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Another "team from scratch" challenge


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Right, this challenge is for anyone who enjoys playing with rules. Also, this is for those who are fed up of buying the same players over and over again. The general idea is to basically develop a team of essentially youngsters and try to achieve the extremely high ambitions of the board. Anyone who decides to go for it, you'll have to give 10-15 mins to read all of this as its quite a bit. All I can say is that although it looks confusing, its really not once you start playing.

Couple of points before I start:

(a) I deleted Derby County off the face of the earth to develop this challenge (sorry Derby fans).

(b) Because my team is now in the Champions League, I had to remove Liverpool from that competition. Since they are a big team, I decided to at least give them UEFA Cup football which in turn made me remove Bolton from that competition (sorry Liverpool and Bolton fans!)

PLEASE NOTE: I have only changed the PA of ONE player in the game and that is Aaron Ramsey. This was a mistake on my part but it remains on the database none-the-less. As it will be the same for everyone, I don't see any point in changing it. He is now a -9PA player.

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Basic Information

- You will be the manager of London United. The club has maximum reputation. It also boasts of state-of-the-art training and youth facilities.

- The minimum expectation of the board is to challenge for the Premier League title and to reach the finals of the 3 cup competitions - Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup.

- You are given a budget of £100M to build your team. This is the maximum amount you are allowed to spend in the first season. The wage budget is set at 500K/week. You will be given a healthy bank balance to avoid going into debt. Please note: You are NOT allowed to change your transfer budget to give yourself more money to spend and also even though your wage budget will be more when you start the game, you're not allowed to exceed the above limit.

- Your assistant manager will be Dennis Bergkamp who will be very good from the start of the game so you will not have a problem there. Please note: the game will probably create 2 regen staff for you - a physio and a coach. In all probability, they will be rubbish. If you don't want them, you are allowed to use FMM to terminate their contract without paying compensation.

- The stadium is a 55,000 seater. The minimum attendance is 42,000 and the maximum attendance is 65,000. There is an expansion capacity of 15,000 as well.

- At the start of the game, you will have only 2 "real" players in your squad - Giles Barnes and Ben Foster. Since Derby have been deleted from the game, all their other players are available on a free transfer. You are NOT allowed to sign any of them except for DAVID JONES. I include Ben Foster because unfortunately you cant sign him until his injury heals (he always fails the medical). So he'll stay in you reserves until he's fit to play. I include him because he'll come in handy when I explain some of my rules and regulations. Please note: If you decide to sell Ben Foster, 50% of the fee will go to Man Utd

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RULES AND RESTRICTIONS

Please note: These rules are general rules and will apply for all seasons. Some of them are specific for season 1 only but that will either be mentioned, or it will be obvious as you read it.

1. There should be at least 30 players brought into the team.

2. There should be at least 16 players in the first team squad.

3. There should be at least 5 English players in the first team squad.

4. The squad should largely consist of players of 22 years of age or less. The maximum TOTAL amount paid for any such player is £7.5M. The total amount takes sell on fee into consideration as well. For eg, you are not allowed to buy a player for £7.5M + 10% sell on fee as the value of the transfer is more than £7.5M.

5. You are allowed to purchase 2 players 27 years of age or over each season for your first team squad if you desire. The maximum amount you are allowed to pay for them is £10M for each player. However, you are NOT allowed more than 3 players who are 27 years of age or over at any point in your first-team squad. So in season 2, if you wish to purchase another 2 players who are 27 years of age and over, you will HAVE to sell one of the existing players in your squad of that age.

This does not include tutors (see rule 9).

6. It follows from rule 5 that you are NOT allowed to purchase any player between the ages of 23 and 26. This only pertains to purchases. Obviously, any player bought while aged 22 or less can continue in your squad till desired.

7. No player can be signed whose wages exceed 50K/week. However, any amount of salary can be paid to a current player if offering a contract extension.

8. Rules 4, 5, 6 and 7 do not apply to any English player purchased (for the definition of an English player, please see below). That means, you can purchase an English player for any price, offer him any salary and he can be of any age.

9. You are allowed to sign any number of players for tutoring purposes. These players will be restricted to a maximum of 10 starts per season (5 starts if bought in January). They can be brought on as substitutes as many times as desired though. These players MUST be identified as "tutors" when posting your transfer summary.

10. You are allowed a maximum of 1 loan signing per season of any age. This player should only be used as a backup, in case of injuries or off the bench. That is, he should be the 3rd choice for whatever position you've got him for. If your first 2 choices are both injured or banned, then this loanee can play.. There is no restriction on which player you can loan in.

