dafuge's FM20 challenge

[dafuge]

6 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

what do you mean? what have I missed?

As far as I can see, the lower leagues were abandoned in March due to Covid-19 so there weren't any promotions/relegations.

It should mean that no new teams will be available for the FM21 challenge.

[libbyshuss]

Ah yeah, I forgot all about that! So we probably will have to holiday 2 years rather than 1?

[dafuge]

1 minute ago, libbyshuss said:

Ah yeah, I forgot all about that! So we probably will have to holiday 2 years rather than 1?

The holidaying will still work as usual, it just means the list of possible teams will be almost identical to FM20 (I think two teams have gone).

[Superowl90]

22 hours ago, dafuge said:

I wasn't planning on buying FM21, so this year would have been the last for the challenge.

I've since had second thoughts and have begun playing FM again after a gap of about 18 months.

I've no idea when the beta is out, but I probably won't have time to get the thread up and running until Friday/Saturday.

i assume we can still start the challenge as soon as we get the Beta and just look at promoted teams in the england page at end of season ?

[dafuge]

10 hours ago, Superowl90 said:

i assume we can still start the challenge as soon as we get the Beta and just look at promoted teams in the england page at end of season ?

Hopefully, yes. 

I'm not expecting any changes to be made to the rules, so you should be able to get going using the usual setup.

[Lewis89]

Going to start this right away on fm21.

Currently holidaying to see what teams pop up. Hoping for Cray Wanderers as I used to play against their youth sides when they was just a sunday league side.

Can confirm saving on 30th may and then holidaying Until 25th June sees the promoted teams change. 

Edited November 10, 2020 by Lewis89

[CMU Chips]

I saved on the 8th of May just to be safe so good to know I can move that up. Did take me ages to find the correct 4 extra leagues to load in, must be going blind.

E: can't find season summary screen anywhere?

Edited November 10, 2020 by CMU Chips

[Lewis89]

Having reloaded a good 20 times now, the lowest ranked team I have seen promoted are Wingate & Finchley (1750) based on FM20 Rankings. 

Im upto the 19th of June save wise and the promoted teams are still changing. 

Edited November 10, 2020 by Lewis89

[Lewis89]

4 minutes ago, CMU Chips said:

I saved on the 8th of May just to be safe so good to know I can move that up. Did take me ages to find the correct 4 extra leagues to load in, must be going blind.

E: can't find season summary screen anywhere?

Im checking promoted teams via the season preview page. The teams with a 'p' next to them are the newly promoted sides. 

[CMU Chips]

1 minute ago, Lewis89 said:

Im checking promoted teams via the season preview page. The teams with a 'p' next to them are the newly promoted sides. 

found it in a different menu than I remember, now to do this until a team calls to me

[Badger With A Hat]

Season summary isn't showing until the 25th June for me.

 

[CMU Chips]

Just now, Badger With A Hat said:

Season summary isn't showing until the 25th June for me.

 

May have been that then, I went forward a day and it was an option in the Nation drop down menu from the top. Think I'm going to start with 

I like the fish badge

[Lewis89]

3 minutes ago, Badger With A Hat said:

Season summary isn't showing until the 25th June for me.

 

You're correct. Was a typo in my post. 

Have tried saving on 23rd of June but the same teams are promoted when reloading. 19th of June works fine though. 

Edited November 10, 2020 by Lewis89

[G_D_K]

3 minutes ago, CMU Chips said:

May have been that then, I went forward a day and it was an option in the Nation drop down menu from the top. Think I'm going to start with 

I like the fish badge

Getting it varying between 24th and 25th of June for me.  Think it depends on the time of day at which the game stops --- if you hit browse while processing --- or if a news item pops up after noon on the 24th, I get the season summary.....if I click continue and it goes to the next day before stopping, it's the 25th.

 

Now gotten 34 distinct teams in 8 save attempts ---- as usual, will post/host them as soon as the 21 challenge thread starts up.

 

[Lewis89]

4 minutes ago, G_D_K said:

Getting it varying between 24th and 25th of June for me.  Think it depends on the time of day at which the game stops --- if you hit browse while processing --- or if a news item pops up after noon on the 24th, I get the season summary.....if I click continue and it goes to the next day before stopping, it's the 25th.

 

Now gotten 34 distinct teams in 8 save attempts ---- as usual, will post/host them as soon as the 21 challenge thread starts up.

 

Have you had cray yet? Just wondering as i have not seen them yet in many attempts.

[G_D_K]

Just now, Lewis89 said:

Have you had cray yet? Just wondering as i have not seen them yet in many attempts.

Not yet..... but will continue looking....I'll PM you if I get one.

[Lewis89]

Just now, G_D_K said:

Not yet..... but will continue looking....I'll PM you if I get one.

Thanks mate. Much appreciated.

[G_D_K]

3 hours ago, G_D_K said:

Getting it varying between 24th and 25th of June for me.  Think it depends on the time of day at which the game stops --- if you hit browse while processing --- or if a news item pops up after noon on the 24th, I get the season summary.....if I click continue and it goes to the next day before stopping, it's the 25th.

