FM 2008: Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers are a club from Blackburn, Lancashire. They are perhaps most famous for winning the title in 1995 under Kenny Dalglish. They finished 10th in the league last year, and have an Intertoto Cup place that should get them into the UEFA cup. They play at Ewood Park and have recently been the target of a potential takeover.

The challenge is to slowly make Blackburn great again and increase the pedigree of your players over a number of years, with a view to being one of the big boys once again. Blackburn are one of the less financially affluent clubs in the league and this adds to the challenge, though the squad is pretty strong to start with.

The majority of people who play Blackburn I'm sure will be fans but I heavily recommend playing with Rovers to anyone. With such great forwards and wingers the emphasis is on attacking, exciting football.

Honours:

1911-12, 1913-14, 1994-95: League Champions

1884,1885,1886,1890,1891,1928: FA Cup winners

2002: League Cup winners

Recent League Record:

2001-02 38 12 10 16 55 51 +4 46 10

2002-03 38 16 12 10 52 43 +9 60 6

2003-04 38 12 8 18 51 59 -8 44 15

2004-05 38 9 15 14 32 43 -11 42 15

2005-06 38 19 6 13 51 42 +9 63 6

2006-07 38 15 7 16 52 54 -2 52 10

The squad:

1 GK Brad Friedel

2 DF André Ooijer

3 DF Stephen Warnock

4 DF Christopher Samba

5 MF Tugay KerimoÄŸlu

6 DF Ryan Nelsen (captain)

7 MF Brett Emerton

8 MF Robbie Savage

9 FW Roque Santa Cruz

10 FW Benni McCarthy

11 MF David Bentley

12 MF Morten Gamst Pedersen

13 DF Zurab Khizanishvili

14 MF Steven Reid

15 DF Aaron Mokoena

16 DF Stephane Henchoz

17 FW Maceo Rigters

19 MF David Dunn

20 DF Bruno Berner

21 MF Sergio Peter

22 DF Keith Treacy

25 DF Andy Taylor

26 DF Eddie Nolan

27 FW Matt Derbyshire

28 DF Tony Kane

29 MF Martin Olsson

30 FW Jason Roberts

31 GK Peter Enckelman

32 GK Jason Brown

33 GK Frank Fielding

34 GK Gunnar Nielsen

Recommended team:

4-4-2:

GK Friedel 1

DR Ooijer 2

CD Samba 4

CD Nelsen© 6

DL Warnock 3

CM Savage 8

CM Dunn 19

MR Bentley 11

ML Pedersen 12

FC Santa Cruz 9

FC McCarthy 10

Recommended additions (for 4-4-2):

- A creative midfielder who is better than Dunn

Less urgent additions:

- Perhaps new full backs

- A defensive midfielder to replace Savage who is getting old and eating up the wage bill.

Im a Rovers fan and always play as the mighty blu and white halves. Ive just got to the end of the demo nad i thought i would give fellow blackburn players some hints and a review of how its gone.

PLAYERS OUT

Robbie Savage - Wigan £2.3m

Jason Brown - Hull £1.6m

Tony Kane - Preston £1.5m

Martin Olsson - Peterborough £230k

Raffa De Vita - Preston £100k

Griffiths - Stoke £75k

PLAYERS IN

Sidwell - Chelsea Loan £31kpw wages

Flamini - Arsenal Loan £15kpw wages

Modric - Dinamo £3.8m + 20% next sale £32kpw

Ignashevic - CSKA Moscow Free £34kpw wages

Aaritalo - Turun(sp) £180k + 15% sale £17kpw

January Transfer Window

PLAYERS IN

Carvalho - CSKA £3.7m compensation £22kpw wages

FORMATION

Flat 4-4-2

Attacking LB, defensive RB.

1 very defensive minded CM, 1 neutral CM.

Long arrow on the RW/LW.

Target man supply mixed.

PREFERRED STARTING LINE UP

GK - Friedel

DR - Ignashevich

DL - Warnock

CB - Samba

CB - Nelsen

RW - Bentley

LW - Gamst

CM(def)- Sidwell

CM(neutral) - Reid

TS - Santa Cruz

FS - McCarthy

SB1 - Enkelman

SB2 - Ooijer

SB3 - Flamini

SB4 - Modric

SB5 - Roberts

SB6 - Emerton

SB7 - Derbyshire

KEY PLAYERS- games inc sub apps

Santa Cruz - 27 games, 14 gls, 11 ass, 7.26avrg

McCarthy - 27 games, 22 gls, 7 ass, 7.33avrg

Sidwell - 24 games, 5 gls , 3 ass, 7.13avrg

Warnock - 25 games, 5 gls, 3 ass, 7.07avrg

Gamst - 29 games, 2 gls, 7 ass, 7.07avrg

Bentley - 28 games, 5 gls, 5 ass, 7.04 avrg

Samba - 25 games, 0 gls, 3 ass, 7.00 avrg

Ignashevich - 23 games,0 gls, 2 ass, 7.00 avrg

INTOTOTO CUP

Won 5-0 on agg against NK Zagreb

UEFA CUP

Beat Kefalik of Iceland 7-0 on agg in the first qualifing round, then B.Jerusalem 4-2 agg in the second. Qualified from a group with At Madrid, Palermo, Grasshopper and Jablonec. Drawn Werder Bremen in the next round.

