FMS FM Thread - Traditional Play

[Manxie_Ash]

I just... I have no idea... What?

[salkster2102]

Are you playing as Congo?!!! That's incredible. Have they got a decent regen team then?

[Manxie_Ash]

I'm not managing them, no. I just happened to see that they had moved up to first in the rankings and was a little stunned.

This is the squad they have:

They've got some good players in there, none are at hugely high profile clubs but they have players at PSG, Feyenoord and Hertha Berlin. So not terrible clubs by an means.

Two of their best players:

They did win the African Cup Of Nations last time around, but haven't won any major competitions since I started the game. They've only qualified for one world cup and made the second round, and have only ever got as far as the Quarters in the Cup Of Nations. They've dropped off a bit sinceI took that screenshot, and are now in third. Still, it was a bit of a shock to see them up there.

[gavrenwick]

For a 26 year old, he doesn't seem to have played much. Late developer, or does he just 'look' good on paper?

[Weegie]

Hi guys,

I know this isn't a FM related - but SI made the game and a lot of the old members who might be able to help me are members here.

So last night my new flatmate pulled out a copy of CM 00/01 and asked if I get get it working on our Macbook Laptops. After a bit of fiddling around I managed to get it working using Wine. It was great! And so quick on modern hardware. It got me feeling very nostalgic and wanting to play an old - very infamous - saved game.

For those who don't know, a few years ago there was a great multiplayer story game called "Ultimate Championship Manager Story" featuring Raptor, Peacemaker7, silverblue, etc

http://web.archive.org/web/20080530013030/http://www.zelenazvezda.com/fms/ucms.htm

http://web.archive.org/web/20011220043700/http://www.sigames.com/eng/community_ucms.shtml

At the end of the game there was a "memorial CD" which contained the stories and the saved game from the end of the "club era". I made the £5 donation and was kindly sent one of the CDs by Raptor. I've moved house countless times since then and as such can't find it.

I used the saved game to start my first ever story - "Raptor had his shot, now it's my turn..." - where I took over Raptor's Liverpool side and managed to win the EPL - the trophy that had so famously eluded him in the story.

Does anywhere out there have a copy of the CD or the saved game file? I would love to play it again and also make it available to another generation of fans. As before I'd be willing to make a donation to charity as a thank you. And if the original members are happy for me to, I will upload it on my own servers for others to download.

Best,

weegie

[gavrenwick]

Moved into FM Thread, Weegie.

[Weegie]

Thanks gavrenwick -- much appreciated.

[gmb01512]

Check out my 2025 Europa League Final between Benfica and my Dover Athletic team.....

By far the most exciting game I've ever seen

[JLdeWeers]

I just finished playing arguably my most enjoying save on FM (2011). I had never managed a team in a lower division before so I decided upon managing Q.P.R., because they proved challenging enough (media prediction 12th) with no debts and a small stadium (18200 seats). I wasn't used to managing a club with such a low reputation, so loaning and sigining players was very new and entertaining. I finished when I had a new stadium and club's reputation was worldwide.

In my first season I mainly signed free transfer players, loanded young players and only bought a few players for small fees.

Free players I signed were such as Maresca, B. Mendy, Soukouna and A. Yakubu, my big signings were A. Mokoena (1.9M) and J. Samuel (1.1M) and the players I loaned were K. Walker, van Aanholt, J. Spence and R. de Laet.

At the same time I tried to offload as many players who were too expensive and/or not good enough. 5.75M out, 8.75M in.

After a good start of the season and a neck-to-neck race with Cardiff we won the Championship with 92 points. Big contributors to the succes were Smith, Soukouna, Maresca and A. Mokoena.

In the 2nd season again I signed a lot of players on free transfers. I bought a few players, mainly from teams relegated from the Premier League and I loaned only a few players because I was now asked to pay their wages. Free transfer were players such as Amelia, Tavano, Blasi, Thiago, Owen and Shevchenko (Owen and Sheva were injured all the time, so turned out to be quite a waste of money). Loaned players were Destro, Zabaleto from City for 50% wages and de Laet again.

Big signings were Boselli (4.4M), Yobo (2.9M) and Adam (2.6M). Again I sold a lot of players. 16.5M out, 36.5M in)

I did okay in the competiton finishing in 9th place with 54 points (prediction 18th). In the 3rd round of the League Cup I got knocked out by rivals Chelsea and lost to Burnley in the 6th round of the FA Cup.

For the first two seasons I had very little money, so I had to mainly loan or sign on a free transfer. I tried to always break even or make a profit on players I signed, also the free transfer players. Notable were L. Jimenez and A. Soukouna, who I signed for free and sold for 7.25M and 6.5M. I tried to keep wages low and sell most of the old top earners.

By the start of the 3rd season I had a lot of money in the bank from transfers and Premier League revenue, so I finally had some money to spend. I only signed a few players on free transfers, again loaned a few but this year I could finally spend some money on big players. Schaars came on a free transfer, I loaned M. Richards from City for 50% wages and spent the big money on Paulo Henrique (17.75M), S. Fletcher (6M), Juhasz (4.7M) and a regen Nen (10.75M). For the first time I spent more money than I received on transfers. 45M out, 32.5M in.

