Lower League Teams

Does anyone else play the game the proper way and start at the lower league sides and work there way up? Most of the threads I have seen refer to glory hunters going straight into Managing your man u's and barcelona's! Come on lads, wheres the challenge when you have a world class squad and loads of money?

I myself will be going Luton Town, cant get anymore challenging then that!

Does anyone else play the game the proper way and start at the lower league sides and work there way up? Most of the threads I have seen refer to glory hunters going straight into Managing your man u's and barcelona's! Come on lads, wheres the challenge when you have a world class squad and loads of money?

I myself will be going Luton Town, cant get anymore challenging then that!

I am going for my local team Exeter City. Quite a tough challenge. I do agree with you though, what is the point in manageing a team who are already world class it brings no challenge.

notts county for me

Currently playing as Stenhousemuir :o

if you look around you'll come across the lower league manager forum for people that like starting outside the football league or at the lowest tier in whatever country they choose to start in. You should go check that out -_^, not sure if Luton count as LLM however

Personally i like starting without a club and no reputation and seeing who will offer me a job for my first club.

if you look around you'll come across the lower league manager forum for people that like starting outside the football league or at the lowest tier in whatever country they choose to start in. You should go check that out -_^, not sure if Luton count as LLM however

Personally i like starting without a club and no reputation and seeing who will offer me a job for my first club.

You are right, in the LLM forum a game starting with Luton is too high a tier to start a game with as we start at the lowest playable level and play the game as realistically as possible. The sticky thread at the top of the LLM forum explains all what LLM is all about

I've gone Luton because they have a 30 point deduction not because I class them as the lowest of leagues. Just thought id clarify!

Stoke City for me in FM09, survive the first year in the prem, and then begin the march up from there!!

I always start of as unemployed and hopefully see where that gets me. I love playing it this way

Am starting unemployed as an Englishman with no reputation and hope to see if a lower league Italian team will hire me.

Am starting unemployed as an Englishman with no reputation and hope to see if a lower league Italian team will hire me.

That does sound like a challenge. They seem to have concentrated on the language side of things in the demo (I have a player struggling in games due to the language barrier, so my assistant tells me anyway!) Be interesting to see where you end up!

Does anyone else play the game the proper way and start at the lower league sides and work there way up? Most of the threads I have seen refer to glory hunters going straight into Managing your man u's and barcelona's! Come on lads, wheres the challenge when you have a world class squad and loads of money?

I myself will be going Luton Town, cant get anymore challenging then that!

I take offence at your glory hunters remark! I manage at the top because I like it! Harrumph!!

In the interest of trying to restore some purity to myself, I've changed my mind about managing Roma on FM09. I'm mulling over a number of lower league options. My second team (after Man. United) is Southport, so I might give them a go. But I've also thrown Darlington, Notts County and Rochdale into the hat. The non-lower league teams with an outside chance are Roma and Derby. I can only give reasons for being interested in Southport and Roma. The others are just completely random possibilities.

I always start with a Lower League team. I am in no way a LLM snob who sets all these limitations for myself-no offense to anyone from the LLM forum.

But I agree that there is no challenge in jumping into the game as an unkown manager and going straight to a world class club. I enjoy simulating a career which begins at some lower league club and working my way up; either with that club or with a more prestigious club as my reputation grows. The only time I start at a big club is when I first purchase the game each year and just want to get a feel for the new version. All my real games begin in the lower leagues.

I always start with a Lower League team. I am in no way a LLM snob who sets all these limitations for myself-no offense to anyone from the LLM forum.

But I agree that there is no challenge in jumping into the game as an unkown manager and going straight to a world class club. I enjoy simulating a career which begins at some lower league club and working my way up; either with that club or with a more prestigious club as my reputation grows. The only time I start at a big club is when I first purchase the game each year and just want to get a feel for the new version. All my real games begin in the lower leagues.

Something I often wonder is this; why do people criticise top-level management for not being challenging? I mean, we all know it isn't particularly challenging, but not everyone wants a challenge. I manage at the top for the fun of managing the club I support. I'm not looking for a challenge.

Does anyone else play the game the proper way and start at the lower league sides and work there way up?

