LLM newbie

I've just moved to a new area and decided I would find what league there team are in and look to take them to glory. However I've never played an LLM game before. Could someone give me some advice and making the most of it and some key things to focus on, e.g. developing facilities, wage management etc.

cheers

Keeping it simple is the best advice, at the lower levels there are rarely any clubs that stand head & shoulders above the rest so as it's a new experience I would suggest sticking with the starting squad until you've reached the halfway point of the season, disabling first season transfer budgets will help you on that front.

Once you've had time to access what your players can & cannot do you can start to look at replacing the weaker elements of your squad.

Well i tend to go the other way, trying to get rid of the dead weight and try to do my best through loans and free transfers. I just started a Gloucester City in the Vanarama North.

At first take a look at the staff and try to bring in a coach and an assistant and some scouts. Then you should do a clean up of the team , i usually tend to sell them for 0 as clubs won't even pay abysmal sums (2-4 k) for a player at this level. Loan players until you reach the limit and then if you still find some , loan them for the shorter periods. Hope you have better luck in finding a senior team affiliate as my board doesn't find any. It was the same in FM 15.

To have a laugh, both my affiliates in the Vanarama National are local rivals. Good luck in loaning players from them as they don't give you any. Since you're slated to finish 21st the joke gets even bigger.

Try to play a simple tactic, as finding specialist players at this level is hard.

Developing facilities at this level is useless as you do not have any money so don't waste your time.

Most of the clubs start with very little room on the wage bill so reducing the useless players will help with wage management.

Would help if you would share what team are you playing with. I wouldn't advise going so low as i did if you are player new to FM. It can get frustrating and excruciating at times and i've played since CM 99-00.

I'm not new to FM just new to going down into the deepest darkest depths of the regional leagues. I am looking at Leamington in one of the regional premier divisions. Trying to find a long term save to play as enjoy being my team, Villa, or another bigger club for a bit but I'm finding the AI transfer world is a bit ridiculous in terms of the amount teams are spending just because they have that money.

Can't give you advice there as i didn't play the custom databases so i didn't go that far

I'm finding the AI transfer world ridiculous also in terms of fees spent and in general in terms of wages given to players. And as you pointed out teams are spending just because they have the funds.

If you choose Leamington maybe share you impressions. I'd be curious how things are in that league.

You should take in account the squad depth , you will have 50+ games per season , so you can not count only in 14-5 players.

You must also pay attention to the training schedules , the players are part-time so do not overload the intensity of the training , especially during the season with players palying 3 games per week continiously.

Since you will always be with no or limited money , maybe it is a good idea to hire player-coaches. This will give you some extra squad depth.

Do not concentrate on youth player development , you would not have the appropriate coaches/fascilities/network for that.

Scout/ trial as many free player you can. Players at 18-19 who had just left professional clubs would be very good additions for your clubs.

Success in FA cup and FA trophy is crucial , you are getting bonus for each win. If you will manage a good run in cups your income will get increased and maybe you will have the request for increasing the wage budget accepted.

Try your players to be able to play in more than one position ,this will help squad depth .

Try to renegotiate contracts with existing players by removing appearance/goal bonuses etc . Remember that all these bonuses are taking place in your wage budget , so if you do it succesfully you may find some extra cash available.

Thanks for the advice.

I trialled quite a few players and have a reasonably large squad. Pre-season I tried to get their fitness up as much as possible but with being part time I've found getting match sharpness up is quite hard. Just started the league programme so will see how I go.

Also,if you haven't already done so,check out the experienced players on non contracts or expired contracts.Some of them may be a good boost for your team for a season.

I'm doing ok with my Leamington save but struggling with formation. Is it best to stick with the basic 4-4-2? I've been trying to use 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 as I have some decent wingers. However when playing against teams who use 4-4-2 my defence struggles against 2 forwards and their wide players have too much space because my wingers are set to attack and leave quite a bit of space and don't track back with the full backs.