I did well in the third season, finishing 5th, just behind Liverpool with 60 points (prediciton 9th). Early knockout in the League Cup, but easy draws allowed winning the FA Cup, beating Aston Villa in the final for the first silver. 5th place was also good for European football.

By the start of the fourth season I was making a big profit, player European football and was able to sign Neymar so I wasn't that small a club anymore. I was making money so I didn't really have sign for free and sell that much anymore, so I decided to spend all my money on improving the squad. I signed players like Neymar (22M), Badelj (18M) and Lampard (free transfer) with the hopes of challenging for the title. I could sign most staff members and all traing was at least 4.5 stars. 68M out, 51M in.

Playing in the Euro Cup I had to play a lot of matches which was hard for my squad so I finished in 5th place again, with 64 pionts (prediction 6th). I got knocked out in the Euro Cup semis by City and lost the FA Cup final to United. Try again next season.

I had enough money so I for the 5th season I decided to splash it on Akinfeev (32M). I was happy with my squad and had plenty of money so I didn't mind spending loads on a goalkeeper. I loaned Alan Patrick from City (50% wages) and signed Adebayor on a free transfer. 60M out, 27 in.

In my 5th season Q.P.R. finally won the Premier League, finishing before Arsenal with 86 points (prediciton 5th). I was knocked out of both Cups early on and lost the Euro Cup quarter finals, but I didn't care. The stadium had been expanded to the max of 19200, and after winning the league my reguest for a new stadium was accepted. My main goal on every save.

My team was now a reputable club so I could sign almost any player or staff member which meant the whole challenge of a lower rep club was gone now. All that's left is win the Champions Cup and raise club's reputation to worldwide.

The new stadium was finished in 2017, with a capacity of 27443 which can double to 54886.

For the next few seasons I bought mainly regens and tried to win the Champions Cup. I lost the final in 2017 only to finally win it in 2019. After winning the Champions Cup my club's reputation went to worldwide, my final goal for this save.

I really liked the first few seasons, where you really had to improvize and do your thing on the transfer markets such as signing players on a free transfer, while not paying too much wage or signing fees so you can still sell him while making a profit or breaking even. Or loaning players you otherwise can't afford. And at the same time mind the promotion clauses, sell on percentages, yearly wage rises and match highest earner clauses.

After a few seasons I was making a lot of money and reputation was up so I was able to sign the better players and staff members. The whole challenge of managing a small club was now gone and it was like managing any big club.

Conclusion: Early seasons good, later seasons the same as any.

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p517/JLdeWeers/Fm%202011%20Stadium/FM%202011%20QPR%20Stadium/QPR2019Worldwide.png

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p517/JLdeWeers/Fm%202011%20Stadium/FM%202011%20QPR%20Stadium/QPR2020Honors.png

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p517/JLdeWeers/Fm%202011%20Stadium/QPR2016NewStadiumNews.png

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p517/JLdeWeers/Fm%202011%20Stadium/FM%202011%20QPR%20Stadium/QPRTraining.png

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p517/JLdeWeers/Fm%202011%20Stadium/FM%202011%20QPR%20Stadium/QPRTransfers2011.png

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p517/JLdeWeers/Fm%202011%20Stadium/FM%202011%20QPR%20Stadium/QPRTransfers2012.png

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p517/JLdeWeers/Fm%202011%20Stadium/FM%202011%20QPR%20Stadium/QPRTransfers2013.png

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p517/JLdeWeers/Fm%202011%20Stadium/FM%202011%20QPR%20Stadium/QPRTransfers2014.png

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p517/JLdeWeers/Fm%202011%20Stadium/FM%202011%20QPR%20Stadium/QPRTransfers2015.png

[cruiseee]

I can laugh about this now but at the time I was absolutely livid (after the initial shock anyway).

Can't remember how many seasons I was into my CM3 save as Arsenal, possibly 4. The league season had just finished and I was 4th, which the board were unhappy about as I'd won the league in the previous few seasons. I was in the CL final though so wasn't too worried.

I won the final comfortably and went to the news after the match to read all the praise ("singing the manager's name", "all down to the manager", etc). You may remember in CM3 the title of the news page was the same as the club colours (whereas now it's reversed out. ie. white/red for Arsenal instead of red/white). While I was reading the news, I noticed the title bar was a slightly darker red than the Arsenal red and wondered why this was. Then I saw it:

"Manager has been sacked due to poor league performance"

I was stunned. I just sat staring at the screen for about 2 minutes in shock. I'd just won the Champions League final and was sacked immediately after the game (game date was evening on same day as the final)!! I realised afterwards the darker red in the title bar was the default CM3 colour when you don't have a job.

Actually, now I think about it, it still p*sses me off after 13 years!

[gavrenwick]

Moved your post into the FMS FM thread, cruiseee, as it's more of an anecdote.

