FM12 Everton Thread - Getting out of a sticky situation

[Jourdan]

I find the best strategy with Everton is to retain the experienced core of the team i.e. Howard, Jagielka, Heitinga, Baines and Cahill and generate funds selling those players who are good but not imperative to the future i.e. Mucha, Neville, Hibbert, Fellaini, Bilayetdinov, Saha, Osman, Anichebe and Distin. And then after that promote the younger players to the first team i.e. Barkley, Rodwell, Coleman, Mustafi, Duffy, Baxter and Vellios to pad out what is likely to be a thin squad but one that can punch well above its weight with some shrewd transfer activity.

In FM11, I finished 6th in 10/11 and 4th in 11/12 during my Everton save before poor league form in season 3 got me the boot. And in FM12, I reached the League Cup final and was anticipating a meeting with Liverpool before my laptop crashed and corrupted my save. So there are certainly merits for a rebuild. Fellaini can fetch £15-20M alone, so if you're looking to put your own stamp on the team, he's the one to sell.

Here's a few of my recommended signings from experience on the demo and the full game:

Demo: Ryan Shawcross (£5M + Neville & Hibbert from Stoke)

Clint Dempsey (£5M from Fulham)

Full game: Carlos Diogo (free)

Adel Taarabt (£5.75M from QPR)

Esteban Granero (£4.5M from Real Madrid)

Ludovic Obraniak (£4.5M from Lille)

Peter Whittingham (£2.5M from Cardiff)

Alejandro Faurlin (£5M from QPR)

Salomon Rondon (£10M perm or £2.5M loan + £10M future fee from Malaga)

I'm looking to start a new game after my recent crash. I usually opt for Heitinga at right back if possible, so if anyone can recommend a good quality centre back for £5-10M, it'd be much appreciated.

[Welshace]

vangelis moras is a great signing on a free i feel... can cover CB and RB.. a decent everton type signing

sean franklin ... see above...

leonardo sigali is a solid cb for cheap...

ivan pillud for rb..

bandalovski .. see above

basanta .. solid cb

sebastian dominguez .. very solid cb if you can get him

jonas olsson ..west brom

chedjou

baloy

cesar bovo

caruzzo

these are all cb/rb i look at with teams like everton

[Jourdan]

vangelis moras is a great signing on a free i feel... can cover CB and RB.. a decent everton type signing

sean franklin ... see above...

leonardo sigali is a solid cb for cheap...

ivan pillud for rb..

bandalovski .. see above

basanta .. solid cb

sebastian dominguez .. very solid cb if you can get him

jonas olsson ..west brom

chedjou

baloy

cesar bovo

caruzzo

these are all cb/rb i look at with teams like everton

Thanks for the recommendations, welshace. I've looked them up and sent my scouts to have a look at Dominguez.

[NorthernGooner]

Going to start up an Everton save, and I WILL stick with it, I have a soft spot for Everton, don't really know why. Esteban Granero would be a great signing with no Arteta now, also going to look at Ivan Bandowlovski, and Moras

[Welshace]

ive also started but with a slightly edited database (swisso's)

granero wasnt interested in joining me but he might in yours i guess..

[NorthernGooner]

Don't think I will even get an offer accepted tbh, woth £5.25m to start with. Quick question, what do you think of Baines? Tottenham have put in a £11million bid, plus Giovani Dos Santos, and I could try and bring in someone like Petar Zanev.

[Welshace]

personally i wouldnt sell baines for less than 20 mil.. he's on of hte best in the prem easily

if you really need cash... sell fellaini.. arsenal will pay 15-20 mil or so... cahill can go for 8 mil, hibbert goes ofr around 4mil and osman goes for 5ish

[swisso]

Got myself the next Tim Cahill

http://i42.tinypic.com/2qizinn.png

Going to get Cahill to tutor him and get some hidden attributes up and some PPMs added

[Welshace]

lol nice... even down to the determination and jumping.. looks good

[swisso]

I think his PA is as high as Cahills, so he'll be a good player, but not a world beater, and using both left and right feet will take up a lot of his ability so i'll have to be careful with his training so he doesn't overload in 1 area!

