FM10 'The Championship' Thread: Featuring Newcastle, Roy Keane's Ipswich and others.

Thought we could use a thread for general Championship discussion for people who are managing clubs that wont be widely played or for people just to get more general views on the Championship. Feel free to discuss about targets, tactics, keeping a team up from league 1 or taking a team back up to the premier league.

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Every club in the Coca-Cola Championship seeks that elusive place in the Premier League and to gain that £60 million jackpot. It represents a chance to gain financial security and to rub shoulder to shoulder with England's football elite for the 24 teams. However whilst they all seek promotion to the fabled Premier League there are those who are more than willing to try and just keep there place in the championship as they compete well above there station.

The Championship is seen as a very even league with any one of ten teams able to seriously lay claim to a chance to take one of the three promotion places. Whilst many more hold a good chance of achieving promotion through snatching a place in the play offs; a four team knock out competition held at the end of the season, the last team standing winning the coveted third promotion spot to the Premiership.

For the spectator, the Championship is often considered the league to watch for its great unpredictability and exciting football (if not always pretty!). But for the manager, it's a league with high demands from supporters and even higher ones from the board room and any manager not achieving instant success is likely to find himself out the door sharpish with the average lifespan of a championship manager around a year.

For FM10, the Championship offers practically every challenge conceivable. Want a rich team to take to greatness? QPR or Ipswich can offer you that. Sleeping giants? How about Sheffield Wednesday or Nottingham Forest. High expectations on a low budget? Newcastle, Cardiff and Reading are great for this. Yo-yo teams that just need that extra quality to secure a Premiership place? West Brom and Middlesbrough. Teams desperate to avoid the drop? Barnsley, Scunthorpe and Peterborough. That's a brief synopsis of the Championship - and of course, each and every team has their own set of circumstances you have to make the most of to make that team succeed.

The Teams of the Championship

This bit is a short detail of all the teams, their aspirations and decent players they have. I hope you can offer more detail on each of the teams in the following discussion.

Barnsley - Tipped for relegation, Barnsley will want to secure Championship status first and push on from there. Don't be fooled, though - they're well capable of doing this. Adam Hammil, Anderson Silva, Daniel Bogdanovic, Julian gray and Campbell-Rice are all good Championship players and should be capable of a good mid table finish.

Transfer Budget: £120k

Wage Budget: £64k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Attempt to avoid relegation

Predicted Position: 22nd

Blackpool - Another team that is tipped for relegation and will be more than happy with just securing Championship football. They did however make some good purchases in the summer and with the right manager could be dark horses. Charlie Adam is a very good Championship player and could be a key player to the build the team around. With a very solid looking defensive unit, a midfield full of flair and a good target man in Burgess it could be Blackpool's year.

Transfer Budget: £600k

Wage Budget: £68k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Avoid relegation

Predicted Position: 20th

Bristol City - A solid midtable team who have considerably revamped the side since missing out in the play-offs 2 years ago. The Play-Offs must be the aim for anyone at Bristol City. Bristol City are a team on which success will be built from the back upwards to coincide with there hard working, 7/10 players. Perhaps a bit of flair would just be the final ingredient the team need to turn them into a team to be really feared in the championship. Key players include Marvin Elliot, Bradley Orr, Jamie McCombe and Nicky Maynard.

Transfer Budget: £1.6M

Wage Budget: £120k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Top Half Finish

Predicted Position: 12th

Cardiff City - Perennial nearly men they have managed to amass a strike force to be feared of and they wont struggle for goals. They'll want to at least get into the play-offs and with Jay Boothroyd, Ross McCormack, Joe Ledley and Michael Chopra they've got a good shout. It's hard to find any real frailties in the team though perhaps they could do with some more pace at the back and an extra midfielder or two. Certainly outsiders for Automatic promotion under the right manager. The main problem with Cardiff would be a lack of funds and so very little room to improve the squad without selling someone first.

