FM 2016: Oooooh Lilies! - Keep Darmstadt in the Bundesliga!

[georgey]

I am retraining Del Piero to AMC at the moment. As mentioned, I find his skill set much more usefull as a playmaker than as a striker. But of course, he is not the saviour, and I never saw him as one. My assistant manager also does not like him and keeps complaining, but I still find him useful for the occasional 20 minutes. Especially because the squad is simply so thin.

Yeah first time round including friendlies del piero had scored 8 goals for me ( friendlies, 1 cup and i think it was 4 league games , this season after 17 games he has 1 goal )

Ouch. Who did you field instead? Mathenia has been absolutely vital for me. His reflexes are life saving.

I went with Zaluska

Just out of the winter break, and I lost Vrancic for a third time, this time for 2 weeks. I start to suspect that he has some kind of high injury proneness. Or maybe I am just very unlucky.

I spent all my money on future prospects. Nobody who will really help us for the second part of the season. I really just hope to survive somehow, but if I don't start to invest in the future, I seem the club in a vicious circle: A lot of players will not get better in 2016/17. In fact, they will probably get worse.

My finances are not looking good at all neither. I really hope for some fresh TV money at the end of the season. If we are going down, the club will have to rebuild itself completely. Might be interesting to see this ... or ... maybe rather not.

I am terrified of what will happen if we go down , i will stand by them though

That sounds like a great catch, the guy is young, right?

Yes he is 19/20 , nice stats in FM as well , one of the best players in Scotland's Championship division ( not that it is a very high standard haha ) i was going to try for Ryan Hardie from Rangers and Scott Allan from Celtic but didn't in the end , not sure if either will even sign anyway !

The coaches i signed are:

Geir Kasene ( fitness coach ) 4.5*

Alan Irvine ( Coach ) 4.5* tactics

Lorenzo Di Lorio ( GK Coach ) 4*

I signed several coaches first time around , Kasene was one but i couldn't remember the others hah

[nico_france]

Think i'm in really soon

[georgey]

2nd of January here and i have made 2 signings which means my budget is now 0.

I signed Kasper Hamalainen from Lech (Poland) (MC/AMC/ST C) on a free and he has instantly become worth 2.3m without playing a game so i am quite with that.

I have blown my budget on a financed player , Nikica Jelavic ! Hoping he will score the goals to save the club from relegation.

He was listed with an asking price of 2.4m.

The deal is as follows

250k upfront

250k over 24 months

75k after 10 league goals

1.5m after 30 league appearances

5% Profit of next transfer.

I feel i managed to drive a good deal there , we only have 17 games left this season it will be next season before the big payment (1.5m) will be due at the soonest. That means i can play him every game until the end of the season and if he ends up not performing well then i can sell him before i pay that 1.5m and save a lot of money !

I have also just been offered a new contract by the board ! Woot !

[Jean-Luc]

He was listed with an asking price of 2.4m.

The deal is as follows

250k upfront

250k over 24 months

75k after 10 league goals

1.5m after 30 league appearances

5% Profit of next transfer.

I never thought anything like that would actually be accepted by the AI.

Isn't that almost a cheat if you can get a player worth 2 millions by shifting most of that money into a clause which might never come to pass?

Great deal, of course. I never really looked at players worth 2+ million anyway, as I expected them to be out of my price range.

[georgey]

I never thought anything like that would actually be accepted by the AI.

Isn't that almost a cheat if you can get a player worth 2 millions by shifting most of that money into a clause which might never come to pass?

Great deal, of course. I never really looked at players worth 2+ million anyway, as I expected them to be out of my price range.

I guess a player they don't "want" to sell they would have rejected instantly but he wasn't playing and was transfer listed.

In real life there is often appearance/performance related add-ons so i guess the game is trying to emulate that as much as possible.

I assume it is only because they wanted him off the wage bill it was accepted anyway ! It is not my intention to cheat the system anyway as i don't like playing that way.

Have you been playing much the last few nights ? I always like your detailed updates

[Jean-Luc]

I guess a player they don't "want" to sell they would have rejected instantly but he wasn't playing and was transfer listed.

In real life there is often appearance/performance related add-ons so i guess the game is trying to emulate that as much as possible.

I assume it is only because they wanted him off the wage bill it was accepted anyway ! It is not my intention to cheat the system anyway as i don't like playing that way.

Have you been playing much the last few nights ? I always like your detailed updates

"Cheat" was a too strong word anyway. And yes, you are right I guess, that it depends a lot on how urgent the other teams want to get rid of the player. I might settle for the same type of deal if my main intention is to get a player off my list.

And no, I didn't continue with this save. I am still playing an FM15 save with some friends as a group game (everybody playing the same club and we compare our progress), and that normally keeps me occupied at the weekends. I also expect the next longer update here to come after a few matchdays, so it might take a few more days.

I am a somewhat slower player compared to some people around here.

[shadowraiden90]

I never thought anything like that would actually be accepted by the AI.

Isn't that almost a cheat if you can get a player worth 2 millions by shifting most of that money into a clause which might never come to pass?

Great deal, of course. I never really looked at players worth 2+ million anyway, as I expected them to be out of my price range.

i wouldnt say cheating pretty much every real life deal nowadays is never upfront money a lot are structured deals that span several seasons and have possible clauses that may never trigger.

like the Martial deal in real life involved around 20m upfront then around 14m over few seasons with the other 22m being in clauses like top league goalscorer,winning the ballon d'or etc

it use to be seen as a bad move on FM as they never took the money off your transfer budgets when u set it to be over several seasons but now it will affect future transfer budgets

[Jean-Luc]

i wouldnt say cheating pretty much every real life deal nowadays is never upfront money a lot are structured deals that span several seasons and have possible clauses that may never trigger.

like the Martial deal in real life involved around 20m upfront then around 14m over few seasons with the other 22m being in clauses like top league goalscorer,winning the ballon d'or etc

In this case, you have 2/3 of the transfer fee more or less save, and 1/3 depends on clauses which might or might not come to pass.

In the case that georgy mentioned, you pay 250,000 upfront, 250,000 in installments (fair enough), and then around 3/4 of the potential money after "30 league games", which, if you want to, could easily avoid by selling the player in the summer break. That looked a bit cheeky to me, especially if the whole sum equals to the initial asking price. If the asking price would have been 2,5m, the guaranteed payment (including installments) would have been 1,5m or 2, and then another 1-2m "gambling clauses", it would have sounded more logical to me.

[Morbs]

After Jean-Luc pointed me in the direction of this Darmstadt challenge on the 'What Team Should I Be' thread I thought it only polite to give an early season update of my gloriously inconsistent, tactically naive, but ultimately highly enjoyable save as the Lillies.

8 games in I sit second bottom with 5 points. 1 win, 2 draws, and 5 defeats. Our goal difference of minus 8 is the worst in the league with the damage being principally done by an average TSG 1899 Hoffenheim who managed to overpower us in two short, deadly 5 minute bursts. And also by early league leaders Eintract Frankfurt who smashed us 4 zip. Other than that we've salvaged a few scrappy 1-1s as well as a 2-0 win. To be honest we don't look like scoring but by and large (despite our goal difference!) look relatively solid as a unit at the back. Opposition goals have unfortunately come more through individual player errors than a systematic tactical problem (at least that's what I think!). Two read cards probably doesn't help either.

