your progress on the beta?

[rywilson]

I've found that morale is a big factor more so this year than others. I was on a run of winning 1 in 7 and couldn't seem to buy a win, got a 3-1 against Grimsby and gone 4 unbeaten. No change of tactics either.

[Rossi]

I've started a simulation with all countries and leagues just to see what will happen in the future. After 70 hours, it's December 2018.

[Soverntear]

I've been regulated.... twice. I have not done well with the series since 12. Hopefully things will turn around for Staines on the third run through.

[brenosantos]

I've started in the national squad of Malta, but i'm losing so much matches:

Malta 0-3 Bulgaria

Malta 1-3 Denmark

Malta 0-2 Romenia

Malta 0-7 Italy

Malta 1-4 Belgium

Malta 3-0 Gibraltar

Malta 0-2 Armenia

I'm using a 4-2-3-1, the offensive sector is doing very well, creating some oportunities, but the lack of technique in the defense don't allow us to win. Justin Haber and Andre Schembri are the great names of Malta.

[PineappleBlender]

Won L1 as Wolves, though the morale problem did try to stop that at one point with an awful run.

Currently about quarter of the way through my season in the Championship and looking good in first place, after strengthening the squad with a few new signings. And refusing to allow my best players to leave. I'll drag this lot kicking and screaming into the Prem, no matter how much they moan about wanting to go to a bigger club!

[Jme10]

Finished first season with Arsenal and won the treble of Prem, FA Cup and Champions League. Both cups were won on penalties as I dominated both games in normal time, but the team was continually wasting good chances. Now I'm getting ready to retool the squad for next year. I should say this all came after being a game away from being sacked (twice) when I was down as low as 12th-13th when I was struggling with my tactics.

[wez007]

Won L1 as Wolves, though the morale problem did try to stop that at one point with an awful run.

Currently about quarter of the way through my season in the Championship and looking good in first place, after strengthening the squad with a few new signings. And refusing to allow my best players to leave. I'll drag this lot kicking and screaming into the Prem, no matter how much they moan about wanting to go to a bigger club!

Lol, i had the exact same thing in terms of half the squad wanting to leave before a ball was even kicked. Also like you I went through some bad runs, but unlike you I didnt win L1 (i did come 2nd though )

Im completely changing the squad for the Championship, those who dissed me at the start are now out the door! (flex)

[Hollow101]

How have you guys all got on in ref to selling players? Currently have save with wolves (currently in sept) but finding it very difficult to sell players even on free's.

Also interesting to see two other people trying out wolves, looks like had same issue as each other on players 'wanting to leave for bigger club' did your players end up with abysmal morale due to this? And did that any effect on the squad or did u just play through it?

Thanks

Hollow101 (wolves fan for my sins )

[LUFCspeni]

Struggling with San Marino. 1st season finished 5th and lost in play-off semi finals, then board slashed the wage budget from 32K to 21K, so struggling with a dire squad, just above the relegation playoff places.

[PineappleBlender]

Yeah, those players' morale tanked but I just ignored it; the rest of the squad didn't seem too fussed. Definitely make sure you extend a few contracts at the start of the game, and at the start of next season though. Lost Edwards and Stearman to Bosman ruling because they didn't want new contracts since they were annoyed with me, and it looks like I'll lose Hennessey this season too, unless promotion and time change his mind.

I did try and unload ol' Jamie and Doyle at the start of S2 after being a bit overzealous with new signings' wages (whoops), but I'm not going to pay each 25K a week to go elsewhere as compensation. Though given Kevin has started banging them in this season it's probably a good idea to keep him at the moment, even with the wage demands.

[vikingarrow]

Managing Preston in League 2, currently sitting in a 5th position which I am very happy about considering all my devastating injuries during the pre season. Kevin Davis has been amazing so far as target man, 17 goals in 18 matches. Im more unsure about the future, the club got bad finances and I can`t seem to extend players on new contracts - but great challenge

[BuryBlade]

Having been sacked at the start of February by Sheff Utd after some dire performances, I got offered the Guiseley job in the Skrill North. Sat in the relegation zone, I was tasked with saving them. I have played 7 matches so far, winning 5, drawing 2 and currently on a run of 6 clean sheets in a row. I'm quite liking this lower level of football.

