FM10: Coventry City

History

Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues owing to the traditional colour of their strip, are an association football club based in Coventry, England. Coventry City were founding members of the Premier League in 1992.

They currently play in the Football League Championship, the second-highest tier of the English league system. Their only major trophy was won in 1987 when they beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 to win the FA Cup, a game often cited as one of best FA Cup Finals of all time. They also reached two League Cup semi-finals in 1981 and 1990.

From 1899 to 2005, Coventry City played at the Highfield Road stadium. During the 1980s it became the first all-seater stadium in English football, but by the end of the following decade the club's directors decided it was time to build a bigger stadium and chose a site in the Foleshill area of the city. The Ricoh Arena was opened in August 2005.

Club Information

Club Name: Coventry City

Club Nick-name: Sky Blues

Year Founded: 1883

Reputation: National

Legends: Clarrie Bourton, Steve Ogrizovic

Icons: Jimmy Hill, Tommy Hutchinson, David Speedie, Keith Houchen, Ernie Hunt

Favoured Personnel: Brian Borrows, Erick Black, Muhamed Konjic, Cyrille Regis, Micky Gynn, Trevor Peake

Fierce Rivals: /

Other Rivals: Aston Villa, Leicester

Finances: Secure

Average Ticket Price: £24

Average Season Ticket Price: £352

Season Ticket Holders: 9000

Estimated Value: £9 million (Loan Debt £10.75million)

Continental Qualification: /

Media Prediction: 18th

Squad Personality: Determined

Transfer Budget: £2 million

Wage Budget: 78K per week

Club Facilities

Stadium Name: The Ricoh Arena

Location: Coventry

Capacity: 32,000 All-Seater

Year Built: 2005

Owned By: 500K rent/year

Training Facilities: Good training facilities

Youth Facilities: Average youth facilities + Youth Academy

Kits

Squad Analysis

GOALKEEPER:

- Keiren Westwood is a great goalie for the championship, he will keep the zero alot. He has to be your number 1 goalie!

- Dimi Konstantopoulos isnt good enough, but just keep him on the bench and dont spend your money on buying a new bench goalie.

- Danny Ireland is just not good enough, try to get rid of him at the beginning of your game.

Star Man: Keiren Westwood

Youth Prospects: None

Recommendation: Dont spend your money on a new keeper, Westwood is one of the best in the championship, just use Konstantopoulos as a substitute.

CENTRE BACK

- James McPake is a nice substitute, nothing more then that.

- Elliott Ward should be on the pitch every game. He is a solid defender who likes to go forward on a corner and score with a header.

- Ben Turner isnt good enough for first team football, just use him as a backup.

Star Man: None

Youth Prospects: Jermaine Grandison

Recommendation: This is an area that need alot of improvement, the players available at Coventry wont do the thing.

FULL BACK

- Patrick van Aanholt is on loan from Chelsea, he is a promising fullback. Use him as substitute.

- Marcus Hall is just too old. Try to sell him at the start of your game. If you really cant get rid of him, just use him as backup.

- Martin Cranie is the best player you have for the right back position.

- Stephen Wright should be sold at the start of the game.

Star Man: None

Youth Prospects: None

Recommendation: You need to buy some new full backs. The ones Coventry has, are just too old are too bad.

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS

- Jack Cork from Chelsea is one of the stars. He is a great youth player that can make it to the top. He should be playing always.

- Isaac Osbourne is a nice sub for this position.

Star Man: Jack Cork

Youth Prospects: None

Recommendation: With Jack Cork on this position you are settled. Keep in mind his loan ends after a half season. Try to get him back then, or find a replacement.

CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS

- Sammy Clingan is a nice player and should have a spot in your team.

- Aron Gunnarsson is the best player in the whole Coventry squad. Give him a new contract at the start of your game.

Star Man: Aron Gunnarsson

Youth Prospects: Aron Gunnarsson

Recommendation: With Aron Gunnarsson on the midfield you are save for a couple of seasons. He should be able to play well in the premiership too.

WINGERS

- David Bell isnt that good, but he will do ok in the championship.

- Michael Mcindoe is the best possible solution you have for the left winger position.

Star Man: None

Youth Prospects: None

Recommendation: With only 2 wingers on your team, this is also an area that needs some improvement.

STRIKERS

- Clinton Morrison seems the best you got for this position.

- Leon Best isnt good enough for first team football, but just keep him as a backup.

- Freddy Eastwood should be sold at start of the game.

Star Man: None

Youth Prospects: None

Recommendation: This is also a weak point of Coventry. Try to buy a striker that also can play as a winger.

PREFERED BUYS

- Ritchie de Laet should join your team on a loan. He is a very promising central back.

- Jeanvion Yulu-Matondo should be bought for 170K. He is a fast striker that can play as winger too. He scored 12 goals in 16 matches for me.

- John Bostock should join Coventry on a loan. In case Gunnarsson gets injured.

- Antunes from AS Roma is a nice solution for the full back position. He costs around 825K.

- Ricardo Vaz Tê from Bolton could be loaned if you dont find anyone else for the winger position.

- Jano Ananidze from Spartak Moskou is a great attacking midfielder who can be bought for only 275K. Just get him and he will join Coventry in 2 years when you are back in the premiership.

- Iker Muniain is a promising striker who can be bought for 775K

- Thiago from Barcelona is a great sub for Gunnarsson. Only costs 200K.

PREFERED TACTIC

I used the official Celtic thread to make this Coventry layout. I played 22 matches so far and im 1st with 41 points. West Brom is 2nd with 40 points.

Sorry if there are some spelling mistakes, my native language is not english.