 

Now gotten 34 distinct teams in 8 save attempts ---- as usual, will post/host them as soon as the 21 challenge thread starts up.

 

Okay....to clarify something here.  The new teams can be found on the season summary screen on Jun 24th after 1700 hrs --- but you cannot retire and choose one of the new teams until the day ticks over to the 25th.

 

On a side not, I now have 14 saves with 46/84 teams discovered.  Have gotten some of them up on mediafire hosting site and will post them once the 21 thread goes live.  (hopefully not too early in the coming morning, as I'm a Yank with some weird time offset --- I wanna get it on page one again!

[Scab]

3 hours ago, Lewis89 said:

Have you had cray yet? Just wondering as i have not seen them yet in many attempts.

Can confirm that Cray can show up. Let me know if you want a savefile.

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Scab

[dafuge]

I’m at work soon, so there’s no chance the thread will be ready until this evening at the earliest. Unless anyone can spot any new features that would need rule changes then you should be able to make a start using the instructions in this thread.

Sounds like saving on 19th June and then holidaying until the 25th is the way to go on this version?

[DazRTaylor]

2 hours ago, dafuge said:

Sounds like saving on 19th June and then holidaying until the 25th is the way to go on this version?

I am checking all this for the Youth Only thread, so will update here too when I can confirm.

[DazRTaylor]

@dafugeEngland is Save on June 19 2021 and then holiday until June 25 2021 for the season reset.  This enables different teams.  Much better than last year.  

[Lewis89]

7 hours ago, Scab said:

Can confirm that Cray can show up. Let me know if you want a savefile.

 

Would be great thanks. I must have reloaded for 3 hours and had no joy.

[Scoham]

7 hours ago, Scab said:

Can confirm that Cray can show up. Let me know if you want a savefile.

 

I'm aiming to with the Prem and CL playing long ball football, so I'm looking for an obscure club from the north west. Have you seen Atherton Colleries, Bamber Bridge or Radcliffe?

I've seen Morpeth, so if their reputation has stayed the same every club in the Northern Prem must be possible?

[Thebaker]

36 minutes ago, Scoham said:

I'm aiming to with the Prem and CL playing long ball football, so I'm looking for an obscure club from the north west. Have you seen Atherton Colleries, Bamber Bridge or Radcliffe?

I've seen Morpeth, so if their reputation has stayed the same every club in the Northern Prem must be possible?

I also saw morpeth and i think they are higher this year- ca 1950.   In club rep the teams around them are witton, dorchester and folkestone - all 1950 last year.

[DazRTaylor]

43 minutes ago, Scoham said:

I'm aiming to with the Prem and CL playing long ball football, so I'm looking for an obscure club from the north west. Have you seen Atherton Colleries, Bamber Bridge or Radcliffe?

I've seen Morpeth, so if their reputation has stayed the same every club in the Northern Prem must be possible?

It doesn't help immediately, but Bamber Bridge do show up eventually. I got them roughly every 50 reloads or so in FM20.

[Scoham]

  

10 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

I also saw morpeth and i think they are higher this year- ca 1950.   In club rep the teams around them are witton, dorchester and folkestone - all 1950 last year.

That might explain it - how did you find out their rep? I've seen Horsham come up who only have  a rep of 1600, but I guess that's been increased too.

 

5 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

It doesn't help immediately, but Bamber Bridge do show up eventually. I got them roughly every 50 reloads or so in FM20.

Thanks, good to know it should be possible (assuming their rep hasn't been lowered).

[Thebaker]

1 minute ago, Scoham said:

  

That might explain it - how did you find out their rep? I've seen Horsham come up who only have  a rep of 1600, but I guess that's been increased too.

 

 

I'm guessing, but if you go to england/club rep and scroll down, the clubs are in order by rep (represented by stars). Most of the teams will be the same rep as last year so by looking at the teams in the list around them, their rep can be worked out

[Scoham]

Of course, forgot about that screen.

[Scab]

3 hours ago, Lewis89 said:

Would be great thanks. I must have reloaded for 3 hours and had no joy.

Check your PMs.

3 hours ago, Scoham said:

Have you seen Atherton Colleries, Bamber Bridge or Radcliffe?

Bamber Bridge and Radcliffe, yes. Atherton Collieries, no. 

[Scoham]

How long were you reloading for to get them @Scab?

[Scab]

I'd say I've spent about 7 or 8 hours reloading @Scoham. Seen Radcliffe once and Bamber Bridge twice.

[Scoham]

Had a break from reloading, came back to it and Bamber Bridge were promoted at my first attempt 

[darius9]

1 hour ago, Lewis89 said:

So, having finally checked out Cray to start this challenge with (thanks to @Scab for the save file), I have decided against being them. They are super overpowered with players at this level so I will be opting against them. Instead I have made a start with Wingate and Finchley. Located in North London, it will be interesting to develop a rivalry with the two big boys of north London eventually. But first I need players as we are starting with only 13 in the squad.

Feeder Leagues

Game Setup

Manager

Lets get this show on the road.

I may be wrong, but didn't you mess up the feeder leagues? They're so confusing. Isthmian premier division isn't above south central?