Setting up the side I've either used a slightly modified formation that Jean-Luc suggested but with a defensive midfielder instead of two central midfielders or a 4-1-2-3-0 with a SS being my most advanced player as he tries to play in the wingers on the counter or get on the end of their whipped cross when a long ball to the flanks lets them break out. I've actually set us up to be a fairly 'fluid' outfit- not sure if this is particularly the 'Darmstadt' way but I've been relatively happy with how its going.

Goal scoring is clearly a problem but with the press suggesting that 35 points is historically enough, I just need to find a run of form where we take advantage of our chances then defend well as a whole.

As an aside- we have made the 2nd most tackles in the league with the highest number of fouls also. Indeed, I think we are close to a 2:1 ratio of tackles to fouls! Yellow cards mounting up but the odd suspension probably isn't the worst thing in the world as I can't seem to keep all my CDM and Full backs happy!

Jérôme Gondorf has been my stand-out player so far as he puts in some excellent passes and generally mops up as much as he can in front of the back four.

A very long way to go to stay up seeing as we are often inconsistent against the teams around us but lets hope I can do it!

[Jean-Luc]

Great update, Morbs!

(Well, great to read ... not exactly enojoyable in terms of success .)

I am out of the winter break, 3 matches in, and I am still struggling. Some quite unfortunate results saw me dropping into relegation zone. It's really a struggle.

I started tinkering with a 5-2-2-1 Formation, which works interesting in spells, but lacks quite something in a general way. Well ... it lacks the players to fill those roles, actually. The wing backs need to be quick, which they aren't. The attack needs to be efficient and goal threatening, which it isn't.

If you look at the whole squad, what you have is a very solid Central Defense, a decent Central Midfield (Niemeyer, Vrancic), and one lightening speedy Winger (Heller). I really struggle to find a tactic which lets all of them shine while painting over the weaknesses of the rest of the squad. Of course, the usual FM-effect kicks in, as well: Once you loose, you loose. As Morbs mentioned, you keep hoping for the "one decent run" that gets you enought points to survive.

Detailed update as usual coming soon. But I'll probably add another few games and continue finetuning my 5-2-2-1.

[tmason122]

Great update, Morbs!

(Well, great to read ... not exactly enojoyable in terms of success .)

I am out of the winter break, 3 matches in, and I am still struggling. Some quite unfortunate results saw me dropping into relegation zone. It's really a struggle.

I started tinkering with a 5-2-2-1 Formation, which works interesting in spells, but lacks quite something in a general way. Well ... it lacks the players to fill those roles, actually. The wing backs need to be quick, which they aren't. The attack needs to be efficient and goal threatening, which it isn't.

If you look at the whole squad, what you have is a very solid Central Defense, a decent Central Midfield (Niemeyer, Vrancic), and one lightening speedy Winger (Heller). I really struggle to find a tactic which lets all of them shine while painting over the weaknesses of the rest of the squad. Of course, the usual FM-effect kicks in, as well: Once you loose, you loose. As Morbs mentioned, you keep hoping for the "one decent run" that gets you enought points to survive.

Detailed update as usual coming soon. But I'll probably add another few games and continue finetuning my 5-2-2-1.

Is that a 5-2-2-1 with wingbacks? Like the system I am running? Or have you gone with fullbacks and 2 wingers? Good luck!!

My top Winter signing Annan managed 3 matches before getting injured... out for 6 months :/ So that was a rather useless signing! He was playing so well too! Grr, haha.

[Jean-Luc]

Is that a 5-2-2-1 with wingbacks? Like the system I am running? Or have you gone with fullbacks and 2 wingers? Good luck!!

My top Winter signing Annan managed 3 matches before getting injured... out for 6 months :/ So that was a rather useless signing! He was playing so well too! Grr, haha.

Yes, WB - CD - CD - CD - WB.

I will post a picture soon. It's solid defensively, and I have enough Central Defenders, but it lacks offensive punch. Obviously. The whole team lacks pace. I play with a high defensive line and try to use the whole team for attack and defense, but it's not smoothly working yet. Darmstadt definitely has a striker problem. I tried the "no striker" version with Rosenthal upfront as well, but he can't really use the crosses coming in from Heller, so that does not fit neither. The obvious choice would be to forget about the wingers and build a strong central midfield, but in that case, the wingbacks are not really well suited to carry the attack along the flanks.

As I said, I am still wondering how to put the pieces together in the most efficient way.

And maybe I got too many players on board "for the future". If I survive the Summer 2016, we're gonna have a splendid team full of potential ... but probably not yet there to play Bundesliga. I might field an U21 team capable to dominate 3rd Division. Interested to see how THAT pans out...

[georgey]

Just got a huge point from Bayern Munich , set my stall out to defend and got a 0-0 draw. Bayern shots at goal - 28 , Darmstadt shots at goal - 1

[Morbs]

Progressed just past where the real Bundesliga is at present so I suppose it might be interesting to pit the real Darmstadt with my Darmstadt 2.0:

Played---Won---Drawn---Lost---Scored---Conceded---Goal Difference---Points

Real Darmstadt: Position: 13 13 3 5 5 14 19 -5 14

Darmstadt 2.0: Position: 12 13 3 5 5 15 19 -4 14

So, virtually identically except I have scored one more goal and a position higher.

Fixtures in game aren't the same as the real ones sadly but we've mostly played the same teams, all be it in a different order, so it is a fair reflection. The real table of Hoffenheim & Augsburg (suffering the dreaded 'second season syndrome' perhaps?) at the bottom on 8 & 9 points respectively is replaced in game with Hannover bottom on 6 points with Augsburg on 9- although I have a crucial game in hand on both. As you can see, it is still very close down the bottom so I doubt I will be able to drag myself much further away from relegation than where I am at the moment, and in reality expect to be right on top of that relegation playoff place!

[georgey]

Five games to go here and i have had a serious slump , i am not rooted at the bottom of the table. 3 points behind 16 and 17.

Barring an amazing run of form it is looking like i will be relegated , if it happens this will be my first ever relegation in football manager (or even championship manager as it used to be called) . I have played since the days of Commodore Amiga and i have never gone down , looks like that is about to change haha

[Jean-Luc]

Progressed just past where the real Bundesliga is at present so I suppose it might be interesting to pit the real Darmstadt with my Darmstadt 2.0:

Played---Won---Drawn---Lost---Scored---Conceded---Goal Difference---Points

Real Darmstadt: Position: 13 13 3 5 5 14 19 -5 14

Darmstadt 2.0: Position: 12 13 3 5 5 15 19 -4 14

So, virtually identically except I have scored one more goal and a position higher.

Fixtures in game aren't the same as the real ones sadly but we've mostly played the same teams, all be it in a different order, so it is a fair reflection. The real table of Hoffenheim & Augsburg (suffering the dreaded 'second season syndrome' perhaps?) at the bottom on 8 & 9 points respectively is replaced in game with Hannover bottom on 6 points with Augsburg on 9- although I have a crucial game in hand on both. As you can see, it is still very close down the bottom so I doubt I will be able to drag myself much further away from relegation than where I am at the moment, and in reality expect to be right on top of that relegation playoff place!

Fascinating stuff!

"Real" Darmstadt had a rather bad spell the last few games. Only 1 point out of 3 matches, quite unnecessary losses against Stuttgart and Ingolstadt. They need some kind of turnaround, just like all of us FM players. Hah!

Five games to go here and i have had a serious slump , i am not rooted at the bottom of the table. 3 points behind 16 and 17.

