FM12 Aston Villa - Surely not Mcleish?!

[Kennedy84]

I finished my 1st season in 10th place Was doing quite well competing for 5th -7th until I only won 1 out of my last 10 games!! Struggled with injuries a lot as the squad is pretty poor

I got Cahill in to start with and sold Beye. Signed Affelay sold Dunne and mutually terminated Heskeys contract for nothing in Jan

Bit more optimisitic for this season, sold Ireland as he was rubbish for me and somehow replaced him with Essien (4.5m). Also sold Hutton and signed Kyle Walker, another midfielder and defender and hopefully should finish top 6 as ive given the youth quite a lot of game time

[avfc88]

Finished 4th in my first season, made some good signings so far including Eriksen from Ajax and Stegen from Gladbach who looks like he is going to be amazing.

[HHUK]

Anyone else retrained Heskey to be a defender? Does really well there for me, if I can't offload the lump I might as well stick him somewhere he's good.

In the full game I've signed G. Dos Santos, Gibson, Vrsaljko and Wilfried. All really cheap and gives the squad a lot more depth than it had.

[Neil Train]

i've certainly considered Pesky as a ball-playing defender. but i'm also tempted to just let him rot for a year then lose him. or, as someone else did, mutually terminate his contract in january.

is it just me, or are decent players available quite cheaply in this incarnation of the game? i've bought 2 extra strikers, defenders, extra GK, midfield destroyer and i've managed to do so on cheap transfers and low wages.

ok, i've got a great scouting network but i'm sure i never found it this easy to buy quality in FM11

when my squad's complete will update y'all with the Gems i've picked up and who i've managed to get rid of. not a LOAD of business on both sides but am pretty happy with my squad, and my mission, other than reducing the wage bill, has been to stick to a real AV midfield of bannan/delph/ireland/zoggy. can't believe the man who said ireland is useless for him. for me he's been outstanding in pre-season, i set him centrally with a free role and he's banging in the goals, isn't picked up against a 442 or 4231 system (which is what i'll encounter 90% of the time in the prem) and he's really good and creative too!

ok just looked at Pesky. as it is, i WAS retraining him anyway as a DC ballplayer but i'm not sure: low aggression and determination, plus would mean needing to sell dunne if i went with ballplaying defenders. so i'll need to give this some serious thought..........

[Neil Train]

hmmm, is really tough. i KNOW arouca would improve my team, and i see Fernando Belluschi is an improved version on his excellent FM2011 stats. but if i'm going to stick true to AV and keep my dream midfield of Bannan, Delph, Zoggy and Ireland then i can't really get these two. major shame:(

[Neil Train]

darn, just deleted a lengthy post.

oh, well, start again.........

am still in pre-season, taking it slow and careful, really want to watch my Villa in slo-mo and develop a great tactic for when the real business starts.

playing with a back 3. something Peter Grant said IRL about villa's heritage of Marauding FBs, wanting to try something different, and realising that width with a back 3 and not having wide players drop too deep and invite the opposition on i'd need to play AML and AMR for decent wing play.

so just thought i'd update on my team:

MAJOR OUTS:

guzan (for 1.6m can easily get a 2nd 1st team GK over 48 months who is far better!)

warnock (doesnt like me and i'm playing without fullbacks in a back 3)

beye

collins: just doesnt cut it for me as a solid centre-back

petrov (will be bringing in a destroyer plus have Delph)

fonz (again, found 2 backup strikers i believe will be better)

MAJOR INS: (all over 48 months)

GK: Ivan Kelava, 1m i think

DEF: still contemplating, though brought in Paulo Assuncao as DCC/Cover for 2.5m. well pleased with this acquisition

MID: just some cover mainly, as i want to develop the quartet of Bannan/Delph/Zoggy and Ireland. Bought a Destroyer, Alaixys Romao as my DM. shame can't use Makoun

STR: Lucas Viatri and Alberto Bueno. both look pretty useful.

so my STARTING line-up currently is:

Given/Kelava

-Dunne- -Assuncao- -Cuellar-

-Romao-

-Delph- -Ireland-

-Bannan- -Zoggy-

-Gabby- -Bent-

will update when the serious business begins!

...and UTV!

[Neil Train]

OH, please, no:

"Arsenal Prepare Shock £12m January Bid For Aston Villa Midfielder

Posted on 25 October 2011

Arsenal are reportedly prepared to make a shock move for Aston Villa midfielder Barry Bannan in the January transfer window."

[Neil Train]

...am now going for DON'T hide unrealistic transfers: cos have noticed in my 2 saves Peter Grant has different advice and therefore isn't that accurate. he told me Assuncao was unrealistic in one save, and a perfectly reasonable target in the next.

btw is there anyone there? haven't seen anyone else post in days;)

[Daverea]

...am now going for DON'T hide unrealistic transfers: cos have noticed in my 2 saves Peter Grant has different advice and therefore isn't that accurate. he told me Assuncao was unrealistic in one save, and a perfectly reasonable target in the next.

btw is there anyone there? haven't seen anyone else post in days;)

I'm here in spirit, but unfortunately real life is getting in the way of my virtual endeavours. DAMN YOU WORK!

