FM14: The Sky Bet Football League Thread - Sponsored by William Hill

[Plainlayzee]

Yeah perhaps so, not too sure, it was lacking something most certainly.

What's your views on selling players on this game? Do you feel that it is extremely difficult to sell anyone? Just loaded up a save game and took charge of a few teams to try this out, I got no bids whatsoever for Ishmail Miller, Darius Henderson, Simon Cox, Gui Mousi or Dan Harding off notts forrest, non whatsoever. I offered Rhodes out at B'burn and Norwich offered me 1m over 48months, got no offers for Jay Spearing or Ngog at Bolton....

Surely these players would be wanted by someone. I even put Spearing and Miller down to offers of £0 and still no one bid!

[Plainlayzee]

LEEDS!!! Hmm....now there is an interesting save game. 2m to spend but high wages that need reducing, potential to be massive but clearly the facilities, staff and squad need much improving. Potential....lots of potential. Thinking cap is on.......

[Jogo Bonito]

I'm not sure mate tbh. Portsmouth being in L2 and then L1, didn't have anyone of value to sell. By season 3, I have had a few offers over £500k for the likes of Butler, Wallace and Ferry - others are probably better placed to advise on that. It does seem strange that even the likes of Rhodes wasn't attracting realistic bids though!

I'm still on version 14.1.4 and not sure if I should upgrade or not.

[setzel]

Yeah perhaps so, not too sure, it was lacking something most certainly.

What's your views on selling players on this game? Do you feel that it is extremely difficult to sell anyone? Just loaded up a save game and took charge of a few teams to try this out, I got no bids whatsoever for Ishmail Miller, Darius Henderson, Simon Cox, Gui Mousi or Dan Harding off notts forrest, non whatsoever. I offered Rhodes out at B'burn and Norwich offered me 1m over 48months, got no offers for Jay Spearing or Ngog at Bolton....

Surely these players would be wanted by someone. I even put Spearing and Miller down to offers of £0 and still no one bid!

Dont know if its me but on my entire Argyle save career i sold pretty darn well but started from L2 up into Championship so i dont know starting again with a Championship team how would be.

[Plainlayzee]

I think it's poor to be honest and I have noticed a few people moaning throughout the forums. Seems to be attracting a good bid for one of your players is difficult. It's ok if they make the initial bid but not if you use the offer to clubs option.

[MeesterCat]

With regards the transfers, I wonder if it's just an issue in the first season? Obviously there are budgets available, but a lot of teams have already purchased players 'pre-start of the save' and I wonder if this is affecting bids? I'm wondering if it's hard-coded workaround solution to prevent players making wholesale changes right from the start? Kind of similar to how the AI expresses "Not for Sale" as "Will sell for £200m"

Rather embarrassingly I've not really got beyond Sept 2014 in any of my FM14 saves, so I don't know if this is the case.

Oh and thank you for the kind words regarding my save. Well done D0bi for promotion - surviving the first season in the Premiership after promotion, on a limited budget is one of my favourite challenges in the game.

[setzel]

With regards the transfers, I wonder if it's just an issue in the first season? Obviously there are budgets available, but a lot of teams have already purchased players 'pre-start of the save' and I wonder if this is affecting bids? I'm wondering if it's hard-coded workaround solution to prevent players making wholesale changes right from the start? Kind of similar to how the AI expresses "Not for Sale" as "Will sell for £200m"

Rather embarrassingly I've not really got beyond Sept 2014 in any of my FM14 saves, so I don't know if this is the case.

Oh and thank you for the kind words regarding my save. Well done D0bi for promotion - surviving the first season in the Premiership after promotion, on a limited budget is one of my favourite challenges in the game.

I think its a combination of big wages , big squads and rather medium transfer budgets that makes the AI transfer cheap wage/fee or loan i have no problems in 2018 to sell anyone from my team and i have players that are either good or rubbish for Championship i am interested too see Plainlayzee and meestercat how you sell 2nd season i think you will see an improvment

[Plainlayzee]

I was second season with Huddersfield and still no one wanted my players, but maybe that's because they were all rubbish! Anyway, thinking Leeds for my next game. I am a bit bored of taking small teams up and then it becoming more and more difficult to sign plates or increase the reputation, Leeds is a difficult challenge with the poor squad and quite high expectations, but also a good club to build and can become a premier league team without looking like Yeovil being in there!

[setzel]

I was second season with Huddersfield and still no one wanted my players, but maybe that's because they were all rubbish! Anyway, thinking Leeds for my next game. I am a bit bored of taking small teams up and then it becoming more and more difficult to sign plates or increase the reputation, Leeds is a difficult challenge with the poor squad and quite high expectations, but also a good club to build and can become a premier league team without looking like Yeovil being in there!

I always have a rule that no player from outside receives the best contract on the team , i can give big salaries for my players from my squad so by that i am raising the limit for outside players , that keeps my game interesting anywhere i play and its frustrates me at time but i think house rules always must be put depending on team and save so you can have goals that are hard to achieve and with that keeping the game attractive

[Plainlayzee]

And boosh, just like that I have dived head first into a Leeds United save game.

