Lower League Teams

[thnigelfc]

I shall do as I've always done and will Manage Torquay United (sorry Paul Buckle time you moved up the ladder yourself.. :o) ).

Will stay with them for as long as possible,refusing all job offers.Until THFC come along and then I have a debate with my wife and kids as to whether I take the job or not.

(Putting that in writing makes it sound sad..lol).

Unless I'm sacked early then it could be anybody who wants me..lol.

[The Hobgob]

One game in the prem - Villa or Man City.

One game as unknown manager - Worcester or No Job.

Hobgob.

[Orange2000]

I also start of as unemployed as always since fm2005. With no reputation. With all European leagues running!

It so intresting to get a job in some lower teams somewhere for example in Slovakia or Hungary...exploring new players...get promotions...etc

I love this style of the game)

[charmers15]

We all have our own preferences but its got to be Cheltenham Town all the way for me - it's the only time my beloved Robins have a bit of bite about them rather than bouncing between league 2 and 1 like they do in the real world. I also managed to somehow pull off some frankly ridiculous transfer coups - by 2011-2012, I had brought in Diego, Hugo Lloris, Klass Huntelaar and Sergio Ramos. That is the magic of the game for me, taking an otherwise average club to greatness.

[BuryBlade]

I managed to guide Bury FC to 2nd in the premiership (11 seasons work)

and Braintree Town to 7th in the championship (14 seasons work)

[Tyler]

I going to manage Lewes from the Blue Square Premier when I get my game. After they got promoted from the Blue Square South last season the chairman didn't renew the manager's contract and all the players got mad at that decision and all the first team players except for one left the club. It should be a challenge keeping them in the league

[Craigeastbourne]

Eastbourne Borough for me !!

[kippax1977]

Does anyone else play the game the proper way and start at the lower league sides and work there way up? Most of the threads I have seen refer to glory hunters going straight into Managing your man u's and barcelona's! Come on lads, wheres the challenge when you have a world class squad and loads of money?

I myself will be going Luton Town, cant get anymore challenging then that!

I will be starting as AFC Wimbledon in the BSS and my bro in law as Farsley Celtic in the BSN (we play online). We will retire the day before FM2010 comes out from whichever job we have at the time.

[50tna05]

Stoke City for me in FM09, survive the first year in the prem, and then begin the march up from there!!

hell yh i will play as the mighty potters as they're my local team and i relish the chalange TP faces in real life i will start another game also as bromly for the simple reson that when i got saked as stoke in 08 that is who i managed

[jamboblue]

im starting with my club hearts

always a challenge, but although its poor i guesse you cant count the terrible spl as a lower league eh?

[djwilko6]

I'll start off with my hometown team, Southampton, and then take over a team in Blue Square North or South.

[stokes_83]

How many of you actually get close to the top leagues though? Correct me if I am wrong but in Dafuge's 08 challenge nobody in the world completed it!!!!!!!

Sometimes I like to win the top divisions and compete in Europe which is why I start with a bigger team.

[simon07]

FC Diagoras!

Greek 2nd tier! Newly promoted... should be a good challenge!

[VMX]

I always start with my hometown team - Zamora C.F., in Spanish Segunda B (Group I this year - all previous years we were in Group II).

In my current FM2008 I'm in 2022, and for the first time EVER I'm actually LEADING the Primera div, which is about to finish... (4 points over Barcelona right now). I've also won the Cup this year, and I'm in UEFA semifinals.

Last year I only finished 6th, so this has definately been my season. But I'll always remember how I signed De la Red on a free when I was in Segunda and that precise year he practically took my team to Primera Great guy, he's now about to retire with honours and I'll sure sign him as a coach, despite he not being very good at it

Btw - LLM all the way. If I start a game with Real Madrid or Man Utd or whatever, I get bored after winning everything in 2-3 seasons.

[Alekos]

In every FM I always start with a team from Blue Square North/South and this year I might start with the mighty Blyth Spartans because of their name

[Spleen!]

I'm probably going to end up starting with a lower league Asian team, it's usually a good challenge. If not that I'll be Chelmsford in the BSS

[ryan_sacfc]

normally have around five games set up lol

1) (main game, normally lasting around ten - fifteen years) the mighty ST ALBANS CITY FC, hometown club and season ticket holder

2) Peterborough, like it in league 1 cos u get the best from the lower, then the worst from the prem, and the Posh have a good side this year

3) a top 4 team - liverpool this year

4) england - have this one running always for when i get bored

5) random prem team - fulham this year again - but perhaps Man City, or Aston Villa lol

see, i have it all thought out, roll on november 14th (just 2 days)!!!!

