FM20: The English Football League thread

[karanhsingh]

Hey guys, so it's time to wrap up my Sunderland save, at least for the time being. It's been my longest save so far on FM20 (5 full seasons) and also definitely the most fun. I think I leave having done justice to this great club and it's passionate legions of fans 

In the league we had a strong start and we never looked back from there. I actually made some tactical tweaks basis feedback on the other forum here, which looked like it really worked, along with the reinforcements brought into the squad particularly in defense - Branthwaite, Tymon and Valery. This helped us to be much more solid while not sacrificing the attacking power of the team. 

We had some amazing results along the way, including wins with clean sheets over most of the top 6. Our best result by far was a 4-0 dismantling of Man Utd at the Stadium of Light in early January, when they were also our biggest challengers for the top spot. At one point, we were actually beginning to dream about an invincible season, but a trip to Man City put paid to that. However we bounced back and regained our form, and eventually could not be stopped from finally winning that elusive Premiership title! 

What made the victory even sweeter is that we did it at St. James Park  I think that was actually even better than winning it at home! Here is what the final table looked like:

Meanwhile, we had also made it to two other finals so the season wasn't yet done. We would play Liverpool in the FA Cup Final, and Man United in the Europa League final, after finishing 3rd in our CL group and dropping down into what I always felt would be a much more winnable competition. Here is how we got on:

That man Danny Loader again, did the business for us in the FA Cup final. A very hard fought game against surely one of the best teams in the world, but we held out for the win, and thus also retained the trophy for the second year running. This was also great preparation for the Europa League final. 

Or so I thought... I guess the team just ran out of steam. We started well, but once United went a goal up against the run of play the tables turned and they just ran away with it. So a clean sweet it wasn't to be, but an amazing domestic double of League and FA Cup was secured. 

In terms of player performances, the strengthening done over the summer really helped out a lot and we had a much better overall team as a result, not reliant on just a couple of individuals like previous years. If anything our star man Danny Loader was actually off the pace this season, finishing with his lowest tally yet of just 16 goals. However overall we had 4 players cross 20+ in terms of G&A contribution, basically the entire front 4 of Mitrovic, Loader, Ismaila Sarr and Bellingham. Happily our young wonderkid Jude Bellingham finally made strides forward this season, developing a lot, and finishing joint second top scorer for the club behind new vice-captain Mitrovic. Sarr was a constant threat down the right flank as well.

In the center of the park, Declan Rice was a huge upgrade for us and changing his role to DLP on defend duty itself seemed to make us so much more solid. Alongside him club captain George Dobson was the archetypal BBM also popping up with some crucial goals for us. At the back, Tosin & Branthwaite formed what probably is the best CB combination I have had in FM, with both of them rewarded by being picked for the Euros by England. Jarrad was a phenomenal threat up at the other end of the pitch too, finishing with no less than 12 goals and some of them really important too. Tymon was superb as LB and shared playing time with Pickering, both of them were also a big threat from set pieces particularly Josh with his flat long throws (must have learned that at Stoke). At right back, Valery was again a good upgrade and shared time with Furlong. Between the sticks our new-gen keeper Sands was absolutely rock-solid and also at the age of 22 has become an England international. 

If anyone wants to see player screenshots, just let me know. The club is also just completing a stadium upgrade which will see it expanded to almost 65k seats! So the future sure is bright. But this is where I will be leaving things off right now as I feel the work here is pretty much done after delivering the league title. Also the team is so complete now that I wouldn't want to lose anyone or really bring in someone new. Maybe an upgrade on Mitrovic up front but it would be really harsh to replace him after he finished top scorer. So anyway before I meander off, this is it for the time being! Thanks to everyone on the thread for following my save, good luck with all your games and I will continue reading up on them  

[Jogo Bonito]

@r_amanze I don't recall seeing anyone managing Cardiff this year, so good luck with that. 

@karanhsingh Nice wrap up, and that was an incredibly successful five year stay at Sunderland. Congrats on the domestic double 

[Dong21]

@karanhsingh Congrats. Just surviving in the Premier League is an achievement, let alone winning the league by 10 points! 