First things first, the game plan. The aim will be as always to play some sort of free flowing, possession based football, but still have the ability to get the ball wide and fire crosses in. This can be quite hard to mix and match sometimes, but generally if I have the right players I have found before that it is possible. The team must be hardworking as I prefer to play a high line and high pressing game. Work rate, stamina and teamwork all key attributes therefore.

So, after assessing the squad what I have realised is the high amount of 'old' players who are currently earning big money. The older players have a lower stamina etc and therefore will be hopeless in the middle of the park, plus a lot of them are taking home in excess of 8k per week which is just unacceptable.

I decided that the plan would be to ship out the deadwood first, then start the rebuilding process. As a lot of the players that will be leaving are not 'first team' players I hope that this will not effect the teams moral or performances at the beginning of the season. I quite like having a substantial budget going into deadline day or the last week of the window and this is probably where I will look to do most of my business.

The players to leave so far are:

Adam Drury - at 34 he is far too old for my liking and was taking home just short of 5k per week. Derby have taken him off my hands for a nominal fee.

Ryan Hall - at 25 he is certainly not an older player, however again quite high wages for what I deemed a back up player at best. Sheffield United bid 275k which was accepted.

Luke Varney - 30 years of age, a back up and a high earner, everything I hate about this Leeds squad!!! 350k to Sheffield Wednesday will do nicely. They have decided to pay him 12k per week, I hope it's worth it!!

Michael Brown - just isn't my sort of player! We all need a midfielder who can boss games but this isn't the man for me. A liability in terms of discipline, high wages and his stats only going one way. Middlesborough offered around 70k to take him up North.

Michael Tonge - one of the deals I am very happy with. Bournmouth made a loan offer which not only covers his 6k per week wages in full but always pays me 30k a month extra! A good deal all round in my opinion.

Possible outs - Stephen Warnock tops the list. His very high 18k wages are a concern although he does add some quality at left back. Celtic have made a loan offer to cover all his wages plus pay me a substancial monthly fee, and 800k at the end of the loan should they wish to sign him, I just dont think I can turn this one down!

Jason Pearce is a player I would like to keep hold of, however when Crystal Palace bid 1.5m for him I rejected it, only for him to complain at not being allowed to move. A further bid of 1.8m has been received and I think will probably seal the deal for them. As I say, I don't want him to leave but it's looking likely.

Bournemouth again have made a 235k offer for back up keeper Jamie Ashdown which I have stalled on at the moment as I have with Barsnley's 500k bid for Lee Peltier. Both are players I can probably do without, but I don't really want to let them go until I identify a replacement.

Incoming ( the master plan....)

The master plan....hang on whilst I find it.....(@Jogo cover your eyes now!)

I am unfortunately a lover of players I have managed before and I know can do the job for me. So first in through the door was youngster Lewis Milne from Cowdenbeath. Someone I have signed many a time before and for just 60k he is a bargain!

Other targets include Luke Ayling and Ed Upson (two rocks from an old Yeovil save who I always go back too) together with a defender, possibly John Flanagan and a striker.

[MeesterCat]

I like your planning Layzee. What are your aims for the first season - gunning for promotion or a transitional season to implement you plans?

I have a question for you all. How would you train this guy:

As you can see, he has pretty rounded attributes in all areas. He can play in a variety of positions. But that's making it hard to make a decision on what direction to take him in. I've currently got him on a Deep-Lying Playmaker training routine, but he might actually make a decent Defensive Forward. Tne New Zealand national team have been playing him in the AML position and he's got a goal a game (they played 3 more games after this screenshot was taken).

What to you guys think?

[setzel]

he is a payne in the arse but i might train him as a DLP then make him utility player and make him a plug-in player all over the midfield i love to make this type of player latter in their careers since you have a almost finished product and you just mold them with ppms and learn them new positions , but a guy like him you need to stuck him learning about 2-3 years his main position then make him utility player , tough little cookie you have here.

[Jogo Bonito]

Welcome back to FL72 zone Mr Layzee and good luck with Leeds. I agree entirely with you about the old, high-earners and you have some good business concluded there I think. I considered Leeds some time ago because of their potential to revive some serious history, Bahraini links and Brian McDermott. However, the likes of Brown and many similar types put me right off. I couldn't avoid seeing your 'tried and trusted' recruitment' approach, which made me smile - you know why!

MeesterCat, good updates from you as usual. Rovers have a similar problem in some respects - overpaid and unworthy players. You did well on Best, and do also have some potentially decent youngsters to bring through. Payne really does seem like a jack of all trades, not sure what I would do with him at all! Your lack of signings makes it an interesting one, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

[MeesterCat]

Cheers Jogo. The wages at Rovers aren't too bad. There are some horror shows (Best, Campbell, Robinson, Etuhu) but of the remaining highly paid players, they're all probably just about worth it; Rhodes, Dann, Rochina are decent lower Premiership players. One 'hidden' wages issue is that there are a number of U21 players who are on rotation player level wages and are rubbish. They seem to be mostly Portugese or Brazilian!

I'm seriously considering forgetting about trying to get promoted and turn this into a youth save, but early days yet...

[MichaelBrown]

Can't believe you got rid of me layzee...

[Plainlayzee]

Can't believe you got rid of me layzee...

Basically mate your too old and your being paid too much

[MichaelBrown]

Basically mate your too old and your being paid too much

Haha, Brown is a decent player for that level and he can do a job. Others such as Norris are the real wasters in the squad.