Barring an amazing run of form it is looking like i will be relegated , if it happens this will be my first ever relegation in football manager (or even championship manager as it used to be called) . I have played since the days of Commodore Amiga and i have never gone down , looks like that is about to change haha

I am with you there. Only on matchday 20, as mentioned, but a bit surprised so far about myself. I was one of those people who thought that FM, in general, is too unrealistic in a certain way, because you can always make your team better than it will fare in reality. For the first time, I also wonder if I will go down in the end. Don't have such a long history with the game as you do, though. I only joined the ride in 2012.

[georgey]

Well as i approach the end of the 15/16 season and my first season in FM 16 what a rollercoaster this Darmstadt season has been.

Five games to go when i last posted and i was 18th in the table and certain in my own head i would be relegated.

A shock victory over BMG and then a win over Stuttgart and a Draw with Koln ( along with a defeat ) was enough to leave the situation for the last game of the season like this:

If i lose i am relegated

If i win i am 14th or 15th depending on other results and safe.

If i draw depending on other teams round me losing i will be 16th and have the play-off.

I drew my last game of the season and the results went my way and i am 16th and have the play-off.

I played the first leg before logging off....... Good and bad , i beat RBL 3-2 in the first leg so a draw is enough to stay up in the return away fixture. It was a bit bad though as i threw away a 3 goal lead with an awful collapse in the last 4 minutes for it to finish 3-2.

I must thank my January signing Jelavic for helping me not be automatically relegated , he scored 7 goals and 3 assists in 13 games for me which was my best return from anyone for goals per game.

It is a very tense finish now as i know how fragile my team are and how easily i am leaking goals, i am afraid to play for a draw as i feel RBL can score against me.

Will let you know when i have played the final and deciding game of the season !

[Jean-Luc]

You will have the vast majority of German football fans rooting for you in that "final", because RB Leipzig is a club heavily supported by corporate money. They are "destined" to get promoted for 2 years already, and blew it last year, well, because a club like Darmstadt achieved promotion instead.

Keeping the fingers crossed. What an exciting end to the season!

Who are the two clubs that got direct promotion from the 2. Bundesliga?

[georgey]

You will have the vast majority of German football fans rooting for you in that "final", because RB Leipzig is a club heavily supported by corporate money. They are "destined" to get promoted for 2 years already, and blew it last year, well, because a club like Darmstadt achieved promotion instead.

Keeping the fingers crossed. What an exciting end to the season!

Who are the two clubs that got direct promotion from the 2. Bundesliga?

Well that is the end of the first season , i swear this team is trying to give me a heart-attack!!!

I was absolutely dominated by RBL in the second leg , they had 20 shots....i had 5.

My other January signing Kasper Hamalainen picked a great match to get his first goal for the club to make it 1-0.

RBL quickly equalised though and then proceeded to pound me into the ground but Mathenia was in great form and made save after save...including a penalty !

The game finished a 1-1 draw and i am safe for another season woo-hoo !!!!! I stayed up and reached the quarter finals of the cup so i guess overall that is not bad.

I am getting my training facilities and my youth facilities upgraded along with an increase in junior coaching budget. A small bit of progress in trying to make this club a regular 1st division team.

The two teams who are automatically going up from div 2 are Nurnberg and Berlin-Kopenick Dammfeld with Bremen (18th) and Koln going down from the first. No real surprise as Bayern won the league by 11 points ahead of wolfsburg and dortmund were another 10 points behind on top of that.

[tmason122]

Well that is the end of the first season , i swear this team is trying to give me a heart-attack!!!

I was absolutely dominated by RBL in the second leg , they had 20 shots....i had 5.

My other January signing Kasper Hamalainen picked a great match to get his first goal for the club to make it 1-0.

RBL quickly equalised though and then proceeded to pound me into the ground but Mathenia was in great form and made save after save...including a penalty !

The game finished a 1-1 draw and i am safe for another season woo-hoo !!!!! I stayed up and reached the quarter finals of the cup so i guess overall that is not bad.

I am getting my training facilities and my youth facilities upgraded along with an increase in junior coaching budget. A small bit of progress in trying to make this club a regular 1st division team.

The two teams who are automatically going up from div 2 are Nurnberg and Berlin-Kopenick Dammfeld with Bremen (18th) and Koln going down from the first. No real surprise as Bayern won the league by 11 points ahead of wolfsburg and dortmund were another 10 points behind on top of that.

CONGATULATIONS!!!!!!!

I hope to join you in this elite club after the weekend..... Wish me luck

[BoxToBox]

This thread is excellent.

[georgey]

CONGATULATIONS!!!!!!!

I hope to join you in this elite club after the weekend..... Wish me luck

Thank you !

A small update on where i am now 1st july 2016. Transfer window opening day.....

First of all i got a nice compliment , Hoffenheim ( who qualified for european football ) approached me for an interview!!! A chance to make a step up the football ladder....of course i said no thanks as my future lies here.

I got a budget of just over 2m to spend on players , im actually a little disapointed in this. I know we are a very small team but we made a 12m profit last season and have had a reasonable jump in sponsorship from the previous deals.

That's life though and we just keep going. My squad is tiny and i mean TINY. I only signed 5 people from last seasons youth intake , i will be lucky if 2 ever make it as they were really poor.

I have a couple of lads who don't want to sign a new contract ( Rausch is the best one ) and others who i won't renew.

Out have gone:

Patrick Platins

Michael Stegmayer

Marco Sailer

Konstantin Rausch

Leon Montalvo

Noel Wembacher

Ali Kazimi

Zaluska is also out of contract but has not yet left. I am tempted to let him go and bleed Johann Aumann into a few games (3.5-4* potential)

Transfers in..... I have one deal agreed so far , a new DC on a bosman, a much needed quick but also defender who can mark and tackle.

Felipe Santana from Shalke.

Now...... I am in for what would be a pretty major transfer if i pull this off. It will destroy my entire wage and transfer budget but i think he could be a revelation IF he signs. He has agreed a contract after requesting to leave his current club due to their relegation from the English Premiership but i will keep you hanging on that one until we see what is happening

A major staff overhaul is next on the list and possibly a couple of bosman moves or else maybe a couple of loan moves, i need to check just who is available first !

[georgey]

This thread is excellent.

I agree with this and i feel the OP did a great job as it is due to this very thread that i got tempted into trying them

[Morbs]

Well, I'm in a bit of a Football Manager predicament. Having pretty much mirrored the real Darmstadt coming into the Christmas break I managed to go on a God awful run which has left us second bottom, but five points behind Cologne, after 22 games. A run of 9 (nine!) defeats on the bounce clearly isn't much to write home about but to be sacked after a board meeting came a little bit unexpectedly. It really was a matter of 1 step forward, 2 steps back as I felt we were getting closer and closer to returning to winning ways with an unlucky 1-0 loss, but then we would get pumped 3 or 4 nill and I'd be back scratching my head.

So not the glorious start I had in mind when I started! And it has left me wondering If I should disapear to somewhere else in the world of FM to gen up on tactics and the like or make an immediate restart with the Lilies. If I am to restart I probably won't spend the majority of my budget bringing in English journeyman Matty Taylor again...

Well done to Georgey though for a nail biting, but successful, finale! And I agree with all of you who have pointed out the depth, presentation and attention to detail that Jean-Luc has put into creating a fascinating and readable guide to managing Darmstadt. His love for the club clearly shines through, and it is good to read about these small, unfashionable clubs from different countries who have very interesting backstories.

