FM15 - The Sky Bet Football League thread

[lewis999]

Never seen anything quite like this guy. Top avg rating in the league too.

[mrplufc]

currently sitting 5th in league one first season with preston, sold a few players and brought a few in so took a while to get going, but we are flying now unbeaten in 7 and winning 5-0 last time out. im in januray, and feel as if i make on or two major signings i will walk the league... struggling to find anyone though tbh, any tips on who i can purchase in january first season, budget of around 10k wages and 750k kitty...

[fenlander]

With 12 games to go Swindon are sitting in 3 rd place in div.1 and are 11points ahead of 7th place Oldham so baring a complete collapse should get at least a place in the play-offs.

1 preston.......34 67pts

2 mk dons......34 66

3 SWINDON....34 62

4 colchester...34 60

5 barnsley......34 55

6 leyton or.....34 55

7 oldham........34 51

January was a poor month for us losing to ipswich 1-0 at home in the cup and them only getting 1 point from our next 3 league games and managing to miss a penalty in each of these 3 games. The start of february saw our injury problems ease and with the return of smith and laguono from international duty we were for the first time in a many weeks able to field a full strength line-up and this coincided with the start of an unbeaten run that at the moment stands at 8 games 6 of which have been wins.We are very reliant on our 2 strikers for our goals williams has scored 23 from his 38 starts and obika 12 from the same starts our next best goalscorer is mid-fielder Louis thompson who has the grand total of 3.Four points separates us from an automatic promotion spot whether we can make that up remains to be seen over the next month we have some very important games against our near rivals and these will decide whether we make an automatic spot or have to take part in the play-offs or even miss out from them altogether which would be a disaster.

[Jogo Bonito]

Lewis, awesome stats for Unai Lopez. You must be the team to beat.

Nice work with Preston so far mrplufc, what position/type of player do you need?

Well done Fenlander, things are looking good still. Are you still using 352?

[mrplufc]

rwb maybe, maybe a class centre half, maybe a gk and maybe a striker as cover, got good strength all over and everyone performing will, but theres something missing, not quite sure what personally, may need to be harsh and drop someone if i see some real quality that im adding...

[lewis999]

Lewis, awesome stats for Unai Lopez. You must be the team to beat.

I am but it's come by total surprise, we just seem to be swatting away everyone home or away. This is my current league table which I couldn't of ever predicted although obviously it won't carry on much longer I wouldn't of thought.

Just played another match and Matt Bale sorry I mean Ritchie is unstoppable.

[Jogo Bonito]

rwb maybe, maybe a class centre half, maybe a gk and maybe a striker as cover, got good strength all over and everyone performing will, but theres something missing, not quite sure what personally, may need to be harsh and drop someone if i see some real quality that im adding...

I doubt you'll get much better quality with £800k across four positions. I'd suggest looking at players with expiring contracts whose fee is much lower than their talent should command. Apart from that, perhaps Hanlon (Hibernian) as centre back or Ebanks-Blake (if still free) as a striker? They both served me well at Preston in FM14. A slightly more obscure idea for RWB would be Mateusz Mozdzen (Lechia) - he is incredibly versatile.

Lewis, that's awesome. Bournemouth blitzed the league in my BETA effort with Reading, so are clearly well-powered in this version! I was watching South Africa v Nigeria in the week, and Rantie was on fire. If he gets even close to that in your game (or for the club in real life), he would be an asset worth keeping and using. I fear that next season in the Premier League you will be looking for better though

[lewis999]

Lewis, that's awesome. Bournemouth blitzed the league in my BETA effort with Reading, so are clearly well-powered in this version! I was watching South Africa v Nigeria in the week, and Rantie was on fire. If he gets even close to that in your game (or for the club in real life), he would be an asset worth keeping and using. I fear that next season in the Premier League you will be looking for better though

I'm sure Rantie would do very well but I can't drop Wilson and he's always fit. I will give him a chance if I can go a few goals up in the first half so he can have 45 minutes.

[mrplufc]

cant find anyone to strengthen ffs

[lewis999]

Thinking of selling Surman in January. He has a value of 4.3m but he's been injured recently and my squad hasn't looked weaker without him. Added to that he has 3 stars in current ability and potential ability I think his value is at it's peak. Plus I can use that to look for some good regens.

[dino]

Love the look of the Football League this season on FM. Some real projects for people to get their teeth into.

[Jogo Bonito]

Love the look of the Football League this season on FM. Some real projects for people to get their teeth into.

I agree dino, I always seem to find way too many clubs that interest me - and this year, possibly even more so! Hopefully you'll keep us updated once you get underway.

Lewis, that talk about Rantie (and Wilson always being fit) jinxed the pair today - both taken off injured! In FM terms, I agree that you should never opt against Wilson, he's the prized asset of the Football League this year. Regarding Surman, that's an interesting decision. He's useful in a few positions without being a game changer, but I do agree his value won't ever be that high again!