[Raymubdo21]

Started a Everton file a couple of days ago and now have the chance to update you guys on my progress.

Fixtures:

Pre Season

Everton 3 (V.Anichebe, Saha, Cahill) - 0 Everton Reserves

Legia 1 - 1 (Baxter) Everton

Everton CHI 1 - 3 (Barkleyx2, Baxter) Everton

Crawley 2 - 0 Everton

Preston 0 - 1 (Cahill) Everton

Club Brugge 1 - 1 (Jagielka) Everton

Wassland-Beveren 2 - 1 (Dier)

FC Brussels 0 - 0 Everton

Olympiakos 1 - 2 (Wilfried, Cahill) Everton

Premier League:

Everton 2 (Rodwell 2) - 0 Aston Villa

Wolves 1 - 1 (Bilyaletdinov) Everton

League Cup Game: Everton 4 (Barkley, Rochina, Wilfriedx2) - 0 Carlisle

Wigan 0 - 2 (Wilfriedx2) Everton

Everton 2 (Bilyaletdinovx2) - 1 Tottenham

Newcastle 1 - 1 (Rochina) Everton

League Cup Game: Everton 3 (Heitinga, Rochina, Rodwell) - 1 Fulham

Everton 1 (Whittingham) - 4 Man U

QPR 1 - 3 (Rodwell, Rochina, Murphey O.G) Everton

Everton 1 (Rodwell) - 0 Swansea

Everton 1 (Jagielka) - 0 Blackburn

League Cup Game: Everton 6 (Sahax3, Rodwell, Gueye, Bilyaletdinov) - 0 Portsmouth

Stoke 2 - 2 (Wilfriedx2) Everton

WBA 0 - 1 (Wilfried) Everton

Everton 1 (Wilfried) - 0 Liverpool

Bolton 0 - 4 (Bilyaletdinov, Rochina, Jagielka,Distin) Everton

Signings so far:

In:

Wilfried = £2.5

Whittingham = £3.5 (48months payments)

Rochina = £875k (looking like my best signing so far along with Wilfried)

Femenia = Loan free

Friedrich = Free banned till january but will be good experience back up

Out:

Hibbert = Loan fee £900k

Anichebe = Loan fee £950k

And a couple of young loan outs

Happy so far can't complain, need new invest as monthly outgoings are putting me more and more in debt. Here is a screenshot of the league and my tactics.

[Raymubdo21]

http://imageshack.us/f/9/screenshot20111119at114.png/

Here is my league so far and tactics to date!!

[jamtheman123]

3rd season finished, finished 1st and won the league cup. Awesome, though i am worried that i wont get the huge streaks of luck next season when the expectations are higher. Had a board takeover led by Abbiati (milan keeper) who had the sole intent of replacing me. However two days after coming in i won the league cup, and i'd already got beyond the group stages of the champions league, no chance i was getting the sack after that. Won a hell of a lot of games coming from behind, and struggled against teams who sat back and defended, but still finished top.

League table

http://s1185.photobucket.com/albums/z348/jammartin1/?action=view&current=team2014.png#!oZZ2QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1185.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz348%2Fjammartin1%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3Dleague2014.png

Team ratings

http://s1185.photobucket.com/albums/z348/jammartin1/?action=view&current=team2014.png

Sinclair was player of the year again, and both me and him are in favoured personnel now. Barkley stepped up to be a key player this year, and rodwell was so consistent fellaini barely got a sniff. Andersen from the right was excellent, and grenier finally started showing his potential this year, however i do think that AMC is a position where i need a bit of world class talent. Defensively jagielka and dawson were very solid.

Transfers

http://s1185.photobucket.com/albums/z348/jammartin1/?action=view&current=team2014.png#!oZZ3QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1185.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz348%2Fjammartin1%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3Dtransfers14.png

Despite early jitters, walker was an excellent signing and has made RB his own. ter Stegen was good enough and has potential to be great. Gimenez is an argentinian regen GK with similar potential but an awful attitude. Clark, Weiss and Rudd were all bought as cover, and all did well when called upon. Ferreira is a frighteningly good Brazilian regen who signed at end of the his age. Looks incredible for the age and will take over either wilfried or paloschi (both asking for ridiculous wages). Signed Prestia as cover, but after takeover had spare cash as the debt was wiped (minus the 40m to old chairman) and took a punt.

