FM20: The English Football League thread

[Jogo Bonito]

Derby is tempting (particularly in League 1, one season in, if the transfers or lack of them are agreeable). But yeah, Rooney. That's why I went with West Brom!

I really should do York or Dulwich Hamlet, two clubs I wanted to try for some time. Maybe both, and Derby? Assuming i don't screw up my promotion with West Brom.

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Assuming i don't screw up my promotion with West Brom.

As if?? And in the worst possible scenario, you get another season with the Baggies. Is Rooney still with Derby at this point in your (last year's) save? I've seen a couple of FM managers sign him back to United as a u18 coach, so assume that's a possibility in your save?

[Jogo Bonito]

11 hours ago, warlock said:

As if?? And in the worst possible scenario, you get another season with the Baggies. Is Rooney still with Derby at this point in your (last year's) save? I've seen a couple of FM managers sign him back to United as a u18 coach, so assume that's a possibility in your save?

Sadly, Rooney is still there for another year on £50,000 per week in League 1 (unless he gets an automatic pay decrease, as that game date is in May 2020). Also there are older players like Carson, Davies, and Huddlestone contracted for another year (and Forsyth for two years), all decent in their day but not what I would want in my squad. At least Martin and Anya would be about to leave, along with the loan players, but that would still leave 24 in the first team squad for the second season.

None of the original squad have been sold so all the youngsters are there (which is good) but 24 is a lot of players to have and I'd really want to move most of the older ones on if I took the job. The other thing unknown is the transfer budget, but if it's anything like the 19/20 one then with the wage savings I'd plan to make, it would be a good starting point I think. What I would do different to West Brom is not recruit as much, stick all the youngsters in from the start and have faith they would achieve promotion. Perhaps we should both take them on from the same point?

[Bergbatov]

13 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Derby is tempting (particularly in League 1, one season in, if the transfers or lack of them are agreeable). But yeah, Rooney. That's why I went with West Brom!

I really should do York or Dulwich Hamlet, two clubs I wanted to try for some time. Maybe both, and Derby? Assuming i don't screw up my promotion with West Brom.

I'm managing Dulwich Hamlet now, it's so much fun. Take a look at these links about The Hamlet: 

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/aug/23/dulwich-hamlet-londons-most-hipster-football-club
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR9LiGB_yHs

I'll try to watch a Dulwich Hamlet match next time i'm in London. Looks like a great club.

[RageMaster]

Hello all, has anyone managed QPR or Peterborough on FM20? Can't decide on which one to start with so any pointers or recommendations welcome. In need of a new save after a few failed Dafuge challenges! 

 

[Jogo Bonito]

1 hour ago, Bergbatov said:

I'm managing Dulwich Hamlet now, it's so much fun. Take a look at these links about The Hamlet: 

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/aug/23/dulwich-hamlet-londons-most-hipster-football-club
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR9LiGB_yHs

I'll try to watch a Dulwich Hamlet match next time i'm in London. Looks like a great club.

Great kits too. Definitely a good choice.

24 minutes ago, RageMaster said:

Hello all, has anyone managed QPR or Peterborough on FM20? Can't decide on which one to start with so any pointers or recommendations welcome. In need of a new save after a few failed Dafuge challenges! 

 

Both have appeal in their own right. QPR is a club I have never managed and I have thought about it recently. A couple of OK players and the exciting talent of Eze, but largely an average group that will need some work. Also you would get a great DOF (my bias here in being old and watching him play, also for still having him in my WhatsApp contacts from many years ago).

The Posh is a club with enough talent to win the league and score plenty of goals in doing so. I've not managed them for a few years but they used to have a 'sign Irish players' demand from the owner.

[nextqprmanager]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Great kits too. Definitely a good choice.

Both have appeal in their own right. QPR is a club I have never managed and I have thought about it recently. A couple of OK players and the exciting talent of Eze, but largely an average group that will need some work. Also you would get a great DOF (my bias here in being old and watching him play, also for still having him in my WhatsApp contacts from many years ago).

The Posh is a club with enough talent to win the league and score plenty of goals in doing so. I've not managed them for a few years but they used to have a 'sign Irish players' demand from the owner.

I had a QPR save in FM17 & prob was somewhat easier, in clearing most out & re-start. I did plan to manage QPR after Bolton but havent played much atm ; & typically QPR got promoted with me !, so they may not want / need me. In other saves ive seen, they either get promoted or more so get relegated, normally selling Eze. With Sir Les, he is a little inexperienced at that level, & they may be wanting to claw back cash all the time.

[Jean0987654321]

14 hours ago, RageMaster said:

Hello all, has anyone managed QPR or Peterborough on FM20? Can't decide on which one to start with so any pointers or recommendations welcome. In need of a new save after a few failed Dafuge challenges! 