11. There should be at least 3 players aged 20 or less in every match-day squad of 16 in Season 1. There will be NO exception made in case of injuries. You will have to play a youth player if you neglect to have sufficient cover.

12. There are no restrictions on what league or players you load at the start of the game.

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EXCEPTIONS AND ALLOWANCES

I add these to make a few things a little simpler for people. You don't have to take these into account unless you're struggling with some signings.

1. Please refer to Rule No.5. The exception is that you can sign a player who is only 26 at the time of purchasing. However, he should be 27 before the transfer window closes. For e.g, if you buy a 26 year old in the first transfer window, he should turn 27 before or on 31st August. I add this exception because I notice that there are a few players that you can buy who fall under this category. Also, their price might increase if you wait until they hit their 27th birthday.

2. You ARE allowed to sell players in Season 1 as well if you desire. However, keep in mind that the maximum amount you are allowed to spend in Season 1 is £100M and no more. With the extra money you make off player sales, you are allowed to purchase a player for NEXT season. When you negotiate a deal for the player, make sure that in the offer you put the transfer date as "end of season (England)". This purchase must obviously conform to all other rules posted above and below

3. For season 1, you ARE allowed to use Genie Scout or FMM to look up players PA's and look for any regens that might have been created by the game. This is entirely your choice.

4. For season 1, if any of the players you attempt to sign are declined a work permit, you ARE allowed to use FMM to change their second nationality so they can sign for you.

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ENGLISH PLAYERS

Due to a confusion in what constitutes an English player, here is the clarification:

- a player is English if he has England as his first nationality and is eligible to play for the England National team. If he has nationality of another country as well, he will be counted as English UNLESS he declares himself for that other country.

- a player is English if he has England as his second nationality AND has also got "declared for England" in his profile.

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RULES AND RESTRICTIONS (SEASON 2 AND BEYOND)

Please note: As stated, these rules apply to season 2 and beyond. They are in addition to the ones posted above

(A) You are only allowed to spend £30M per season to reinforce your squad from season 2 onwards regardless of what budget you are handed. This figure does NOT include any money made from player sales. That is, you can buy new players for £30M + money made from player sales.

(B) Since from season 2 you allowed 7 players on the bench, you must not have ATLEAST 18 players in your first-team squad.

© If you sell a current player for a particular amount, then you are allowed to buy another player for the same amount or less as long as his age is within the limits of Rule 4 and Rule 5 above.

(D) If a current player of yours is sold by your chairman (i.e, without your consent), you are allowed a replacement for the amount the player is sold for + 10M more. Please make sure you take a screenshot when the chairman steps in and accepts the offer. You will need to provide it should any user ask for it.

(E) If you're buying a player in a part exchange deal involving a current player of yours, then the value of that deal must not exceed the limits set in Rule 4 and Rule 5. In this case, your current players screen value will be taken into account. For e.g, if you are buying a 27 or over player (say Amauri). Say Palermo demand £11M for him. You negotiate a deal to include a current player of yours whose on-screen value is £3M (say Defour). Now you are allowed to offer Palermo a deal of: Defour (whose value is £3M) + £7M for Amauri. The total of that deal comes to £10M - which is the limit set for a 27 or over player.

(F) Any one of your current players can be converted into a tutor. Say for example you bought a 29 year old in season 1 and are not happy with him or his stats have dropped off. Yet, you want to keep him around for tutoring. You are allowed to do so. However, his first team appearances should then comply with Rule 9. This will player will then NOT be counted as part of the 27 and over first team players.

(G) In season 1 you are required to have AT LEAST 5 English players for your first team squad and the rest can be any nationality. So:

- If you have exactly 5 English players in your first-team squad, you are allowed to sell a maximum of 1 per season.

- If you have between 6-8 English players in your first-team squad, you are allowed to sell a maximum of 2 per season.

- If you have 9 or more English players in your first-team squad, you are allowed to sell a maximum of 4 per season.

- You are allowed to sell a maximum of 3 non-English players from your first-team squad.

- There is no limit on how many reserve/youth players you can sell.

Note: The general rule of at least 5 English players in your first-team squad applies for all seasons.

(H) FREE TRANSFERS (Pre-contract agreements):

- You are allowed as many free signings as you desire of players aged 22 years or less.

- You are allowed a maximum of 3 free signings of players aged 27 years or more. However, this needs to comply with Rule 5 whereby you can have a maximum of only 3 players aged 27 year or more in your first team squad at any point in a season.

- You are allowed as many free signings as you desire for tutoring purposes. Their first team appearances should be in accordance with Rule 9.

- If a player is aged 22 at the time when offering a pre-contract agreement but will turn 23 by the time he joins the club, he will be considered a valid signing.