[darius9]

Also a question for everybody. Will the challenge count if i start without feeder leagues? Cause i really can't find the needed ones. English system is so confusing, and with different names in FM it's impossible to select them without guidance :)

So large database without any feeder leagues is ok?

[dafuge]

2 minutes ago, darius9 said:

Also a question for everybody. Will the challenge count if i start without feeder leagues? Cause i really can't find the needed ones. English system is so confusing, and with different names in FM it's impossible to select them without guidance

So large database without any feeder leagues is ok?

I'm just working on the thread now, so if you can wait a bit there will be the usual screenshot showing you where the leagues are.

[darius9]

1 minute ago, dafuge said:

I'm just working on the thread now, so if you can wait a bit there will be the usual screenshot showing you where the leagues are.

Thank you. You're the real legend. Been trying this challenge since FM12 and never got out further than league two, cause i tend to use my own tactics and i think that downloading them is cheating, but this year is gonna be different. (That's what i say to myself every year)

I will succeed! I truly believe, that this is the year when i'll complete this challenge.

[Lewis89]

1 hour ago, darius9 said:

I may be wrong, but didn't you mess up the feeder leagues? They're so confusing. Isthmian premier division isn't above south central?

All 4 lead into the 6th tier (vanrama south/north). It is super confusing 

[darius9]

1 minute ago, Lewis89 said:

All 4 lead into the 6th tier (vanrama south/north). It is super confusing 

There's a new post with dafuge fm21 challenge. He made some screenshots with correct setup. Look up there.

[QSF25]

South Shields 2048-2049

Dafuge/Youth Challenge

It took me almost 30 seasons to finish this. 

This is the first time ever that I finish this challenge. I have 2 wonderkids and man the stories through the leagues... The excitement, the falls, the surprises. 

The best part of doing this challenges are the stories of the players.

I have finally completed this challenge I am so happy.

 

[kingjericho]

Congratulations. It does feel great. I finished the challenge in FM15 with Dulwich Hamlet and remember it did felt great  

[arnoldinho]

Arnoldinho: Buxton FC

2025/26 League One

Transfers ¦ League Fixtures 1 ¦ League Fixtures 2 ¦ League Table ¦ Playoffs ¦ Cup Fixtures ¦ Finances

Getting back on the horse (stag?!)

I have no idea if anyone still checks in on this thread, but more than two years later I have picked up my Buxton save again. I was really enjoying this back in 2020 but the double whammy of the pandemic and parenting a toddler meant time vanished and FM slipped off the agenda. Emerging from the other side, I bought FM23, but couldn't really get in to it for various reasons and re-reading my previous posts decided I’d had so much fun with this save I wanted to go back to it and see if I could finish the job. And that I should continue to write up my seasons, if only for my own future self looking back on it (so even if no-one reads these I'll probably still keep posting!)

The story up to the point we left it was that my Buxton team had secured surprise back to back promotions, getting out of League Two at the first time of asking. Starting my sixth season in charge (if you’re a real glutton for punishment here are seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 writeups), we were therefore getting ready for our debut League One campaign.

 

Offseason and Transfers

It was not my most successful offseason in the transfer market as I tried to be picky about targets having moved up a tier, failed to secure them, and then made a few panicked signings. Only three made regular first time appearances. Probably the best piece of business was the addition of Isaac Fletcher, a mediocre looking centre-mid but who just got better and better as the season went on. Oumar Traore made a valuable contribution in the final third (although not quite as much as his club-highest wage would suggest he should have), whilst Tareik Holmes-Dennis and Levi Laing bolstered the defensive line. We turned Ian Mayor’s loan in to a full-time signing but he disappointed on the wing as did mid-season signing Taylor Gardner-Hickman.

We did however do far better in the loan market this time around. New parent club Southampton loaned us Michael Lovatt, who formed a brilliant partnership with Saul Shotton in the heart of defence. Hearts’ Kieran Bonner provided cover for them both, and got regular starts at DM. In January, Romaine Mundle (an attack minded CM from Southampton) and Rob O’Rourke (Striker from Nottingham Forest) added to our firepower going forward, although both tailed off at the end of the year – O’Rourke especially.

In the other direction, a few promising youth players went out on loan for large parts of the year. Most notable amongst them was AMR/ST Nathan Williams, who was Morecambe’s leading goalscorer as they won the Vanarama National. But new defensive signings Michael Uche and Michel van Dikken also had successful stints elsewhere. Although my own youth system isn’t yet producing players of a high enough calibre, I am now at a point in the save where I can pick up Premier League cast-offs and treat them as development prospects rather than throwing them straight in the first team.

 

League Campaign

Following back to back promotions, the board only expected that we battle bravely against relegation. I thought we could do a bit better than that, but a mid-table consolidation was my realistic goal. The board looked right when we went down limply 1-0 to Southend on the opening day, and trailed by the same scoreline to Doncaster at half-time in match two with barely a chance created. But a sharp word in the dressing room later, suddenly we came out and looked like world-beaters, putting four past a shell-shocked Rovers team in the second half, and going on to win 7 of our next 9 games. As the autumn went on we consolidated in and around the playoffs, albeit some distance behind the very strong top three of Portsmouth, Ipswich and Southend, all of whom beat us comfortably.