Regarding my experience at Bristol City, I told myself to man up and revert back to a formation more in line with real life Bristol (the game calls it 5-2-1-2-WB). The fact that I'm able to say 'a proper update will follow' is evidence that I kept my job. I'm getting in to it now and feel a little more positive about the task ahead.

[lewis999]

Lewis, that talk about Rantie (and Wilson always being fit) jinxed the pair today - both taken off injured! In FM terms, I agree that you should never opt against Wilson, he's the prized asset of the Football League this year. Regarding Surman, that's an interesting decision. He's useful in a few positions without being a game changer, but I do agree his value won't ever be that high again!

Just given Rantie a rare start as Wilson was tired and he's just repaid me in the 31st minute to put me 2-0 up. Was a good finish too.

EDIT : He's just won a second half penatly for Matt Ritchie to put us 3-0 up. He should have a hat trick but i'll let him use the excuse that he's 'rusty'.

He finished the game with a 9.0 so he's starting the next game.

[MaxeyN17]

Raided Scotland for a few talents for my Peterborough squad. Ross Barbour, Filip Twardzik, Patrik Twardzik, Botti Bia-bi and Lewis Vaughan all look like great prospects for this level.

[Jogo Bonito]

Lewis - that's Ran-tastic! It must be good to have those striking options. What formation are you using there?

Maxey - what season are you in? The Posh make a really great challenge due to having their strong buying/selling ethos. And £1.4m to spend at that level is always a bonus!

[fenlander]

Swindon extended their unbeaten run to 15 matches of which we won 12 and managed to gain promotion to the championship, the only downside was losing our last league match at home to Leyton Orient which meant we go up as runners-up instead of champions.

1 Preston........46 86pts

2 SWINDON.....46 85

3 Colchester....46 84

4 Leyton Orient46 80

5 Mk Dons.......46 79

6 Oldham........46 78

Stuck with 3-5-2 all through the season and it seemed to work ok with the players at our disposal,have been given a transfer budget of £1.35m and an extra £20k wages but with 4 of our best performing players being loanee,s will have to go down the same route next season.The only positions that don,t need replacing are our strikers where Williams scored 28 and his partner Obika weighed in with 12,i am fairly happy with our goalkeepers Foderingham has had a good season and still has room for improvement,i bought Flynn from Cowdenbeath in the January transfer window and is an adequate back up its in midfield and defence where we need to strengthen and to this end will be looking to see if there are any decent players for the championship whose contracts are ending.

[Jogo Bonito]

Well done fenlander, that's a really good achievement there! Williams does seem to be one of the best at that level in FM15. I'm really pleased you did it with the 352, and good luck with your summer bargain hunting! I'll be interested to see who you pick up and what your squad will be for next season.

[MaxeyN17]

Lewis - that's Ran-tastic! It must be good to have those striking options. What formation are you using there?

Maxey - what season are you in? The Posh make a really great challenge due to having their strong buying/selling ethos. And £1.4m to spend at that level is always a bonus!

Just started my save to be honest. Keep getting crash dumps but fingers crossed not this time.

[MichaelBrown]

Thinking of selling Surman in January. He has a value of 4.3m but he's been injured recently and my squad hasn't looked weaker without him. Added to that he has 3 stars in current ability and potential ability I think his value is at it's peak. Plus I can use that to look for some good regens.

For that price he has to go. That's a fair bit of money for somebody who is a standard Championship player

[Jogo Bonito]

It's time for my first update on life at Ashton Gate, having taken over the managerial seat at the start of the 2014/2015 season.

Introduction

The board welcomed me to the club and announced that the minimum expectation for the season was to gain a League 1 play-off spot. In order to achieve this, I was handed a transfer budget of just under £400k.

Staff

My first task, as always upon arrival, was to evaluate the staff. There were some useful people around, but it was slightly unbalanced in terms of what role they performed. So, following ex-manager Steve Cotterill out of the door were nine staff (nine remained), and I hired in eight men to replace them.

Amongst those recruited were former City players Shaun Goater (attacking coach) and Alan Walsh (U18 coach), plus the club's ex-fitness coach Kunle Odetoyinbo - who returned as my new U21 fitness coach. The coaching team was further strengthened with Arthur Albiston (defending), Graham Rix (tactical) and Steve Foley (technical) added to the ranks. Niall Clark (fitness coach) and Joe Corrigan (U18 goalkeeping coach) completed the set.