 

I prefer QPR. Sounds like a fun save to do with some of the youth and then try to get them back to the EPL

[bendixkunert2]

9 hours ago, Jean0987654321 said:

I prefer QPR. Sounds like a fun save to do with some of the youth and then try to get them back to the EPL

Just started QPR last night. 

It might be fun but I can already say this is going to be a real challenge. The roster lacks depth everywhere, money really isn't there at all, couple key players are on loan and can't get called back and the facilities are not good.

The 2 positives are that you just have to stay out of the relegation zone in the league and win 1 or 2 rounds each in the cups (where I already failed, lol) and that the staff is real solid for a championship side.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

3 minutes ago, bendixkunert2 said:

Just started QPR last night. 

It might be fun but I can already say this is going to be a real challenge. The roster lacks depth everywhere, money really isn't there at all, couple key players are on loan and can't get called back and the facilities are not good.

The 2 positives are that you just have to stay out of the relegation zone in the league and win 1 or 2 rounds each in the cups (where I already failed, lol) and that the staff is real solid for a championship side.

 

It's good to challenge yourself! Anything you achieve at QPR is definitely going to be deserved. Best of luck.

[Jamesbfc1887]

 

 

 

Barnsley Football Club Season 1:

 

 

So as you can see a fairly strict club vision, yet entirely realistic will certainly provide an interesting challenge in order to stay on the right side of the board.

 

 

 

And just to emphasise how out of place this squad is in the Championship!!! 

Now before I start my Barnsley save I'd like to outline some stipulations with the save to try and give a sense of realism, I'll focus on Austria and the German lower leagues, as well as the UK and a little smattering of the Nordic countries.

I will also be trying to follow transfer fee and wage restrictions, altough they are in the game with the club vision they are not enforced explicitly, so for the first season I won't be spending over £1,000,000 on one player outright and there will be no loans (without the option to buy at the end of it).

I would also like to try and base signings somewhat off statistics etc...

So here is how we got on in the window...

 

Transfers:

 

Outs:

 

We managed to remove some of the excess wages, which I'm sure the board will be pleased about. Thiam and Pinillos both being far too old for this team at 24 and 26 respectively.

Simoes is perhaps a deal I regret considering the injury list we now have in the forwards department but he'll certainly get more game time at Morcambe than here. Also we are trying to loan Ben Williams out after the acquisition of a better left back

 

Ins:

 

 

Efkan Bekiroglu, I think he's fairly well known to the EFL thread or as a decent purchase in FM this season. Looks like a player that can provide a little bit of X factor to the team. This is a very Barnsley type signing actually and should help out across the midfield.

 

George Evans of Derby county, joins us on a season long loan and all importantly with the option to buy for £1.2million. A defensive midfielder who will primarily act at the base of our midfield.

 

  

 

Well I couldn't help myself to another Leeds youngster, that's 4 this summer from Leeds. They do seem very willing to let them go, it has to be said but we'll take him. Perhaps not quite good enough for the Prem but he'll grow into a Championship left back for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Jamesbfc1887

[bendixkunert2]

QPR Season 1, update 1

 

game setup

 

- top 25 leagues in Europe loaded, everything else on view only and the top 6 leagues in England loaded

- no editor

- I take over everything except media interviews and the youth team tactics, training and games

- 1st transfer window closed

- skin: YAC

 

 

 

There is no real reason why I took over QPR. I have played football manager for a couple years now and have a Brescia save on going but thought about to get involved in this thread because I found it really interesting. I have never managed in England and never managed in 2nd division anywhere, so really don't know a lot about what I was getting myself into, lol.

But QPR sounded like a mad challenge to get them out of the mud of the Championship into a BPL team again.

 

The challenges are clear. QPR doesn't have good facilities, no money and a subpar roster that is predicted to finish bottom of the Championship and just barely avoid relegation. On top of that significant injury concerns to start the save.

 

finances:

 

This is the main trouble. We will likely avoid sanctions but still we probably can't stay longer than this and next year in the Championship to get this right longterm. The pressure is on. (Note: As you can see I already played a couple of months here to provide the first update)

 

Current line-up

 

 

Overall, the team is in good shape right now. Most players have come back from injuries by now. Getting Eze to perform is my main concern right now. Hugill and Manning are by far our best players so far.

 

schedule:

 

 

league table:

 

 

We will see where this leads us. I expect our form to drop soon but we are on solid footing right now and doing very well.

[RageMaster]

So I decided with QPR in the end, and started the save today. Played our first league game away to Stoke and this was the scene at half time...

Shocked to say the least...I expected Stoke to nulify us 2nd half but that didn't happen either!

First 10.0 rating on this years version of the game. Will hopefully be back mid-season to provide a further proper update on things. 

[Jogo Bonito]

@RageMaster Wow, what a start. It can only go downhill from there though!

On the basis of that one game, it looks like I was right about Eze, but five goals in one game?!? And to be honest, I was going to add that you'll struggle to score goals with that squad... 

