Fixture Congestion

I noticed the same sort of thing when I managed in Northern Ireland (I think I had five in a row). The fixture lists for nations that don't historically make the latter stages of European competition don't really seem to cope when you make it big in Europe. It is as if they are designed with the assumption that clubs from that nation won't make the latter stages and FM does not seem to have the ability to sensibly reschedule them.

I'm assuming there are no real life situations we can compare this to?

Well, what annoys me most about it is that there is plenty of other spaces for them to move those Ligakupa matches to, but it seems unable to find a good time. Between Pecs and Ujpest, Ujpest and Debrecen or even after the second Vidi game would all work, however it just jammed them in there!

Strangely enough because of this I have to upkeep essentially two first team squads, a development squad, and then a youth squad in order to cope with the random moments like this.

On the plus side Hungary look set to become the top nation in the UEFA coefficients after all 4 Italian teams bombed out (and I mean bombed) of the CL round of 16. Debrecen got past Palermo, Vidi past Inter (on away goals) whilst Barca and Atletico made light work of AC Milan and Sampdoria.

My plan for the Debrecen double header? I'm going to send up my 3rd strength XI (my first having played Vidi) for the first match, they'll probably lose to Debrecen, but I can send out the second XI against them the second time, to exploit their tired legs from the match the day before...

...

Only 3 key players injured in that first match against Vidi (2-0 win) as well! Oh yeah, no injuries in 2 months and bam!

2-1 loss to Debrecen and more injuries!

why is there a picture of some weird looking fella on your fixture list?

It's irony, man. He put a face of man laughing to how how ridiculous and unreal to have 4 matches in 4 days.

he's got a lovely set of teeth

why is there a picture of some weird looking fella on your fixture list?

That's Yao Ming!!!

Who doesn't know who Yao Ming is?

In any case it was annoying, but the side got through it. Beat Debrecen 4-0 on their 2nd match in two days and my 3rd in 3. Diosgyor fell 2-0 to my youth side and then we went on to beat Vidi 2-0 later in the week. Only lost 3 players to injuries overall as well, though all 3 were fully in the match they were injured, and came off injured in the first half...

big chap isn't he! do you think he's a targetman?

lol, i just lost 4 players in one match!! 2 injuries and 2 red cards, lucky my fixture list isn't as bad as yours!!

he got that one in the back of the net!

Well, he's tall but it looks like his jumping attribute is about 2.

Well actually... In game a players height has no impact in the match engine. As such the jumping attribute is adjusted to take into account a players height as well as how well they leap off the ground. That is a 5'1" player who has the highest vertical leap in the world would still only be about a 10-12 whilst ol' Yao there at 7'6" would definitely go in the 20 category.

Who here thinks that Yoa Ming, could have career as GK?

I hope SI fix this Fixture congestion.

one of them blokes is trying to pull his shorts down

On the plus side Hungary look set to become the top nation in the UEFA coefficients after all 4 Italian teams bombed out (and I mean bombed) of the CL round of 16. Debrecen got past Palermo, Vidi past Inter (on away goals) whilst Barca and Atletico made light work of AC Milan and Sampdoria.

Sorry to bump an old thread here, but there is something I want to ask to help me think about my next game.

I'm not fussed about taking a club to the top from a small nation, I've seen that before. What I'm really interested in are the AI clubs that have followed suit in such a short space of time (by my standards).

Have you done anything at all to 'help' the other clubs to be competitive in Europe, or have they just improved thanks to the increased reputation of the league thanks to the success of your club?

Well actually... In game a players height has no impact in the match engine. As such the jumping attribute is adjusted to take into account a players height as well as how well they leap off the ground. That is a 5'1" player who has the highest vertical leap in the world would still only be about a 10-12 whilst ol' Yao there at 7'6" would definitely go in the 20 category.

Well actually that changed in either FM10 or 11 can't remember which.

Height does have an impact in the ME and is used when a player decides not to jump for an aerial ball.

Sorry to bump an old thread here, but there is something I want to ask to help me think about my next game.

I'm not fussed about taking a club to the top from a small nation, I've seen that before. What I'm really interested in are the AI clubs that have followed suit in such a short space of time (by my standards).

Have you done anything at all to 'help' the other clubs to be competitive in Europe, or have they just improved thanks to the increased reputation of the league thanks to the success of your club?

I upkeep my B team as sort of an academy for players I try to force down other team's throats. I ended up renaming them Kispest and they normally do very well in the Hungarian Cup. Essentially this has given me the freedom to just go nuts signing players (which I have a tendency to do) and then I can just leave them there and sell them on or release at no real consequence. Of these players about 1 in 20 ends up cracking the first team and I use the rest to try and pump up the Hungarian League.

Debrecen, Videoton and Gyor have benefiting the most with Diosgyor and Kaposvar also having benefited in the past. However Ferencvaros and Ujpest seem to avoid my players like they have the plague and they've been two of the very best. It seems that the mixture of me helping and my own performances in Europe paved the way for other clubs. By helping Debrecen and Vidi I managed to get a few good teams that would consistently perform in Europe and as such it allowed other clubs to join in on the action. Ujpest are a strange beast though as they were actually the first club outside me to do well in Europe and they did it entirely of their own ability. In fact, Debrecen armed with 2 strikers that currently (8 years later) star for Real Madrid, a midfielder who stars for Barcelona and a centrehalf who now wears the armband for Spain managed to come 6th one season. So yeah, the AI can on occasion build a really good team in a smaller nation that is getting better.

So yeah, essentially I got players and sold some real gems to other Hungarian clubs, but a couple actually did it entirely on their own and in fact the most impressive achievement of the lot was Ujpest making it to the Champions League final a few seasons back. Fun times!

That's great to hear

I remember last time I did something like that (FM07?), the gap between my club and the others was silly. There was no way any of them were even going to get into the group stage of the CL.

That's great to hear

I remember last time I did something like that (FM07?), the gap between my club and the others was silly. There was no way any of them were even going to get into the group stage of the CL.

Debrecen have become fairly beastly with a bit of my help. Though they're not so fond of it anymore. They've mauled Palermo (the best club in Italy) 4-0 already in the Group stages of the Champions League. Gyor aren't looking so crash hot though this season. Sadly Vidi (who have an amazing side this season) didn't make the top 4 and are as such in the Europa League.

Ujpest are of course plodding along... They beat Liverpool 2-1 recently.

Is offering them cut price players the only thing you've done? Have you done anything like giving them money?

Is offering them cut price players the only thing you've done? Have you done anything like giving them money?

Just cut price players really. I did help Debrecen out once or twice by preventing one of their best players from leaving on a cut price due to a release clause. I basically had him sealed signed and delivered and then delayed it until the window was over. Though it made the player hate Debrecen for some reason, so I've stopped that. They reinvested the money well. What was odd was one season Debrecen essentially had a fire sale and didn't replace key players. They had a first team squad of 11 at one point that included 2 keepers! They still made the last 8 the of Champions League, but that was on the back of two very good players, one of which I wish I didn't sell to them.

What sort of database did you load?

What sort of database did you load?

11.2 standard (I think...), Hungarian Divisions I and II, English Premier Division down to Blue Square Bet Premier, La Liga, Serie A, Brazilian First Division, South Africa Premier, MLS and the A-league. Large database with around 41,000 players.

Thanks