[MichaelBrown]

Just to add - good choices in players from Yeovil. Ayling stayed with me until 2018/2019, making just short of 300 appearances for Yeovil before I sold him. I sold Upson first season for £1.1m (he won't cost much more for you) as I needed to bring in some players.

Just to add, look at Iain Vigurs, Korey Smith, Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro and Adam Forshaw. All of them (barring Akpa-Akpro, who is a 2/3 season man) have the potential to grow into good Premier League players.

[MeesterCat]

Just a leedle update from me.

September is completed and was, on paper, an ok month, 1 win, 2 draws, 1 loss. However our performances were dire. The ball given away frequently, defensive comedy, woeful ball control. Leicester steamrollered us and we were lucky to get away with only a 2-0 loss. How we got away from the next two games with 4 points I'll never know.

It has led to a(nother) tactical change though. We were getting battered in the first half by Bournemouth so I thought "Screw It!" and went to a 41221. I also dropped the Shorter Passing Instruction and went with my old Argyle style: Pass Into Space and Hassle Opponents. Things improved...

The next fixture (not on the screenshot) was at Home to Watford. I kept the 41221 to see how things went. We battered them 5-0, with some wonderful attacking football. This took us back up to 5th, so I'll see how the new formation goes over the next few weeks.

Finally, we've got Henrique joining us at the end of October. He's on a fairly hefty wage for a 19 year old in the Championship, but he looks awesome and should have good resale value if all goes pear-shaped.

[dinthead]

Decided to give Crewe a go on FMC and I'm going to try and stick to English players as much as I can.

Outgoings, Max Clayton was a no brainer of course considering he leaves at the end of his contract so to get over £2m and get him back on loan for the season was an easy choice. I let Robertson and Osman go because they're not English, I was going to keep Osman but let him go when I got O'Keefe on loan. I let Byron Moore go because I was going to play without wingers, he went for free because nobody would make any offers for him. Steve Phillips was never going to get a game. Huddersfield bid for Alan Martin on deadline day and I decided to let him go and play Garratt.

Coming in was Stuart O'Keefe on a season long loan fantastic player especially as I'm not paying anything for him. I've gone for plenty of central midfielders as I was going to play a narrow 4132 formation. Also coming in was Liam Sercombe, John Mousinho and Lee Cox all of whom will do a fantastic job for a decent fee.

We got off to a poor start where, watching the games, it was obvious my narrow formation wasn't working so I changed to a 4231 (wish I had kept Byron Moore). The change obviously worked going on a run of 11 wins and 2 draws without defeat. We've almost booked a trip to Wembley by reaching the northern final in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, we'll have to overcome Sheff Utd to get there though. In the other two cups though we went out straight away with defeats to rivals Port Vale in the Capital One Cup and Oldham in the FA Cup.

Our league form though has left us in 4th place which is fantastic considering we're predicted to come 19th. If we keep up our form, I see no reason why we cant finish in a play-off spot or challenge for an automatic promotion spot.

[setzel]

Nice job dinthead , on another forum there was a hole Crewe challenge that got people playing and was fun reading their struggles and triumph . Good luck and get promoted asap

[Jogo Bonito]

MeesterCat, we wait to see if your tactical switch is the start of something special or a flash in the pan!

dinthead, that's an excellent post and it's good to see a different philosophy. It seems to be going very well, and Crewe is an ideal club in that expectations are low, but the finances can be superb at that level. Along with the Clayton money, you have a real opportunity to build your English legacy. The only issue with Crewe is whether you can raise the profile if you rise up the pyramid. In the meantime, the loan-back of Clayton is a real bonus, and I see he has delivered a few goals, along with West and AJ. I recall that West created plenty for me in FM13 but was very injury-prone, and Colclough served me well at Portsmouth in FM14.

I've just updated to the latest version tonight, probably 14.2.2, so my already sliding league form may see my Pompey side dropping close to the relegation zone. I'm in January 2014 and have added Tomislav Barbaric, a very good Croatian centre-back for £250k, to try and tighten up my leaky defence. I've sold/loaned a few out, and more could be moved on. I'll post about it properly when the window 'slams' shut.

[MichaelBrown]

I'm going to skip a few seasons and show you what I've done. I'm going to update from 2020, which is a fair few seasons past my previous one!

2015/16: 17th.

2016/17: 11th.

2017/18: 6th.

2018/19: 9th.

2019/20: 4th.

My trophies are as follows:

2016/17: Capital One Cup

2018/19: Europa Cup

2019/20: Europa Cup.

I'll show you some screenshots of my current team this year. Got some superb regens, with the majority under fierce bidding from the European elite.

[Plainlayzee]

Some good work there Michael Brown, good to see you have stuck with your save for so long, I generally get bored after 2/3 years.

Well it's deadline day IRL and I have just finished deadline day on the game, so I thought I would do an update!!

In the end my outs were as follows:

Adam Dury - Free to Derby County

Ryan Hall - 275k - Sheffield United

Luke Varney - 325k - Sheffield Wednesday

Michael Brown - 68k - Middlesborough

Michael Tonge - loan to Bournemouth - they are paying his wages in full plus 90k a month to me

James Ashdown - 230k - Bournemouth

Stephen Warnock - Celtic on loan, wages paid in full plus 23k a month paid to me

Jason Pearce - 1.8m to Crystal Palace

Lee Peltier - 250k - Barnsley

El-Hadi Diouf - free to RC Lens

David Norris - free to Preston

In the end the wage bill went down by over 60k which was massive, plus the age of the squad dropped as well.

