FM10 Official Southampton thread: -10 points + League One + Swiss Billions = FM fun

[fghnyrej]

Just wondering if somebody can explain to me the situation with Southampton. After the death of their owner what happened to the funds he was to be putting into the club? Is somebody continuing that or do Southampton no longer have colossal financial backing?

As far as i know, his family is carrying on with the club as they want to fulfill his plan of getting them back into the Premiership within 5 years i think it was. So i guess it will still have a fair bit of investment into it, by League 1 standards at least. Im not certain on that as I'm not a Saints fan but i think i read about it recently.

[SeanH91]

January 2010 Update

My first January transfer window has just closed and I think some good business has been done. I've brought in Mike Williamson (£1.1m), Dan Gosling (Loan) and Franco Borini (Loan). That should see me out comfortably to the end of the season. Basically I was short on good defensive cover, needed an all round midfielder for cover and David Connolly is not an effective backup to Cristaldo as a poacher.

Thirty-one games played in the League and sitting top with 79 points from 29 wins and 2 draws. We also have a very impressive goal difference of +70, this is mainly due to Cristaldo who has 30 league goals already and Alex Smithies who has kept 20 clean sheets in 28 league appearances.

Only made it as far as the 3rd round of the Carling Cup. After beating Swindon 2-0 and Portsmouth 3-2, we got drawn against Premiership team Wigan. It ended 0-0 after extra time, but a missed penalty from Barnard resulted in them winning 5-4 in the shootout to progress.

I'm also out of the F.A Cup, this time making it to the 4th round. First and second round were simple against Stevenage and Aldershot, both at St. Mary's. Next was Scunthorpe away who we battered 3-0 (good practice for the Championship). Our 4th round tie was at Bramall Lane against Sheff Utd and, after having 14 more shots and 18% more possession than them, Ched Evans scored a flukey 76th minute goal to win it for the Blades. Their keeper had a blinder and was MotM with a rating of 8.9

Finally the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. I'm currently waiting to play my semi-final 2nd leg against MK Dons, who we beat 3-1 in the away leg. Our run in this competition has been Cheltenham, Bournemouth, Leyton Orient, Plymouth and the MK Dons.

So let's hope the good form carries on until the end of the season and I can break the 100 point barrier!

[SRL88]

Well Ive played 13 games on my Southampton save, and having just beat Oldham 5-4 at Boundry Park I am sitting in 4th in the league. I completely destroyed the -10pts I had, having won 11, drew 1 & lost 1. Im only 2pts off the automatic places. I thought it might have been a bit tougher but meh. Tafer & Vieri have been unreal. Tafter has 10 goals in 9 starts with Vieri having 9 goals in 10 starts. Rickie Lambert is chipping in with 4 goals in 7 league games also. Poor Lee Barnard is just sitting in the reserves.

As you may tell based on my latest result, I cant stop conceding which is annoying. Its like Newcastle under Keegan. Ive conceded 13 goals in 13 games, which people might think, wellll what you complaining about, but Id rather 1-0 than 5-4 every week. Any tips?

[fghnyrej]

Finished my third season with Southampton and i went a hell of a lot better then i expected.

Made a load of transfers this season, too many for all of them to fit onto one screen shot. Total Outgoings were £96mil and In comings were £56mil.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I aimed for mid table and the media prediction was 16th.

As you can see above, amazing i managed to finish 3rd in my first season in the EPL. Was a tight finish to clinch a Champions League spot, 3 points separated Chelsea, Liverpool and myself. Liverpool finished the season at home to Arsenal and my final game.....Away to Chelsea....but a 90th minute winner sealed a 2-1 victory, making it a double of them this season.

In fact, i managed to beat all the big boys (Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd, Everton and Tottenham) at home this season. Thats where i picked up the most of my points, Only dropped points in 3 home games all season (Draws with Bolton and Newcastle + a lose to Birmingham). Away form was a completely different ball game, struggled massively.