I've noticed differences like that in my second save also.

In my first save the club wouldn't let Grant go but had no problems with it in my second.

My second try at the mighty Villa is having a far better start, I sold Dunne and Heskey (although I'm still paying 30k/w between the two) and brought in Shawcross, Matt Phillips, Ruben Rochina and Robbie Cotton.

Just started the season proper with a few tweeks to my main tactic from my first save. My 1st choice team now looks like this....

Given

Hutton Shawcross Collins Warnock

FB/Auto BPD/D LD/D FB/Auto

Albrighton Delph Petrov

WM/S AP/S DLP/D

Ireland Gabby

AP/A IF/A

Bent

P/A

I've never really gone in for asymmetric but this is working out great so far with 10 points from the first 4 games. There is no permanent place for Zoggy, but he's rotating brilliantly into the AMC space. All my signings, apart from Shawcross are really just youth to develope, hopefully they can become beasts in their own right and stake places of their own in the next few years.

[Neil Train]

darn, why couldn't i get rid of Grant or Pesky? yeah, darn work, luckily i don't do any at the mo:)

i don't go big on assymetry either but have several "similar" tactics and one does involve Bannan as ML, Gabby being trained as AMCL and Zoggy as AMR.

surprised that you: a) kept petrov, he's one of my first out the door and b) sold dunne but kept collins? i'd do that the other way around!

still, glad there IS someone out there!

[Daverea]

Petrov and Collins staying and Dunne leaving have all been influenced by my last save, Petrov being the Fans Player of the Year and Collins avg rating staying the right side of 7, unlike Dunne.

Besides, Petrov is the only thing close to a good central midfield tutor for Delph and Cotton.

Damn I've just noticed my tactic on my last post looks nothing like what I actually typed, so here's a screenie http://prntscr.com/3ow85

[Neil Train]

yeah, i've had that: the formation doesn't come out like it should BUT it showed when i read my email, so all good!

know what you mean about players performing: i've noticed zoggy/ireland/hutton all doing well despite two of those not having the attributes. but i've got to go with what i observe in games. i've STILL got collins but i'll watch him and if he performs, he stays....

[Daverea]

One of my biggest disappointments so far is that Beye got inj for 4 months as I was negotiating his departure.

The only thing worse than being stuck with a player you don't want or need is being stuck with an injured player you don't want or need.

The most bizarre thing just happened... I'm on the 11th of September in the first season and Wenger steps down. He's not retiring, he's not signing to another club and Arsenal are top with max points for games played....

Weird.

[GIMN]

I'm about to start my first major save. I've made a couple of database changes - only on the PAs of some of our young prospects (and a few others around the world), no changes to CA, and I've lowered Peter Grant's wage so I can get rid of him at the start.

I've decided to try and take the approach of reducing the wage budget, and developing some of the youngsters. So my first task is to get rid of Beye (4th choice behind Hutton, Herd & Lichaj and on 40k!!), Dunne (low agility), Ireland (rather have Bannan playing), Jenas (35k!!!) and Heskey (I like the guy, but he's too expensive for a 3rd choice striker). If I can get rid of all of them that's £245k off the wage bill.

Targets to get in:

Lewis Dunk

James Tomkins

Mark Beevers

Fabrice Muamba

Jack Collinson

Matt Jarvis

Matt Phillips

All should be good squad options on low-ish wages. I'll let you know how I get on.

[Neil Train]

I'm about to start my first major save. I've made a couple of database changes - only on the PAs of some of our young prospects (and a few others around the world), no changes to CA, and I've lowered Peter Grant's wage so I can get rid of him at the start.

I've decided to try and take the approach of reducing the wage budget, and developing some of the youngsters. So my first task is to get rid of Beye (4th choice behind Hutton, Herd & Lichaj and on 40k!!), Dunne (low agility), Ireland (rather have Bannan playing), Jenas (35k!!!) and Heskey (I like the guy, but he's too expensive for a 3rd choice striker). If I can get rid of all of them that's £245k off the wage bill.

Targets to get in:

Lewis Dunk

James Tomkins

Mark Beevers

Fabrice Muamba

Jack Collinson

Matt Jarvis

Matt Phillips

All should be good squad options on low-ish wages. I'll let you know how I get on.

darn! didn't think of changing Grant's contract to lose him....

good luck on losing Pesky and Dunne. i can't GIVE the former away and Dunne isn't raising that much interest either so i'll just adapt to having him in the team.

yeah, my major thing is lowering the wage budget too. but i'm managing to play Bannan left and Ireland thru the middle, really want them both in the team with their creativity. it's Petrov i lost: 3.5m to Juve, good deal if you ask me!

