FM 10: Official Birmingham City Thread - The Chinese Revolution

Club Info

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham F.C. in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City F.C. in 1943.At the end of the 2008–09 season, they were promoted from the Football League Championship to spend their sixth season in the Premier League.

St Andrew's has been their home ground since 1906.

They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Aston Villa, their nearest neighbours, with whom they play the Birmingham derby. The club's nickname is Blues, due to the colour of their kit, and their fans are known as Bluenoses.

FM10 Info

Club Information

Name: Birmingham

Founded: 1875

Ground: St. Andrews, Birmingham (capacity 29,509 all seated)

Chairman: David Gold (in game, in real life it is now Carson Yeung)

League: English Premier League

Rivals: Aston Villa, Wolves, Stoke, West Brom

Training Facilities: Top training facilities

Youth Facilities: Average youth facilities + academy

Media Prediction: 17th

Transfer Budget: £6m

Affiliations: Livingston, Worcester (Both feeder)

Playing Squad

GK

Joe Hart - Young keeper who is great at shot stopping but his aerial ability has come under scrutiny. Will make the odd error due to his high eccentricity but should be OK for a season.

Maik Taylor - Getting old now but still reliable, you can keep him for back-up or you can sell him early on as a few clubs are interested.

Colin Doyle - Can be back-up 'keeper if you sell Taylor, not a fantastic 'keeper but a good reserve.

DR

Stephen Carr - Wise old head that has finally been put into the game, reliable and has tons of experience.

Stuart Parnaby - Versatile and a good back-up, questionable as a first teamer, may want to sell him if a good offer comes in.

DL

David Murphy - Often seen as the first choice left back but defensively he isn't great and can make costly mistakes, starts injured for a few months.

Franck Queudrue - Reliable defender who is probably better off at CB now because his pace is going down. Will still do a job and is versatile.

Gregory Vignal - Decent full back but may struggle at Premier League level. Also very injury prone.

DC

Roger Johnson - Signed for £5million and has been a hit this season, should be your first choice centre back.

Scott Dann - Another summer buy but hasn't done as well as Johnson, questions over his lack of experience, might need another CB whilst he gains more experience.

Liam Ridgewell - A good centre half on his day but does make costly errors. Will play well all game then switch off, low concentration means he is a risky player to have.

Martin Taylor - Most well known for 'that' tackle. Is getting old now and is not Premiership quality, should look to offload him.

MR

Sebastian Larsson - Will work all day and has great hunger but technical isn't the best, is more of a wide midfielder than a winger and doesn't get many crosses in but is versatile.

James O'Shea - Young Irish winger who looks a good prospect, questionable if he can play in the 1st season and might want to loan him out, one for the future.

MC

Barry Ferguson - Best passer at the club, has 19 passing and creativity but performances are sometimes lacklustre. If you can get the best out of him he can be a great asset.

Lee Carsley - Coming to the end of his career but could still do a job sitting in front of the back 4 for those tough games away.

Lee Bowyer - Tireless midfielder who will get you goals from midfield. A box-to-box guy who will run all day and never shirks a challenge.

Keith Fahey - Similar to Bowyer but more of a cultured player, doubtful whether he has the physical stats to mix it in the Premiership

ML

James McFadden - The most technically gifted player at the club, can create something out of nothing and takes a decent dead ball. Should be the focus of your attacks.

Gary McSheffrey - Decent back-up but should try and sell if a decent bid comes in, Championship player.

ST

Christian 'Chucho' Benitez - Pocket rocket who isn't as good in the game as he should be. Pace should be higher but will still bag you goals, scores for fun for Ecuador and if you play him right he will do the same for you.

Cameron Jerome - Similar to Benitez but without the goal threat. Will work hard and is lightning quick but his finishing is woeful and should be used as an impact player off the bench.

Garry O'Connor - Your primary target man, scores some screamers on the game and wins his fair share in the air. May not have the best stats but a good player to have.

Marcus Bent - Not good enough and a poor version of O'Connor, on high wages and should look to offload ASAP.