Main problem was my defense who conceded a hell of a lot of goals but luckily the majority of the time i managed to outgun the opposition. Definitely gonna bring in a few quality Defenders for next season, Otamendi in particular was laughable at times and he managed to concede 6!! Penalties just by himself all season.

Also, i finally managed to perform well in a cup for a change. Reached the final of the FA Cup but lost to Man Utd 2-0.

Only got to the 4th round of the Carling cup before losing 1-0 to West Ham.

Here's my current squad (Not including players currently out on loan who will probably be sold next season unless they are youth):

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Best performer was clearly Lukaku, who easily repaid the £22.5mil it cost for me to bring him in. Averaged well over a goal a game and chipped in with a few assists too. He ended Top league goalscorer and player of the season. He did suffer quite a bit from injures and actually missed the last 2 weeks of the season so the FA Cup final could have been completely different had he been able to play in it.

Oddly, around December/January time World footballer of the year was annouced and little Yannis Tafer had somehow managed to come third and he won the World Striker of the year, even though he was my 3rd choice at the time and was not doing anything spectacular performance wise :confused:

TARGET FOR NEXT SEASON.....EUROPEAN DOMINATION...hopefully

[Anfieldid]

fghnyrej, how much did Bale cost you mate? I'm hoping to bring him back to the club myself, I've got Michael Ball at LB right now (I'm half way through my 2nd season) but it looks like I'll have to let him go in the Jan transfer window as he just hasn't got the legs anymore and Harding isn't quite good enough to make the LB spot his own so I've found myself playing Jay Emmanuel Thomas in that postition lately.

[fghnyrej]

fghnyrej, how much did Bale cost you mate? I'm hoping to bring him back to the club myself, I've got Michael Ball at LB right now (I'm half way through my 2nd season) but it looks like I'll have to let him go in the Jan transfer window as he just hasn't got the legs anymore and Harding isn't quite good enough to make the LB spot his own so I've found myself playing Jay Emmanuel Thomas in that postition lately.

Had to pay £7.5mil for him, got him in the January window. If you need a cheaper LB then you could go for Dodo who has a minimum fee release of £1.4mil.

[SRL88]

Well here was a bit of fun which I had on my Saints game

http://s869.photobucket.com/albums/ab258/SRL88/?action=view&current=SouthamptonvTranmere.png

Which resulted in this

http://s869.photobucket.com/albums/ab258/SRL88/?action=view&current=Coca-ColaLeague1.png

[SRL88]

Im roughly 28 games into my season at Southampton and about to enter February (Im at work so details arent the greatest, and yes I understand that I am occupying myself at work by being on here, but it passes the time quickly haha). Things are going ok, but I have hit a bit of a mid season slump. Yannis Tafer was on fire in the first half of the season, firing 21 goals in as many games but hasnt scored since & his form is a hit and miss now. Rickie Lambert is getting stronger & stronger with the goals flowing & Christian Vieri is chipping in with quite a few but has found himself on the bench recentley. After 28 games I find myself in 3rd place, battling it out with Colchester & Norwich for the 2nd automatic promotion place. Leeds are 9pts ahead of me but there is still plenty of time left in the season to catch them.

On the cup front, I am into the South Section Final where Im playing Swindon. I hold a 3-2 lead after the 1st leg at St. Mary's, and will play the return leg soon. Swindon are some what of a bogey team for me. Although Ive only played them twice, both at home I cant seem to get things right against them. In that cup game I went 2-0 up, dominated possesion & shots & then their 1st shot of the game they scored, I scored again & their second shot its 3-2. A couple of games later in the league I played them again & it was the same process. Dominated, 2-0 up, my 15 shots to their 0, 2 shots later its 2-2. Quite annoying really. I hate Billy Paynter ha. I cant remember my exact progress in the League & FA Cup but I know I got beat by Sheff Utd 1-0 at St. Mary's in the League Cup 3rd Round and got to the FA Cup 3rd or 4th Round before losing to Everton 1-0 at Goodison in quite a good performance.

My current squad is something like this, again its vaige because Im at work.