Looking ahead the finances are still a bit dodgy, so decided against massive investment for title defence and instead went for bargains. Gibbs for 2.5m as cover for baines and 3 regens. One RW for now, two more long term. Instead sorted out the coaches and now have at least 4* for each category. Started season badly, and am swiftly looking out of the Champions league as my group was Real, Shakhtar and Galatasaray. Third will do me, esp. after getting stuffed off real 4-2 at home. Fellaini will be sold for 23.5m in jan, camacho coming in for 2.7m as cover for rodwell (all fellaini is doing at this point). League form has picked up but city are miles ahead. Champions league will be the best i can hope for i reckon. Have at least three young stars in u18s so playing the long game for future domination.

[c20th_boy]

Hi Guys

Started an Everton game last night, and boy is it tough?! Here's what I did:

1) Restructured the backroom staff to ensure that the coaches are good enough to get the best out of the youngsters at the club and those I hope to bring in over time (if Kenwright ever gives me any money!).

2) Sold a bunch of players outside the core of the side to give me some money to address the weak areas of the side. Got rid of:

- Baxter (£1.7m)

- Anichebe (£2m)

- Bilyaletdinov (£4m)

- Hibbert (£500k loan, plus £1m future fee (and full wages))

- Mucha (£1.5m)

- Hope (£800K)

- Wallace (£250K)

3) Started to bring some players in! So far I've got:

- Diogo (free)

- Wilifred (£2.5m)

- Kranjcar (£1m loan, £4m future)

That leaves me with about £6.5m after the players and staff I've brought in so far. I could really do with getting a back-up LB to cover Baines and a decent AMR to rotate with Osman.

Starting team will look a bit like:

GK: Howard

DR: Diogo

DL: Baines

DC: Jagielka

DC: Heitinga

DMC: Fellaini

MC: Rodwell

MC: Cahill

AMR: Osman

AML: Drenthe

FC: Wilifred

Subs: Hahnemann, Neville, Coleman, Distin, Barkley, Kranjcar, Saha

Pretty paper thin squad so hope I don't get too many injuries!

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great anyway.

c

[JamboCraig]

Fancied a little challenge, Everton fits the bill perfectly. Here is the update for my first season

All in all, a decent first season, winning the FA cup!

[Jourdan]

Welshace, I'm not sure what the issue is there. I just have the standard 'large' database with English leagues (Premier League-League 2) which equates to 13,000 players on version 12.0.4 so I don't know why that has happened. I didn't know different databases had an effect on whether a player is interested in the club or not. On mine he attracts early interest from Napoli who go in with a loan offer but I buy him outright as he's transfer listed for the asking price of £4.4m which I round up to £4.5m. He seems to favour a permanent move as why else would you turn down a club in the Champions League?

[Everton Ninjas]

Ahh, Leicester.. I had them in my first FA Cup final with Everton. Beckford notched the winner for them in a 1-0. they seem to do well in the cups but I've not seen them promoted in 6 seasons, strangely.

[gholliday87]

Has anyone given Ross Barkely some game time? I got him for Arsenal on my save and he's started around 7 games and come on as a sub in a few. I remember he likes playing as a BWM with Support, so you think he could be trained as a DM?

[Koma]

I decided to start with Everton, always liked them because of their good academy and some nice players they produced. Also, David Moyes is legend.

I decided to sell some players I didn't like and because I thought they are not good enough. Distin and Howard have been great servants for the Everton but they aren't my cup of tea. Bought some talented kids, I expect them to do good, + I can make some nice profit in the future, if I needed to sell them, of course. I want to make academy the backbone of the Everton and I intend to work on my youth facilites and youth coaching and I want to make Barkley and Rodwell leaders of this new generation.