[titley100]

So I am now into January and I am lying 5th in the table, out of the League cup and team are still going well in the league !

Originally the transfers made in were more to boost squad numbers, but now I have the depth in January I decided to go for a little bit of quality here are transfers so far.

Transfers In so far are:

Summer:

Darron Gibson - 2.3m

Dos Santos - 5m

Tshabalala - 375k

Carlos Diogo - Free

Mahamadou Diara - Free

Emre Can - 2m

Wilfried - 2.5m

January:

Christopher Samba 15m over 48months 6.5m if he scores 20 goals

Sidney Sam (German winger) 5m 2.5 over 48months

Enda Stevens 250k

Out:

Summer:

Stephen Ireland Loan - 1M fee option to buy 3m To Westham

Habib Beye - 750k to Genoa

Jan:

Hesky £0 to Newcastle

I finally got rid of hesky !! eating at my wage bill ! I brought in samba as a solid CB Dunne started to preform badly so I think its collins and Samba at the back for the moment! The German winger I brought in got an assist in his first game when we beat wolves 1-0 so I was happy with that.

Looking to possibly get into Europe this season all my purchases are done with for now so will have to live with this team now until the summer where I may look for a long term partner for samba and a new LB as warnock has been shocking! Carlos Diogo has be a revelation at RB keeping Hutton out of the team and he was a bargin.

I will keep you posted on my save when I finish my first full season, but I can say it's looking promising !!

[GIMN]

darn! didn't think of changing Grant's contract to lose him....

good luck on losing Pesky and Dunne. i can't GIVE the former away and Dunne isn't raising that much interest either so i'll just adapt to having him in the team.

yeah, my major thing is lowering the wage budget too. but i'm managing to play Bannan left and Ireland thru the middle, really want them both in the team with their creativity. it's Petrov i lost: 3.5m to Juve, good deal if you ask me!

In demo managed to offload Dunne right at the start, though I had to pay a small part of his wages. In FM11 I found Delph to be much better on the left than Ireland, and Bannan to be an absolute beast at CM. I will eventually look to move Petrov on, but he's the best defensive midfielder I've got (that can still pass).

I'm not sure what to do about Cuellar. I want to develop Clark with as much game time as possible, Cuellar's wage demands are pretty high, and because of his injury I can't get any money for him. Hmm.

[Marc Albrighton]

Downloading the demo now, hopefully it will convince me to buy the full game

[Daverea]

Downloading the demo now, hopefully it will convince me to buy the full game

I couldn't get in to the demo at all, but the full game is worth it! It's great!

[Marc Albrighton]

Im going to give it a try anyway, first thought is the layout of everything all seems a bit cluttered and messy but obviously a skin can change that so all good.

[Daverea]

Im going to give it a try anyway, first thought is the layout of everything all seems a bit cluttered and messy but obviously a skin can change that so all good.

I found that at first as well, but that's been the case with every big change they've made over the years, after a little time you tend to realize it's better.

One thing I really do like is you can change the colours of the attribute numbers in the preferences without having to look for different skins.

[Marc Albrighton]

Didnt know that that is good, overall played 3 friendlys so far havent bought anyone in and sold beye. Got to say im not hugely impressed so far i had 4 injuries in my second game 2 of them long term 2 months + and clubs have refused to loan any players to me even though they are loan listed. Its hard in that sense and i do like a challenge so ill carry on my demo save and see if my opinions change.

[jamtheman123]

Villa is usually my first save on a new fm and i always use them to get to grips with the game (I'm a boro fan but find it hard to stomach getting sacked as boro, which usually happens in my first few goes). My aim was to bring through a british team in the long term, and base the team around the current talents like bannan, delph, clark and albrighton. I've always had success with counter attacking football, and aston villa usually have a pacy team which makes this easier. To the transfers:

OUT

Marshall - £0 (wages needed shifting, and ive never seen the point in having more than 2 keepers.

Heskey - £0 (went in january to newcastle, hate him, hate his inability to shoot, hate his wages most)

Pretty much the entire reserve team on loan, keeping my eye on gardner tho

INS

Modise and Tshabalala - combined less than £1m ( both solid players as cover, very cheap very cheap wages. researchers clearly influenced by wc i think)

Wilfried - £2.5m ( dont rate fonz, agbonlahor is a winger for me, so bent needed competition)

Mutch - £2m ( know villa purists would hate seeing a blue, but ive always found him useful)

The transfers weren't exactly british lol, but i needed something to keep me going as i like playing a long game and developing my own youth.

Playing a 4-2-3-1 rigid with direct wide counter attacking football.