GK:

Scott Loach (£2m)

Kelvin Davis

RB:

Abalababababa Yakubu (Free)

West Ham RB on loan, not Spector, cant remember his name. My mind is blank.

LB:

Michael Ball (Free)

Joseph Mills

CB:

Radhi Jaidi

Jose Fonte

Craig Cathcart (loan)

Nicolas Otamendi (£7m)

RM:

Adam Lallana

Keith Fahey (loan)

CM:

French guy whose name evades me

Fabrice Muamba (loan)

Jonjo Shelvey (£3m)

Dean Hammond

LW:

James Rodriguez

Jason Puncheon

FW:

Rickie Lambert

Yannis Tafer

Christian Vieri

I have sent a few youngsters on loan to Eastlieigh & also sent Molyneux, Murty & a couple other to Bournmouth. I terminated Papa Waigo's loan, he is just crap and also got rid of Dan Harding to Bristol Rovers, sent David Connolly to Hartlepool on loan for the season as well as a few other departures. Again, brief details because I havnt got the screen infront of me.

Overall I think things are going quite well. Im not the slightest bit bothered about how I gain promotion, but I obviously want to. I hope its automatically, but will be confident if entering the play-offs. I aim to be within the Premiership within 3 years so I feel that I need to get promoted this season so I can establish myself in the Championship next season & then gain promotion the following.

[SRL88]

Ive just finished my 1st season with Southampton, and here is how the season ended:

League 1

and the squads performance

Squad

[Barnetboyz]

started my final save and its at Southampton \o/

£15M to spend to get them promoted but will mainly sign free transfers (like Riggott etc)

i will aim to play either a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 with Lambert upfront and maybe lallana behind but he doesn't look too good

Completely changed that now and will play with a simple yet effective 4-3-1-2 with 3 MCs as its easier to get good MCs then wingers

[SRL88]

Happy days. Back-to-back promotions means I have reached the Premier League. I breezed through the Championship finishing on 113pts, 4pts worse off than I was in League 1, despite the 10pt deduction. Looking forward to the challange of the Premiership. Should be entertaining & keep me going until FM11 arrives.

[MSBazzer]

Im roughly 28 games into my season at Southampton and about to enter February (Im at work so details arent the greatest, and yes I understand that I am occupying myself at work by being on here, but it passes the time quickly haha). Things are going ok, but I have hit a bit of a mid season slump. Yannis Tafer was on fire in the first half of the season, firing 21 goals in as many games but hasnt scored since & his form is a hit and miss now. Rickie Lambert is getting stronger & stronger with the goals flowing & Christian Vieri is chipping in with quite a few but has found himself on the bench recentley. After 28 games I find myself in 3rd place, battling it out with Colchester & Norwich for the 2nd automatic promotion place. Leeds are 9pts ahead of me but there is still plenty of time left in the season to catch them.

On the cup front, I am into the South Section Final where Im playing Swindon. I hold a 3-2 lead after the 1st leg at St. Mary's, and will play the return leg soon. Swindon are some what of a bogey team for me. Although Ive only played them twice, both at home I cant seem to get things right against them. In that cup game I went 2-0 up, dominated possesion & shots & then their 1st shot of the game they scored, I scored again & their second shot its 3-2. A couple of games later in the league I played them again & it was the same process. Dominated, 2-0 up, my 15 shots to their 0, 2 shots later its 2-2. Quite annoying really. I hate Billy Paynter ha. I cant remember my exact progress in the League & FA Cup but I know I got beat by Sheff Utd 1-0 at St. Mary's in the League Cup 3rd Round and got to the FA Cup 3rd or 4th Round before losing to Everton 1-0 at Goodison in quite a good performance.

My current squad is something like this, again its vaige because Im at work.

GK:

Scott Loach (£2m)

Kelvin Davis

RB:

Abalababababa Yakubu (Free)

West Ham RB on loan, not Spector, cant remember his name. My mind is blank.