(should the patch cover my graphics problem...:S)

[ryan_sacfc]

add an unemployed one to the list above, like i always do

best ive done is got mansfield to the championship

whats the best evry1 else has done when starting unemployed?

[Dazza2k9]

How many of you actually get close to the top leagues though? Correct me if I am wrong but in Dafuge's 08 challenge nobody in the world completed it!!!!!!!

Sometimes I like to win the top divisions and compete in Europe which is why I start with a bigger team.

It is certainly possible. My biggest acheivement was on the first fm where I took stevenage from the conference to champions league football in about 8 or 9 seasons! There is a statue of me outside Broadhall way as we speak! lol

[Youthanasiac]

I always used to play as either Liverpool or Bristol City (from CM93/94 right the way through to CM01/02). The last time I bought the game (FM06) I started unemployed and landed a job at Northwich Victoria.

On the FM09 demo I am trying Northwich but for the game I will once again start unemployed. I'm not really interested in managing abroad so will wait for a BSS team to come knocking as I'll probably only ever start one game on FM09. I'm not one to up sticks and leave for a bigger club.

[andrewbaker5]

I am usually my fave team Bristol City.......but im thinking maybe Ebbsfleet or Forest Green Rovers..... i love a challenge.... nothing better when ure champs of the premier league than looking back at when you were a non league side.

[Valar Morghulis]

Unemployed start for me

Typically going to have family to stay this weekend ... and I can't be anti-social and hideon the PC!!

[Mike7077]

Unemployed start for me

Typically going to have family to stay this weekend ... and I can't be anti-social and hideon the PC!!

Tell them you have leprosy!

[capitalgull]

I usually start with my team Torquay, but since I did the research for the first time this season and might (honestly not) have slightly over-rated a couple of players (no seriously I didn't) I'm going to take on my local BS South team Hampton & Richmond on Friday.

First job, steal back all the players AFC Wimbledon stole from the Beavers last summer!!

I'll run an unemployed game fairly soon as well.

[Sebacid]

if you look around you'll come across the lower league manager forum for people that like starting outside the football league or at the lowest tier in whatever country they choose to start in. You should go check that out -_^, not sure if Luton count as LLM however

Personally i like starting without a club and no reputation and seeing who will offer me a job for my first club.

This is the way to get the maximum pleasure out of the game! I intend to do this also! On FM08 I started my best career in terms of pleasure with Blue square premier boys Stafford Rangers (3 seasons) then slowly switching clubs until I found myself in the championship with watford. Along the way I managed to win the blue square north, blue square premier and coca-cola league 2 titles! The game lasted a total of 8 seasons and my reputation had gone from unknown to national!

[--b--]

just a question for those lower league gurus,,,

is it possible to take a lower team up through the ranks and end up being the super rich superstar team ala Chelsea or Real Madrid?

and how do you go about getting all the cash? just by being successful and winning the league / cups etc?

[matthiele]

i always start as arsenal(my team) just to have a bit of fun for my first game but then move into the lower divisions L1 or L2. often i chose a team based on what strip they have. kinda silly but that plays a big part for me. (thierry Henry said that arsenals strip played a big part in him coming to the club)

does anyone else let the game run for 2,3,4,5 years on holiday and then pick a team? i do this sometimes when i want a game with lots of regens. (makes it a bit more interesting after you have got to know all the good players at the start)

[Arkim]

just a question for those lower league gurus,,,

is it possible to take a lower team up through the ranks and end up being the super rich superstar team ala Chelsea or Real Madrid?

and how do you go about getting all the cash? just by being successful and winning the league / cups etc?

It most certainly is. Go into the LLM section of the forums and you will see many stories with similar endings.

The only downfall to this is, depending on the league you're managing in, the league reputation does not increase realistically enough so you can attract in-game current world class superstars. For example, you would have a much better time going from BSS to EPL and becoming a world class team like Chelsea or Man U due to the reputation of the league and that will allow you to attract world class superstars. However if you do this in an Eastern European region, the league reputation won't ever rise to that of the EPL for example because of the way the game has been developed. I hope this changes for future releases.

I'm sure if you search around on the forum in this section you will see a huge debate about this as it's a very significant part of the game that many of us LLMers feel that needs to be addressed. As far as I am aware, this hasn't been changed for FM 09 but it has been slightly improved.

[thempesth]

i think that tomorrow night(only than because of my work place), when i am going to be able to play fm09 for the first time(i mean first save on the full game) i will start with my home team to see what can i do...it is otelul galati(romania)...they do not have much money and the squad is not so impressive...so it will be a challange to see if i can make them again UEFA Cup contenders(cause i did won the trophy two times in a row with otelul in fm 07)...but a better challenge will be the towns team from the second division(dunarea galati...they should have been relegated to the third div, but they bought a place in the second)...and they have the same team from last year(the one that relegated and one that has players with ratings under 12)

[anagain]

I can't make up my mind really.