Transfer Budget: £0k

Wage Budget: £125k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Play-offs

Predicted Position: 6th

Coventry City - The first of a number of clubs who have, since relegation, just gone downhill. But seem to have finally turned a corner with the arrival of Ray Ranson as chairman and seem to be now heading back in the right direction. After having a season of mid-table obscurity Coventry will now be aiming to finish at least in the top-half of the table, though the play-offs certainly aren't out of the question. Despite losing Dan Fox and Scott Dann in the summer the Sky Blues retain a decent squad and a decent budget with which to play with. Aron Gunnarsson and Keiren Westwood will be star players but Coventry also posses good depth in defence and the centre of midfield. The club however still only has 2 wingers and is rather lacking in quality up front. By spending a good portion of the budget on a Striker and perhaps loaning in some wing cover the club could realistically look at challenging the top 6.

Transfer Budget: £2m

Wage Budget: £78k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Mid Table Finish

Predicted Position: 18th

Crystal Palace - Another club who again have gone downhill since relegation and really need instant success to stave off increasing financial worries. But they at least have a great youth sytem and have a fair few promising players breaking into the first team. However whilst they posses a few very good players and some promising ones the squad is seriously lacking in quality and realistically a mid table finish should be aimed for until more funds can be raised to improve the squad.

Transfer Budget: £0k

Wage Budget: £96k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Mid Table

Predicted Position: 14th

Derby County - Things haven't gone well since winning promotion to the premier league back in 2007 and the club are still trying to clear a massively bloated squad and large wage bill before they can aim at getting promoted again. However the team certainly has some quality in it and by selling some of the unneeded dross and bringing in a few more quality players then Derby could seriously look at getting in the play-offs. Rob Husle, Kris Commons, Miles Addison and Shaun Barker are all great players at championship level and should be the nucleus upon which promotion is achieved.

Transfer Budget: £500k

Wage Budget: £175k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Mid Table

Predicted Position: 15th

Doncaster Rovers - After a poor start last season Doncaster eventually finished in a comfortable mid table position and were perhaps one of the best passing teams in the league. However the summer sales of Matt Mills and Richie Wellens and the continued lack of a frontman mean that promotion is unlikely but not out of the question. The team still posses a very good midfield and Brian Stock is perhaps one of the best central midfielders in the league with the likes of Oster, Spicer and Coppinger all good passers of the ball. A successful campaign will be based around dominating the midfield and keeping the ball.

Transfer Budget: £900k

Wage Budget: £61k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Mid Table Finish

Predicted Position: 17th

Ipswich Town - A side which has spent big and has big expectations as well as having one of the best youth academies and excellent training facilities. Ipswich have finished just outside the play-offs in the last few years and will be hoping this is finally the year they can go up, with even Automatic promotion considered after there spending. Lee Martin, Carlos Edwards, Grant Leadbitter are all great championship players and with Tamas Priskin leading the line you shouldn't be short of goals either. Perhaps the biggest problem for Ipswich is at the back but Richard Wright and Alex Bruce provide a backbone upon which you can use your remaining budget to expand on.

Transfer Budget: £2.9m

Wage Budget: £185k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Top Half Finish

Predicted Position: 8th

Leicester City - After being relegated to the 3rd tier for the first time in there 125 year history Leicester have bounced back brilliantly and easily won promotion back to the championship. They will now be hoping to push on and aim for mid table consolidation before going for promotion. Despite being promoted from League 1 they have a pretty solid squad and should easily finish mid table and could perhaps aim to be outsiders for the play offs. Richie Wellens is a great player at this level and with Matt Oakley and Andy King they have a fairly solid midfield which should be able to create a fair few chances. Matty Fryatt also provides goal scoring ability but the team perhaps lacks a bit of pace and with no money to spend it may be hard to get promotion this season. However promotion in 2 seasons should be a very realistic target.

Transfer Budget: £0

Wage Budget: £105k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Mid Table Finish

Predicted Position: 16th

Middlesbrough - A mid table Premier League team that was unexpectedly relegated last season the only aim can be promotion straight back to the top flight. The team itself should have no problem in getting promoted straight back up and should be able to win the league without even signing any new players. Only West Brom arguably have a better team and Newcastle whilst possessing a strong first 11 have nowhere near the same level of squad depth as Middlesbrough. At the back Wheater and St Ledger are top level defenders whilst Adam Johnson, Digard and O'Neill are premier league level midfielders and it is only upfront where Middlesbrough are seriously lacking. By spending your entire budget on a Striker to partner Lita than you should easily achieve promotion. With a great youth system and youth prospects as well as premier league players Middlesbrough's future looks bright.