Transfers:

http://www.dodaj.rs/f/2O/AK/4dtfVOaS/untitleddd.jpg

Starting lineup:

*Verratti and Gibson will rotate, I will see who is better

To be honest, I don't expect much in the first season, maybe top8 finish and some good run in the cups, we will see.

I will post some updates later one, wish me luck mates.

[toffeeeee]

Won the league 1st and 2nd season with everton.I used MR HOUGH's boots to asses tactic.

[Falahk]

Won the league 1st and 2nd season with everton.I used MR HOUGH's boots to asses tactic.

what kind of transfers did you make?

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

im currently using everton on fm12 for a one season long tactic test, using a slightly tweeked and updated version of an old favorite of mine (the fm10 goalsstorm v2), and so far it seams like I will win the league and carling cup, with no players bought

[steve-0271]

I started a save with Everton,

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

First thing i did was sort my coaching / training schedules. Now all my coaches are 4* and fitness are 5*

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

Secondly: i assessed the squad. I was quite happy with the core.

Keeper:

Howard

Defenders:

Neville

Baines

Jagielka

Heitinga

Coleman

Distin

Midfield:

Fellaini

Rodwell

Cahill

Barkley

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

Sold the following:

- Baxter (£1.8m)

- Anichebe (£2.4m)

- Bilyaletdinov (£4.7m)

- Hibbert (£3m)

- Mucha (£2.6m)

- Hope (£800K)

- Wallace (£300K)

- Saha (£4.2m over 36mths)

- Osman (6m)

- Cancelled Drenthe Loan (saving 55K a week wage)

Signed:

- Andile Jali - DM/MC - (£350k)

- William - AMC/R/L - (£8m over 48mths)

- Mashaga Bakenga - ST - (£55k)

- Christoffer Aasbak - DL - (£80k)

- Siphiwe Tshabalala - AML/C - (£1.6M over 48mths)

- McFadden - AMC/L/R / ST - (£Free)

- Quintero - ST - (£2m)

- Dudek - GK - (£Free)

my line up started off with 4-5-1 (Anchor / AMR / AML) but this wasnt scoring enough goals so i changed it to a 4-3-3.

GK - Howard

DR - Neville / Coleman

DC - Jagielka

DC - Heitinga / Distin

DL - Baines

DM - Fellaini

CM - Jali / Rodwell

CM - Cahill / Barkley

STR - Bakenga / McFadden

STL - William / Vellios

STL - Quintero / Stracqualarsi

Subs generally: (i chance not taking a Keeper in subs)

Gueye - gets a game here and there either up front or in mid if winning by 3.

Tshabalala - injury prone and i cant fit into my new system - looking to offload

Aasbak - back up for Baines, who has been simply breath taking

Stracqualarsi - he has suprised me, scored 6 in 11 games (4 starts)

McFadden - gets sub appearances

Barkley - starts in cup games and done brilliant, gets league action if winning or generally required. might loan out.

Rodwell - rotates with Jali

im currently sitting 3rd only 7 points off top (chelsea) and its just hit january. playing Willian are my central striker and he is simply awesome! he has scored 16 goals in 24 appearances with about 7 assists. i guess he is that quick and skillful he is just making his own chances. got him retaining as a striker and composure.

Im in the Semi finals of the carling cup and about to face norwich to get to the final. looks like il be playing Man City in the final should i progress, they have Cardiff in the other Semi Final.

Ive just started putting bids in for expiring contract players:

alberto paloschi

Sanogo

martin montoya

there is another 2 but i cant remember them the now (im at work )

So far the board have pumped about 6 Million into the club for transfers however ive fired that back into my wages. Ive made a link up between Everton & a Chinese team which should bring in merchandise revenue. i was offered the chance to up my season expectation finish but it wasnt worth it as the most they offered was £300k transfer & £25k wage budgets so kept it to To Half finish but i expect to qualify europe either with league or by winning cup.

im on the lookout for another centre defender. i missed out on Kara and Siyanda Xulu due to work permit which i was gutted about.

i would also like to buy an experienced Striker but not sure who, although if i get sanogo and paloschi i should be covered in that department even though they aint experienced. bugger it if your good enough your old enough is my moto!

the one star player id like add is either Christian Eriksen or James Rodriguez to be my play maker. either or will cost upward of 13million based on previous saves ive had.

finally i will look to signing another keeper, while Howard has been playing well, im still not convinced, theres been a few mistakes which has been the difference of 1 or 3 points.

any suggestions on the about positions im looking for would be great but bear in mind Everton are skint though i could probably stretch to 10million at moment depending on structure of transfer deal.

