FM15: Bolton Wanderers - Wandering on the road to nowhere

Good work so far mate be good to have a thriving bwfc thread this year, seems to be plenty people interested in taking charge of them ! Going to load mine up tomorrow

Got a feeling Lenning etc.. will be in charge when the full game comes out.

Got a feeling Lenning etc.. will be in charge when the full game comes out.

Nah. When the full game is out I WILL BE IN CHARGE!

Got a feeling Lenning etc.. will be in charge when the full game comes out.

I never thought I would ever see the day when the devil is in charge of my home town club. Tbf he is doing a better job in 3 games than what Dougie did this season. If he somehow gets them promoted then hats off to the man

It normally takes me a long time to get round to playing as my hometown team, I've started a lot sooner this year. I holidayed through a season and found Bolton relegated to L1, where I have now took over.

Out has gone the majority of the high earners after their contracts expired (Mills, Beckford, LCY etc.) and to replace them I'll be bringing up Clough, Woodland, Threlkeld and Vela amongst others. I'll let you know how I get on.

You only get 10% of what you sell so not had alot to spend really.

Forest, Burnley, Wolves and a few other clubs wanted Denis Stracqualursi

And here is my shortlist.

Pre Season

Signings looking good mate just about to start a save with bolton myself will keep you updated

Could be quite an active thread this year! Tell you what, if you end up relegated it can turn in to an exodus, several players left on free transfers and had several more ask to leave due to the relegation - makes for a good challenge.

Will update this after I complete a month as I go.

Looking forward to it pal

After holidaying through the first season and finding Bolton in League One, I took over the reigns from then-manager Billy Davies and began my revolution!

Out went Moxey, Ream, Dervite, Trotter, Kenny and Baptiste for a combined £8.7m, whilst the likes of Lee Chung Yong, Beckford, Matt Mills, Pratley and Craig Davies, amongst others, all left after refusing new contracts.

So with a severely depleted squad, but a much lower weekly wage budget, I set out to shape the team my way.

In came Jason Denayer (Man City) and Jorden Ibe (Liverpool) on loan for absolutely nothing, and in came Clint Hill on a free transfer for £2.1k per week. The rest of the holes in the squad have been made up through the youth team, of which I'm pleased with.

The plan is promotion at the first time of asking, and the squad should have enough about it for that, whilst also giving the youth players an excellent amount of minutes on the pitch.

The problem with our beloved Bolton is the sheer imbalance of the squad (thanks DF you idiot!)

No pace in the team. No one to take the set pieces of any note. I got to the play-off Final in my 1st season. By the start of the 2nd season I thought I'd got in quite a few quality youngsters however, the sack occured about half way through the season with the Wanderers just above the relegation zone.

Its so hard this season with Bolton, Just finsihed first season 10th but failed to comply with FFP so now entering 2nd season under a transfer embargo and with all the top players sold pretty much only Bogdan Ream and Davies remain

Who have you guys signed if anyone?

Any newbies started with bolton?

So I started again. Now the game has come out fully.

Just about to start my first game of the season and these are my signings so far.

Just started a game as Bolton...fancy getting them back where they belong and wiping out that massive debt (despite Gartside's protestations!). Had a massive cull of the high earners and signed some amazing talent...though Savitisky had to be loaned out as he failed to get a WP.

Click the pics for larger size

My transfer dealings:

Traore has been tearing up the league playing in the inside left position:

Sitting pretty so far!:

3rd time lucky with my Bolton save.

My Transfers

My Tactics

My First Month.

I have also linked my FM save on this thread My FM15 Bolton Wanderers Save Story

I'm on another Bolton games and after 7 games in season 2 we sit 23rd.

Once again I believed I had brought in some good quality youngsters. Most of these youngsters have been loaned out with those good enough to start staying with the 1st team squad. Last season finished 9th, 10 points off the play-offs. Managed to get rid of quite a few high earners but not until after a transfer embargo was placed on us at the end of the first season for about a month.