Transfers

The squad was looking fairly strong for League 1, but three players stood out as being surplus to my requirements due to their age. The first was defender Adam El-Abd (29), who was too slow for my liking. With a value of £350k on his head, I offered him out - and was delighted when ENPPI from Egypt agreed to put down £100k plus a further £250k in instalments. The player agreed terms, and this set me off in to the transfer market - but unfortunately the Egyptians cash must have been buried in a tomb, and they couldn't free up the funds to complete the deal. Unfortunately, since that date nobody else has been interested at any cost. Alongside him, both Aaron Wilbraham (34) and Wade Elliott (35) also failed to attract any bids - either for transfer or loan. This trio have been relegated to the U21 squad and have not featured for me all season. The only departure to date has been young central defender Jack Batten (18) on loan to Grimsby - he is due to return in January.

The only areas of the pitch that I felt we were lacking in quality and/or strength in depth was central midfield and attack. Buoyed by the news of El-Abd's imminent sale, I launched my search for a striker that would be a foil, partner or understudy to Kieran Agard. An offer of £45k for 27 year old Jamaican striker Steven Morrissey (VPS) was accepted, and personal terms were easily agreed - but unfortunately he was declined a work permit. Turning down the chance to sign him anyway (he was not the right age to sign and loan out), I cast my eye over some alternatives. Meanwhile, I was keen to give the locally produced youngsters a crack, but after a poor pre-season run (winless) and opening day defeat at Sheffield United, I decided to act.

On 10th August, I bolstered the central midfield ranks with the loan signing of Ben Osborn (20) from Nottingham Forest, and the following day he was joined by Aaron Kuhl (18) from Reading. Whilst young, I felt hopeful that the pair would be decent assets over the course of the season. The striker search, which had seen me express interest in loans for Moussa Dembele (Fulham), Rory Donnelly (Swansea), Jordan Larsson (Helsingborg), Nikolai Laursen (Brondby), and former favourite Nicky Maynard (Cardiff), was proving a sterner test. Another work permit failure put paid to the possibility of free agent Uche Kalu arriving, whilst other bids for Dom Dwyer (Sporting Kansas City), Gambo Mohammed (Kano Pillars), and Bristol boy Reuben Reid (Plymouth) all ended unsuccessfully.

However, on 11th August I was able to make my third signing - and only permanent one thus far - as my entire transfer budget was blown on the £500k purchase of Kennedy Igboananike (25) from AIK in Sweden. The Nigerian, who has attracted some attention from top flight English clubs in real life, has Swedish as a second nationality and therefore had no problems being granted a work permit. His contract is until 30th June 2016, and wages are a reasonable £3.7k p/w before tax.

Finally, in view of an injury crisis (more on that later), I acquired the services of Manchester City new-boy Kelechi Iheanacho on a three month loan until 4th January. He was being used as a third striking option but apart from a late winning goal against Coventry just after his arrival, there wasn't much to get excited about. A record of one goal from 3(8) appearances was a far cry from his performance for his parent club's U21 team a few days before joining - where he scored two and added three assists to earn a 10.00 match rating!

The January transfer window is just opening now, but with no transfer funds and no wage allowance left, I'm not very hopeful that any deals will be concluded.

Transfer Summary, July 2014 - December 2014

(In) Ben Osborn (Nottm Forest, loan), Aaron Kuhl (Reading, loan), Kennedy Igboananike (AIK, £500K), Kelechi Iheanacho (Man City, 3m loan until January)

(Out) Jack Batten (Grimsby, loan until January)

Contracts

New contracts have been given to Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Jordan Wynter and Joe Morrell (triggered extension), so none of my first team squad will be out of contract until 2016, with the exception of back-up goalkeeper Dave Richards. I'll be looking to get somebody better to contest that spot with Frank Fielding in the future, but if an injury occurs during the season, I will look to sign somebody capable on loan. Elliott and Wilbraham, who (along with El-Abd) were banished to the U21 squad in the summer, will also be leaving at the end of the season (or sooner if I can force it).

Tactics

I was keen to implement a true-to-life 352 system with City, but an awful pre-season and start to competitive matches saw two or three alternative formations used before I finally reverted again to a back-three on 6th September, ahead of the home match with Scunthorpe. Although we didn't win that one, form soon improved and we began to rise from the depths of despair. I've stuck with the same tactics since that day, which is classified in game as 5-2-1-2-WB. It's fair to say that we haven't been very entertaining or prolific in front of goal, but defensively we have been fairly solid since I took on this shape. Creativity should come from my advanced playmaker (this hasn't really worked, despite being allowed to roam and dribble more), and from my two wing-backs (these are by far my leading assist makers).

Results

You will see from results below how much things have improved since the woeful start of my reign, and will notice a remarkable sequence of matches in September/October - seven consecutive games without conceding, all resulting in 1-0 victories, during a nine-match winning streak (eight in the league). Recently, there have been signs that we may have woken up in terms of scoring, but I'll reserve judgement on those claims until the end of the season. I do like to build any club from the back, but even I have been a little bit concerned about the lack of sparkle sometimes at the top end of the pitch. I think we have come along way since those early days though, when I was fearful of the sack (and rightly so). Consecutive Manager of the Month awards for September and October were nice rewards for our improved performances.

