Paradoxs, and a struggle for contentment in FM.

Lately, I've been having a lot of trouble finding something to do, a save to stick to happily.

The biggest issues with this are,

1, I'd like to play as a team that fighting for survival, but I get easily frustrated when my team looses, even when we should.

2, I'd like to play with a team that needs developing, building up, but I'm very impatient and tend to stretch my clubs finances early, on the back of future success.

3, I'm sick of ending up with similar teams packed with almost the same wundarkds, yet invariably first task is to scout all of them I can and see who's available.

4, I like developing my own new tactics, but due to 1, I immediately switch back to my most successful ones as a comfort zone when things are going pear shaped.

5, I get very ambitious with my teams, yet once I start comfortably winning trophies, I get quickly bored and in FM parlance "wants a new challenge".

6, I love total control of my team ala FM(full fat), but it's far too slow. I love the speed of FMC, but struggle with the lack of interactiveness.

These have actually led to my last handful of saves all featuring different teams in similar situations, in a 3-5-2 with a front 3 of Vydra, Dybala and Stanciu. :o

I've had some amazing saves, with some really interesting clubs, in various countries. I've tried going back to some of them but it's never the same. My favourite, longest save was bringing Bradford PA from the Skrill North to CL winners, but once I had reached League One, I was way overpowered, waltzed up, finished 3rd in my first and second PL season, then won everything for a few years in a row. Nothing to do in it now though, squad is so ridiculously overpowered, and an average age of 23.

Still, it's nothing like being bored of the game(if anything it's the opposite, I have more interest in playing than ever), just finding it tough to get stuck into a save at the moment. Tried various in game challenges, some ones I read about online, and a few personal ones.

Thinking of downloading OOTP Baseball for a change of pace, despite having an extremely limited knowledge of the sport.....

I recognize some of your issues there, especially when I want to play LLM but get frustrated by the poor results and players.

However, I do like developing clubs and seeing how those youths will develop. In my current game (2026/2027 season), I'm dominating the Belgian league with Club Brugge but haven't reached the final of the Champions League yet (managed two semi's in the last four years), so winning that cup has become the new goal (while enjoying the development of home-grown and cheaply bought youth players).

3, I'm sick of ending up with similar teams packed with almost the same wundarkds, yet invariably first task is to scout all of them I can and see who's available.

There is your biggest problem right there.

Stop using prior or RL knowledge and use your scouts and your teams will be different every time. Alternatively don't use real players.

I recognize some of your issues there, especially when I want to play LLM but get frustrated by the poor results and players.

However, I do like developing clubs and seeing how those youths will develop. In my current game (2026/2027 season), I'm dominating the Belgian league with Club Brugge but haven't reached the final of the Champions League yet (managed two semi's in the last four years), so winning that cup has become the new goal (while enjoying the development of home-grown and cheaply bought youth players).

I tried that with Red Bull Salzburg, and whilst I was very successful, no matter how I developed my youth system, nothing but rubbish youth intakes. My only truly class Austrian player was pinched from a German team, he then instantly declared for Germany.

Had a fantastic save with Bilbao once too, but it got deleted by some Cloud error. I'd go back to them, but with the Basque rules, it'd pretty much be buying the exact same players for the first 3-5 years.

If you struggle with buying the same players every time, then you could move to a league where that is not an option. Managing a team in one of the smaller European leagues and trying to develop both them, the league and the national team into a major European force will keep you occupied for a long time. More importantly, by the time you have reached the point where you are able to buy any player you want, most of the regular players will have retired and you will have a new generation of players who you will know nothing about.

Don't use real players (can be entered at the beginning of a new game) or holiday the first 20 or so seasons.

If you struggle with buying the same players every time, then you could move to a league where that is not an option. Managing a team in one of the smaller European leagues and trying to develop both them, the league and the national team into a major European force will keep you occupied for a long time. More importantly, by the time you have reached the point where you are able to buy any player you want, most of the regular players will have retired and you will have a new generation of players who you will know nothing about.

I've tried a few places like that, but they just don't hook me in. Perhaps something in between, a smaller club in a country like Portugal or the Netherlands.

Don't use real players (can be entered at the beginning of a new game) or holiday the first 20 or so seasons.

I tried the fake players approach, actually found it easier(somehow) to pick up a squad of wonderkids, it was pretty easy to figure out who was who, too. Holidaying doesn't seem like a bad idea to try.

Perhaps what you think you want isnt what you want. Try doing the exact opposite, take control of Real Madrid or something. (Or go another direction and manage a country, perhaps a smallish one that still fits some of your criteria.)