[CaptainBanana]

Tried 3 games, 3 teams, sacked 3 times after 5 month.

I can't win a game.

[jonteyayo]

Getting the best out of Stoke in season 1 should be a top 10 finish, not finishing 2nd in the league. I know that traditionally, FM becomes easy for good managers as the seasons go on, but IMO, you should never be able to take a team like Stoke to 2nd in the EPL in the first season.

Just my opinion though.

I dont think its FM14 particulary that is easy, just FM in general. FM13 was as easy where I won promotion from Serie B with Verona and won Serie A second season. It just helps that you have played football for your entire life, and played FM since the CM days. However, I had no idea how the new FM14 tactical system worked and was quite shocked to see all sliders were removed. I did never in my dreams expect to end 2nd with Stoke in the first season. Before I chose club I looked through the squads and noticed how good the Stoke defenders were, that is why I picked them and that is why it was successful. I was lucky that Crouch didn´t get injured since I only had 2 strikers the entire season to play (Walters).

I used a Defending match preparation training for the entire season with a 4-1-2-2-1 (DMC, MC, MC, AMR, AML, FC), where Balanced fluidity and Attacking mentality was the philosophy. As long as your defense is very solid and dont do any mistakes you can win any game, even if you are outplayed. All it requires is a header in the 90th minute from Crouch.

[Rich2086]

How have you guys all got on in ref to selling players? Currently have save with wolves (currently in sept) but finding it very difficult to sell players even on free's.

Also interesting to see two other people trying out wolves, looks like had same issue as each other on players 'wanting to leave for bigger club' did your players end up with abysmal morale due to this? And did that any effect on the squad or did u just play through it?

Thanks

Hollow101 (wolves fan for my sins )

Im with wolves and managed to shift Johnson, Hennessey, Elokobi, Doyle, Davis quite easily there were probably more but i cant remember i had all of those and Edwards, Stearman and Cassidy all request a transfer but i found if you really want to keep them just accept their request and play them anyway, give it a month or two and they'll want to stay then offer them new deals. Managed to replace all my players with Gary Gardner, Charlie Adam, Derek Boyata, Tommy Smith, Mathew Etherington. Just got to jan they gave me 10 million so bought Fiero for 3 million.

With Wolves you can easily just use their financial clout to win you the league no need for high earners like Doyle Hennessey and Johnson. O'hara has just got fully fit and hes good to so you can imagine Adam O'hara and Gardner are just rinsing league 1, its almost unfair i even knocked qpr out the cup and my rotation team only lost 1-0 to liverpool in next round

[wez007]

How have you guys all got on in ref to selling players? Currently have save with wolves (currently in sept) but finding it very difficult to sell players even on free's.

Also interesting to see two other people trying out wolves, looks like had same issue as each other on players 'wanting to leave for bigger club' did your players end up with abysmal morale due to this? And did that any effect on the squad or did u just play through it?

Thanks

Hollow101 (wolves fan for my sins )

Same, couldnt get rid of any of the big earners - Doyle, O'Hara etc, still got them going into the 2nd season but trying to sell for peanuts just to clear the wage.

One thing that i did find strange when the first transfer window came round was the board gave me £15m to spend (i didnt cos there was naff all to buy). Same happen to you guys?

[Rich2086]

Same, couldnt get rid of any of the big earners - Doyle, O'Hara etc, still got them going into the 2nd season but trying to sell for peanuts just to clear the wage.

One thing that i did find strange when the first transfer window came round was the board gave me £15m to spend (i didnt cos there was naff all to buy). Same happen to you guys?

Got like 2m for doyle, 1m for elokobi, 1.3m for johnson and sold Hennessey to liverpool for 3m

[wez007]

Im with wolves and managed to shift Johnson, Hennessey, Elokobi, Doyle, Davis quite easily there were probably more but i cant remember i had all of those and Edwards, Stearman and Cassidy all request a transfer but i found if you really want to keep them just accept their request and play them anyway, give it a month or two and they'll want to stay then offer them new deals. Managed to replace all my players with Gary Gardner, Charlie Adam, Derek Boyata, Tommy Smith, Mathew Etherington. Just got to jan they gave me 10 million so bought Fiero for 3 million.