Injuries

This hasn't gone well, and I think has some relevance to my poor scoring record. New signing Igboananike started off like a house on fire with five goals from his first eight matches, but then sprained an ankle on 13th September - in only the second match under my new formation. He missed the next five weeks, and has been slow to recapture that early season form. Just as he returned on 21st October, my other main striker (Agard) suffered a pulled hamstring in the very same match, ruling him out for three weeks. By the time I finally got the pair of them back together, neither was as confident as they should have been, so it's taken time to get that working. Other players that suffered significant injuries were Luke Ayling (torn calf 24th October, not yet returned), Bobby Reid (torn hamstring 7th October, three months), and to a lesser extent Greg Cunningham (shoulder 10th September, three weeks).

I've been running a 22-man first team squad this season, so it's important I keep players fit. With Iheanacho heading back to his parent club, that number is reduced by one - so I'll probably look to use the returning Batten and the best of the other youngsters to fill in the gaps unless a suitable no-cost loan option becomes available.

Competition summary

The graph showing the improvement of form in League 1 is clear for all to see, but we remain on track to achieve a top six finish, and we have reached our other goals. Next up is Wigan away in FA Cup Round 3, and we are in the JPT Southern Area Final against Oxford later in the month, despite neither the board or myself caring about the competition.

[lewis999]

Lewis - that's Ran-tastic! It must be good to have those striking options. What formation are you using there?

4-2-3(wide)-1. Rantie went off the boil straight away which leads me to think he might be quite inconsistent. I'm looking to try and bring Danny Ings back for next season the only trouble with that is Burnley are playing well and in the top half of the Prem. He's refusing to sign a new deal so there's still hope. I'm praying they slide down the league table because at the minute they are accepting 1.3m.

Just noticed on your results as well Joga. 6 1-0 wins in a row. You might be able to push on and go up automatically with a defence like that.

[lewis999]

I've just managed to bring in a brilliant player from the Bundesliga. He's going to be competing for the DC and CM spots.

His scout report is even more impressive.

He's a leading player for this league. Potential to be a good Premier League player in case I might buy him. Fits in well already, enjoys the big games and below that the one you can't see says he is a consistent performer. His only downside is his vision but all I want him to do is win the ball.

[Jogo Bonito]

Lewis, Ings would be great - and I'm a big fan of bringing back former favourites (either as players or staff). It's a shame about Rantie, but with Wilson and a one striker formation, it shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully Hoffmann will live up to his billing, he certainly looks like a good player to take on loan.

[lewis999]

Hopefully he will do. A lightning start from us and are star players in the FA Cup 3rd Round. Seems like the players to put a marker down.

Watch it finish 4-3 to them now.

EDIT : Ritchie just made it 4-0 hopefully that's the end of the game.

EDIT 2 : Ended 6-0 my biggest win of the season.

[fenlander]

It has proved a lot harder than i thought getting the necessary players to sign for Swindon,they either didn,t want toplay for us or were demanding to much money and so have managed to sign the following players:-

The only money signing was alex milosevic from AIK for £750k a centre-back who is 22 years old and looks quite tasty,steven mouyokolo was a free agent after a short spell at Celtic and will partner milosevic and dominic ball on loan from spurs in the back 3.Brad Smith signed for us on his release from Liverpool and we signed a second w/b josh docherty from watford on a season long loan.We are a bit short in midfield and the only new recruit in this department is jason holt another freebie who was with hearts,we also managed to extend the loan of jack stephens from southampton for a further seasonand will be contending for 1 of the 3 centre-back positions.The only signing that i am not sure about is marcello motta ex fulham a striker who was a free agent and after much dithering signed him time will tell whether that was a good decision or not.

We didn,t have a great pre-season but drew away at sheff.wed 0-0 in our debut in the championship,i then made 9 changes for the capital cup game agianst oxford and we scraped home 1-0 thanks t a last minute strike from jason holt.Our 1st home game in the championship saw the visit of leeds and we were very fortunate to come away with a 2-1 win marcello motta scoring the winner,he might not be a bad signing after all.After our 1st couple of games and 4 points gained i should be happy but i can see that it is going to be a long hard struggle to stay up we just haven,t got the class and guile that is available to other teams.

[jaaaws]

About to start my first proper FM15 save with Nottingham. Already done my transfers on paper and I looking to change the squad quite a bit.

Any suggestions for a DM to rotate with Vaughan? Looking for a ball-winning/anchorman type of player with high defensive stats. And he shouldn't be too expensive as well; loan options are welcome as well.

[xantheose]

Ruben Neves from Porto.

[Jogo Bonito]

Lewis - great result against Norwich, I'm sure Lewis Grabban wasn't very impressed by that!

Fenlander - Not a bad start at the new level for you, and hopefully those signings will help you consolidate.