OUT

___

Medo to Watford £725k

Holden released

Lonergan released

Beckford released

Tierney released

Danns released

Craig Davies released

Pratley released

Mills released

Dervite to Birmingham for £600k

Moxey to Huddersfield for £275k

Andrews free

Lee to Swansea £6.25m

Baptiste to Wolves £500k

INTO 1st team Squad

_________________

Laste Dombaxe free

Seko Forfana free

Gedion Zalalem from Arsenal on loan

Yaya Sanogo from Arsenal on loan

Joe Rothwell free

Donovan Daniels free

Joan Campins From Barcelona B £225k

Tyias Browning from Everton £550k

Arsenal are our parent affiliate. Sanogo is our main striker with Clough backing him up. Plenty bought for small fees and loaned out for experience. Maybe 1 or 2 can make the grade next season.

I'm playing as Bolton for my Promotion and financial challenge - will let you know how I get on!

got an urge to start a game with bolton today. i have no idea where that urge came from as i have no affiliation with bolton whatsoever and have never been them before. but for some reason bolton popped into my head. rightio then, bolton it is

Eidur Gudjohnson = goals

Never thought of signing Eidur or Chris Eagles for that matter on my game. Too late now a season and a half in.

won promotion 1st season. had grealish on loan for the season, and managed to buy him permanently for £2.7m ( his contract was about to run out, i would of tried to get him on a free but didn't wanna risk him signing a new contract with villa )

Starting a game with my beloved Wanderers today, not played FM for a year or two but i have the urge (particularly after watching them beat Rovers yesterday)

Into November of Season 1 with Bolton and struggling in mid-table. Not used to playing a club with a financial state like this.

Been playing mostly with a 4-2-3-1.

Finished mid Table 1st season... now 5 games in currently top... Had a month transfer embargo and survived!

Picked up the following on a free:

Luke Garbutt, Tom Thorpe, Ben Wyatt, Wellington Silva, Paul Konchesky, James Vaughan.

Got Sanogo on loan for a season

Got a career update going in the career update forum, couldn't resist adding my two pence in here though.

First season you can pretty easily get promoted with the side you start with. Chungy is just far too good for the entire league, I gave a bunch of our kids a shot, Zach Clough didn't really impress, Hayden White was even worse, however Josh Vela was a king. He and Spearing formed the defensive midfield line which allowed Mark Davies, Chungy and Hall the freedom to run at teams and destroy them. I played 4-2-3-1 against the "smaller" sides and 4-1-2-2-1 against the bigger sides. Joe Mason was an absolute outrage for me, he scored 21 goals which was a big part of our promotion campaign.

As for everyone talking about the financial situation, yeah, it doesn't get better. I spent 850k in my first season, I should have spent nothing. My advice is to max out your loans, loans are your friend. The main tip to success in the Championship is strike gold with loans. Jack Grealish, Todd Kane and Serge Gnabry where my midas touches. I however failed FFP miserably, got fined 5m when I went up.

Going up for me was awful, I really struggled in my first season up, I got given 9m to spend. I lost a bunch of players who wouldn't sign new contracts. I couldn't bring quality in. The board refused to give me any more than 25% of any fees I brought in. Again, loans are your friend, this time you can get some real quality players as the entire world opens up for you. Allen Hallilovic was a God, Marco Van Ginkel pulled every string there was to pull.

If I was to start again I'd do this...

Release/Sell ANYONE over 9k a week I wasn't playing or on the bench, literally anyone. That wage bill needs to come down, I'll play u18 players if I have to.

Sign a right back ASAP, White's ****, Blackburn have Baptiste. Loads of good loans knocking about.

Do not sign ANYONE first season.

Tie up Adam Bogdan's contract, its not worth the hassle of not having a decent keeper if you don't.

Tell Matt Mills to go **** himself(love him in real life, but Jesus this guy was a dick).

Bang on the boards door every opportunity to ask for more money.

I don't think you can consolidate with us, I really don't. I think it's pretty much promotion or bust. FFP will gobble you up and spit you out. However if you DO stay down, there was some FANTASTIC freebies that I passed up on because I didn't think they fitted in at the club.

If you have to sign ANYONE, sign Luka Jovic, 16, can't play for you until he's 18. The guys a monster.

Impressed want to do a Bolton save once I am done with RB Leipzig.