Nice OP

I never realised Cov's squad was so small.

I picked up Viduka, Harewood and Henri Camera on a free at the start of the season and won the league with 104 points after playing a 3-4-3 attacking formation and taking the game to them.

Clingan as defensive midfielder, gunner going forward.

My defence was weak, but i scorde 112 goals or something stupid.

My first season just ended. Didnt win the league, but got promoted by defeating Sheff Utd first and Bristol City in the final.

In the league cup I lost 1-2 against Man City, and in the FA Cup 3rd round I lost 1-2 against Sheff Utd.

My defence was weak, but i scorde 112 goals or something stupid.

Yea my defence was weak too, need to buy 2 solid defenders now im in the premiership.

Good luck in the Prem StandardFan. Have you got any players in mind for the new season?

Good luck in the Prem StandardFan. Have you got any players in mind for the new season?

I got 22M EUR to spend.

Bought Joe Hart from Man City for 2.5M EUR.

John Fleck from Glasgow Rangers for 2.8M EUR. He is natural attacking midfielder, but I was thinking to use him as a strike.

Ryan McGowan from Hearts for 6.25M EUR.

Ritchie de Laet was free and he did well in the championship 7.38 average, so I took him.

Gavin Hoyte from Arsenal for 1M EUR.

Now im still trying to get Petrov from Man City, he is 31, but can come in handy.

I want a new striker, was thinking about buying Anichebe from Everton.

And then Franck Songo'o or Jermaine Pennant for the right winger position.

I need someone who can play left and right back, but I cant find anyone. Any ideas?

Philippe Degen from Liverpool could be a nice solution I guess or Julio Arca from Middlesbrough.

All transfers are done, this is how my squad looks now.

Wonder if this is good enough to keep me in premier league.

Just started a Coventry game. They have decent finances but the squad was not what I expected it to be.

Ive put together a team I hope will qualify for the prem at the first time of asking and will keep us their while I build.

Ins and Outs.....

First choice set up......

I got rid of all the staff, they were rubbish to be honest, I brought in the guys in the screenie, cost me about 600/700k in compo though, I think it was worth it. I highly recomend Colbert .... 4 starrs in Strength and Aerobic at the same time. You will have to sign him as a coach though, he wont accept the fitness coach post.

Mulvey is 4 stars in shooting but I have him on set pieces too because we cant employ anymore coaches, but its not a bad backroom set up.

Glauber and Shilla are superb, Shilla scored in both my opening league matches.

Krivets is a steal, Camara rocks and Gueye is rated very highly (Paid for over 48 months).

I missed out on Ebi and a few others but Im happy with my lot.

Ive done a deal for Iker Muniain but I cant afford his wages,,, Im on the limit with no room to adjust things... Oh well (Sighs)

Wish me luck.

Good luck Rice2cu :-) You should get into the playoffs quite easy.

Here is an update of my first premiership season. Im half way at the moment.

Results:

Coventry - Man City 1-0 ('75 Muniain)

Coventry - Arsenal 0-1

Chelsea - Coventry 1-0

Coventry - Aston Villa 3-3 ('1 Muniain, '32 Muniesa, '64 Thiago)

Man Utd - Coventry 1-0

Coventry - Liverpool 3-3 ('10 Gunnarsson, '15 Thiago, '45 Thiago)

Reached the quarter final of the league cup, but lost to Liverpool with 0-2.

Standings:

Its not going too bad, but I still need more points to survive. Doing this good with a squad that has an average age of 22 is quite surprising for me.

Anichebe is failing though, he cant seems to score. Thiago is doing great, he is the keyplayer on the midfield.

In the january transfer window Ananidze from Spartak Moskou is finally joining my team.

Finished my first season right now. Kinda happy how things went. Hope to do better next year though, maybe top 10.

Results:

Arsenal - Coventry 2-1 ('67 Fleck)

Coventry - Chelsea 0-1

Aston Villa - Coventry 4-1 ('74 Thiago)

Man City - Coventry 2-2 ('4 Thiago, '70 Fleck)

Coventry - Man Utd 2-2 ('4 Ananidze, '18 McGowan)

Liverpool - Coventry 3-1 ('60 Anichebe)

Standings:

Thiago was awarded as youngster of the year.

That's a good first season, StandardFan. A top ten finish should be easily achievable.

I started a game with Coventry, made mostly free transfer signings and a couple of loans. The only players I've paid for are Kikin Fonseca who smashes them in all over the park, he has 9 in 7 so far, Leandro from Debrecen on the left wing who is getting assists galore and Alejandro Dominguez a cheap LB/CB who is good solid back up and has been called into Spain U21's. Other signings I've made were Ebi Smolarek (costly wage but an awesome player) A Yakubu (solid right back probably won't cut it in the Premiership though) Henri Camara (he's been rattling them in whilst Fonseca has been injured) Keko (free from Atletico Madrid but I've dished him out on loan to Northampton for the season, his physical stats concern me though as he is only 5"5) Glauber is the other free signing I've made and he is bossing the back line with Elliott Ward. I've also signed John Fleck on loan as a back up LW/ST just in case I need him and also Arsenal have sent me Mark Randall on loan as they are my parent club. I got rid of Clinton Morrison, Leon Best and a couple of other big earners to make way for quality replacements in Fonseca and Smolarek. I've found Kieran Westwood, Sammy Clingan, David Bell and Aron Gunnarsson to be the top performers of the original team I had, Westwood in particular is highly impressive and has saved a lot a points. I'm currently top of the league having only lost 1 in 15 games and drawing twice, I got to the fourth round of the Carling Cup dispatching Blackburn and Birmingham along the way but ultimatly losing out to Everton 2-1 away from home.