Transfer Budget: £2m

Wage Budget: £300k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Promotion

Predicted Position: 2nd

Newcastle United - Newcastle United are not an easy prospect despite there reputation and premier league level wages. Whilst they have a very good first 11 for this level they don't have any squad depth at all and have absolutely no money to spend as well as paying humongous wages which will surely lead to massive debts if promotion isn't achieved fast. Joey Barton, Danny Guthrie, Steven Taylor and Kevin Nolan are all too good for this level but with only Ameobi and Carroll with any ability up front then it may be hard to score the goals especially with a lack of creativity in the team. With expectations high Newcastle are a daunting prospect for any Manager especially with the ownership of the club unclear and the possibility of a new owner wanting his own man.

Transfer Budget: £0

Wage Budget: £675k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Winner

Predicted Position: 1st

Nottingham Forest - After only just staying up last season Forest have spent big in the summer and expectation is high. However despite possessing a large squad and a whole host of strikers, Forest just aren't very good at the back. Goals shouldn't be a problem with Dele Adebola, Robert Earnshaw, David McGoldrick, Nathan Tyson and Dexter Blackstock providing the goals as well as Chris Cohen, Paul Anderson, Lewis McGugan and Radoslaw Majewski providing the ammunition but keeping a clean sheet will equally be a problem. Top Half of the table should perhaps be the main aim for anyone managing Forest until they sort the defence out unless they adopt a Keegan esque approach of score more than the opposition. Either way Forest are a team that have large potential for any manager and could with the right guidance challenge for Auto Promotion in the next 2 years.

Transfer Budget: £700k

Wage Budget: £115k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Mid Table Finish

Predicted Position: 19th

Peterborough - After back to back promotions life in the championship will be incredibly hard for Peterborough who are punching above there weight by just being in the league. Any success will rely on the fab three George Boyd, Craig Mackial-Smith and Aaron McLean but whilst George Boyd looks to have the ability to make it in the Championship is it a step up too far for the 2 strikers? Peterborough with there small wage budget and poor squad would do well just to stay in the league and anyone taking over the club would surely have to do so as a long term project.

Transfer Budget: £600k

Wage Budget: £49k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Attempt to avoid relegation

Predicted Position: 23rd

Plymouth Argyle - After almost making the play-offs under Ian Holloway things have gone incredibly down hill for Plymouth. With there poor finances and inability to hold onto there better players things are very tough going on the south coast. They just about avoided the drop last year but can they do it again or perhaps even push on and have a solid mid table finish. With a small budget and a lack of any real stand out players other than Marcel Seip managing Plymouth will be certainly one for those who relish a challenge.

Transfer Budget: £600k

Wage Budget: £82k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Attempt to avoid relegation

Predicted Position: 21st

Preston North End - Preston have been the great overachievers in the championship in the last few years by continually being in and around the play-offs. Preston are a team that has built there success on a strong defence and good home form but more than this will be needed to achieve promotion. Losing Sean St Ledger was a big blow for there promotion hopes but they still have some good players like Ross Wallace upon which play-off victory can be achieved. Whilst automatic promotion may be a stretch too far the Play-Offs are more than possible. However with limited resources, it could be a case of waiting for the right people to become available at the right price before success is possible with Preston, but this is definitely a team with the ability to be a success.

Transfer Budget: £1.2m

Wage Budget: £87k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Top Half

Predicted Position: 7th

Queens Park Rangers - Money, Money, Money. The money bags side of the Championship, QPR are a team with a bit of a temperamental chairman but lots of dosh to spend. With the ambition of the Chairman and the cash reserves at your disposal then realistically you should look at finishing in at least the top 4. Ben Watson will be a key player in achieving promotion and the lad on loan from Wigan is easily too good for the championship and should be the focal point of your team. Add in Akos Buzsaky, Lee Cook, Wayne Routledge, Adel Taarabt, Gavin Mahon and Martin Rowlands and you have a midfield to be envied by any Championship side. However things aren't perfect as your defence is rather average looking and up front well bugger all. The only Striker in your team worth mentioning is Heidar Helguson who is very good target man at this level.