There's no such thing as "the proper way". I start numerous save games with a range of different challenges because I don't like to just play one style, be that with a big club or starting at a small club. It's like buying a house with 8 rooms and only living in 2 of them while the other 6 gather dust.

"The proper way" would be to start unemployed and never get offered a job because most of us we know naff all about real football management and have no past experience as a player or any coaching qualifications...but that'd make for somewhat of a boring game!

Also, I regard people "bragging" about how low they are starting as being just as bad as people bragging about success while starting at a big club! The LLM forum is a basically an inverted brag forum!

"The proper way" would be to start unemployed and never get offered a job because most of us we know naff all about real football management and have no past experience as a player or any coaching qualifications...but that'd make for somewhat of a boring game!

That's slightly untrue as, in the game, our real life experience isn't relevant. In the game, we have whatever experience we set ourself with at the start. So the 'proper way' would be dependent on what past experience you give yourself. If you set yourself to 'Sunday league footballer' then the way you just described would indeed be the 'proper way'.

That's slightly untrue as, in the game, our real life experience isn't relevant. In the game, we have whatever experience we set ourself with at the start. So the 'proper way' would be dependent on what past experience you give yourself. If you set yourself to 'Sunday league footballer' then the way you just described would indeed be the 'proper way'.

Well, that's the point I'm making - people saying starting at the bottom is "the proper way" are talking nonsense because we create an in-game persona for ourselves that has some level of experience - creating myself in-game with International experience is only a few steps further away from realism than the already totally unrealistic situation of me being appointed a football manager at any club, with no experience!

Something I often wonder is this; why do people criticise top-level management for not being challenging? I mean, we all know it isn't particularly challenging, but not everyone wants a challenge. I manage at the top for the fun of managing the club I support. I'm not looking for a challenge.

Even "top-level" management depends who you manage anyway. Managing the worst team in the EPL is a lot more challenging than managing the best team in the Conference North!

I manage Newport County from fm 05 i think, still no Premier league trophey, maybe on fm 09

Even "top-level" management depends who you manage anyway. Managing the worst team in the EPL is a lot more challenging than managing the best team in the Conference North!

Which, as we all know, is the mighty Southport FC!

I will be playing as Gateshead now we are in the Conference North. I used to edit them in, but now I don't have to bother. I really cant wait. tick tock tick tock.

Im going to give Gateshead a go , after I start off managing Newcastle

I will be playing with Histon, as I do every year (well since they were promoted to the BS South) :-)

I'll probably have a game where I edit Whitley Bay into the Conference North although don't know how far I'll get - in FM06 it was 20 seasons and fantastic success, albeit behind Newcastle for the last 5 seasons because I was managing them also , in FM08 it lasted just 1 season.

Gateshead don't really appeal to me - wrong side of the river...almost Southerners

I'll probably have a game where I edit Whitley Bay into the Conference North although don't know how far I'll get - in FM06 it was 20 seasons and fantastic success, albeit behind Newcastle for the last 5 seasons because I was managing them also , in FM08 it lasted just 1 season.

Gateshead don't really appeal to me - wrong side of the river...almost Southerners

Maybe you ought to have a bash at Blyth Spartans, then. Northern enough for you?

the game aint worth playin if u havent got to do at least 1 promotion to get to the top league

the game aint worth playin if u havent got to do at least 1 promotion to get to the top league

Maybe for you. But not everyone is the same.

Maybe you ought to have a bash at Blyth Spartans, then. Northern enough for you?

I did once, but it didn't hold my attention for long (not because of Blyth Spartans, just because ~90% of the save games I start don't get out of the start gate - I need to be in the right mood to crash through the boredom of pre-season and actually get into a game and I keep getting excited about different potential challenges on different days, excitement that has generally faded before that end of pre-season

Whitley Bay are my local team though so I have more of a connection even though I've never been to watch them!

the game aint worth playin if u havent got to do at least 1 promotion to get to the top league

Well, if you are bad enough to get relegated first season with a top club then that'd solve that problem

from cm 3 ive been liverpool the entire time all the way to 08. i think 09 may be the year i give a challenge a go and start as unemployed and work my way up. that wont be my only save of course i will have a liverpool one possibly a at. madrid one and maybe southampton and an italian club for a change

That does sound like a challenge. They seem to have concentrated on the language side of things in the demo (I have a player struggling in games due to the language barrier, so my assistant tells me anyway!) Be interesting to see where you end up!