Kevin Phillips - A great finisher but 36 and his physical stats are diminishing by the year, might want to try him but will be a risk, may want to offload.

Suggested Formations:

4-4-2 (Hart; Carr, Johnson, Dann, Vignal; Larsson, Ferguson, Bowyer, McFadden; O'Connor, Benitez.)

4-5-1 (Hart; Carr, Johnson, Dann, Vignal; Larsson, Ferguson, Fahey, Bowyer, McFadden; O'Connor.)

4-3-3 (Hart; Carr, Johnson, Dann, Vignal; Larsson, Ferguson, Bowyer; McFadden, O'Connor, Benitez.)

Possible targets:

Left back is definitely a position you should strengthen, you may also need a defensive midfielder seeing as Carsley is on his last legs. A striker may also be needed and a right winger could be added if you can spread your funds.

DL - Cristian Ansaldi - Rubin - £5m

DC - Jorge Andrade - Free

DC - Sol Campbell - Free

DMC - Sergio Matabuena - Sporting - £210k

ST - Amr Zaki - Zamalek - £2m

ST - Christian Vieri - Free

It's about time the best team in the Midlands had a thread, have fun playing as the Blues!

P.S. This is my first one of these so please give me some pointers on how to make it better, thanks!

Good start. Pictures are a bit big and it's slightly un-tidy but the information is there.

very good OP Blues are my teamn going to start my long term game with them today

Thanks guys, have updated the pictures and added more underlining/bold to try and break down the text.

I'm in my 2nd season with Blues at the minute and doing pretty well.

Wish I had Carson as the chairman on the game, I'm desperate for extra money!

Thanks guys, have updated the pictures and added more underlining/bold to try and break down the text.

I'm in my 2nd season with Blues at the minute and doing pretty well.

Wish I had Carson as the chairman on the game, I'm desperate for extra money!

you should of used data editor to put him there and put 20m transfer budget to make it realistic

you should of used data editor to put him there and put 20m transfer budget to make it realistic

I know but I just continued my game from the demo so it wasn't possible, hopefully SI will amend this in their next patch. I may start a new game if that does happen.

Im trying to sign lukovic from Udinese, they have sent an asking price of 1million but wont accept my bid, ive even upped it to 1.5mil and they still dont seem to want to accept...anyone else had this?

What reason are they giving for not accepting it? Are you putting a time limit on when they respond? Because clubs don't like you doing that.

nope just put in a straight 1mil for what they are asking for then they come back saying they want more and when i offer more they come back again??

what leagues are you running i`m thinking of running england,spain and italy for speed.btw ive used the editor to set yeung as chairman plus all the new board members and have given a 20m transfer budget.

finally decided to just the english leagues as it was fairly slow

That sounds good, I'm just running England as I've continued my demo save. I don't think my laptop could take much more cause it's running pretty slow now and has way better specs than recommended by SI!

been with a few seasons of birmingham i added around 20mil transf with carson as the chariman its been good so far top table but my team is 90% different thanw ht i started with.... lol

Well I gave Birmingham a go and in the end I got relegated, finishing in 18th, 2 points off Fulham.

Squad

Transfers

The season started badly with the players not playing well at all. Here's how the table looked in January:

But after a team meeting the team turned themself around and we started doing well. At one point we went on a 4 game winning streak and were 14th in the table. But at the end of the season we lost form and eventually got relegated.

I wanted to stay on as manager and get the team promoted for the Championship but unfortunately I was sacked

Hi there, a bluenose here.Started the game as blues but dissapointed to see gold and sullivan still on the board after a new data patch,bad SI.Had no transfer money to buy anyone and no one wanted my transfered players so was left with the original squad. We are currently 11th after 10 games and even beat Man city 2-1,Mcleish take note Chuco scores in my game LOL.i DON'T SUPPOSE THERE WILL BE ANY MONEY COME THE jANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW SO I may have to carry this squad for the whole season. Made Barry Ferguson captain as I want Carsley out but interestingly,the partnership of Chuco (Beneitz) and O'connor is good bagging 11 goals between them , 7-4 to chuco.

