The "I've somehow managed to get an average team promoted into the Prem" thread

Who has got an outsider promoted to the Prem and had some experience with this?? As I'm Bristol City and fast approaching the Prem, but with an average squad without the loanees my squad looks worse than Burnley's. I'm also playing attacking football in the Championship so what does everyone suggest I do or suggest I sign, as I can't sign too many. Cheers

many people have got unexpected teams into the premiership.. im currently in the championship with fleetwood..

as for getting promoted i would stick to the tatic your team knows best no point changing just because you against the big boys now,it got you this far now why stop..

loans and more loans they are you best friend in maintaining a good team on a small budget.. also scouts are very handy scout all over europe (world if you can) for players getting released or for new players mainly regens for cheap.. i found loads of quailty players less then a million were in england they are worth 3-4 million

Tough position to be in. In FM09 I got Derby promoted to the Premiership through the playoffs. It was season 4 of the game, but my first in charge of them and I'm pretty sure if we'd lost in the playoff final (which we probably should have) there would have been some bad financial consequences. Not much to spend in the summer and an average squad at best means you're going to struggle. Best advice is to exploit frees and transfer listed players to build a squad that might keep you up (presumably in a more defensive system), but won't bankrupt you if you don't manage it. More expierenced players are probably better than wasting funds on kids. Real veterans (33+) are a gamble, but might give you one good season and can then be jettisoned in year 2. Build for the season after, whether that is progress in the Premier League or an immediate bounce back in the Championship. In my case I went down again in that first season, but then was able to plug a couple of good players into the remains of my Premier League squad and win the league the next season. I went on to win the Premier League several times over the next 5+ seasons.

Who has got an outsider promoted to the Prem and had some experience with this?? As I'm Bristol City and fast approaching the Prem, but with an average squad without the loanees my squad looks worse than Burnley's. I'm also playing attacking football in the Championship so what does everyone suggest I do or suggest I sign, as I can't sign too many. Cheers

I took over Crystal Palace in my game, around year 2023 or so, they were in League 2, speant 18 months in League1, then promoted to Prem in the first year in Champ. I stook up with the same, attacking tactic, bought a great keeper, two decent defenders, one great middie and a striker (u get decent amount of money for playing Prem u kno).

I conceded lots of goals but scored even more, i was 11th or something the first season, its struggling. Next season i bought great prospects, one 17yo spanish lad even made it into the 1st team right away. 2nd season i was 7th and runner up in the FA cup and now i have 3rd season going, after 8 games 2-5-1 my weakest area is defence (having a French nat wingback coming in Jan window though. My goal is the top 4 and CL spot for the next year.

ps. u need pretty wide squad or it tends to have a huge downswing in some poing. And the 2nd season is always harder for some reason.

Just keep the tactic and slightly improve every area in the squad, thats what ive always done.

Cheers for the replies! Hopefully get a big budget and sign some quality. Without these replies I would have been playing defensive most games.

in FM07 I managed to get a debt riddled Preton into the EPL after finishing 6th and winning both play-off games in ET in the 2nd leg.

Only paid for 1 player (a striker who I had taken on loan the previous season and racked by 30 goals, cost me $12M, but he's worth it), filled the rest with freebies. I played a lot of counter-attack, which helped at first (won 4 of my first 10) then I fell apart through injuries and a smallish squad, lost 3 keepers and to bring 1 in on loan, lost all bar 3 strikers in my entire squad at 1 point too!! Well, I only won once in my next 28 games and went down in 20th with 19 points.

Next season, with a fit squad I managed to finish 3rd, but went out in the play-offs

Following season, finished 1st, went up, and in my new EPL year played more of a possession game and finished in about 10th, maybe a bit lower. I think I was a few games into the following season, but haven't played it in a while. Might have a shot over the weekend!

so, i wouldn't be too upset if you go back down in your first shot, you'll learn a lot and get a nice amount of cash too, then when you make a second appearance you're ready to conquer the world, best of luck mate.

Just a little update on how I'm getting on in the Prem:

Transfers: I've literally changed my whole squad from last season, keeping 7 players with about 2/3 getting in match day squad.

Currently sitting in 8th with a game in hand, beating Arsenal at home, Portsmouth at home, Newcastle away and Blackburn away. Just beat Liverpool in the League Cup 3-0 and beat Man Utd 3-0 in the league at home.

I'm playing as boston utd in the prem

7 season in there (I think) first season Qualified for the Europa League, second season finished 2nd to Stoke and have now won 5 in a row (one of those was a quadruple winning season, and I've just done a PL, FA Cup and Carling Cup Treble)

My first season the squad looked quite similar to the one that got us up from the championship with only 2/3 players coming in but now there's only 1 or 2 players left from that season.

in 2009 i got MK dons promoted consecutive season to the prem.... then was spanked but everyone....... i got the arsenal job

Not necessarily in the EPL, but I sometimes find it easier in the first season of getting a low team into the top league in a country, than it is in the second. Presumably this is because 'bigger' teams underestimate your team, as they are newly promoted and think it's going to be a walk in the park.