[mark wilson27]

I can laugh about this now but at the time I was absolutely livid (after the initial shock anyway).

Can't remember how many seasons I was into my CM3 save as Arsenal, possibly 4. The league season had just finished and I was 4th, which the board were unhappy about as I'd won the league in the previous few seasons. I was in the CL final though so wasn't too worried.

I won the final comfortably and went to the news after the match to read all the praise ("singing the manager's name", "all down to the manager", etc). You may remember in CM3 the title of the news page was the same as the club colours (whereas now it's reversed out. ie. white/red for Arsenal instead of red/white). While I was reading the news, I noticed the title bar was a slightly darker red than the Arsenal red and wondered why this was. Then I saw it:

"Manager has been sacked due to poor league performance"

I was stunned. I just sat staring at the screen for about 2 minutes in shock. I'd just won the Champions League final and was sacked immediately after the game (game date was evening on same day as the final)!! I realised afterwards the darker red in the title bar was the default CM3 colour when you don't have a job.

Actually, now I think about it, it still p*sses me off after 13 years!

gutted for ya mate...I've had it few times when I've done brilliantly with a team to get sacked later on

[Wegason]

He got sacked the same day he won the Champions League! Thing is, I don't think we'd have been surprised for example if that had happened to Di Matteo at Chelsea. But for CM3, I guess it is quite annoying!

[BenArsenal]

Vicente del Bosque had the same treatment at Real Madrid, didn't he?

[gavrenwick]

FM is useless. My job as South Korea manager is insecure simply because the previous manager failed to qualify for the World Cup. Not really fair, I'd say.

Just thought I'd post a little update on how my career is going so far, an attempt to get a long lasting one going.

2009 - 2014 - Hyeres FC - took them up to Ligue 2, but was otherwise a largely unremarkable job.

2013 - 2016 - Mali - Won African Nations in 2014 and 2016.

2014 - 2016 - Burnley - took them back to the Premiership before chairman started a fire sale on my players, prompting resignation.

2016 onwards - South Korea - no competition participation yet, though job may not last long thanks to useless game.

Games played - 346

WON 161

DRAWN 84

LOST 101

[Dalbeider]

It's been a while since I managed to get a long career game going... In fact, I think my most interesting one was in FM10. I even started a story about it, never went past the first (actually second) season. Lots of boat-jumping, too. It went like this:

Nov 2009 - Feb 2010 - Regensburg - Caught them 14th in the 3.Liga, left them 17th. Not my finest hour, got one win in nine games (the first, actually). Resigned after one too many failures.

Feb 2010 - Aug 2011 - South Africa - Somehow got the job just before leaving Germany after they crashed out of the Africa Cup, just before the World Cup. Lost to Colombia and managed good draws against Mexico and France, but still went out early. The FA was happy, though, and I stayed until the end of the qualifying section for the next Africa Cup, then resigned looking for a new (and better) nation to manage.

Apr 2010 - Oct 2010 - Greenock Morton - Got there with the season ending, the team 8th in the First Division and nothing to play for. Next season we lost in the 2nd round of the Challenge Cup to Kilmarnock in extra time and did the same to Dundee in the League Cup after a shootout. Our league form was better, though, and after 11 games we were 4th. Then an offer came, and...

Oct 2010 - Jan 2012 - Cremonese - Serie C1A in Italy. Got them 12th after 10 games when they were expected 2nd and promoting. Ended up climbing up to the 7th place, but missed on the playoffs by a handful of points. Second season was much better, and we were top 2 for most of my time there, although a slip in form in winter dropped us to 4th. We were still looking good for promotion, though. Then another offer came, and...

Jan 2012 - Mar 2012 - Leicester - Second failure of my career, and probably the toughest to swallow. Leicester were struggling in the bottom half of the Championship, and my goal was to save them from relegation. After one win and eight defeats and with the team deep in the red zone, I resigned.

Apr 2012 - Dec 2015 - 1860 München - The start of my love story with die Löwen, and the core of this career. The goal for the last 4 games of the first year was to avoid relegation from the 2.Bundesliga (14th at my arrival), and we managed that handily. The following season we fell short of promotion despite some interesting signings (Pienaar, Acapandié, Koman), finishing 8th after a last-minute slip. 2013-14 went much better, signing people like Barazite and Baumjohann, winning the 2.Bundesliga, promotion and a bunch of awards. 2014-15 was expected to be a tough year, with one of our star youngsters leaving for Dinamo Zagreb, but with new faces like Zigoni, Hummels, Schmeichel and Vrzogic we shocked the Bundesliga and managed a comfortable 9th place. I was starting to get some itchy feet by then, though, and when things turned south midway through the following season, with the team 13th and in a losing streak, I resigned and went looking for a job in Spain.

Jun 2012 - Jul 2015 - Wales - Almost simultaneous with my big job in Germany. Nothing big here, just some solid performances under the rule of a not very demanding FA, who weren't unhappy at all despite we never making it to a big tournament. Left due to lack of progress and a new, interesting job in the horizon...