LEAGUE CUP

Beat Leeds, Pompet and Newcastle to end up in the semis v Chelsea.

EPL

5 place after 19 games on 35 points with a game in hand.

Overall well chuffed.

Great stuff - you use Santa Cruz as a TM? He doesn't have the stats for it yet (though apparently he will with the full game or patch).

My first game was with Rovers and in that I player up till November just trying to learn all the new things in 08. Have started again and so far:

In:

Andrey Arshavin - 6.5 mil

Justin Hoyte - loan

Out:

Steven Reid - 3 mil to Newcastle

Robbie Savage - 3 mil to Man City

I think I sold Roberts to Derby too but I can't actually remember.

Tried to get a DM to replace Savage and bid for Lorick Cana of Marseille with 6.75 mil. Marseille accepted but the deadline came before he accepted (or rejected contract). I'm stuck with Mokoena for DM with no backup and I can't seem to loan Flamini (despite him being listed) - perhaps you can only loan one player from a club. If someone can confirm this I'll get rid of Hoyte.

Team is 442 Diamond

Friedel

Emerton/Ooijer/Hoyte

Samba

Nelsen

Warnock

Mokoena (and hopefully Cana in Jan)

Bentley

Gamst

Arshavin/Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz/McCarthy

McCarthy/Arshavin/Derbyshire

Results so far (early days):

Chelsea away: 0-0

Newcastle home: 1-1

West Ham away: 3-3 (Santa Cruz hatrick, was annoyed I didn't get all three points here - I don't think I've grasped defense in 08 yet with the new closing down system).

Not sure how long this will last, perhaps a season at most, depending on how well I do. Either way I'll start a real game with Rovers once I get the full version and patch (subject to my personal finances...) and hopefully by then I'll understand the 08 tactics workings (because I don't quite yet).

Santa Cruz can be played as a TM, good first touch, technique, heading, passing and creativity. If you put targrt man supply to mixed it works great.

As for your defensive woes, I keep my RB, either Ignashevich or Ooijer defensive with very few forward runs. I keep my 2 worst headers in the defense back at attacking set pieces with my def mid back if necessary. My defensive line is mid/deep with zonal marking with only warnock with forward runs.

My team mentality is set to neutral with short passes, 2/3 tempo and width.

Hope that helps you moggydave.

Trouble at Mill:

My defenders arn't playing well and my strikers arn't taking their chances (though Santa Cruz was in excellent form).

The Birmingham comment confuses me somewhat, but it was the same story, if not worse since Birmingham had barely any chances.

I will almost certainly start again with the full game (and hopefully Santa Cruz will be good in the air then.)

I can't seem to loan Flamini (despite him being listed) - perhaps you can only loan one player from a club. If someone can confirm this I'll get rid of Hoyte.

In the Premiership you cannot make loan deals outside of the transfer window. I imagine that is your problem, as far as I know you can loan as many players from a club as you like.

You got drawn against Larisa...

That's eerie...

But at least you won...

Anyone else find Rigters very effective in the demo?

Originally posted by tom orchard:

Im a Rovers fan and always play as the mighty blu and white halves. Ive just got to the end of the demo nad i thought i would give fellow blackburn players some hints and a review of how its gone.

PLAYERS OUT

Robbie Savage - Wigan £2.3m

Jason Brown - Hull £1.6m

Tony Kane - Preston £1.5m

Martin Olsson - Peterborough £230k

Raffa De Vita - Preston £100k

Griffiths - Stoke £75k

PLAYERS IN

Sidwell - Chelsea Loan £31kpw wages

Flamini - Arsenal Loan £15kpw wages

Modric - Dinamo £3.8m + 20% next sale £32kpw

Ignashevic - CSKA Moscow Free £34kpw wages

Aaritalo - Turun(sp) £180k + 15% sale £17kpw

January Transfer Window

PLAYERS IN

Carvalho - CSKA £3.7m compensation £22kpw wages

FORMATION

Flat 4-4-2

Attacking LB, defensive RB.

1 very defensive minded CM, 1 neutral CM.

Long arrow on the RW/LW.

Target man supply mixed.