[BoxToBox]

I agree with this and i feel the OP did a great job as it is due to this very thread that i got tempted into trying them

I'll certainly give them a run at some point in time, they seem like a lot of fun, and a fantastic story.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I managed to sign Kevin Prince Boteng on a free in the 2nd season, might be worth looking at him guys.

[Jean-Luc]

Season 2015/16 - Update

Jean-Luc

Quick update from my side: We've been on a really poor run, as mentioned.

First game after the winter break started well, finishing off the promoted team from Ingolstadt 3-1.

Then came a string of rotten results, a bit similar to what Morbs just described: I thought we played well, at least partially, and there was something to build momentum on, even against VfL Wolfsburg, where we were leading by a goal 1-0 ... and in the end, we lost all those games. I took hope in the fact that we only lost 0-1 twice, but these hopes were crushed by the defeat against Wolfsburg (although their goals were one free kick, one spectacular drop-kick and one penalty).

Then came the match against Schalke.

At home, but I have lost the whole "unbeaten at home" nimbus for quite a while now.

On the eve of the match, we are sitting in 16th position, but on same points with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in 17th place. I really expect to fall down into deep relegation zone. After Schalke, the rest looks like this:

Basically, we have to pick up a run of good form against Frankfurt, Bremen, HSV, Hannover, Mainz and Hoffenheim. Those are the six teams we can beat, at least in theory. They are all placed 10th or worse (except for Hamburg). After that dozen come the "big three" (Bayern, Dortmund, Leverkusen) and we're sure gonna lose lots of points there.

Bit frightening.

Match against Schalke 04 starts.

We are down 0-1 after a few minutes by a superb long shot and goal from Geis. Not defendable.

I loose all hope.

We somehow manage to equalize with a neat corner.

Then comes Dominik "Dodo" Stroh-Engel. With a pass to Heller...

Heller runs!

Runs, runs, runs...!

And shoots...

Wow.

In the end, we beat Schalke 2-1.

If this would be a movie, I'd call it "New Hope".

15th place.

Still everything very tight. Dortmund climing their way steadily up from bottom. I'd say we can still hope for 15th place.

[Jean-Luc]

A small update on where i am now 1st july 2016. Transfer window opening day.....

I got a budget of just over 2m to spend on players , im actually a little disapointed in this. I know we are a very small team but we made a 12m profit last season and have had a reasonable jump in sponsorship from the previous deals.

That's life though and we just keep going. My squad is tiny and i mean TINY. I only signed 5 people from last seasons youth intake , i will be lucky if 2 ever make it as they were really poor.

I have a couple of lads who don't want to sign a new contract ( Rausch is the best one ) and others who i won't renew.

Out have gone:

Patrick Platins

Michael Stegmayer

Marco Sailer

Konstantin Rausch

Leon Montalvo

Noel Wembacher

Ali Kazimi

Felipe Santana from Shalke.

Congratulations georgey.

You are officially the first person to complete the challenge from the thread title "Keep Darmstadt in the Bundesliga". Now onto the famous dreaded second year.

2m is actually quite a lot if you remember that Darmstadt spent around 500k in transfers last year.

I would have let the same people go. Rausch, as mentioned, is not as good in FM16 as he is in reality. Sailer, I might probably keep just for nostalgia and for his awesome mental attributes.

Santana sounds like a smart idea. Schalke certainly does not need him but he's strong enough for Darmstadt. I should have thought of that as well. Of course, he's not gonna help getting your squad any younger.

Well, I'm in a bit of a Football Manager predicament. Having pretty much mirrored the real Darmstadt coming into the Christmas break I managed to go on a God awful run which has left us second bottom, but five points behind Cologne, after 22 games. A run of 9 (nine!) defeats on the bounce clearly isn't much to write home about but to be sacked after a board meeting came a little bit unexpectedly. It really was a matter of 1 step forward, 2 steps back as I felt we were getting closer and closer to returning to winning ways with an unlucky 1-0 loss, but then we would get pumped 3 or 4 nill and I'd be back scratching my head.

So not the glorious start I had in mind when I started! And it has left me wondering If I should disapear to somewhere else in the world of FM to gen up on tactics and the like or make an immediate restart with the Lilies. If I am to restart I probably won't spend the majority of my budget bringing in English journeyman Matty Taylor again...

I am very sorry to hear that and I can feel your frustration. In many ways, Darmstadt is a horrible club to play, because you don't even have the prospect of a good Youth intake or some transfer money to get Hot Prospects in.

I could totally understand if you want to find fun elsewhere.

Then again... it'd be very sad to loose you in this thread here.

I agree with this and i feel the OP did a great job as it is due to this very thread that i got tempted into trying them

Thank you all guys for comments like that.

But a great opening post alone is worthless. It only gets fun once all of you start to play as well

[georgey]

Congratulations georgey.

You are officially the first person to complete the challenge from the thread title "Keep Darmstadt in the Bundesliga". Now onto the famous dreaded second year.

2m is actually quite a lot if you remember that Darmstadt spent around 500k in transfers last year.

I would have let the same people go. Rausch, as mentioned, is not as good in FM16 as he is in reality. Sailer, I might probably keep just for nostalgia and for his awesome mental attributes.

Santana sounds like a smart idea. Schalke certainly does not need him but he's strong enough for Darmstadt. I should have thought of that as well. Of course, he's not gonna help getting your squad any younger.

Thanks !

My squad has undergone quite the overhaul. I see me making a financial loss due to increased wages for a year or two but hopefully it turns out to be worth it while i start getting in some youngsters to bring through.

For the moment though i went for players looking to give me an immediate improvement as last season was much to close for my liking !

My signings are as follows:

Free

Felipe Santana should help tighten up the defence

A solid Right Back in Riether who brings solid performance and experience

Artjoms Rudnevs - a gamble but he was on loan in div 2 last season and absolutely destroyed it . Scoring loads of goals. He only has 10 finishing however he is 6ft tall with 19 pace , 17 work rate , 16 stamina and 14 heading / strength coupled up with 18 aggression and bravery....making him a real thorn in the side of defenders.

All in all , for free i am delighted with those three transfers.

Loans

David Lopez - Napoli - Solid Midfielder, can pass or tackle , hard working team player.

Joe Ledley - Crystal Palace - Another hard working solid and consistent midfielder

I narrowly missed out on Andrea Poli and Cheikhou Kouyate on loan both of whom would have been superb i think.

Purchases

Aiden McGeady - Tricky winger for 500k upfront eventually reaching 900k

Then my game changing signing , i have played 2 competitive games so far and he has scored in both , going by the highlights he is causing mayhem and should be a brilliant signing !!

Jamie Vardy !! Leicester got relegated and he had requested a transfer , he wasn't listed but was very unhappy.

I have him on a deal for an initial 6m paid up monthly and depending on goals and performances it could end up being 11m if he gets the games at club and international level.

Jamie has 15 finishing , 20 work rate , 19 teamwork , 18 pace /acceleration , 15 strenght and 17 stamina coupled up with bravery 19- aggression 19 etc. I am delighted with this signing from the championship.

A total of 7 players in.

