FM11: The Official Aberdeen FC Thread – Come on You Reds

A Brief History

Aberdeen Football Club (also known as The Dons, The Dandies or The Reds) are a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen. They compete in the Scottish Premier League and are one of the most successful teams in their country, having won four league titles and seven Scottish Cups, including a record three in a row during the 1980s, the only time a team other than Rangers has done this since 1882. They are also the only Scottish team to have won two European trophies, both in the same year. Despite competing in the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup finals, both in 2000, they have not won any silverware since 1995.

Legendary skipper Willie Miller hold aloft the European Cup Winners Cup

Other Information

Finances: The lack of cash means you will have a difficult start to your Aberdeen career. No transfer fee is available, and wages are max’d out. You will need to move players on in order to strengthen your squad. The Club also owes £9m to the bank and monthly payments will begin early in the game.

Facilities: Pittodrie itself is ample for your needs and will provide a good home for years to come. Success on the pitch may see you increase its capacity over the years and you may eventually find you’ve reached the expansion limit. Previous versions have seen a new stadium being built and this may be a realistic target for you.

The Boardroom: Stewart Milne loves the club and will be Chairman for the length of your career. He isn’t a ‘sugar-daddy’ so don’t expect large investments, but he will step in with cash injections from time to time.

The Staff: The coaching staff are of reasonable standard although fairly sparse. Some additional first-team coaches should be sought.

Brief Squad Analysis

Key Men: Paul Hartley, Zander Diamond, Peter Pawlett, Sone Aluko, Jamie Langfield

Top Young Players: Fraser Fyvie, Peter Pawlett, Josh Magennis, Mitchell Megginson

Priority Signings: Full Backs, Wide Midfielders, Attacking Midfielder

Surplus to Requirements: Jerel Ifil, Derek Young, Darren Mackie, Michael Paton

Captain and Key man Paul Hartley

Detailed Squad Analysis

Goalkeeper

First-Team: In real-life, Mark Howard appears to be just pipping Jamie Langfield to the first choice spot at the moment. In FM11, although they should develop to around the same level, the more experienced Langfield looks to be the pick of the pair and should be your choice.

Youth-Team: Scott Bain

Right-Back

First-Team: Without doubt a priority. With Richard Foster away on loan for the season you might look to call in a loan signing of your own until Foster returns. Rory McArdle can fill in here but is better at centre-back. Regardless of how you decide to do it you will need a right-back so make this your first task.

Youth-Team: Ryan Jack can become a decent SPL player and will offer you back up for whoever your first choice may be.

Left-Back

First-Team: With Nikola Vujadinović on loan from Udinese, and Stirling Smith as back up, this position looks okay although you may opt to play Vujadinovic in his stronger centre-back position and possibly bring in a specialist.

Youth-Team: With time, Dean Jarvis will transition to the first team squad

Centre-Back

First-Team: One of your stronger areas with Andrew Considine and Zander Diamond seeming to be the first choice pairing. Nikola Vujadinovic also gives you an option here. With Rory McArdle as back-up to these three you will look to move on Jerel Ifil and generate some much needed funding.

Youth-Team: Scott Ross

Defensive Midfield

First-Team: New signing Yoann Folly may be your selection here. Paul Hartley can also operate here meaning you look well covered initially.

Youth-Team:

Central Midfield

First-Team: With Paul Hartley and Fraser Fyvie in your squad, you should have no worries. Derek Young’s lack of opportunities might mean you decide to weigh him in.

Youth-Team: Hallur Hansson, Jack Grimmer

Right Midfield

First-Team: Peter Pawlett is one of your key men but you should look to bring in some cover/competition.

Youth-Team: Clark Robertson

Left Midfield

First-Team: Similarly to the right-side, Sone Aluko is the only realistic candidate for this role. Use the funds you bring in to increase your options here.

Youth-Team: Nicky Low

Attacking Midfield

First-Team: Another priority. A distinct lack of creativity centrally and you should address this immediately.

Youth-Team: None

Striker

First-Team: Exceptionally well covered here with Chris Maguire, Scott Vernon and the on-loan Andreas Velicka vying for the striker role. Josh Magennis also looks almost ready for first-team football and Mitch Megginson would be a worthy fifth choice. Consequently, Darren Mackie and Michael Paton may find themselves as the odd ones out and may be sold off to raise a bit of cash.

Youth Team: Mitchell Megginson, Domenico Gibson

Expectations

The board expect a Mid-Table but with the correct investment in the playing staff, this should easily be obtainable. If you are shrewd enough in with your signings, you yourself should expect to challenge for Top Four and possibly for a Europa League slot.

Good Luck as you attempt to overhaul the Old Firm!

OP now updated.

As anyone who supports the Dons knows, and as anyone who plays the game as them will find out, the squad is clearly unbalanced. As the OP says, there's not enough full backs, not enough creative midfielders. There are however a surplus of centre backs and strikers.

So with that in mind, I decided to redress this balance and bring in some much needed funding (£860k in total).

Jerel Ifil to QPR, £150k

Michael Paton to scunthorpe, £150k

Darren Mackie to Scunthorpe, £220k

Derek Young to Burnley, £90k

Zander Diamond to Derby, £250k

With these funds I was able to bring in these nine free agents:

Danny Shittu - Nigerian international centre-back who has played all his career in England. Replacement for Diamond.

Stephen Pele - French centre-back who along with Vujadinovic will provide cover for Considine and Shittu.

Olivier Fontenette - 28 year old French right back who can also play on the left side.

Michael Ball - Surprisingly beat Fulham, Middlesboro and Blackpool to the signature of the experienced left back.

Brahim Hemdani - Experienced defensive midfielder, ex-Rangers

Gari Uranga - Versatile Spanish attacking midfielder once of Real Sociedad

Jonathan Aspas - Another versatile Spaniard, mainly right-midfield but can play anywhere

Tomas Polacek - Czech left winger, 30 years old, recently released by Mlada Boleslav

Karim Bridji - One cap for Algeria, plays AMC or Striker, released after 4 seasons at Heracles in the Eredivisie

Some more free agents who I agreed a deal with but cancelled cos of signing the players above:

Eric Cubilier - French right back, 30 years old, played for many top French clubs

Derek Geary - Irish ex-Sheff Wed and Sheff Utd right back, can also play on left

Danny Mathijssen - Dutch left-back, ex-Willem II and AZ

Didier Domi - 32 year old French left-back, one time Newcastle and PSG player

Javier Martina - Dutch winger once of Ajax, can play both flanks.