Jul 2015 - ??? - Chile - South America, here I come. 24th in the world ranking at my arrival, Chile were a squad expected to make it to the 2018 WC. We had a tough start with three defeats in four games, but we recovered. With two games remaining at the tail end of 2017, we were 5th and one point behind 4th.

Feb 2016 - ??? - Sunderland - Well, didn't get what I wanted, but I did get a top tier job at least. Got them 15th, but in the FA Cup quarterfinals. Won them, then got robbed in the semis by Blackburn and the linesman. Finished 13th. 2016-17 was much better, moving to my favourite 3-5-2 formation and signing old friend Barazite and Diego Renan, among others. Lost in the League Cup semis against City with yet another offside goal and finished 5th in the Premiership, earning a spot in Europe. 2017-18 started average in the league, but we managed to make it to the group stages of the Europa League and got an easy-ish group, with Rangers, Molde and CSKA Moscow. After two games we were on top.

...and that's were I left it. Reading my notes has made me want to pick it back up, though, so I might continue if I can find the save, and see if I can bring the Black Cats to European glory. Unlikely, given my track record, but eh.

[WLKRAS]

Bouncing around the lower leagues in my current career game on FM07

Started with Legnano (C2/A) in Italy, 6th in my first season, just outside the playoffs, level on points but they had better results against us. Resigned February next season (2008) after we failed to make any waves and were linguishing in the bottom two. (They ended up going down after I left)

Next job was with Benevento (C2/C) als in Italy. Joined them in the summer of 2008 and finished 4th in my first league season. Won promotion to C1/B via the play offs, which was rather unexpected. Managed to easily avoid relegation in 09/10 by finishing 12th and avoided it via the play-outs in 10/11 after finishing 15th. Finally resigned in February 2012 after a dire season. We were bottom at the time and they ended up going down as well.

By that time though, I was at Dusseldorf in the German Regional Liga North. Took the job 16 days after leaving Benevento and was tasked to keep them in the league. (14th when I joined). Missed out on promotion by goal difference, finishing third. Next season we were dire and I got sacked in March with the team in 14th. We were expected to finish top half.

So, in July 2013, I joined Hereford in the Conference National. Currently 5th in the league after 14 games despite being prime relegation candidates. Hopefully this will finally kick start my career onto better and bigger places haha

[Panpardus]

I had/have a good career game going on fm2012, but haven't played it for a while, except for today when I had a quick look at the save and some of writings, a bit like Dal it makes me want to continue playing but I doubt I will get much further.

Droylsden (BSN) 2011-22 Feb 2014.

Had a good first up season and won the BSN earning promotion to the Conference where we finished 15th in 2012/13, was doing well in the second season up and was in top half before I left the club just after losing in the fourth round of FA Cup to Wigan.

Rob Kozluk took over from me and is actually still there (2027) has never been relegated and has finished runner up in the BSP the last two years.

Crewe (BSP) 27.2.2014 - 17.5.2015

Took over a struggling team, they were lower than Droylsden when I took over, but some good form seen us finish off in 6th place, we lost our last game to just miss out on the playoffs which was disappointing, but still to come from so far back and almost make it was a good effort.

The 2014/15 season was a horror season where just couldn't get enough momentum, we yo-yo'd all the way through where we eventually finished in fourth spot making the playoffs but crashing out in the first leg, made it to the fourth round in the FA cup and lost in the Trophy Final where I quit after not really living up to expectations.

Oostende (Belgium - 2nd League -sort off!) 10.6.2015 - 30.6.2015

Oops what a f*ck up this was, took over didn't realise that they had been relegated, then all these players left and the team was horrendous, blamed the board for misleading me and quit after 20 days!

Gold Coast (A-League) 5.7.2015 - 8.7.2016

Back home to Australia with my tail between my legs, surprised I got the job with the low rep I had, but Gold Coast had been crap.

First and only season (Season runs October to March) finished fourth which was higher than the 9th position predicted beat Adelaide in the Minor semi final to go on and lose 4-2 in the Minor Final against Central Coast, was pretty board during the season so starting applying for jobs, Gold Coast cracked the sh*ts and offered me the ultimatum so I left.

Tried getting many jobs in Europe but no one would hire me at the time until Treviso came calling.

Treviso (Italian Serie C1/A) 4.11.2016 - 22.10.2017

Treviso started off bad and sacked their manager, they were never expected to get any where but clearly being in 18th spot and being smashed week in week out wasn't good enough, got the team to 15th and managed to win in the play-outs to keep the team up.

Next season seen the team struggle again in the lower echelons and I quit.

Aris (National B Division) 9.11.2017 - 8.4.2018

Tipped to win the league, I took over when the previous manager had them struggling in 7th, I did worse and they finished 10th, I quit in shame and not being able to get clearly the best squad by far to the title.

I did the club a huge favour as their next manager won the title the year later with consummate ease!

Melbourne Heart (A-League) 3.4.2018 - 26.6.2019 -- Australia National Team 18.7.2018 - 26.6.2019

Went back to Australia and took on the dual roles of Heart and Australia coach.