As you know when the season started, Ayling, Flanagan, Milne and Max Clayton (loan from Newcastle) are the only signings I have made.

First game of the season was away to Ipswich. After going 1-0 down, we fought back to win 2-1, Adam White scoring a 92nd minute winner! Next up was the League Cup at home to Bradford, our local rivals. I think this game showed the lack of depth we had within our squad as we collapsed and lost the game 1-0! Having created just 2 chances in the entire game, we clearly lack a few attacking options. Next was Brighton at home which finished 1-1, a respectable result but it was a poor game. Following the Brighton game we had quite a few injuries and ended out with a 18year old in goal for the trip to Birmingham. They simply had too much for us and came away with a 2-1 victory. This was followed by two 1-0 victories, firstly at Doncaster and then against Yeovil at home. Again, a lack of goals but two clean sheets which was pleasing.

DEADLINE DAY!!!

This is where I had always intended to bring in my new squad players and work the market to my advantage.

Our first signing was in by 9am, Stephen Hunt joined the club on a free transfer and on just 5k per week. He is 'old' but has good experience and we lack many options down the left wing. A good signing. Next in was Harlee Dean from Brentford for 600k. He was wanted by Hull and Sunderland but we snapped him up, again on just 6k per week which are low wages for the division. He had earlier agreed a deal with Derby for 1.2m however he suffered an injury and failed his medical, that left us to snap him up on deadline day as he had fully recovered :-).

Three late signings were still to come. Long term target Mason Bennett joined for 1.5m from Derby County. He can play right wing or up front and will add some much needed pace to our team. A high fee perhaps but I see the long term potential in him, plus his low wages of just 3k per week more than made up for the higher fee. The last two were two loans, firstly Andy Reid from Nottingham Forrest joined with me paying just half of his wages. Why Forrest let him leave to join one of their 'rivals' god only knows, but I wasn't complaining. Again, versatile and adds some experience.

Last in is Luke Daniels on loan from West Brom on loan, this time with me not paying them anything for him to stay for the season. A good signing as a back up goalkeeper.

Our squad now looks much much stronger and I am confident that we can push up the table. If we beat Barnsley at home in our next match we will actually go top of the league for an hour or two at least before everyone else plays!

[setzel]

You slashed the wages removed the old deadweight and signed some pretty nice players , i smell promotion

[Jogo Bonito]

I agree with setzel, a good start made Mr Layzee, although probably signing Hunt about five years too late. Reid does seem to be easily recruited, it will be interesting to see if he can perform well for you. Whatever you do, I'm sure your period in charge won't be as shambolic as their real life situation!

[dinthead]

Not the kind of form you want going into the Play-Offs. You can probably also see that I lost in the JPT Final to Bristol City in the dreaded penalty shoot-out.

[MichaelBrown]

Some hard teams there Dion, even though your form has been sketchy. Are you under pressure?

[dinthead]

So I went and lost in the first leg and we deserved to, the only good news coming from it was that it was only 1-0. That proved important as we managed to overturn the 1 goal defecit and won 2-1 on aggregate. As you may have noticed their are injuries to two key players, Mellor is a doubt for the final (which is bad as my backup RB is also now injured) and O'Keefe is definately out. I'll be playing against Colchester after they beat Sheff Utd 4-1 on aggregate.

[krosotv]

about to start a new save with my club birmingham,using a updated database after the transfer window.Now we have no money only 3 players who i could maybe sell for decent money Murphy,Spector and Burke,bur we do have a good youth system with players like Packwood,Brown,Hancox,Reilly,Arthur and Asante likely to feature.I`m quite impressed by our loan signings of Blackett,Thopre,Macheda from Man utd and Huws and Rusnak from Man City we now have 7 players on loan with Ferguson and Allan with Aaron Martin joining too,hopefully we will get taken over soon

[dinthead]

What a game that was, the game you'd want for a final. Fortunately the scoreline eventually went our way but it could easily have gone the other. Championship football next season it is then, I'll hopefully get a proper update up later.

[MichaelBrown]

Congratulations on the promotion Dint (not Dion!). You get any decent players from the youth this year?

[Nottingham Forest]

I will add that if you go for Upson at the start of the game he can be got for £600k or so. Likewise with Ayling and Kevin Dawson as well.

[dinthead]

Congratulations on the promotion Dint (not Dion!). You get any decent players from the youth this year?

I've not got the regens yet, I think on FMC that you get them on the 24th of June or whenever the league reset.

I guess I don't have to do a massive update, I found this pretty cool though.

We're going to have a representative at the World Cup, all right so he's Australian so I don't know how much longer I'm going to keep him, but he's still representing Crewe.

As you can see we finished 3rd, we didn't win any of our last 6 games in the league and if we'd just managed to win 1 of them we'd have gone up automatically. We got promotion in the end though and I'm looking forward to next season.