Sales

Patrick Platins 0

Miachael Stegmayer 0

Marco Sailer 0

Konstantin Rausch 0

Leon Montalvo 0

Noel Wembacher 0

Ali Kazimi 0

Sandro Wagner 160k

Gyorgy Garics 14k

Dominik Stroh-Egel 110k

Jan Rosenthal - loan - Wages and 13.75k p/m

Jerome Gondorf 400k

I have signed some more coaches including Pintus 5* fitness coach

I have a new HOYD who has JPA 18 - JPP 20 - Working with youngsters 16 so hopefully an improvement in youth intake along with my increased junior coaching budget and improved youth facilites !

I won my german cup game and beat Hamburg 2-0 so far. I destroyed Hamburg , Vardy constantly burst through , better finishing and he could have had a hat-trick.

Thats it for now !

[tmason122]

Thanks !

My squad has undergone quite the overhaul. I see me making a financial loss due to increased wages for a year or two but hopefully it turns out to be worth it while i start getting in some youngsters to bring through.

For the moment though i went for players looking to give me an immediate improvement as last season was much to close for my liking !

My signings are as follows:

Free

Felipe Santana should help tighten up the defence

A solid Right Back in Riether who brings solid performance and experience

Artjoms Rudnevs - a gamble but he was on loan in div 2 last season and absolutely destroyed it . Scoring loads of goals. He only has 10 finishing however he is 6ft tall with 19 pace , 17 work rate , 16 stamina and 14 heading / strength coupled up with 18 aggression and bravery....making him a real thorn in the side of defenders.

All in all , for free i am delighted with those three transfers.

Loans

David Lopez - Napoli - Solid Midfielder, can pass or tackle , hard working team player.

Joe Ledley - Crystal Palace - Another hard working solid and consistent midfielder

I narrowly missed out on Andrea Poli and Cheikhou Kouyate on loan both of whom would have been superb i think.

Purchases

Aiden McGeady - Tricky winger for 500k upfront eventually reaching 900k

Then my game changing signing , i have played 2 competitive games so far and he has scored in both , going by the highlights he is causing mayhem and should be a brilliant signing !!

Jamie Vardy !! Leicester got relegated and he had requested a transfer , he wasn't listed but was very unhappy.

I have him on a deal for an initial 6m paid up monthly and depending on goals and performances it could end up being 11m if he gets the games at club and international level.

Jamie has 15 finishing , 20 work rate , 19 teamwork , 18 pace /acceleration , 15 strenght and 17 stamina coupled up with bravery 19- aggression 19 etc. I am delighted with this signing from the championship.

A total of 7 players in.

Sales

Patrick Platins 0

Miachael Stegmayer 0

Marco Sailer 0

Konstantin Rausch 0

Leon Montalvo 0

Noel Wembacher 0

Ali Kazimi 0

Sandro Wagner 160k

Gyorgy Garics 14k

Dominik Stroh-Egel 110k

Jan Rosenthal - loan - Wages and 13.75k p/m

Jerome Gondorf 400k

I have signed some more coaches including Pintus 5* fitness coach

I have a new HOYD who has JPA 18 - JPP 20 - Working with youngsters 16 so hopefully an improvement in youth intake along with my increased junior coaching budget and improved youth facilites !

I won my german cup game and beat Hamburg 2-0 so far. I destroyed Hamburg , Vardy constantly burst through , better finishing and he could have had a hat-trick.

Thats it for now !

Jamie Vardy... if ever there was a player suited to the Darmstadt school of football! I salute you sir!

I´m sitting in 16th with 8 games to go.... There are only 6 points between 18th and 11th in my league, so it is pretty tight. One victory can see you jump 3 or 4 places, and one loss can see you drop 3 or 4 places :/ Next up Bayern Munich, not much hope for points there!

[georgey]

Jamie Vardy... if ever there was a player suited to the Darmstadt school of football! I salute you sir!

I´m sitting in 16th with 8 games to go.... There are only 6 points between 18th and 11th in my league, so it is pretty tight. One victory can see you jump 3 or 4 places, and one loss can see you drop 3 or 4 places :/ Next up Bayern Munich, not much hope for points there!

Thank you ! I am delighted with the purchase of him. It is punching above my weight slightly from a financial side but if he scores the goals to keep us up again then he is worth every penny !

Best of luck, i hope you stay up. That was like my first season....even on the final fixture i could have finished from 14th to 18th. So tight down there !

[Jean-Luc]

For the moment though i went for players looking to give me an immediate improvement as last season was much to close for my liking !

My signings are as follows:

Felipe Santana should help tighten up the defence

A solid Right Back in Riether who brings solid performance and experience

Artjoms Rudnevs - a gamble but he was on loan in div 2 last season and absolutely destroyed it . Scoring loads of goals. He only has 10 finishing however he is 6ft tall with 19 pace , 17 work rate , 16 stamina and 14 heading / strength coupled up with 18 aggression and bravery....making him a real thorn in the side of defenders.

All in all , for free i am delighted with those three transfers.

They all definitly sound like the classic type of players Darmstadt could have signed this season. Although Riether actually surprised me, he didn't have the best season with Freiburg and went despite his age to a club like Wolfsburg where he seems to play pretty well.

Aiden McGeady - Tricky winger for 500k upfront eventually reaching 900k

Then my game changing signing , i have played 2 competitive games so far and he has scored in both , going by the highlights he is causing mayhem and should be a brilliant signing !!

Jamie Vardy !! Leicester got relegated and he had requested a transfer , he wasn't listed but was very unhappy.

I have him on a deal for an initial 6m paid up monthly and depending on goals and performances it could end up being 11m if he gets the games at club and international level.

Jamie has 15 finishing , 20 work rate , 19 teamwork , 18 pace /acceleration , 15 strenght and 17 stamina coupled up with bravery 19- aggression 19 etc. I am delighted with this signing from the championship.

A total of 7 players in.

Ha! Vardy also sounds spot on, from what I hear about his story as a late developer. Didn't he play lower league football a few years ago? Although 6-11m, geez, that would explode the transfer budget of quite a few lower to mid table clubs in the Bundesliga.

How did you even finance that with 2m transfer budget? Stretched over 48 months still means that you basically sold your soul for the next 4 years, no? That really sounds like the beginning of one of those big success stories ... or one of those stories where clubs end up being relegated to amateur status due to financial issues and paying debts for generations to come...

In any case, it's a very nice story.

Patrick Platins 0

Miachael Stegmayer 0

Marco Sailer 0

Konstantin Rausch 0

Leon Montalvo 0

Noel Wembacher 0

Ali Kazimi 0

Sandro Wagner 160k

Gyorgy Garics 14k

Dominik Stroh-Egel 110k

Jan Rosenthal - loan - Wages and 13.75k p/m

Jerome Gondorf 400k

I also sold Wagner in the winter break (he's too similar to Stroh-Engel anyway in FM16) and got 300k.

No use for Rosenthal?

I have a new HOYD who has JPA 18 - JPP 20 - Working with youngsters 16 so hopefully an improvement in youth intake along with my increased junior coaching budget and improved youth facilites !

What status do your facilities have now? The problem is that it starts on a really low level. I guess we need upgrades 2 or 3 times to reach an acceptable level. And Youth Development in the Bundesliga is a real long term project, you can't field those promising 15 year olds.

There's also the factor of Youth recruitment and Junior Coaching.

[tmason122]

Originally posted by Jean-Luc

Ha! Vardy also sounds spot on, from what I hear about his story as a late developer. Didn't he play lower league football a few years ago? Although 6-11m, geez, that would explode the transfer budget of quite a few lower to mid table clubs in the Bundesliga.