I’d be interested in seeing a screenshot of your tactical set-up? It might be useful if I somehow manage to steer Bolton to the promised lands!

Now the big question; where next? 

[karanhsingh]

2 hours ago, Dong21 said:

@karanhsingh Congrats. Just surviving in the Premier League is an achievement, let alone winning the league by 10 points! 

I’d be interested in seeing a screenshot of your tactical set-up? It might be useful if I somehow manage to steer Bolton to the promised lands!

Now the big question; where next? 

Thanks! I'll put it up in a bit. 

Already started my next save in France with Red Star trying to take down the mighty PSG  posting about it in the shiny new French football thread

[r_amanze]

9 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@r_amanze I don't recall seeing anyone managing Cardiff this year, so good luck with that. 

@karanhsingh Nice wrap up, and that was an incredibly successful five year stay at Sunderland. Congrats on the domestic double 

@Jogo Bonito Cool thanks mate. I’ll post updates here. Once the save develops.

[karanhsingh]

23 hours ago, Dong21 said:

@karanhsingh Congrats. Just surviving in the Premier League is an achievement, let alone winning the league by 10 points! 

I’d be interested in seeing a screenshot of your tactical set-up? It might be useful if I somehow manage to steer Bolton to the promised lands!

Now the big question; where next? 

Here it is, this was probably our strongest first choice XI as well:

[Parmie]

I might come back to it but I reached 10 seasons with my Bradford save and struggling for consistency still, I'll try something different for a while.

[Vladis]

My six season with Swansea has come to an end. It was the most successful campaign in our history but first things first.

Season 2024 - 2025

Premier League - Third place

It was an outstanding season. Since november we lost only two games and also in fixtures with top 6 defeated only once against Man U at the Old Trafford. We were pretty solid defensively with only 27 goals conceded and 19 clean sheets (2nd result after Liverpool)

League Table

Notable matches (superb comeback against Tottenham is on my top):

  

Brewster updated his goalscoring record with 25 league goals (top EPL scorer for the second time)

 

The Emirates FA Cup - Runners up (lost to Aton Villa)

We were lucky with the draw except semi-final against Arsenal and i think i was too confident in our win in final and as a result too frustrated after defeat in the match where we were much better team.

 

 Carabao Cup - Winners!

In comparison with FA up we faced with really tough run of fixtures until the final: Crystal Palace, Tottehnam, Chelsea, Leicester. That is all the more pleasent to become winners after this campaign.

 

Season Transfers

 

Players Stats

We had redeemed Brewster after 5 years on loan and it was our main transfer success alongside with the top bargain in face of spanish fullback Miranda.

I'm very peased with Toivainen progress. Now he is the key player in our team and already one of the best defenders in the world in his 21 (!) years old.

 

Our facilities

and also

 

[Jogo Bonito]

6 hours ago, Vladis said:

My six season with Swansea has come to an end. It was the most successful campaign in our history but first things first.

Excellent stuff, doing a fine job with Swansea.

[Vladis]

1 час назад, Jogo Bonito сказал:

Excellent stuff, doing a fine job with Swansea.

Thank you, @Jogo Bonito. One of the most enjoyable saves for me.

[r_amanze]

@Vladis 

Congrats on the top four finish, and league cup win mate.

Quick question about how home-grown players work for Welsh teams, in the premier league. Do you need a quota of Welsh players registered in your team i.e. four?

[Vladis]

10 часов назад, r_amanze сказал:

@Vladis 

Congrats on the top four finish, and league cup win mate.

Quick question about how home-grown players work for Welsh teams, in the premier league. Do you need a quota of Welsh players registered in your team i.e. four?

Thanks mate. I don't have any restricitions with Welsh players. And honestly i don't know how it works irl.

[r_amanze]

10 hours ago, Vladis said:

Thanks mate. I don't have any restricitions with Welsh players. And honestly i don't know how it works irl.