Most frustrating 1st season ever!!

So many injuries .... Totally unbelievable.

I wont bore you with the details but basically when I had a full strength side, we won. But I didnt have a full strength side too often. I made the last play off spot on goal difference on the last day after some totally mad results elsewhere.

I beat Ipswich in the semi's and then won promotion against Sheff Utd by beating them 9/8 on pens after a 1-1 draw.

Season two in the prem starts with a 25mil transfer fund and I need some serious squad strengthening. My plan is to try and get as many good home grown playes as I can so I dont end up as Brazil U21's. The best i could do was Michael Johnson, Jordan Spence, Joe Hart and Kieran Gibbs.... No other decent home grown lad would come and I had to adjust the wage budget to get those that did (I think some balancing with Brit players is needed in the next version of fm)

Westwood demanded a transfer (Despite promotion) on 3 occaisions pre season.... Eventually I got shot and the fans were P***** off :confused:

Hers my 2nd season Transfers .... Used the 48 month paymet spread a bit ;_)

Hers my seasons results so far, Im not disapointed when you take into account the team Ive had to play ......

And heres my Squad ...

Hey guys, I'm at the start of January in my first season as Cov, and it's going pretty well. Marek Suchy, Michael Ball, Sol Campbell, Sergey Krivets, John Sutton and Ebi Smolarek have come in, with Nacer Barazite and Garry O'Connor on loan. I sit relatively pretty in 3rd place, 5 points behind West Brom who frankly look to be a class above the rest of the division in the game. Anyway, I've already managed 52 goals, so having no problems at that end, hopefully with a late season push I can nick the second automatic promotion spot. Krivets has been superb, highly recommended, and somewhat surprisingly, Isaac Osbourne has played brilliantly whenever he's filled it at DM, Right Back or MC.

EDIT - Oh Ray Ranson, so much for Premier League ambitions... he has just "taken matters into his own hands" and accepted Everton's bid for Krivets of a measly £2.6m on the 26th Jan. I've offered him a new contract, but I assume he'll go, and I'll have to scrape together a replacement who will undoubtedly be worse in a very small amount of time. Bugger!

EDIT 2 - Well, I've now escaped from January, and I don't think the promotion hopes are quite in tatters, but I'm still annoyed. Ranson sold Krivets to Galatasaray for £3.2m in the end, and top scorer Smolarek was sold against my will to Brum for £2.8m. I sold Michael Ball for 500k through choice, as well as Sammy Clingan for 700k, as both offers were good. To replace this lot, I've plucked Jonjo Shelvey (1.7m) and Jordan Rhodes (1m) from the league below, hoping they'll develop well. I've got Mark Randall on loan from Arsenal for three months, and have replaced Ball with a 17 year old Irish regen left back who looks the business, probably better already than Ball was. I've had to change my system to a 4-2-3-1 to accommodate these signings, so hopefully they can quickly gel and I can keep up the chase!

EDIT 3 - Furious. Ray Ranson has, truly, out-idioted himself. March 13th, he goes over my head, accepts a bid of 2.8m for Gunnarsson from Spartak Moscow, and due to the way their transfer window works, leaves immediately, leaving me without my best central midfielder and no means of replacing him until the end of the season, not sure I can hold onto second... Has anyone else had problems with bids accepted, or just me?

Hey guys, I'm at the start of January in my first season as Cov, and ETC ETC

Hi Mike.

I find your problem very strange because Ive never had a problem with the board interfering in 3 seasons so far. I thought the finances at Coventry were pretty decent tbh.

I had a similar problem on my Charlton game. Won league 1 and was sitting 2nd in the championship in season 2 when they sold Shelvey for 3mil without my consent in Jan. I quit the save because he was central to my plans (Good buy btw) and when I got auto promotion to the prem, they gave me a wage budget of 125k and I was spending 140k already. No transfer fun either.... Complete *ickheads

Anyway, I have since seen it mentioned that if this happens, you can go to the players profile and cancel the offer. Although I have not tried this so I cant gaurentee its true.

I think it was Hopey (Forum Mod) who mentioned this on the Lyon thread, forgive me if Im wrong.

Not the players profile screen, the transfer history screen. Not checked if it works in FM10 as of yet though, will when I next load FM up.

Ah well. Managed to finish second anyway, and now preparing for life in the Premier League. Signed Hennessey from Wolves and Carlton Cole from West Ham so far...

Just started a game with my beloved Sky Blues and hope to make them Champions of Europe with 5 seasons (hard I know, but that's my aim). Was just wondering if anyone knows if the Ricoh will be expanded if I am successful ? (I won the Prem'ship in FM09 but the council always rejected plans to increase the capacity) :-(

Many tahnks

Dean

Just started a game with my beloved Sky Blues and hope to make them Champions of Europe with 5 seasons (hard I know, but that's my aim). Was just wondering if anyone knows if the Ricoh will be expanded if I am successful ? (I won the Prem'ship in FM09 but the council always rejected plans to increase the capacity) :-(

Many tahnks

Dean

The question is not about if the stadium is going to expand but if the club at all can buy stadium back. If you go to the "information" and "facilities" you will see that The Ricoh Arena is not owned by Coventry. It says that the club rent the stadium and the price the club must pay each year to rent the stadium is the largest in the championship. The only other clubs in the same division that not owns stadium is Ipswich and Leicester, as far as I know. People forget to check this when they choose the club. This is important in relation to the overall economy, and I never choose the club that not owns the stadium, because in the long run this will ruin your economy.