PREFERRED STARTING LINE UP

GK - Friedel

DR - Ignashevich

DL - Warnock

CB - Samba

CB - Nelsen

RW - Bentley

LW - Gamst

CM(def)- Sidwell

CM(neutral) - Reid

TS - Santa Cruz

FS - McCarthy

SB1 - Enkelman

SB2 - Ooijer

SB3 - Flamini

SB4 - Modric

SB5 - Roberts

SB6 - Emerton

SB7 - Derbyshire

KEY PLAYERS- games inc sub apps

Santa Cruz - 27 games, 14 gls, 11 ass, 7.26avrg

McCarthy - 27 games, 22 gls, 7 ass, 7.33avrg

Sidwell - 24 games, 5 gls , 3 ass, 7.13avrg

Warnock - 25 games, 5 gls, 3 ass, 7.07avrg

Gamst - 29 games, 2 gls, 7 ass, 7.07avrg

Bentley - 28 games, 5 gls, 5 ass, 7.04 avrg

Samba - 25 games, 0 gls, 3 ass, 7.00 avrg

Ignashevich - 23 games,0 gls, 2 ass, 7.00 avrg

INTOTOTO CUP

Won 5-0 on agg against NK Zagreb

UEFA CUP

Beat Kefalik of Iceland 7-0 on agg in the first qualifing round, then B.Jerusalem 4-2 agg in the second. Qualified from a group with At Madrid, Palermo, Grasshopper and Jablonec. Drawn Werder Bremen in the next round.

LEAGUE CUP

Beat Leeds, Pompet and Newcastle to end up in the semis v Chelsea.

EPL

5 place after 19 games on 35 points with a game in hand.

Overall well chuffed.

Sounds like your doing well, Tom, what are your other tactical settings, i have been experimenting with a 4-3-3 and a 3-4-3, playing with 3 strikers seems to be very effective, derbyshire and rigters are very good, i'm annoyed at Roque's mental settings for a striker though and McCarthy's composure is too low

You got drawn against Larisa...

That's eerie...

But at least you won...

In the demo because they are pre-saved games the fixture list are always the same (as each other, not real life, but the chances of facing Larisa are high, providing Laria win their games).

who do you guys use as cover for Warnock?

why do you guys all tend to sell Savage? He is the best DM in the game and will be in good condition for another 3 or 4 years(probably because of his high fitness)

Christopher Samba is FB !!!

I use andy taylor as cover for warnock

Im a Blackburn Fan so they are always the team I play when FM08 comes out (not demo)

Season 07/08

Transfers.

Players Out:

Brett Emerton to Wigan: 1.1 m

Steven Reid to Portsmout: 3 m

Jason Roberts to Derby: 950k

Aaron Mokeana to Derby: 750k

Kizvanishvelli to Fulham: 1.1m

Various reserve players like De vita etc.

Total Income 7.5m

Players In.

Mauro Zarate from Al-Sadd: 3m

Breno from Sao Paulo: 6.5m

Pablo Piatti from Estuendientes: 700k

Total Outcome: 10.25m

I bought Zarate because I play 3 up front and need a lot of strikers. Breno was to cover for Samba and Nelson, because although he is a wonderkid only 17 at start of game.

Piatti was a cheap option to add an attacking dimension to the midfield.

Team

GK. Friedal

DL. Warnock

DR. Oojier

DC. Samba

DC. Nelson

MC. Piatti

MC. Savage

MC. Pederson

FC. Zarate

FC. Santa Cruz

FC. Mccarthey.

Subs: Breno, Bentley, Enklemen, Tugay, Rigters, Derbyshire, Henchoz and Peter.

The Season.

Euro Vase: Knocked out first game against Sloven Liberac after drawing both games 1-1 at home and 0-0 away.

League Cup: Knocked out 4th round at home to Arsenal 1-0

Fa Cup: Knocked out 4th round to Tottenham 3-2 away.

Premier League:

After a slow start and tweaking my tactics, around the Xmas period my team found form and had a 8 game winning streak. This form was to continue, with the odd patch for the remainder of the season. I was in 3rd position for the run in, with a gap between me and league leaders Utd and Arsenal, and Spurs and Man City snapping at my heels. I maintained my form to finish my first season as Manager of Blackburn as 3rd in the Premier League (also my first season in FM 08). Next Season its Europe for the lads!

Best Players

Benni Mcarthey: Finished 2nd highest goalscorer behind Rooney with 21 goals (was injured for a month).

Piatti: This wonderkid finished 2nd in the best signings of the season, A world class player for 700k.

Samba and Ryan Nelson: Great Defensive partnership

Other good players that season were. Savage, Friedal, Oojier.

Dissapointing players

Santa Cruz and Zarate didnt exactly set the league on fire. Santa Cruz only getting 9 goals in 29 appearances. (somehow i still finished the premier leagues top scoring team). David Bentley too proved innefectual, but I realise playing a 4 3 3 with 3 CMs isnt his best position, same with Gamst.

Other players of note were Derbyshire and Rigters who are both very good strikers and cover so consider keeping both.

Coaching and Staff

The whole Blackburn staff need a big overhaul. So I sacked were economical viable and replaced them with quality coaches and scouts. Mark Bowen left half way through the season to go and manage Doncaster?? so was replaced with CSKA Moscow Fitness Coach Paulo Paixeo who in my opinion is of a higher quality.

The board also accepted my requests to enhance both the youth and senior training facilities and at the end of the season agreed to expand the Stadium. Even after my 3rd position finish the board are just satisfied, praising the purchase of Piatti but not pleased with the purchase of Breno who needs to convince the fans.

Started a new game with Blackburn. gone with a safe mid table finish but only have 3m to spend hence the lack of transfer activity

Players in:

Aaritilo 60k

Collins John (Season Loan)

Players out:

Loads of reserve players which has only brought me in 245k.