Will update later.

I personally don't agree with this hype about Benetiz, just finished my first season and he was awful for me..scoring 4 goals in 26. He didn't really feature for me after January.

Here is my table;

Transfers;

My top goalscorer was actually Jerome! With 16 league goals, superb player so don't knock his goal scoring ability!

I'm ready to push on next season for a mid-table finish.

Just a side note: I am actually ollie1894 and Big Eck, so I used to do these Birmingham threads...but I keep losing my account details! I remember you kroshot ! ahaa.

just started my game these are my signings so far-edited the budget and board to give us 20m.

c.cole 3.5m

jadson 3m

krivets 1.5m

ansaldi 5m

reginiussen 1m

a.annan 3m

still looking for a centre back,left winger and maybe another forward any ideas?

Benitez did well for me. Ended the season with between 13-16 goals. O'Connor and Phillips were poor but Jerome was surprisingly good scoring 10 in something like 12 games!

just won my opening game beat villa 2-0 cole and ferguson using 4-1-2-1-2 due to having crap wingers.

benitez is fail hes soo inconsistent he can do well few games and then next few games completely horrible... invest in new young blood imo

buy david beckham costs 675k if you wants him straight awy or free in jan,also ronaldo can be picked up for 2.1 mil both were revolations for me and guided me to a steady 12th and 2 cup semi's

Benitez is awesome if you use him right. He can score goals as a poacher and he can take people on in a Tevez like role. If you can get a target man up there with him then you'll have a perfect strike-force for the first 2 seasons at least.

I haven't started as Blues yet but I know we need a creative MC and 2 wingers. Also we probably need new full-backs and if we can snap up Hart on a permanent basis then we have a team that can easily stay up.

I have started my second season...still only in pre-season. I am still on the demo database because I transfered my game from there.

The budget is absolutely awful...I finished 16th last year and for "avoid relegation" I only get 13.5m! So annoying...when my friend who got promoted and then stayed up with coventry got 30m for avoid relegation in his 2nd premier league season!

TOP TIP!!! : RAID Man city's reserves! I'm trying to get Jo for 6.2m and I managed to get Hart on a perminant basis for..wait for it...2.7million! Great bargain.

This season I just want to build on last years' 16th, so I'm going for any where between 14th and 10th...not too fussed after that. At the moment I don't feel the need to sign many players, which is odd I know..but the one's I've got are brilliant.

I advise you keep hold of Quedreue..he didn't get a game for me last year but now he's my first choice left back because vignal had a poor season. I also bought Degen at right back last year, he's quality.

Good luck everyone!

unfortunately my game crashed,so will have to start again need some tips on good defenders and full backs,i reccomend annan,jadson,krivets, carlton cole,ansaldi and possibly reginiussen from what ive seen so far all can picked up for under 5m each

Mendy for Hull??? Maybe try Apueletra (spell, Getafe) but he may not want to come.

At last a Blues thread! nice one Costly!

I'm in February and Im doing well 7th atm

Rodger Johnson being my star player...7.38 ave

Players sold -

Taylor(both)

Espinoza

McFadden

Bent

Phillips

Fahey

Larsson

OConnor

D Johnson

Parnaby

Sammons

All for a total of £22.5 million:D

Players in -

Ronaldo

Skjelbred

Beckham

Donavan

Enyemea

Schamer

£7.25 spent

Coming in at the end of the season -

Acquafresca

Burdisso (both free)

Bellaid - £2.25 mill

Larsson,Fahey all going out on a free.

Trying to get rid of McSheffrey,Murphy,Vignal

Still got nearly £20 mill saved before the end of season budget comes rolling in.

I need a top class RB and LB

also, turned down a £12.6 mill bid for Benitez from Hannover, was tempted to sell but

got a feeling Chuncho is gonna be a star!