[bendixkunert2]

Queens Park Rangers season 1 - update 2

 

 

As expected, we did take a dip in form however we did recover pretty nicely.

 

 

Bristol City and Leeds have been struggling as of late which we used to overtake them. Long road ahead but we are in a good spot.

 

 

Fulham is just dominating this league and already basically promoted.

 

 

we actually have a little bit of a transfer budget for this winter. We definitely need a left back and probably look out for a loan or two.

 

our top performers so far:

 

 

 

 

Eze has been decent on a 7.09 rating with 7 goals and 4 assists but he should be better. Hopefully he can improve in the 2nd half of the season.

[CityAndColour]

It's not quite the Football League (four divisions below, in fact) but am I finally going to break my promotion hoodoo on FM20? I'm currently sitting at 11 consecutive playoff exits...

If nothing else we are definitely the entertainers of the division, with 65 goals in 27 matches.

[Jogo Bonito]

@CityAndColour It's yours to lose! I'd started looking in to extended databases, but the ones I found went past the level/step that I needed, and I thought that might make the game slower or more at risk of crashing. Is that database from Dan or Messi, or elsewhere? I only needed level 7 or at most level 8 but didn't find one that was less than 11. Good luck anyway.

[CityAndColour]

17 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@CityAndColour It's yours to lose! I'd started looking in to extended databases, but the ones I found went past the level/step that I needed, and I thought that might make the game slower or more at risk of crashing. Is that database from Dan or Messi, or elsewhere? I only needed level 7 or at most level 8 but didn't find one that was less than 11. Good luck anyway.

It's the Messi one as that at least gets L1 back to 24 teams after season one. When you load the database, you can make any amount of levels playable as you would be able to with a normal database - my save only has down to level eight playable.

[Jogo Bonito]

55 minutes ago, CityAndColour said:

It's the Messi one as that at least gets L1 back to 24 teams after season one. When you load the database, you can make any amount of levels playable as you would be able to with a normal database - my save only has down to level eight playable.

OK great, cheers. I might try that then, hopefully it won't conflict with anything else I have loaded up.

[karanhsingh]

14 hours ago, RageMaster said:

So I decided with QPR in the end, and started the save today. Played our first league game away to Stoke and this was the scene at half time...

Shocked to say the least...I expected Stoke to nulify us 2nd half but that didn't happen either!

First 10.0 rating on this years version of the game. Will hopefully be back mid-season to provide a further proper update on things. 

That's insane!! What formation/ tactic are you playing?

I recently got a 9.9 rating in my game but the perfect 10 is still elusive.

[karanhsingh]

Some excellent reads all around, just caught up on this thread. Great updates from QPR, Albion, Rotherham, Barnsley, Dulwich... keep up the good work people!! 

@Jogo Bonito if & when you seal that promotion are you going to give it a go in the Premier league or move to new pastures again? 

I have been plugging away on my save in the meanwhile, so here is an update. I have actually played out quite a bit so just figuring out the best way to bring it up to speed! Last time I updated we were slowly but surely moving our way up the League One table coming towards the end of Season 1 with Sunderland.

I am happy to say that despite a few bumps along the road, we were eventually able to clinch automatic promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking, helped by an end of season collapse by Rotherham who picked up only 7 points from their final 7 games. Posh were too far away but we comfortably came up finally.

We had not made too many changes in the squad in the one window I had to work with the team, however from the players that came in Tarique Fosu was particularly impressive, and we proceeded to take up the option to sign him permanently. Other strong performers for us were Charlie Wyke, George Dobson and Jordan Willis at the back. I will next post a slightly more detailed update about our return to the Championship.

[RageMaster]

9 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

That's insane!! What formation/ tactic are you playing?

I recently got a 9.9 rating in my game but the perfect 10 is still elusive.

I'm using a 4-3-3 with a DM screening the back 4. My style of play is keeping possession and building from the back. Since that game however I have been struggling to score and results are not looking good. I will need to make some changes it seems! I can't seen to get much out of Hugill upfront and I'm considering terminating his loan in January if I can as he is also the highest paid player in the squad! First I am going to see if I can get some better service into him though. Jack Clarke is another I don't seem to be getting much from and he is someone I enjoyed using back in FM19. 

[Jogo Bonito]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Some excellent reads all around, just caught up on this thread. Great updates from QPR, Albion, Rotherham, Barnsley, Dulwich... keep up the good work people!! 

@Jogo Bonito if & when you seal that promotion are you going to give it a go in the Premier league or move to new pastures again? 

I have been plugging away on my save in the meanwhile, so here is an update. I have actually played out quite a bit so just figuring out the best way to bring it up to speed! Last time I updated we were slowly but surely moving our way up the League One table coming towards the end of Season 1 with Sunderland.