LB:

Michael Ball (Free)

Joseph Mills

CB:

Radhi Jaidi

Jose Fonte

Craig Cathcart (loan)

Nicolas Otamendi (£7m)

RM:

Adam Lallana

Keith Fahey (loan)

CM:

French guy whose name evades me

Fabrice Muamba (loan)

Jonjo Shelvey (£3m)

Dean Hammond

LW:

James Rodriguez

Jason Puncheon

FW:

Rickie Lambert

Yannis Tafer

Christian Vieri

I have sent a few youngsters on loan to Eastlieigh & also sent Molyneux, Murty & a couple other to Bournmouth. I terminated Papa Waigo's loan, he is just crap and also got rid of Dan Harding to Bristol Rovers, sent David Connolly to Hartlepool on loan for the season as well as a few other departures. Again, brief details because I havnt got the screen infront of me.

Overall I think things are going quite well. Im not the slightest bit bothered about how I gain promotion, but I obviously want to. I hope its automatically, but will be confident if entering the play-offs. I aim to be within the Premiership within 3 years so I feel that I need to get promoted this season so I can establish myself in the Championship next season & then gain promotion the following.

You must of cheated to get Shelvey because 10 million couldn't even get him on my save :/

[SRL88]

You must of cheated to get Shelvey because 10 million couldn't even get him on my save :/

Sorry to disappoint you but thats not the case. On 10.3 whenever he is at Charlton you can always get him for £3m.

[SRL88]

Ive just started my Premier League campaign with a bang. My 1st game was up against Man City which I was worried about but Ive just smashed them 4-1. The reigning Championship champions show the Premier League Champions who's boss ha. Here is my squad:

Squad

The only player you cant see is Amr Zaki

Transfers

Dodo is joining me in January as well.

[joe__the__man]

You must of cheated to get Shelvey because 10 million couldn't even get him on my save :/

What an idiot.

[Kier]

Is anyone still got a Saints save going? I've just got back into FM10 and started with Southampton again. Nearing the end of my first season, which I'll do a little write up in a bit once I'm done.

[Kier]

End of 09/10 season

I was expected to get promotion, which we managed to do, finishing top with over 100 points.

Transfers In

Craig Cathcart - Loan (DC)

Keiren Westwood - £1.6m (GK)

Mario - Loan (DR)

Richard Hughes - Free (MC)

Jamie Ward - £325k (MR)

Total - £1.9m

Transfers Out

Andrej Pernecky - £10k

Lee Molyneux - £7k

Anthony Pulis - Free

Total - £17k

Wasn't expecting not to get promoted if I'm honest!

Season starting 10/11

I'm expected to get promotion via the play-offs this season, which I believe is possible, got a few new players in, was given £7.5m and an extra £200k wage bill. Going for some youth players to either help me in the Premiership, or to sell on for a profit.

Transfers In

Rodrigo - £800k (MC)

Craig Cathcart - £450k (DC) - Really impressed me when I got him on loan from Manchester United (Parent club), should be able to cope in the Championship.

Jean De Peretti - £14k (GK) - Regen, should be able to get into the first team quickly

Paul Gourlay - £1.3m (ST) - Regen, will be fighting for a place with Rickie Lambert this season for a first team place! Really pleased with this one!

Sol Campbell - Free (DC) - Wanted some experience at the back so grabbed him while I could! Had the chance to buy him during the January transfer window, however he wanted too much wage wise.

Transfers Out

Load of frees from reserves/under 18s.

Got a fair few friendlies set up with bigger teams, even if its to bring some money in and try out my new players.

Will update just before the season starts with friendly results.

[mteeters]

Is anyone still got a Saints save going? I've just got back into FM10 and started with Southampton again. Nearing the end of my first season, which I'll do a little write up in a bit once I'm done.

I just finished up my last save on FM10 with my Southampton game. Back to back promotions in my first two seasons, followed by finishing 3rd, 3rd, and 2nd in the Premier League. Won the FA Cup in my last season and turned Yannis Tafer into a legend at the club.

Definitely had a lot of fun. I wonder if they will still be listed with a sugar daddy in FM11?

[Sheer Class]

Doubt it...

[Matthew Le God]

They don't.