Got my mojo back with a Regular season win with Heart and then won the Finals campaign beating bitter rivals Melbourne Victory in the Final series, in that time also led Australia to a runner up finish in the Asian Cup, lost to Japan in that game.

Huddersfield (EPL) 26.6.2019 - 11.11.2020

Received a big offer from Huddersfield to take over in the EPL after Lee Clark left the role after spending 11 odd years getting them there, he took over Reading but was sacked that year when they were relegated.

Spent a bit of cash in my first season, most of that went on Drazen Medaric (23m Euro's) from Rangers, but also picked up Charlie Adam, Gael Kakuta, Anders Lindegaard, Lassana Diarra, Calum Butter, Federico Machedo to consolidate the squad.

Finished a pretty impressive 13th in my first season beating some quality teams like Liverpool and Tottenham but did have a few disastrous games, Arsenal beat us 7-0 at home late in the season which was in the middle of a 5 game losing streak.

It was a season where we won or we lost mostly, 14wins and 19 losses with 5 draws seen us do enough in the first season to stay up it also allowed me to get a couple of quality names in my second season where I went on to spend 38.5 million Euro's.

It was money well spent Nikola Solic, Dennis Praet, Rasmus Thomsen, Jose Andres Ruiz Garcia all joined and when I left the club was in an impressive 5th spot.

Why leave, well Schalke came calling and it was a lot of money and a realistic chance at Euro Football and titles!

Schalke (Bundesliga) 11.11.2020 - 24.5.2026

6 years, definitely my longest stint at a club in this save and had pretty good success.

We won the German Cup in my first year 2021 and then in 2022, 2025, 2026.

German Super Cup in 2021, 2024 and 2025

We won our only League Title in 2024 and then the pinnacle we beat all and won the Champions Cup in 2026.

Palermo, Manchester United, OM and Chelsea all fell to the unlikely German side.

After 6 years it was time to move on and I wanted to try my hand in Italy, Inter were struggling at the time and me being the big coach I thought I was I quit and applied for the job.

I was pretty devastated when Roberto Mancini got the gig in front of me.

Fiorentina (Serie A) 9.6.2026 - ??

Wasn't the job I had wanted Fiorentina were a midtable side, but the Serie A is pretty close and with a 50+ million transfer kitty you can make some quick in roads.

Phillip Gerber, Paul Rean, Rachid Yilmaz, Monday Godwin, Riduan Rodriguez Moro, Osvaldo Iori all joined a decent squad and from there we took the Serie A from Inter by 6 points.

It was a pretty good season all told, we won the double by beating Palermo in the Cup Final and were knocked out by Barcelona in the Semi Final of the Champions league on away goals. We won 3-1 at home and lost 2-0 away.

Spent another 40m this year in getting Oliver Huber, Giacomo Di Martino, Julian Miguel but we have had a slow start, after 6 games we sit in 8th on 10 points, 4 points behind leaders Roma.

[BenArsenal]

I only got one short game going on FM12. Got sacked as Chelsea boss after six months.

I then had a brief spell at Adelaide United, but somehow managed to upset the players and my position become untenable. Was gone in an instant.

Then I got offered the GB post for the Olympics. Led them to third, which I'm pretty proud of. (Mexico beat Brazil in the final, just like IRL. Imagine that. )

[gavrenwick]

Love the feedback from other people. I love career games.

[Wegason]

I'm surprised at people's ability to just change jobs so often. I guess my managerial careers in FM are just like my own, I like to build and mould a team that I develop for years.

[BenArsenal]

I'm surprised at people's ability to just change jobs so often. I guess my managerial careers in FM are just like my own, I like to build and mould a team that I develop for years.

When you really suck, you don't have much of a choice...

[Offspring8]

I'm playing the longest game I think I've actually ever managed (FM12).

Aarhus Fremad (Danish 2nd Division West) 22.7.2011 - 2.3.2012 - Nothing interesting happened, just a job to start off at after beginning as unemployed. Resigned after finishing mid-table (as was expected of me by the board).

Barrow (BSP/BSN) 7.4.2012 - 1.7.2014 - Took over as manager after they'd already been confirmed as relegated from the BSP. Finished 1st in the BSN after my first full season in charge before finishing 12th in the BSP the following season. Also took over as manager of Mozambique during early 2014 until mid 2015, but achieved nothing of note

Rotherham (L1) 5.7.2014 - 13.6.2016 - After not signing a new contract with Barrow, I was offered a job at Rotherham. Having been predicted to finish dead last, we done well to finish our first season in 16th before finishing our second season in 9th. Resigned at the end of the season after the board sold my star young defender to a PL club without giving me any choice in the matter.