I am happy to say that despite a few bumps along the road, we were eventually able to clinch automatic promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking, helped by an end of season collapse by Rotherham who picked up only 7 points from their final 7 games. Posh were too far away but we comfortably came up finally.

We had not made too many changes in the squad in the one window I had to work with the team, however from the players that came in Tarique Fosu was particularly impressive, and we proceeded to take up the option to sign him permanently. Other strong performers for us were Charlie Wyke, George Dobson and Jordan Willis at the back. I will next post a slightly more detailed update about our return to the Championship.

Mission accomplished there for you, well done. It's surprising to see Fleetwood down so far in that table, but at least Southend played to their full potential!

I'll not be continuing with West Brom in the PL (assuming promoted) but have a few ideas of where to head next. If it's not Derby in League 1, it will likely be somewhere considerably lower.

[Jamesbfc1887]

 

 

Barnsley Season 1:

Tactics

 

 

I genuinely don't have a clue whether this system will work or not, I absolutely hate trying to build this kind of system. I'm hoping we'll be effective on the break and be able to hurt teams with our pace up top.

 

As alluded to by @warlock a Mezalla and a carrilero will be necessary to try and combat the lack of width and to cover the full backs to some degree, Ritzmaier should suit these roles fairly well as a make shift wide player already. Trial and error I guess but the important thing is that 50 points will do just fine, considering how my last attempt went.

George Evans will hopefully be able to drop back into the half back role and provide some cover for the lack of defensive minded layers in the  midfield 3, whilst also covering the wing backs, should they push higher up the pitch.

Sollbauer and Halme will be the two centre backs, Odour and Jordan Williams will be the starting full backs.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Jamesbfc1887

[Jogo Bonito]

@Jamesbfc1887 That looks to be a fairly sensible tactic and formation, let's hope so! Welcome back and good luck again at Barnsley.

[Dong21]

Bolton Wanders - Season 4 - Part 3

"Beat the teams around you. Those are the important games."

The 2022 World Cup concluded in Qatar with France the victors, meaning that the English domestic leagues could once again resume. England had surprisingly failed to qualify, finishing behind Poland in their qualifying group, making the calendar disruption slightly less palatable for the English FA.

We'd had a good mid-season mini pre-season so confidence was high going back into competitive fixtures. Our match against Sunderland, however, could have so nearly been one of the most frustrating matches I've ever been involved in. We absolutely dominated the Black Cats, they got players sent off in the 47th and 69th minutes and Wallem scored an amazing goal from 30 yards out that was ruled out due to another one of my players, who was not in their 'keepers line of site, being adjudged offside.  It was looking like we weren't going to capitalise on all of these factors, but eventually Brownhill rose to the occasion and scored the late winner. We then beat Rotherham with an even later winner, a 97th minute penalty scored by the man you would always want on penalties in these scenarios, Jamie Vardy. I almost felt sorry for Rotherham, but that quickly passed. We continued our run of form with a victory against Middlesborough. This trio of home wins against teams around us in the table are exactly the sorts of results we needed to be securing. 

Defeats against Leicester and away at Burnley were expected and therefore not particularly troubling. Particularly as we didn't allow this to then effect us when playing Bristol Rovers, picking up the win in an end-to-end clash against the relegation candidates. If the game against Sunderland was nearly the most frustrating match I've managed, then the defeat in the derby to Blackburn may just take the title. We were 2-0 up and seemingly cruising to victory, when they scored in the 85th, 89th and 92nd minutes. I was speechless. We followed this up by labouring to a victory over Port Vale in the FA Cup which required penalties. Because the team played 120 minutes only a few days earlier, I had to play a second string side against Oxford. A scoreless draw felt like an okay result after left back Marlon get sent off early in the second half. We ended the month with a great victory at Pride Park against Derby.

Transfers Out

The sale of José Rodriguez is, in my opinion, a delightful piece of business. Signed on a free in the summer, made four substitute appearances and then sold on for £2.3m. This is one of the reasons I value the free transfer market so highly. The other notable sale caught me somewhat by surprise. West Ham bid £1.5m for 17 year old forward Nathan Ashby, who I must admit I hadn't taken much notice of in my reserves, but after closer inspection he had great potential. I offered him out for £2m and suddenly five Premier League sides put bids in for him. This created a bidding war that I negotiated up and up until I could get the best price possible for him. Ashby chose Bournemouth who at that point were having a terrific season, sitting 3rd in the Premier League. I would love to be in a position to develop the youth that my academy is producing, but in our financial position I always have to think of the greater good. Net sales for the season now totaled £24m.

Transfers In:

You may recall in the summer I asked the board to negotiate the loan signing of winger Lemperle; well it turns out they only bothered to do this for half the season as on Jan 1st I was informed he had departed. This left me with a gap on the wings. Wide play is essential to my formation so I decided to replace him with two signings. Goncalo Borges on loan from Porto and Oli Burke on loan from West Brom. Finances continue to be tight and I had space for more loanees, so the short term market seemed attractive. I wanted some athleticism at right back so I looked to the United academy that has served me so well in this career to date, bringing in Ethan Laird. Finally, to combat our lack of goals, I brought in Morgan Rogers. Hopefully he can shine where others have failed before.