I had Etherington on loan, was one of my outstanding players along with Cole (free transfer). My first team currently looks like this:

Falk cost me 4m but i really liked his mental, accel and dribbling attributes (which i love for a BBM). Apart from a couple the XI is unrecognisable from the first season

[Coen]

Started a season as Leeds United 3 times, each time sacked before Xmas.

I probably won't bother trying again until the proper release now. Can't be bothered trying to figure out the new match engine/tactics if it's all going to be patched anyway.

[Rich2086]

I had Etherington on loan, was one of my outstanding players along with Cole (free transfer). My first team currently looks like this:

Falk cost me 4m but i really liked his mental, accel and dribbling attributes (which i love for a BBM). Apart from a couple the XI is un-regonisable from the first season

Nice i decided i didnt need henners and ikeme so cashed in on henners. My back 4 is Ricketts-Bath-stearman-foley thats really working well. Sako's my top scorer but my squad is HUGE need to get shot of some for next season. One thing thats annoying is the scouting range they wont make it beyond UK

[wez007]

Batth has been quality but really keen to leave, hence the red morale arrow

Same with the scouting, cant get outside UK even tried to pester the board but they not having it

[Rich2086]

Batth has been quality but really keen to leave, hence the red morale arrow

Same with the scouting, cant get outside UK even tried to pester the board but they not having it

I managed to get bath to sign a new contract and yeah he is quality was on fm13 to. Stearman looks like he's going on a free though and Edwards which is disappointing.

[jakobx]

Im officially the worst manager in FM14. Started with Staines (BSS). Players are obviously not good enough. Tried signing better ones but I had no luck. Played with low morale all season and gave up when i was pretty much destined to be relegated.

Tried a new game with Maidenhead. Started by getting rid of all players that cant even play in BSS. My wage budget is around 3000p/w so its kinda hard to build a team with that money. No one is interested to come on loan (except BSS/BSN reserve or worse players). Tried signing a few BSS quality players but couldnt find any. In the end i signed a couple of youth players just to be able to field a team. Loaned a couple of crappy players because of injuries. Thinking of giving up again after half a season. I have no money to sign anyone and cant loan anyone that can make a difference.

I checked if its possible to sign someone from abroad on semi-pro deal, but for some reason players dont want to be payed 2000+ pounds a month. I guess thats an intentional bug.

[Anti Spiral]

I'm about 10 games into the season with Celtic. Currently 6th after loses to Motherwell, Hearts and ICT, as well as lots of draws

Played 2 Champs League group games and lost heavily to Barcelona and Man City. Might get the sack soon. :o

[Dan BHTFC]

Started a save with Yeovil as thought it'd be a challenge in the Championship, after 12 games I am 9th which I'm happy with, got a good partnership up front with Paddy Madden and Robert Earnshaw

[SirRudi5-1]

Currently Man Utd, can't sell anyone, no-one wants Nani or Valencia, purchased Alaba and Diego Costa.

Currently sitting 1st after 27 games 12pts in the lead.

Beat Liverpool 7-0, Barca 4-0.

Been quite easy tbh.

4 2 3 1

[PineappleBlender]

Utterly destroyed the championship this year and came in first place by 10 points. After supposedly being expected to avoid relegation, hah.

High wage demands took a large dent out of the finances since I didn't lose many of the overpaid players (and wasn't going to pay thousands each week for them to play elsewhere), but hopefully back to back promotions will be worth it once the PL cash starts rolling in.

Rock solid defence with Batth, Elokobi, Johnson, and Hennessey meant that I conceded the least in the league. Sigurdarson has been banging them in, and Doyle has been pretty good as well. Griffiths has been a bit of a disappointment and I doubt he'll be any good in the Prem. Sako has been pretty decent but apparently hates me and wants crazy money to stick around, so he can get lost. I'll get O'Hara back after his season-long loan at Bournemouth.