3 new signings in January, Dele Alli came in for a big fee from MK Dons, at the time it was a big gamble and we'll have to wait and see if it pays off. I brought him in to replace Chuks Aneke who's loan ran out but he didn't play quite as well as Aneke. It's still early in his career though so there's plenty of time to improve. The other two signings weren't gambles at all really considering the fees we paid. Joe Thompson came in from Tranmere for just £20k, as I mentioned in my first update, I started off with a narrow formation and I let Byron Moore go, so I brought Thompson in for more cover on the wings. I like the look of Aaron Spear and he has some good potential, so £21k was a bargain.

EDIT:

Got my regens through and here are the 3 better prospects.

Kieran Hill - My assistant said he was the brightest prospect from this years intake.

Andy Rowe

Marc Hildreth

I've also signed a young Northern Irish regen called Danny Mullan, I figured I'd try signing just English players in a different save and, for just £70k, he's a fairly safe gamble. I'm probably going to use him upfront or in the AMC spot.

[Plainlayzee]

Congratulations on your promotion Dinthead, some really goos signings there too! Max Clayton returning home will be interesting, he should be very good at that level! Interesting to see how Deli Ali does as well, someone that Liverpool and Man UTD have been linked with IRL.

[dinthead]

Congratulations on your promotion Dinthead, some really goos signings there too! Max Clayton returning home will be interesting, he should be very good at that level! Interesting to see how Deli Ali does as well, someone that Liverpool and Man UTD have been linked with IRL.

Thanks, they were my signings for the first season (maybe shoulda made that a bit more clear) and unfortunately I haven't been able to get Clayton back again. Dele did alright in the first season and I'm hoping he can keep on improving.

I'll give a quick little update now that the transfer window in my second season has closed.

Dioni - signed for just £350k from Granada, he has good attributes in all the right places for a striker. He hasn't quite been able to hit the ground running yet but it's still early days and he may take a little while to adjust.

John Fleck - Fleck has hit the ground a bit harder, already putting in a few good performances, he'll probably turn into a key player this season.

Alan Dunne - Only really signed as a backup for Mellor.

Craig Conway - Adds a bit of experience to the team, as well as quality on the wings.

David Martin - Our new number 1 as I felt Garratt wasn't really good enough.

Joe Walsh - A bit more depth at center back and left back. I'm not sure who are my strongest center backs yet so he could turn into a big player for us this season.

Jamie Ness - Signed only because we lacked tackling ability in midfield. The only other midfielder with a tackling attribute in double figures is John Mousinho. The fans weren't too happy that we got a player from Stoke though.

Surplus to requirements were Molyneux, Turton, Audel, Pogba and Oliver. The others have left for more game time.

After a dodgy start, we've settled into the Championship quite nicely. We probably should have won against Brighton and Oldham, but then should have beaten easily against Ipswich and Huddersfield. We managed to get a tight win against Brentford and that gave us the confidence we needed, we then managed to easily beat Burnley (although after a very nervy ending) and Sheff Wed.

Even without a win in our first 3 games, we've found ourselves at the right end of the league. It's still early in the season though but hopefully we can keep it up for the rest.

[Plainlayzee]

SEPTEMBER

We started September at home to Barnsley knowing that a win would send us to the top of the league, at least until everyone else had played later in the day. A poor performance however we did secure a nice 1-0 win against our local rivals, Stephen Hunt scoring the winner. Next up was high flying Bolton at the Reebok stadium and Beckford was simply too quick for our poorly organised defence, scoring twice inside the first 10 minutes to effectively end the game. We did get one back in injury time but they deserved their win. A 0-0 home draw against Charlton was unconvincing, however we followed this up with our best performance of the season so far, beating Derby County 3-1. We ended the month in 3rd position, Reading are running away at the top however, with Bolton and Leicester also in the mix.

OCTOBER

Our first game of the month was away from home to struggling Burnley. Despite them perhaps playing the better over the 90 minutes, we snook a 2-1 win, with Harlee Dean scoring a 91st minute winner. On no less than 4 occasions this season we have scored a winning goal/a goal that rescue's a point in injury time.

After a dull 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forrrest, the only highlight of which was Mason Bennett scoring his first goal, we traveled to top of the table Reading. With Ross McCormack and new signing Slvain Ebanks-Blake both fit and back in the squad, I fancied our chances if we performed well enough on the day. It was a mixture of us performing well, especially at the back and them just not being at the races at all which lead to us winning 1-0. Ross McCormack scoring the only goal which fires us up to second in the league. The month then ended with a 1-0 away win at Watford, however EBanks-Blake did pick up another injury after scoring the winner.

[White Rose]

Well first of all i would like to say hello to everyone here, first time posting in this thread and hopefully i shall be sticking around for a long while. After playing a Hull City save (my club) since the game was released i felt that it was time to move on from them after getting a bit bored of the save and winning most things. So i decided to start a new save, i had an eye on a few teams who i fancy a go with but i decided in the end to go with Birmingham. The idea of the challenge is there squad is very average and they don't have great finances which is the main reason i chose them.

I would like to go through a bit of how i am planning to play this game. I want to try and make it fairly realistic if that means five years in the Championship that's fair enough. My finances will dictate whether i sign anyone, i will never put the club in doubt, and i will not gamble on getting promotion, if i can't afford it i won't do it. I want to focus on longevity, no signing players for one season. I know it happens in real life, but i want to try and sign players for the long term. Linked in to that i won't be making huge changes, that's means maybe five signings a season. My first season i have made two signings so far, my second season i plan a lot more due to players moving on.