Cool thank you, for your help.

[robterrace]

Right,

January 1st rolls round, with the little Red Forest machine trundling along nicely, in 5th in the Premier League.

Tadeo Ortiz, before he departs for Inter, has set the league on fire, scoring 18 goals in his 19 matches, he'll take some replacing, but, hopefully, my scouts have done a decent job in identifying 'the next one'.

The 'next one', is 18 year old Romanian international, Alin Negut, joining from Viitorul in his home nation. Initially on a fee of £5m, which will go up to £15m over the next 3 seasons.

Young Croatian Mihael Zaper has agreed to leave the club, his development since joining hasn't been as good as it should have been, and he heads off to Toronto FC, with a sell on clause included.

 

 

 

 

 

[robterrace]

A couple more moves took place before the end of the window.

First coming in, was an upgrade at right back. Deyovaiso Zeefuik arrived for £9m from Liverpool, where he'd arrived in 2020 for £3.2m from Groningen.

.

Departing for £7.5m, was Marko Bulat, joining Bristol City, he was replaced in the side, by Matias Bargagna, who had been at Tenerife for the first half of the season, 

Also arriving was Bridge Ndilu, who arrived from Nantes for £1.2m.

Last arrival, was Bruno Mendez, who comes for £12m from Inter.

 

Of course, the first game after the transfer window closes...

[Dong21]

Bolton Wanderers - Season 5 - Part 4

Our red hot January form continued on in the beginning of February as we put Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Oxford to the sword, without conceding against any of them. Perhaps predictably, our forward in electric form, Hirst, scored in each game, but goals also came from throughout the squad.

On the night we beat Oxford, our closest rivals Burnley slipped up losing 5-3 against a Millwall side who occupied the relegation zone. We had Millwall up next and I mistakenly took their result against Burnley as a fluke and approached our game in the usual manner I would against a team in the bottom half. This mistake cost us as we lost 4-2. This was much more than a fluke for Millwall, in fact it was a resurgence as these wins commenced a run of seven wins in nine which ultimately would see them avoid relegation comfortably. This loss saw us slip to second in the title race and was confounded by draws against Portsmouth and Derby, two matches we could and should have won.

March was magnificent. We begun by thrashing our local rivals Blackburn 4-1 at their own ground. We then traveled to the Molyneux in the FA Cup, having already knocked out, another Premier League side, Bournemouth. We more than held our own, drawing 1-1 but eventually losing on penalties. This gave me promise for if we were to make it to the Premier League. The match was subsequently voted the best FA Cup match of the season. Otherwise it was all victories in the League, including beating Playoff contenders Brentford and Crystal Palace. The win against Palace took us back top of the table as Burnley slipped up with a draw. With only seven games left apiece it was extremely tight at the top.

Then the unthinkable happened as we were beaten by third place Birmingham. This was the first time all season I can recall us being beaten resoundingly, and it couldn't have come at a worse time. I hoped that it was a blip but we lost again, to Stoke, and then again, to Fulham. The loss to Birmingham had given the upper hand in the title race to Burnley, but the following two losses had me looking over my shoulder and fearing we would drop out of the top two for the first time since the first week of October. Our late collapse in form didn't bode well if we were to compete in the Playoffs.

Next up was Sheff Weds and the pre-match press conference did my nerves no good as the reporter informed me we had failed to beat Wednesday in seven previous attempts. I rallied the troops though and they stepped up to the plate with a big win. We won and Burnley lost to Palace, reducing their lead at the top to just three points, but they had superior goal difference. We still could influence the final outcome though, as we had Burnley to play up next, followed by fourth placed West Brom.

When we visited Turf Moor I took the pressure off the players, telling them nobody expected them to be anywhere near promotion so don't worry if we don't win. Burnley dominated the game in terms of shots and possession but we got the all in important goal to win the game. It was scored by James Garner, a player who poetically has been with me every step of the way over the past five seasons. Next up was another dangerous trip, this time to the Hawthorns. We won again through narrow margins, though this was a much closer game. To my delight I saw post-match that Burnley had drew with Stoke sending us top. All we needed to do was beat Bristol Rovers and we would be champions.