But we had more about us than I’d realised. A stellar run in January and February saw us win 6 straight league games and propelled us in to the second automatic spot ahead of Ipswich and Southend. As has often happened in this save though, once we became a big beast in the division and other teams started playing more defensively we struggled to break them down and score goals. The wins turned to draws, a remarkable 8 in 10 games at one point, and although this was still better than Ipswich who had an awful early spring, it led to us sliding below Southend and back in to the playoff places. A couple of wins to end the year ensured we bagged third and the top seeding and that we were able to rest the first team for our last match of the year in order to be fresh for the playoffs themselves.

Our semi-final tie pitted us against Sunderland, in which we had two completely contrasting matches. At the Stadium of Light it was a tense 0-0 bore-draw, with The Black Cats playing very defensively from kick-off to final whistle. I went attacking late on, but overall wasn’t too disappointed to bring the tie back to the Silverlands all square. That didn’t look such a smart approach when Sunderland took the lead 32 seconds in to the second leg, triggering a topsy-turvey end to end game that saw us pull level twice and then claim a sweet victory when Victor Sodiende popped up at the back post in the 91^st minute to volley us in to the final. Ipswich (who else) awaited us at Wembley, in a game that we had to wait 20 days for (something wrong with the FM scheduling module there methinks) - during which time we lost O’Rourke to injury and Sodiende picked up a knock. With our forward line so denuded, and the pressure of the occasion, it was hardly a surprise when we struggled to create much on the big stage. Fortunately our defence was solid as a rock through 90 and then 120 minutes, sending a bore draw playoff final to penalties. However, in the end it wasn’t to be – Sodiende and Holmes-Dennis the villains as Ipswich ran out 7-6 winners in the shootout to claim promotion.

 

Cups

It’s a mark of how far we’ve come as a club that an FA Cup Third Round trip to a struggling Premier League side – in this case Wolves – didn’t feel like a massive occasion. Unfortunately the players played like it wasn’t a big deal too, getting smashed 4-0 having efficiently dispatched non-league opposition in the first two rounds. We were one and done in the Carabao Cup, although we acquitted ourselves well in earning a 1-1 draw at Elland Road, only to lose to Leeds on penalties. In the EFL Trophy we made it comfortably through our group to meet the board’s expectations, then beat Preston in Round 2 before we came unstuck at Mansfield in Round 3 when we rested players due to January fixture congestion.

 

Finances

With an average attendance for the season almost double that of the previous year, we are now well established as a professional club. I underspent the wage budget by about 20% for most of the year, pleasing the board and further boosting the coffers. I did however max out the scouting budget buying packages, and have cajoled the board in to upgrading youth facilities and youth recruitment. No joy on the training ground yet but that’s next on my list. I want to keep the bank balance in the black but am also keen to dissuade the board from spending on the stadium, which we are in quite a comfortable place on right now (average crowd is about 75% of capacity so we are neither missing out on revenue nor having maintenance costs for tons of empty seats). If and when we make it to the Championship we are going to need to start moving towards being all-seater so lots of investment will be needed at the stage; better not to pour money in to stands we might be having to rip out soon I figure.

 

Looking Ahead

It’s obviously gutting to lose a playoff final on penalties. But once the initial disappointment had worn off I wasn’t too sad overall. Whilst we may have finished third in the table, Portsmouth, Southend and Ipswich really were head and shoulders above the rest of the pack and deserved to go up. We way outperformed expectations this year, but a third consecutive promotion would have seen us arriving in the Championship woefully under-prepared and at real risk of relegation. Instead I hope next year can be a really fun season pushing for promotion. And I feel I know which of my current squad are up to standard for that and which are not – we’ll be letting half a dozen or so first teamers leave at the end of their contracts and looking to sell a couple more to free up wage budget space. In their place I’m targeting seven new signings: a keeper, two defenders, two midfielders and two forwards.

 

Now that I’m back in to the save I also want to do some proper spring cleaning of the club behind the scenes. On the players front, my Under 18s and Under 23s are a motley hodge-podge of players I’ve picked up along the way – I want to create a proper pathway for how I select, recruit and develop them. First team training could also do with an overhaul: I’ve relied too much on my assman since turning pro. In the staff department, now that we are financially stable I want to max out the number of coaches and scouts allowed by the board, and replace my Head of Youth Development to get one with a better personality and to match my preferred formation. I also need a new scouting approach: targeting Premier League youth cast-offs is becoming increasingly less effective, so we need a proper approach to assignments to allow me to identify talent through other routes, and have a system in place that can be easily expanded if and when the board start to allow me to increase my scouting range. So lots to do before a ball is next kicked, and thanks to the playoffs, a shortened off-season in which to do it.