Apart from that it is the same squad.

My best XI is

gk: Friedel

rb: Emerton

lb: Warnock

cb: Nelson

cb: Samba

rm: Bentley/Aaritilo

cm: Mokoena

cm: Savage

AM: Santa Cruz

cf: Mcarthy/Derbyshire

Season so far:

League P7 W4 D2 L1 Poi 14

Uefa: Qualified for group stage

League Cup: Into Rnd 4

FA Cup: Not yet entered

Liverpool (A) drew 1-1 McCarthy

Bolton (H) won 3-1 McCarthy, Cruz & O.G

Wigan (A) won 0-1 Santa cruz

Chelsea (H) Lost 1-2 Mokoena

Birmingham (H) Won 2-1 Pederson, Santa Cruz

McCarthy Injured 3 weeks

Metalist (H) Uefa Won 3-0 Derbyshire 3

Fulham (A) Won 3-4 Derbyshire 2, Pederson & Savage

Fulham (H) League Cup Won 2-0 Pederson, Derbyshire

Villa (A) Drew 0-0

Metalist (A) Uefa cup 2nd leg won 0-2 (0-5agg) Warnock & Roberts

Will keep you updated as to how things progress.

I'm a Dagenham and Redbridge fan but I follow Blackburn in the Premiership for some very odd reason. Blackbrurn are my FM Team. I'm currently just one friendly away from the start of my second season. I finished 11th in my first season. I got knocked out of the Euro Cup in the first knockout round after the group stage against Seville 4-2 on aggregate. I made it to the semis of the League Cup but got knocked out by Man Utd although I did beat Arsenal along the way. Everton beat me 4-3 in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

My Current Starting line up looks like this:

Kuszchek

Marciniak Samba Jones Mattock

Gosling

Bentley M.G.Pedersen

Gomez

Santa Cruz Janczyk

Enkleman

Nelsen

Skjelbred

Torje

Derbyshire/Acuna

Transfers:

In: Price: Current Value:

Bjarne Ingebretsen 16k 1.2m

Maciej Korzym 250k 1.8m

Dan Gosling 1.4m 3m

Tomasz Sokolowski 825k 2.1m

Per Ciljan Skjelbred 1.7m 4.7m

Prudnikov Alexandr 1.7m 2.3m

Daniel Chavez 85k 1.3m

Artur Marciniak 50k 875k

Luis Paez 110k 1.5m

Gabriel Torje 3m 2.8m

Lewis Stevenson 2m 2.3m

Jakob Johansson 50k 50k

Joe Mattock 2.8m 2.8m

Yann Sommer 6k 6k

Javier Acuna 3.7m 3.7m

Tomasz Kuszczak 2.2m 2.2m

Billy Jones 2.5m 2.5m

Dawid Janczyk 4.8m 4.8m

Chrus Maguire 2.9m 2.9m

Alejandro Gomez 1.9m 2.1m

Out: Price

Robbie Savage 950k

Andy Howarth 90k

Brad Friedel 2m

Bryan Hodge 45k

Jason Roberts 2.2m

Tugay 120k

Steven Reid 4.2m

Maceo Rigters 1m

Keith Treacy 700k

Rostyn Griffiths 55k

Martin Olsson 500k

Benni McCarthy 2.7m

Brett Emerton 4.5m

Sergio Peter 900k

Totally changed the team, now all I really want is Igor Akinfeev. I have 17m for transfers at the moment which is at least 10m too little. Even if my bid is accepted he has no interest coming to me so I have just offered him a mother of a contract.

Im massive BRFC fan and ive just started my career i always seem to do well at first its little hard to find them gems but when you do it pays off here are some of my screenshots:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/cm_punk/RoversSquad.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/cm_punk/Results.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/cm_punk/Signings.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/cm_punk/League.jpg

Im using BIGD'S tatic and so far its working a treat for me with a tweak here and there

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/cm_punk/Lineup.jpg

Ill let you know i i get on

PS I also lost 1-0 to Birmingham and my fans were pleased because they are a more reputable team.

I played the six month demo with Blackburn and was suprised with how well I did.

Tactics

I used a Barcelona inspired formation, a flat back four, 2 central midfielders with back arrows to defensive midfielders, 3 attacking central midfielders and a lone frontman.

Team instructions are to play narrow and direct with a quick tempo.

Transfers In

Piatti (100k)

Aaritola (250k)

Transfers Out

Warnock to Everton (5M)

Formation

GK - Friedel

LB - Taylor

RB - Emerton

CB - Nelson

CB - Samba

CM - Savage

CM - Mokoena

AM - Gamst-Pedersen

AM - Piatti

AM - Bentley

CF - Aaritola

Piatti is an absolute god i threw him in right from the start in the central position of the 3 attacking midfielders and he scored 18 goals and 12 assists from 22 starts including hat-tricks against Man U and Everton. Aaritola also played well with 11 goals and 5 assists from 19 starts and also bizarrely coming runner up in the European Striker of the Year award.