In a surprisingly stress-free final day of the season we beat Rovers with goals from each of my strike partnership, Tedic and Hirst and were crowned winners of the SkyBet Championship.

Promotion to the Premier League seems even sweeter after five seasons at the club, which in the early stages felt like somewhat of a slog. It was a joy to manage this team, all of whom I had recruited except for academy graduates Boon and Browne.

Having a supremely talented forward clearly made a difference. Jimmy Hirst scored 26 goals to pick up the Golden Boot and his average match rating of 7.43 was not only the best in the Championship this season, but the best in Championship history. Hirst was voted man of the match on 14 different occasions, therefore it was not exactly a surprise when he was awarded both the Championship Young Player of the Year and Player of the Year. We were by no means a one man team however, with five of our players making the Championship Team of the Year:

I was surprised not to see Correia also make the league's Team of the Season as he had a stellar campaign, he may have missed out though as he played just under 30 games due to his injury early in the season.

Five seasons in a row I have wrote the same thing; James Garner was absolutely essential to the success of my team. He does not get many goals or assists, but he is the link in the team that starts off the attacks - like Scholes in his later years at Man United. Tedic was a great signing for me, he may have only bagged 11 goals but his partnership with Hirst was invaluable.

When switching to 4-4-2 I made the unorthodox decision to play players who were traditionally inside forwards on the wings in positions they were not natural in, purely so that they could provide crosses with their natural foot. This paid off as we had the best crossing completion in the league (26%) and best heading completion (67%). We set up with a primary focus of looking to get the best out of Hirst and Tedic.

The defence deserve praise too as we conceded fewer goals than anyone else in the league (just 36). Dahlberg looks even more of a bargain at £300k after delivering 21 clean sheets, but of course all of the back four deserve praise. I began the season expecting Lenihan and van den Berg to be my centre backs but I gave 21 year old academy graduate Shaquille Browne (previously fifth choice CB) an opportunity and never looked back. He played and starred in 23 matches. The experience of Lenihan alongside him surely helped his development.

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Dong21

[karanhsingh]

Excellent stuff and congratulations on the promotion! Also good to see you do it playing a 442 which is not too common. 

Can you put up a screenshot of Hirst? 

[Dong21]

Thanks @karanhsingh! Here he is:

He's already an England international, scoring on his debut in March of the season just completed, although England manager Dyche hasn't elected to take him to Euro 2024. I think it is virtually impossible for me to get him back next season - Tottenham have just renewed his contract and he is clearly good enough to get in their first team. I wouldn't be able to afford signing him permanently either. So there is quite a void to fill going into the Premier League campaign!

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Dong21

[Jogo Bonito]

@Dong21 Congratulations on the promotion, there must have been a few moments there towards the end when you thought it may not happen, or might need the dreaded play-offs. You held your nerve though, and deserve the success and sadly the trauma that comes with it. Next season will be tough, especially without your star striker - but good luck!

[karanhsingh]

Wow he looks incredible. Would be a great Winger too. 

At least I am guessing you should have a good amount of money for a replacement. 

[Dong21]

Thanks @Jogo Bonito!

2 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Next season will be tough, especially without your star striker - but good luck

You know me, I like a challenge!

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Wow he looks incredible. Would be a great Winger too. 

Quite often I'd want to get my back-up striker John-Jules on but didn't really want to lose Hirst or Tedic so I'd sub off my right midfielder and switch Hirst there to utilise his pace.

[robterrace]

Just had an encouraging youth intake.

English/South African striker.

 

English/Greek midfielder.

 

English keeper.

 

 

[Adamm90]

Promotion to the Premier League for Notts County. Absolutely no idea how we'll cope in the top division, but we'll give it a crack.