[ellie05]

just started with everton. doing well enough. 7th. in january now

[II McColl II]

Not a fan of the new patch and the morale problems, specially when you start as a sunday league manager, because of this i have delayed any new saves i had planned with swansea until they make the morale a bit more realistic.

Because of this i have gone back to my original Everton save which was my first of FM12, i am only in 2013 but enjoying it again. Currently 2nd in the league just behind Man City, but already out of the league and europa cup after some poor cup displays.

Finally been involved in a board takeover and if im honest i would rather have kenwright (and that says something) the new chairman refuses to invest any money towards transfers and the club debt has risen despite his promise to write off the 80 million debt we had left, it now is nearly 140 million a couple of week after he took over, not sure how :S

Will keep everyone updated with an official update after i have got through the January transfer window.

[II McColl II]

Everton F.C - Pre Season 2014/15

Squad - Transfers - Fixtures - Finances

After finishing 3rd in the league last season (joint on points with 2nd place Chelsea) I was looking forward to growing and improving before the start of the next season. New chairman Ben Robinson was slowly killing the club and from him taking over the financial state of the club went from secure to okay and eventually insecure, fair to say guaranteeing champions league football has saved the club financially as we are now classed as Rich.

Squad -

The squad from the previous season was still i believe strong enough to challenge this season for another top 4 finish perhaps even more, some players who i had last season on loan i decided against making official bids, these included players like Marouane Chamakh who was my topscorer and a deal agreed at £1.5 million however at the age of 30 i decided against it.

Alot of my younger players signed from previous seasons and original players from the first season are now developing well. Ross Barkley in particular is close to a starting place along with Carlos Fierro and Ruben Rochina.

Transfers -

Having a healthy transfer budget helped at the start but i ended up finding myself wondering who i could spend it on, i am not usually a fan of big money signings and wasting money on players so i ended up only making 3 signings, with 2 of them being free and one big money move for Kyriakos Papadopoulos. The guy is a tank of a centre bank and with Jagielka now ageing it made sense to invest in him before his price rose anymore, he will partner Vertonghen for around half this season interchanging with Jagielka.

My long term following of Carlos Tevez has finally finished and at the age of 30 and on a free he was a must sign, i will admit he certainly is hard to please on this years and can see why mancini refused to play him, but hes starting to listen to me more now and i hope he will lead the attack to many victories this year.

The other signing of Louis Pelletier is a french regen GK who is 18 years old, he has very good potential according to my scout and is already a well rounded GK for his age, him and another regen i have called Vanderlan look to have very promising careers.

Fixtures -

Pre season went very well, using a combination of youth and experienced players we went the entire pre season unbeaten and onloy conceding one goal, surprisingly enough the one goal conceded had regular keeper Tim Howard in goal, whereas every other game i gave young regen Vanderlan the chance to impress me and he did. The 6-1 over Everton Chile was particluarily pleasing as it involved a annual hat trick from Fierro in pre season and the end to a bad season injury wise for him so it was nice to see his development start again this pre season.

As you can see the season has begun and we got off to a good defensive counter attacking win over Aston Villa, goals from Dos Santos and Fellaini eased us to victory.

Finances -

The finances of the club are finally on the up (YEY) mainly down to Champions League football, the chairman provided the club with a loan but also increase the bank loan by around 70 million from when he first took over. Losing around 2 million a month of average however we are financially strong enough now to deal with this and am glad to have some money to spend.

Goodison Park got an expansion without me asking for it, now holds 45,000 and also plans to improve the youth facilities are in place. Still have 15 million budget spare but don't see the need to spend this right now so will just keep hold of it until January and see who becomes available then. I will be on the lookout for a RB as we dont really have one good enough but until January the other players can rotate in this position.