Got Cagliari promoted (they were mid-table Serie B when I took over) and won the Serie A in my first season after promotion. Second season has been much harder so far, but a recent win streak has got me up to third, but definitely more of a struggle, even though my team is stronger.

I've been playing FM10 since release and had some moderate success. but recently thought I needed a new challenge. So I restarted the game playing Ebbsfleet in the BSP.

Four straight promotions later I'm in the Premiership, my total spend on transfers to get there... the princely sum of £34,000. Needless to say since arriving I've spent nearly £9million of my seasons budget which I thought was generously set at £15mill.

Its now the end of October and after a bright start winning 2 and drawing 1 of my first 3 games I'm now 13th after 9 games played and struggling a bit.

As a previous poster said you need a shrewd eye to pick up key loans and free transfers and be ruthless in dumpimg them again when you need better players. My stats say I have bought 39 players, sold 18 and released 44 but it feels like more.

I have already had a new stadium built but we have outgrown it already so hoping for another new bigger stadium in a season or two, hopefully by then we might even be in Europe....

Finished 10th in the league with a poor squad, and I reckon I need at least 7 players for my first team next season and sell most of my current team. Should I risk it again as my budget is £33 mill, or should I keep a poor squad with a couple of additions and take the risk of second season syndrome?

When I did this with QPR, I was adamant on seeing it out even though it looked impossible. I was offered the Villa job soon after, which I took anyway but I saved it so I can always go back and see if I can do better than my replacement (they didn't sign enough players, sold the star striker to Sunderland where he had an awful season and ended up rotting on the bench before finishing an uninspiring twentieth, a draw at Old Trafford the only memorable note of the season).

Managed to get Crystal Palace promoted (10 point deduction and all) before somehow finishing eigth in the Prem (I was fortunate to get s triker who bagged a ton of goals). Finished 2nd the next season (as everyone fell away) and then won it the following season. I just wish FM went this well in all my other saves where I usually hover around in mid-table obscurity.

I got QPR promoted in my first season. Just survived relegation the following season but looks like I'll probably go down this season.

I'm playing as Rushden and Diamonds and got consecutive promotions up to the championship, got to the championship play-off first season but got knocked out. In my 5th season now and I'm 30 games in and top of the championship by 5 points with Fulham in second. Really hope this is the year I go up!! (hope I'm not jynxing myself here!) Would love a bigger stadium so I hope the money from the prem would let me expand some more!

Congrats on everyone else who has taken lower league teams to the top.

just qualified for europa league in 2021 with torquay by finishing 5th.

Currently in my 4th season and have Grimsby in the Championship. I'm fairly confident I've got some good players and I would hope to sneak into a play off play. I am selling out every home game, a whopping 8,870, but I'm pretty sure there is a minimum sized stadium for the EPL isn't there? Does anyone know what I'd have to upgrade to? Don't want to blow all my money on a few seats!

Currently POSH. Sat 6th in CCC after 16 games. C'MON YOU POSH!!

i did it with a distinctly average Plymouth side. only made it because Newcastle finished 2nd, 9pts ahead of me but were docked 10 pts for going into administration (this was the third season in a row they'd failed to get out of the Championship, and 2nd in a row they'd gone into admin)

a couple of loan signings and a new £2million striker (a record!) and i finished 16th, though i'd been on a steady slide from the dizzy heights of 9th and if the season had been a couple of matches longer i reckon i'd have gone down.

left the season after to go to Lazio, but Sam Allardyce took over and kept Plymouth up and even pushed them up towards the top half of the table (with most of my youth signings coming through now i hasten to add haha)

I have just finished season 2022/2023 with Gillingham winning my 7th Premier league title, also have 1 Champions league to my name, 3 FA cups, 4 league cups, 7 charity shields in a row, euro super cup, and world club cup!

This is the most enjoyable game I have ever played on any version of FM, but alot of my ageing players need replacing this season, lets hope I can find some wicked regens or get some superstars promoted into my youth academy!

Up the Gills!:o

I took Colchester up to the Prem in 2 seasons. First season we finished 2nd in league 1 easy without any signings. Second season we won the Championship mainly down to great loan signings (Nemeth from Liverpool was banging them in).

When you go up to the Prem you usually get a £20mill transfer budget so spend it wisely. I managed to sign 2 strikers, 1 CM and 2 CB's with it Also got some decent free signings in the Championship.