Given

Hutton RB Collins CB Clark CB Warnock LB

Bannan DLP support Petrov BWM

Albrighton RW Ireland AP N'Zog LW

Bent/Wilfried AF

Worked brilliantly at the start of the season, especially away from home, and just checking the stats now i went 8 games in a row with a win away before a draw wit chelsea. Worked well against the big boys at home, drawing with city and spanking man utd 5-2 (first ecstatic punchin the air moment of fm 12). However was useless against a team that stood off, and when i adapted to a 4-4-2 against the minnows, there was some awful home results (1-0 to fulham, drawing against norwich, swansea and wigan).

Currently in january and signed mutch as petrov was getting injured ALL the time, and he promptly gives away a penalty and gets booked in a 4.8 performance. Brutal. Sitting in 5th, after enjoying the lofty heights of 3rd for mosta the season united and chelsea finally started picking up and have overtaken me, but i still believe europa league will be attainable.

What i would like to know is if anyone else is having problems like me etting rid of deadwood, ie Cuellar and Beye? Also has anyone found a good way of utilising the midfield together. Ireland is patchy at AMC and Bannan has been very streaky, same with Delph no matter what roles i give them.

Good luck to anyone else having a go with Villa, would definitley recommend em for someone with a long session in mind.

[Neil Train]

**MAJOR OUTLAY**

...just spent 14m over 48 months on a 19-y-o GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Just looks as though he will be great!

[Neil Train]

Villa is usually my first save on a new fm and i always use them to get to grips with the game (I'm a boro fan but find it hard to stomach getting sacked as boro, which usually happens in my first few goes). My aim was to bring through a british team in the long term, and base the team around the current talents like bannan, delph, clark and albrighton. I've always had success with counter attacking football, and aston villa usually have a pacy team which makes this easier. To the transfers:

OUT

Marshall - £0 (wages needed shifting, and ive never seen the point in having more than 2 keepers.

Heskey - £0 (went in january to newcastle, hate him, hate his inability to shoot, hate his wages most)

Pretty much the entire reserve team on loan, keeping my eye on gardner tho

INS

Modise and Tshabalala - combined less than £1m ( both solid players as cover, very cheap very cheap wages. researchers clearly influenced by wc i think)

Wilfried - £2.5m ( dont rate fonz, agbonlahor is a winger for me, so bent needed competition)

Mutch - £2m ( know villa purists would hate seeing a blue, but ive always found him useful)

The transfers weren't exactly british lol, but i needed something to keep me going as i like playing a long game and developing my own youth.

Playing a 4-2-3-1 rigid with direct wide counter attacking football.

Given

Hutton RB Collins CB Clark CB Warnock LB

Bannan DLP support Petrov BWM

Albrighton RW Ireland AP N'Zog LW

Bent/Wilfried AF

Worked brilliantly at the start of the season, especially away from home, and just checking the stats now i went 8 games in a row with a win away before a draw wit chelsea. Worked well against the big boys at home, drawing with city and spanking man utd 5-2 (first ecstatic punchin the air moment of fm 12). However was useless against a team that stood off, and when i adapted to a 4-4-2 against the minnows, there was some awful home results (1-0 to fulham, drawing against norwich, swansea and wigan).

Currently in january and signed mutch as petrov was getting injured ALL the time, and he promptly gives away a penalty and gets booked in a 4.8 performance. Brutal. Sitting in 5th, after enjoying the lofty heights of 3rd for mosta the season united and chelsea finally started picking up and have overtaken me, but i still believe europa league will be attainable.

What i would like to know is if anyone else is having problems like me etting rid of deadwood, ie Cuellar and Beye? Also has anyone found a good way of utilising the midfield together. Ireland is patchy at AMC and Bannan has been very streaky, same with Delph no matter what roles i give them.

Good luck to anyone else having a go with Villa, would definitley recommend em for someone with a long session in mind.

well, firstly had no probs getting rid of Cuellar, though i DID have to accept offers of 500k.

the game, basically, only allows you to get rid of a certain amount of players. so for example if you ONLY wanted rid of cuellar i have no doubt you could get an up-front 2.5m for him. BUT if you've offloaded a load of others then it becomes more difficult, the games decisions are made so you can't rid yourself of EVERYONE you want.

with regards midfield i'm playing bannan left, as defensive winger but with DLP settings, Delph DM, Ireland AM and Zoggy right as inside forward. seems to be working well........

EDIT

actually do you know of any decent screen capture software that's cheap? prob i've been having is that my function keys don't seem to do what they're meant. but i can grab a copy of my tactics screen and upload the tactic too

[titley100]

I can't wait to get back home from work tonight and hopefully finish my first season with villa this weekend !! Here's hoping that I get a UEFA place maybe even a cheeky 4th spot as I'm lying in 5th In January all I need is a good winning streak!! When I finish my season I will post a detailed summary for all you guys to read !! If I get into Europe though next season I will need to get much needed depth to the squad .

[GIMN]

Quick update.

Managed to sell Guzan, Beye, Dunne & Ireland, release Andy Marshall. In their place, I brought in Arason, Tomkins, Collinson & Matt Phillips. Net transfer spend of £3.5m, wages down from £840k to £710k a week.