[jwalker1993]

playing as wrexham currently 4th......trying to get my center halves to defend its a nightmare, ill be sticking with it

Think it might just be the skrill prem, I'm managing Macclesfield it's mid November now and we've only kept two clean sheets all season no matter how much defensive training we do, well, and the fact that Efe Sodje is our best CB, currently 9th which is pleasantly surprising

[BuryBlade]

Just about to begin second season with Guiseley. My squad was gutted in the post season as I was unable to offer any contracts due the board limiting me to £0 per week! I have had to build a squad around my youth candidates from last year plus a few players I was able to bring in after my squad was taken apart by my rivals. The board's minimum expectation is playoffs in The Skrill North... this after me saving them from relegation last year (took over in March when they were 21st out of 22 and finished 8th).

First game of pre-season is today... Home v Arsenal U21s... a team that includes Giroud, Mertesacker, Rosicky, Djourou and Diaby... I'm expecting to get destroyed in this match.

[forameuss]

I'm onto my second club on my hopefully long save. Started at Henan in China in the second tier and won the league on the final day (after being 14 points clear when I took over...oops). After a less than impressive start to the new season in the Super League, I jumped ship to Newcastle United Jets in Australia.

I'm going to go on record now and say I love Emile Heskey dearly and unequivocally. MONSTER.

[nizzy777]

Hey I've just started as Coventry too, can you tell if after they were bought out they moved back to the Ricoh Arena? Or do they still play at Northampton?

[PineappleBlender]

S3 is going well, half way though it and I'm somehow sitting in 5th place in the Prem, after some amazing wins against a few of the giants, including narrow wins against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham. Balance has slowly crawled out of the red thanks to the TV revenue flowing in. I'm pretty astounded so far, considering I had to completely rebuild the squad since a bunch of players left on frees.

Not scoring as many as I'd like but I'm not conceding many either. Just wish I could have kept Hennessey as my current replacement keeper is only a fraction as good... seems pretty silly he wouldn't stay after winning the league twice in a row and being promoted back to the PL. Having left on a free, he ended up out of contract for months before signing for Sunderland (who look like they might go down) on less than half the salary he was getting before.

Batth and Elokobi have become powerhouses at the back, Ismail has turned into a very good winger, and while Sigurdarson isn't racking up insane amounts of goals he's still doing a pretty decent job against much better opposition.

[Mennox]

Started as Newcastle and won the League cup and finished 3rd, however it took me 50 hrs to finish my first season. Without doubt I am loving the game.

Had some interesting buying and selling going on...Liverpool wanted Anita for 7.5mil however I managed to do a straight swap with Raheem Stirling who is a gem

Sold Mwbia for £20mil which was a a good sale and although I was reluctant to sell Cabaye who was worth £18mil, I managed to get £28mil....my replacement as Aaron Ramsey for £15mil, bargain I say

[wazza]

Had a great weekend sorting out Stockport but now have to wait until final release and editor is out to start again as club is down as Professional and not Semi Professional which they became in April 2013. That means I cant sign non contract players and puts me at a disadvantage.

I keep been tempted to start again at another club but Stockport to carry my unemployed journeyman save over but cannot decide

[Dagenham_Dave]

Started as Newcastle and won the League cup and finished 3rd, however it took me 50 hrs to finish my first season. Without doubt I am loving the game.

Had some interesting buying and selling going on...Liverpool wanted Anita for 7.5mil however I managed to do a straight swap with Raheem Stirling who is a gem

Sold Mwbia for £20mil which was a a good sale and although I was reluctant to sell Cabaye who was worth £18mil, I managed to get £28mil....my replacement as Aaron Ramsey for £15mil, bargain I say

Arsenal sold you Ramsey for less than his actual value?

Did they perchance have a little change of manager throughout the season

[daylight]

Got promoted with Altrincham first season, got tired of the limitations placed on the lower league teams, started a new save with Burton in the second division, seems already to be a good save to try.

Some good players, a bit to play with in the wage budget and nice training facilities.

Will start proper tomorrow and drop the dead wood and go about searching for better players.

[SazoJohnno]

In my second season with Liverpool. Managed to win the league before the patch released for the beta which stopped my dominance so currently second in the league while just heading into first round knockout against PSG in CL.

The way things is going, I think I will continue this save when the official FM14 release. Would be my second time having done that with FM13. Huge improvement and loving it.