- If a player is aged 26 at the time when offering a pre-contract agreement but will turn 27 by the time he joins the club, he will be considered a valid signing.

Please note: The free transfers will also need to comply with Rule G (season 2 and beyond) which sets out the maximum number of players you are allowed to sell per season. So make sure you don't buy too make 27 and over players on frees and then are forced to sell a key player who's over 27. The point has been made now so no excuses later!

(I) Every year at least 1 player from the reserves/youth should be promoted to first team action (either first team or rotation). This is NOT compulsory in season 2 however.

(J) In season 2, there should be AT LEAST one English player starting every game played in the year (unless all the ones in the first team squad are injured at the same time!). This figure will go up by 1 every season till season 4 where there will be at least 3 English players starting every game in the season. The 3 English players in the first team rule will apply for all further seasons.

(K) Lastly, from season 2 onwards, the 500K/week wage budget restriction has been removed. This is because you might need to offer some of your key players hefty contracts before they sign on for you. However, you are NOT allowed to go over a wage budget of 1M/week at any point in the game.

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I think that's about all that should be required. I figure this might not be an easy challenge. With a team as young as you will have, it will be very hard to challenge for the title and achieve the other aims of the club. But this will provide a great opportunity to people who're tired of playing with the same players again and again. And it will also encourage developing youngsters by yourself and turning them into wonderkids instead of just buying world-class players all the time. The caps will also make it very tough to buy the same old players like Matias Fernandez, Jeremy Menez, Hugo Lloris etc etc. And I figure this could be a long-term game as well for people who keep re-starting after every 2 seasons because it will take a little time to develop your youngsters into quality players. So give it a go!

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Here are the links to the database:

Link 1: http://files.filefront.com/London+Utdzip/;10710195;/fileinfo.html

Link 2: http://www.sendspace.com/file/dpu862

I assume most of you will know what to do. To those who dont:

1. Unzip the files to your "My Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2008/db/London Utd" folder.

2. Start the game and choose the "London United" database.

3. Load as normal.

A couple more points before you start the game:

1. I couldnt manage to arrange the finances properly. The transfer budget is £100M. But the wage budget far exceeds 500K/week. Its the fault of the editor btw, not mine. So anyway, you've got two options here: either use FMM to decrease your wages to 500K/week or leave them as is but you CANNOT exceed the 500K/week limit.

2. When you are asked to select the seasons expectations, you only get two options: title challenge and winner. You HAVE to choose title challenge. You are not allowed to adjust your budget in any way to give yourself more money.

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NOTE PLEASE: If I make any additions to the rule henceforth, I will ask one of the mods to post it below all of the above. It will be posted in bold so you shouldn't have any problems looking it up. Keep checking back to the opening post every now and then to see if there's been any addition. I don't expect there to be though. Thanks.

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You will need to upload the database. It wont work otherwise, as you've edited database info.

The in game data editor is rubbish for being able to give money. I think the max 200m on 10k rep. But it drops fast.

And lol, far to many rules for me. I'd have to spend so much time checking over whether i'm allowed to do this or not..

And with such rules... its a challange. Not a new club. And so this should really be in the challange forum.

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Thanx for the feedback and opinions. The reason I didnt put it in the challenges forum is because I'm not sure how it'll work out just yet as I'm also just starting it myself. I have no idea how things will pan out. Like I said in the post, the board expects you to pretty much compete for everything. And with the restrictions I have, it might be next to impossible to do so as the players probably wont be good enough. I'll probably take it there once I've tested it out. Was hoping some other people would want to give it a go none-the-less with me.

Anyway, I guess I'll have to get to uploading the whole database then. Will try to put it up before the end of the day. icon_smile.gif

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Just to see if I've basically go this right hulk...(sorry)

First season, I must have 30 players(minimum), 28 must be U-22 and cost no more than £7.5m.

The other 2 must be 27+ and no more than £10m.

Wages must be below £50k (unless signing extensions)

All the above rules are scrapped for English players

My starting XI must have a minimum of four U-20's.

Can you clarify rule 9?, how old is older? or does it not matter but they can only play 10 games, or infinite subs.

Loaning is simple enough

Just checking I've got this right? And it kind of breaks it down into more readable chunks.

Thanks

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liam_everton89

Thanx for trying it mate. I'm currently trying to sort out a few small details and then will get uploading.

You've got most of the rules right. A few corrections:

- The 2 players who are 27 years of age or over are not complusory. But if you wish, you can buy them.