In other news i have also been offered the England job, which i think is a great achievement considering only 4 seasons ago i was an unknown sunday league footballer xD

[Falahk]

just started with everton. doing well enough. 7th. in january now

7th is not really good enough when you have a squad that can do title challange, unless you have a big injury crissis

anyway, I ended my test run a couple games early still toping the league, but now only on the virtue of scoring more goals, and I won the carling cup like mentioned

but form tailed of in february when my key player, Luis Saha, picked up a long term injury which forced me to play Stracqualarsi a lot (who aint bad, but just not as consistant as Saha), and since I was tactic testing, I only used one very attacking tactic all the time, when reputation goes up, the other teams will start to play very pragmatic, sit back and wait for my team to make mistakes, this in turn means that extravagant attacking footy aint always the best possible response (it still is sometimes but not in every game), so I probably could have kept things solid by starting to play more defensive myself in the odd game, but that was never really the point with this testing I was doing

all that said, I really enjoyed using the squad, and will probably do a proper save once the 3rd patch with the transfer update arrives

[Kieran08]

I was really struggling August - January with my strikers. (Wilfried, Anichebe, Gueye and Straq) They scored 3 goals between them in that space of time.

So if you are like me and had a bit of spare money over, I bought Moussa Sow for 11m and he is banging them in and my striker problems are solved!

[Synthahols_for_Girls]

Picked up Wilfred and Babacar in the first window and they were doing OK but it needed some spark

Had a young lad named Jese on loan from Real sitting behind the front 2 who was keeping Cahill out of the team and a big bid came in in the Jan window from chelse

so Sold Tim and *****ed the proceeds on Doumbia,

The guy has been immense alongside Wilfred, he's been averaging better than a goal a game for 2 seasons now

[brento]

Got an everton save going in december 1st season in 4th place but want them to play nice football short,possesion any help?

[joshgo]

Got an everton save going in december 1st season in 4th place but want them to play nice football short,possesion any help?

I've been attempting the same type of style and have found a few things that have seemed to help. I have used the shouts for "work ball into box" and "play out of defense" to a fair degree of success. This seems to concentrate the whole team on keeping the ball on the ground and not just hoofing it. I've also started using one of my CBs as a ball-playing stopper with short passing set. This has usually been Heitinga and he has been doing quite well so far. I've noticed in game that he seems to win possession high and then recycle the ball to one of the MCs as opposed to clearing it upfield. While positionally it can bite you if you don't have your other DC on cover, he tends to sometimes linger just behind the MCs to serve as an outlet before retreating back to the backline. Hope this helps some.

[Welshace]

short passing football ... use a defensive mentality, short passing, less width, no shooting long, play through middle etc

[Aaust]

I've always had a soft spot for Everton and usually play at least one save with them every year. This year, however, I was slightly weary because of the financial situation.

A couple of days ago I did, nonetheless, decide to give it a go. I figured that the key to keep finances under control was to cut the wage bill, so I decided to sell most of the club's aging higher earners and bring in young talent that I could sell on for a profit.

I'm afraid that my transfers haven't been very innovative. I got hold of the usual bargains in Ivan Bandalovski, Petar Zanev, Andile Jali and Tshabalala. I also decided to go for Loïc Nestor and Erick Torres, and splashed the cash slighly to get in Willian for 7.5M. All in all I spent a total of 13.25M in transfers (a combination of up front payment and 48 months), compared with the 4.8M I got in, mainly through the sales of Saha, Distin and Mucha. But all my new arrivals are relatively cheap in terms of wages, so I managed to cut the wage bill from ca. 33 to ca. 27M per annum.

I would have wanted to reduce it further, but certain players, like Phil Neville, has proved very difficult to shift. I got some offers for him in the summer, but he was unwilling to move to the likes of Norwich and Swansea.