My system is the well known 4-2-3-1. I aim to play with a fast striker with a man in behind look to feed him through, i want my wingers to get to the byline, and when the ball is coming in from the opposite side for them to try and sneak in at the back post. My two central midfielders are just there to protect the back four and get the balls to my AMC and wingers, i don't see them scoring much, more than likely acting in some kind of defensive capacity. Unlike most managers i am going to focus on the defensive side of the game. I aim to change phases very quickly, that means a high tempo game, using wingers and getting forward quickly. I will push the opposition back my pressing them in their own half and not letting them build from the back. I will move onto transfers.....

Transfers Out

Paul Robinson - Barnsley - 25k

Callum Reilly - Leyton Orient - Loan

Mitch Hancox - Aberdeen - Loan

Akwasi Asente - Plymouth - Loan

Callum Preston - Northampton - Loan

Reece Hales - Cambridge - Loan

Transfers In

Michael Keane - Loan

Jake Cassidy - Loan

As we already had three loan players i only really wanted two more, as firstly i don't want to pay a player not to be in the match squad and i don't rotate a great deal. I wanted one more centre back as Specter and Mullins are perfect for my central midfield roles. Keane was my first choice it took two months offers and him declining me before he came. Cassidy came in on deadline day, after pulling out of numerous other players due to lack of pace, or to much money, Cassidy was perfect for the poacher role and on 500 per week he was cheap.

The season has already started but i will update you tomorrow on how i am getting on, and my plans for the future of Birmingham, my team and the table etc...

[MeesterCat]

Welcome White. Birmingham should be a good save (if you like that kind of club building). I like the way you're going to approach it - I find those sort of saves are the most 'realistic' and enjoyable.

Just how bad are the finances? I've noticed in all my saves so far Brum normally get some kind of takeover fairly early on - any sign of one yet?

I have a rather pleasing mid-season update to post, I'll do it when I get a moment (at work at the moment).

[Jogo Bonito]

Good to see your updates guys, sorry for the lack of mine.

Welcome to you, White Rose. I confess that Birmingham are a club I don't really warm to, but having said that I do llike the idea of a proper challenge and your approach to them.

I actually wish my Portsmouth save had been more realistic in the first two seasons, but ironically now that I have a really good side in the Championship (season 3), I really am struggling to find consistency and after a superb defensive record for two seasons, I now have a GD of about -10, easily the worst of any clubs around me in the table. I'm in January at the moment, but more looking to prune my squad than add much, hoping to bring through more original youngsters that started season 1 in the U21 and U18 teams. I actually wish I did that more in season 1, instead of feeling the pressure of securing promotion with a much-improved group of players.

[MeesterCat]

So, my mid-season update.

The table doesn't lie.

I'm obviously really happy with that situation! We've on the whole played some really fantastic football all season so far, and especially since I changed to a 41221. I've been getting new items about being the top tacklers and passers in the league which is very pleasing. It's been a typically Championship season so far with lots of teams all sniffing around the top 8 positions and no team really able to breakaway from the pack. It's only really over the Xmas period that us and QPR have managed to get a little lead built up over the rest. Leeds, Charlton and Leicester have all been contenders, but have fallen away as injuries started to bite.

Our results since the beginning of October:

Some good results there. What is especially pleasing is that we often bounce back from a poor result with a good, old-fashioned thrashing (hello Ipswich and Leeds). As you can see, the goalscoring is fairly spread, although perhaps obviously Jordan Rhodes features heavily. There are some good backup goal outlets though in Judge and Rochina, although they are the most frustrating players I've ever managed. Especially Judge. He has the Shoots With Power PPM and every game sees it as an opportunity to pepper the goal from every angle, even though I have set him to Shoot Less Often. Still, when he's on form they do tend to go in.

Our player stats give a feel for the performers:

Some stand outs:

Jason Lowe : Has been absolutely fantastic. I've been mostly playing him as an Anchorman despite the slightly unhelpful Gets Forward PPM. He's also been a very effective BWM-S in the MC position if I need to be a bit more aggressive.

Jordan Rhodes : He was always going to be in this list, but it surprisingly took him a little while to get going properly. It's a little frustrating he's not a little bit quicker as he would a complete monster if he was.

Ruben Rochina : Technically I'm playing him out of position on the left wing, but his trickery is an effective counter-point to Judge's more 'Bull in a China Shop' approach.

Alan Judge : As mentioned already, the most frustrating player I've managed, however he is very useful in a variety of positions and rarely has a poor game (as long as you don't include his aim). I've used him as an IF-A on both wings, an CM-A, an F9 and he usually does it well.

Matthew Kilgallon : On paper, an inferior player to Scott Dann, but the defence just isn't the same if he's not in it.

Jake Kean : He's not getting the ratings, but he has kept us in so many games so far.

This is the formation I'm now using (and it's not a flash in the pan Jogo. Not so far at least )

It seems to provide a nice balance between attack and defence and the three man midfield dominates the 442s and does ok against 4231s. I occasionally flip it depending on the opposition or player availability. I use a couple of player instructions. GK has Distribute to Defenders, AMR has Get Forward More & Shoot Less Often, AML has Shoot Less Often and MC-A has Get Forward More. I've also been taking to dropping from Control to Standard as we're often boxing opponents into their half way and finding space difficult to come by.