[scott MUFC]

just slowly making may through tinkering as I go, actually just done this exact weekend

Havn't lost, been close but had a few draws, conceded in those to silly corner, goal line scrambles, and the 3-3 with west ham from 3-1 down was good

[Georgik]

So far i managed to finish just 1 season with Arsenal, won the league, and got sacked in the next season, and nobody will hire me, even Championship teams, i set my past experience as sunday league but when i won the league i had national reputation and still being refused by teams like cordoba or bolton, blackburn and so on.

And i managed also Belgium on another save, and resigned without losing a single game, after being knocked out in World Cup QF by England (one of my favourite national teams among Brazil and Holland) on penalties, i always had 1 penalty in front and they had to score to not lose it, and they scored every single time until i missed one, really angered me after i spent time managing a nice football team, playing beautifully, also the game finished 3-3 in regular time, England went to win the WC in the end, beating Cameroon in semifinals and Italy in the final.

Forgot to say that i was angered in this save also because Vertonghen and Hazard broke their legs and while Hazard was able to recover for the game against England, Vertonghen missed the entire WC.

[Kain]

Just at the end of January 2014 with Notts County. We're currently 12th in the table (predicted 13th), but only 6 points away from the playoffs and 17 away from relegation, so can't complain too much.

Unfortunately Jack Grealish was only on a 6 month loan and went back to Villa in early January, so I've had to try and find a new left winger on loan who's as good. I couldn't, had to settle for a 31 year old who looks decent enough apart from having 10 for pace.

I also decided early on that the squad could do with some more experienced heads to help us through our inevitable bad run of form at some point during the season, so I brought in Chimbonda, Diego Placente, Shefki Kuqi and Shelton Martis who have a combined age of about 600. Chimbonda's been a bit of a waste but was only meant to be a backup anyway. The other three have all done pretty well, with Kuqi earning a one year extension to his contract.

[nnkr99]

I decided to jump straight in at the deep end with the San Marino Challenge.

So far, i've won 2 back to back promotions, and am just beginning my first season in Serie A.

On top of this I have convinced the board to improve Youth facilities and JUnior Coaching, already there are some very good looking Sammarinese regens coming through the ranks.

I've had some mixed results with the nation, but overall positive, we somehow beat Poland in the World cup quals, before losing every other game. Currently in the Euro qualifiers, and drew and then beat FYR Macedonia, as well as a 0-0 draw with N. Ireland, so my current world ranking is 125th.

Loving the new additions to the game and can't wait for the full version!

[Ollep7]

Currently struggling no matter who I am, or what tactic I do... I must be doing something wrong but I really am not enjoying FM14.

Anyone nice enough to possibly let me try out their tactic that they've had success with to see if its that, or whether its just the mac version being rubbish as I am loosing patience fast now!

Same for me. I love the new game and design and everything... but I can't get any results. My keeper passes to the opposition, my defenders just casually walk while the opponent breaks away. Got sacked 9 games in with Monaco :/. I've never been too bad in this game (been playing for 10 years +). Gonna wait for the full release before starting a game... But I want to play so bad!

[KingJason13]

I'm currently running 5 United saves (testing different formations) and I've been sacked in 2 of those! I'm probably about to get sacked in a 3rd, too! Why, do you ask? Because, although I dominate every game, and get 10+ shots on target... my strikers couldn't score to save there lives! One on ones? Nope. Long shots? nope. Point blank headers into empty nets? Nope. My top scorer is Vidic, then Evans, and then Welbeck. WELBECK!? Welbeck scored back to back hattricks! That should say it all for what I think of the new match engine...

I genuinely hate this stage of the FM "process". I really wish we weren't used as beta-testers... and that the "beta" didn't last all the way through half of the games life cycle.

Yet, still, here I am... purchasing and playing a game I love (and sometimes hate).

[USMNT10]

Quick and off topic question, but I didn't want to make a thread about it. When you set the game to sim for a few weeks (Go on Vacation), do those wins/losses count towards your record? or does it go to the assistant coach who is taking over while you are on vacation?

