"Completing" the game

Having watched the Inbetweeners clip where Jay claims to have completed Championship Manager and Neil informs him you can’t complete it, I wondered what it takes to “complete” the game in my own opinion. I’d also be interested in your takes on this!

Mostly I play for a year (as in a real life year) from purchasing the game until the next version of the game is released. But I didn’t get into FM14 at all (I'm not having a go, it's just the first time I’ve not enjoyed one single save on a CM/FM version) so I decided to carry on with my FM13 save with Newcastle. I’ve heard someone say they only move on to a new save once they’ve won every competition they enter in one season, so there’s literally nothing to improve on. But imo that’s only in terms of trophies won – you can always squad build and improve in other areas other than silverware.

For me, particularly on this Newcastle save anyway, I have now set a goal. Something which, if I achieve it, I will see as me completing the game. My goal is to win every competition more times than any other team has in that competitions history. So the Premier League for example, I need to win 22+ times to usurp Man Utd's tally, the Community Shilef I need to win 19+ times, the Champions League a silly amount of times, etc etc. Basically until every competition we enter has Newcastle United occupying the Most Times Winner field.

Then I might just deem FM13 as “completed”

Has anyone else set any goals like that so that there is an end in sight before you move on to the next game?

Become the richest club in the world (starting from a minnow team)

I won everything in my first season for the first ever time just last week. Milestone I suppose!

I think the game is "complete" when you decide it's finished and you've achieved what you want to achieve. Most end up abandoned before that though.

When you take Woking from the Conference to Champions League winners in six seasons. That sort of thing doesn't go unnoticed.

Break the record for either the most top league titles, or consecutive titles

I had a long term save with Cambridge on FM14 and it was my first ever one club save. I certainly didn't start out with the intention of it being a one club save but thats the way it panned out. It took me from 2013 to 2034 to reach the Premier League and once i had won that Championship Play Off Final i almost felt i had completed the dream, getting the U's into the top flight. I carried on, expecting relegation from the PL and that came in my fourth PL season. Spent two years back in the Championship and promotion was won so once again i felt i had done as much as i could. In the first year back in the PL we finished 3rd and i stayed until retiring in 2055 when my manager reached mid 70's in age. I wanted to retire realistically in terms of manger age.

The funny thing is i bowed out at the top of the game, spent many a frustrating year achieving little and then once the trophies came rolling in i left! I retired after three successive Champions League wins (we won the Europa League the year before so thats four European trophies in a row), we had won two FA Cup's and been runner's up twice in the five years before i retired whilst also winning the Premier League twice in four years.

In terms of players i had some amazing ones and we were only going to dominate more and more yet it felt right. I had taken a 31 year old manager to retirement age. Game complete in my eyes.

While not wanting to give up the save, i had never played so long before i added a new manager in the name of my favourite player during the Cambridge save, Jim Woodward and looked to have a journeyman save following this 44 year old regen. Sadly it didn't really take off and since ditching the Cambridge save i have struggled to enjoy any save since. In a way the joy of that has ruined FM14 for me!

Cambridge History:

|Season  | Club             | Division             | Pos  | Other                                                              |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2013/14 | Cambridge United | Skrill Premier       | 18th | FAC 4th Quali, FAT 1st Rd Rep                                      | 
|2014/15 | Cambridge United | Skrill Premier       | 10th | FAC 4th Quali, FAT 2nd Rd Rep                                      |
|2015/16 | Cambridge United | Skrill Premier       | 20th | FAC 1st Round, FAT 1st Rd                                          | 
|2016/17 | Cambridge United | Skrill Premier       | 17th | FAC 4th Qul. Rep, FAT 3rd Rd                                       |
|2017/18 | Cambridge United | Skrill Premier       | 8th  | FAC 4th Qul, FAT 1st Rd                                            |
|2018/19 | Cambridge United | Skrill Premier       | 14th | FAC 1st Round Rep, FAT Runners Up                                  |
|2019/20 | Cambridge United | Skrill Premier       | 1st  | FAC 1st Round, FAT 3rd Rd                                          | 
|2020/21 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet League Two   | 2nd  | FAC 1st Round, LC 1st Rd, JPT Quarter Final                        | 
|2021/22 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet League One   | 13th | FAC 1st Round Rep, LC 1st Rd, JPT 2nd Rd                           |
|2022/23 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet League One   | 10th | FAC 4th Round, LC 3rd Rd, JPT Winners                              |
|2023/24 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet League One   | 3rd  | FAC 3rd Round, LC 1st Rd, JPT 1st Rd                               |
|2024/25 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet League One   | 14th | FAC 4th Round, LC 1st Rd, JPT 2nd Rd                               |
|2025/26 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet League One   | 13th | FAC 3rd Round, LC 1st Rd, JPT 1st Rd                               |
|2026/27 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet League One   | 6th  | FAC 3rd Round, LC 2nd Rd, JPT Quarter Final                        | 
|2027/28 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet League One   | 1st  | FAC 4th Round Rep, LC 2nd Rd, JPT Runners Up                       |
|2028/29 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet Championship | 21st | FAC 3rd Round, LC 2nd Rd                                           |
|2029/30 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet Championship | 19th | FAC 3rd Round, LC 3rd Rd                                           |
|2030/31 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet Championship | 23rd | FAC 4th Round, LC 2nd Rd                                           |
|2031/32 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet League One   | 1st  | FAC 3rd Round Rep, LC 2nd Rd, JPT Semi Final                       |
|2032/33 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet Championship | 4th  | FAC 4th Round, LC 2nd Rd                                           | 
|2033/34 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet Championship | 3rd  | FAC 3rd Round Rep, LC 4th Rd                                       |
|2034/35 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 16th | FAC 3rd Round, LC Quarter Final                                    |
|2035/36 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 5th  | FAC 4th Round Rep, LC 2nd Rd                                       |
|2036/37 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 12th | FAC 3rd Round, LC Semi Final, EL 2nd KO Rd                         |
|2037/38 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 18th | FAC Quarter Final, LC 1st Rd                                       | 
|2038/39 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet Championship | 8th  | FAC 3rd Round, LC 2nd Rd                                           |
|2039/40 | Cambridge United | Sky Bet Championship | 1st  | FAC 3rd Round, LC 4th Rd                                           |
|2040/41 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 3rd  | FAC Quarter Final, LC 2nd Rd                                       |
|2041/42 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 5th  | FAC 5th Round, LC 3rd Rd, CL 3rd in Grp, EL Quarter Final          |
|2042/43 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 8th  | FAC 5th Round, LC 3rd Rd, EL 1st KO Rd                             |
|2043/44 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 5th  | FAC 5th Round, LC 3rd Rd                                           |
|2044/45 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 6th  | FAC 5th Round, LC 3rd Rd, EL Runners Up                            |
|2045/46 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 6th  | FAC 5th Round, LC 3rd Rd, EL Quarter Final                         |
|2046/47 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 7th  | FAC 4th Round, LC 3rd Rd, EL 2nd KO Rd                             |
|2047/48 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 11th | FAC 3rd Round, LC Quarter Final                                    |
|2048/49 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 10th | FAC 5th Round, LC Runner Up                                        |
|2049/50 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 3rd  | FAC Semi Final, LC 3rd Rd                                          | 
|2050/51 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 6th  | FAC Runners Up, LC 3rd Rd, EL Quarter Final                        |
|2051/52 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 1st  | FAC Winners, LC 3rd Rd, EL Winners                                 |
|2052/53 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 6th  | FAC 5th Round, LC 3rd Rd, CL Winners, SC Winners, CS Runner Up     |
|2053/54 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 3rd  | FAC Winners, LC Quarter Final, CL Winner, SC Winners, CWC Winners  |
|2054/55 | Cambridge United | Premier League       | 1st  | FAC Runners Up, LC Semi Final, CL Winner, SC Winner, CWC Runner Up |

Kris, what a fantastic story! I actually followed your Cambridge career for a bit in the CU forum. Top work, and strangely refreshing to see someone struggle for success rather than it coming unrealistically easy.