 

Career Summary

[arnoldinho]

Arnoldinho: Buxton FC

2026/27 League One

Transfers ¦ League Fixtures 1 ¦ League Fixtures 2 ¦ League Table ¦ Cup Fixtures ¦ Finances

 

Offseason and Transfers

As planned, I used the offseason to take stock and refresh some of the club’s systems and strategies after a rapid rise from non-league football. I increased the size of my backroom staff and upgraded in several areas. I did a proper audit of the mish-mash of young players coming through my u-23s and u-18s and came up with a proper player pathway system for how many youngsters I want to bring through at any given time, how I want to train them, when I want to send them on loan, and how I might ease them in to the first team. On the back of this (and an increased wage budget), for the first time in the save, I brought in a handful of younger players not for immediate first team use, in particular Nigerians Peter Saraki (AMR) and Mansa Sissoko (DL) both of whom saw first team action in the EFL Trophy and a handful of other games. I also persuaded the board (finally) to improve youth recruitment, the first step in what I suspect will be a long road to not being dependent on Premier League and Championship cast-offs.

Strengthening the first team squad however proved much harder. Our reputation had seemingly not risen enough to attract a much wider pool of talent, and even with the increased wage budget, we could be comfortably outbid by other sides at the same level. We did really well in snagging – albeit not in a position of great need – England U20s GK Ray Dowell when he was released by Manchester City. Injuries and international call-ups meant he only played half the games, and he wasn’t stellar to start with, but he was firmly established as our number one by year end. Other than Dowell though, veteran Jason McCarthy (RB) was the only summer signing to be a first choice starter for us, although Sam Dunn also saw a decent amount of game time in midfield or as an inverted winger on the right. Dean Ashley was a panic signing towards the end of the window who largely warmed the bench.

We did much better on the loan front. We were able to negotiate deals to bring back previous loanees Rob O’Rourke up front and Kieran Bonner in defensive midfield. We failed to land Michael Lovatt for a second time around, but ended up going one better with Brighton CB Will Fish who was our top average rating player and made the players’ League One team of the season. Midfielders Thomas Francis (Bristol City), Oliver Wilson (Newcastle) and Neil Wood (Stoke) all made contributions in midfield at different points, although I never quite felt I got the most out of any of them.

 

League Campaign

This was a very frustrating season that culminated in our second successive playoff final defeat. Again it didn’t feel like we deserved to go up. Whilst we started the season strongly, and were in and around the playoffs all autumn, we had a lot of draws and seemed to lack a clinical touch. A purple patch from Christmas until mid- February – including five straight wins - catapulted us up in to the automatic promotion places briefly. But then the wheels fell off. We won just two of our next ten, and scored only four goals in two months. I tinkered with the tactics a lot (probably too much) trying different roles, instructions, mentalities and ultimately even briefly a different formation, but nothing seemed to make a difference. It took an 88th minute wonder goal by substitute Saraki in our penultimate league game to book our return to playoffs (and stop Forest Green securing automatic promotion), and we dropped to sixth when we only drew our final match – albeit that I played the reserves to rest the best players for the playoffs. The Goals For and Against columns sum up the season well – we had the second stingiest defence in the league but only scored the twelfth most goals.

In the playoffs however we came out of the traps flying against Rotherham. Whereas in the previous season my big players had gone missing and then got injured, this time captain Paul “hates big matches” Glatzel got two goals in the two semi-final legs against Rotherham and O’Rourke got three. Having been 3-1 up I was annoyed when we conceded late in the first leg to open the door to Rotherham, but the away match was probably our best performance of the season. We scored early to restore the two goal advantage, soaked up the pressure and hit them on the break for another, and then closed the game down effectively. Were we clicking at just the right time?

No, as it turned out. In the final we dominated the opening twenty minutes, netting a sixth minute penalty (O’Rourke again) and coming close on a couple of other occasions. And then we just disappeared. Plymouth, irritatingly led by Attacking Midfielder Jonathon Britton who I had considered trying to sign myself in January, mounted a deserved come from behind victory with goals either side of half-time, the second a penalty of their own. And when I tried to throw the kitchen sink at them for the last 20 minutes, to be honest we looked more like conceding on the break than equalising. To cap it all, Glatzel was sent off in the 86th minute. Maybe he does hate big matches after all. We are now 0 for 3 at Wembley in this save, and another season in League One beckons. After the final whistle, I was more irritated than gutted.

 

Cups

Cups followed a similarly non-eventful pattern to last year. We went out of the Carabao Cup at the first time of asking – although losing to Mansfield was considerably more embarrassing than last year’s reverse at Leeds. In the FA Cup we won through the first two rounds only to be beaten comfortably by lower Premier League opposition (this time Huddersfield) in Round Three. Our young players did us proud in the EFL Trophy group stage, and then nabbed an injury time equaliser and penalty shoot-out win in Round 2. But Sheffield Wednesday were too much for us in Round 3.

 

Finances

Not much to say here. Depending on the size of the visiting team, we are getting 4000-5000 consistently, which is a good fit with our 5950 capacity. We lost money on the year, but not catastrophically (the graph on the finances screenshot doesn’t yet reflect solidarity payments for League One). We do need to move onwards and upwards – or sell a few players for big money – before too long though to avoid becoming marooned. Annoyingly, but probably sensibly, the board won’t invest in any facilities until we have some more money in the back.