Transfer Budget: £6m

Wage Budget: £180k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Top Half Finish

Predicted Position: 10th

Reading - After starting last season in brilliant form Readings season rather petered out and they rather tamely gave up in the play-offs to Burnley. Very few of there promotion team of 2005/2006 is still at the club and they aren't the same brilliant team they were a few years back. Whilst taking over from Steve Coppell wont be easy for any manager they still posses a decent squad and automatic promotion is still a possibility. Marek Matejovsky is a great playmaker and should make your team tick and is easily your best player. Reading are a team that have a good level of player in ever position and decent squad depth but don't have any other stand out players other than the aforementioned Matejovsky. Realistically play-offs is where you should be looking at.

Transfer Budget: £200k

Wage Budget: £145k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Promotion

Predicted Position: 5th

Scunthorpe United - Another team who are kicking above there weight Scunthorpe are a team that will be happy just to stay up. Gary Hooper, Joe Murphy and Grant McCann are good players who will be vital in your attempt to stay up but overall your team really just isn't good enough and with limited finances staying up really is the best you can hope for.

Transfer Budget: £350k

Wage Budget: £38.5k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Attempt to avoid relegation

Predicted Position: 24th

Sheffield United - After being so close last season Sheffield United fans will be confident that they can achieve promotion and seriously challenge the teams coming down for an Automatic promotion place. In Darius Henderson, Jamie Ward and £3m signing Ched Evans Sheffield united have a great strike force. With a very solid defence and midfield Sheffield united have a good squad and one that should be a real threat from set pieces with there height. However perhaps a bit more creativity could be brought into the team to try and fashion a few more chances and see the team less reliant on clean sheets and set piece goals. With a decent budget and good squad anyone taking over will be confident of promotion.

Transfer Budget: £2m

Wage Budget: £170k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Promotion

Predicted Position: 3rd

Sheffield Wednesday - A sleeping giant, Wednesday have very limited resources and rely on revenue from sold players to bring in funds. If you want a challenge, this could well be it - don't expect any backing from the board but you do have a few talented players in Mark Beevers, Marcus Tudgay and Tommy Spurr. After spending pretty much all of last season sitting in 12th Sheffield Wednesday will be hopeful of pushing on a getting a top half finish and possibly sneaking a play-off position. A good team that just needs the final ingredient of consistency to win promotion.

Transfer Budget: £0

Wage Budget: £85k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Top Half Finish

Predicted Position: 12th

Swansea City - A team that did very well last year but that just petered off towards the end of the season and which has now lost some of its best players. Swansea are unlikely to replicate the success of last season but should finish comfortably in mid table. However so long as they have the magnificent Ferrie Bodde and the Spanish Right Back Angel Rangel then they certainly have the quality to challenge in the top half of the table.

Transfer Budget: £1.9m

Wage Budget: £95k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Top Half Finish

Predicted Position: 9th

Watford - Financial problems continue to plague them and mid table may be the best they can hope for this season. However this still posses a good squad and with the right manager could potentially look at nicking the the 6th spot and a place in the play-offs. John Eustace, Jay de Merit, Craig Cathcart and Don Cowie are all good players at this level and should help the team push for a play off position. Scott Loach, Ross Jenkins and John Joe O'Toole are also good prospects and will likely be vital players for you in future seasons. If you can get yourself a goal scorer then you seriously might be able to challenge for a play-off position.