I had taken a 31 year old manager to retirement age. Game complete in my eyes.

A perfect answer to this thread. I reckon that will be my aim for FM15.

When you take Woking from the Conference to Champions League winners in six seasons. That sort of thing doesn't go unnoticed.

The babes of Woking will be all over you after that sort of success. You'll be knee deep in clunge!

Take Fergie down, what else?

I know it's the whole point of the topic, but there is no completion state for me. It's all personal, and can vary from save to save. Probably the most accurate I could give would be the taking a manager to retirement option. That manager would then be complete in my eyes, but never the game.

I definitely had a sense of completion of FM 13. After a handful of very good seasons at Ipswich during what was mostly a very frustrating career, we started going backwards with little money left from years of trying to compete to fix things so I left before I could have any European success. It was a problem I had encountered before and so I decided to go back later on with only signing young players as a way of getting a top-class squad without stretching things too far financially but I tried it too much too soon and was soon out of the door. I was determined to complete that project so took the opportunity to go for a 3rd time, this time being a lot more careful and was far more consistently successful, with the CL as a potential cherry on top of the cake that I was determined to get before I finished, to the point that I was even willing to delay starting on FM14, but it didn't quite come to that as eventually we managed it.

For me it was always a case of trying to win every game in the league campaign in one season for 'a perfect game'. Closest I ever got was 34 wins out of 36 (drew the other 2 1-1 after being 1-0 ahead in both) on CM2 with Celtic. I just found the pressure I put on myself to win every game, sitting there nervously watching the text commentary hoping that they'd score that needed goal to keep the run going was too much. Now I just enjoy playing my saves on FM12.

For me it will be winning the World Cup with San Marino, (never going to happen).

There are mini successes within the game that are stepping stones towards this, (success with San Marino club, qualification for EURO's and World Cup with San Marino NT), but the ultimate achievement is of course the World Cup. I haven't qualified for a Finals yet, (not playing much at the moment), but as I'm really enjoying the save I'm just going to keep plodding on with it and probably won't bother with FM15 at all. Not because it's a waste of money or because I am unhappy with FM14. Plain and simply just because I have unfinished business with FM14. I don't think I will ever win the World Cup with San Marino if I'm honest, but I have a reasonable expectation of qualifying foe the Finals soon at least and then being competitive once we get there.

This year I am on target to win the Italian Super Cup, European Super Cup, World Club Championships, Champions League, Serie A and Italian Cup, not to ignore the Italian U19 Group 1 league and the U19 Champions Cup. It is possible that the only trophy that I will not win in the 2034/34 season is the Youth Club Invitational, (where we lost 1-0 in the Final to Suwon). We still have the last few Serie A games to play and we still have the Semi's, (and Final), of the Champions League and then the Italian Cup Final to play, (and there is of course no guarantee that I will win the Champions League and the Italian Cup Final, (Serie A is virtually a done deal now), but even winning all these trophies wouldn't mean that I have "completed" the game, (not even if we had also won the Youth Club Invitational). Were I to win all these and then go on to win the EURO's and the World Cup and then the Confederations Cup with San Marino NT....... Then and only then would I consider myself to have completed the game. (No, I know it's never going to happen).

Reaching retirement age, imo.

Until the game becomes so slow that you just can't be bothered going on.

Jose Mourinho as the 'Big Boss'.

Easy, set a major goal and achieve it.

Easy, set a major goal and achieve it.

Well yes... I was asking what that goal is for different people on here

Complete = to achieve all the steam challenges. End of.

Complete = to achieve all the steam challenges. End of.

Nope. Each year there are Steam Challenges that people appear to unlock that don't get unlocked. In this years version i fined a player and it didn't unlock, i was playing with Steam Online and fully connected. There is no reason why it would unlock.