There was, however, one more signing made just after the transfer window closed. Global superstar Karim Benzema was lured to the University of Bolton Stadium. Benzema had been available since the summer when his PSG contract expired but it had taken seven months out in the cold for him to even consider a club like Bolton. I only have him for six months until he retires but his physical and mental stats are phenomenal so I couldn't not bring him in for the final chapter of his playing career.

Rogers made an instant impression, scoring in a draw against Reading. It was the next game though, that drew big intrigue as we faced top-of-the-table Swansea in what was to be Benzema's debut. The game lived up to it's hype. It was 0-0 at 65 minutes so I decided that this was the right time to bring on my star signing. Benzema instantly made an impact scoring to take the lead. Swansea equalised, but the presence of the veteran striker clearly inspired the team as they went on to bag three late goals that sealed a resounding win.

Defeats against Forest, West Brom and Leeds were expected, but of course disappointing. What was pleasing though was our wins against Barnsley and Sunderland. Wallem was returning from injury after a four week lay off and returned with a superb hat-trick against Barnsley. Doyle-Hayes was the star of the show against Sunderland. We exited the FA Cup in a close game against Birmingham in which Benzema got his third of the season.

We sit 15th with 10 games of the season to go. I'd have snapped your hand off for that at the beginning of the season. Mathematically it looks like we will finish somewhere close to where we are, although hopefully we can end on a positive run after a slight recent dip in form. Victories against our nearest rivals have been the key to success this season.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Dong21

[smplfc123]

Hello everyone, long time no post! Thoroughly enjoyed reading some the updates over the last few days. Good to see the stalwarts of this thread still going strong @Jogo Bonito and @warlock with WBA and Rotherham respectively. Good to read the QPR updates from a couple of posters too, with them being my 2nd best save in FM19. @Dong21's updates are always enjoyable and i'm also really looking forward to see how @Jamesbfc1887 does with his beloved Barnsley.

I've returned in order to get an EFL save going. I've had some random saves of late, but have yet to go back in to the EFL since a successful save with Leeds some 6 months ago.

I'm looking for a long term save. I don't want a team predicted to finish in the top 10 or one that everyone knows that despite not being predicted to finish in the top 6, everyone knows that with 1 or 2 tweaks it's easily done (Peterborough a prime example who are predicted 10th when I start, but with the likes of Toney, Dembele etc, top 6 is more than achievable).  I want a team with the freedom to build and experiment with, without the fear of losing my job should we not be flying instantly. I'd prefer L1 or L2 as I feel every team is under pressure in the Championship, but would be open to the right challenge.

Does anyone have any suggestions?  

 

 

[Jogo Bonito]

@Dong21 That's solid stuff, good to see! An amazing coup with the new striker (and Benzema isn't bad either). Seriously though, I thought I had done will to get Kolbeinn Sigþórsson in for me at Bolton, you have certainly trumped that! Good to see Morgan Rogers grab a few goals too, hopefully you don't have to pay much of his £25,000 per week wages!

@smplfc123 Good to have you back! I guess most clubs you can get promoted in FM20, but if you want a really poor side there is Southend. Lincoln or Tranmere could be a good option in League 1, or Bristol Rovers (I had a good time with them). League 2 perhaps Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Northampton, Port Vale? Or venture beyond to somebody like Torquay or Solihull Moors, or even lower down the pyramid?

[RageMaster]

@smplfc123 Bristol Rovers like @Jogo Bonito mentioned could be fun, trying to overtake Bristol City etc, don't think they've played each other in the League for nearly 20 years so that could be a fun challenge for sure. I'm not sure on expectations though from the board. 

[Jogo Bonito]

 

[Jamesbfc1887]

Barnsley Season 1:

 

Results:

 

 

We certainly had an interesting pre-season which hardly filled me with much confidence I have to say. But the league campaign started strongly against one of the promotion favourites Fulham and in all truth it was a game we really should have won, wasteful finishing from Conor Chaplin costing us 2 points on the opening day.

Next we made the short trip down the M1 to junction 36 (probably) and to Hillsborough. Where we would take on Sheffield Wednesday, we were quick to assert our dominance in the game with Conor Chaplin once again spurning the opportunity to put us 1 up. A string of great saves from Wednesday keeper Keiren Westwood ensured things were level at the break. Until a calamitous piece of keeping from a tame Michael Sollbauer header put us into a deserved 1-0 lead. Just 10 minutes later Cauley Woodrow was taken out inside the box, resulting in a penalty for the Reds Efkan Berifoglu and a chance to seal all 3 points at Hillsborough for the first time since 2009!!!! (I think). 2-0 and game over!!!!