So I am confident I've managed to improve the squad substantially.

Now need to find a tactic that works for us and let the new men blend in with their new colleagues.

Thats quite a bit of updating on the thread this evening, I'm sure somebody somewhere will join me with AFC soon

Been messing about with Aberdeen on the demo, certainly more enjoyable than going to Pittodrie at present, although pre- and post-match visits to the Bon-Accord Golf Club does dull the pain. As McGhee is struggling with no full backs and an abundance of strikers, I decided to stick with his judgement, and cobbled together a 3-4-3 (ok, couldn't sell Ifil, Mackie, Young, or anyone else really, so no money to spend)

Anyway, low point was losing at home to livi in the League Cup (true to life, eh?), high point was last game last night, humped Celtic 1-0 at Porkheid to go top of the league.

Will abandon it all and start again with the full game tonight while eating my free pizza froom tesco

Stand Free!!

Fit like Boothy, glad yer in aboot, wis feeling affa lonely sittin in here masell.

I’d a go at a few games last night with my overhauled squad. Not too bad a start, played five and didn’t lose a game. Beat Livi in the Cup and Killie in the league. Drew with Hamilton and needed a 95th min Maguire goal to draw at McDermiad and a 92nd min Hartley pen to do the same at Tannadice. Maguire banging them in, think he’s got six in the first five games.

Tell you what’s a pain in the hoop – no Reserve fixtures. It was good to be able to do the “available for reserves until Match Fit” for your players coming back from injury. So I’ve a load of “severely lacking match fitness”. I think what I might do is spend a bit of time setting up a load of reserve team friendlies throughout the season. Pretty laborious but can’t think of another way round it. I can see me using the Editor to resurrect the Reserve League.

I fancy an Aberdeen game to break the old firm and make Scottish football the place to play

can anyone tell me what joseph shaughnessy is like on FM11..im mates with him in real life

Shaughessy, like real life is not much use DOUBLE WINK

My copy arrived on Friday and got it installed and patched yesterday after work, so probably will get round to starting a Dons game tonight. Had to spent this morning on the train in to work listening to some rather jubilant Celtic supporters....that was misery.

Look forward to taking some petty revenge on them via FM!

I started as the dons, sold mackie for 425 to scunthorpe, brought in derek geary at rb, done really well sold howard for another 65k in jan brought in ignacio camacho and andre hanssen on free's camacho released from athl madrid was delighted. also set up chelsea as parent club and got josh mceacheran on loan. Have done amazing 4 games to go 2nd 1 point ahead of the huns 5 behind celtic.

Vernon is a goal machine, playing 4 2 4 ( attck mid left and right), has scored 27 goals, mcguire has played superb 12 goals and both coming in with assists around 8 each.

Jack grimmer looks a great prospect along with fyvie and pawlett.

And paton is good cover for all attacking areas, ifil surprisingly good, but him and diamond have given away about 6 pens between them,

4 game to go COYR!!!

I'm about to start just getting real compeitions names and kits.

Downloaded FM11 Today and decided to play as my beloved dons! Even after yesterdays shambles

Set the team up as a 3 CB - DM - 2 CM - 2 WG -2 ST Formation.

Sold:

D. Young - 80k

D. Mackie - 220k

J. Ifil - 80k

R. Jack - Loan

H. Hansson - Loan

S. Bain - Loan

Bought:

K. Gyan - Free

Ekhi - Free(Osasuana)

E. Esajas - Free

D. Yao - Free

M. Weir - Free

Seasons started pretty well 3 games in winning all 3 in the league as well as securing a comfortable home win against Ayr United in the league cup. I think Aberdeens relatively easy fixture list is a massive help in gelling the team with your new signings.

I also signed up most of my team on new 5 year deals in order to avoid losing some really promising youngsters for small fees.

Paton and Maguire are scoring for fun in the league, while Magennis and Vernon both scored in their debuts in the cup.

I also replaced my entire coaching staff, this cost me a bit of money but I'm hoping will pay dividends in the long run.

Update on my season.

Reached Mid-Feb and things are going well at Pittodrie, much better than real-life atm anyways.

After an exceptional start to the season, winning the first 11 games before the trip to Parkhead where we drew 3-3, should've won thy equalised late, the team suffered a little in December causing us to fall to 3rd though still well in th title hunt .

League Record stands at:

Pld: 26 Won: 19 Drew: 3 Lost: 4 For:55 Against:26 Points: 60 Position: 3rd

Cup Records:

League Cup - Semi Final vs Rangers 1-1(Lost 5-4 Pens)

Scottish Cup - Quarter Finals vs Rangers(To be played)

Made a few more alterations to the playing staff over the Janurary transfer window:

IN:

D.McDermott - Man City - £325K

R.Nava - Toluca - £150K

B.Ntambwe - Chelsea - Free

OUT:

Y.Folly - Olhanese - £60K

E.Esajas - Swindon - Free

I also managed to secure Chelsea as a parent club by convincing the board it would have great financial benefits and then got myself a work permit feeder club, Turnhout from Belguim.

Future transefer moves will involve Scott Vernon moving to Crystal Palace for £425K, A.Coeff(Lens) and M.Livaja(Free Agent) in the summer.

Will be starting a game with the mighty dons either tonight or tomorrow which should be good. I had a small test run on the demo and I know how I am going to get the team to play.

Formation: 4-1-2-1-2

Sell: Darren Mackie, Sone Aluko, Jerel Ifil

Sign: Nicky Phinn, Brian Kerr

Loan: Javan Vidal

Maybe one of two others would be good to bring in. We shall see the demo will play out pretty differently from the actual game. I will clean out the backroom aswell only keeping Simmy.

Update:

Season 1:

SPL

Played:38 Won:25 Drew:6 Lost:7 For:76 Against:43 Points:81 Final Position:3rd

Scottish Cup: Semi Finals - Lost 2-1 Hibs

League Cup: Semi Finals - Drew 1-1 Rangers(Lost 5-4 Penalties)

Not a bad 1st season with the Dons. We only missed out on 2nd spot by a point and finished a respectable 12 points behind the league leaders Celtic. As a reward the board awarded me a new 3 year deal to stay at the club!