At some point I'll end up managing the mighty Cherries, but I feel like putting an even more imposing challenge on myself this time. I think I will start as manager of the mighty Skarp IF in Norway. I played an unemployed game with then for FM07 and loved it. They got relegated from the real Norwegian Second Division this year (yes I still look them up every week), so I'm going to try and prevent that.

Have a week off work next week (purely coincidence) so 'c'mon Skarp'.

[Erol]

Gonna give my local team in Holland a go: Go Ahead Eagles. Marc Overmars decided to play for them after having been retired for a couple of seasons. It should be a laugh. After that I'll probably move on to AFC Wimbledon.

[chopper99]

Why does it matter to you which teams people want to play the game with?

I think you'll find that many people wait until the patches are released before bothering to start a proper lower league game. I always spend the demo using teams such as Man Utd as there's simply no point starting a lower league game in the demo, mainly because I never carry demo games on in the full game as I like much more than one league loaded in my long term games.

[SK_Brann]

Always managed Doncaster Rovers.. I`m from Norway, so I don`t really have any relations with the team. They were just a random conference team when I started LLM some years ago. But I`ve come to like this team, and also played them in `08 despite them being in league one at the start of the game.

But now they are in the championship.. almost as if I was their manager IRL

Guess I`ll have to find a new team, in the regional conference! Will always play in England, by far the most exciting league IMO.

[Dazza2k9]

Why does it matter to you which teams people want to play the game with?

I think you'll find that many people wait until the patches are released before bothering to start a proper lower league game. I always spend the demo using teams such as Man Utd as there's simply no point starting a lower league game in the demo, mainly because I never carry demo games on in the full game as I like much more than one league loaded in my long term games.

It doesnt matter to me at all. I Just thought it made for a good discussion and it seems I have been proved right! I think some people are taking my comments, which were meant to be tongue in cheek, far too literally and personally judging by how defensive they are being! I hope you dont play the game this defensive or you'll never score any goals!

[Richard Collett]

Always start as a lower league manager or unemployed. Unemployed is am preferred option as it feels more like rl.

[chopper99]

It doesnt matter to me at all. I Just thought it made for a good discussion and it seems I have been proved right! I think some people are taking my comments, which were meant to be tongue in cheek, far too literally and personally judging by how defensive they are being! I hope you dont play the game this defensive or you'll never score any goals!

It's sometimes hard to tell when someone's comments are tongue in cheek on a forum, unfortunately.

Anyway, as i said, during the demo and probably for my first save on the full game I play with a top team, mainly so I can get used to the tactics and see if there are likely to be any issues that will negatively impact a long term game (like the confidence problems that were present before the 8.0.2 patch was released for FM08). Once the game is patched up I'll start a BSN game, usually with Gateshead. Unfortunately I'll need a new team this year as I think Gateshead are already in the BSN and therefore can't be used for Dafuges Challenge

[Dazza2k9]

It's sometimes hard to tell when someone's comments are tongue in cheek on a forum, unfortunately.

Anyway, as i said, during the demo and probably for my first save on the full game I play with a top team, mainly so I can get used to the tactics and see if there are likely to be any issues that will negatively impact a long term game (like the confidence problems that were present before the 8.0.2 patch was released for FM08). Once the game is patched up I'll start a BSN game, usually with Gateshead. Unfortunately I'll need a new team this year as I think Gateshead are already in the BSN and therefore can't be used for Dafuges Challenge

Fair do's

Does anyone have a link to the Dafuges challenge. I've heard a bit about it and am up for giving it a go.

[chopper99]

This is the link to the '08 challenge:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=19776

The one for '09 hasn't been started yet but just keep an eye out in the challenges forum.

[glamdring]

It doesnt matter to me at all. I Just thought it made for a good discussion and it seems I have been proved right! I think some people are taking my comments, which were meant to be tongue in cheek, far too literally and personally judging by how defensive they are being! I hope you dont play the game this defensive or you'll never score any goals!

You're always likely to rile people by asking who plays the game in the "proper" way and then defining that as a very small subset of the different ways of enjoying the game! It's a good way to start a debate I guess, but when it comes to a forum people have to take most things literally unless they are accompanied by some smiley or other to imply the seriousness (or lack of) of the comment

[profii]

I usually start a game at Liverpool or Swindon and see how far I can take them

this year my first career will be unemployed with no rep and see where I go -I'm not necessarily going to take 1 team to the top, I might change jobs on my way up, but I am hoping to get to a premiership winning side eventually!