Finally, transfers and finances. I've still only brought in one player, the LB Henrique on a free. But I'm looking to bring in a CM this window as Tom Cairney's loan expires and he won't renew for the rest of the season. He's up for sale for £300k, but I reckon I can get someone better for not too much more. The board allowed me to review my expectations, so I've gone for a top half finish. This allows me a slightly bonkers for this level £500k p/w wage budget. I've also got a small transfer kitty of £1million after Man Utd had to pay an appearance clause from Phil Jones. Any suggestions for an MC with stamina and a goal threat are gratefully recieved.

To end on a scary note, despite getting rid of a few of the high earners, we're still losing nearly £2mil per month. We NEED promotion!

[Jogo Bonito]

Excellent update MeesterCat, and great results too! I don't think there are any players at Portsmouth that meet the criteria for your MC, although Jed Wallace has the stamina as a good B2B player. Good luck with the rest of your season, and with that monthly debt!

[setzel]

@MeesterCat , Great job mate promotion is there for grabs

@White Rose , Good luck mate

As for me if havent read my story i am having problem with consistency i have a youthful squad so i am asking here maybe some of you guys know if its good to balance with 2-3 veterans that can gel a team , i know i have to look for veterans with strong mentals stats but good enough to play , problem is when i tend to find guys like that they want a big payday or a big last contract if they are 30-31 any tips guys ? I always signed litmanen/zenden in fm 13 to learn guys ppm and be the veterans that keep the locker room strong but that was when i played rather mid table teams from strong leagues.

[Plainlayzee]

@MeesterCat , Great job mate promotion is there for grabs

@White Rose , Good luck mate

As for me if havent read my story i am having problem with consistency i have a youthful squad so i am asking here maybe some of you guys know if its good to balance with 2-3 veterans that can gel a team , i know i have to look for veterans with strong mentals stats but good enough to play , problem is when i tend to find guys like that they want a big payday or a big last contract if they are 30-31 any tips guys ? I always signed litmanen/zenden in fm 13 to learn guys ppm and be the veterans that keep the locker room strong but that was when i played rather mid table teams from strong leagues.

I would suggest looking at players in the last year of their contract and see if any of them are going cheap? I think that'd be your best option. Or perhaps a few oldies who have been ditched in their clubs reserves who are available on loan?

Good luck MeesterCat with the save game, looks like an interesting challenge with that debt.

@Jogo - get back on it will ya!

[Plainlayzee]

Unfortunately I have rattled through that much of my save lately, posting a monthly update has gone out the window for this season.

If I was to sum up this entire update it would be that we are simply boring the backside off most teams and winning games 1-0. I am finding this Mourinho tactic quite useful (I devised it myself just to clarify!)

Basically I found that we don't score a lot, normally only 1 or 2, so therefore we need to keep clean sheets if we want to get the 3 points and progress up the table. In fact every time we have recorded a 'high' score it has normally come at the expense of us conceding a few a well, for example we recently beat Birmingham 5-3.

ANYWAY!!! (Stop rambling me!) we currently sit top of the tree with the following record:

PLD 30

WON 18

Drew 8

Lost 4

Scored 47

Conceded 22

PTS 62

In second are both Leicester and Wigan on only 53 points, 9 behind and therefore giving us a massive chance of automatic promotion, if not the title with just 16 games remaining.

Stand out players have been Harlee Dean who has been immense at center half along with Scott Wootton whilst in midfield Sam Bryam and Danny Pugh has been good on right and left wing. Up front we have struggled due to constant injuries, in particular to McCormack, however Ebanks-Blake has managed to score 7 goals in just 14 starts which is impressive, although we do lack a lot in this area.

In the cup we are into the 5th round and will play Leicester away from home.

Financially we are great, having had my massive summer clear out and the cutting of the wage bill, we have nearly 7m in the bank and this is raising steadily.

So there you have it, with just 3 months of the season remaining it looks quite rosey at the moment, although this is Leeds, we could explode at any moment.

[MeesterCat]

Nice work Layzee. I do enjoy a good defensive tactic - any chance you could post it up? (I don't want to copy, but I appreciate the dark arts )

It sounds like you're doing a good job on the finances too. You should be in for a nice windfall if (when!) promotion comes.

I've made a few transfer deals to try and keep the momentum going. I've signed Anthony Annan on loan for the rest of the season and brought in Jacob Mellis for £600k. Mellis is to replace Cairney who's loan ended and because I want to try and keep a young British core to the team. Annan was too good an offer to turn down as I needed another DM and I'm only paying him £12k p/w. I could have bought him for £75k, but he would have wanted too high wages for this season - If he does well, I'll try and get him on a free at the end of the season.

I've also moved on Olsson to Ipswich for a free. He wasn't featuring, no-one wanted to pay money for him, so it frees up £9k p/w.

To my horror I noticed that David Goodwillie returns from his loan in January. He's on £18k p/w wages, but I noticed that he has a 10k appearance fee, and even worse, a 10k goal bonus! I seriously cannot wait to get to the Summer so I can cull this bloody squad I've inherited!