The reserves trotted out for the cup game securing a 1-0 victory before we would entertain Charlton a few days later. Goal for the Reds!!!!! It's new signing Efkan Bekiroglu!!! With a stunning finish from the corner of the penalty area. Chance after chance came and went before finally 2-0 and the points look surely secured against a poor Charlton side, Marcel Ritzmaier with the goal but.... Objects flying everywhere in my office as Jonny Williams produces not one but two unbelievable strikes to earn Charlton an unlikely and undeserved point. But 5 points from games is a decent start.

Birmingham vs Barnsley:

Our first loss of the season came in Scotland to university town, no sorry that's the wrong St. Andrews... Anyway this was another game where poor finishing from my strikers would once again haunt me, a poor result in a fairly boring affair was certainly not the way we wanted to go into an important game against Luton.

Barnsley vs Luton:

This was one for the ages!!!! That or a display of how not o play right back by Killian Ludewig, with possibly one of the worst performances I've seen in a while. An injury to Jordan Williams which should keep him out for 2 weeks at least, almost cost us dearly. I bet Kazenga Lua Lua  couldn't believe his luck!!!! He was the best player on the pitch skipping past our hapless right back multiple times and bagging a goal and an assist. A Woodrow double gave me more confidence he can fire us up the table this season, with some attacking quality at last. Crucially this game also happened to be the first game back from injury for top prospect Jacob Brown, hopefully there's a lot more to see from him!!!!

Wigan vs Barnsley:

Unfortunately the main talking point before the game was the ankle injury suffered by Woodrow in training on Thursday, this injury would keep our key player out for 1 month.  On the day we were comfortably dispatched by Wigan. A dismal performance.

Barnsley vs Leeds:

We came into the Yorkshire derby looking to change our slump in form, which had seen us only pick up 3 points from the last 3 games. This was not going to be an easy challenge against pre-season title favourites Leeds! But actually my team more than surprised me, with an excellent display. Chaplin putting us ahead early on before an equaliser from Leeds captain Liam Cooper but with the last kick of the game former Leeds man Clarke Odour smashed in a volley from the edge of the area following a poor headed clearance Ben White. 2-1!!!! And we take all 3 points in dramatic style.

Forest vs Barnsley:

This was a story of two absolute bangers! Joe Lolley with a volley from 30 yards, which surely will go down as goal of the season. But we swiftly replied through possibly my new favourite player Efkan Berifoglu, quite how he's playing for us I do not know, his delivery from set pieces and all round play is unbelievable.

Barnsley vs Brentford:

Another huge bonus 3 points in a fixture I could only dream of getting a result in at the start of the season, Brentford had 3 disallowed goals!!! Yes 3, i felt sorry for them but we also had a fair few chances ourselves and I couldn't care less where those points come from.

Barnsley vs Derby:

An absolutely dire game of football, a typical, cold midweek game.

Preston vs Barnsley:

This is the first time I've really started to worry about our levels of performance, such a poor game on our behalf. These are the kind of performances we have to avoid if we want to stay up this season. Completely out classed!

 

 

 

 

Table:

 

I'm very happy with how we are doing so far this season, 15th and 9 points clear of the drop. I've seen us drop off a cliff before so I'm not counting my chickens just yet!

If we can avoid some of the injuries we've had so far in the season we can stay up I'm sure of it.

We may well look to strengthen the squad in January but there is basically no money left mainly because I did this....

 

Tom Adeyemi, this man seems to have an unfortunate amount of experience at getting relegated from the Championship but I think on his day he can be a good workman for us. But he's injured already, I should have known, he does have a reputation for it 

 

A decent prospect for a nominal fee.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Jamesbfc1887

[Jogo Bonito]

@Jamesbfc1887 A solid start, maintain that and you'll be an Oakwell legend. Let's hope the Dane turns out to be a good 'bay' for you.

[Jamesbfc1887]

3 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@Jamesbfc1887 A solid start, maintain that and you'll be an Oakwell legend. Let's hope the Dane turns out to be a good 'bay' for you.

Cheers , it' been a great start.

Unfortunately the injuries are wracking up!!!!

Brown's injury is a huge blow

2 hours ago, smplfc123 said:

@Jamesbfc1887 does with his beloved Barnsley.

Cheers, there's the update for you.

[Jogo Bonito]

@Jamesbfc1887 The loss of Brown will be a big blow. Any link in the fact he came back from injury and was deployed as a pressing forward?

[Jamesbfc1887]

2 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@Jamesbfc1887 The loss of Brown will be a big blow. Any link in the fact he came back from injury and was deployed as a pressing forward?

It would appear it is linked, oops!!!

[Jamesbfc1887]

His bravery has also dropped by 2 after the incident 

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, Jamesbfc1887 said:

It would appear it is linked, oops!!!