I did a test on the demo and I applied for a job with a Serie C1 team and got it immediately so hopefully it shouldn't be a huge problem getting a job in the retail version.

I'm a lower league man. All the football I've ever watched is lower league and I wouldn't swap it.

Shall start with hometown team of Shrewsbury, as always do (which this year are a good start for someone looking to not do a top-level game) and then shall do a unemployed game with LLM rules.

I think I'll start off with Basingstoke this year. Hard to attract players because it's such a poophole.

New Conference North/South regulations this year too, where you can't loan a whole load of players.

Starting with a lower league team is the best way to play, and the only real way to show your FM skills imo.

i love starting with a lower league team, i just hate leaving when i get a better job offer

Does anyone else play the game the proper way and start at the lower league sides and work there way up? Most of the threads I have seen refer to glory hunters going straight into Managing your man u's and barcelona's! Come on lads, wheres the challenge when you have a world class squad and loads of money?

I myself will be going Luton Town, cant get anymore challenging then that!

Well i never picked man U or Barcelona. I pick my team that i support or even start in a lower division. Its great, and in my opinion way better them managing a first league team.

I love the challenge of starting unemployed with a Sunday league footballer reputation running every league available and applying for all the job that arise. Usually I end up with a team in the Irish or Northern Irish lower division(s). Great sense of achievement when you win promotion this way, having used your skill as a manager to try and pick out talent on free transfers with little wage budget and mold a team together from next to nothing.

hometown team barrow afc for me everytime!!!! the challenge of seeing how high i can get them in the blue square premier and hopefully one day take them back to the promised land of the football league, done it in the previous FM titles so hopefully can do it again. getting excited now, going to be class!!!

Well I'm a die-hard AFC Wimbledon fan so that's who I'll be taking charge of. Time to recreate past glories and take them all the way to the top and the FA Cup final!

Well I'm a die-hard AFC Wimbledon fan so that's who I'll be taking charge of. Time to recreate past glories and take them all the way to the top and the FA Cup final!

I didnt realise they would be on it this year! I have a lot of respect for them. Shows the power of true football fans!

I didnt realise they would be on it this year! I have a lot of respect for them. Shows the power of true football fans!

Yeah they really are something special, and the fans (like myself) LOVE the team and everything they stand for. There's nothing quite like standing on the terraces on a dark, cold, and wet Saturday afternoon in December singing your heart out for the team with hot tea in one hand and a dodgy pie in the other. Good times!

AFC Telford !

Real union de irun

i am crewe.

This is how I always play my FM games.

I start unemployed and work my way up, although usually after a few seasons at a top club (if I get that far into the game), I take a position at a lower league club again since I find the challenge of lower league management much more rewarding, especially after let's say 10 seasons of up and downs and finally you get that top flight title, or even better, a European trophy.

Ah the glories of LLM.

Real union de irun

Good luck beating Madrid there

Poli Ejido sounds nice too

But ill choose Luton

I start unemployed and see what FM can throw at me, generally don't like to change clubs, my aim is to win the title (any team)

This year I will start with Dafuge's challenge

This is how I always play my FM games.

I start unemployed and work my way up, although usually after a few seasons at a top club (if I get that far into the game), I take a position at a lower league club again since I find the challenge of lower league management much more rewarding, especially after let's say 10 seasons of up and downs and finally you get that top flight title, or even better, a European trophy.

Ah the glories of LLM.

and after all that, you might get to be manager of England and guide them to international glory...

/drool

fm09 is soooo close....

i've never started a game in the top division of any country

currently Dundela in Northern Irish second division

My dad, my brother & I always start our first games in League 2 with random reputations & random clubs (although in the past due to age correction my brother & I set reputations). I will only manage a top flight team if i've earned the job or Millwall find themselves up there and want me to manage them

LLM isn't for some because of the perceived snobbery (I do not perceive it personally) by them if you do even one thing differently. If you want to manage Man U or Barcelona go for it, you paid for the license to play FM so you should do so in whatever way you enjoy, be that at the top, the middle or the bottom.

My first game will be L2, 2nd will be unemployed with every league activated & my third will be the only game with "Real Players" where I start as Millwall manager.