Looking towards next season I will aim to consolidate and attempt to make the group stages of the Europa League. Winning a cup will also be on the agenda after 2 decent cup runs this year.

Also proud to win the SPL Manager of the Year award and Diamond and Hartley were both in the Team of the Year as well.

I've already begun to make some deals for the new season as I look to move on some players to free up the wage bill and even earn some transfer funds. Current deals in the works are:

OUT:

R.Foster - 10 Clubs bidding - £400K

S.Vernon - Crystal Palace - £400K

K.Gyan - 5 Clubs bidding - £160K + 50% Next Sale

J.Langfield - Barnsley - Free

Also going to try and move on Paul Hartley. His wages are a drain and at 34 his stats are starting to drop more dramatically. The possiblity of a large fee for Z.Diamond is also on the cards with West Ham and Birmingham sniffing round, he's currently valued at £1.3M.

Please delete post

Update:

Season 2:

Pld: 4 Won: 4 Draw: 0 Lost: 0 For: 12 Against: 5 Points: 12 Position: 1st

Europa League: Group Stages - CSKA Moscow, Brondby, Portsmouth, Aberdeen

Transfers:

OUT:

J.Langfeild - Celtic - Free

R.Foster - Leeds - £400K

K.Gyan - Preston - £160K

S.Vernon - Crystal Palace - £400K

Ekhi - Watford - £75K

P.Hartley - Derby - £400K

R.McArdle - Sheff. Utd - £240K

J.Magennis - Bristol City - £525K

M.Howard - A.Villa - Loan(£85K)

IN:

M.Sissoko - Udinese - £425K

D.Appiah - A.S Monaco - Loan(£170K)

A.Coeff - Lens - Free

J.Obika - Spurs - Free

M.Eikrem - Man Utd - Free

O.Norwood - Man Utd - Free

P. M'Puko - Spurs - Free

J. Helan - Man City - Free

K.Dyer - W.Ham - Free

N.Baker - A.Villa - Free

W.Szczesny - Arsenal - Free

D.Petrucci - Man Utd - Free

M.Livaja - Free

I decided that this season I had to cut down the wage bill and raise some funds in order to strengthen my squad with a combination of younger players and adding some experience, which I found in the signing of Dyer only having to pay him £1.6K p/wk. The signings of Szczesny in goals and the addition of M'Puko who plays anywhere across the midfield have been blessings. Along with this my youngsters have come on leaps and bounds. Grimmers running the midfield alongside Ryan Jack and Fraser Fyvie, Scott Ross is solid in defence and both Paton and Maguire are scoring and setting up goals along side my Mexican striker - Nava.

Highlights of the season so far include beating Aalborg 5-3 in extra time despite being down to 9 men due to injuries and also coming back from 1-0 down to beat Rangers 3-1. Cup draw has been alot kinder than the Europa league draw having me go away to Queen of the South in the 3rd round.

My aim in Europe is purely to escape the group and make some money while still managing to compete at home in the SPL.

Aberdeen is always my first game on FM, team i support so always have to see if i can do better than current managers ( which isn't too hard )

So my transfer business to start with -

OUT - Mackie / Ifil

IN - Morais / Basturk / Cubilier All free and some belgian guy Provoost who was sold as a quailty player 100k from some belgian 2nd division mob, and has done okay so far.

Pre season was very mixed, but so far in Official games League 2 wins and a draw, and a win against forfar in the cup. I have Blackburn sniffing around Grimmer and Arsenal sniffing around Fyvie.

Tried a couple of formations but none quite hit the mark. So I have settled on a 451 with 2 wingers in the AML/R positions ( aluko and Morais) I also have them swapping positions. And going between Macquire and Vernon as solo striker. My midfield 3 i have as a Ball wining, box to box and deep lying playmaker, though may swap to advanced to try and get him closer to striker.

So far its promising, lets hope it continues and no 9-0 thrashings appear

Update:

Season 2011/12 Mid Season Report

At the half way stage of the season things are gong really well for me at todders. The team have made it into the Semi-Finals of the league cup against Celtic, we have drawn Cowdenbeath in the Scottish Cup and we managed to top our Europa League Group. Highlights in europe included beating CSKA 2-0, Pompey 5-1 and Brondby 4-1 all at Pittodrie which has become a fortress this season.

Another massive boost is the rediculoes form that my Mexican striker R.Nava is in! He's scored 27 goals in just 28 games!

I'm also 8 points clear at the top of the SPL currently unbeaten in league football. My record stands at:

Pld: 18 Won: 14 Drawn: 4 Lost: 0 For: 44 Against: 16 Points: 46

Hoping to continue this form through the new year, fingers crossed!

Drew Dortmund in the 1st knock-out stage of the Europa league which could've been at lot worse! O well will just have to see how it goes

Thats me just coming into Split in Season 1. A point behind United in the quest for third.

Signings this time have been sparse but Liam Rosenior probably pick of the bunch after his short-term Hull contract ended in January.

Using MiNiMaL_FuSS Tactic which is working well with the midfield/wingers/strikers I have - especially Velicka who's doing a grand job as Poacher.

Just finished the 1st season, finished 6th, 5 points off 3rd. I had a lot of chopping and changing of formations through the season which i dont think has helped, but i am now settled on a 4-4-2/4-2-4

Starting lineup of:

GK: Clangers

DR: Abubakari Yakubu DC: Diamond DC: DeMerit DL: Salomon Olembe

---------------------------CM: Hartley CM: Fyvie

AMR: Aluko---------------------------------------------AML: Pawlett

--------------------------ST: Vernon ST: Maguire

Also signed, Gael Nlundulu (AMR), Gerard Lifondja (DC/DMC/MC) and Basturk all on Frees

Sold Mackie 425k to Scunthorpe and Young and Ifil out for 30k and 40k respectively

Now have two parent clubs Arsenal (at start of season and got Sunu on loan, was ok) and just agreed with Chelsea, so hoping next season i will get some good loans from those two...

Also looking at a number of bosmans but nothing agreed as yet (i need to try and free up some wages), Vernon had a cracking season, Maguire not so much so looking for a couple of strikers as a priority...