[Dong21]

Bolton Wanderers - Season 6 - Preview

Not a single ball has been kicked since I last wrote an update, but already there have been some interesting developments heading into our first season back in the Premier League:

• Taking advantage of my 100% board confidence status, I persuaded the board to commit to investing in upgrading our youth facilities, youth level and training facilities. I don't want to just spend all the money generated by promotion on players, I am looking for long-term success for the club and that includes continuing to develop our own players.
• I've agreed a new three year contract with the club. This will give me a bit more security if we struggle next season.
• The board set us a target to look to bravely battle against relegation.
• To my surprise and delight Man United have allowed me to take James Garner on loan for the sixth successive season. This is, once again, without us contributing anything to his wages.
• Spurs have no interest in letting me take Hirst on loan again. As you are only allowed to take two players on long-term domestic loans in the Premier League I will look to move away from a heavy reliance on loan players this season.
• I have decided to not renew the contract of club captain Tom Lockyer, meaning he will depart on a free transfer this summer. First choice centre-back the season before, he has barely featured this campaign.
• I've also made the decision to release my young French CM Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe as although when signing he had great potential, a five month injury this season has taken that away from him. I've decided I'll take my chances on a replacement in the transfer window.
• Shortly after the season ended I tried to make an offer for a player and was told I could not make any signings as we were under transfer embargo with the club being in the process of being sold. The media said two different consortiums were battling it out. This has come at an unfortunate time when I was looking to rebuild the squad in advance of the big step up to the Premier League.
• In early June it was announced we had been taken over by Ryan Ryan. This caused me some bemusement at first as my second choice regen 'keeper who is out on loan at AaB is also called Ryan Ryan. My goalkeeper is an Aussie and my new owner is English however, so there fore I'm assuming I don't have a Player/Owner scenario!
• The new owner doesn't appear to be a tycoon type owner. He has modestly increased the standard £38m promoted team transfer budget by £3m up to £41m. I feel no feeling of excitement regarding this takeover as I'd already successfully balanced the books. I could have done with a new owner who would clear the club debt any time during the first four seasons. Feels a bit like shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted 😂

Edited May 26, 2020 by Dong21

[robterrace]

2021/22, Premier League, Season End.

The second half of the season was always going to be difficult, given the sale of Ortiz to Inter.

A 6th place finish, with a young team, was better than I expected, a few weaknesses were identified, and this allowed a couple of moves into the transfer market ready for the next season, which, all being well, should see us venture into European competition for the first time since 1995/96.

Losses in the League Cup Semi Finals to Leicester, and the FA Cup 4th Round to Liverpool were more than good enough for the board, and they were satisfied with the progress in the League as well.

Xavier Amaechi swept the board at the clubs award night, walking away with Fans Player, Young Player, and Goal of The Season, as well as being voted 'Signing of the Season'.

With 12 goals, the 21 year old led the way, closely followed by Bartol Barisic.

The board expectations for coming seasons were good, expecting us to push on in the League, and become a 'mid table side'.

The first signing agreed, on a free transfer, is French/Basque Robin Le Normand from Real Sociedad. The 25 year old has made a handful of appearances from the bench for the La Liga side, and comes in to compete as part of the squad, and be a potential backup for Bruno Mendez.

The second signing for a fee of £5m, is Scottish international, John Souttar, who comes in from Hearts. Another one who fits the 'ball player' mould that I want, he can also play the role in front of the back 4, and is more than capable of holding his own. Again, he provides competition in the back 4, and will allow us, if needed, to switch to 3 at the back.

An area of weakness that has been highlighted, is on the flanks, with Matondo and Amaechi the only contracted wingers who are of the required standard at the moment, with Cristiano Lombardi looking set to leave in the summer. However, there are a few targets in the works, all of whom meet the boards requirements,

Theres also this...

 

I'll post an update at the start of the season.

 

[warlock]

I'm shocked to see it's already a month since my last post... doesn't time fly when you're... um, watching time drag.

For a while I thought this post would be to announce my retirement from FM20 - been really struggling for a while, not enjoying saves, struggling to find a new save to get into. In fact, I've barely touched the game for a couple of weeks except to launch it, stare at a variety of squad pages, and then quit again. But the itch began itching and I've tentatively started another go around, sadly not with an EFL team* (but if this save kicks on I'm sure I'll be back).