Transfer Budget: £250k

Wage Budget: £70k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Top Half Finish

Predicted Position: 13th

West Brom - Boing Boing. West Brom are one of those teams that are too good for the Championship but not good enough for the Premier League and bounce between the two. Your teams is easily good enough to win the league any anything less than promotion should be seen as failure. Chris Brunt will be your key player with his brilliant left foot and will probably be your leading assist charts as well as a healthy tally in the goal charts. Perhaps the biggest blow is that Miller, your bests striker, will pretty much miss the entire season but with Cox and Bednar the blow should be minimal. If you feel you do need to improve the squad you have a healthy budget to play with and make those few changes you need to make.

Transfer Budget: £2m

Wage Budget: £324k P/W

Minimum Expectation: Promotion

Predicted Position: 4th

Hopefully people will add there own comments on specific teams or good targets for championship teams and this can be a good guide for managing in the championship. I will also add a section on some suggested targets once I have a good look and I can play with a larger database once the full game comes out.

- Thanks to LincolnCanary for providing inspiration with his thread for the last 2 editions.

Nice work G-Man11.

Absolute brilliant post Great work.

Top post G-Man11

Bit of a tip for the teams with a bit of money in the Championship, Amr Zaki can be acquired for £2.5m. He should tear up this division

Great thread:)

I'd also add Ross Jenkins to Watford's list of prospects, he's a better prospect than JJOT imo.

Aron Gunnarson at Coventry is class. Could easily play in the Premiership and is still only young!

I'm sure I'll end up playing in the CCC at some point in this game, it's my favourite (and most frustrating) league to manage in FM but now that Wolves are in the Prem I'll start there. Found some gems on 09 and hopefully can repeat that in 10, hopefully just not with Wolves.

Will post any gems I find in here, it was a great thread last year but I guess LincolnCanary is now doing a League One thread....

Thanks guys . Took me a while to do what with getting all the budgets and checking through all the squads and everything. Hopefully this can turn into guide for managing in the championship and will be useful for those who are unfamiliar with the league.

@ Jack - I will add Zaki to my list of possible targets that I will put up in a few days.

@ Arsenal - I added Ross Jenkins to the Watford bio.

@ Tony - Gunnarsson is a real great player and I have no doubt he will play in the premier league in the future just a shame that he may have a broken leg (In real life).

Gj, G-man.

Can I suggest you add the official FM links (if any) for the clubs e.g. Newcastle United as it will make this thread more user-friendly

Gj, G-man.

Can I suggest you add the official FM links (if any) for the clubs e.g. Newcastle United as it will make this thread more user-friendly

Yeah sure, good idea .

Top thread G-Man, I see you've put alot of effort into this

Nice one G-man.

Yeah good work Gman.

Think I might start with Palace or Sheff Weds.

Hmmm...

-TV-

started with cardiff sold the oldies like mcpahil commingues and othroyd brought in viduka rohan ricketts on a free loaned richie da laet nacar bazarite and danny rose sititng in 3rd end of demo

Cheers for the Jenkins add

I will contribute more to this thread when the full game comes out but with the Demo I don't tend to bother playing the teams I will play in the full version. But anyone who is playing a Championship team in the Demo feel free to add.

i started out with sheffield united P 21 W 14 D 7 L 0 F 36 A 11 1st........one signing made adam drury from norwich city for 675k....so im very happy everything is working well ,and the tactic ive made will be released soon after more testing

championship is where i always play my first proper career game.. its just a lot more enjoyable for me bringing a team up and building a solid prem team...

i think the likes of Ipswich and Coventry will be where il start ..

ipswich have a great backbone and good financial strength... possibly just lacking some good young players.. and il probably look to be bringing in the likes of loach, jenkins, beevers, victor moses (who btw looks immense) ... for me the only place the championship is lacking in players , is decent young cb's so i imagine that will be the only place il look to be buying foreign

great thread

I can't wait to start my Leicester game however I can't believe we have no transfer budget, it is completely unrealistic we have a chairman who has openly said that Pearson can have the money for players if he wants it.

Cracking thread so for that!

Really tempted by a Peterborough game when the game is fully out.

Definitely going to have to utilise the huge number of excellent freebies!

Just started a game with Doncaster, Could never do well with them last year so hopefully this one will be better.

Great thread.

I would also add Tunchev to the Leicester section. He's a rock at the back.