Grimmer, Jack and Clark Robertson are developing nicely in the u19's so may get the odd 1st team chance in season 2

Some players who came to me with my £3.7k/week max wage budget at the end of season 1 were Dave Nugent, Marius Zaliukas and Phill Bardsley. Worth looking out for if you're getting to that stage.

Update:

Season 2 Complete

2011/2012

ABERDEEN SPL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!!

What a season we've just had being crowned league champions with 2 games to go.

League Record:

Pld: 38 Won: 28 Drew: 9 Lost: 1 For: 85 Against: 29 Points: 93

Scottish Cup: Semi Final - Lost to Celtic 3-2

League Cup: Semi Final - Lost to Celtic 2-0

Europa League: 1st Knockout Round - Lost to Dortmund 4-2 on agg.

The signing of Raul Nava from Toluca seems to be an inspired season as he scored a record 42 goals in 52 games in all competitions. While Paton, Maguire, Aluko and Pawlett all helped out with 10 or more goals.

The board have also agreed to improve my training and youth facilities for next season and announce the construction of Aberdeens first youth academy!

Aim for next season has to be continued improvement in Europe aiming to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League as well as retaining our SPL title.

Transfers already organised for next season are:

IN:

S.Hutchinson - Motherwell - £300K

G.Gunning - Blackburn - Free

OUT:

J.Masson - Dunfermiline - Free

S.Bain - Dundee Utd. - £10K + 50% Next Fee

Also Man. City are sniffing around R.Nava with a fee of £21M being banded about by the media! I don't want to sell him but can I turn that money down?!?!?

Played two seasons, just coming into Season 3. Had a 3rd Place in Season 2 so in Europa League play-off round.

Building a mainly British team, my signing policy is generally UK/Ireland players or those who have played in England or Scotland. Don’t want to go down the unknown Colombian route although it might be a quicker route to success. Trying to sign players who’ve recently been capped or (hopefully) will soon be by UK/Irish nations.

Haven’t bought anybody yet, all these players were signed once their contract ended with their previous club.

Biggest signing is Steven Naismith, amazed when he was released and found nobody else was interested so he came to me for my max wage £3.9k/week.

GK: Rhys Taylor (Chelsea, 2 Welsh Caps in game)

RB: Phil Bardsley (Sunderland)

CB: Marius Zaliukas (Hearts)

CB: Andy Considine

LB: Richard Foster

CM: Fraser Fyvie

CM: Owen Garvan (Crystal Palace, Irish u21 international)

RM: Peter Pawlett

LW: Sone Aluko

CF: Steven Naismith (Rangers)

CF: Dave Nugent (Portsmouth)

Other players:

GK: Jamie Langfield, FB: Liam Rosenior (Hull), CB: Zander Diamond, LB: Stirling Smith, RB/CM: Ryan Jack, CM: Ryan Stevenson (Hearts), W: Gai Assulin (Barcelona), CF: Chris Maguire, CF: Scott Vernon, CF: Josh Magennis

Season 3

2012/2013

Thats Me at the end of the transefer window with Aberdeen after making a few changes to the playing squad my seasons going along nicely.

So far league forms going after 4 games my record stands at

PLD: 4 W: 3 D:0 L:1 For: 8 Against: 4 Pts: 9 Pos: 3rd

I've qualified for the Champs. League Group Stage and have been paired with: Man Utd.(Eng) Shaktar(Ukr) and Gaziantespor(Tur). Looks like a difficult group with back to back games against Utd. I'm aiming for 3rd place and qualification for the Eurpopa League.

League cups paired me up with Dundee at home and I've also secured Tottenham as a Parent club.

Transfers: Big deals include the sales of R.Nava to Everton for £4M + 50% of next sale, Pain with this deal was that Man City had offered £10M before pulling out after securing Neymar instead . Nava then became dispondent and demanded a move blaming me for his transfer breaking down! Was not impressed. Also sold big Z.Diamond to Blackpool for £1.5M as he wanted £7.5K a week in wages.

To replace them I brought in Leigh Griffiths on a free from Dundee, waited til he had been released to avoid playing compensation and also secured S.Hutchinson from Motherwell for £350K to cover Zanders loss. As well as this I continued to strengthen the youth side bringing in several U19 players on frees and deals involving fees over 48months.

IN:

S.Hutchinson - Free - Motherwell,

Z.Boucher - £400K - Le Harve,

J.Bostock - Loan - Spurs,

J.McEachran - Loan - Chelsea,

E.Ochoa - 400K - Osasunua,

G.Gunning - Free - Blackburn,

S.Mustafi - Free - Everton,

L.Griffiths - Free - Dundee,

S.Calvano - Free - A.C Milan,

S.Kuria - Loan - OM,

R.Noble-Lazerus - £100K - Barnsley,

S.Mango - Loan - OM

J.Funes - £275K - Chacarita Jrs.

Jose - £825K - Malaga

R.De Paula - £130K - Osasuana

J.Salinas - ££575K - Malaga

OUT:

R.Nava - £4M(+50% Next Fee) - Everton

Z.Diamond - £1.5M - Blackpool

M.Weir - £12K - Luton

K.Dyer - Free

Plus several youngsters out on loan in order to gain first team experience and help cut down on our wage bill.

Season 2 Finished:

Finished 4th on 59 points well behind, Celtic, Hearts and then Rangers

Scottish Cup Final - a 3 nil defeat to Rangers - very hard to take considering i was playing well until a controversial red card turned the game their way... gutted

Now have the following all as parent clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Man City - i only seem to get 1 loan player from each per season (and reject all my loan offers for free - even if only looking for a 30k-50k fee), for 3rd season i have McEachran (Chelsea), Lenny Nangis (Arsenal), David Charlesworth (Spurs) & Adam Matthews (Man City) - Nangis and Mceachran are both starters with Nangis looking really good.