Just started a game with Coventry, looks like a challenge - as there isn't much quality if the squad from the beginning

I managed to sell most of the deadwood, and bringing in players to get into my tactics and philosophy of playing:

Especially Shilla looks like a bargain, along with old Derveld and Traore upfront as target man. Also brought in a couple of loanees to fill up the squad, Fran Merida - John Fleck and dos Santos (Barcelona)

My tactics, using wingbacks and target man:

Just 3 matches into the season, looks okey so far - 2 draws and 1 victory. The squad still needs to adapt, working towards a promotion spot - but there are a lot of quality teams like Newcastle, Boro, Sheff Utd, Derby etc to compete against

Will report back mid season.

solid solid start there maddog... good ins and outs aswell..

lacina is a top striker for that league and should get you plenty of goals and with krivets and aron in midfield you should easily get a play-off sot imo....

its almost inspired me to start a cov save myself

Thanks welshace ! Yeah, defiantly a good start transfer-wise Looks like Im struggling adapting the players at the moment, didn't play enough friendlies I think! I also had to move down the wingbacks to fullback position, which is very sad

Go ahead and start one Looking forward to see your process!

careful about moving the wing backs down.. if you do that you leave your wings wide open.. id think about playing a 442 with the wingers playing higher up the pitch ... use krivets and merida on the wings and you'll have a solid formation

just loading my game now... will post transfers if i start with cov

I managed to keep the wingbacks but lowering the mentality of them I don`t like playing wingers in 10.2 so the full/wingbacks has to cover the flanks themself, with help from the defensive midfielder in the lower parts of the pitch.

The biggest problem so far is Traorè and all the injuries he got really, 3 major injuries so far, both out 3 weeks - which is devastating considering the lack of strikers in my team!

Gunnarsson is out for 3 months (crap) - Derveld out for 1 month(s) (bleh) Hah, update - Krivets also out for 2-3 months now!

Krivets is doing amazing though!

Table so far, after a rather depressing start of the season with LOADS of draws, I`m now starting to win, and by big numbers as well!

Wow!

I thought I was the only person EVER to have made a Sky Blues gamesave but it looks like I was wrong.

Really interesting to read what you guys have to say about Krivets, I must buy him on my new game.

Is there any tactic that you would recommend downloading for use with City?

Going pretty well for me, I'm around halfway through my first season in the Premier League, and it looks as though I will stay up comfortably, hopefully I can push towards trying to achieve a top half finish in the second half of the season. I'm playing a 4-4-2 of sorts, with a flat back 4, two central midfielders whose main role is to win the ball, and then two attacking advanced playmakers in the aml/r positions, with an offensive target man offset by a deep lying forward up front. Here's the first team I'm generally playing, my squad being entirely made up of players from the UK & Ireland:

GK: Wayne Hennessey

DR: Tony Hibbert (On loan from Everton)

DL: Gerry Lee (Irish regen, excellent player already)

DC: Craig Cathcart

DC: Liam Ridgewell

MC: Miles Addison

MC: Marvin Elliot

AML: George Boyd

AMR: James McCarthy (On loan from Wigan, view to a permanent move)

FC: Jonjo Shelvey (Often drops to AM against bigger teams)

FC: Carlton Cole (My target man, he has scored a surprising amount of goals through his sheer athleticism, though I'll need to strengthen this position for long-term success).

George Boyd is a BRILLIANT player, highly recommended, as he has actually proven more effective for me than Krivets was, and I'm sure he would join Cov at the start of the first season, and can hold his own in the Premier League. Shelvey and Addison are improving at a very fast rate, and are ones to look out for. Obviously, though, my squad can be improved in pretty much all areas. I've still got quite a few of the original squad, but they're confined to a backup role nowadays. Anyway, any recommended British future prospects for me to look out for would be much appreciated, as I'm coming up to January with a couple of million left over!

Hi Guys,

have just finished 7th in championship, first season. is ok, but lost 5 out of last 7 games otherwise would have been third but hey...nevermind. wat id give for cov to finish 7th in real life!!! anyway, are there any particular players that i should target at this stage...i am on a small database. i know it would help to give you the players i have, but i wondered if ther are any top players on frees or loans etc.

thanks guys,

Good day all. Just finished my second season, and I'm pleased with how it went, overall. I finished in 11th place in the league, with 45 points, which is great as I only wanted to avoid relegation. Reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup and League Cup, where I lost to Villa and Man City away - Man City being a bogey team of mine, as they thumped me each of the three times I played them. The other disappointment was that I lost home and away to Burnley, who came bottom and managed only 4 wins, but beat me 3-0 and 2-0!

On the upside, my team had no obvious weak link, and all performed much better than I expected. Craig Cathcart is a highly recommended player (you can usually get him on the cheap sometime in January of the first season after his loan with Watford finishes) and he more than held his own against some very good strikers. Other highlights of the season were coming back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 at Stamford Bridge, beating Liverpool 3-1 at home and denying Villa a Champions League place by holding them to a draw on the last day. Another tip on the Premier League, is that Pace seems to be vital, for strikers particularly. Jordan Rhodes is a player who scored for fun in the Championship, but managed 2 goals all season, seemingly because of his lack of pace. On the other hand, the league's scoring charts tell me that Nathan Delfouneso, Gabby Agbonlahor, Darren Bent and other players have scored a surprisingly high amount of goals.

Anyway! Of interest to this thread, is that having managed an Average Attendance of 29886 in the league, my finances are in a very healthy position, and the board has decided to improve training and youth facilities over the summer, and expand the Ricoh by an extra 6,000 seats! I am still paying the 500k a year rent on it, but it seems that expansion is possible on FM10. My target for next season is to improve the squad, and try and break into the "top 8", and crack on for Europe, as Man Utd/Chelsea/Arsenal/Liverpool/Spurs/Villa/Everton/Man City have comfortably held those positions in both of the first two seasons.

