FM2011: Brighton - UK & Irish only

[cemendur88]

Brighton are always one of my favourite teams to manage in FM, definitely a bit of local bias going on. But for this game as them I decided to do something a bit different.

The rules of this career game are:

• Only players from UK & Ireland can be bought
  
• Very strict wage limits once premier league is reached (15k/20k max for first season)
  
• No yearly wage rise clauses in contracts to keep wages down
  

To start this off, I used the editor to simulate the chariman deciding on this policy and releasing all non-UK & Ireland players. Increased wage budget to compensate and also made more the clubs money available for transfers.

-------------------------

First things first was a complete overhaul of my backroom staff. Only one coach, one scout and the physio's were left at the end of it. Below are some of the new staff I bought in.

Colin Cooper - Assistant Manager

Al Stewart - Coach

Ian Bowyer - Coach

Simon Hunt - Scout

[cemendur88]

Next I turned my attention to my first team. With foreign players removed, this left a few big holes I had to fill.

Getting to work, I bought in the following players all on 48 moth transfer deals:

Joe Lewis

Maurice Ross

Matthew Lowton

Bob Harris

Sean O'Hanlon

Jake Livermore (loan)

Gary Harkins

John Bostock (loan)

Luke Chadwick

Febian Brandy.

My squad was now very strong and able to play my favoured 4-2-3-1 formation with lots of cover for every position.

With transfers sorted I moved on to the pre-season friendlies. Had some very good results in these which gave the team confidence going into the season.

We hit the ground running in league 1 and never let up. We were top from the first game, and stayed there until the end. The january transfer window saw 2 players bought in:

Calum Davenport

Jennison Myrie-Williams

In the League Cup we had a very good run, losing out 2-1 to Wolves in the semi-final. The Johnston Paint Trophy was won with a 3-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday, a very good result coming in the middle of a major dip in form for my team. In the FA Cup we reached the 4th round, losing out to Wolves (again).

And finally in the league, we won the league on 110 points.

Final league table and second half of the season results:

A very successful season, but no less than expected given the strength of my squad. The key thing for next season will be strengthening the weakest area of my team, central midfielders, and a good backup goalkeeper along with a great striker. If I can get all those we should do well in the Championship. The real challenge will come when we get to the Premiership given the constraints I'm placing on myself.

[pete2win]

Wow a Brighton update at last! I'm a season ticket holder for them and this is awesome that someone is doing a Brighton update. I will definitely be following.

[cemendur88]

I'm definitely going to see them play at least one match at the Amex next season.

In my career game, the summer transfer window went very well, will have an update on monday/tuesday once I've played more games in the championship. But I managed to sign Matthew Gilks, Daniel Gabbidon, Carl Dickinson, Derek Riordan and Kieron Dyer all on free transfers. Absolute bargains.

[ShanghaiNugget]

Well done on promotion! I like the challenge you've given yourself, was thinking of trying something similar.

[cemendur88]

So a busy transfer window between the two seasons but some absolute bargains aquired.

Very pleased with Gilks, Dyer, Eastwood and Barkley. Gabbidon has been useful but has had some big dips in form so Greer, Davenport and Hogg have been playing in defence. Took a while for Eastwood to settle in but he's scoring regularly now. Riordan hasn't settled into the team structure well so not sure I will keep him next season. Barkley has played well and definitely one for the future as well.

Team has been performing well above expectations in the league.

If we can carry this form on we could definitely get promotion this season. Already keeping an eye at British players out of contract at end of season to see if I can pick up more bargains.

[pete2win]

Good to see the seagulls are flying high. Good luck for rest of season. Also, some nice signings there.

[cemendur88]

So January is reached, and things are looking good.

It is very clsoe at the top but we should be able to win promotion this season.

Here is how my players have been performing:

And the one transfer I've arranged so far in this window, a very promising striker who has been performing very well at Southampton on loan from Wolves. Rated to have the potential to be a good Premiership striker. Transfer fee of only 100k.

Already starting to plan for next season. 2 Fitness coaches, 1 Goalkeeping coach and 1 scout are all refushing to negotiate new contracts so will leave. Got a list in my head of which players I will sell/let go. Going to be a lot of chances once the season ends to prepare for the premiership.