Not paid a fee yet for any players, start of season 2 i brought in, Szczesny (goakeeper developing all the time), Norwood (CM from Man Utd), Sam Walker (GK Chelsea), Stefano Pettinari (Free from Roma, superb ST), Jeremy Helan (LB Man City - stats are poor, barely played but still young)

End of Season 2/Start of 3 i have the above loans plus, Daniel Ayala (CB free from Liverpool, looks like he should be good, pushing Diamond for a start already), Bruno (RB/LB released by Valencia), Hamed Namouchi (Free from Freiburg)

Europa league i put Omonia out 9-4 on aggregate, i was then the final seeded team for 4th qualifying round and got an easy draw beating Trnava (??) 8-1 on agg, Groups just drawn and its tough as i have Bordeaux, AZ and Ferencvaros, not at all confident of qualifying out of that - especially since Petinari has just been ruled out injured for 3 months

GK: Szcesny

RB: Yakubu

DC: DeMerit

DC: Diamond/Ayala

LB: Bruno

CM:Fyvie

CM: McEachran/Norwood

AMR: Aluko

AML: Pawlett/Namouchi

ST: Nangis

ST: Pettinari/Vernon

Season 3 im hoping for a cup victory, and hopefully get closer to a top 2 finish for a shot at champs league...

Been away playing my ST Pauli save, came back last night. am into January now, 2 or 3 of my young players have accepted contracts from clubs at end of season. Arsenal are now a parent club, got Sunu on loan for rest of season. Might have to change my tactic from my 451 to a 442 or 424....made an impulse signing. Gary O'Conner was released by Birmingham got him on 1500 wages , stats wise is better than vernon but vernon has been in great form for me. Am currently sitting 4th, 2 points behind 3rd place Hibs, Rangers in 2nd only 5 or 6 points away, celtic running away with it a bit. So looking promising. Fyvie has been great in midfield beside Hartley and Provoost, ALuko went on a great run of form until he get snapped by Scott Brown, 2 months out Langfield has been dropped due to poor form, Howard has done ok. Stirling Smith has done really well filling in for Vuj....(however he is spelt).

Hoping someone buys one of my players in transfer windows to get my wages down a little.

A quick question, what sort of transfer budgets are you guys getting each season? mine is currently 34k per week with £0 for transfers - although im overspending as currently at £39.5k per week

Think I went up to £39k/week in Season 2 and now in Season 3 and its £54.5k/week (I asked them to increase it and was surprised when they did)

Overspending by £8k/week but que sera. Got £2m in the bank.

I like to wait til 2nd July and then make a load of contract offers for free agents, the board doesn't limit how many (for example) £4.2k/week offers you give out on that same day so you can overspend easily.

Season 3: 2012/2013 Half Way Update

As this season progresses Aberdeen seem to be going from strength to strength with a growing reputation around European football, strong performances in both domestic competitions along with some miraculous performances in the Champions League see us still competing on 4 fronts come the new year.

The form of striker Michael Paton has been unreal with him scoring an exceptional 24 goals in 22 starts, including 8 goals in his last 5 games, helping to cushion the blow of Raul Navas record sale to Everton.

Competition Records:

SPL:

Played:19 Won:16 Drawn:2 Lost:1 For:54 Against:23 Points:50 Position:1st(12 Points ahead of Celtic)

Champions League:

Miraculous performances in the Champions League, including a home win against Manchester Utd. at Pittodrie 2-1, helped us to a second place finish in the group and set up a tie against the mighty Real Madrid, we've beat them before can we do it again? Group stage finished like this:

Pld:6 Won:2 Drew:3 Lost:1 For:8 Against:7 Points:9 Position:2nd

Domestic Cups:

League Cup - Semi-Final vs Rangers

Scottish Cup - 4th Round vs Raith

January will bring on some more moves in the transfer market as I move to secure some new youngsters for the youth club. I am set to bring in several 16 year old spaniards from La-Liga who are all predicted to be leading SPL players. I will also move to secure some more British youngsters on pre-contracts with deals for S.Caulker from Spurs and Hulls L.Cooper to be brought in for next season as I look to move A.Considine on for a large fee.

Also aiming to get my first stadium expansion of Pittodrie as I am starting to fill the ground on a regular basis.

My Starting 11:

GK - W.Sczenesny(Arsenal - Free)

DC - A.Considine

DC - S.Hutchinson(Motherwell-£300K)

DC - S.Mango(OM - Loan)

DM - F.Fyvie

CM - R.Jack

CM - J.Grimmer

RW - P.Pawlett

LW - S.Aluko

ST - M.Paton

ST - C.Maguire

McRobbie - good to see someone playing as a club outside of the forces of evil doing well!

Cadijk: I have completely stopped offering pre-contracts for that reason, I just wait until 1/2nd July and go through all the teams in top divisions that I have loaded, and view their transfers out that are Free, takes a bit of time (EPL, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga) but feel it is worth it to try and find some bargains - plus as you will be aware they usually ask for less wages when they are without a club

A bit gutted that my budget is only £34k per week max offer I could make was £3.4k - but the club is haemorrhaging money, Stu Milne has on 3 occasions injected £550k which is generous of him so i cant really expect a bigger budget just now.

McRobbie: good to see you are doing well, especially with the basis around your home grown players... just makes it more frustrating that my team is so inconsistent

Cadijk: I have completely stopped offering pre-contracts for that reason, I just wait until 1/2nd July and go through all the teams in top divisions that I have loaded, and view their transfers out that are Free, takes a bit of time (EPL, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga) but feel it is worth it to try and find some bargains - plus as you will be aware they usually ask for less wages when they are without a club

Yup, and I’ve also found that taking them on trial first can make them interested in signing when they weren’t initially, and also they seem to drop their wage expectation level if you’ve got them on trial at the time.

Most extreme example of this was Gai Assulin (ex Barca) who wanted £15k/week at the start of Season 1. Took him on trial for 4 weeks then got him to sign up for £2k/week. Big difference!

Season 2012/13 Finished

DONS DO THE DOUBLE!!!

This season was interesting to say the least. After a flying start to the season, including an explosive December where we scored 22 goals in 5 games! Michael Paton scoring back to back hat-trick to take his goal tally up to 25 by the turn of the year, we were top of the SPL by 15 points, in the semi-finals of the league cup and finished 2nd in our Champions League group

The start of 2013 did not go to plan! A disapointing Feburary led to the gap at the top being cup to jus 5 points by mid-march, a defeat in the semi's of the league cup to Rangers and a demolition away to Real Madrid in the Champions League beaten 8-1 in Spain! The teams morale had dropped and Patons goals had dried up, at one point he was on a 940 minute goal drought, the only bright side was wins in the Scottish Cup keeping some form of momentum going at Pittodrie.