[D0bi]

To my horror I noticed that David Goodwillie returns from his loan in January. He's on £18k p/w wages, but I noticed that he has a 10k appearance fee, and even worse, a 10k goal bonus! I seriously cannot wait to get to the Summer so I can cull this bloody squad I've inherited!

Just fyi, I'm managing Dundee United in Scotland at the minute, where David is on loan, and you've been paying around £14k p/w of his wages whilst he's at Dundee anyway, when he returns you'll only be paying the extra £4k p/w, plus his bonuses if you decide he should get anywhere near the first team.

[Jogo Bonito]

Excellent progress Mr Layzee, going better than you could have wished. It's always a shame when you are at a club and cannot replicate the star player (McCormack) but in this case is it just the injuries stopping him to deliver more goals? That's a very impressive defensive record, Dean and Wootton do seem to be generally good in FM, so that's a useful partnership. Finances are looking good too, which brings me to...

Meester, the two new players should do a good job (hopefully), but that's a ridculous wage for Goodwillie! I assume an immediate re-loan must be on the cards before you can get rid of him?

I've finally managed to progress a month, to the end of February in season 3. Like you guys, I've previously stated my preference for a solid defence, and for 1-0 over 4-3. In my first two seasons we had the best defensive record in the league, and after strengthening, I expected my rigid 442 to continue that way, even though I thought goals may be harder to get. How wrong I was. We started brilliantly, but for the last 3-4 months we have been sliding, and mainly because the goals were being leaked left, right and centre.

I'm currently 14th in the table, fairly safe from any real relegation threat unless we go a month without picking up any points. We have conceded more than 60 goals, and scored about 50 so far - terrible from a non-expressive tactic. Things got so bad that I had to experiment with a 433 (one winger and one IF supporting a lone striker), but it made only a small difference. I've recently gone back to my favourite 442 but gone to a defensive mode, and at least the games are generally more low-scoring.

In the transfer window, I did a bit of business, but was trying to be more active on players leaving than on new recruits.

January 2016, players in:

Tomislav Barbaric (RNK Split, £250k) - a long term target, I captured this highly-rated Croatian central defender for a very good fee (now worth £1.2m)

Joel Ward (Millwall, £375k) - I decided to take this opportunity to re-sign an ex-Pompey player, he has ousted O'Connor from the right-back slot

Lucas Veronese (free agent) - a deadline day swoop for this young French 'keeper (previously at OGC Nice), he will provide back-up as McCarey was the only other one at the club

January 2016, players out:

Marc Pelosi (Burton, £7k) - had been signed for free and never got close to the first-team squad so it was a reasonable deal

Dan Holman (Northampton, £20k) - had served me well after signing for free, but had fallen down the pecking order (leaves with 11 goals and 8 assists

from 37 league games)

Lee Camp (Arsenal, £200k) - my starting 'keeper was OK but part of my leaky defence, so I took the chance to sell as he was nearing the end of his contract and over 30

Yuval Shpungin (Middlesbrough, loan fee £115k p/m and 20% wages) - with the arrival of Ward I had no need for three right-backs, and this monthly fee was super generous

Lewis Gill, Adam Webster and Ben Close have all gone out on loan, joining Jack Whatmough, Andy Barcham and Jack Maloney away at other clubs. I'm looking forward to achieving survival, and then plan to release Joel Lynch, Simon Ferry and Yakubu (he has done well, but struggles for fitness) from my first team at the end of the season.

I don't intend to renew the loans of Jonathan Soriano, Mats Daehli or Baptiste Martin, and probably the same with Stipe Perica and Joshua Murphy. Definitely departing from my all-conquering U21 squad will be Barcham and Johnny Ertl (finally) plus Ryan Mason, Joe Partington, Isak Ssewankambo, James Granger, Close and Gill.

Some of my brightest prospects from that U21 pool (Bradley Tarbuck, Conor Chaplin, Fahad Rwakarambwe, Lewis Horsburgh, Brandon Haunstrup, Whatmough, Maloney, Webster) will be given some game time before the end of this season, and will join the main group for season 4. These are all original young players at the club when you take over - along with Wallace, Harris and Butler who are regular starters since season 1.

The most impressive players so far this season are Patrick N'Koyi with 13 goals from 24(4) games, and Aaron Martin who heads my average ratings (7.10 from 33 games). The others averaging above 7.0 are Perica, Romain Padovani and Yakubu.

[MeesterCat]

Just fyi, I'm managing Dundee United in Scotland at the minute, where David is on loan, and you've been paying around £14k p/w of his wages whilst he's at Dundee anyway, when he returns you'll only be paying the extra £4k p/w, plus his bonuses if you decide he should get anywhere near the first team.

Yeah I'd spotted the fact that I'm already paying most of his wages already. It's shame as, like Best, he would have made a decent back up for Rhodes, but with those wages, it's just never going to happen. I'll rely on Judge and Campbell as backups until I can make some serious changes.

[MeesterCat]

That looks like some good business there Jogo. You're also a Mourinho-lite aren't you? (I mean that as a compliment by the way!) I can tolerate being a low scoring team, but conceding lots of goals just makes me mad.

Can you remind me what league you're in now? I've lost track with all the updates and my laptop being fubar. I'm guessing League One, or did you make it to the Championship?