Jimbokav1971

I save manually on the 1st of each month. I saved on 1st Jan 2055 as normal, and then did the update on 1st Feb 2055. Usually I save 1st and then do the update but on this occasion I did the update, (which is actually done as the month progresses in a different tab), and then before I press continue I make sure I save if I haven't saved already. I had posted the Jan update but not yet progressed away from Feb 1st so hadn't saved yet. You might wonder why I don't just set it to save manually on the 1st of each month and I don't have a reasonable answer for you. I guess it's just a control thing. I just don't like doing it.

I don't think this one was FM related. I know it caused FM to crash, but I think it was caused by me watching a live football stream in full window mode while FM rund in the background. (Casting from my laptop while FM is running also causes a crash). Fingers crossed we won't see continued issues.

Apologies for the lack of updates, but I've just had another crash and it means I have to replay the Jan fixtures and it's just really annoyed me and every time I go to load up the game I just can't be bothered.

He was Scottish 1st, (born in Alloa), and Uzbek 2nd, so not quite so weird. He's had a decent career, spending much of it in Italy, but is back in Scotland now and 2nd choice at Hibs. Thanks for making me look at this because I've just noticed that the Hibs 1st choice GK, (who is actually decent in matches), is 5'10" and maybe that's something we can exploit, (especially with his really low aerial ability.

Completely agree. That's the challenge. I know Youth Only makes it harder, but I've really struggled to field 6 centre-backs, (3 in the 1st Team and 3 more in the 2nd Team), all the way through this save. I don't think I've managed it at any point. Add in that ideally you also want at least 1 big midfielder and 1 big striker and it becomes far more problematic. I look at Rangers with envy at the moment with all their giants.

I gave it some thought after my post and I think I would allow myself to sign all Academy produced players, (simply because that's the way I like to play), but more actually with a view to moving them on for cash rather than playing them loads. In terms of a min height, i think in terms of feet and inches rather than cm, but I think 6'0" or 183cm is what i would limit myself to. i'm particularly thinking about full-backs and central midfielders where I wouldn't want to limit myself too much. 190cm (or 6'2") really is quite extreme, so it makes sense that you dropped that to 185cm (6'1"). 6 foot is a nice rounded limit to stick to, (but the bigger the better obviously). I imagine that while we might have huge DC's and ST's, (and even wide players), we would still need quality on the ball in other areas.

Jan 2055. Scottish Premiership. There was only 1 league game this month, but it was a biggy as we went head-to-head with Hibs and came out on top with an injury-time winner despite the fact that we missed a pen. UEFA Champions League. 2 draws mean that we're in the Playoffs rather than the Knockout stages. Debuts. Both our 1st choice and 2nd choice GK's had the flu at the same time so we had to play a 16 year old 5'10" GK in the Champions league. Transfers. Goal-scoring GK's. (23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club). (23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club). (25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). (26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). (30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club). (31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). (33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). (37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club). (39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club). (40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). (43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 69/89 from the spot at 77%. (41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 7/12 from the spot at 58%. (Is no longer at the club). (46e) Hunter (Res) 6'0" * is 1/1 from the spot at 100%. (Is no longer at the club). Finances.

I was a bit slack earlier in the season and although I've got better recently, the relationships I've been asking for have been with a view to getting foreign youngsters through our Academy. In any case, we currently only have 3, (which is pitiful). We've had a few more domestic links, but they have been promoted to the same level as us and the link is then obviously cancelled. I really need to do better in this area.

The clauses thing is a big deal for me because it has played a large part in getting us where we are. It always interests me and I suppose I just made that post because it was something I wanted to look at, so thought I would share. I completely appreciate that it's no longer needed with our income from Champions League, but it's just habit I suppose. If I sold a player tomorrow I would still add loads of clauses into it.