HOWEVER, never fear as my dons came good, Paton broke his goal scoring drought with a hat trick at pittodrie against celtic to give us a vital 3-2 win! Maguire then started bagging vital goals in scraping narrow 1-0 wins and we even managed to beat Rangers in the Scottish cup semi-finals with 10 men winning 6-5 on penalities .

The league was sewn up at Pittodrie on the 2nd last day of the season in a 1-0 win against the blue side of glasgow! We then went on to beat Hearts 2-0 to earn the Scottish cup as well.

All in all a productive season with new signings C.Clifford and S.Hutchinson showing their worth on a consistant basis and with L.Griffiths popping in with a few vital goals as the season went on.

Next season looks promising alreadt with a group stage berth in the Champions League already guarenteed as Scotlands co-efficent has improved through the performances of Aberdeen, Celtic and Rangers in Europe

Transfers set to go for next season include:

IN:

D.Wotherspoon - Hibs - Free Transfer after his release

S.Caulker - Spurs - Free

L.Cooper - Hull - Free

Also completing the signing of more youth players from the continent, mainly 16 yr old spaniards

OUT:

Moving on some deadwood from within the squad including signings which haven't developed as hoped.

C.Maguire - Stoke - £1.5M + 50% Next Fee

N.Baker - Bradford - £50K

A.Coeff - Ipswich - £300K

D.Jarvis - Shrewsbury - £22K

D.Petrucci - Ipswich - £140K

S.Yao - Hibs - £33K

O.Norwodd - Gillingham - £75K

M.Sissoko - Leicster - £110K

J.Obika - Luton - Free

Deals to sell A.Considine and C.Robertson are also in the pipeline as they look for moves to England. Considine doesn't look to be getting any better and is wanting a big contract while Robertson also seems to have stopped progessing, also with the signing of Wotherspoon and J.O'Shea coming in on a free at the end of last season I feel I have plenty cover.

Aim for next season has to be winning the league again, maybe a cup win and the aim of getting out of the group stages of the Champions League again would be ideal.

Yup, and I’ve also found that taking them on trial first can make them interested in signing when they weren’t initially, and also they seem to drop their wage expectation level if you’ve got them on trial at the time.

Most extreme example of this was Gai Assulin (ex Barca) who wanted £15k/week at the start of Season 1. Took him on trial for 4 weeks then got him to sign up for £2k/week. Big difference!

I never thought of offering a trial, i had never bothered with it in past versions, looks like it will be worth a shot though

Feb Update Season 3:

Myself, Celtic, Dundee Utd and Rangers are battling for the title, we are all separated by 3 points

Europa league i went out on goal difference to AZ after both finishing on 9 points, i had the chance to go through with only needing a point at home to AZ in the penultimate group game, but after going 1 up i blew it and lost 2-1, final game was away to Bordeaux where i lost 4-2 and AZ beat Ferencvaros 4-1 to swing the goal difference in their direction

The board increased my wages after a request to 38k, unfortunately this is still 1k less than what i was spending, so in January i didn’t make any signings, but sold Paton (230k) and Walker (250k) so i now have £2.5k wages to play with after adjusting my budgets...

DeMeritt and McRobbie have signed Bosmans for the end of the season so that should free up about another £4k

Nangis and Vernon have been on fire, both on about 20 goals for the season so far (all comps) with aluko and Pawlett heading towards double figures

So i have no issues scoring, but my defence is atrocious, im top scorers in the league but 3rd or 4th worst for conceding, so im still trying to find the right balance - although i find it quite entertaining to watch

Well first season done, 3rd Place and beat Inverness Caley to win Scottish Cup. Change of formation in January helped. Went from 451 to a 442/424. Vernon has been a beast in front of goal 26 goals in 35 games. Lets hope i can get rid of a few players and grab a few better players. A bit more consistent in league and better against the old firm. got 2 wins against rangers, 1 in cup, and got humped twice of them. ! lucky win over celtic and the erst i was lucky to lose by only 2 or 3 goals

Vernon got goalscorer and footballwriters player of the year, i got manager.

Season 4: 2013/2014 Transfer Window Closed

This has been by far my busiest transfer window with lots of moves both in and out of Pittodrie.

Start with my competitons so far:

3 games into the SPL season and I'm sitting in 3rd place won my first 2 games against Hibs and St. Johnstone before drawing 2-2 at Celtic Park. In the league cup I've drawn Clyde away, their sitting in the 3rd division so I'm hoping for a comfortable win.

The Champions League group stages have not been so kind I've been given what the game has labelled the Group of Death, nice of them "/ I'm seeded 3rd but hav ebeen drawn with Man. Utd, A.C Milan and Tolouse. How kind? My aims got to be 3rd place and Europa League football, but who knows I managed to escape the group last year I'll just live in hope.

Major Transfers:

As I said its been a busy transfer window along with the sales of 3 First team players I had to recruit replacements as well as continuing to strengthen the youth set-up to save me money in the long run. Saying that I did pick up some cracking freebies and loans from my parent clubs.

INS:

C.Wickham - Ipswich - Free

D.Wotherspoon - Hibs - Free

D.Rose - Spurs - Loan

J.Shelvey - Liverpool - Loan

Alipio - Benfica - Loan

Jano - Spartak Moscow - Loan

Collection of youngsters and 2 CBs from Valencia (Spanish Regens - Solid and Cheap Wages) - £5.5M

OUT:

A.Considine - Derby - £1.2M

C.Maguire - Stoke - £1.5M

C.Robertson - Stoke - £450K + 50% Next Fee

A.Coeff - Ipswich - £350K + 50% Next Fee

Sale Of Selection Of Youth And Reserve Players - £900K

Several Youth Players Released On Free Transfers To Keep Wages Down

Pre-season transfers not going too well, got a few good youth in, W.Szczesny which is nice, but struggling to replace Morais, he left since someone met his transfer fee clause. really need a good AMR/L or one of each but nothing good within my budget so far...

Season 3 (2012/13) finished

I thought it was going to be a season of bottling it as bottled it in the Europa Group without managing to secure a point at home to AZ in the penultimate group game to qualify.