My first team is like this (4-5-1/4-3-3): Howard (gk) - Bandalovski (fb), Heitinga (bpd), Jagielka (cd), Baines (fb) - Fellaini (dm-s), Jali/Rodwell (bbm), Bilyaletdinov (cm-a) - Willian (w-a), Cahill (tm-s), Tshabalala (w-a).

After 22 games I'm highly surprised (but delighted) to be topping the table on 50 points -- two points ahead of Arsenal, and six ahead of Man Utd and City on 3rd and 4th respectively.

The financial situation isn't all that horrible. I'm losing money, but is currently only about 500,000 in the red. If I can finish in the top four then price money and CL football should keep the club pretty well afloat.

My current dilemma is whether or not I should try to sell one more player before the end of the january window. I love Fallaini, but his contract is expiring in 2013, and I'm not inclined to give him the rise he is demanding to sign a new one (and his agent's demands of a minimum fee release clause and a highest earner clause is completely out of the question). So I might decide to sell, but I would like to get in at least 15M for him. The highest offer so far has been 13M (from Aston Villa), which I rejected.

Does anyone know if it's possible to get more for him in the summer (2012), or will his value only decrease as his contract will be closer to expiring?

[Aaust]

My season just ended. I finished 4th, which is pretty good, but nonetheless slightly annoying because I was still in the title race almost until the end.

We didn't really collapse, but we haven't been able to beat the big boys all year. Willian got injured on 31th of January and didn't play again before the last game of the season. I got in Gabriel Torje in an emergeny loan deal on transfer deadline day, but while he performed well enough he just wasn't big enough to fill the brazilian's boots. The comparative lack of flair up front resulted in a couple of drab 0-0 and 1-1 draws against the likes of West Brom and Sunderland, just as the Manchester clubs got into the groove.

I hung on to Fellaini in the January window and still couldn't manage to get rid of Neville. We started to lose a lot of money, but the PL price money ensured that we finished the season with a positive bank balance of £4M.

It looks like Fellaini has to go in the summer -- I just hope we can still get 10M+ for him. Don't like losing him, but I've got Jali, Rodwell and Barkley coming through, so should be safe in the long run.

[smplfc123]

Just started an Everton game.

I have brought in Dempsey from fulham for £3.8m and Ciaran Clark on loan from Aston villa.

Chelsea have offered me £7m cash upfront for Tim Cahill, should i accept? :S

[Aaust]

If you want to cash in on him you might as well do it sooner rather than later. However, I think he's got at least a couple of good seasons in him, and with his excellent mentality he'll be a great tutor for someone like Barkley. And don't forget he can contribute both in midfield and upfront, so he can be quite useful to keep around.

[Ncfc_king]

Just got into my 3rd season, finished 6th with a league cup win and 13th but i had a clear out and stuck with the youth. It's just got intresting though because ive had a takeover and its a Greek Tycoon Il post screenshots when i get back from work tomorrow, i should have been in bed at 10 but FM brings up little surprises that makes it impossible to leave.

[Magicz]

Just been offered the job at the beginning of the second season, I took it and will share the managing of Everton with the managing of England.

Baines had already been sold to Arsenal so I brought in Andre Santos on loan.

Clint Dempsey also came in, along with Luc Castaignos on loan.

Sold Yobo and a couple of reserves.

Starting the season in earnest in a bit

[evertonmarc]

Just restarted with my team, only thing i "edited" was making sure the chairmans status was lower, so that it showed he wanted to sell (which if you believe Kenwright in real life, this is what he wants).

Got bought out a few months in, by a Arab sugardaddy....first time thats ever happened!

Happy days

[brento]

I also lowered the chairmans status got taken over by local buisness man mr sheepshanks NO INVESTMENT what so ever:(

[MeesterCat]

I just got offered the Everton job after a consortium replaced Kenwright and fired Mike Phelan(?!). It's November 2013 and the squad is interesting to say the least.

Jagielka and Fellaini have been moved on and Rodwell is on loan at Preston(again ?!) The average age of the defence is about 100 as Heitinga, Distin and Yobo are still there! However the squad does have Adam Johnson and Gareth Barry, plus Baines, Cahill and Bandalovski. Barkley is in the reserves so I'll be promoting him. I'll also try and poach some of the promising players I picked up at my previous club, Portsmouth.