N. Ireland 17.7.2016 - 24.6.2020 - Had a four year crack at the N. Ireland job and pulled off nothing extraordinary. Made it to the World Cup European Qualifying Playoff in 2017 but was beaten by Italy. Made it to the 2020 Euro Champ. Finals but failed to qualify from a group containing ourselves, Serbia, Belarus and England. Resigned following that depressing Finals performance (Collected 0 points, scored 1 goal and conceded 8)

Nottingham Forest (L1) 7.12.2017 - 13.6.2019 - Took over at Forest with them 2nd from bottom and ended up guiding them out of the relegation zone and to a relatively solid 15th place in my first half-a-season. The following season, we finished in 3rd place, narrowly missing out on an automatic promotion spot. Ended up meeting my previous employers Rotherham in the 2018/2019 L1 Playoff Final and beat them 2-0 to gain promotion to the Championship.

Brighton (PRM) 13.6.2019 - ??? - Following my overachieving performance at Forest, Brighton offered me a job. They'd just been promoted from the Championship and were favourites to be relegated from the Premiership in their first season. I decided I'd stop being a management slag and would settle down with Brighton to see what I could build. In our first season, we surprised everybody and finished 9th - a performance that won me the EPL Manager of the Year award and my first piece of real recognition. Over the next 2 seasons I maintained Brighton's EPL standing, finishing 10th and then 9th again. In the 2022/23 season, we were entered into the Euro Cup thanks to the Fair Play draw, as we had the least amount of yellow/red cards during the 2021/22 season.

We finished the 22/23 season after being knocked out in the Euro Cup Semi-Final by Celtic and destroyed 5-2 by Arsenal in the FA Cup Final. Near-misses in the European and Domestic cups were also accompanied by a 3rd place EPL finish, ensuring we qualified for the 23/24 Champions League competition. Unfortunately, we were drawn into the same CL group as Barcelona and Roma (and Lithuanian minnows Suduva) and only managed a 3rd place finish, 1 point behind both Roma and Barca and with the highest goal difference in the group. This however meant that we went straight into the knockout rounds of the Euro Cup, a competition that we eventually won by beating Malaga on penalties in the final as I won my first significant piece of silverware. We also made the final of the FA Cup once again, banishing memories of the final a year before by beating Manchester United 2-1. Couple that cup double with another 3rd place PL finish and it was a pretty successful season for us!

We started off the 2024/25 season by beating Man City, the dominant team in the EPL, 2-1. Following that, we lost 1-2 to Marseille - the team that had taken over from Barcelona as Europe's best team under the guidance of Didier Drogba (their manager since 2018) - in the European Super Cup Final. That season, we only made it to the first knockout round of the CL before being beaten by Valencia, but we made it to a third successive FA Cup Final, beating surprise package Huddersfield 3-1 once we got there to win a second successive FA Cup. However, the biggest success that season was in the league as we finally won, finishing 9 points ahead of Manchester United to make Brighton the 2024/25 Premier League Champions

Having signed a new contract with Brighton, I'm about to start the 2025/26 season with the aim of winning the Champions League.

[dozzie]

I started a new save today beginning as unemployed - something i've never done, but thought i'd experiment with in the hope of finding a game I would stick with and rattle through a few seasons on before FM13 arrives.

I applied for every available job, including international ones and the only one I was offered was by Sporting Mahonés in the Spanish Second Division B3 (the fourth tier of Spanish football). I quickly googled them and found they've actually, since the last data update for FM12, folded and dropped out of the league. Being the football romantic that I am this was great news for me - an underdog i could root for and get attached to as manager, so i accepted the job offer.

I had only half a dozen players in the squad and was quickly signing up some players I was fairly confident would be excellent for this level of football. I was really enjoying moulding a squad from scratch knowing that every player there was one i'd chosen and when my first pre-season friendly came around i went a goal behind inside the first 10 minutes only to come back and win 4-1 with my new signings doing great. Everything is going perfectly and i'm already pretty engrossed in this game.

Then, the next news item comes along saying there's a boardroom takeover happening. I get quite excited by this - have i really got so lucky as to pick a team who are about to get a sugar daddy new owner? Is this why people delve into the real lower league management side of the game and get so fanatical about it?

Well...... no. The takeover completed, and after 2 weeks in charge, one friendly win and 7 free transfer signings I'm SACKED! Because the new board want to bring in their own man!! Gutted.

I've since been holidaying the game for a while applying for every available job but only get offered Spanish "B" teams which I don't like the idea of or English league 2 teams who I have no interest in managing. A game that started so promisingly has turned into a real waste of time!

[gavrenwick]

Moved your thread into FMS FM Thread dozzie as it more suits the anecdote style.

[WLKRAS]

Bouncing around the lower leagues in my current career game on FM07

Started with Legnano (C2/A) in Italy, 6th in my first season, just outside the playoffs, level on points but they had better results against us. Resigned February next season (2008) after we failed to make any waves and were linguishing in the bottom two. (They ended up going down after I left)

Next job was with Benevento (C2/C) als in Italy. Joined them in the summer of 2008 and finished 4th in my first league season. Won promotion to C1/B via the play offs, which was rather unexpected. Managed to easily avoid relegation in 09/10 by finishing 12th and avoided it via the play-outs in 10/11 after finishing 15th. Finally resigned in February 2012 after a dire season. We were bottom at the time and they ended up going down as well.

