My Story so far.... IPHONE

I downloaded the App, two days ago after a long hard think about me be willing to part with £7 for a mobile game. I finally decided just to go for it and I'm impressed! I have the PC Version and now the Iphone version and I'm starting to favour the Iphone Version. I have played CM/FM since 03/04 and the details of the PC version is very impressive, but this years PC version I just sadly couldn't get into, mainly down to finances, every month was a loss, regardless of my wage budget. So I tried the Iphone Version and the simplictiy of the game is an absolute winner, it's like back in the old days. The only slight complaints I have is that I would the English leagues extended to the BSN/S so I can play as my Favoured team, and also the holiday option seems to be broken! Whenever I holiday for 1 month, I'm lucky if my team has been able to win 1 game!

Anyways now for my Story!

Season 1 - Ebbsfleet United

Okay since Blyth Spartans of the Blue Square North are currently Unplayable I chose Ebbsfleet of the BSP, they are currently a fans club, owned by fans from all over the globe.

1st season didn't make any transfers, even though I had 5k to spend with the board wanting me to finish in a respectable posistion, after failing to find a tactic that worked consistently I managed to finish 8th. Next seasons aims were to find a new striker and reach the playoffs.

Season 2 - Ebbsfleet United/Accrington Stanley

During the summer I failed to sign a striker or any other players for that matter due to the poor finances of the club and ex league players demanding big contracts! After 20 games I had ebbsfleet just where I wanted them, inside play-offs (4th). Then Accrington Stanley came calling at my door with a please rescue us public plea! I couldn't turn them down since they were a bigger club in a bigger league. When I signed for Accrington they were bottom if League 2, on 10 points and only 1 win to thier name! I decided to play a 4-1-2-1-2, and to that success we finished 11th and made the 3rd round of the FA Cup. However Accrington were paying some footballing donkeys big bucks and were declared BANKRUPT!

Season 3 - Accrington Stanley/Crewe Alexandra

So after a great finish last season, I was aiming for play-offs despite the being Bankrupt. Once again no players were brought but plenty shown the door! Another good cup run got us into the 3rd round, sadly we went through spells in the league of of ups and downs and finished outside play-offs in 8th, however the story doesn't end there! Crewe, finished 6th and were in the play-offs, then they sacked thier manager, I was linked with the vacancy and therefore applied for it! To my surprise they offered me the job so I jumped at the chance of managing one of the bigger clubs in the league. Playoffs semis, I won 7-4 on aggregate, but for beat in the final by Gillingham 3-2 after being 2-0 up!!!

Season 4 - Crewe Alexandra

The Board demand Playoffs! Crewe's finances are Insecure as they have a wage budget of 27k and are paying out 39k!!! Alot of weak young players were shown the door by Jordan Latimer the Ruthless manager! I finally feel I have the chance to win a trophy or gain promotion for the first time on my journey man career. Made a couple of deals and signed Jimmy Ryan and Lenny Pidgely both from Accrington Stanley! They did marvels for the team and made us strong promotion contenders by Christmas. Calvin Zola was constantly in the press for being a goal machine! He finished the season on 46 goals! My tactics were mixed depending on home and away games, for home games I played all out attack 4-3-3 and for away games I played a sensible attacking game of 4-1-2-1-2, the same tactic I used at accrington! We gained promotion on last day of the season when Brentford got beat 2-1 by my old club accrington 2-1! Accrington finished 1 point outside Relegation! This meant I finished 3rd by 1 single goal! The main reason we were successful was that as a team we scored 110 goals in the league, that is my personal best! I know that for next season the defence needs to be improved, but league 1 here we come!

The holiday option automatically deflates your players morale for the duration of your holiday - this is for two reasons:

* Its realistic imho, if a manager went on holiday his players wouldn't be particularly chuffed about it

* It stops people just holidaying through the game to unlock everything

(so yeah expect your team to under-perform to some extent if you head off to Sunny Hunstanton for a long weekend instead of managing your side )

PS - Glad you're enjoying the game - thanks for the write up, was a great read .... would make an interesting 'review' on the iTunes site actually, more compelling than the usual one word reviews which seem the norm there

Yeah your actually right, I guess I'm just used to Holiday success on the the PC version.