There is always threads talking about the National Hero not unlocking so i wouldn't consider Steam Challenges all that reliable.

Well yes... I was asking what that goal is for different people on here

Ok sorry, my short attention span combined with laziness prevented me from reading your OP.

I don't think I've ever considered a save "completed". No matter how much you achieve with one team, there's always plenty of other countries to go and start again.

This is why I've not started a second save on any version of FM since 07.

None, they are infinite games, just with multiplayer games, other sports games and the like. Just because one thing can be categorised as something doesn't mean others can, that's just not logical, Captain.

World Cup and Club World Cup, IMO. Ideally with your home country/favoured club.

Up to 97/98 I think you could only play for 30 seasons. Pretty sure, anyway. Never made it there myself - CM3 came out...

Whenever you have fulfilled your personal targets and/or collected all steam achievements.

Depends what you're trying to get out of it, if you're just doing a journeyman save or a massively long term game with one club, it'll never end.

Personally i'm doing a save where I managed three teams (the Pozzo trinity of Watford, Granada, Udinese - Story is in the Good team + player section under The Holy Trinity). I will consider it complete and stop playing when all 3 clubs become the number 1 ranked team in each country. Basically it's down to you if you think you can't progress anymore or you've achieved everything you want to.

Up to 97/98 I think you could only play for 30 seasons. Pretty sure, anyway. Never made it there myself - CM3 came out...

CM2 was the same... I remember the day I got to 30 seasons and it wouldn't let me continue... I think I died a little inside

For me, it is once I have won everything with Bromley (Champions League, World Club Champs etc) at least once, and/or I am so dominant it just isn't worth playing any more. Given we start in the sixth tier, it usually takes a while, in fact, not done it yet in FM14 (Established Europa League qualifying team, only once made the Champions League).

I don't think the game will ever be truly completed by me, i'll always find something new in my save to push it further, whether it be building a dynasty, or homegrown talent or taking a club from the bottom to the top, there will always be a challenge. However, its likely to be when I consider the save to no longer have the same challenge/enjoyment or appeal it had from the start I guess.

My goal in any game is firstly, to stay at a club until I have a full team of regens...a simple enough thing for most guys, but my attention span on FM is very low (I normally get bored of a save after 3-4 seasons!)

For me I don't think I ever really plan to complete a save... I just lose interest before I say "I've completed everything possible, no point in repeating so let's retire."

I like Journey man saves IN Europe... I usually start off at the top (Barcelona, Chelsea maybe) then when my reputation is world class I often let my original contract extension run down (usually I negotiate a 2017 expiry year) and hope that a manager has been sacked at another high-profile club in another league, I apply and just aim for the top for that club. I don't really like managing anywhere but Europe, most of the time I finish a save when I complete at least five champions league wins and win the league in every major European nation (England, Spain, France, Germany, Italy) takes a while. I was lured to the MLS once on one of those saves to manage New York but I lost interest then

I think reaching top of hall of fame in entire world is enough for a save and then i move to next save and try winning with completely different tactic and formation

Up to 97/98 I think you could only play for 30 seasons. Pretty sure, anyway. Never made it there myself - CM3 came out...

I'm pretty sure I've gone past that on CM 93/94. I'll have to look some time and, if not, play past 30 seasons to see. No problems since a season only takes a couple of hours.

The only way to "beat" FM is to win the World Cup with your chosen nation, with your son scoring the winner in the final in a stadium named after you!

In all seriousness, to me beating FM really comes down to when you feel like you've accomplished all you can in a particular save. Some of the FMers in the careers forum go pretty close to what I'd consider beating the game, particularly dafuge - for winning the Euros with England using a team comprised fully of players who came through the academy of the club he brought to the Premier League from the depths of the English pyramid.