By that time though, I was at Dusseldorf in the German Regional Liga North. Took the job 16 days after leaving Benevento and was tasked to keep them in the league. (14th when I joined). Missed out on promotion by goal difference, finishing third. Next season we were dire and I got sacked in March with the team in 14th. We were expected to finish top half.

So, in July 2013, I joined Hereford in the Conference National. Currently 5th in the league after 14 games despite being prime relegation candidates. Hopefully this will finally kick start my career onto better and bigger places haha

We had a massive mid-season slump that had us in the relegation positions for a while, but a big winning streak towards the end saw us finish 15th, well clear of relegation. Then somehow, I got offered the England job after the 2014 World Cup (not sure why, reputation only local and I haven't exactly set the world on fire), but I politely declined. Currently 10th in January after a poor start, but I'm starting to get itchy feet and looking for somewhere bigger and better.

[Matt_no_7]

I really wish i could find pictures but i remember three things that really stood out from one save in FM 2006... I think. First was perhaps the most epic world cup final i have ever witnessed. It was the 2010 world cup, England vs Germany, the game ended 3-3 after extra time with england playing near enough 90 minutes with 10 men. Went 1-0 down a minute after going a man down, came back to lead 2-1 in the second half and then with the last kick of the half it was 2-2. Germany took the lead in the first minute of extra time and in the 121st minute a long hopeful ball was lumped up field, the keeper completely misjudged the bounce and it went straight over his head leaving Rooney (i think) to tap in an equaliser. Then it went through 16 penalties... EACH! England won.

The other two things were Millwall winning the 2015 Premiership title ahead of Arsenal (with Paul Ince in charge) and the other, even more bizarre... The 2018 World Cup where Nigeria lost 2-1 to... Scotland! I know, wild but also very entertaining. God i wish i'd have kept that save... It was like the twighlight zone of Football Manager! lol

[jobberz]

I am still playing FM11 after not really getting on with the new FM12 game, maybe that's just me!!, and I have been continuing with the same team-Man City- and I am now 1/2 way through season 2017/18. I love this game and enjoy playing it in the background when I work at home. (Game is on PC and I work on laptop).

I have always wondered if anyone else out there prefers the long game. if not, what options are available to maybe make my gaming better?

Thanks:)

[tenthreeleader]

Moving to the FM thread.

[jackocorio]

going to start it tonight first person to comment gets to name a club i manage the the yearly ambitions for 5 years

club:

year 1:

year 2:

year 3:

year 4:

year 5:

[tenthreeleader]

Moving to FMS thread since this violates the house rules.

[Celtic_1967]

surely violation of the house rules results in thread closure, not moving?

/Just Sayin.

[Evagelion]

i am coaching the porto moniz team,its from portugal from the lower divisions,a ameteur club but now im on the 4th season and im doing really great,the clun is professional and i have a team with an amazing potencial and i am almost on the first division in portugal and i have found so far a few surprises on my fm 2011 save,i have selected 5 leagues-England,France,Spain,Portugal and Italy.

I have found a few surprises so far, Liverpool almost went down on the premier league on the 3th season and udinese went to the second division on italy

http://imageshack.us/a/img43/3616/barclayspremierleagueinu.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img845/4232/serieatiminformaoclassi.png

[tenthreeleader]

surely violation of the house rules results in thread closure, not moving?

/Just Sayin.

Good point, Mikey. I've been too lenient.

[BenArsenal]

Terk will not have stood for this!

[Terk]

No discipline around this place since I left.

[Makonnen]

Anyone have some pull with SI tech support?

I have a situation where, whenever I pass the date Dec 23, 2012, I lose all history between 2009 and 2010 in 5m1w. This happened once before, but I backed out to before the date, replayed, and the database remained full. Now, I have gone back as far as 12/15 and no matter what, the morning of the 23rd, nothing is left when you go to a player, then History, between 2009 and 2011.

This is ... bad. It makes a lot of narrative depth much, much harder to figure out and could make me abandon the project, which would be somewhere between unfortunate and soul-crushing.

So, if there is anything I could do, that would be lovely. I have plenty of saves both pre-December 23 and after it.

I don't care how big the file gets or how slow the game plays--my real concern is maintaining the integrity so I can keep writing it effectively.

I've sent this in to tech support, but since it is FM2010, I am not optimistic at their looking at it without a "personal touch."

Any help appreciated ...

[mark wilson27]

Hve you tried putting this in the technical side of the forum Mak...maybe someone that side can help

[Makonnen]

Yeah, have a thread there. So far the only response is "are you running the latest version of FM10." Yep.

[Makonnen]

The other path through would be to figure out how to export the structure from FM10 and into FM13. I'd pay to get that done, but I doubt it's possible without--again--some sort of personal investment from an SI techdude/tte.

[WLKRAS]

We had a massive mid-season slump that had us in the relegation positions for a while, but a big winning streak towards the end saw us finish 15th, well clear of relegation. Then somehow, I got offered the England job after the 2014 World Cup (not sure why, reputation only local and I haven't exactly set the world on fire), but I politely declined. Currently 10th in January after a poor start, but I'm starting to get itchy feet and looking for somewhere bigger and better.