Hello fellow sky blues fans! on patch 10.2 have just won promotion to the premier league...finished runners up to a rampant birmingham but held off a ferocious challenge from newcastle!

Anyway guys, im wondering if you have any tips/advice for my first season in the premier league?

Mike Cardinal - thats fantastic results in your save, well done. europe next season perhaps? good luck with that...do you think its possible to get cov into title chasers?!?!

Jamiegolf, i take it your got promotion in your second season (as you went up behind Birmingham). I am about to embark on my second season in the Championship (lost in play-off final to Bristol City in my first season). Who got you the goals to fire you up and who is your goalkeeper ? - i have zaki up front and have kept Westwood in goal but would be interested who other Coventry players are using ?

Thanks,

Dean

anyone ? .... please ? !!!

Well, I think Westwood is a terrific keeper, one of the best in the Championship, and good enough to play in the Prem, I only sold him because he got unhappy when I rejected a bid. As for up front, there are lots of options. Zaki is excellent, he still scores a good amount of goals in the Premier League. So I don't think you can have any concerns there... I've found Garry O'Connor (normally can be gotten on loan, or cheaply) scores a lot in the Championship, Ebi Smolarek did well, but will surely have been signed by someone in the second season. Are you sure you don't need to improve in other areas more, Deano, or was it just curiosity?

Well, Cov are going back to Europe, which was my overall aim for this season! I wanted to try and have some success in the cups, as I'm yet to win a thing. But, bombed out in the third round of the League Cup, and the fifth of the FA Cup. Also had Cov's highest ever league finish, somehow ending up in 5th place in the league, with shaky starts and finishes, but a great winning streak over Christmas and the middle of the season:

http://img685.imageshack.us/i/englishpremierdivisionx.png/

Anyway, after the end of my second season, a lot of players became unsettled, and it spiralled into something of a firesale, in which I brought in £84m from player sales, with most of the squad going, notably Carlton Cole fetching 10m, and Gerry Lee, superstar regen, going to Udinese for 17.25m. Along with the club's healthy position and budget already of around 25m, I discovered just how far my money could go if I set it to pay for players over 48 months. Anyway, I foolishly spent 160m in trying to assemble a technically talented squad to play like Barcelona, more or less, and I'm now losing just under £2m a month as a result of these installments, so my aim is to break even again. Van der Vaart, Guilherme and Mattock all proved brilliant buys though, but I think I've wasted my money on Jack Wilshere and John Bostock, both of whom I thought would develop well but have proved expensive flops so far.

Here's my current squad though, which I will be looking to improve, but not overhauling, I think!

http://img504.imageshack.us/i/coventrycityf.png/

Anyway, next season's target is to get as far as I can in the Europa League, and again to have a good Cup run, whilst hopefully challenging for a Champions League place! It'll be difficult though, because it is very tight between the top 9 teams now, and I think I may well have overachieved this season. Oh, and a side-note: I asked to expand the Ricoh out of curiosity, not expectation, and planning permission cannot be got for anything over 38,000. So, that's the limit guys. PUSB!

EDIT - Awards: VDV came Second in Footballer of the Year to Rooney, (who scored a ridiculous 33 goals in 31 games), and got into the Team of the Year, (He managed 9 goals and 14 assists in 32(2) appearances in the league, Average Rating of 7.39). Aaron Ramsey came third in Young Player of the Year, Guilherme came third in Top Goalscorer, he got 23 goals in 37 games.

EDIT - Hate to update this again, but wow. You can't help but be pretty flattered when Man Utd approach you with an offer to replace Fergie as manager immediately after his retirement. I declined naturally, and intend to bring all of their best players here instead.

Hey did anyone manage to stop conceding in the first season? on the wages i changed the budget to allow nearly all funds to go wages, only spent 1.1m euro on melli(450k) matabuena (240k)angel(450) omozusi (free) smolarek (free) pavon (free recommended) camacho (free recommended) brandy and de laet on loan! the board accepted a request for funds before jan window 3 mill+. don't know who to buy defense is a worry. 8th in league on jan 1st. conceded 38 already!!! help! man utd is parent club have practically begged machida but no chance of coming on loan!

Just starting my second season. Got promoted through the playoffs in season 1..

My first team is currently:

Gk: westwood

DR: simpson

DL: fabio

CB: gary cahill

CB: larsson

MR: song'o

ML: mc indoe

MC: merina

MC: gunaarsoon

ST: welliton

ST: camara

Hope to finish mid table.. will let ye know how it goes!!

Nice one sylane. Hadn't heard of Welliton before, checked him out though and he looks a cracking player! That team looks well capable of a solid finish in the Prem as well. Haven't had the best start to my fourth season, winning easily in the Euro Cup, and got a great draw in the groups, but inconsistent so far in the league, and lost 5-1 at home to Man United, though it was pretty even. Got ripped apart on the counter attack by them, Arsenal-style.

Hi all - just bought FM2010 after a long lay off - had to go cold turkey on 2007 edition after getting way too involved.

Thought i'd use Coventry as i did in FM2007 as I prefer to start slightly lower down the food chain.

Anyway, after finally getting to grips with the new layout menus etc, i'm trying to mould the squad (which i'm amazed at how threadbear it is !) - I've taken advice from here and managed to get Viduka in on a free although a lot of the other players either aren't in my database size or are currently out of reach for me financially.