League stats P8 W6 D2 L0 F18 A9 Pts 20. Beat Arsenal, but drew with Liverpool and Man Utd (I was very fortunate). Agbonlahor's got 7 goals in 9 games, but injured last time out, and will miss the next month. Along with Gabby, Shay Given and Ciaran Clark have been my best performers, yet we've only kept 1 clean sheet.

[Neil Train]

Quick update.

Managed to sell Guzan, Beye, Dunne & Ireland, release Andy Marshall. In their place, I brought in Arason, Tomkins, Collinson & Matt Phillips. Net transfer spend of £3.5m, wages down from £840k to £710k a week.

League stats P8 W6 D2 L0 F18 A9 Pts 20. Beat Arsenal, but drew with Liverpool and Man Utd (I was very fortunate). Agbonlahor's got 7 goals in 9 games, but injured last time out, and will miss the next month. Along with Gabby, Shay Given and Ciaran Clark have been my best performers, yet we've only kept 1 clean sheet.

REALLY good results. are you using your own tactic??

[Doc5150]

Hi Guys,

I am only 4 games into the 1st season. Tried this time to set up my tactics & bring in a few more backroom staff then get the wages down before getting into many matches.

1st thing was to bring in Laursen as coach (i just had to).

OUT

Beye surprisingly easy to gid rid of. Also surprised that the fans thought he had a role still to play?

Heskey proved very difficult but I got there. no fee, sold for free & had to pay 11k pw until the end of the season. Ill take that, still 49k off the wage bill!

Most of the reserves out on loan.

IN

Gibson, Season long loan ( 625k) hes only on 5k a week & if good I can get him for free at the end of the season. better than paying a fee with higher wages.

Melberg. 1.3m still a legend. Still really good & my new capt. Everyone was happy he was made capt.

Diamé from wigan. 3.5m Good report & doing very well.

Yannis Tafer loan from OM with a view to buy. He was good in FM11 so ill try him again. Striker & only on 3.6k pw

I then took a punt on Emiliano Armenteros AML ML only 450k Scored 20 in the spanish 2nd tier so again worth the risk 15k pw.

Collins will be sold in either Jan or end of season ( I just dont like him) to much hoofing.

So...

Played 5 (4 in the league) W4 D0 L1

(A)QPR 0-1

(H)Everton 4-1

(A)Palace 0-2

(H)Wolves 3-0

(A)Man U 2-0 Played quite well but Melberg got sent off

Im playing a 433

Given

Warnock Dunne Melberg Hutton

Petrov Diamé Delph

Gabby Albrighton

Bent

Zoggy injured. Hip. 3 months!

Im hoping to get the season over this weekend. Bank Hol! off Monday!

I tried to get Tevez. On deadline day City finally accepted my 16m offer only for his agent to say he wasnt interested. How did anyone get him to sign? I said I wanted to sign him & he came out & said he wasnt going to sign for Villa? Anyone any ideas?

I post again after the next window!

[jamtheman123]

Finished season with an abysmal fixture list, including the all the top 6, but managed to pick up enough points to hold onto fourth place. Absolutely chuffed since i figured it would be a transition season hile i got rid of the majority of the high earners, and a little worried if i will be able to keep up with the expectations this season if im honest since the clear out continued. Stuck with 4-2-3-1 and wilfried and bent were having an almighty fight for the striking spot by the end of the season, but the undoubted star was agbonlahor as an inside forward on the LW. Scored 11 goals in last 18 games, absolutely unstoppable. Closely followed by tshablala, when fit he was outstanding, but missed at least three months combined. Won signing of the season, and i got manager of the year. Boom. Managed a magnificent double over united by beating them 4-1 away (incredible!) however fulham beat me twice (new bogey team of this fm i think) and liverpool embarassed me twice as well. Overall my amazing start was the only reason for the lofty position but im not complaining.

OUT

N'Zog 4.7m ( nowhere near justified his wages. disappointed)

Dunne 1m (not a fan of slow defenders and he cost me a few vital points. found collins + clark much more effective.)

Ireland 4m (couldnt justify the wages with performances, plus transfers in will show why im not fussed to lose him)

Makoun, Cuellar and a lot of reserves all left as well, makoun went mental when lyon were interested so had no choice. Guzan will be on his way soon

IN

Ait Fana free (good left winger with potential, low wages)

Grenier free (very excited if hes out like he was in 11, also low wages)

Joe bennett and Jason steele less than 5m (had to get some boro connections in somehow, bennett looks very good, steele should be good back up, maybe no 1)

Alexis loan to buy for 3m (good centre half to replace dunne, fraction of wages on loan, and looks good in preseason)

Celozzi free (backup rb, no more)

Vela loan to buy 4.1m (luxury tbh, never been to keen on him, but good competition for bent and wilfried, and can cover positions all over)

Essien loan (speaks for itself, magnificent player for 20,000 a week. steal)

Dawson (west brom one) 2.5m (cover for defence, good stats in the right places, think he could be the dark horse buy)

Afellay loan to buy 6.5m (feel a bit sad for grenier since i organised his transfer mid season before this one. Afellay is looking like a god tbh, stephen who?)