 

Looking Ahead

I am trying to figure out whether this summer I need a tactical overhaul or a squad overhaul, or both. Clearly we need to score more goals. At the moment I am leaning towards refreshing my tactics to create a new version with the same shape that is better at breaking down teams who sit back against us, plus having a clear out of the attacking players bar Glatzel and maybe Sodiende. Six players, including club legend Korede Adedoyin (who just didn’t cut it this year unfortunately) and underperforming top earner Oumar Traore, will definitely be released. A few more might go the same way, and I could sell one or two for small fees if we are able to pick up new signings. But it’s going to be tough.

I’m yet to pay cash for a player on this save but we might break the duck as it doesn’t seem as many players are out of contract this summer for some reason. Brighton are potentially willing to sell me Will Fish for £50k but he wants double the wages that the board will allow me to pay, even for a Star Player. So I think we’re likely to be relying on some more loans again next year, and have asked the board to try to find another senior affiliate after Southampton had nobody to offer me this past season.

Next season the aim has to be automatic promotion (although the board only want top half). But then again I said that a year ago…

 

Career Summary

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by arnoldinho
Added Summary table

[nehpets81]

It's great to see you resurrect this thread.  Your progress is very impressive and I have enjoyed reading about your rise up the footballing ladder.  I have just got back into FM20 myself and after playing around with a few teams in the lower leagues I decided to try this challenge myself after reading so much about it.  I had planned to just do it privately as a bit of fun but since you have updated this thread I guess I will add my progress too!  I have already finished the first season so the screenshots will be one year in..

Meet Jimbob McAndrews

Edited February 6, 2023 by nehpets81

[nehpets81]

 

Fresh from the gruelling Sunday Leagues, Jimbob McAndrews has been given the chance to steer newly promoted Gainsborough Trinity to safety in the Vanarama North.  Relegated in the 2017/2018 season, Gainsborough spent just one season in the lower league but felt they needed a new direction in order to stay up, so they turn to McAndrews who has no experience managing whatsoever…

The team is in a complete need of an overhaul but the best player is clearly Kinglsey James who is made captain.  He is described as having enough quality for the Vanarama North and I decide to build my 4-1-4-1 tactic around him at DM.  The rest of the team is pretty much trash apart from 34 year old John Hannah who used to be the player manager.  He can’t run anymore but he is still my best striker.

Despite an opening day 0-1 defeat to Farsley, the team go on an unexpected 14 game unbeaten run which sees them through to 4^th round qualifying round of the FA Cup and second in the league.  Unfortunately they are brought back down to earth with a 1-5 thumping at home to Blyth Spartans.  This is the start of a far more choppy run of form which sees the club fall back down to mid-table and dumped out of the FA cup and FA trophy.

A switch to a more standard 4-4-2 steadies the ship somewhat.  During the season the club were also able to attract Liberian International midfielder Mohammed Sangare after he was released by Newcastle, failing to play any games for the club.  Their loss, Sangare quickly becomes the key player and finishes the season with an average rating of 6.92 over 32 league games for the club. 

Other notable additions through the year were central defender Owen Bailey who despite a rocky start, ends up cementing his place in the team.  Bailey is also an ex-Newcastle player and finished the season with a 6.72 rating.  Up front, Harry Cardwell was added after being released by Grimsby but the biggest surprise package was Harry Molyneaux who arrived after being released by Chester and put in some good performances to finish the season with a 7.12.

In the end the team finish the season comfortably mid-table in 12^th.  The board seem broadly pleased that we avoided relegation and set their sights for another mid-table finish the next year.

 

 

YEAR

LEAGUE

POSITION

FA CUP

K/O

FA TROPHY

K/O

REP

CORP

TRAINING

DATA

YOUTH

YOUTH LEV

JUNIOR

RECRUITMENT

AVE ATTEND

HIGH ATTEND

Vs

CAPACITY

BADGES

TOP SCORER

MOST ASSISTS

AV RATING

CLEAN SHEETS

MAY BALANCE

TOTAL WAGES

Gainsborough Trinity

2021

Van North

12th

Q4

Fylde (VNat)

1st Round

Brackley (Van North)

Local - 1

Basic

Poor

Poor

Poor

0

Fairly Basic

Basic

694

2,111

Boston (League)

4,304

None

Ross Hannah - 13

Jack Birch - 6

Mohammed Sangare - 7.05

Billy Johnson - 11

-£105,340

£8,366

Edited February 6, 2023 by nehpets81

[arnoldinho]

Wonderful to see I'm not alone @nehpets81! Perhaps we can challenge each other for the title of slowest completers of the dafuge challenge ever 

That's a decent first season, although I can imagine frustrating after flying high early on. You'll see from my previous posts that I've often found in FM20 a pattern like that. In my case at least I think it is that my low reputation means teams underestimate me at the start of the year, allowing me to catch them on the counter-attack. But then once they see me as a leading team and start to play more defensively I don't have the quality to break them down. Do you think the same might be true for you?

Good luck for season two anyway! I've just completed another season which I'll try to write up later today or tomorrow.