I've gone down the loan route as much as possible and am trying to decide whether to blow a large wad of the transfer budget on Marlon Harewood from villa - 750,000 seems to be the sticking price.

It's still preseason so a long way to go, my only slight concern is that with the sheer wealth of options now available, it could take an eternity to get through a season !

i have just started football manager with coventry city can someone tell me who to get rid of and who to buy also what is the best formation for me to play? jason

Started a game with Coventry City as they're my "home" team. I'm now 5 seasons in and have won almost everything in the game. I have really enjoyed this save as you could basically build up a team from scratch to challenge for top honours. So here I am to share my 2 cents worth. Bear in mind that I'm playing on the 10.2 patch and not the newest 10.3.

The most important thing to note is that we have fairly secure finances at the off but perhaps lacking abit of quality in the squad. The board is no sugar daddy but is relatively reasonable with their expectations and the money you get. You start off with about £ 3 mil and the most important thing in your first transfer window is to stretch that budget as much as possible to bring in some quality players. As we have relatively low debt levels, don't be too afraid to pay over 48 months for two or three players if you think they can really add to the quality of the squad as this will be offsetted by the money you get for promotion. With some signings on a budget you could easily push for a play-off spot or even win the Championship so this is something nice to aim for in your first season.

When you start off the squad is in serious need of revamp. In Westwood you have one of the best goalkeepers in the Championship and he will perform in the Premiership too. However, You should really consider signing an all new first choice back-four as the ones you have now are not up to scratch. Midfield is potentially your strongest position with Gunnarsson, Clingan, Jack Cork and McIndoe but could do with a bit more quality on the flanks. Upfront you are potentially in need of a clinical striker and the ones currently here are not good enough. Thankfully there are freebies and bargain signings to be had to bolster your squad quite cheaply. You should generally offer high sign-on fees as it'll cost less than having to actually buy other more expensive players from other clubs. Also, try your best to sell players who are not good enough to free up wages instead of letting them rot in the reserves. Here are some suggestions for transfers:

GK Keep: Kieran Westwood. The others are not up to par. If you have to keep one for backup, Konstantonpoulos should be the one.

GK: The backups are not up to par so you might want to sign a young backup keeper who'll develop into a good player. Josh Lambo will come for 600k at the start and will push Westwood for the No. 1 jersey in a few years.

Defence Keep: Martin Cranie and Elliot Ward and try to flog the rest off. Cranie can play both L/RB so he'll be a good backup.

LB: Michael Ball (free), Antunes (Roma) costs less than 1 mil and is perhaps a younger option.

CB: Glauber, Shilla, Sol Campbell (all free). I would suggest taking only 2 out of 3 of these. Personally I went for Glauber and Shilla as they are younger but Campbell makes a good captain. Marc Muniesa (Barcelona) can be signed for cheap but is not ready yet.

RB: Lauren (free), Abubakary Yakubu (free). Lauren is better and can make the step up but is starting to lose his legs while Yakubu is not nearly good enough for the premiership but is slightly younger. Your call.

Consider also signing Ritchie de Laet (Man Utd) on a season long loan as he can provide cover across the entire backline. I personally prefer him to van Aanholt even at LB.

Midfield Keep: Gunnarsson, Clingan, (maybe) McIndoe. Gunnarsson is your best player and should be kept at all costs. He's good enough for the Premiership. Clingan works hard and McIndoe will offer you quality crosses from the flanks. Now you have to decide whether you want to go for a formation with wings. if yes, then you'll need a bit more quality on the right but Bell performs well there if needed. Typically I sign a new first team RW and leave Bell as my backup. If not, McIndoe and Bell can be sold for decent cash. Personally I went for a 4-3-3/4-5-1 with wingers as they allow me to make the most of my strength in midfield.

DMC: Jack Cork's your first choice but his loan runs out in January and there's a chance it might not get renewed. Go for Mario Bollatti (575k) who can also step up to the Premiership but will only come in January so you should at least hang on to Cork until then. Abubakary Yakubu (free) is also an option despite not being a natural in this position. Clingan can play here too and Osbourne is decent backup.

MC: Should frankly be your last priority in the first season but it could do with some flair. Edgar Ivan Pacheco (Atlas) and Jonjo Shelvey (Charlton) are both good options. Shelvey is more expensive but is English and might possibly develop better. Thiago and Jonathan Dos Santos (Barcelona) can also be signed for cheap and should develop into good players.

A/ML: Another which doens't need strengthening with McIndoe and Bell and you should frankly keep hold of both of them as quality wingers at this level are difficult to find. Nacer Barazite or Wilshere (Arsenal) are good loan signings who might even turn into first choice.

A/MR: Sergiy Krivets (BATE) is the best target but seldom comes as he attracts attention from Premiership clubs. Still there's no harm trying as he'll tear up the league and is cheap. Eduardo Salvio (Lanus) is a great prospect but will only come for ~5 mil so you'll have to go for a 48 month deal. Both are good enough to start ahead of Bell. Barazite (Arsenal) and Vladimir Weiss (Man City) are good loan signings too who are better than Bell.

Consider taking Barazite (Arsenal) on a season long loan as he'll provide cover for all midfield positions bar DMC and does a good job too. Bernardo (Cruzeiro) will come for ~6 mil and will also provide cover for all the positions. If you didn't sign a A/MR, he should start ahead of Bell.

Attack Keep: Frankly, none of them, especially if you're playing a 4-5-1/4-3-3. I would suggest bringing in at least 2 players for this position. If pushed, Clinton Morrison should be good cover.