DJ Campbell (set as an advanced forward) has banged in 15 goals for my Leicester team on the demo. He seems to be pretty quick to me.

without doubt henri camara is a must have what a legend both on demo and patch grab him whilst you can because irl sheff utd have him he simply cant stop scoring at this level i have also found a free south african zuma bloody good to and the old stoke striker bengoura is a snip at 200k

GREAT POST G-MAN!! Ebi Smolarek, Sol Campbell and Glauber all been decent signings in my Reading save.

Just started a game with newcastle. I've got 950k to spend on a striker thats gonna be top of the scoring charts at the end of the season. Anyone got any ideas? I've been looking at Robbie Fowler, Kevin Vandenbergh, Kikin Fonseca and Jonathan Cistaldo

Starting out as crystal palace now ive brought the full version of the game. But im finding it hard as they have no money and not much wage room.

Basically, is there any quality players I can get on free's? or loans?

cheers

yes.. check out the freebie thread .. vast amount of help in there for you..

as a starter... henri camara, vieri, lauren, sol campbell, glauber, H. namouchi, michael ball, seba viera, appiah, davids are all good

Just started a game with newcastle. I've got 950k to spend on a striker thats gonna be top of the scoring charts at the end of the season. Anyone got any ideas? I've been looking at Robbie Fowler, Kevin Vandenbergh, Kikin Fonseca and Jonathan Cistaldo

kikin fonseca will get you the goals and he's within budget and has plenty of years left

Started this years fm with Doncaster and iam currently laying 3rd after playing 12 league games. Not many games i know but i play all games on full highlights

I currently won 5 drawn 6 lost 1

ins

nicola ventola st free

henri camara st free

andy dorman 450k amc

segio sanchez gk free

leandro aml

ryan bennett 350k cd

out

paul heffernan 800k

sam hird 400k

When i took over i so a big strengh in depth in the middle of the park but uptop i so weekness for whatever reason heffernan always scored against me but i never could get him scoring so i let him go next billy sharp got injured so with money in short supply i desided to bring in camara and ventola both costly in terms of wages but signed for only for 1 season a mistake i might find later. I then thought of bringing in a amc and dorman was the right man at the right price and a free keeper in sanchez who undoubtly has the ability to play higher, then one of my scouts puts me in the way of a player called leandro from debrecen who can play either aml or dl so i signed him for a meagre 100k. so far i have found brian stock to be simply outstanding either playing as a holding midfielder or in a more attackive role. camara and ventola are firing and we are playing free flowing football but it early days yet.

Vandenbergh is an absolute class act for my Wednesday side.

why do barnsley start with very little money. Barnsley have no debts and always spend at least 1.5 million in the summer.

Started a game with Doncaster today, as much as they annoy me in real life, i thought i'd give them a go see if i can do better than O'Driscoll.

The transfer window has just ended so this is how it's going at the end of august.

INS:

David Jensen - 5k

Ian Walker - Free

Marc Muniesa - 110k

Versa - 110k

Zavon Hines - Season Long Loan

Daniel Opare - 240k

Nathan Clarke - 130k

Stephen Darby - Season Long Loan

Leon Clarke - 3 month Loan

Guus Joppen - 275k

OUTS:

James Hayter - 100k

Mustapha Dumbuya - Loan

The first thing i had to do was replace the 'keepers as thats by far Rovers' weakest area. I brought in David Jensen from FC Nordsjaelland for a steal at 5k. He's only 16 and has great potential. Also brought in Ian Walker as he's a solid 'keeper for now as Jensen improves. Versa is a must buy and, again, is a steal 110k from Albacete. Great Centre Midfielder to play alongside Stock.