Jaaaws - I'm not really sure who might be good for an alternative DM at Forest. Ex-player Guy Moussi and summer trialist Mikele Leigertwood are both free agents at the start of the game. Perhaps Nabil Bentaleb is available on loan from Spurs (if not immediately, maybe later in season 1). Other loan options could be Jose Semedo (Sheff Wed) or Brendan Galloway (Everton). Ex-Barca B player Ilie (now at 1860 Munich, erm, Munchen Lions) may be available. A slightly more obscure target could be Stephane Badji (Brann) - but despite having international caps for Senegal, I'm not sure on his WP chances. Whether any of these are good enough for future Premier League football is another matter.

* I've just encountered an odd situation after deadline day with Bristol City. I signed a loan player with no fee or contribution, who will be one of the best players in League 1. I was delighted. The next match was a JPT affair, and he was ineligible - no problem. The next match, League 1, he was still unavailable, so I checked why. It says he cannot play for more than two teams in one season, which I understand. He had been on loan at a Championship club, making one FA Cup appearance according to the data, and had not made any appearance for his (parent) Premier League club this season. I can send him back, of course, or keep him as there is no cost, but I'm surprised the transfer went through if he was going to be made ineligible for the rest of the season. Not that I think he should be ineligible anyway...

[lewis999]

Lewis - great result against Norwich, I'm sure Lewis Grabban wasn't very impressed by that!

It said in the media afterwards that Surman was delighted. I would take Grabban back too, he looks like a complete striker for my sort of budget next year. Only if Ings isn't attainable.

[lewis999]

* I've just encountered an odd situation after deadline day with Bristol City. I signed a loan player with no fee or contribution, who will be one of the best players in League 1. I was delighted. The next match was a JPT affair, and he was ineligible - no problem. The next match, League 1, he was still unavailable, so I checked why. It says he cannot play for more than two teams in one season, which I understand. He had been on loan at a Championship club, making one FA Cup appearance according to the data, and had not made any appearance for his (parent) Premier League club this season. I can send him back, of course, or keep him as there is no cost, but I'm surprised the transfer went through if he was going to be made ineligible for the rest of the season. Not that I think he should be ineligible anyway...

That seems like a strange thing to happen. Sounds as though the game is treating the fact that he's been at 3 clubs (training with them etc) as actually playing in a competitive match with them which as we know isn't the same. Who is it out of curiosity?

[lewis999]

Just managed a very well fought but deserved victory in the FA Cup 5th Round over Hull City. I'm glad my tactics stood up very well against a Premier League side that has a lot of very good players on FM.

Hopefully I can keep going and if I get a big team they underestimate me a little and field a few youngsters.

EDIT : Drew Leeds in the 6th Round and there's 4 Championship clubs and 4 Premier League clubs left so hopefully there's a few upsets. Chelsea and Liverpool are the best two teams still in the draw.

[Jogo Bonito]

That seems like a strange thing to happen. Sounds as though the game is treating the fact that he's been at 3 clubs (training with them etc) as actually playing in a competitive match with them which as we know isn't the same. Who is it out of curiosity?

It's Patrick Bamford. It's either what you said, or the data on his appearances this season is wrong. Anyway, it's no big issue and I'm hoping the players already at the club will do the business. Good luck in your promising FA Cup run.

[fenlander]

First of all i must appologise to you all for my lack of uploads regarding my swindon blog but i am a computer illiterate and don,t know how to do it but the good news is my grand-daughter is coming round at the weekend to show me how and so next week my updates should include nice shiny pictures of the league tables etc.

After 16 games swindon sit in 7th place with 25 pts mainly due to some outstanding displays by the defensive unit which has only conceded 15 goals, the star of which has been new signing alex milosevic who has an average rating of 7.23 and has also weighed in with 3 goals,of the other new signings marcello motta has scored 6 goals and provided 4 assists,jason holt although not a regular has performed well when called upon and averages 7.04,steven mouyokolo and brad smith have both been regulars in defence and have been an integeral part in the success of the team.

Over the course of the season have been offered the managers jobs at Leeds and Bolton both of which i turned down.

[Jogo Bonito]

Fenlander: I enjoy your updates anyway, so no need to apologise at all. Of course, it will be interesting to see things after your young 'Assistant Manager' helps you out at the weekend though! For what it's worth, I was only taught how to do screen shots a couple of years back, by some good people on here.

I was going to manage Swindon first myself, but decided to delay it until later as you were already underway with them. Now I know I will have a battle on my hands to match your success with them, so that will add to the challenge when I get to it!

You've made a really good start at Championship level, and it's always satisfying when new signings make a positive contribution.

[lewis999]

Looking forward to seeing your shiny pictures mate although I can give you a step by step guide if you would like? I hope people aren't getting bored of mine but i'm really enjoying my time with Bournemouth. Managed to bring in Dongou from Barcelona and he's been doing brilliantly as a defensive forward in my new shape. Wilson had been resting on his first half of the season laurels and was starting to have 6.6 and 6.7 match ratings regularly so I needed to bring in another player. Not given Wilson his position back yet but i'm hoping when I do he starts to bang them in again.