Unlucky gaffer 

[CityAndColour]

Finally - the promotion monkey has been lifted!

[Jogo Bonito]

Many congratulations for a long-awaited promotion! Great to see Victor Fundi scoring so many goals, always a player I want to see doing well. Will you be up against the mighty Taunton Town next season?

[Jogo Bonito]

I've finally completed my West Brom season, an update will follow sometime soon.

Edited April 24, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[CityAndColour]

35 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Many congratulations for a long-awaited promotion! Great to see Victor Fundi scoring so many goals, always a player I want to see doing well. Will you be up against the mighty Taunton Town next season?

They are in the playoffs of the Southern League Premier South - I assume that is the league we will be promoted into so will be facing them next season if they don't also go up. You have a personal connection to them?

As an aside, their new logo may be the best one in football.

[Jogo Bonito]

16 minutes ago, CityAndColour said:

They are in the playoffs of the Southern League Premier South - I assume that is the league we will be promoted into so will be facing them next season if they don't also go up. You have a personal connection to them?

As an aside, their new logo may be the best one in football.

I've seen them pay a few times - not sure about the badge personally! By the way, I wasn't able to get that database file, I think due to being FMF format. It downloaded but my system wouldn't let me do anything with extracting and I ended up deleting it.

[Dong21]

19 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@Dong21 That's solid stuff, good to see! An amazing coup with the new striker (and Benzema isn't bad either). Seriously though, I thought I had done will to get Kolbeinn Sigþórsson in for me at Bolton, you have certainly trumped that! Good to see Morgan Rogers grab a few goals too, hopefully you don't have to pay much of his £25,000 per week wages!

 

Thanks @Jogo Bonito. Only paying £15k of his £25k wages so not too bad! Luckily we had a bit of room in the wage budget after all the player sales.

Interesting development; got offered the Crystal Palace job. They are 18th in the Premier League but only one point off their nearest rival, so survival is very achievable. If this was real life any manager would jump at the opportunity but I’m going to carry on with the Bolton adventure (actually, challenge may be the more accurate descriptor 😂). 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Dong21

[smplfc123]

Thanks for the recommendations @Jogo Bonito and @RageMaster. Bristol Rovers is leading the race for my save at the moment. 

Great start @Jamesbfc1887 but a shame about those injuries. I've always stayed away from Adeyemi having had the same problem with him in previous FM's. Still a good early gap between yourself and the relegation zone 

 

[Jogo Bonito]

54 minutes ago, smplfc123 said:

Thanks for the recommendations @Jogo Bonito and @RageMaster. Bristol Rovers is leading the race for my save at the moment. 

Great start @Jamesbfc1887 but a shame about those injuries. I've always stayed away from Adeyemi having had the same problem with him in previous FM's. Still a good early gap between yourself and the relegation zone 

 

I think the board's five year plan when I managed them in the BETA was to avoid relegation for the whole five seasons. If that's still the case, it's a great club to manage. The starting squad is very decent for that level of aspiration but little or no pressure on you to test whatever you want. 

[Adamm90]

19 hours ago, Jamesbfc1887 said:

Barnsley Season 1:

 

Results:

 

 

We certainly had an interesting pre-season which hardly filled me with much confidence I have to say. But the league campaign started strongly against one of the promotion favourites Fulham and in all truth it was a game we really should have won, wasteful finishing from Conor Chaplin costing us 2 points on the opening day.

Next we made the short trip down the M1 to junction 36 (probably) and to Hillsborough. Where we would take on Sheffield Wednesday, we were quick to assert our dominance in the game with Conor Chaplin once again spurning the opportunity to put us 1 up. A string of great saves from Wednesday keeper Keiren Westwood ensured things were level at the break. Until a calamitous piece of keeping from a tame Michael Sollbauer header put us into a deserved 1-0 lead. Just 10 minutes later Cauley Woodrow was taken out inside the box, resulting in a penalty for the Reds Efkan Berifoglu and a chance to seal all 3 points at Hillsborough for the first time since 2009!!!! (I think). 2-0 and game over!!!!

The reserves trotted out for the cup game securing a 1-0 victory before we would entertain Charlton a few days later. Goal for the Reds!!!!! It's new signing Efkan Bekiroglu!!! With a stunning finish from the corner of the penalty area. Chance after chance came and went before finally 2-0 and the points look surely secured against a poor Charlton side, Marcel Ritzmaier with the goal but.... Objects flying everywhere in my office as Jonny Williams produces not one but two unbelievable strikes to earn Charlton an unlikely and undeserved point. But 5 points from games is a decent start.

Birmingham vs Barnsley:

Our first loss of the season came in Scotland to university town, no sorry that's the wrong St. Andrews... Anyway this was another game where poor finishing from my strikers would once again haunt me, a poor result in a fairly boring affair was certainly not the way we wanted to go into an important game against Luton.