[tbh]

Batth has been quality but really keen to leave, hence the red morale arrow

Same with the scouting, cant get outside UK even tried to pester the board but they not having it

I'm also with wolves and I'm struggling with my finances, i've also managed to get rid of all the high earners yet i'm still losing money? how? :confused::confused:

[PineappleBlender]

Just starting S4. Having blown through Wolves' existing bank balance on keeping a lot of players around (and being unable to get rid of some) to get to the Prem, I somehow managed to pull together an almost brand new squad with 10M or so. Despite a complete lack of squad depth (at one point due to injuries I only had about 14 players available in my senior squad) I somehow ended up coming in 7th place, having being predicted to be dead last. Some fantastic results against the giants certainly helped, and with a few extra wins that I easily could have got on another day, an even higher place would have been possible.

Thanks to all the revenue and prize money coming in, I've been able to strengthen the squad considerably for this season, as well as introducing some much needed depth... essential given the EURO Cup matches I'm playing, as well as my intentions of doing well in the League and FA Cups this time around, rather than focusing on the league. I've also managed to expand my scouting team to snag a couple of hot-prospect regens, one of which looks like he could turn into a leading GK.

All in all, not a bad time to be a Wolves supporter in my game!

[tbh]

Just starting S4. Having blown through Wolves' existing bank balance on keeping a lot of players around (and being unable to get rid of some) to get to the Prem, I somehow managed to pull together an almost brand new squad with 10M or so. Despite a complete lack of squad depth (at one point due to injuries I only had about 14 players available in my senior squad) I somehow ended up coming in 7th place, having being predicted to be dead last. Some fantastic results against the giants certainly helped, and with a few extra wins that I easily could have got on another day, an even higher place would have been possible.

Thanks to all the revenue and prize money coming in, I've been able to strengthen the squad considerably for this season, as well as introducing some much needed depth... essential given the EURO Cup matches I'm playing, as well as my intentions of doing well in the League and FA Cups this time around, rather than focusing on the league. I've also managed to expand my scouting team to snag a couple of hot-prospect regens, one of which looks like he could turn into a leading GK.

All in all, not a bad time to be a Wolves supporter in my game!

How did Griffiths do in S1/S2? he's garbage at the moment for me

[isignedupfornorealreason]

Season 1 - Workington, The heavy metal North.

Top of league so far, unbeaten in November.

Singular loss coming with Notts County in the FA Cup First round. I run a flat 4-4-2, nothing fancy, counter, short passing, lower tempo. Am ranked 8th in the pass stats so that helps.

I think the new teamtalks make spotting complacency a bit easier. When the players started to 'ignore' me and were getting cocky I could slap them with a horrible team talk to snap them back to reality. Had a corker of a match to do this in, went 3-0 up by half time, they pulled it back 3-3 and we snuck in a 90th minute injury time goal for 4-3 win, I absolutely laid into them and it was probably one of those rare times I could do it without losing morale(!)

Anyway, my team aren't amazing, but they do the job. I reckon I'll win the league, don't think I'll get too far in the FA Trophy though. We have a habit of netting 90th minute goals, just scored a 92nd minute goal vs Halifax (Premier) in the 1st round of the FA trophy for a 2-1 win (yay!)

As with 12 and 13 I still get a 2 or 3 to 1 goal ratio, but I need to double check that, I think my goals conceded in the league was 6... But it may have gone up a lot, fixture congestion makes for tired defenders. =/

[PineappleBlender]

How did Griffiths do in S1/S2? he's garbage at the moment for me

Not exactly fantastic. For S1 I ended up signing a Hull reserve striker on loan who scored 24 goals or something. Sigurðarson was my main scorer in S2/3 and now he's left I brought Fletcher back from Sunderland to replace him. Looks like he'll have a good season so far.

At the moment I keep Griffiths around as a backup... though he might do better when the striker finishing issues are looked at. He did manage to get quite a few assists with some nice passes and crosses, but the same could be said of Doyle.

All in all, I would have expected him to score more than he does, even if he's not really up to the standard of the PL.

[Keallu]

Had a great weekend sorting out Stockport but now have to wait until final release and editor is out to start again as club is down as Professional and not Semi Professional which they became in April 2013. That means I cant sign non contract players and puts me at a disadvantage.

I keep been tempted to start again at another club but Stockport to carry my unemployed journeyman save over but cannot decide

Have you had any success with Stockport? I'm only at 10th and their stability in horendous and I can't seem to find the right tactic. What are you doing in tactics with Stockport?