I also beat Leeds 3-1 in the 6th round of the FA Cup and have drawn Chelsea at the Goldsands Stadium.

My team are playing very poorly at the moment, I think it's because teams are playing more cautiously against us as we are top of the league. Very frustrating.

[MichaelBrown]

Even though I ask this once (or twice, or three times) a season, how do you crop again Jogo?

[stuart_101]

So i've just finished my first season with the Robins. As you can see, we smashed the league

And of course Will Keane was a star performer. On winning the league in April the board immediately gave me a £1.7mil budget for the next season so I thought rather battling with other clubs for his signature over the summer i'd pay a small fee for him and tie him down early.

Overall squad ratings were high, Karleigh Osbourne was a beast from set pieces and became my first CB to hit double figures since the corner exploits back in the day. Michael Keane came in add quality to the defense thanks to having united as a parent club. Also signed Ben Amos on a free, he was released from united in september but he wasn't prepared to drop to league one until january

Now planning for next season. Quite happy with my wingers and full backs, but need to add quality to the midfield and defense whilst hopefully finding some decent tutors.

[lewis999]

Season 1 Update

We are the Sky Bet Chamionship CHAMPIONS!

We were unbeaten until February and then a 2-1 loss to Wigan set us on a very indifferent set of results right until the end. We drew far too many for my liking and they were all the same way, us dominating and not being able to find a way through and the game ending 0-0 or 1-1 in some cases. I'm not 100% sure but Unai Lopez my AMC got injured right before the Semi Final with Chelsea and I have a feeling he might of been the main reason why our creative side let us down towards the end.

Player of the Season

Can only be one man and that man is Matt Ritchie. He's basically my Ronaldo, comes in off his wings and smashes goals in from everywhere and anywhere.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

He finished way out in front of all the strikers and he played 99% of his matches from the right wing. He has the joint top assists in the league too so if he doesn't win the Player of the Year then no-one should. We did get a fair few penalties and they were shared between Wilson, Surman and Ritchie taking 2 but if he had taken them all he would of gone past 40 goals. I wish I had of now.

Other players that deserve a mention are Unai Lopez who made an incredible 142 key passes this season, made even more impressive when you look at No.2 in the list and he made 56.

Callum Wilson - He started on fire and then went a bit patchy towards the end. Still massively important though.

Steve Cook - Can't have a successful season without a real leader. Although not the captain as his partner Tommy Elphick wears the armband he still led by example and even got interest from Premier League clubs. It did unsettle him after January unfortunately but he was still a rock.

Planning for the Barclays Premier League

As soon as I won the league a few games before the end of the season the chairman gave me my initial budgets which are below.

It was initially 20m but I acted fast and made sure Dele Alli would be playing in Bournemouths central midfield for the next decade at least by acquiring his signature for £2.2m.

The only other player that will be joining so far is Jimmy Doherty from Crewe's brilliant academy. I did have a word with him about his hair when we had contract talks and he assured me it would be sorted for pre-season training. It was more for his own sake really, footballers can be cruel. He has the potential to be a good Premier League central midfielder and he's also very versatile so I have a number of options with him.

Facilities

At the start of the season I was aiming for promotion to the big time and so set about trying to plan for that objective. I asked the board to buy our stadium so we could expand it as and when we wanted and also to improve both the training facilities and the youth facilities. They agreed on every single request and I have had a press conference recently that asked me a question about our stadium as it doesn't meet the requirements for the Premier League so i'm hoping when we manage to get the contract for it, the chairman can make the necessary improvements so we can play in our own back yard. I do think we might be ground sharing at the St. Mary's which isn't bad at all but i'll update as and when I get more news.

Thank you for reading if you got this far. If the updates are too long and wordy let me know, we can all learn from constructive feedback. I'll be doing mini updates throughout pre-season at the Goldsands Stadium.

P.s If anyone wants any screenshots of absolutely anything i'm more than happy to provide them

[lewis999]

First 2 signings of the summer are hopefully going to be these two.

Michael Keane

Ruben

They're both only going to cost 1 million each which are very good prices.

[Jogo Bonito]

Stuart, that's absolutely insane! Superb return from Keane (backed up by JET, Agard, Osbourne and many others). Did you find it enjoyable or a little too easy? In any case, congratulations on the 114 points and +66 GD. To be honest, I might not even score 66 goals in my first year with them

Lewis, only 102 points?!? Rubbish. Being serious, that's an amazing season too. I can't believe exactly how good Ritchie was - the assists aren't too surprising but to crack that many goals too - awesome! Wilson obviously played a big part too, he's rated really well this year. Good signing of Lopez, and nice to see Cook perform well too - he was part of my successful Bournemouth side in FM13. Good forward thinking on the facilities, I never ask for anything like that. Great update too - from my point of view long or short, pictures or text, or any other combinations of all that, it's all good.