How did you even finance that with 2m transfer budget? Stretched over 48 months still means that you basically sold your soul for the next 4 years, no? That really sounds like the beginning of one of those big success stories ... or one of those stories where clubs end up being relegated to amateur status due to financial issues and paying debts for generations to come...

Yes, he has had an incredible rise through the English league system

http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/26/timeline-jamie-vardys-miraculous-rise-from-non-league-football-to-premier-league-record-books-5526976/

He is now the joint Premier League record holder (alongside a certain Ruud van Nistelrooy) for scoring in 10 consecutive Premier league games! I hope he can do the same for Georgy´s Darmstadt in the Bundasliga!

[tmason122]

Gentleman... I have an announcement to make..... Drum roll please

I believe I can take the honour of being the first member on this thread to get Darmstadt relegated! Ta-dah!

Unfortunately, the second half of the season really didn´t work out for the team. We dropped into the relegation places with 6 games to go and never got back out. Whilst they were some pleasing performances along the way, including a 1-0 against Frankfurt and a horribly unfair last minute 2-1 loss to Borissa Dortmund (after we had led for most of the match) the team just had a problem with conceding too many goals. Often very stupid goals. Too often players would switch off just and it really didn´t work out. We finished the season 6 points adrift of safety.

I also had a problem with red cards, picking up 10 over the season. I think that is a personal record for myself, haha. I also had a personal record for my strikers set with Stroh-Engel going 9 games without a goal and Rosenthal going 19 games without goal when the season came to an end. It is rather apt that the last 2 goals that my Darmstadt side did manage to score were due to the opposition goalkeeper booting the player into Ulloa and Del Piero respectively and then the ball rebounding into the net, haha.

I´m very disappointed, as this is the first time I´ve ever been relegated in 10 years of Football manager. Even more so, when most of the season we weren´t even in the relegation places, only dropped into them in the last 6 games! Gutted. Injuries (and suspensions) didn´t help. Going into the last 4 games of the season I was missing Hegazi, Vrancic, Niemeyer, Holland, Annan and Ulloa all from the starting 11 just from injuries. I had to recall loanees such as Wagner and Gondorf just to cobble together a starting 11!

So at the end of the season I sat down with the board and lets just say the end of season meeting did not go well. In the end I handed in my resignation and we parted on a sour note, which is such a shame as I had so much fun at Darmstadt. One day I would like to return. I am not a person to start a new game after a failure, I´ll keep it on my CV and have got out into the wild world of the unemployed.

I didn´t stay unemployed for long though, and I have since accepted a role at Burnley FC, after they finished 13th in the championship last season. I may have dropped down a league, but the quality of the players are generally a little higher and there is even a transfer kitty of €5million! In some ways it almost feels like a promotion, hahaha.

Good luck to you all who are continuing with this save or will be starting with it soon!

Oh and a final thing.... If I was to do with save again I would not sell Heller and I wouldn´t try a formation with wingbacks, I tried it for a whole season and couldn´t get it to work (they were just too slow and poor at crossing in the end).

Good luck again!

[georgey]

Gentleman... I have an announcement to make..... Drum roll please

I believe I can take the honour of being the first member on this thread to get Darmstadt relegated! Ta-dah!

Unfortunately, the second half of the season really didn´t work out for the team. We dropped into the relegation places with 6 games to go and never got back out. Whilst they were some pleasing performances along the way, including a 1-0 against Frankfurt and a horribly unfair last minute 2-1 loss to Borissa Dortmund (after we had led for most of the match) the team just had a problem with conceding too many goals. Often very stupid goals. Too often players would switch off just and it really didn´t work out. We finished the season 6 points adrift of safety.

I also had a problem with red cards, picking up 10 over the season. I think that is a personal record for myself, haha. I also had a personal record for my strikers set with Stroh-Engel going 9 games without a goal and Rosenthal going 19 games without goal when the season came to an end. It is rather apt that the last 2 goals that my Darmstadt side did manage to score were due to the opposition goalkeeper booting the player into Ulloa and Del Piero respectively and then the ball rebounding into the net, haha.

I´m very disappointed, as this is the first time I´ve ever been relegated in 10 years of Football manager. Even more so, when most of the season we weren´t even in the relegation places, only dropped into them in the last 6 games! Gutted. Injuries (and suspensions) didn´t help. Going into the last 4 games of the season I was missing Hegazi, Vrancic, Niemeyer, Holland, Annan and Ulloa all from the starting 11 just from injuries. I had to recall loanees such as Wagner and Gondorf just to cobble together a starting 11!

So at the end of the season I sat down with the board and lets just say the end of season meeting did not go well. In the end I handed in my resignation and we parted on a sour note, which is such a shame as I had so much fun at Darmstadt. One day I would like to return. I am not a person to start a new game after a failure, I´ll keep it on my CV and have got out into the wild world of the unemployed.

I didn´t stay unemployed for long though, and I have since accepted a role at Burnley FC, after they finished 13th in the championship last season. I may have dropped down a league, but the quality of the players are generally a little higher and there is even a transfer kitty of €5million! In some ways it almost feels like a promotion, hahaha.

Good luck to you all who are continuing with this save or will be starting with it soon!

Oh and a final thing.... If I was to do with save again I would not sell Heller and I wouldn´t try a formation with wingbacks, I tried it for a whole season and couldn´t get it to work (they were just too slow and poor at crossing in the end).

Good luck again!

Ah i am very sorry to hear that mate , i hope you make it back !

[Jean-Luc]

Very sorry to hear that as well.

And sorry to loose you from this thread. Maybe you can at least post us some screenshots how the SVD is doing without you in the seasons to come. How the squad looks like and such.

It seems that this team thread is more of a challenge to everybody than I thought. I also had my personal setback yesterday. After the glorious win against Schalke, we lost 0-1 to 1.FC Köln, 18th in the Bundesliga. We're not gonna make it out of the relegation battle if we lose against the teams behind us.

I almost feel a bit sorry and ashamed for luring so many people into this save with a "nice story", when all they experience in the end is pain, frustration and misery.

[georgey]

They all definitly sound like the classic type of players Darmstadt could have signed this season. Although Riether actually surprised me, he didn't have the best season with Freiburg and went despite his age to a club like Wolfsburg where he seems to play pretty well.

Ha! Vardy also sounds spot on, from what I hear about his story as a late developer. Didn't he play lower league football a few years ago? Although 6-11m, geez, that would explode the transfer budget of quite a few lower to mid table clubs in the Bundesliga.

How did you even finance that with 2m transfer budget? Stretched over 48 months still means that you basically sold your soul for the next 4 years, no? That really sounds like the beginning of one of those big success stories ... or one of those stories where clubs end up being relegated to amateur status due to financial issues and paying debts for generations to come...

In any case, it's a very nice story.

Thanks. Yes indeed i have taken a massive gamble with the club and that transfer of Vardy, if he scores the goals to keep us up year after year then i feel it is worthwhile though as our reputation will increase. I will be paying for him until he is nearly 34 however so hopefully he doesn't lose those amazing physicals to quickly!

Indeed , apart from my financial irresponsibility:D i am kinda trying to roleplay a "limited" club and buying people who are mostly hard workers and will "fight for the cause"

I also sold Wagner in the winter break (he's too similar to Stroh-Engel anyway in FM16) and got 300k.

No use for Rosenthal?