Is there any plans for a FM11 on the Iphone? Will we have to buy it again? Will there be BSN/S Leagues added?

The holiday option automatically deflates your players morale for the duration of your holiday - this is for two reasons:

* Its realistic imho, if a manager went on holiday his players wouldn't be particularly chuffed about it

* It stops people just holidaying through the game to unlock everything

(so yeah expect your team to under-perform to some extent if you head off to Sunny Hunstanton for a long weekend instead of managing your side )

PS - Glad you're enjoying the game - thanks for the write up, was a great read .... would make an interesting 'review' on the iTunes site actually, more compelling than the usual one word reviews which seem the norm there

Our plans for the future will be announced in due course - at the moment tbh I'm concentrating on the third (and hopefully final) update for the game, once thats completed I'll focus upon the next iteration.

If you need any help PM me, I'm currently a researcher for FM11.

I have posted my review on the iTunes website.

Season 5 - Crewe Alexandra

So it was my first season in the Coca-Cola League one after securing promotion last season. I decided that I needed to strengthen the Defence, I brought in two defenders aged 31 and 33 on one year contracts, this gave the team a bit experience which I thought we were lacking. We finished 14th so that's close enough to mid table which is kind of pleasing but yet I still feel a tinge of dissapointment. League One player of the season was my very own Calvin Zola who Scored 17 goals and 9 assists with an average rating of 7.30.

I feel that if I get offerred a posistion at another I will take it, I need a new challenge!

Season 6 - Crewe Alexandra

GOAL: The Board wanted us to stay clear of relegation this year.

We had a very good season again down to an 11 game unbeaten streak after hovering around relegation till mid December, a couple of regens improved the defense and tightened up the midfield department and also regen striker was brought in by the name if Anton Williams, they were all brought in, Inside the January transfer window all if them being free agents. With the squad being strengthed in January we played a very solid second half of the season and finished 10th. I was pleased with final league posistion but if I was to stay on at Crewe in the long run I wanted playoffs next season! My Star man was Regen Striker Anton Williams 21 Apps, 19 Goals, 8 MoM's and an average rating of 7.54!

Season 7 - Crewe Alexandra

Goal: Achieve a respectable league position, however personal ambition was the playoffs!

The season started very well for us with 4 wins and 1 draw from 5 games, I finally found a tactic that was reliable after a bit of tinkering with The Bugels 4-3-3 ( if anyone wants this tactic just ask me and I'll post it). At the end of December we were 8 points clear at the top! Sadly a disastrous month in February seen us slip from 8 points clear to 5 points behind top of the league Blackpool! Finally we got our act together after a dip in form and began hammering Bournemouth 5-0 at home this was the turning point, we then went the rest of the season with only 2 defeats. It came down to the final game of the season, Barnsley top of the table with 88 points, Blackpool 2nd on 87

points and Crewe on 87 points( behind Blackpool on Goal Difference) I won my last game of of the season 2-1 away to playoff side Plymouth, Barnsley only managed a 0-0 Draw and blackpool lost 2-0 away to port vale! This saw rise above everyone and win the league by 1 point!

My first bit of silverware, in the 7th season!:D:D

Championship Here We Come!

Star Players: Anton Williams 17 Goals, 6 assists average rating 7.75, he Moses four month to an injury!

Calvin Zola: 21 Goals, 11 assists average rating of 7.57.

Also managed to Unlock the 'Owe you One'

Season 8 - Crewe Alexandra

Boards Expectation: Battle Bravley Against Relegation

Personal Goal: Stay Clear of Relegation

The season started slowy for us, as I was still doing my best to bring in new players, I decided to bring in two new midfielders, one goalkeeper and one striker all of them being regens, meanwhile Robin Van Persie and Theo Walcott both turned me down as I couldn't meet thier demands. I Used the 'Owe you One' and gained a 2million Pound Transfer Budget, I used 400k of this.

Despite a slow start I managed a strong first season in the Championship and finished a respectable 12th.

My Star players:

Fabio Colombo: 21 Apps, 10 Goals, 7 Assists, average rating 7.65

Anton Williams: 36 Apps, 16 Goals, 5 Assists, average rating 7.38

Cristiano Ranieri: 49 Apps, 14 Goals, 7 Assists, average rating 7.08

how long does it take you to do a season mate?