Then 3 points behind Celtic in the league i had a better goal difference and the final league game so happened to be at Parkhead so needing a win, i went 1 down, equalised, threw on another striker and ended up losing 2-1. Although looking at the league table Celtic had 20 home games and 18 away, whereas i had 19 and 19 so quite realistic in favouring the old firm :-)

But the season finished on a high defeating Hearts in the Scottish Cup final 2-1, only after going 1 down though, Pawlett the hero with a double and getting the winner in the 86th minute

Into pre-season now so will update once the window closes...

Season 1 of real game over - finished 7th with 55 points. Lost out on top 6 place to Hibs on goal difference

The 3-4-3 from the demo didn't work on the real game, only one win in first 2 months of league, eventually returned to my own variant of Uncle Sam's 4222 box midfield, which proved more successful, with 2 unbeaten runs of 9 and 7 games, sandwiching a 6 game winless streak. Biggest win, 3-0 v ICT, best win, 3-2 v Tims. Some affa defeats, too. 4-0 v Murderwell, Tims, Huns and LSC all away.

Sold Ifil, Young and Mackie for a combined total of £160k. Cancelled Velicka's loan and couldnt affoed to extend Vujadinovic's loan at the end of January. In return, signed Calum Davenport (DC), Anderson Silva (DM/M C), Eric Paton (DR), Shaun Kelly (D RC) and Tom Williams (D/WB/M L) all for free in January window.

Only signing guys I've scouted, and although better than what I had when I signed them, all 3 new full backs are probably favourites to move on in summer. James Bloom (DL) from Falkirk signing on a bosman on 1st June and Ricky Foster will be coming over the hill about then, too.

Top scorer was Paton, 17 goals from 29 starts and 4 sub appearances, Vernon was next 11 from 20 (10).

Upped most of the coaches from youth team only, and signed a few new scouts too.

Skin-wise, Neue2 has been updated for FM11, and also got the 70-odd thousand face pack and the metallic logos. All I need now is a couple decent fullbacks.

Stand Free!!

Season 4: 2013/2014 Complete

Dons Redo The Double!!!!

Another Top Quality Season If You Were A Dons Fan. The Club Completed The League And League Cup Double.

In Europe The Club Finished 3rd In A Champions League Group That Contained Ourselves, Man Utd, A.C Milan And Tolouse Send Us Into The Europa League Knock-Out Stages Where We Put Out H.Tel-Aviv And Lokomotiv Moscow Before Falling To Hamburg In The 1/4 Finals.

Domestic Cups Ended With A Win In The League Cup Final Though Going Out In The Scottish Cup 5th Round To Hibs.

Transfers From This Season Resulted In The Clubs Taking In £6M And Spending £6.5M. Big Deals Included The Signings Of 2 Regen Spanish CBs And The Captures Of D.Wotherspoon(Hibs) And C.Wickham(Ipswich) On Free Transfers. Major Players Leaving The Club Involved Sone Aluko Moving To Steau For £1.4M, A.Considine(£1.5M) to Ipswich, C.Robertson(£450K) To Stoke and also C.Maguire Moving To Stoke For £1.5M.

Thankfully The Board Have Decided To Both Improve All Facilites At The Club As Well As Expanding The Stadium Capacity At Pittodrie By 5000 Seats.

Aims For Next Season Include Moving On Some More Fringe Players And The Signing Of Some More Experience To Bolster My Very Youthful Squad.

Just started a new game with Aberdeen. Five games into the league campaign and it's been a mixed start.

Players in and out firstly:

IN:

Abubakari Yakubu (free)

José Goncalves (free)

Selim Benachour (free)

Gary Harkins (£95k, Dundee)

Alexandre N'Gadi (free)

Gérard Lifondja (free)

Also from my new parent club, Liverpool:

Martin Kelly (loan)

Gerardo Bruna (loan)

OUT:

Derek Young (£90k, Burnley)

Darren Mackie (£220k, Scunthorpe)

Jerel Ifil (£150k, QPR)

Jack Grimmmer (£475k, Celtic)

Using the 4-2-3-1 asymmetric formation, but reversed to accomodate an AM L and M R instead of an AM R and M L.

Had a good start, drew 0-0 with Hamilton, beat St. Johnstone 3-2 and Kilmarnock 1-0, plus a 3-0 win over East Fife in the League Cup.

Then it went wrong. Lost 3-0 away to Dundee United, gave away two penalties and had Yakubu sent off, then lost 3-1 to Motherwell, gave away another penalty and Diamond was sent off.

Sticking with the formation for the next game and if we lose miserably I'll look at changing it.

Let's see what happens!

Update:

Had to drop the asymmetric formation. It gave me so much success at other clubs in FM10 but it wasn't working. Dumped out of the League Cup 3rd round by St. Johnstone on penalties. Switched to 4-4-1-1 for Rangers at home, but had to change to 4-4-2 after Harkins was injured and I didn't have another AM C to replace him (Benachour is on a leave of absence because he can't adapt to the Scottish lifestyle and N'Gadi was away on international duty). Drew 0-0 and the fans were happy.

Experimented with a diamond formation away to Inverness in the next game and was unlucky to only draw 1-1. Still not sure of our best formation. Might just stick with 4-4-2 for now. Currently 7th after 7 games with 2 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses.

Update:

Haven't had as tough a time managing Aberdeen as I have in this game. We're ninth on the 9th of January. Had a massive dip in form and went on a 9 game run without a win, then after two victories from three, went another five without a win.

Turned a corner after humping Hamilton 5-1 away. Won 2-1 against Dundee United at home, then beat Hibs 2-0 in Edinburgh in the Scottish Cup. Three wins on the trot and I'm hoping it'll carry us up the table.

In transfer news, Calum Davenport came in on a free after a decent trial. Hasn't played much yet though. Selim Benachour is on his way out, transfer listed after he once again said he can't settle in the country. But Alexandre N'Gadi has been in fine form in the playmaker position in his place, with three goals in the last three games. Zle Diabate came in for £65k to replace Vujadinovic at left back when his loan finishes.