Little update: Managed to finish 6th in the 14/15 season, missing out on a playoff place by four points. But the team came good in 15/16, winning the league by three points and gaining promotion to League Two. The chairman, however, felt that this achievement didn't warrant a raise, so I let my contract run down and left.

Ended up at Terek Grozny, who were in the lower midtable in the Russian First Division, on a half year contract. Managed to save them from going down by finishing 9th, but couldn't get into it, so left with a month left on my contract.

Was unemployed for only two months before landing the job at RBC in the Dutch First Division in March. They were expected to challenge for the title, but were linguishing in 9th. Managed to get them up to third and into the playoffs. We beat Cambuur 2-1 in the deciding playoff match to win Promotion to the Dutch Eredivisie. Finished 6th in my first season (just outside the champions league playoff places), getting the overachiever of the season tag in the process, but losing out on European football by losing to Feyenoord in the playoffs. In 18/19 we finished 5th, but missed out on the champions league by losing to Feyenoord again in the playoffs. At least we've got UEFA Cup this season tho.

Just at the start of the 19/20 season now and RBC have become a bit of a talent spotting side. Have picked up quite a few players on the cheap that have gone on to make big money transfers abroad.

EDIT: Forgot to say, have also just landed the job as Swiss national team manager, currently 2nd in our qualifying group for Euro2020, behind Portugal.

[Panpardus]

Anyone have some pull with SI tech support?

I have a situation where, whenever I pass the date Dec 23, 2012, I lose all history between 2009 and 2010 in 5m1w. This happened once before, but I backed out to before the date, replayed, and the database remained full. Now, I have gone back as far as 12/15 and no matter what, the morning of the 23rd, nothing is left when you go to a player, then History, between 2009 and 2011.

This is ... bad. It makes a lot of narrative depth much, much harder to figure out and could make me abandon the project, which would be somewhere between unfortunate and soul-crushing.

So, if there is anything I could do, that would be lovely. I have plenty of saves both pre-December 23 and after it.

I don't care how big the file gets or how slow the game plays--my real concern is maintaining the integrity so I can keep writing it effectively.

I've sent this in to tech support, but since it is FM2010, I am not optimistic at their looking at it without a "personal touch."

Any help appreciated ...

Hi Mak,

I had a similar problem with an earlier version, what it was for me was a spyware program that also use to delete browser history, cookies and other crap, it use to interfere with the FM history for some reason, cant think of the name of the product, but it may be something similar for you.

[mark wilson27]

I've posted this in here aswell as not everyone reads the community thread

As potentially my last game on FM07 I am going to do another sign up game. It'll be the same sort of game as the Hardly Athletic game. I have yet to decide which Country I'll be putting the team in but it wont be in England. Any ideas for this will be appreciated.

So I'll be needing the usual details:-

Name:

Nationality:

Position:

Team Name:

Ground Name:

Country to place team in:

If I could have a couple of players from each person interested just so I can add some extra players a few seasons down the line.

PM with the details if your intersted

Cheers

[BenArsenal]

Sweet. I'm in.

[mark wilson27]

Good luck with it Luke, Love career games

[miner16]

I love some of the stories. Here's mine.

I am managing Grimsby in FM12. I had managed to move them from BSP to League 1. I don't remember who I was playing, but we fell behind 2-0 by HT. I was hoping my team could pull a win out and get me the comeback accomplishment on Steam!

At about the 52nd minute, the opposition scored an OG. I'm not sure what happened to their morale, but they completely collapsed! What was a 2-0 score in their favor ended up at 2-7 in ours! We just couldn't miss after that. Their defense was in shambles! Even though I have gotten Grimsby to the Championship (with a stadium capacity of 8800!), I still remember that game so vividly.

[mark wilson27]

Thanks guys for the great response so far. I have 16 people reply with a potential 43 players which is great as it means I can go far in the game without worrying about running out of players. However I am still wanting alot more players. At this great rate I could potentially have two teams running which would make it alot more interesting

[mark wilson27]

Right then lads I'm going to start sorting the database around Tuesday,so if you want to join PM with the details etc.....

I will randomly draw which team name I will use. As for the country the League will be placed in I will see which country has the most suggestions and go with that one

[idavid2828]

Hello,

I was just wondering if anyone would be interested in me showing my forest save on here. My idea is to bring Forest back to their high days and see if I could win the champions league with them. I have already started this series and have played about 3 seasons but I just wanted to see if anyone wanted me to show it to you (the series will start from the beginning not where I am now.) Please post a reply if you would be interested.

Thanks

[gavrenwick]

The best place to ask these type of questions is in here, the FMS FM Thread. Gauge interest here.

My first and only piece of advice is don't tell us the story if you aren't all that willing to do so yourself. If you write, people will read, but only if you're committed to giving us a worthwhile reading experience. If you aren't happy with it, it will show through.