Will update as soon as the season finishes

right here we go just got past the first transfer window in sept and ive made the squad a lot stronger so hopefully we will stay up here are my transfers-

out

g.mcsheffery ipswich 1.5m

o`connor ipswich 2m

d.johnson wigan 850k

in

c.cole west ham 3.5m*

s.krivets bate 1.5m

a.annan rosenborg 3m

p.skjelbred rosenborg 1.5m

g.van der wiel ajax 2.3m

c.ansaldi rubin 5m*

t.reginiussen tromso 1m

g.svensson ifk gothenburg 1m

a.johnson middlesboro 4m*

m.mandzukic dinamo 4m*

*=payments spread over a number of months

started off well winning away to wolves and home to hull,before losing to blackburn at ewood park 2-1 and putting in a good performance at home to man utd narrowly losing 3-2.in the cup beat notts forest 3-1 so not a bad start

bollock bollocks bollocks game has siezed up again arghhhhh.time to start again tomorrow

Ok I'm playing as Blues just finished the 2nd transfer window in my first season - currently sitting fairly comfortably in mid table obscurity having beaten most of the relegation battle teams.

Transfers in:

Aron Gunnarsson - 2.3m - (Coventry) DM

Christian Ansaldi - 3.9m (Rubin) LB/RB

Sergey Krivets - 1m (BATE) ML/R/C

Ebi Smolarek - free ST

Silviu Lung Jr - 1.4m (U Craiova) GK

Jonathan Christaldo - 2.5m (Velez) ST

Total 11m

Transfers out:

Gary O'Connor - 1.1m (Middlesborough)

Gary McSheffrey - 1m (Middlesborough)

Maik Taylor - 1m (Man City)

Damien Johnson - 900k (Sunderland)

Martin Taylor - 750k (Reading)

Total - 4.8M

Chucho is doing rather well as the deep lying forward in a support role scoring 18 in 31 games in all comps.

Next up is Smolarek - 10 in 18 but he's pretty lazy and only does the biz when he feels like it - (set as Advanced forward). And then Jerome as an impact player off the bench - 8 in 9(6)

I have no idea how people are managing to sell the likes of o'connor for £2m. I had to offer phillips and carsley to clubs for £0 just to get an offer. I've offered bent and o'connor for next to nothing also and cannot get a penny from anyone. I've managed to offload damien Johnson for around 600-700k but that's about it. Can anyone give me any tips on how to get rid of the deadwood?

After my last game crashing ive restarted with the mighty blues here are the transfers so far-

out

o`connor 2m ipswich

mcsheffery 1.5m ipswich

bent free newcastle

murphy 2.8m qpr

martin taylor 2m qpr

in

c.cole 3.5m* west ham

krivets 1.5m bate

annan 3m rosenborg

reginiussen 1m tromso

h.suazo 1m monterray

cabanas 4m*america(mex)

a.johnson 4m*middlesboro

skjelbred 1.5m rosenborg

ansaldi 5.5m*rubin

total spent 25m total recouped 8.25m

*=payments spread over 48 months

Some good signings there.

cheers mate.still think i`m a bit weak at centre back though

Roger Johnson is a good player, bring Pearce through as well as he turns out to be a rock for the side. Not sure who else to suggest though.

I have no idea how people are managing to sell the likes of o'connor for £2m. I had to offer phillips and carsley to clubs for £0 just to get an offer. I've offered bent and o'connor for next to nothing also and cannot get a penny from anyone. I've managed to offload damien Johnson for around 600-700k but that's about it. Can anyone give me any tips on how to get rid of the deadwood?

I dump them in the reserves fella, soon had interested clubs wanting them.

Bent - I had to send him out on loan, he returned, then offered him out straight away to the team I loaned him too. Sold!

Espinoza had the same problem so repeated the above, he went too

these ****ing crashes are really ****ing me off now.will have to start again.dont be suprised if you see me signing the same players over again the are all good

I updated my game so we had around £20-£25m and I upped the reputation to a bit lower than west ham due to players we have been linked with.

Started the season and got rid of fringe players, I brought in the following.

Angel di maria £4m

eduardo salvio £3.9m

roman pavlyuchenko £8.75m

areola gk psg £60k

koke ath Madrid £0

keko ath Madrid £0

borja baston ath Madrid £0

otamendi £5m

mainly young players that should come good.