Started a save with Wanderers myself, looking to post an update soon.....

The Season So Far

I've reached the January transfer window in my save with Wanderers so though it would be a good time to past my progress...

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We go into the new year a creditable fifth in the league, which is pleasing but we really should be higher. Being top scorers in the league really pleases me but in

certain games we have conceded one too many.

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For instance, the 4-4 draw with Norwich. 1-0 down to 2-1 up at HT and 4-1 up in the 58th minute. In the 70th minute Norwich drew level with their third goal in 6

minutes. At the time it was first vs second in the league and a win would have drawn us level on points with them! But it was not to be. More recently the games

vs Blackburn and Huddersfield. 1-0 up vs Blackburn and they equalised in the last minute. Drew level with Huddersfield in the 78th minute and they won the game

with a goal in the 91st! We were knocked out of the League Cup in the first round which was really a blessing in disguise as the squad is struggling with the number

of games in the league, let alone cup games. However, before the season started i chose to bolster the squad with these signings.

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All free signings and loanees. Jesse Lingard has been the pick of these but picked up shin splints and has been out for two months but he'll be back soon. I signed

Klasnic as the forward looked short of quality, but i was far from correct as you will see later. The back line was already pretty solid at centre half, however i could

not pass up the chance of signing Cris, and even at 37 he has been solid for me whenever played.

The final permanent signing was Pennant, who i signed as a replacement for C.Y.Lee as i planned on cashing in on him. He is a solid player in this position and has

kept Lee out of the side at times. I didn't manage to sell Lee in the summer and he has performed well for me but has now ventured off the the Asian Cup so i am

unsure whether i would find a buyer in January.

Gnabry was loaned in as i requested a parent club and the board returned Arsenal and Tottenham, to which i picked the former purely due to the payments which

were to be made as a result of the affiliate club. He's a very effective player at this level and has been much needed so far and i predict that he will continue to be

useful going forward as games come thick and fast.

This was my first team selection of the season for the game vs Watford. A very pleasing result, however the tactic required some amount of tweaking.

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This was the second system which i looked at which again worked to some degree, however by tweaking it further i came up with the tactic which best suits the side

and style of play.

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I consider this my best XI, although there would be some debate as to whether Lee or Pennant would be AMR. The tactic ensures that we are not outnumbered in

midfield and plays a decent passing game with Mark Davies and Spearing orchestrating the play. Beckford has been a sensation up top whilst Rob Hall has impressed

and be it Lee or Pennant on the right, they are both pretty effective.

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The players stats so far. Beckford has been immense and is the joint top scorer in the league with 15 goals in 15 his 15 starts and Rob Hall has chipped in and is one

away from double figures. The pleasing player for me has been Lingard who is surely destined to become a star and before his injury was amongst the highest rated

rated players in the league. Joe Mason was also injured but his three goals came in one game and Lee tops the assist charts for the league with 9.

Another massive positive has been Josh Vela, who has been outstanding when playing in DM or MC where required and has kept both Mark Davies and Spearing out

of the side at times this season, but they are my best effective central midfield partnership.

Next up is the FA cup where we've been drawn against Oldham Athletic, where we'll be looking to avenge our early League Cup exit from August. Through January

i'll also be looking to make some ground up on the financial fair play guidelines and will be looking to sell Lee, Mark Davies or Ream who are the highest valued

players at the club.

Im halfway through the season atm

Everthing is going very well, sitting atop of the league.

4 points clear of second and 16 of seventh.

At the beginning of the season i sold alot of the big earners plus players with value with expiring deals.

But the financial situation of the club is still insecure.

And the projected loss im gonna make at the end of the season is alarmingly close to the allowed loss im afforded to make.

My preferred option would be to finish the season with this group and make a big sale after the last match of the season.

Is this possible without failing the FFP?

At the moment there is interest in Lee Chung-Yong, hes my best player but i think im able to get around 10 million euros for him.

(Looking at the loans/freebies i could get in his place Simon Dawkins is my best option)

I think promoting is pretty important atm, if i dont succeed i probably have to sell my best players again and cut down the wage budget even more.

So what do you guys think?

Managed to get promoted via the play-off's in my first season

My transfers