McCarthy is a super-sub he scored 14 goals from 5 starts and 11 substitute appearances, all his goals coming as a substitute.

Gamst-Pedersen also played well with 5 goals and 16 assists from 22 appearances, just as the game ended I was negotiating a bid with Arsenal of 5M plus Denilson and Flamini for him.

After 18 games I was 1st in the Premiership with 15 wins and 3 losses scoring 43 and conceding 22. I qualified easily from the UEFA cup group but got Bayern Munich in the first knockout stage in February.

In all competitions I scored 73 and conceded 34.

Hmmm Don't seem that anyone other than me has completed an entire season as Blackburn manager yet? or at least not with a result that they want to share with others

EPL: 3th

Liga Cup: Out first round

FA Cup: Out first round

UEFA Cup: Out in the 2nd. knock out round

Started off badly in the EPL with looses against Villa and Arsenal, but then I found a decent run with some victories, some draws and some games lost. After Xmas me team began to play really well beating Benfica in the 1th. knock out round and only going out against Roma in the 2nd. knock out round on penalties after loosing 1-2 in Rome and winning 2-1 at Ewood Park. As the season came to a close I was in a battle with Arsenal and Liverpool for finishing 3th, 4th or 5th in the league. An away win at Old Traffort followed by a home with against Liverpool, left me in 3th. place befor the last game of the season. A game that I would loose 3-1 away to Champions Chelsea (who won the EPL with 17 point down to nr. 2 Man Utd, and 28 points down to me in 3th. place) but as Arsenal lost 1-3 at home to Bolton and Liverpool couldn't catch me, the 3th place was mine

Team (4-5-1):

Friedel

Emerton

Warnock

Nelson

Samba

Addo

Rigters

Savage

Reid

Gamst

McCarthy

Also used (more than 10 matches): Ignashevich, Andreasen, Boateng, Aaritalo and Santa Cruz

Gamst won the Players player of the year, and together with Reid he was included in the Players team of the year with Rigters on the bench

McCarthy was my topscorer with 23 goals in 35 matches we Reid comming 2nd. with 13 goals in 33 matches

Players in:

Addo - PSV - Free

Evans - Man Utd - Loan

Kewell - L'pool - Loan (not used much)

Sapara - Rosenborg - #1.2m (sold on)

Aaritola - Turun - £400k

Ignashevich - CSKA - Free

Boateng - Beitur - £825k

Cardenas - Bucaramanga - £300k (reserves)

Andreasen - Werder - Loan

Piatti - Estudiantes - £875k

Szamotulski - Dun Utd - Free (reserves)

Players out:

Olsson - MK Dons - £1m

Brown - Crystal Palace - £1.3m

Cane - Norwich - £825k

Sapara - Portmouth - £7.5m

Players comming in:

Flamini - Arsenal - Free

Bouma - Aston Villa - Free

Just got a £20m transfer kitty to spend, so there will be more new faces at Ewood Park

Im trying to complete my season with Rovers now, i have done about half and so far my reasults have been mixed.

Line up (4-2-3-1)

GK:Friedel

RB:Emerton/Zurab

CD:Nelsen/Guagua

CD:Samba

LB:Warnock/Nelsen (Nelsen was recommended be bowen)

AML:Gamst

CM:Savage/Mokoena

CM:Reid/Dunn

AMR:Bentley

AMCunn/Piatti

CF:McCarthy/Santa

Played this formation for 16 games and got 23 points.6 Wins 5 Draws 5 lost.

Semifinal in LEAGUE CUP vs Tottenham.

UEFA CUP first knockout round vs Panathinaikos.

Fourth round in FA CUP.

Players in:

Guagua

Piatti

Sidnei

Tirunfo

Scribe

Sburlea

Jourdren

Doudin

Corradini

Samuel

Edu Valle

Angulo,Marvin

putilo

Cristaldo

San Ramon

Malul

Alamo

Most of these players have been bought for about 100k-300k. Except Sidnei for about £1.3m

Players Out:

Jason Brown - Hull £1m

Jason Roberts - Derby £2m

Tugay - Sunderland £400k

Tony Kane - Norwich £700K

Raffaele De Vita - Verona £100K

Might add that the last 4 games i haves switch to 4-1-3-2.

And played 2-2 against pool, 4-1 against United!!, 7-0 against Aldershot, and 1-1 vs tottenham.

Some stats: From attacking players

Player/Games/Goals/ass

Bentley:21/5/5

Gamst:21/0/6

Reid:9(5)/1/1

Dunn:17(4)/2/9

Piatti:11(6)/3/3

Peter:0(4)/0/0

Rigters:0(4)/1/0

Derbyshire:3(9)/4/0

McCarthy:14(3)/11/5

Santa:11(4)/8/5

Current 10 in PL made 38 Goals and Conceded 38^^

Will update as soon as im finished with the season!

just started a game with blackburn

currently selling and buying players before the season starts

i have noticed that there isnt alot of staff at the club, is this an area that i need to upgrade -- any suggestions on which staff to approach??

might startv a game with blackburn looks a good challenge to try and win epl and the cups any suggestions who to sell

just started a new game with blackburn, signed a few young players, but looking for a young midfielder to play alongside either tugay or savage, both will need to be replaced but a season wih the 2 of them will be about it i think, i've signed piatti but looking for some1 slightly more experienced, i'm just about to sell emerton for 7m to villa so i should have aabout 10m to spend also looking for a lb to caver for warnock.