Pre season was a bit topsy turvy but afellay and ait fana were awesome. bennett already looks like hes guna give warnock a good run, and essien spent preseason breaking people, including two of my own players in training lol.

However fixture list is not being very kind this year man utd chelsea and arsenal in first month. CL qualifier drew me with inter. Fuming doesnt quite cover it. Gonna need the giant killing tactics to reign supreme or it will be a short european campaign lol.

[Daverea]

Just reached the end of the January transfer window in the first season,

I gave Beye away loaned out a lot of reserves and nearly sold N'Zogbia, but decided to wait with that one until I can replace him with an English man who can come close.

I brought in Robinson and Flanagan both from Liverpool for 5M each, they will be the defensive future of this club for the next decade. I hope....

Doing far better than my first save, although I really am sucking against the big clubs, but I'm still 6th with W13 D2 L6 and 41 points. Having said that, I have all the big clubs in the last 10 games so a top half finish is still potentially not going to happen.

[Daverea]

well, firstly had no probs getting rid of Cuellar, though i DID have to accept offers of 500k.

the game, basically, only allows you to get rid of a certain amount of players. so for example if you ONLY wanted rid of cuellar i have no doubt you could get an up-front 2.5m for him. BUT if you've offloaded a load of others then it becomes more difficult, the games decisions are made so you can't rid yourself of EVERYONE you want.

with regards midfield i'm playing bannan left, as defensive winger but with DLP settings, Delph DM, Ireland AM and Zoggy right as inside forward. seems to be working well........

EDIT

actually do you know of any decent screen capture software that's cheap? prob i've been having is that my function keys don't seem to do what they're meant. but i can grab a copy of my tactics screen and upload the tactic too

http://lightshot.skillbrains.com/component/content/article/9-download.html

Absolutely brilliant program.

Just press the "print screen" button on your keyboard then highlight the area you want to show. Then press the up arrow symbol below the highlighted section and then that will give you a link to copy and paste.

EDIT

Right, that's the first season over with, and I wen slightly mental with my transfers and spent big. Very big.

In. All over 48 months

Jack Wilshere 29M over

Gary Cahill 15M

Kyle Bartley 2.5M

Asmir Begovic 2.4M

Rob Clark 130k

Out

Cuellar

Guzan

Makoun all released (tere were many more but not important enough to list)

N'Zogbia 5M

Collins 3M

I'm very, very pleased to have my perfect Cahill Shawcross central defense and Wilshere I hope will push both Gabby and Ireland with threats to take over their positions for good.

And I'm nearly managing an all English influx, it's just there are no good cheap English keepers.

Lets just hope I don't go the way of the early 2000's Leeds.

[iolodavanki]

Just thought I should add to the thread:

I took over in November 2015 and steered the side to a 9th placed finish. The following year I won the Premier League in a spectacular fashion on goal difference after beating Reading away 5-0 whilst MUTD "only" managed a 2-0 home win over Sheffield Utd. I started the day as 2nd but were able to climb above them thanks to the goal fest against Reading.

Tactic: Il Devasto (FM11 tactic)

Best players:

Ross Barkley (20M)

Rondon (17M)

Bassong (was at Villa when I took over)

Romario (DR from Vitoria, 10M)

Mohamed Bangura (was at Villa when I took over)

Albrighton

Adam Johnson (2M recruit rom City)

Jack Collison (Captain, was at Villa when I took over)

Jack Cork (was at Villa when I took over)

Cieran Clark

Gary Cahill (1.7M loan from Tottenham 30/31 y/o and with declining physical stats but had a great season)

I just beat Juventus 9-2 away from home in the group stage of the CL. Decided to use the entire transfer budget on two players since I had a good squad; Götze (Dortmund, 37M) and Alderweireld (MUTD, 4.5M).

I can submit screen shots from 2017 if you like.

[Daverea]

Just thought I should add to the thread:

I took over in November 2015 and steered the side to a 9th placed finish. The following year I won the Premier League in a spectacular fashion on goal difference after beating Reading away 5-0 whilst MUTD "only" managed a 2-0 home win over Sheffield Utd. I started the day as 2nd but were able to climb above them thanks to the goal fest against Reading.