ST: Kikin Fonseca (Tigres) should be your biggest priority for this position. He's a goal machine at this level and will make a good tutor for youngsters. Romelu Lukaku (Anderlecht) is good backup if you can get him but he rarely comes. Marlon Harewood (Aston Villa) is transfer listed and can play alone up front while Ebi Smolarek (free) is a good deep-lying forward. Mark Viduka (free) is good but injury prone and Henri Camara (free) can also do a job for you. You could also try loaning James Vaughan (Everton) but he's also injury prone, which is not ideal if he's going to be your first choice.

This should be a good overhaul for your squad in the first season. Keep in mind the 4 domestic loan rule if you're going to loan players and if possible, try to sign freebies and 48 month deals to stretch that budget. With this team you should easily make the push up to the Premiership

Wow, thanks for the info Zychan, really useful read.

I had to restart my 1st season a couple of time (cheating maybe ?) as the new interface coupled with the general 'god there's a lot to take in' meant that I made some bad choices. Anyway, I'm now about 5 games in. I'm playing the latest patch which seems to have reduced the squad quite alot and also the money available is a bit tight - £1.6 mil

I've maximised the loan facility to bring in Barazite and Gael Kakuta to add some flair and quality to the wide midfielders. I also managed to get Harewood on a season loan to strengthen attacking options whilst reducing my spending. Finally brought in Ritchie de Laet to bolster the defence.

Signings wise, my main outlay was on a striker called Dady who's stats look more than useful for the Championship - his lack of English may be an initial issue, but hopefully he'll gel into my main man. I also spent out on Craig Cathcart from Man Utd as a promising CB. I also managed to get Ball on a freebie.

So hopefully I'll get near the play-offs this year, but overall aim is to hit them next year.

My main query at the moment is the lack of the reserves ? Is this because the squad size is too small ? In FM 2007, i used to find this really useful for keeping match fitness and also bring players back from injury - does anybody know how i get this sorted for next season ?

Thanks

Hi,

Due to wanting a small squad, Chris Coleman decided that this season he didnt want to enter a reserve side in to the Reserve league and that's what has happened in Football Manager 2010 - realistic, you see !?

Next summer in FM10 you will be offered the option of entering a reserve side and a youth side ( I accepted both).

I am 2 seasons in, getting promotion at the second attempt, and still have Westwood, Gunnarsson, and Clingan from the original side. Have Fabio from Man Utd at left back, Zaki and Fonseca up front (they both ripped it up in the Championship).

Hope this helps ? ....

Dean

I started one last night and was surprised as I felt I would have little money but 1.7m is amazing. So far I have took Muamba on loan and signed Gaston Fernandez on a free, I agreed terms with Djalo but unfortunately he decided to go elsewhere. Also picked up Michael Ball and Jeremy Helan as I felt your left-back position was pretty weak.

Hi,

Due to wanting a small squad, Chris Coleman decided that this season he didnt want to enter a reserve side in to the Reserve league and that's what has happened in Football Manager 2010 - realistic, you see !?

Dean

Thanks Dean, I thought that was the case. It's a tad frustrating but i guess ultimately it saves £££ so it is probably a sensible decision.

Wow, thanks for the info Zychan, really useful read.

I had to restart my 1st season a couple of time (cheating maybe ?) as the new interface coupled with the general 'god there's a lot to take in' meant that I made some bad choices. Anyway, I'm now about 5 games in. I'm playing the latest patch which seems to have reduced the squad quite alot and also the money available is a bit tight - £1.6 mil

I've maximised the loan facility to bring in Barazite and Gael Kakuta to add some flair and quality to the wide midfielders. I also managed to get Harewood on a season loan to strengthen attacking options whilst reducing my spending. Finally brought in Ritchie de Laet to bolster the defence.

Signings wise, my main outlay was on a striker called Dady who's stats look more than useful for the Championship - his lack of English may be an initial issue, but hopefully he'll gel into my main man. I also spent out on Craig Cathcart from Man Utd as a promising CB. I also managed to get Ball on a freebie.

So hopefully I'll get near the play-offs this year, but overall aim is to hit them next year.

My main query at the moment is the lack of the reserves ? Is this because the squad size is too small ? In FM 2007, i used to find this really useful for keeping match fitness and also bring players back from injury - does anybody know how i get this sorted for next season ?

Thanks

Glad you found this beneficial. Kakuta's a good option on the left as well. Do let us now how you get on with your game

Glad you found this beneficial. Kakuta's a good option on the left as well. Do let us now how you get on with your game

Quick update, first season, just missed on out play-offs, this is despite the chairman meddling and selling gunnarsson under my nose !, into my 2nd season and have been absolutely ravaged by injuries to my defence.

I bought in Cathcart from Man Utd who had a storming 1st season, Chairman again decided to sell (2 days before close of transfer window ) and i struggled to get a replacement. I brought in Zaki and made Harewood permanent upfront, so have Zaki, Harewood and Dady as my 2-from 3 forwards.

Midfield is working out pretty well with loan signings and clingan performing well, but the damn defensive crisis has really meant a lot of score draws which we should have really won.

It's been a huge learning curve again so i have just started another game with Cov to try and put into place the things i've learned - i.e. bombing out surplus players a bit sooner to save on wages.

Quick update, first season, just missed on out play-offs, this is despite the chairman meddling and selling gunnarsson under my nose !, into my 2nd season and have been absolutely ravaged by injuries to my defence.

I bought in Cathcart from Man Utd who had a storming 1st season, Chairman again decided to sell (2 days before close of transfer window ) and i struggled to get a replacement. I brought in Zaki and made Harewood permanent upfront, so have Zaki, Harewood and Dady as my 2-from 3 forwards.