Try Sidwell on loan from Chelsea, and the left back try Potenza who can play as a back left or right.

Just started as blackburn not doing to good.

Team

Brad Friedel (GK)

Leo Schwechlen (LB)

Brett Emerton (RB)

Vincent Kompany (DC)

Sebastien Squillaci (DC)

Aaron Mokoena (DMC)

Zdravko Kuzmanovic (MC cost me 12m)

David Dunn (MC)

Steven Reid (AMR)

Morten Gamst Pedersen (AML)

Benni McCarthy (FC)

Buys

Zdravko Kuzmanovic 12m Fiorentina

Vincent Kompany 12.5m HSV

Sold

David Bentley 28m Newcastle

Ryan Nelsen 7.5m West Ham

Andre Ooijer 2.5m Birmingham

Results

1st Game Lost 3-0 Portsmouth

2nd Game Lost 2-1 Man Utd

3rd Game Lost 4-2 Bolton

4th Game Lost 2-1 Sunderland

5th Game Draw 2-2 Reading

6th Game Lost 2-0 Tottenham

7th Game Won 4-0 Aston Villa

8th Game Won 2-1 Ipswich L/Cup

will post rest later

Reading this I feel a little sick that I seem to have let David Bentley go on the cheap. Playing with 8.0.2 patch I thought I was being quite prudent to force Man City's offer up from 4.5m to 8m, but now I'm rethinking that as a bit of a disaster. Also regretting my decision not to sign a recognised keeper as the fans are fed up with the mistakes that Friedel is making and are telling me that I should be considering his future due to his age and recent form.

On the positive side I signed Oscar Trejo from Mallorca and after a slow start he is forming a promising partnership with Roque Santa Cruz. Currently in October after only starting the game this morning and Santa Cruz is already on 14 goals in all competitions while Trejo is following up with 6 in 11 appearances. (That after not scoring in his first 6 games, but with a hattrick in the most recent match against Portsmouth)

The real surprise package at the moment is David Dunn. I didn't have too much money to spend and couldn't lure a decent AM so I'm sticking with the local lad and he's been on fire lately. He burst on to the scene for me when Steven Reid got injured and he went on to score 3 goals in 2 games and provide 4 assists in 6.

Despite these few positives I am regretting blowing most of my budget on Adrian. Maybe I should have let Ryan Nelsen go to Villa considering his poor form, but my greed got the better of me in those negotiations. Happy that I rejected a 6m bid from West Ham for McCarthy, I had considered it, but I didn't think Roberts and Derbyshire would be quite so good in reserve if one of my main strikers gets injured.

After winning through the Euro Vase against some minnows I also got through the first round of the UEFA Cup before I was knocked out by a team with strangely brilliant greyed out players. If that disappointed the board it was nothing compared with the league form. I foolishly experimented with a 3-5-2, employing Nelsen, Samba and Ooijer at the back with disasterous consequences. I was scoring goals quite regularly, but a 6-3 defeat to Everton was a sign of just how bad these tactics were. A further embarrassment, 5-1 at the hands of Arsenal left me considering my future, but I switched to a conventional 4-4-2 and it pulled us out of the slump with a 2-0 triumph over derby rivals Bolton.

Following this I was edged out 1-0 by Arsenal and 2-1 by Liverpool. Quite depressed with my league form and being out of Europe the pressure was mounting, but a run of games against lesser opponents and a League Cup victory over Leicester saw me begin to turn it around by the end of September. Hoping to kick on and get into the running for Europe by Christmas, but its going to be tough. Maybe some reinforcements in January, especially at the back. Will give a more detailed run down of signings and results at the end of the season.

Playing with Rovers again with 8.0.2 and am coming up to Christmas. Has anyone had the problem of Nelsen being on International duty for a long time (since late November) despite New Zealand seeming to have no upcoming games.

Anyway the team is 442, I've been fiddling with diamonds and combinations of AMs and DMs.

GK: Friedel (excellent)

RB: Emerton (leaving in January with Paulo Ferreira to replace)

LB: Warnock (has been poor but noone to really challenge his place)

CD: Samba (beast at corners)

CD: Nelsen (good untill he disappeared)

MR: Bentley (awesome amount of assists, but Real Madrid have come in, I forced them up to £20mil )

ML: Pedersen (quiet, not spectacular, looking to involve him more)

DM: Fernando (from Bordeaux, has been good)

AM: Dunn (very good suprisingly)

FC: McCarthy (was flying until injured in November for 3 months)

FC: Santa Cruz (impressive, far better on the patch)

I'm looking for a right winger to replace Bentley (I'm loathed to loose him but Real Madrid are the biggest club on the game - he was going at about an assist a game). I'm thinking Arshavin or Jarolim. Anyone got ideas?