Wining FM for me is beating the most difficult challenge i can imagine in game. For me that is picking a club from Andorra and make the Andorra League the number 1 competition in the world. (Was never able to get it)

Like the OP, I wanted to win everything more than anyone else had. On FM13, because I was Enfield Town (which took me ages to get the club in a position to challenge) I had to beat 24 Premier Leagues, 14 Champions Leagues, and I can't remember numbers for the rest.I did it though, and it was an amazing feeling to finally achieve it. Also won the WC and Euros with England, but with all the players having come from the Enfield Town youth intakes. THAT was awesome and I'll never forget it.

Also had a world class right-back son who went on to captain England (after I left - I only gave him the vice captaincy in my time to stop with favouritism, though he was club captain) and a 90,000+ capacity stadium named after me at club level.

Still haven't completed the game though in any sense. It can't be done.

Some of you are confusing this with some kind of game. FM is real life, and in real life completion = death. Alas, in FM you can' t die, so there is never completion ...

Like the OP, I wanted to win everything more than anyone else had. On FM13, because I was Enfield Town (which took me ages to get the club in a position to challenge) I had to beat 24 Premier Leagues, 14 Champions Leagues, and I can't remember numbers for the rest.I did it though, and it was an amazing feeling to finally achieve it. Also won the WC and Euros with England, but with all the players having come from the Enfield Town youth intakes. THAT was awesome and I'll never forget it.

Also had a world class right-back son who went on to captain England (after I left - I only gave him the vice captaincy in my time to stop with favouritism, though he was club captain) and a 90,000+ capacity stadium named after me at club level.

Still haven't completed the game though in any sense. It can't be done.

Just read some of your blogs. Great stuff!

i think someone already mentioned it, beating Alex Fergusons record, 49 trophies! he must have a whole house specifically for his trophies! Thats when you have "completed the game!"

I managed Napoli for 19 seasons on FM 13. After winning 15 Serie A titles, 8 straight Champions league titles and all that comes with it (Club WC and Super Cup), I took over the italian national team. I missed out on my first world cup, but went on to win the Euros, Confederations cup and the following world cup, after which I became the greatest manager of all time. Game completed

I think a save is 'completed' when you can't really go any further forward and the game becomes boring. In a network save I made a league 1 team the best XI in the world by some margin, we won 5 Cl's in a row, 5 prems, new 70k stadium, 400m in the bank, I'd sold 650m of players and still pretty much unbeatable as my rotation B side would still be decent CL team etc. There was just no fun, the guy I was playing with had the 2nd best side in the Prem but no way of catching me as I simply seemed to have the best players of that generation at my club.

I think there is no final way of completing, but like others have said its more about when you complete your own goals you set yourself at the start of the save.

Just because one team has the best players doesn't mean they can't be caught, if his squad is good enough to consistently beat the other ai teams likes yours then it's good enough to topple what you have built.

Just because one team has the best players doesn't mean they can't be caught, if his squad is good enough to consistently beat the other ai teams likes yours then it's good enough to topple what you have built.

No it seemed impossible for him to get past me, I seemed to have basically signed the golden generation, i.e the top players from the 10 years we had played, he had ONE player who would have made my XI. Yet I had players in my B side who would start for him. I couldn't improve my XI, I had £200+ transfer budget each year and just never found anyone worth signing, it wasn't lack of scouts as I had 29 and did alot of manual scouting too. I couldn't find any youth who were promising enough to become better than what I had. Honestly I've built strong teams before but this one was insane, the main XI was full of absolute beasts and backup up by a B which also had some world class players in it. I'd sell my 5th choice players for £30-40m etc. I actually sold over half a billion worth of players over the save as I'd just buiy amazing prospects but they would never been quite good enough to get near the A side.

He had a great squad and they only time he ever lost was to me, pretty demoralizing for him.

Just for example, I think we were about halfway through the last season and I'd dropped 2 points (0-0 draw where I had 23 shots vs 0). Also it wasn't purely one super tactic as I'd used about 5 different formations over the 12 seasons.

Technically he could have caught me if we played say for 8 more seasons as most of my XI would have retired by then and I'd have world class players to replace them, but not these mega players (we are talking players with 19/20 in all the right areas for their position).