Barnsley vs Luton:

This was one for the ages!!!! That or a display of how not o play right back by Killian Ludewig, with possibly one of the worst performances I've seen in a while. An injury to Jordan Williams which should keep him out for 2 weeks at least, almost cost us dearly. I bet Kazenga Lua Lua  couldn't believe his luck!!!! He was the best player on the pitch skipping past our hapless right back multiple times and bagging a goal and an assist. A Woodrow double gave me more confidence he can fire us up the table this season, with some attacking quality at last. Crucially this game also happened to be the first game back from injury for top prospect Jacob Brown, hopefully there's a lot more to see from him!!!!

Wigan vs Barnsley:

Unfortunately the main talking point before the game was the ankle injury suffered by Woodrow in training on Thursday, this injury would keep our key player out for 1 month.  On the day we were comfortably dispatched by Wigan. A dismal performance.

Barnsley vs Leeds:

We came into the Yorkshire derby looking to change our slump in form, which had seen us only pick up 3 points from the last 3 games. This was not going to be an easy challenge against pre-season title favourites Leeds! But actually my team more than surprised me, with an excellent display. Chaplin putting us ahead early on before an equaliser from Leeds captain Liam Cooper but with the last kick of the game former Leeds man Clarke Odour smashed in a volley from the edge of the area following a poor headed clearance Ben White. 2-1!!!! And we take all 3 points in dramatic style.

Forest vs Barnsley:

This was a story of two absolute bangers! Joe Lolley with a volley from 30 yards, which surely will go down as goal of the season. But we swiftly replied through possibly my new favourite player Efkan Berifoglu, quite how he's playing for us I do not know, his delivery from set pieces and all round play is unbelievable.

Barnsley vs Brentford:

Another huge bonus 3 points in a fixture I could only dream of getting a result in at the start of the season, Brentford had 3 disallowed goals!!! Yes 3, i felt sorry for them but we also had a fair few chances ourselves and I couldn't care less where those points come from.

Barnsley vs Derby:

An absolutely dire game of football, a typical, cold midweek game.

Preston vs Barnsley:

This is the first time I've really started to worry about our levels of performance, such a poor game on our behalf. These are the kind of performances we have to avoid if we want to stay up this season. Completely out classed!

 

 

 

 

Table:

 

I'm very happy with how we are doing so far this season, 15th and 9 points clear of the drop. I've seen us drop off a cliff before so I'm not counting my chickens just yet!

If we can avoid some of the injuries we've had so far in the season we can stay up I'm sure of it.

We may well look to strengthen the squad in January but there is basically no money left mainly because I did this....

 

Tom Adeyemi, this man seems to have an unfortunate amount of experience at getting relegated from the Championship but I think on his day he can be a good workman for us. But he's injured already, I should have known, he does have a reputation for it 

 

A decent prospect for a nominal fee.

Are you going for the realistic approach of overloading on central midfield players too?

Give Oduor plenty of game time, and you'll sell him for a fortune.

[nextqprmanager]

Jamesbfc1887

I had Adeyemi on a free for Bolton League 1 - was pretty good, released after 2 Seasons when we arrived in The Prem, but was injured a bit. GL

[RageMaster]

I've reached the halfway mark of the season and the only word I can use to describe us at the moment is average!

We are sitting in 12th, 7 points off Wigan in 6th place but most importantly we are 12 points away from Stoke who are surprisingly 22nd and in the relegation zone along with Derby and Cardiff. Our main glaring issue is scoring goals, we seem to be creating them but Hugil has been really poor for me and he misses 95% of the time! I am definitely going to terminate his loan if I can. I have 3 league games and an FA Cup game where I am going to try out 2 lads from the U23's to see if they are any good before I can see about bringing in someone on Loan. We don't have any budget to buy anyone and FFP looks worrying!

We could perhaps make a dash for the playoff places if we score and become consistent but I'd probably rather spend one more season in the championship to allow me to mold the squad to my taste before a promotion push. 

Finances are really bad, board have invested £750,000 this month but we are still £-1.7m) for balance. I hope to not be forced to sell off any of our better assets such as Eze or Manning. 

[smogfart]

Any standout cm's to buy with boro in the championship? Managed to gather around 4m in fees upfront and could use some installments also

[Jamesbfc1887]

1 hour ago, Adamm90 said:

Are you going for the realistic approach of overloading on central midfield players too?

Give Oduor plenty of game time, and you'll sell him for a fortune.

It would appear so 

Yeah he's been the starting left back for me this season, Leif Davies has been injured for the most part but he's already growing superbly. If he can grow his defensive stats he'll be absolutely fantastic.

Luke Thomas has had a hard time of it, he doesn't really fit anywhere in my system, Brown and Schmidt are injured currently so he's helping out upfront as a sub. Also it's been nice to give Aidan Marsh a run in the team off the bench.