Anyway I'm 8th atm challenging for Europe. Home form is third best in the league and away form is third worst - I could be in for Champions League if I can learn to play away.

Got to QF's of League Cup and was annoyed that I managed to loose to Fulham at home. Scraped into Euro 1st Knockout and have Zaragoza (ouch).

i'm doing rubbish so far with rovers.

Friedel

Warnock

Emerton

Samba/Nelsen

Medjiani/Nordveit

Ponzio/Reid

Sankhare/Mokoena

Mati Fernandez/Alex Teixeria

Zarate/Pedersen

Barnes/Bentley

Goitom/McCarthy

spent alot, 2nd season so rubbish

try changing your tactics and giving some of the fringe players a chance. The second season is quite hard but with the 7 subs it gives u a chance to promote some youngsters .

Originally posted by MixitupMixitdictator:

i'm doing rubbish so far with rovers.

Friedel

Warnock

Emerton

Samba/Nelsen

Medjiani/Nordveit

Ponzio/Reid

Sankhare/Mokoena

Mati Fernandez/Alex Teixeria

Zarate/Pedersen

Barnes/Bentley

Goitom/McCarthy

spent alot, 2nd season so rubbish

How do you play ponzio? im trying to utilise his excellebt ppm but he doesnt seem to do alot?!

and also how much did u get sankhare for?

Playing Rovers again with 8.0.2 and have completed the first season and ended up as nr 6 in the table.

FA Cup and liga cup: Out in first round.(Played with youngsters)

UEFA cup: out in the 2ad knock out round against FC Bayern on the away goal rule..

I have been playing 4-2-3-1 with following lineup.

GK:Friedel (Great!)

RB:Emerton (Is never happy..)

LB:Warnock (Has been poor, but is the best i got)

CD:SAmba(Beast at corners!)

CD:Nelsen(Good untill christmas)

MC:Mokoena(picks up alot of yellow cards)

MC:Tugay/Camacho (Tugay done last the whole season)

AMR:Bentley(Keept him all season, but got big clubs after him)

AMCunn/Santa Cruz (Dunn and Santa have both been good but not great)

AML: Pedersen/Dunn ( Gamst was playing regular untill he picked a 5 month long injury)

FC:Santa/Mccarthy (Both been good but not great, also used Matt and Roberts some here.

Goals:MA,GA.

Samba 47,26

McCarthy 16(20),17

Santa Cruz 46(1),16

Ass:Ma,Ass.

Bentley 43(1), 39

Dunn 47,12

Santa Cruz 46(1),10

Only got 1 player that played regular in the first line up and that was Camacho.. otherwise i just bought youngsters.

Will update at the start at next season.

I've just had a 20M bid for Bentley, I'm almost tempted to sell, but I will need a replacement so who will be the ideal replacement for him? I'm playing on 8.0.2 by the way.

Just restarted my Rovers career thanks to an horrific crash dump, and signed Malik Mouath al-Hawasawi for 2.7m. He's got finishing of 20 and has already formed a good partnership with McCarthy at the start of the season. I also got Duda cheap from Sevilla because he was transfer listed. With Duda taking corners, Samba has been a goal machine from the set-pieces.

any suggestions guys, quick reply needed

How the hell do you guys get so much money for bentley...he's always chud for me!

bentleys ace, defo my star man.

p15 g9 a7 mom3 ave 7.56

Sold bentley to Real Madrid at the end of the first season. Thier first offer was 10m and Gonzalo Higuain in the offer..ofc i accepted it but Higuain didn't want to come to me..

So the second offer the offered me 20m..so i accepted it and he went..bought Jimenez for 3m instead...

Bentley is one of the rovers stars I've sold for over 40 mil before (good old liverpool) regretted it ever since.

Ok its time to push the Rovers I have to say I read lots of posts for people asking for a challenge well here it is yes the budget is a measly 4 million, But thanks to GOD (Hughes) you start with a team that is easily capable of sneaking into the top four. With the likes of Friedel, warnock, Samba, Bentley, Gamst, Cruz and McCarthy attacking football is a must. The supporters come back in droves and after a couple of seasons you can get an expansion to 45000 and fill it. The potential is there waaiting for you to realise it so come on all you FM fans give it a go you won't be dissapointted

Well i have played 2 and ahalf season now... must say the season 2 is the hardest one i have played..bought players like Banega,Motta,Jimenez, Barnes, Bellamy.. but didnt even end up in top 10..might have some to do with alot of new players comming in.

3, Season have started much better only problem is that i need to replace defenders and GK..

Barnes And Santa have been Superb so far. Both have been score alot of goals. I will update when this season is over.

Started with the Rovers on the 8.0.2 patch. Doing ok so far, some unlucky losses, solid draws.

I had difficulty bringing in an AM with the measly budget. VDV actually agreed to come but couldn't complete the transfer.

Got in Danny Simpson for cover at RB, Ropotan for cover at DM.

Lulinha coming in next season.