Domestic dominance has to be the 1st goal, but we absolutely haven;t got there yet. We've won just 1 Premiership title and haven't even finished Runners Up in any of the other years. 1st, 3rd, 3rd. 4th, 4th, 4th are our best finishes in the league. We've done better in the Scottish Cup, making 3 of the past 4 Finals, (winning 2 of them). I really don't care in the slightest about the League Cup. I really do just treat them as friendlies, (even the Finals), but despite that we've won 2 of the last 5 Finals, and made 4 Finals in total. In terms of Europe, we haven't made a Final, but in 2051/52 we played 20 games in Europe on the way to the Quarter-Finals. I think we might be capable of winning the Europa Conference or the Europa League, but we're still a way off being able to compete at the business end of the Champions league. 2055/56 Champions League. We've made the Playoffs already and are on course to qualify for the Knockout Stages automatically. 2054/55 Champions League. Knocked out in the Playoff stage, (by Villarreal), after the Group stage. 2053/54 Champions League. Knocked out in the Playoff stage, (by Hibs), after the Group stage. 2052/53 Europa League. Knocked out in the Playoff stage, (by Real Betis), after the Group stage. 2051/52 Europa league. Knocked out in the Quarter-Final, (by Marseille). 2050/51 Europa Conference. Knocked out in the Quarter-Final, (by FC Twente). 2049/50 Europa Conference. Knocked out in the 4th Qualifying Round (by Odense Boldklub). We're actually only playing our 7th season in Europe and this season is our 3rd in the Champions League. I don't think it's realistic to expect us to be challenging to win it yet. I really don't like the new format because once you go through the Group stage, you either progress to the Knockout Rounds, or you get knocked out. I much preferred having the option to finish 4th and drop down to the next tier of Cup competition. The only way we're going to get into the Europa League, (never mind about the Europa Conference), is by not finishing in the top 2 places in the league, and even then we would have to lose the Qualifier for the Champions League . I'm not sure how realistic that is at the moment because we appear to be just chasing Hibs and are at the very least on a par with everyone else. The position ahead of us in the Nation Club coefficients has a 4th Champions league spot, and the top 4 ranked nations each have 4 spots going straight into the Champions league Group Stage. With this new format I'm not sure how we qualify for anything other than the Champions League in future years, (which is often not my strategy at all at this stage of the save). It's great for money, (which we don't need), but in terms of winning a trophy we're still a million miles away. You could argue that the reason we keep getting beat in the Playoffs is because the 2nd Team are playing in Europe, but we need to do that at the moment because the 1st Team aren't yet dominant enough in the league to afford us a cushion and some breathing space. Don't get me wrong, I would love to win the Champions league, but I'm just not sure how realistic that is. When I have done these saves before, although I have won the Europa League/Europa Conference, I'm not sure I can remember winning the Champions League many times...... I would love to have more players in the Scottish squad. At the moment we have 7 of our Academy products in the squad and 4 of them are still with us. I would love to see us completely dominate it, with 10-12+ players in the squad. Something I'm keen to do is have a player in the Goal50 awards, and then eventually win it. There was 1 Scottish player in it last season, but he's not a product of our Academy and no longer plays in Scotland, (obviously). The new feature that was introduced in FM24 where the best Academies in the World are somehow ranked is something I would love to get onto. I think being ranked #1 on that list would probably be the ultimate achievement, but I don't know exactly how that works and whether reputation drives it in any way or if it's completely down to the CA of the Academy players produced. I want to get a GK to 100+ goals, (just on pens). I would like to get to the stage whereby our 2nd Team are good enough to win all domestic games, (currently they're not). An unbeaten league season is always something to aim for. Retaining the league title is always a big thing. The record goal-scorer for the Scottish National team has 77 goals from 86 Caps and that's a target to be aware of, (although I have no plans to manager Scotland at this time). Billy Gilmour got 166 Scottish Caps before retiring and I don't think there is much chance of anyone beating that. 30 year old Jack Ferry is the most Capped player in the Scottish squad at the moment and 30 year old (41c) Hogarth (Res) 5'9" * is just behind him on 111 Caps. The most goals by a player in a Premier League season is 30 by Promise Jibrin of Aberdeen. That would be a tough target to take aim at. The record I always like to beat in a save like this is the All Time most goals in a competition, (so the 283 goal Shearer record for the Premier league or the 357 goal Jimmy Greaves record for the English top flight). Celtic have the record for most points in a season (106 in 2016/17) and as there are only a possible 114 available, that would be a stretching target to aim for.