[arnoldinho]

Arnoldinho: Buxton FC

2027/28 League One

Transfers ¦ League Fixtures 1 ¦ League Fixtures 2 ¦ Playoffs ¦ League Table ¦ Cup Fixtures ¦ Finances

 

Offseason and Transfers

Our quietest off-season so far. Other than a gap at left-back, I knew we had a squad good enough for League One, so was content to sit back and try to find those players willing to join us either on loan or (preferably) permanently, who could kick us over the promotion finish line. Cameron Borthwick-Jackson quickly filled the LB hole, and Jordan Rossiter was added as an experienced League One DM. But other than that our bigger targets weren't interested in permanent deals and so we were back fishing in the loan market. Here however we did rather well. Former loanees Michael Lovatt and Rob O'Rourke returned and we were able to snare two excellent players in Leicester's Mitchell Newell (able to play anywhere in the attacking third) and Man City's Steffan Coleman - a Welsh U21 international centre-midfielder with an incredibly bright future. On the other side of the equation a lot of our younger players were sent out on loan, especially after the January transfer window. Dean Ashley was the only sale.

Rather than transfers, I spent more time on tactics. I really wanted to stick with the 4-3-3 (or to give it its official title the 4-1-4-1 DM Wide) that had brought us up the leagues but recognised this wasn't allowing us to break down top teams. Consequently I produced a second version using the same shape but a high press and more attacking instructions - the theory being I could flip between the two to suit the opposition.
 

League Campaign

For much of the year this felt very much like the previous two seasons - we were one of the better teams in the division but never in danger of challenging the very top sides. We won five, drew two and lost three of our opening 10 which felt extremely typical. Switching to a narrower tactic (we tried both 4-4-2 diamond and 4-1-3-2 narrow) didn't work and by February we had slipped out of the playoff places. A return to a wide formation saw a change in fortunes, including an incredible 8-0 drubbing of Cambridge, but things really clicked when we flipped the high press version of our 4-3-3 in to a 4-2-3-1. Suddenly we were able to sustain pressure against weaker teams, converting chances and turning draws in to wins. It wasn't a magic bullet, but from there on we only lost twice more (once when injury ravaged) until our playoff place was secured in the penultimate round of matches.

Knowing by now the scheduling bug that means the first leg of the playoff semi comes just three days after the final league game, I rested the entire first team and played largely youth for the last match of the season, an entertaining 3-5 home loss to Wrexham that also saw stalwart Victor Sodiende score in his final game for the club. I was worried the morale hit from conceding five might outweigh the fitness gains, but I needn't have been concerned. We dominated the first leg against Rochdale, helped when they had a man sent off after half an hour with the score at 1-1. We went ahead soon after (O'Rourke's 20th league goal of the campaign) and then crucially in stoppage time CB Michael Lovatt powered in a header from a corner to give us a deserved two goal lead going in to the away leg. There too we played a hugely professional game, monopolising possession in the first half, equalising almost immediately when Rochdale scored to give them hope early in the second and then adding a cherry to the cake when Lovatt repeated his stoppage time heroics from the first leg.

So off to the home of football for the fourth time in eight seasons, and our third successive playoff final. Could we break the Wembley jinx? Yes we could! After a tense first-half, the highlight of which was a Steffan Coleman 25 yard screamer, Charlton were swept aside in the second - Coleman again and O'Rourke sealing a 3-1 victory. After three seasons that felt like thirty, we were finally promoted to the Championship!

 

Cups

We played 13 cup matches this season, bringing our overall total games to over 60. In the FA Cup, we made it to Round Three via wins over Torquay and Rochdale, only to be disappointed with a home tie against Mansfield coming out of the hat. We made hard work of it, drawing 1-1 at home and clinging on to win the replay 3-2 having been 3-0 up. Our reward was a fourth round tie against... Championship Millwall. About as bad a draw as could be - clearly stronger than us, but fewer than 10,000 watched the game at the New Den where we forced a replay with a late equaliser. But we weren't good enough at home, going down 3-0.

Naturally, we instead got the big team in the cup competition without revenue sharing! Chelsea were our third round Carabao Cup opponents after comfortable victories over Curzon Ashton (now a league club!) and Exeter in Rounds 1 and 2. We performed extremely creditably at Stamford Bridge, only losing 1-0 after parking the bus for 80 minutes and then almost bagging an equaliser when we suddenly threw everything at them in the last 10.

The Leasing Trophy was less interesting. We played the youth, snuck through our group despite losing two of our three matches and then lost on penalties to Bolton in the second round. I was incredibly unbothered.

 

Finances

Not much to report here. We are losing money but not disastrously. The challenge will be balancing the books on Championship salaries. I decided against asking the board for any facilities upgrades this year, I want any money we do have in to the wage budget! But I did persuade them to increase our scouting range to all of Europe, which I think will be invaluable in looking for bargain signings as we are going to need to do.