Just finishd the first season with Blackburn, finished 8th in the league as predicted by the media

Could have finished higher if the board hadn't accepted an £23.5m offer for Samba from Sevilla in the January transfer window. Manuel Friedrich was brought in as an replacement but he hasn't been able to lift Samba's goalscoring record from corners

Other players in: Mota, Koryt'ko (7.53 avr and 19 goals ), Mihelic, Lupatelli (loan), Jorge Rojas, Lorik Cana

Players arriving in the summer. Nicolas Frey (free transfer) Ignacio González (free transfer), Bernard Mendy (free transfer). Gonzalo Pineda (£2.5m), Mario Santana (£1.7m)

Inter, Real Madrid and Valencia are bidding like crazy for Bentley, but I'm not selling before I get a £30m+ offer

But my star player this season has been Benni McCarthy with 51 goals in 56(1) matches

Team:

GK) Friedel

DR) Emerton

DL) Warnock

DC) Friedrich

DC) Nelson

DM) Cana

DM) Reid

AM) Bentley

AM) Koryt'ko

AM) Santa Cruz

FC) McCarthy

To the good stuff

Won the league cup final against Arsenal 1-0 (Benni)

Won the UEFA cup final against Liverpool 1-0 (Benni x 2) Friedrich was out as he had played in Europe before, Nelson was injured, so I played the final with Mokoena and Zurab in central defence, and as Reid was injured and Cana had played in Europe before I had to move Emerton into DMC together with Mihelic

Hoping to get some money in the summer to bring in a beast of a defender to head in the corners

I'm thinking of switching to 4-5-1 as well as the midfield look rather lightweight.

Didn't know samba was worth that much, I almost accepted a 10m offer for him.

Benni Mccarthy has been hit with a long term injury so my only hitman now is Santa Cruz.

Originally posted by DKB:

Inter, Real Madrid and Valencia are bidding like crazy for Bentley, but I'm not selling before I get a £30m+ offer

The off course John Williams steps in and accepts an £14m offer from Real Madrid, I only had £31m in the bank and all debt was cleared

Just started an 8.02 game with Blackburn for a change. Never managed them and fancied abit of a challenge. Also, within 2/3 seasons they're always round about 3rd place with santa Cruz banging them in.

With only £3million to spend who should I be looking to sell immediately, and what tactics work best with the likes of McCarthy and Santa Cruz?

Cheers

Couldn't be bothered tweaking and playing around with tactics with this save so I've gone and used Kimz tactic with a few tweaks here and there.

So far, the seasons alright. After a very shaky start I'm now 6th. 5th is still in reach even if it's a 5 or 6 point gap.

Beat arsenal in the FA cup. Dominated the whole match too.

Ok, I've been a bit greedy and am bringing in 3 AMCs next season. pablo Piatti, Lulinha and Luis Jimenez. I already have Wijnaldum.

Jimenez will fit instantly into my first team but the rest will have to fight it out with David Bentley and Benni Mccarthey.

Should I sell MGP and for how much? With the 3 AMCs tactic he fails to fit into the team. Love the fella but his ratings have dropped since I've switched to this tactic.

Also I might sell Reid as even though he's been good for me this season, he's too average.

started a game with Blackburn any 1 else currently them?

Currently in my 1st season played 24 games and sitting at 10th in the Premier League on 34 points.

Ive had 8 wins 10 draws and ive lost 6.

I had a transfer budget for just £3M which i didnt use in the 1st window

In the first window i managed to get Chris Eagles and Steve Sidewell on loan to boost my Midfield.

By not spending the orignal £3M i had managed to get my budget up to £10M throught profits.

During the January Transfer window i managed to sign Abubakari Yakubu a DC, DR for £6.25M and loaned Roberto Batres again to give me more options in Midfield. I also managed to sell Andre Ooijer to derby for 350K along with Stephane Henchoz to Swansea for 95K.

Im still in the Euro Cup coming top of the group winning 3 games and drawing 1.

My top Goal Scorer is Matt Derbyshire with 19 then Santa Cruz with 17 followed by Samba with 15 and McCarthy with 10

As no one is posting in here though id update you on my current transfer deals in my first season i finshed 6th so im in the Euro cup next season.

2nd season transfers go like this:

Players in:

Ignacio Gonzalez - Free

Thiago Motta - Free

Oscar Ustari - £4.1

Mathieu Flamini - Free

Fermamdp Vega - £6.25

Sergio Mota - £5.5

Andre-Pierre Gignac - £5

Total £21M

Players Out:

Jason Brown - £2M Derby

Martin Olsson - £1M Southampton

Kieth Treacy - £650k Sheff Wed

Jonathan Bateson - £28k Sheff Wed

Johnny Flynn - £90k Dundee

Andreas Arestidou - £10k Rotherham

Total £3.8M

After 18 games im sitting 4th in the table with 36 points. Santa Cruz has 19 goals in all comps Gignac 13 goals in all comps Samba 11 goals all comps Derbyshire 5 goals Gonzalez 2 goals Pedersen 5 goals Bently 7 goals