Holidaying isn't working out, I don't have the patience, over an hour in, and I was still in the first season.

Perhaps what you think you want isnt what you want. Try doing the exact opposite, take control of Real Madrid or something. (Or go another direction and manage a country, perhaps a smallish one that still fits some of your criteria.)

Anything is possible, I guess, I do play as Madrid in FMH, for quick challenges. My usual big team is Man Utd, fwiw. I'd have to do something different-ish with them though, perhaps Real with a stronger focus on homegrown & Spanish talent.

I've tried a few places like that, but they just don't hook me in. Perhaps something in between, a smaller club in a country like Portugal or the Netherlands.

Porto or PSV are always my first save on any FM game while I am learning the ropes. You can oversee the transition from a relatively poor club, who finds players and sells them on for a good profit to a self supporting power-house. The thing is with all these games you have to get over that 'meh, new save, not that into it' feeling which I am sure we all get. The first 6 months of a save are the worst because that is when you can be sure of topsy-turvy form and bad performances whilst your team learns the ropes.

As a final suggestion, why not try a custom database? There are quite a few knocking around which offer something very different. A super-league perhaps? Or there are some databases which have new nations, or league systems for national teams. As it is something completely new you may find yourself more drawn into it.

Holidaying isn't working out, I don't have the patience, over an hour in, and I was still in the first season.

Anything is possible, I guess, I do play as Madrid in FMH, for quick challenges. My usual big team is Man Utd, fwiw. I'd have to do something different-ish with them though, perhaps Real with a stronger focus on homegrown & Spanish talent.

Try searching for saves that have already been holidayed to 2025 or so and are available to download. I know there are some around.

I got a fairly decent save going with Real Sporting now, lets see if this sticks.

Also downloaded a custom database with Barca relegated to the bottom available Spanish division, with a massive point deduction and a decimated squad, which could be a lot of fun.

I find it easier to stick with saves when I set myself some restrictions. Keeping the books balance and the wages down makes it more rewarding when you become successful. Have you tried signing players from only certain regions?

I find it easier to stick with saves when I set myself some restrictions. Keeping the books balance and the wages down makes it more rewarding when you become successful. Have you tried signing players from only certain regions?

Had a save with Crewe where I was using exclusively their youth system. It was fine, first intake popped up a ridiculous striker who instantly became my first name on the team sheet. But I came unstuck when the same positions kept popping up on intakes, and I had other massive holes in the squad. Might go back to that sometime, with a little more leniency.

Before you go to bed one night, create a savegame with a lot of leagues. Holiday for at least 5 years and let it do its work while you sleep. It might be an advantage to decide right away which league you want to manage in, since you'd want the full league system in that league but not necessarily all the others.

5 years is enough to have the first regens start impacting the game world, but not so much that there aren't real players left. That's where I usually start. This makes the game world fresh but still familiar, unlike when you start without real players.

Save the game as "holiday save", make a new manager and retire the holiday manager, choose a team - for instance one that has "fallen from grace" in some fashion. Save the game as something else.

That's a good idea!

Alternatively, with your Bradford PA save for example - why don't you input a second manager into the game and take over a different club within the same save file? You can still rake in the success with Bradford, but you'll have the challenge of building up a new team to eventually take on your own dominance.. Or you could leave Bradford PA entirely and start from Skrill North/South again within the same save file.

There is your biggest problem right there.

Stop using prior or RL knowledge and use your scouts and your teams will be different every time. Alternatively don't use real players.

This is pretty accurate. This is what I do all the time now. I got bored of going into club threads and seeing every team having the same players like Fierro and Balanta. The problem with the game is everyone knows how well these players turn out and have to have them because their PA is very static or at a defined range estimate. However, the default "Use Fake Players" just changes a lot of the players names and occasionally nationalities. You still know who Messi is, or Ronaldo etc. Until the game generates these fake players from scratch every time, it won't be much of a differing experience.

The reason you state is the same reason why I always start unemployed and take charge of a skrik premier (or north/south) team when I play. I don't know any of the players on that level and I don't stand a chance of buying any world stars or even semi-known players. When I advance into the Premier League (either through club change or advancement through promotion) the player base is filled with newgen players

Alternatively, with your Bradford PA save for example - why don't you input a second manager into the game and take over a different club within the same save file? You can still rake in the success with Bradford, but you'll have the challenge of building up a new team to eventually take on your own dominance.. Or you could leave Bradford PA entirely and start from Skrill North/South again within the same save file.

I tried leaving them, but was too sentimental when their next guy quickly gutted the squad.

Could try a 2nd, at a lover level, or Man Utd have just been taken over by a tycoon.