- Rule 9 applies to players of ANY age really. They will esentially be brought in for only tutoring the youngsters and thats it. They will NOT be counted as part of rule number 5. These players MUST be identified as "tutors" when you post your transfers. Hope that clears it up. But you might need to give them a couple of games here and there to keep them happy or to open the tutoring option.

Any other questions, please fire away. I'm online right now and should be for a while.

I've got a few other clauses that I thought of. I'll post them shortly. Like I said before, this is still ongoing and even I'm not certain of every rule! Hopefully though, the ones in the next post will be the final ones atleast as far as season 1 is concerned.

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TheFuzzyOne

Lol. Its actually pretty simple mate. There are just a few things that you need to keep in mind and would just take a little time to read through my post. But the gist of it is that you need to take a team full of undeveloped youngsters and try to match the clubs VERY high ambitions. This would just get people away from signing those same players again and again and also would be great for people who keep getting bored after a season or two as these youngsters would need some time to blossom. Anyway, give it a go if you wish. icon_smile.gif

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Shut it you! No wise-cracks about the dial-up! icon_biggrin.gif

Its uploading right now mate. Says time left: 1hr 8 mins. So should be up in a maximum of say one and a half hours I reckon. Just hope that the connection doesnt get interrupted! Dial-ups are notorious for messing up at the last moment!

I'm uploading it on file front at the moment. I hope thats ok. I'll put it on rapidshare as well later.

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Originally posted by sherica-:

i'll give it a try too.

izzit right that there are only 2 players in the squad in the beginning, Barnes and Foster and we need to sign 28 more players within a budget of 100mil?

Yes, in a nutshell!

TBF to anyone saying it's comlicated I've read through it twice and it's simple!

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liam_everton89

TBH, I've not yet thought about that. The general rule will still apply that the player must be 22 or under OR 27 and over. I'm just going to have my dinner in a bit and will give it a little more think. Safe to say that nobody will be able to finish a season for atleast the next 10 hrs or so. So I'll try and post some rules I come up with for season 2 and beyond before that. Just need to give it a little think. If you have any suggestions, I'm definitely open to hearing them.

sherica-

Thanx for trying. And yes, there will only be 2 players at the start. Ofcourse, the game will create regen youth players when you start as well. Those are not counted. Do remember that Foster is injured for 7/8 months at the start of the game. So you will need to take that into consideration when buying a GK.

Giles Barnes is also injured for about a month at the start, but I removed that injury from him so thats one less thing to worry about.

I played this game a little bit (until about September) before I started changing a few things. If you want a couple of tips for the start, the read on. Else, stop now:

- You will always need 2 GK's in your team atleast. Since Foster is injured for a long time, it is wise to make that 1 loan signing a GK. Like I said, he can play if both your players for the same position are injured/banned. So it'll be within the rules.

- Make one of your 27 and over signings a striker. You'll find it hard to get a consistent striker who is 22 and under.

- You can get a very good CB pairing with players 22 or less. You wont need an older guy here. Remember that. You can also find a good LB who'll be cheap and under 22. RB might be a slight problem but not a big one.

- Now this happened to me when I started: since your club has a big reputation, you are expected to win the league by the media. So even though I've not added any teams as your rival, the other teams challenging for the title will consider you a rival. Might be hard to get players off them. Keep that in mind while jotting down potential transfer targets.

I'll give more tips as and when I think of them. I'll put a warning before I do so if someone doesnt want to read, they can avoid it.

Update on time remaining for upload to finish: 43 minutes (give or take a few).

I'm off to eat dinner. Will be back in a bit.

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Right, the upload is finally done. Here's the link guys:

London United

I assume most of you will know what to do. To those who dont:

1. Unzip the files to your "My Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2008/db/" folder.

2. Start the game and choose the "London United" database.

3. Load as normal.

A couple more points before you start the game:

1. I couldnt manage to arrange the finances properly. The transfer budget is £100M. But the wage budget far exceeds 500K/week. Its the fault of the editor btw, not mine. So anyway, you've got two options here: either use FMM to decrease your wages to 500K/week or leave them as is but you CANNOT exceed the 500K/week limit.

2. When you are asked to select the seasons expectations, you only get two options: title challenge and winner. You HAVE to choose title challenge. You are not allowed to adjust your budget in any way to give yourself more money.

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I'm going to start a game now as well. If I come across something which isnt meant to be, then I'll post about it. Hope you all enjoy!

P.S: Please dont mind the created names etc. I've not got a very creative mind! icon_redface.gif

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Sorry for the double post:

Could someone please let me know as soon as they've download and set up their game? I just want to know if its working. Check the transfer budget etc and see if it is all ok. Thanx a lot.

I'll be on the forum atleast until the Germany-Portugal match starts. I'll keep checking back here so please do let me know in case of any problems or questions.