No , he just hasn't performed enough for me and it is also a 'small' help to my wage bill loaning him out

What status do your facilities have now? The problem is that it starts on a really low level. I guess we need upgrades 2 or 3 times to reach an acceptable level. And Youth Development in the Bundesliga is a real long term project, you can't field those promising 15 year olds.

My status is now

Good Training

Average youth

Average junior coaching

Average youth recruitment

They are very poor but every time we have money i will be asking for improvement.

There's also the factor of Youth recruitment and Junior Coaching.

My HOYD

http://s166.photobucket.com/user/gsinc12345/media/HOYD_zpsiiexvyml.png.html

http://s166.photobucket.com/user/gsinc12345/media/HOYD_zpsiiexvyml.png.html

[georgey]

Very sorry to hear that as well.

And sorry to loose you from this thread. Maybe you can at least post us some screenshots how the SVD is doing without you in the seasons to come. How the squad looks like and such.

It seems that this team thread is more of a challenge to everybody than I thought. I also had my personal setback yesterday. After the glorious win against Schalke, we lost 0-1 to 1.FC Köln, 18th in the Bundesliga. We're not gonna make it out of the relegation battle if we lose against the teams behind us.

I almost feel a bit sorry and ashamed for luring so many people into this save with a "nice story", when all they experience in the end is pain, frustration and misery.

Haha , it is very hard but i am glad i chose to do it and i am enjoying it , i had such a close escape first time around and now the dreaded 2nd season syndrome could happen.

It makes a pleasant change from taking a top table or even mid-table team and within five years winning league after league.

[georgey]

A little bit off-topic chaps but i followed the FAQ and couldn't get it to work , how do you actually insert pictures into the post like you guys have rather than just having a link , i tried to insert image but it didn't insert it. Thanks.

[Jean-Luc]

Test. Test. 123...

My HOYD

edit:

You copied the wrong link from the website.

You should get the link which is marked "direct". In any case, it should end with a .png, not with .html

Then you insert it into the "image" tag, either by clicking on the symbol or just by adding

The tag will not recognize .html files and display them as errors. But in your case, the whole link was wrong. I copied it directly from your source.

edit2:

By the way, my favourite tool to make screenshots is the "snipping" tool from Windows. You should find it under "Accessories" (if you are a Windows user). It helps you to easily get exactly the part that you want. To capture moments during a match, you have to pause, because it's not a click&shoot Tool but a draw&cut by hand. But especially with FM, there are often so many moments when you want to show a specific part of your screen, not the whole screen.

[georgey]

Test. Test. 123...

edit:

You copied the wrong link from the website.

You should get the link which is marked "direct". In any case, it should end with a .png, not with .html

Then you insert it into the "image" tag, either by clicking on the symbol or just by adding

The tag will not recognize .html files and display them as errors. But in your case, the whole link was wrong. I copied it directly from your source.

edit2:

By the way, my favourite tool to make screenshots is the "snipping" tool from Windows. You should find it under "Accessories" (if you are a Windows user). It helps you to easily get exactly the part that you want. To capture moments during a match, you have to pause, because it's not a click&shoot Tool but a draw&cut by hand. But especially with FM, there are often so many moments when you want to show a specific part of your screen, not the whole screen.

Thank you very much , i shall try that!

I feel the posts with pictures are always more enjoyable

[tmason122]

Very sorry to hear that as well.

And sorry to loose you from this thread. Maybe you can at least post us some screenshots how the SVD is doing without you in the seasons to come. How the squad looks like and such.

It seems that this team thread is more of a challenge to everybody than I thought. I also had my personal setback yesterday. After the glorious win against Schalke, we lost 0-1 to 1.FC Köln, 18th in the Bundesliga. We're not gonna make it out of the relegation battle if we lose against the teams behind us.

I almost feel a bit sorry and ashamed for luring so many people into this save with a "nice story", when all they experience in the end is pain, frustration and misery.

Haha, it was still a really enjoyable experience for me! And I even felt knew emotions when playing football manager. After relegation was confirmed in the 2nd from last game it felt like a massive weight was lifted from my shoulders! Never had that before in FM, haha.

Yer, I´ll update you on how Darmstadt do and I´ll still keep active in this thread. I´m really interested to see how the rest of you do. I´m especially interested to see how Georgy does in his second season! Good luck mate!

[Morbs]

Obviously I was only in the Manager's Office for half a season before I was unceremoniously dumped but I'm still following this with interest. I think the hardest aspect of being the Darmstadt gaffer is that you just don't have one stand out player at all to rely on. Sure, there are some good footballers, but if you look at all the other struggling clubs they have at least one proven player who can carry the side. Köln, who seem to struggle in most people games, have a German international in Hector, for example, and Timo Horn in net. (although, that said, Darmstadt did draw with Köln in a stale 0-0 last night!)

Getting in someone like Vardy as Georgey has done is probably a very shrewd piece of business. I wonder how long you believe you will be a 'avoid relegation' club before you can establish yourself and push for mid table, a cup run or even a UEFA Cup berth?

Personally, To be perfectly honest, FM16 is a big step up for me from FM13 and I still haven't got my head around building a tactic at all. I think I'm going to chance my luck away from Darmstadt in one of the Low Countries lower leagues to test around a bit, and providing I don't get too attached to some nondescript Belgian or Dutch team come back invigorated to try to keep Darmstadt up!

As I said, I shall still be following this with interest in the mean time!

[georgey]

SEASON 2 UPDATE---READY FOR THE RUN IN

So....as those of you who follow this thread know , i survived season 1 and stayed up by the skin of my teeth. Season 2 was all about building on that and trying to "make a statement" that i am here to stay....so i gambled heavily and financed a star striker as well as made a few (in my opinion) shrewd loan signings and cheaper signings.

HAS THIS WORKED??!?!?!?!?!?

Haha well......yes and no but YES! Stick with me lol.

The season is not done , i am in mid-April but what an eventful season!!!

My main signings were (these are taken in mid april so ignore all the bad arrows on Riether etc , he is 34 years old now and declining but he has had an excellent season):

My star signing:

New quick but strong defender

Explosive pace and work rate forward:

Solid and experienced right back:

My loan signings were both solid midfielders which we desperatley needed.

Lopez

Ledley

Now....down to the business of trying to survive a second season relegation dogfight..Mission Impossible or Yesterday's news ?

The prayer after investing heavily and paying more wages now was to hit the ground running and hopefully not need time to gel after all the incomings.

We sure did hit the ground running...

We opened up with a very convincing 2-0 win over Hamburg that perhaps should have been more like 5-0

We then dominated a much stronger BMG team and drew 1-1 , we should have been out of sight before a 25 yard wonder goal for them with 2 minutes left earned BMG a draw , i felt robbed.

Same again , we went to Shalke (Gelsenkirchen) and dominated them but just couldn't break them down and drew 0-0.

Delighted..............

But then........... Santana my new "ROCK" at the heart of my defence managed to concede a penalty 3 games running while receiving terrible ratings and i got a handful of injuries over the next couple of weeks and suddenly everything started to fall apart...

Those last two draws that were good points became 2 games in a run that saw me go 11 league games without a win..worrying times indeed. We would play well and not score . Then we would play awful, then we would play well and have more shots + possesion but leak awful goals. I couldn't stop it no matter what i tried, i fear relegation and the sack coming soon...

Thankfully after constant tweaking (maybe to much tbh ) i got the lads sorted out and we began to get results.

Vardy started to score regularily , Rudnevs constantly tore apart defenders and Cummings would come of the bench and notch a lot of important goals.