I started of ok with a draw away at hull a draw at home v man city and then lost to arsenal away 2-1.

I thought it was going well but 14 games in and still no win. I've drawn 8 out of 14 games and I'm 19th in the league.

I think it's the formation bcus I have a decent side. Started with a 443 with a lone striker and 2 am's then a flat 3 in midfield. After about 7 games I then converted to a flat 442. Anyone got any idvice thatcan get me my 1st win. On fm09 I got blues to win the league and champions league by 2012/13 season with a good tactic but can't seem to find a good one on fm10.

hopefully third time lucky with blues.

transfers in

reginiussen 1m

buonantte 3.5m

mariga 5.75m*

annan 3m

h.suazo 1m

cabanas 5m*

krivets 1.7m

skjelbred 1.5m

a.dominguez 1m(rubin)

transfers out

martin taylor 1.3m

d.johnson 1m

o`connor 2.3m

mcsheffery 1.7m

murphy 2.8m

we look very good upfront now and with mariga and annan in midfield we have some real physical presence in there.bounanotte is going to be a star on the wing with reginiussen bringing us some steel at the back.contemplating playing a 3-4-3 formation which as done well in pre season beating valencia and fiorentina .

ive finally given up on this game to a new patch comes out that can improve defending and marking ,ive just lost all hope.

Any idea if the chairmen situ will be updated in a later patch so that Carsten is in place? Bit rubbish if it isn't implemented.

OK , Update end of season reveiw

Finished 9th just 1 point behind the Villa in 7th , quite chuffed about that

Was given a budget of around £24 million (had £20 million saved from previous season) , so was very dissapointed with the board!!(hurry up and get Carson in!!lol)

Sold everyone of my fringe players for a total of £14.5 mill , Donavan raking in £7.75 mill

Had A complete overhaul of my backroom staff, only need to get shot of Asst MGR Watson

Players in -

Bellaid Habib - £2.5m

Nicolas Burdisso - free

Lee Wallace - £3.0m

Adam Larrson - £170k

Royston Drenthe - free

Martias Fernandez - £6.0m

Nazer Barazite - £325k (loan fee)

I'm finding season 2 very difficult atm struggling in 15th (after 8 games) down to the bare bones as far my squad is concerned

There just dose'nt seem to be any players interested that would significally improve my squad most 3 star rating, so don't see the point in signing just average players.

Have a wishlist for Jan with players on the uninterested list so I'm gonna keep going in for them intill they give in and join lol -

David Santon

Bojan

Yoann Gourcuff

Igor Akineev

Angel Di Maria

Hartem Ben Arfa

Artem Milevskyi

Hoping to get at least one of the obove to come in Jan or maybe two , the others will target end of season 2

Will keep slugging it out with minimun funds and a low rep but I'm used to that managing the Blues!

KRO

Any idea if the chairmen situ will be updated in a later patch so that Carsten is in place? Bit rubbish if it isn't implemented.

No idea mate , hopefully sooner rather than later as The Golds and Su££y's are a tightfisted lot

OK , Update end of season reveiw

Finished 9th just 1 point behind the Villa in 7th , quite chuffed about that

Was given a budget of around £24 million (had £20 million saved from previous season) , so was very dissapointed with the board!!(hurry up and get Carson in!!lol)

Sold everyone of my fringe players for a total of £14.5 mill , Donavan raking in £7.75 mill

Had A complete overhaul of my backroom staff, only need to get shot of Asst MGR Watson

Players in -

Bellaid Habib - £2.5m

Nicolas Burdisso - free

Lee Wallace - £3.0m

Adam Larrson - £170k

Royston Drenthe - free

Martias Fernandez - £6.0m

Nazer Barazite - £325k (loan fee)

I'm finding season 2 very difficult atm struggling in 15th (after 8 games) down to the bare bones as far my squad is concerned

There just dose'nt seem to be any players interested that would significally improve my squad most 3 star rating, so don't see the point in signing just average players.