Tactic: Il Devasto (FM11 tactic)

Best players:

Ross Barkley (20M)

Rondon (17M)

Bassong (was at Villa when I took over)

Romario (DR from Vitoria, 10M)

Mohamed Bangura (was at Villa when I took over)

Albrighton

Adam Johnson (2M recruit rom City)

Jack Collison (Captain, was at Villa when I took over)

Jack Cork (was at Villa when I took over)

Cieran Clark

Gary Cahill (1.7M loan from Tottenham 30/31 y/o and with declining physical stats but had a great season)

I just beat Juventus 9-2 away from home in the group stage of the CL. Decided to use the entire transfer budget on two players since I had a good squad; Götze (Dortmund, 37M) and Alderweireld (MUTD, 4.5M).

I can submit screen shots from 2017 if you like.

I'd love a peek at Barkley, John Flanagan and Jack Robinson!

[iolodavanki]

I'd love a peek at Barkley, John Flanagan and Jack Robinson!

[Daverea]

Nice one mate, looks like Barkley's going on my shopping list too!

Just played first match of the season and Wilshere has paid off the 29M already with a debut hat-trick sealing a 2-3 away to Man U! I know there was a reason I got him!

[Marc Albrighton]

Played the demo some more and really enjoying the new layout and features now im a bit more used to them and will buy the game in the week when i get the chance, my only worry is injuries i think theyre a bit ridiculous in the demo how are they in the full game? 5 players that would be in my starting line up all out injured and ive not been able to bring in any quality.

[Daverea]

Played the demo some more and really enjoying the new layout and features now im a bit more used to them and will buy the game in the week when i get the chance, my only worry is injuries i think theyre a bit ridiculous in the demo how are they in the full game? 5 players that would be in my starting line up all out injured and ive not been able to bring in any quality.

Nah I'm not having anywhere near the injury problems I had in the demo.

One thing I'm not liking (but at the same time kinda am) is that the board are throwing some (what I consider to be) very unrealistic sums of money at me considering my bank balance.... I like spending it, but it detracts from the realism somewhat.

[Marc Albrighton]

Ok cool thanks for the answer, with the funds subject i think rich owners are taken into account (obviously) when budgets are handed out. Especially when your average squad needs serious investment and then you get 7.5m.

[Daverea]

Ok cool thanks for the answer, with the funds subject i think rich owners are taken into account (obviously) when budgets are handed out. Especially when your average squad needs serious investment and then you get 7.5m.

Hmm sure, but I'm at January in the second season, I've spent about 50M over 48months already and I got given more just before Crimbo and now have nearly 27M for Euro qualification!

That's far too generous for Randy!

[Marc Albrighton]

Probably, if only he was still like that in real life

Going to get the game on my way home today to start my new save, should be good!

[Daverea]

Quick update,

Just hit Feb season 2 and (almost) all is looking good. Just bought Rodwell to replace Petrov who's contract runs out at end of season, got knocked out of EURO cup by Inter (not surprising) but I am 1st in the EPL and in all other competitions. The only downside is Wilshere has just been injured for 2 months and miss some very important games :-(

Oh well, over all, still very good progress.

[Daverea]

Played the demo some more and really enjoying the new layout and features now im a bit more used to them and will buy the game in the week when i get the chance, my only worry is injuries i think theyre a bit ridiculous in the demo how are they in the full game? 5 players that would be in my starting line up all out injured and ive not been able to bring in any quality.

I might have to take my original answer back.

1 game before the LC final and Wilshere, Gabby, Rodwell and Bent get inj. WTF?!!?!?!?!?

That is my entire goal scoring force out for my biggest game thus far. Not cool.

I lost -_-

[Things Could Get Messi]

came on here as a villa manager because iam happy with things but also got a few worries. i took the job half way through the 2012/13 season and Randy gave me £20m to spend plus £1.1m a week wage budget which at the moment im easily under. so i got some pretty good signings sorted ready to go through in june. didnt shift much apart from n'zogbia who didnt fit my style of play and ireland who wasnt good enough for a regular place and on too much money to be a benchwarmer. anyway the new season comes and i get given another 36m to spend. so i spend 9m plus whatever i got in to leave a remaining fund of 27m which i still have in november. however... the club is 19m in the red on the bank balance. so does randy bail the club out or have i got a bit of a problem here??? i can afford to sell a few players because i have got some good regens in the reserves who wouldnt look too much out of place playing in my team but im really not sure whats going on here!

[Daverea]

I can't be certain, I haven't gone into the red (yet), but I can't imagine it'll be different from FM11, in which case he won't bail you out.

[Things Could Get Messi]

my team as at november 2013.

GK David Ospina. picked up on a free from nice. rated at 4 stars by my staff.

DL Eric Pieters. signed before i got here.

DR Timothy Chandler. pacy right back from nurnberg. cost me 7.5m but rated 3 1/2 stars at 23.

DC Ciaran Clark. brilliant centre back

DC Martin Skrtel. cost 4.5m from liverpool. now aged 29 but very solid at this level

MC Jack Collison. bought by the last manager and captain.