Hopeful that our run will continue, otherwise I'm definitely up for the sack!

i thought that i would start one with the club i supported for my life - Aberdeen

Transfers -

IN -

Arnold Bruggink - Free

Tomos Roberts - Free

Gerard Lifondja - Free

OUT -

Michael Paton - £160K - Scunthorpe

Jerel Ifil - £150K - QPR

Nicky Low - £250k plus 40% profit of the next transfer - Fulham

2010/11 season so far

Hamilton (H) 2-0 (Canning OG, Hartley)

St. Johnstone (A) 1-1 (Maguire)

Brechin (A) 2-0 (Smith, Maguire) League Cup 2nd Round

Kilmarnock (H) 2-3 (Maguire, Lifondja)

Dundee Utd (A) 1-4 (Maguire)

Update:

Finished fourth in my first season, put together a strong run in the second half of the season, inspired by Sebastian Grazzini (£10,000 from All Boys) who despite getting injured in his first game, came back into the playmaker position to make 8 assists and score two goals in 9 games.

Also won the Scottish Cup, beating Rangers 2-1 in the final, sweet revenge for the league match where we raced into a three goal lead, before they scored four, including a last minute goal to win the match 4-3.

Goalkeeper Fabian Carini also came in on a free and I arranged to sign Gerard Bruna on a Bosman from Liverpool after impressing on loan.

In pre-season 2011 now, signed Estonian international Ats Purje on a free, for cover on both wings, Jack Robinson, a young English left back also signed on a free, and Craig Eastmond arrives on loan from parent club Arsenal.

Yoann Folly has signed for Lens for £85,000, Paul Hartley left on a mutual termination. Barely played all season and was sapping up wages. Declan McManus was sold for £250,000 to Nottingham Forest, Stewart Milne decided it was too good an offer to refuse. I've got plenty of strikers so I'm inclined to agree.

Trying to move on Jamie Langfield and Stirling Smith, while Fraser Fyvie is transfer listed by request (he doesn't fit my new formation so didn't play at all in the second half of the season). I'll gladly take £1,00,000 for him.

Still trying to strengthen despite having no money to spend. Hopeful that I'll improve on last season's finish.

Update on the update:

Turning out to be a busy pre-season. Searched the free transfer market and surprised myself by signing three amazing players.

First, Dalibor Stevanovic, Slovenian international, attacking midfielder, had him on the last game at Aberdeen and he was immense. Orhan Mustafi, Swiss U21 striker, released by Basel, Rob Earnshaw, also available on a free and Ignacio Camacho, the Spanish U21 vice captain and defensive midfielder, released from Atletico Madrid.

Also signed a young regen Hungarian centre back, Gabor Burkus for £350,000, the only money I've spent.

All these signings meant I had to sell quite a few players. Out so far:

Fraser Fyvie, £850,000 to Ipswich

Sebastian Grazzini, £300,000 to Lens

Jamie Langfield, £70,000 to Sunderland

Stirling Smith, £100,000 to Scunthorpe

Gerard Lifondja, £160,000 to Caen

Josh Magennis, £525,000 to Watford

Scott Vernon, £250,000 to Nottm Forest

Total money spent: £350,000

Total money received: £2,600,000

Season 2011/12 review

Right enough, the three January full back signings, Paton, Williams and Kelly moved on in summer, for a comined total of £38K. As well as a few youngsters, also lost Jack Grimmer to Hibs after Stuarty accepted the £1M offer from them. He'd played about 20 games previous season, was looking like a good prospect. Coming in were Foster back from Iprix, Bloom (DL) from Falrirk and ex-West Ham right back Trent McClenahan. Couple young loons arrived too, ex Chelsea and Sporting midfielder Mesca and ex Arsenal centre half Ignasi Miguel, both with plenty potential. On loan we got midfielder Kyle Ebecilio from parent club Arsenal.

On the field, WE WON THE LEAGUE CUP, 1-0 over Hibs, and finished 3rd in league (on goal difference over Hibs - revenge for previous season - and they've got Jimmy in charge), and qualified for Europa League 4th Qualifying round. Home form was good, 14 wins in 19 games, away form poor, with only 4 wins. Top scorer was previous January's signing centre half Davenport with 12 goals in 46 appearances. Paton was next 11 goals from 30 starts and 5 sub appearances. Fyvie was Young player of the year.

ICT were again the whipping boys, had a 4-0 victory over them. There was a few 3-0 wins too, and a 4-4 draw with St Johnstone. Downsides, lost 4-0 and 3-0 to Huns, and 4-3 to Hearts in Scottish Cup QF replay. Had been 1-0 up with 5 mins to go in first game, and 3-0 down in 16 mins in replay.

End of season sees Hartley retiring and Langfield out of contract (giving me about 5 grand of wages to re-invest). Assman says defence is still weakest, but I'll be looking for a defensive midfielder first. Suspect anyone coming in will be on a Bosman, or on loan (Arsenal have a decent young goale who can challenge Howard). Hoping to be able to offer more wages than the 2 grand max I can currently offer.

Will update at end of transfer window

Quick update on season two, not playing as much lately as I'm busy at work, but this is worthy of an update I think.

Top of the SPL after seven games with 5 wins and 2 draws, quite happy that Rangers and Celtic are 10th and 9th respectively, strangely, St Mirren and St Johstone are 2nd and 3rd at the moment. Some poor signings on the Old Firms' part methinks.

Went a bit crazy with transfers at the end of the window, with a few youth regens being signed and some free transfers. My squad is way too big. Shouldn't have shifted all the money I got from those transfers out to the wage budget. Still only spent £650k on players yet signed 14 players on frees. No doubt will shift a few players out in January.

Got Zurich, Bayern Munich and Red Star in the Europa League, but I'm top of the group after two games thanks to a Dalibor Stevanovic hattrick away to Zurich in a 4-2 victory and a 2-2 home draw with Bayern. Stevanovic scored in that one too. :-)

Playing more or less with the assymetric formation again (went back to it, can't help it. Got me two consecutive promotions and was top of the league with Vizela in Portugal on FM10 exclusively using this formation). With Bruna on AML and Pawlett on MR with Camacho in DM position and Stevanovic on AMC we're very good in midfield, still experimenting up front. Not sure who my best two are. But Goncalves and Diamond are rocks in central defence and I'm delighted to have Foster back at left back. Why did McGhee let him go?!

Carini is also great in goal. At his peak at the moment and Howard can't get a look in. Jan Sibek, released from Chelsea, is my third choice after I lost patience with Scott Bain refusing to sign for anyone else despite being transfer listed and released him.

who is better? jamie langfield or mark howard?