Have a wishlist for Jan with players on the uninterested list so I'm gonna keep going in for them intill they give in and join lol -

David Santon

Bojan

Yoann Gourcuff

Igor Akineev

Angel Di Maria

Hartem Ben Arfa

Artem Milevskyi

Hoping to get at least one of the obove to come in Jan or maybe two , the others will target end of season 2

Will keep slugging it out with minimun funds and a low rep but I'm used to that managing the Blues!

KRO

Santon would probably be the best out of them + Angel Di Maria then your set

who are you getting on?

In the next update do you think any of our players will receive a boost,

I'm guessing, Chucho - will be changed, Larssons freekicks will be increase, bowyers maybe and R.Johnson will be better aswell

Started a game with my beloved Blues.

Finished 9th just 1 point behind the Villa in 7th , quite chuffed about that

Same here except Villa were 9 points behind!

The odd thing is I didn't really change much - I don't like going too crazy during the first season, I prefer to give everyone a chance to prove their worth (well that and the transfer budget for blues is pretty weak).

Some observations:

- Joe Hart is very good (highest avrt last season for me) and if you wait until the start of the second season Man City will probably transfer list him and you can get him on the cheap (I got him for £3m)

- Jerome started the season magnificently with a glut of goals pre-season and 10 in 10 games in the prem, but then got injured for a few weeks and after coming back has really struggled for goals.

- O'Connor was pretty much the opposite - awful at the start of the season and great towards the end. I still let him go on a free (out of contract) though.

- After Hart, Roger Johnson is probably the best player there. He's immense at headers at both ends (he was my third or fourth top scorer, pretty much all from set piece headers)

- Larsson is pretty good and consistent.

- Benitez is hugely underrated in the game (and unfortunately difficult to offload).

- McFadden is annoyingly inconsistent. I got Simon Poulsen initially as cover down the left but he was a first-team regular by the end of the season.

- Carsley and Tainio are decent enough to get you through the first season but you will want to find a DM in the close season (seeing as Carsley gets super-old and Tainio's loan ends)

- You need a left-back as a first priority seeing as Murphy starts off injured and Queudrue is too old and slow. I got Jankulovski on loan for the season from Milan (somewhat contradicting my Queudrue old remark, heh) and he was solid. Once Murphy was fit I subbed him in for games where more defensive cover was needed on the left.

- A good centre-back is important too. I was stuck with Dann for the season and although usually solid he was prone to spells of half a dozen or so awful games at a time, probably because of inexperience.

- Next is a striker. I got Vieri because he was free and because he's Vieri, but he was completely useless whether played from the start or as an 'impact' sub, so stay away.

Starting season 2 now and as usual I've delved a little more into the transfer market.

IN:

Manuele Blasi (Free)

Deco (Free)

Joe Hart (£3m)

Urby Emanuelsson (£4m)

Artam Milevskyi (£9m)

Kakha Kaladze (Loan)

Niko Krancjar (Loan)

Michael Owen (Loan)

with Kerzhakov to come in December when he's out of contract

and some youth players

OUT:

Damien Johnson (£900k)

David Murphy (£2.4m)

Liam Ridgewell (£1.5m)

Martin Taylor (£850k)

and a ton of out of contract players on frees

So now I have...

I need some more quality/cover at CB and FB but other than that I'm happy so far. Started off season 2 crappily with a 1-1 draw at home to newly-promoted Bristol City but I expect it to take a while for everyone to gel.

Sorry for the late update ,but my old game crashed and had to start again.

Into the start of my 2nd season 6 games in, am currently 2nd, 1 point behind Newcastle,who are storming the league after murdering the Championship

First season.