[krosotv]

Just finished playing my first season as my team Birmingham City and against all odds we`ve made back to the premier league.

Season Review

With the club having hardly any money and the playing squad not looking to good, i needed to be creative in the transfer market to try and make the squad stronger.firstly i got rid of the backroom staff and brought in John Murtough as assistant manager,Chris Sulley, Adie Stovell and Peter Farrell as coaches with Damien Roden as fitness coach.

We needed to try and sell some players so out went Spector(Brentford 825k),Robinson(Rotherham 100k),Novak(Preston 500k),Shinnie (Motherwell 250k) and in January Duffy (Leeds 425k) this brought around 2m into the club.So onto who we signed firstly i looked at the loan market and landed Niang(milan)and Radosevic(Napoli)on season long loan deals with no loan fee.Then i looked into the free transfer market and signed Wout Brama and Innocent Emeghara.Lastly i looked into players wgo had only 6 months of their contract left and signed Shala(Odd 100k),Thern(Malmo 100k),Diskerud(Rosenborg 100k) and Bengtsson(Copenhagen 75k) and finally Lewis Macleod(Rangers 250k).During the January transfer window we singed Babacar(Fiorentina loan) and Bartley(Swansea 100k)

I decided to employ a 4-3-3 formation and it worked a treat,as we were brilliant all season losing only 4 league games scoring 106 goals and getting 106 points.In the leagur cup we got to the 4th round before going out to Man City 3-0.The FA cup was not so good as we went out to Wigan on penalties after a replay in the 3rd round.

In April we were finally taken over by a consortium led by Peter Kenyon so its bye bye Carson(i hope you rot in prison)

Top performers of the season were Emeghara who scored 27 goals in all comps and Niang who scored 24,But the stand out player was Macleod who scored 8 and set up another 11 getting an average of 7.53 and the player of the sesaon for the Championship.the club also produced some cracking youngsters in Will Packwood,Reece Brown,Koby Arthur and Demari Gray who got the Championship Young Player of the Year

Now in the Prem we have been given almost 18m to spend,but i want to try and retain a british core to the team.

will update later

sorry for the long post

[Jogo Bonito]

I've just finished March of season 1 at Ashton Gate, and having just reached the summit of League 1 for the first time, here's my update.

The New Year started off with a fairly meek exit in Round 3 of the FA Cup at Wigan. It would have been great to get some extra funding from an extended run, but it would have stretched my 21-man squad to it's limit, so I wasn't too disappointed to be dumped out.

League form has been pretty good, and whilst keeping it fairly tight at the back still, we have started to score a little more frequently. Two league defeats since the turn of the year isn't bad at all, and I just claimed my third Manager of the Month award in March. The last match, at local rivals Yeovil, was a massive triumph as our victory knocked them off the top of the table and put us there instead - that pleased the fans. Slightly more disappointing was our JPT Final defeat to Oldham, but we just didn't create anything on the day and they won with the solitary goal after 82 minutes.

On the player front, the injury situation has eased, and there has been a big improvement from Luke Freeman and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas since my last report. There was no move to add extra players in the winter window, other than my successful deadline day swoop for Patrick Bamford on loan from Chelsea. As mentioned earlier though, he is ineligible until the end of the season, so it didn't turn out to be the coup that I imagined. I'm relieved I wasn't paying anything for his services (and surprised there was no warning or block on his unavailability) but at least he has boosted my U21 squad

Here's the competition summary, until the end of March 2015. I like how the graph shows your league progress in this version of FM.

[stuart_101]

I'm a Bristol City fan so although the first season was easy I still enjoyed it. The real challenge comes next season. The value of championship players has rocketed since last seasons game so player recruitment is going to have to be shrewd with just £1.4mil to spend. I think Norwich want to sign my team, they've managed to unsettle Osbourne, Smith, Bryan and Cunningham whilst Agard and Flint are also wanted by bigger clubs which is doing my nut in.

Nice to see you've got the 3-5-2 working. Where are you playing freeman, he seems to be cropping up with afew goals!

[champ 01/02]

Am currently york still in my second season, i was top but have only won 2 of the last 7 (only lost 2 as well) but am now 3rd with 75 points from 44 games 3 points off top and one point off second but they have a game in hand. Am in the playoffs but don't fancy my chances. It's really frustrating as i have never achieved back to back promotions before, it still can be done but the odds are against me. It's also frustrating because i haven't been playing badly, just haven't finished the chances as my top scorer was out for 6 weeks hopefully i can win my last two games and someone slips up

[stevemc]

If the owner injects money, is that part of the FFP budget?

For example, I'm currently -£2m against the FFP with Fulham in the Championship, but the owner has given me money to spend. Can I spend it?