Well, i didn't expect to start this well! Played 5 Won 4 Lost 1, Top of the league! Apart from my defeat on Penalties to Accrington in the Carling Cup i'm playing very well. My front two of Zavon Hines and Billy Sharp have 11 goals between them in the league. Hines is a must Loan from West Ham, he's on fire. Leon Clarke has 1 in 1 too. He's not a bad back up signing and i may make it permanent if i have spare funds but at the minute he's only here to cover Heffernan's injury as he's out for 3 months

At the minute i'm on fire and have had some great results like a 3-2 victory over Cardiff after going 2-0 down at half time, but i put my expectations as top half finish and thats what i'm hoping for because im sure soon the likes of Newcastle will start walking to league, if i carry on like this though, i dont think the playoffs are out of the question

Currently playing as Forest (started again yesterday)

Signed - Seyfo Soley and Ivan Campo on free transfers, Nacer Barazite and Danny Wilson on season long loans. Barazite tore his hamstring after 10 minutes of the first game of the season.

Just won my first game of the season, 4-0 in the East Midlands Derby...

Vandenbergh is an absolute class act for my Wednesday side.

Kevin Vandenbergh?

I bought this guy once before in a previous version of the game. (and again in this years) He still has good finishing & composure but maybe i'm playing him out of his depth at Everton. I'll look to play him at Ipswich, or laon him to the Southampton team I'm also managing should they achieve promotion (which they should)

Things started off badly in my Crystal Palace save and I'm in 20th at the winter window. To make things harder, a takeover attempt caused the board to put a transfer embargo.

My front 3 of Scannel, Viduka, and Sears is dangerous. But my team in general seems to be really inconsistent, even after gaining morale by winning a match convincingly they'll go back to playing badly. The only plus side from this is that when on form they like to pull upsets against some of the higher reputation clubs.

Started a season as Sheffield Wednesday i've kept hold of every player thus far apart from Jeffers whom i sold to Coventry for a whopping £0.. with the money i'll save in his wages i offered contracts to all the players that had one year left on there deals, anyhow i havent really brought anybody in other than Viduka & Barazite on loan.. played my first league game vs. Barnsley & won 2-0 have my side playing some neat passing football.

Hi,

i want to give advice to all that are playing i Championship or Ligue1.I have find some really good players.I am with Southampton and the players are:

Todor Kolev(st)from Bulgaria.he is from Slavia(sofia).he has 32 goals in the league.475k $

Tom Heaton(Gk)from Man Utd.really good for the future.875k $

Orlin Starokin-attacking midfielder(left)and center Mid.he is Bulgarian and is from Chernomorets(Burgas).the scout says he is not 3-4 stars but he has 4 goals and 10 assists.

Andy van der Meyde-free(you know him really good)

Max Noble

Vratislav Gresko-for 3-4 years only

Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe(the same like Gresko)

Jose Maria Callejon(st)22 years old,really good-free

Gardar Gunnlaugsson(st)from iceland on free

Ebi Smolarek and Edgar Davids-you know them(free)

I am waiting for your comments.

I am from Bulgaria. Gunnlaugson and Ze Rui(another good free agent for Championship) were playing for CSKA (Sofia). I just can't believe how good are they because irl they are awful. Maybe at Conference level at best. However, they seem very good for Championship. Very strange.

Some other decent players: Vladimir Manchev and Spas Delev. Both from CSKA (Sofia).

can I just say, as an owls fan, we stopped being a 'sleeping giant' about 4 years ago when we realised we were 'just another championship club'

Good post though. I've began as wednesday.

Started a game with Coventry, im first after 22 matches with 41 points. West Brom is second with 40 points.

I made a Coventry official thread too if smn is intrested.

Looking to get a game going with Championship side, any ideas? Want a team with a couple good youngsters with Prem potential, secure finances with a bit to spend and promotion potential.

addicted to my save atm

started with crewe got promoted winning league 2

wigan got relegated to the championship and sitting in 17th place and 5 games in offered me the job. jumped ship despite being 4th with crewe after a good start.

managed to finish mid table but managing wigan was hard as ****... too many old players, people wanted to leave and morale always low as ****. set my seaon objectives to gain promotion however again wigans inconsistancy was killing me.... id win one game then lose the next etc also wigan became financially insecure meaning i hardly got any money to buy.

pressure was on and towards the end of november i got the sack lying 13th in the league

2 days later however i said i was interested in the palace job as the managers position was precarious and got the job.