MC Darron Gibson. likes being involved in the play and scores quite often from distance

AML Adam Johnson. cost 3.2m but hes worth a lot more with his assists

AMR Jesus Navas. cost 4.2m but again puts in plenty for the team

AMC Fabian Delph. staff say hes better at mc but 6 goals and 4 assists in 9 league games this season tell me different. still only 2 1/2 stars in my team but is in stunning form

ST Darren Bent. got 25 goals in all comps last season, 16 after i took over at new year. he never seems to be too far away from another goal.

other notable players

GK Brad Guzan. 1st choice when i took over but i find him very nervous to watch. back up at best

DR Alan Hutton. still a very good player and unfortunate that i got a better rb.

DC James Collins. too slow and often gets caught out of position. does put in effort though so not a bad back up

DC Joel Matip. picked up on a free from schalke. still only 22 and a good back up.

AMR Mark Albrighton. not as rated as other players but gets plenty of assists. worth keeping.

ST Gabriel Agbonlahor. have found him frustrating and thinking of selling. i must be using him wrong.

ST Nathan Delfouneso. has done well as a sub for me but cant get in ahead of bent.

ST Khouma Babacar. was listed for 4.5m so i had to buy. scored on his only start so far. long term replacement for bent.

also got given, dunne and beye still at the club. all 3 have declined enough not to get in the 1st team (sad for me because im an ireland fan!) but i cant get rid of them because they are retiring at the end of the season.

so far in my 1st full season (2013/14) we have played 9 won 5 drawn 4 scored 17 conceded 7 so im pretty happy.

[Things Could Get Messi]

I can't be certain, I haven't gone into the red (yet), but I can't imagine it'll be different from FM11, in which case he won't bail you out.

i had better start selling then! seems daft to me because if i spend my 27m then im going to be over 50m in the red at the end of the season. maybe he wants me to bankrupt the club!

[Daverea]

my team as at november 2013.

GK David Ospina. picked up on a free from nice. rated at 4 stars by my staff.

DL Eric Pieters. signed before i got here.

DR Timothy Chandler. pacy right back from nurnberg. cost me 7.5m but rated 3 1/2 stars at 23.

DC Ciaran Clark. brilliant centre back

DC Martin Skrtel. cost 4.5m from liverpool. now aged 29 but very solid at this level

MC Jack Collison. bought by the last manager and captain.

MC Darron Gibson. likes being involved in the play and scores quite often from distance

AML Adam Johnson. cost 3.2m but hes worth a lot more with his assists

AMR Jesus Navas. cost 4.2m but again puts in plenty for the team

AMC Fabian Delph. staff say hes better at mc but 6 goals and 4 assists in 9 league games this season tell me different. still only 2 1/2 stars in my team but is in stunning form

ST Darren Bent. got 25 goals in all comps last season, 16 after i took over at new year. he never seems to be too far away from another goal.

other notable players

GK Brad Guzan. 1st choice when i took over but i find him very nervous to watch. back up at best

DR Alan Hutton. still a very good player and unfortunate that i got a better rb.

DC James Collins. too slow and often gets caught out of position. does put in effort though so not a bad back up

DC Joel Matip. picked up on a free from schalke. still only 22 and a good back up.

AMR Mark Albrighton. not as rated as other players but gets plenty of assists. worth keeping.

ST Gabriel Agbonlahor. have found him frustrating and thinking of selling. i must be using him wrong.

ST Nathan Delfouneso. has done well as a sub for me but cant get in ahead of bent.

ST Khouma Babacar. was listed for 4.5m so i had to buy. scored on his only start so far. long term replacement for bent.

also got given, dunne and beye still at the club. all 3 have declined enough not to get in the 1st team (sad for me because im an ireland fan!) but i cant get rid of them because they are retiring at the end of the season.

so far in my 1st full season (2013/14) we have played 9 won 5 drawn 4 scored 17 conceded 7 so im pretty happy.

Wow, some great bargains there.

For Gabby, play him as a AML with inside forward setting. 11 goals and 17 assists last season in that position.

[Marc Albrighton]

Yea injuries dont seem a lot different im 3 games into the season after my preseason on the full game and ive got 3 first teamers out all injured during the match which rules out my training being the issue. Won my first 2 league games but went out at the very first hurdle in the league cup which was a bit embarrassing to say the least. Got rid of beye and various youngsters on loan and bought in a young lad called Emre Can who has huge potential and for 1.3m is an absolute steal and niang also huge potential for around 5.5m which swallowed my budget. Im happy with the first team so investing in some quality youth is never a bad thing.

On the downside couldnt offload heskey, completely useless and takes home 60k a week both ingame and real life, baffling!

[Frank Abbondando]

Villa fan irl. Managing them at the moment. Sitting pretty at 6th in the EPL after 22 games. 3 points seperate me from 3rd place. Come on you Lions!

First season signings are Ryan Shawcross and Marc-André ter Stegen. Also picked up Yaya Sanogo on a free transfer, but he doesn't join until 1.7.2012.