There's a -£3m leeway in the Championship isn't there?

[DaveMUFC]

Hey guys, I'm back for another save! I need some input on who to be, as at the moment I've got a Fulham save going on as they're my local team and I'm quite fond of them, but their team is already full of prospects and its a one club save for me.

So I'm looking for ideally a championship team, where I can probably move to a bigger club later on if I want to and more of a project where a little bit of work needs to be done. I would also quite like a team with some decent funds, as the transfer market is my favourite aspect of the game. To give you guys an idea of my vision, I'd like to bring a load of Man United youths to the club, like Wilson, Blackett, McNair etc

Looking at the teams in the championship, I'm thinking its probably between Forest, due to a few solid players who could be prem level like Assombalonga and Antonio, and decent funds, Birmingham, because I've watched players like Demarei Gray tear it up and they have a couple of exciting prospects, Wolves, again with a bit of money and I've had a soft spot for them for a fair few years, Watford, because serie A is my second favourite league so the link with Udinese is interesting, or Bournemouth, due to their current form, plus their squad seems rated quite highly on FM and my girlfriend is from there

What do you guys reckon? I'm opento any suggestions!

[Jogo Bonito]

I'm a Bristol City fan so although the first season was easy I still enjoyed it. The real challenge comes next season. The value of championship players has rocketed since last seasons game so player recruitment is going to have to be shrewd with just £1.4mil to spend. I think Norwich want to sign my team, they've managed to unsettle Osbourne, Smith, Bryan and Cunningham whilst Agard and Flint are also wanted by bigger clubs which is doing my nut in.

Nice to see you've got the 3-5-2 working. Where are you playing freeman, he seems to be cropping up with afew goals!

I didn't realise you were a City fan - probably should have asked you about your best young prospects, key players, formations and roles etc! Anyway, now I see it must have been enjoyable! Good luck with your summer recruitment, I'll be interested to see who you buy or sell/release.

I've used my 5-2-1-2-WB formation since early on, with Freeman as AP(s). His improvement came from an increasing number of assists, but he did grab a few goals too. I used JET in the same role, mainly from the bench. He got better, weighing in with a few goals as we progressed, but only one or two assists so not as productive as Freeman.

Champ - Good luck with your end of season at York. Glad to see you're still going - and you might yet grab that promotion.

Steve - I'm not entirely sure on the answer to that, sorry.

Dave - Welcome back. Championship transfer budgets are on page 1 of the thread, post number 2. Forest have the biggest backing, and promotion should be easy in season 1 (similar to Derby). Bournemouth are well rated and have a good couple of assets to fire you up (and your other half won't moan at you for playing FM if you choose them). Their budget isn't big like some of the others, and stadium is smaller than most too, so would need expanding. The Watford idea is interesting as they have some good players, but not many are young prospects - and you have those affiliate links. Birmingham would be tough, but I agree Gray looks good. Wolves are a big club to take on, and recruit much more modestly these days - lots of youngsters from within might make it too similar to Fulham though. You could add Ipswich and 'Boro to your list of possibles too!

[fenlander]

Now 28 games into the season and Swindon sit in 8th place in championship just 2 points of the play-offs and 6 points behind the 2nd automatic promotion place we are finding goals hard to come by having only scored 35 in the 28 league games and we owe our position in the league to a very sound defence that has only conceded 25.We are through to the 5th round in the f.a.cup after wins against blackburn (a) and huddersfield (h) and have been rewarded with a home tie against chelsea,atleast that will help our finances if nothing else.Have been given an extra £1.1m for the january transfer window but finding very hard to attract better players than are already at the club.

Trotta is not very happy with me because in these write ups i have mistakenly refered to him as motta but he is having a food season having scored 13 goals so far.

[Jogo Bonito]

Now 28 games into the season and Swindon sit in 8th place in championship just 2 points of the play-offs and 6 points behind the 2nd automatic promotion place we are finding goals hard to come by having only scored 35 in the 28 league games and we owe our position in the league to a very sound defence that has only conceded 25.We are through to the 5th round in the f.a.cup after wins against blackburn (a) and huddersfield (h) and have been rewarded with a home tie against chelsea,atleast that will help our finances if nothing else.Have been given an extra £1.1m for the january transfer window but finding very hard to attract better players than are already at the club.

Trotta is not very happy with me because in these write ups i have mistakenly refered to him as motta but he is having a food season having scored 13 goals so far.

Good stuff so far. Did you bring in any new players since the end of season 1? I thought to myself the other day that I wasn't sure who this Motta fella was, and at first thought maybe you did mean Trotta, but when you continued I just assumed it was somebody I couldn't remember from his Fulham days.

[lewis999]

Trotta is currently with us down at Oakwell. The way he plays reminds me a bit of Llorente. Obviously nowhere near as good but he's very strong and has a good touch and seems quite clever with his passing.