save all the way, though occasionally try something different but even then I would try a consistent 'change of pace save', though it takes several goes to decide what to do with it up the point I actually need to use it. In earlier days I'd do a new save on a whim far too easily. I don't think I got past 2020 on 05 for instance, and when I tried dominating (successfully) with Barcelona on 06 and 07 it got boring after up to 10 years.

i start a new game after about 3/4 seasons of winning everything. it gets boring after that. ive tried going to a smaller team and trying to build them up afterwards but i just find myself trying to buy all the good young players i brought in at my last club. i might as well stay there

I start a new save when I get bored, or if I think of an interesting / challenging save idea.

I either get bored when I win everything most seasons, or if I achieve targets I've set myself.

I only restart if...

a. I'm sick of my current career save.

b. The game has corrupt which thankfully this has never happened to me in any version of CM\FM.

c. A patch has been released that includes an upto date database that I want to use.

I have to say that starting a new game is a horrible experience imo Trying to decide what leagues to load (I don't use any of the big leagues so I usually end up taking ages to decide), then trying to decide which club, seeing if I like the club, seeing if I can get into the save....it's an ordeal. However, when it works, it's usually brilliant.

I must have started at least 100 saves over the past three versions of the game and had a handfull of games that I really got into.

Back to topic, I usually decide to change when I do soemthing stupid e.g. change club, sign a raft of players that I didn't really want. Otherwise, I don't leave until i've completed my personal challenges, which are currently; the Behind the Iron Curtain Challenge and the desire to manage every available nation

I tend to play around with a big club at first (Man City this year), then go to a slightly smaller club (Newcastle), then when the game's as good as it's going to get I start my main save with Leeds and stick with them usually through around three generations of players. I play this in parrallel with some sort of career game where I start low and aim to manage a giant club (don't care who) and a high-rep national team, preferably England, Italy or Spain.

Sometimes I go back to my old saves too.

When I get bored with that, usually around June, I start editing daft challenges like setting all clubs in the Prem and Championship with £2billion balances, sugar daddies, £250million transfer kitties and £1million wage budgets.

What does making all the teams have all that money achieve? Not being rude just wondering. I have never, on any version of the game, got through 3 seasons on a game. I tend to do 2 then get annoyed it's not going as imagined and quit. The longest I've ever managed is 2.5 seasons with qpr in 07 game. Got them promoted then finshed 7th and in the third season seemed to get spanked by everyone.