When in November i got a handful of nasty injuries and my squad is thouroghly depleted, my bench is full of useless kids. I don't have money as it is all spent and i am really worried how this is going to go.

Then WHAM Ledley who has been solid does his cruciate ligament and he is out for 9 months, disaster.

I have no choice , i go to the board and ask for more transfer money which they flatly refuse, i asked several different and each time more pressing ways but i stop short of an ultimatum.

I ask for more wages and luckily after 3 requests and i suggest our rivals will leave us behing they give in and up my wages to around 370k per week. This does not make a big difference but it is enough to scour the loan market to try and add some depth in January....maybe even some quality. My midfield now has defenders playing in it due to injuries so i desperately need 1st of Jan to come round and players to heal during the winter break.

The window opens and i go straight after some players who are listed , other teams junk might just be Darmstadts

treasure...

TO BE CONTINUED

[georgey]

SEASON 2 PART 2

So we hit January and my midfield is made up of defenders due to injuries etc. I decide that there is no quality available to buy with my limited resources.

I look for some more loans to bring in if there is any and i end up making sure we don't run out of depth after some negotiating i manage to bag 3 more loans , all for central midfield.

This was to be the turning point in the season.

I decided i have enough "head down and run your guts out" type of players and i look for decent passing and vision , more creativity basically.

Good Player

Huge difference with this lad

This signing made the fans go absolutely crazy with delight ( even if he is a loan )

We come back out after the winter break a different team , much more consistency and scoring far more goals.

The only casualty for my squad now is Jelavic , the poor guy wasn't finding the net during the tough run despite probably being the man who saved me from relegation last season with his goals. He is nearing the 1.5m payment and i am not going to allow it to happen.

We come out in January with a few new players and a new formation and from then on we only lose a few games from then until the end of the season , the team had so much more spark about it , lots of nice one-twos with Ravel Morrison pulling the strings in the middle of the park.

Anyway , after that strong second half to the season we climb the table and really do become a force to be reckoned with..

THE FINAL STANDING

Brace yourselves...........

ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED WITH THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An incredible mid table finish in only the second season. That totally justifies the money i am spending on vardy.

.

The interesting thing is there is a big jump coming this season in prize money for the 17/18 season so hopefully we get a decent season again.

Finishing 10th instead of 16th is worth a full £8,000,000 more than the previous season in prize money. He has paid for himself, in addition the fans love buying Vardy shirts..

Still so far behind the other sides though

I am at a real crossroads now though and keeping this league position will be very difficult. Most of my best players are on loan and i would like to start investing in good , young German talent so it will get hard.

Just got my new transfer budget and it is 3.7m so a good improvement especially as you have to figure in my Vardy payments are being accounted for in that , although it still isn't the kind of money that will allow me to get the very best young talent and bring them through for the 1st team squad or even selling for a profit.

I am very excited now for season 3 , i have to prove that it is not a one-off coming so high up the league. I don't know can i do it again or not.

Never seen the board suggest this kind of thing before:-

Anyway or not they offered me more money for physios...a nice touch as i turned it down and got the chance to say i would rather it was spent in youth recruitment , which they have agreed to !

Anyway thats my update for now chaps, time to scour the transfer market on a bargain hunt !

[georgey]

Quick addition to the last post.

My board have just agreed another upgrade to

Training facilities

Youth Facilites

Youth Recruitment and

Junior Coaching

[Jean-Luc]

I think the hardest aspect of being the Darmstadt gaffer is that you just don't have one stand out player at all to rely on. Sure, there are some good footballers, but if you look at all the other struggling clubs they have at least one proven player who can carry the side. Köln, who seem to struggle in most people games, have a German international in Hector, for example, and Timo Horn in net. (although, that said, Darmstadt did draw with Köln in a stale 0-0 last night!)

Well, you have a quite special player in Heller, who certainly stands out with his pace. The problem in my view is that pace in itself does not score goals. Heller himself is not a convincing goalscoring threat, and his crosses are not exactly deadly, because Stroh-Engel and Wagner are rather weak.

If I'd start the save again, I would probably concentrate my search on a quick striker, who can bring the swift counter attacks from Heller to a success.

As mentioned before, "the real" Sandro Wagner is actually a quite interesting striker, he can control a ball quite nicely, and he is technically more apt than I expected him to be.

Second problem, and this time totally in tune with real life Darmstadt, are the full backs. There just isn't much support coming from them, and Garics and Diaz even are some kind of liability in defense.

But great to still have you following that thread.

@georgey

I am dumbstruck by your speed. I haven't even finished my first season, and you just finished the second one? Respect. I don't find the time to play that much, unfortunately. And great success. Although I chuckle a bit to imagine Rafael Van der Vaart back in the Bundesliga and in Darmstadt on top of that. I don't think he and his girlfriend would like the rather down-to-earth flair of the city night life.

And still, sounds fascinating what you do and plan with the club. And nice to see that despite all those new signings, you still kept Jungwirth, Holland, Vrancic and Heller in the squad. You are certainly right that the transition to a sustainable club still might take a while. As mentioned, I have focused for my second season on Youth already, but I am not sure if I that will actually be a smart move, because the young people I am hoping for have loads of potential, but not the ability yet.

How were your youth intakes?

My first one just took place.

Big bunch of people, but most of them don't even promise the potential of a 2-star-rating.

Two stand out, though. Adrian Dörrbeck from neighbouring city Offenbach (our big rivals) and Ivan Visentini from Darmstadt.

Dörrbeck at least promises a 3,5 star rating (compared to the current squad level, of course, which is not that great, as we all know), maybe even up to 4,5. That would be more than Vrancic.

He comes with a decent Decision attribute (12) for a 14-year-old.

Visentini has very solid mental stats (Determination 18, Aggression 17), although his teamwork is quite disappointing, even more for a DC.

And then, of course, a 14 year old will be able to help me out in ... three years earliest. When he turns 17.

Three years. God knows what we are doing at that point.

[georgey]

I am dumbstruck by your speed. I haven't even finished my first season, and you just finished the second one? Respect.

I don't hang around haha! Nah i had a very late after the wife and children were in bed two nights this week, it won't last as i tend to play FM in "spurts" , lots for a short time and then not so much for a while.

My first youth intake was terrible , best player was 2.5-3* potential and most were 1.5*. Second intake was more promising with a definte 4 but potentially a 5* who has potential to be " one of the best players to come through darmstadt in recent years "

Very raw but basically pace , maybe a new and hopefully improved heller !

Promising defender

That is the best two by a mile, i have had not had huge luck there yet. As the facilities improve though hopefully i will get a good intake. I would settle right now for 4 good solid 3.5* potential players rather than 1 4.5* so i can get an influx of ready made homegrown replacements coming soon.

I have a major rebuild coming for the third season with 11 people out of contract ( 5 are loans ) and i think i am letting everyone go.

Zaluska (out of contract for a year but he hung around so i let him just stay)

Del Piero - retiring

Oscar - retiring

Rosenthal

Juniar Diaz

Sirigu

then my loans

Ledley

Alberto

Ravel Morrison <<< Want him back

David Lopez

Van der Vaart

I actually feel my 3rd season is going to be a much longer , tougher slog than my second season.

[georgey]

It has gone quiet in here chaps! Has anyone else managed a bit of gametime this weekend ?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I have got back into my save after a break, currently 12th place with 12 games to go, will update in a bit when I have finished season.