The finances aren't great, theres no European football and the squad needs overhauling - just how I like my FM saves. I'll try and post some screenshots when I get a chance.

Edit: Here's the squad:

[Welshace]

wow.. looks an interesting challenge... certainly need some firepower upfront...

good to see jonas svensson there though

good luck

[MeesterCat]

Cheers!

I've been kept busy by work and family since I posted the screenshot, so I've not been able to progress any further (bar a few staff changes that I'd made).

I'm sorely tempted to try and re-sign a Regen forward I'd just started playing at Portsmouth when I left them. He'd got 5 goals in 3 games and looks top quality, but I doubt I'd be able to afford him now. Maybe I'll get Leigh Griffiths on loan? I've never used him, but I do see his name appear a lot on these forums.

After slightly shafting my Portsmouth team due to bringing in too many players in one go, I want to bring about evolution rather than revolution. I'm anticipating not getting European place so some financial prudence will be needed too - My main priority will be to let Barry go (he's on £67k p/w), and bring in a pacey DC, a decent striker and maybe another winger.

[Welshace]

leigh griffiths is a great shout.. see how he's progressed on your game though.. and check his scoring records...

he's always scored wherever ive taken him though..

[MeesterCat]

I think the poor guy has just been sat in Wolves' Reserves for the last 2 1/2 years. I came very close to putting in a bid, but then I noticed Daniel Sturridge was on the transfer-list... I'm hoping his wage demands aren't too extravagant.

I'm also debating on trying to poach Steve Caulker from Spurs or try and re-sign Dibon from Portsmouth as he can play both DC or DR.

Managed to play a few games last night (I play slowly): lost 3-1 away to Wolves, then won 4-0 against Fulham (H) & 2-1 at Villa. This leaves us in 7th in the run-up to Christmas, but only 2 points short of a European place.

Osman and Distin announced their retirements too: I'm going to try and keep Distin on as a coach as he's got some good coaching stats.

[jeesh]

Hi guys, i am pondering about the possibility of buying Rodwell for my Leeds team. Can anyone suggest what type of a player he is? I am in the year 2014 and looking for a box to box type midfielder who can bolster my midfield aiding in defence and offence. Can he do the job?

[Toffeedane]

yes he can wery good player , i have used him most as MC but also as DMC DLP and box to box . How much will he cost ?

[II McColl II]

dissapointed as an everton fan not to see George Green in the u18s team with the new patch. One of the most promising youngsters in england currently. Has to be in the game for FM13

[thefishpeoplearecoming]

He's not old enough to be in the game...

[united08]

After getting the sack from man utd i decide to offer my services to everton (accepted) love the team very close to my heart as my grandad used to support them bless him!! i got a great team in 2014-15 season with the team being

Howard

Yobo (need a replacement)

Jagielka

Dawson - i brought for 1.2m

Baines

Chamberlain - loanee

Barkley

Gibson - loanee

N Dyer

Cahill

Vela/Anichebe (needs sorting)

starting first 4 games and these are the results

Everton 1-0 Chelsea

Arsenal 2-2 Everton

West Ham 0-1 Everton

Everton 2-1 Burnley

Doing Well!!!

Who to fill in right back for cheap..and striker problems!!

[joshgo]

I picked up Stefano Renzetti (sp?) from, I believe, Padova in Serie B in the first window. He's a relatively young DL and only cost a couple hundred thousand dollars. Bought his as back up as I didn't like any of the prospects at DL for my Everton side starting out. He has been immense. Came in with two assists in his first start in the Prem, both pinpoint driven crosses through traffic. Has followed that up by almost keeping Baines out the the lineup with a string of very good performances. Had to move him to the right to cover for injuries right about the time Baines came back. Must have high versatility, as even though it's not a listed position, he dominated the right side too.

His stats are very well balanced, but he is also one of those players that seems to play to a higher level than his stats would suggest. With some training, could probably cover up to ML/MR. Definitely worth a shout for cash-strapped Everton.