Players in -

Gary Cahill (£8.75M )

Luis saurez (£15M over 48 months)

Carpoue Etienne (£4M)

Landon Donavan (Free)

Angel Di Maria (£4.25M)

Players out -

Damian Johnson

Keith Fahey

Colin Doyle

Kevin Phillips

Gary McSheffrey

Garry OConner

Martin Taylor

Sabastian Larsson

Barry Ferguson

Lee Carsley

All for a combined £18.5M

Finished 7th and won the FA cup beating Chelsea 3-2

Second season got a momouth 47 million budget (top half finish)

Beat Chelsea in the Charity shield

Looking to strenghen in the LB/ST/ areas plus add to the squad depth

Players in -

Mahamadou Diarra (3.0M)

Stephane Sessegnon (13.75M)

Ben Foster (7.5M)

Deco (Free)

Artem Milevskyi (7.0M)

Joe Hart (375k loan fee)

Gary Caldwell (free)

Manual Juan Vargas (10.5M)

Players out for a combined 23.5 million

David Murphy

Scott Dann

James McFadden

Franck Queudrue

Liam Ridgewell

James O'Shea

2 regens for a combined 5.5M

As it stands I'm currently 2ND.. Saurez, Cahill really standing out at the moment,all the big guns sniffing around trying to unsettle them.

Won my first Europa game 5-0 away to Debresen , hoping for a real challenge for a Champions League spot,possibly a title challenge..will update end of January on my progress

K.R.O

I need some more quality/cover at CB and FB but other than that I'm happy so far. Started off season 2 crappily with a 1-1 draw at home to newly-promoted Bristol City but I expect it to take a while for everyone to gel.

Gary Cahill's a good shout fella , got fans player of the season for me, currently on an ave rating of 8.17 after 6 games scoring 4 already all from headers

Caldwell is solid too , should be able to get him on a free , Burdisso is a solid FB Kieran Gibbs is pretty consistant.

I might take a look at him - past the January transfer window now and I spent the last of my budget getting Aron Gunnarsson in on loan as cover at DM because Blasi went and got injured for 4 bleeding months right before the transfer deadline and Carsley is the only cover I have there who isn't 17 years old! I need to start paying a bit more attention to home-grown players too - I have a few very promising English youngsters but they won't be ready for a few seasons yet most likely.

How on earth did you get a £47m budget? Admittedly I didn't make as much from player sales, but I only got like £16m for top half finish!

In 6th at the moment and we're finally really hitting some great form as I write this - we just beat Spurs away 3-2 and this happened only a few games ago.

(of course now i've cursed us by mentioning this we're probably going to lose at home to Wolves in our next game or something)

Milevskyi is awesome and Kerzhakov got a hat-trick on his debut (albeit against Championship Fulham in the FA Cup) but then promptly got injured for a few weeks. Kranjcar is fantastic, if a little prone to morale swings - I'm going to try and get him on a permanent deal in the close-season (although I have Rosicky coming in too on a free, lol). Owen gets injured all the time, so the game is completely realistic in that regard! As usual on FM I buy too many attacking players and neglect my defence.

Just going into January in my second season as Birmingham,

Stayed up in 17th, had a truly awful season, watching my team defend was torture,

Then come the summer, all my half decent players (wel Benitez & Regginiussen) wanted to leave, offloaded all the other deadwood, (Carr, Vignal, Quedrue, Bowyer etc) and i'm slowly building a haf decent side, with Nasri and Jimenez ruling it, although i am of course still struggling in the league.

In desperate need of a commanding centre half and 20 goal a season striker, would spend up to 10m on either, any reccomendations?

Good afternoon all...

I have decided to start a Birmingham save but have chosen to change a few things which I will explain here.

Firstly , you should know ive upped the balance of the club to around 35 million and made 30 million available for transfer. I've done this as i heard the blatently speculative story about brum having 30 mil to spend in the window and thought this would be an excellent challenge.

Secondly i have made some slight tweeks to a few of the squad members... purely for vanity sake you see as I love the players ive changed and wanted them to be slightly better.

heres a few screenies so you can see what ive changed.

as you can see.. ive improved the mental stats of both which in essence makes them top players now.

other then that, everything is the same and ive been trying to sign players which i deem birmingham type players if that makes any sense at all to anyone reading this

but anyway.. here are my transfers so far.. and the bank is almost empty... most are over 48months btw.

I realise its a minefield changing stats and balances etc on these forums, so ive tried to be clear about what ive done so you can judge any updates I give on my game knowing whats been changed...

thanks.