Dec 2055. Scottish Premiership. It's a really good month with 15 points from a possible 18, but we were still the better team away to Kilmarnock and should have won never mind about drawn. Champions League. Considering the injuries, we're actually doing ok. Astonishingly really. League Cup. Let's not get carried away. It's still just a group of friendlies. We win our 3rd game on the bounce on pens, but a wins a wins a win. Debuts. The fact that we had 2 young players make their debut last month and then 3 more players make their debuts in the same game this month shows just how much we have been stretched recently. That makes it 6 debuts in 6 months. (55c) Fahie (VGB) (Res) * has been mentioned recently and although he didn't score on his debut, he did provide an assist for the opener as we beat Steaua Bucharest comfortably. 4 shots, all on target is a pretty interesting debut. He then scored a brace on his 3rd appearance against Motherwell. Again, it's interesting to note that 9 of his 11 shots have been on target. Goal-scoring GK's. (23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club). (23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club). (25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). (26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). (30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club). (31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). (33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). (37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club). (39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club). (40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). (43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 68/87 from the spot at 78%. (41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 7/12 from the spot at 58%. (Is no longer at the club). (46e) Hunter (Res) 6'0" * is 1/1 from the spot at 100%. (Is no longer at the club). Finances.

I might have caused some of this confusion by swapping between calling them Airdrie and Airdrieonians when they are 1 and the same. Airdrie is the name of the Town, just to the East of Glasgow. They were formed as Airdrieonians FC in 1878. Airdrieonians FC finished Runners Up in the Scottish First Division in 2001/02 but went bankrupt with debts of £3M. In 2002 they were reformed under the name Airdrie FC. and the plan was for the new club to take the place of the old club in the Scottish pyramid, but English side Gretna were voted in by the members instead. This is where it starts to get really complicated. Clydebank FC were another club who were struggling financially in Scotland. They were based to the North West of Glasgow, (unsurprisingly on the banks of the River Clyde). Clydebank FC had been struggling throughout the 90's and there was an ambitious plan to relocate them to Ireland, and then the Borders area of Scotland and also to Carlisle in England. (I think) the suggestion is that there just wasn't the demand for another football club in/around Glasgow. When the relocation to Ireland/Borders/England failed, the owners of the new club Airdrie FC, who had now been rejected in their bid to be accepted back in the league, (in favour of English club Gretna), bought them out completely and relocated them from the North West of Glasgow to the East of Glasgow and called them Airdrie Utd. In June 2013 they reverted the club from Airdrie Utd to Airdrieonians and started again to use their club colours/crest. And that's where we find ourselves now in real life. In the save they started in the Championship and have gone through 7 relegations and 8 promotions and now find themselves in the Premiership for the 4th successive season. They have never played in Europe.

Their Senior Team play games, and they seem to have a problem scoring goals, which makes his absence even more surprising. They also have an U20's Team.

Nov 2055. Scottish Premiership. We were good against St Johnstone, but the Airdrie game was not really a surprise at all as we were absolutely smashed to bits with injuries and while we dominated the game, we just couldn't convert our chances. UEFA Champions League. We're doing ok in Europe with a really young 2nd Team. League Cup. We rely on pens for a 2nd time to progress to the Final of the friendly League Cup. Debuts. 2 debuts for the Airdrie game show just how threadbare our squad was. Internationals. Transfers. Goal-scoring GK's. (23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club). (23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club). (25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). (26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). (30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club). (31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). (33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). (37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club). (39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club). (40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). (43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 65/83 from the spot at 78%. (41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 7/12 from the spot at 58%. (Is no longer at the club). (46e) Hunter (Res) 6'0" * is 1/1 from the spot at 100%. (Is no longer at the club). Finances.