 

Looking Ahead

The club's status and reputation continues to grow, as does my own. But a big challenge awaits, neatly encapsulated by the fact that all eight of our playoff goals were scored by players on loan! Of those in our squad who we actually own, we only have one player (our Goalkeeper Ray Dowell) who is properly of Championship quality - and he only has a year left on his contract and is attracting the interest of big clubs. So we are going to need to try to upgrade where we can, use loans to bring in some quality, and ride our luck a bit. But I do think we can stay up. The Championship has a gulf between some huge beasts - Newcastle, West Ham, Southampton are all now down there after PL stints (Southampton's relegation and our promotion means our affiliation will be cut) - but also some smaller clubs who yo-yo a bit between the Championship and League One. We need to make sure we beat the latter group, including by ensuring the former group don't hammer us so much that morale takes a battering. My overall goal is to finish "in the teens" - and if its closer to 13 than 19 I'll be especially pleased. The board expectation to battle against relegation gives a bit of flexibility, but after the struggles getting out of League One I really really don't want to go back down.

 

Career Summary

Edited February 8, 2023 by arnoldinho
kooky formatting

[nehpets81]

Congrats on the promotion to the Championship, I hear the step up can be tricky but I have every confidence in the mighty Buxton!

I am quite a slow player but have just completed my second season so review incomming...

 

[nehpets81]

Gainsborough Trinity

2021/2022 Vanarama North

 

 

Following the disappointing season last time I added a few new players including unpredictable winger Thelo Aasgaard on a free from Wigan and striker Kyle McFarlane as a free agent.  There were a few others but these two really highlight that last season the quality of my team last season was nowhere near good enough for promotion.

The pre-season friendlies went well with some very encouraging wins so I was all set and excited for the start of the season only for the team to be brought back down to earth with back-to-back defeats to Chester and Kidderminster in the first two games.  Thankfully the next game was against newly promoted minnows Ashton Utd at home so we managed our first, albeit unconvincing 1-0, win.  The team then went on a decent run and started climbing the table.

This all ended in November with some abysmal form.  We were the worst team over two legs against Vanarama South team Truro Town in the first round of the FA Cup and were dumped out of the FA Trophy at the first time of asking against Witton Albion, who are not even playable in my game, much to the ire of the board.  There were also several losses in the league and I started to worry that it was all going to come crashing down again.

A couple of things then helped us regain form.  I started taking a much greater interest in mentality and some other tactical nuances and found a really helpful flow diagram posted by someone on this forum for mentality and how it should change throughout the match. This really changed the way I approached mentality as a much more fluid tool to be changed constantly through the match.  If nothing else, it helped me think that I was doing something that helped! 

I continued to have a problem with closing matches out though with the AI often scoring in the last few minutes of matches despite my attempts at creating a much more defensive tactic for holding on to leads.  Any advice here would be very welcome.

The other thing that happened in December was that I picked up a few more players including someone who is so much better than anyone else on my team, Joe Grayson.  I am not sure if I agree with them but my coaches are now saying he is a “good player for most league one sides”.  In any case he completely transformed my team and in just 22 league appearances he produces 25 assists and had an average rating of 7.83.  I am very happy to say that inexplicably he has signed a new contract to keep him at Gainsborough for another two years.

 

Anyway, this all meant that we were swapping places with Hereford at the top of the league for the last month or so.  With two matches to go we had a two-point lead over Hereford at the top.  I was then too scared to touch the game for a week but eventually managed to win the last two games to finish top for the season and get promoted as champions!

 

I suspect the Vanarama National is even harder to get out of but hopefully we can add a bit more quality to go with Grayson.  Weirdly out average attendance declined to 660 this season.. I guess our fans revel in misery.  On a personal level I am now the proud holder of a National B license so at least some of my attributes have improved. 

[arnoldinho]

Hi @nehpets81 - I’m so sorry, I thought I had set an alert so I got notified when a reply was posted on this thread but it didn’t seem to work for some reason and so I’ve only just spotted your last update.

Congratulations on the promotion! Feels good to have the first one under your belt, doesn’t it?!

Grayson looks an amazing catch for your level! Like you I’m not quite sure about League One (although he’s still relatively young so may grow with you) - but he’s good until at least League Two, so good that you got him locked in to a contract.

I’m interested in this flow chart on mentality that you referred to - could you share a link?

Closing out games is hard, and I don’t have a foolproof method by any means. But what I’ve tended to do with reasonable success is to go to “Cautious” quite early (and tone down how attacking my fullbacks are in their role/duty), but then only switch to “defensive” for the last ten minutes and “very defensive” in injury time. At about 80 minutes I set passing to shorter, tempo to lower, and time wasting to max to try to keep the ball. I also always keep the counter instruction on and also run at defence so my midfielders will take the ball forward in to space rather than hoof it clear and enable the opposition to start another attack right away. Hope that helps a bit.

The National can be hard I’m afraid. But it kind of depends who has come down from the football league. With only one automatic promotion spot it only takes one “big” club to get relegated and then boss the league for the rest of you to be left scrambling for playoff places. On my phone now so can’t easily add the link but if you follow the link in my post above to my season four you’ll see I got lucky when Swindon completely imploded in the last couple of months of the season. Hope you have similar good fortune!

As for me, I have completed my first season in the championship, just haven’t managed to write it up yet. I’m travelling for work this week but will try to post something early next once I’m back home to my PC and the saved screenshots.