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Originally posted by theincrediblehulk:

Have you put all the files under another folder (eg: London United).

So bascially all files should be in My Docs>SI>FM08>DB>London Utd>put file here

See if that works?

I didnt really understand that, so I will change it a little.

I enturpreted (sp)that as put it in DB, and extract it there, not in a London Utd folder.

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icon_biggrin.gif Clever man!!

I did try that, but I called it London United, so it may have to match up to the XML file and be London Utd, oh well underway now, just choocing what leagues etc, I'll put my first update once the transfer window ends, I may be some time choosing my signings though!

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Took nearly a whole 3 minutes to download, damn slow filefront. Anyway sorry to ask a stupid question, I originally read it that all of the players below 22, the grand total of these players bought must not exceed £7.5m. After re-reading I now think that is per player? Should make it a bit easier xD.

Looks a good challenge I best get to work. So if I loan a really young player who is awesome, next season I am allowed to bid above the £7.5 million too right?

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Zellix

Thanx for trying it out mate. icon_smile.gif

3 minutes to download? Show-off! Took me more than an hour to upload! icon_mad.gif

- Yes, the £7.5M limit for players 22 and under IS infact PER player. Remember, it says players 22 and under. 22 year old player CAN be bought.

- If you loan a player and you play him while neglecting other players you've bought for that position, you HAVE to bid for that player. You cant back out by saying "they're asking for too much". You'll have to make their asking price somehow. So make sure that played wont be ridiculously priced as it will effect your other transfers.

Hope that cleared it up. icon14.gif

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sure that played wont be ridiculously priced as it will effect your other transfers.

Thanks icon_biggrin.gif. One last question. I know in the rules it says about different stipulations about signings but also says other stuff about English players. So essentially I can sign any English player regardless of price, salary and age? So if I buy a 28 year old English fella, does he not count as one of the guys above 27?

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Thanks for clearing that up, I just wanted to be 100%.

Yeah the problem is that the XML file is called "London United" and if you straight unzip it the file is called "London_Utd". I didn't realize at first but now the database is recognised so I can load the game and take a look icon_smile.gif.

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My new computer is on the floor as I haven't transfered all my stuff across...so this took longer to start than it did download :/. About 10 minutes with all the players loaded!

Anyways...Giles Barnes is fit on mine at the start of the season although Foster is out.

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Originally posted by Zellix:

My new computer is on the floor as I haven't transfered all my stuff across...so this took longer to start than it did download :/. About 10 minutes with all the players loaded!

Anyways...Giles Barnes is fit on mine at the start of the season although Foster is out.

Yeah hulk said he "un-injured" him to make it a bit easier, bloody pre season friendly when I'm like 3 days in, your having a laugh!

Staff are sorted now, and first few players in, already thought of players I could of got instead though

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Originally posted by liam_everton89:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Zellix:

My new computer is on the floor as I haven't transfered all my stuff across...so this took longer to start than it did download :/. About 10 minutes with all the players loaded!

Anyways...Giles Barnes is fit on mine at the start of the season although Foster is out.

Yeah hulk said he "un-injured" him to make it a bit easier, bloody pre season friendly when I'm like 3 days in, your having a laugh!

Staff are sorted now, and first few players in, already thought of players I could of got instead though </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

30 seconds later he's injured in pre season...

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Lol how unlucky is that? I actually support Derby County (thanks for destroying us Hulk :p) and the guy is always injured. Maybe it's because we're not a big team but he never even seems bothered. He's pure class though.

I started with this regen coach who has 6 stars I think in ball control so not looking so bad. I'm making a shortlist now although it'll be hard (imo) to get a team consisting mainly of 22- to challenge United or Chelski. Should be fun. I already made a mistake! I accidentally joined with my manager which I use for vacation so I had to resign on the first day and do my stuff again.

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Another question (just want to be sure I don't break rules icon_biggrin.gif). 5 English players must be in the first team squad...so it's okay if all 5 were substitutes I presume?

I've been looking and their a few very good players available...if I can get them. I think players that are capable of challenging for the title with these restrictions are few and far between so it's important to get your first choice signings. Their are a couple of Brazilians I've been looking at who look good but probably won't get permits, although in the first season that won't matter. I suspect signing several tutors may be useful though.

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liam_everton89

Thats unfortunate mate. How long is he out for?

A True Fan

What positions you struggling with?

Zellix

Yes, they can be 5 substitutes mate. Thats no problem.

As for tutors, if you want my advise, dont sign any tutors just yet. Leave it for the end if you have cash left.

Anyway, me off to watch the match for a while! Will keep dropping in here inbetween though.

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