Starting a game with made up club

I'm thinking of starting a game managing a club I made up in the editor and try move them up the leagues. Has anyone done this before? What unique challenges do you face? I guess the main things would be the very low reputation of the club, lack of supporters to begin with and money (although i'm thinking of giving the club a sugar daddy to make it easier).

Well, the normal first step at the lower levels is to release most/all of the starting squad as you can replace them with far better players on less money easily. You would actually have an advantage that it wouldn't cost you anything to get to this blank slate, so you could likely assemble the best squad at the level very quickly.

Continuing on though, you have identified the main problems - although in all cases it depends what you enter as the starting values for reputation/finances/average attendance etc. You are likely to be one of the smallest teams at the level with little money coming in, and at such a low level you can't rely on selling players for income. You would also have to have the new squad gel together as they won't have played together before. Overall, it is all about what values you enter in the database for the team - much lower than your opponents and it could be a struggle to attract players and have the finances needed for the wages. Similar levels to your league and you could actually have the advantage over the real teams.

I'm thinking of starting a game managing a club I made up in the editor and try move them up the leagues. Has anyone done this before? What unique challenges do you face? I guess the main things would be the very low reputation of the club, lack of supporters to begin with and money (although i'm thinking of giving the club a sugar daddy to make it easier).

I did this kind of thing in FM12. I made a team called Virgin FC (Their chairman was Richard Branson), and I started them in League 2 as a professional club. Was a fun save, and played it for a fair few seasons. I didn't use sugar daddy, but I made the club quite well off for their level. Didn't want to make the save too easy, but at the same time I wanted the club to do well with Branson's financial backing.

The first thing I'd do if I were doing this kind of thing again, is not giving the club a sugar daddy. It'll make things too easy, and when there's no challenge what's the point in playing? Second, I'd give my club the same reputation as a mid-table team of the league I intended to start in. It'd give me a good starting point, but not make my first season in too easy. Third, I'd take the time to make some kits, and a club badge. Those extra little details make things more personal, and would keep me with the save for longer, knowing I'd put some time and effort into making the club my own.

Hmm, I addressed this point only yesterday. I've done it for years. I do it as my own personal challenge like this:

I've done this, creating my 'Academy' club and replaced Boston in Skill North.

I checked the CAs of squads in Skill North for an estimate of CA for my players.

I then used the filter to search for 16 year old British players at obscure clubs or unattached and added them to my squad, changing their PAs to -7, -8 and -9.

I made other alterations - you can call it cheating if you like, but my vision is to take a group of kids and nurture them into a successful team over the long term. Therefore, I maxed at 20 Determination, Professionalism and Loyalty, made them 100 love the club, chairman and assman. Because I max some attributes but don't increase CA other attributes have to take a hit, so the squad is initially quite weak for the division. Given their ages, they are the weakest, shortest and have the least stamina, so it really is a challenge to get through the first season. I don't give the club much money but I do have a background sugar daddy who don't put spending monry in but only dips in to wipe out debts so that I'm not forced to sell the kids.

This thread:

Creating-a-whole-new-team-with-brand-new-players-staff

Thanks for all the info. I was thinking of replicating a rich guy starting a new club but if the sugar daddy thing makes it too easy i'll reconsider that. I would like to start from very low reputation but if that's an issue in getting players I'll set it a little higher. I like to start a game either as just an international manager or with a low club and work my way up so thought this would be something different but still starting from the bottom

It's worth noting that not all "Suger Daddy"s are equal. Giving yourself an "Underwriter" Sugar Daddy might fit your narrative without making it too easy.

Thanks for all the info. I was thinking of replicating a rich guy starting a new club but if the sugar daddy thing makes it too easy i'll reconsider that. I would like to start from very low reputation but if that's an issue in getting players I'll set it a little higher. I like to start a game either as just an international manager or with a low club and work my way up so thought this would be something different but still starting from the bottom

As I said, you can set your own level of challenge by creating your own club. I don't give my club players with high attributes or CA, or a high reputation, or a generous budget. In fact in my current save, still in first season I had no transfer budget and have gone over my wage budget just by giving longer contracts to some of my youth players. As said above, there are I think 4 different levels of sugar daddy - I choose the lowest one who don't put any money in except if you go seriously into debt - even then you get nothing for transfers and wages.

Given your requirements you can create your starting squad, give yourself a generous starting budget but background/underwriter sugar daddy so you have to manage that budget without getting more, and ensure your starting rep is low. Easy to do, and as I can personally attest to, a tough challenge! I actually went on a losing streak and got sacked in my last FM13 campaign with my made-up club!

I do this towards the end of an FM cycle - I'm doing it now with FM12 before i get 14. I imaginatively add myself as a 16 year old, along with all of my siblings and friends and leave the abilities to chance. I don't manage them but I like to see what happens. It's 5 years in and I'm terrible and got released