looked at the squad and it was full of dead wood but some good youngsters such as wjneldum (sp) and Moses also palace were noted as RICH so i accepted

got 12 million to spend and spent it wisely in jan bringing in players like becks, ananidze, matic and this regen i had at wigan..... amazing stats for a 15 year old..... 17 acc 17 pace 16 dribbling 16 finishing 16 heading although his mental stats are a little rough. potential to be leading prem striker.

finished on a 15 match unbeaten run to get 2nd place and promotion. James Vaughn already at the club was an absolute beast with 40 odd goals for the season.

start of the season got given 49 million by the chairman for top half finish was hoping for 20 million

looked at palaces history and realised they got taken over in the first season and the chairman is an italian tycoon who keeps pumping money in the club.

fiddled with the budget adjustments and managed to get the kitty to 97million

brought in akinfeev for 31mill

owen hargreaves for 1.8mill

Steven Taylor for 12mill

regen brazilian cb for 20mil..... touted as next lucio and already got amazing stats

steven defour for 20mill

pastore on loan

wjneldum on loan

and two more regens for 7mill who also look class and can play right away.

played first game of the season against scousers and finished 1-1 with last minute strike form my regen.

disaster strikes though as a few days later my game gets a crash dump and last time i saved was before the liverpool game.... gutted. prob end up getting thrashed now.

Good thread, I'm starting as West Brom and theres no thread so I'll use this one, or make my own not sure yet, but any player tips?

Can anyone recommend a AMR for WBA. Second season and now in the Premiership. Have around £4m to spend.

Thanks

Cracking thread....

Was Sheff Utd and its a shame there isnt an oficial thread for them..if there is I cant find it

Got promoted and managed to sign loads of decent prem players according to my scouts for free,finsihed 11 first season now 6th in the prem half way through the season.....

players to look out for are Schoot (swedish cb) bought for £400k and now worth well over £2m,teams all over the shop are touting him but he is very loyal and doesnt want to move his form is very good to at around 7.2 after 20 games....Also signed Soto a 16 year old striker from barcelona with my scouts telling me he was going to be a good prem striker in future with big teams trying to buy him for £1.5m but hes playing alongside Gignac when Pavlychenko and Nugent are out. Id advise to get loan reports from prems side like Manutd, Chelsea and Arsenal..Diaby becomes available to and i signed him when i was still in champioship...signed Vayrenen and Quedrue for free and bought Gallas for £100k,lasted 2 seasons then sold him for £500k when he was 34

Looking to get a game going with Championship side, any ideas? Want a team with a couple good youngsters with Prem potential, secure finances with a bit to spend and promotion potential.

Sheff UTD is a class team....I was at Chester then got asked to take over Sheff UTD because they had sacked their manager and where in bottom three.went on a 20 game unbeaten run and finished 5 then got promoted...Evans and Sharp are brilliant and if u manage to sogne some decent players on free...Pippo Inzaghi,Vayrenen and Quedrue are ones to look out for along with Healy and Gera,decent prem side.when u get promoted they give u a hell of a lot,managed to sign Gignac and a couple of decent prem players!aging defence so that needs investement after 3 years,good luck

Hey guyss, im planning on being Doncaster, can anyone give me a few recommendations with who to sell? who to buy?

thanks

ITFC1

Hey again guysss

I've dont know what to do, I want to be a team, with decent financial backing, but, are not in contention to win promotion, I want to be able to build a side within say, 2-3 years, then look for promotionn, any ideas?

Yeah good work Gman.

Think I might start with Palace or Sheff Weds.

Hmmm...

-TV-

I'm being Wednesday atm, I'll tell you one thing- It's bloody hard!

I have been searching for a thread like this. I am playing as West Brom and I'm closing in on the end of the 2013/14 season. I was promoted to the EPL after my first season. Only recently has my team fulfilled their potential finishing 3rd in the EPL last season, while sitting in 3rd this season behind Chelsea and Man Utd. with 3 games left to play. There's no way I can take first but the good news is that I've reached the Semi-Finals of the CL The bad news is that I'm going up against Chelsea I hope everyone else is having as good of a time as me!

Edit: I forgot to mention how great the first post was. Good work!