Midfield is working out pretty well with loan signings and clingan performing well, but the damn defensive crisis has really meant a lot of score draws which we should have really won.

It's been a huge learning curve again so i have just started another game with Cov to try and put into place the things i've learned - i.e. bombing out surplus players a bit sooner to save on wages.

Hard luck bungle. Yes the chairman tends to do that, though for what reasons I have no idea as we are very much financially secure and do need good players more than cash now. Either way try setting high selling prices or offer those players a new contract as they sometimes sign for you again. This doesn't happen once you get promoted unless somebody comes in with a mega offer

Hard luck bungle. Yes the chairman tends to do that, though for what reasons I have no idea as we are very much financially secure and do need good players more than cash now. Either way try setting high selling prices or offer those players a new contract as they sometimes sign for you again. This doesn't happen once you get promoted unless somebody comes in with a mega offer

Right, i did a u-turn and decided to 'man-up' about the situation and after spending 30 mins on a new game decided to carry on with the 2nd season.

I brought in Smalling on loan for 3 months from Man Utd, the chairman sold Zaki for me (7 million so quite happy !) so i splashed the cash and bought Danny Haynes for £6m. Amazingly we put together a great run of form with Haynes and a lad called Matt James in centre mid and a young brazilian called Allipio up front all performing brilliantly and we actually ended up in 4th spot. We reached the play-off final and beat wolves 2-0 !!!

Yesterday was spent wheeling and dealing to try and bolster the squad for prem league action. Brought in Jack Cork to complement Matt James in centre mid and two centre halves. Also managed to get a couple of wide players on the cheap who should develop into half decent players (sorry have not got names as posting at work).

Looking forward to a good old relegation fight (although managed to win the first game 4-1 away to fulham !).

Right, i did a u-turn and decided to 'man-up' about the situation and after spending 30 mins on a new game decided to carry on with the 2nd season.

I brought in Smalling on loan for 3 months from Man Utd, the chairman sold Zaki for me (7 million so quite happy !) so i splashed the cash and bought Danny Haynes for £6m. Amazingly we put together a great run of form with Haynes and a lad called Matt James in centre mid and a young brazilian called Allipio up front all performing brilliantly and we actually ended up in 4th spot. We reached the play-off final and beat wolves 2-0 !!!

Yesterday was spent wheeling and dealing to try and bolster the squad for prem league action. Brought in Jack Cork to complement Matt James in centre mid and two centre halves. Also managed to get a couple of wide players on the cheap who should develop into half decent players (sorry have not got names as posting at work).

Looking forward to a good old relegation fight (although managed to win the first game 4-1 away to fulham !).

If you have the players for it, I suggest you try not to be too pragmatic and have a go at teams, especially at home. Granted you might get a real hiding once in awhile, but exciting football and wins keep the players and the fans happy. You'll find that if you can put together a good run of results, momentum should carry you through and you can push for a low-mid table finish. Have a look around for free transfers as clubs regularly let contracts run out on some good players. Have a crack at loaning players from Man City too. If they went on a spending spree, you'll find some real quality rotting in their reserves.

Right, hammered this over the weekend and am well and truely in it's grip !

Ok, first season in prem ended as 13th which is a position i managed to occupy virtually all season and am really pleased with !

Second season also just finished and managed 11th this time round, so steady improvements. At the start of the second season bought in two expensive young signings, a left footed ST from Inter Milan for 16m - used monthly payments, and a young brazilian called Dudu - AMRC from Cruzeiro. I also backed this up with David Bently on a free. Finally also brought in another quality midfielder who to bolster the squad in the middle of the park.

In the current season break (prior to season 3 in the prem), i've splashed the cash on Diouf up front to compliment my purchase last year (15m from CSKA moscow -suprised United let him go !) and a young lad for left wing who looks really promising - 10m.

My main issue at the moment is all the big clubs vulturing all my talent !!! they have so far unbalanced at least 4 of my players who are now unhappy with me for increasing their transfer value - e.g Real Madrid bid 8m for my star forward (who i bought for 16m) so i put it to 25m and they rejected, so he's now fed up with me ! Hopefully will not be too detrimental to his performances this year as i have high hopes for him and diouf to 'rip-it up'.

Right, hammered this over the weekend and am well and truely in it's grip !

Ok, first season in prem ended as 13th which is a position i managed to occupy virtually all season and am really pleased with !

Second season also just finished and managed 11th this time round, so steady improvements. At the start of the second season bought in two expensive young signings, a left footed ST from Inter Milan for 16m - used monthly payments, and a young brazilian called Dudu - AMRC from Cruzeiro. I also backed this up with David Bently on a free. Finally also brought in another quality midfielder who to bolster the squad in the middle of the park.

In the current season break (prior to season 3 in the prem), i've splashed the cash on Diouf up front to compliment my purchase last year (15m from CSKA moscow -suprised United let him go !) and a young lad for left wing who looks really promising - 10m.

My main issue at the moment is all the big clubs vulturing all my talent !!! they have so far unbalanced at least 4 of my players who are now unhappy with me for increasing their transfer value - e.g Real Madrid bid 8m for my star forward (who i bought for 16m) so i put it to 25m and they rejected, so he's now fed up with me ! Hopefully will not be too detrimental to his performances this year as i have high hopes for him and diouf to 'rip-it up'.

Unfortunately that tends to happen, especially with the really big clubs sniffing around. There's nothing you can do but to continue to win games and try to push further up the table and your club stature will continue to grow. Europa League should be your next target and once you're there, it should be easier to hang on to your best players. Try not to over do the 48 months deal thing or you'll saddle the club with debt!