In the meantime, it's good to see so many of you keeping the home fires burning and with some considerable success too. Keep up the good work, and stay safe .

* Norwich, thanks for asking! Predicted to finish dead last in the PL - so I might be back in the EFL sooner rather than later .

[Jogo Bonito]

@Dong21 Double Ryan Ryan is an achievement. Tough with the embargo, but I have every confidence in your ability to assemble a squad of players that will do the job.

@warlock Best of luck with Narwich, bright coloured teams are the thing these days you know 

[robterrace]

So, 

I interrupt my post to bring you a transfer update. I've secured my 3 first choice targets, and have one more possible for defence.

Joining from AZ for £22m, on a 5 year deal is Calvin Stengs. The quick winger has what I want from a winger (flair, pace, and trickery), and at 23, is one with great resale value.

The next player on the list comes in for £28m, and at a bit of a premium for a couple of reasons, 1, he is home grown, 2, he is 18 years old, and already has over 100 league appearances to his name.

Welcome to Forest, Jude Bellingham.

The 3rd signing, is one that is familiar with surroundings at Forest. A 21 year old German, with 22 U21 appearances for his nation. Having been on loan at Forest for 2 seasons, Oliver Batista Meier makes his stay a permanent one, for a club record fee of £29.5m, signing  a 4 year deal. Like Bellingham, and Stengs (and other players already at the club), he has great potential resale value.

 

Departing the club, to Watford, is centre back, Chumi, for £12.5m, having made 70 appearances for the club over 2 seasons, since arriving on a free from Barcelona.

[Adamm90]

Overall I'm struggling with my transfer business going into the Premier League season, but I've managed to bring in Amine Gouiri, Fedde de Jong and a steady looking regen goalkeeper from Benfica on free transfers.

[robterrace]

So, with incomings, I have a few outgoings as well. Including this one. 

His release fee was £39m, I negotiated them up to pay it in one go, so, it wasn't too bad.

 

 

[Adamm90]

Wish me luck.

[Rysen]

Finally back playing again, went through about a month without touching FM, partly for fear that it would all fall apart when I did, but also just occupied with other stuff. 2nd season has been going incredibly well so far, much better than I expected.

We currently sit 4th in the Championship, 5 points behind an automatic promotion spot in mid-January. Really all I wanted was an improvement from last season and to be firmly in the top half. 

Jed Wallace has been outstanding and definitely a huge part of why we've been doing so well. Other than that it's been hard to say why we're doing so much better so far. Players like Brewster and Smith-Rowe haven't been the game changers I wanted them to be (athough Brewster has started to get some more goals). Struggling to get good performances from my AML whoever is playing there but everyone else is doing pretty well or having productive spells. I think Max Kilman has actually been a key part of our improvement. He's not been as obviously great as Wallace has but I feel his composure on the ball has helped a lot as last season I remember seeing Cooper and Hutchinson dawdling for ages and being robbed and giving up a chance or goal.

The West Ham match was a definite high point. We got absolutely battered for the most part (they have pretty much their whole squad from relegation) and managed to get the win. The low point was the 4-4 draw with Derby. 2-0 up at half time, 3-0 pretty soon into the second half before a total collapse to be 4-3 down. Thankfully managed to snatch an equaliser, but I was not happy.

Unlikely to make any additions in January just because I don't think the quality is available to me right now and I'd rather see where we end up this season than add a championship level player somewhere if we get promoted and more become available. Tried to get Dzenis Burnic on a free but he turned me down for Hannover I believe, think he would have been great. As much as promotion would be a great achievement I don't think many of this squad are capable of making the step up but we'll see where the season takes us and go from there. Now here's hoping I can avoid the collapse that hit me last season

[Jogo Bonito]

Doing very well with Millwall, keep it up 

[wattzy]

Some great posts on this thread. Just started a save with Bolton - was really interested in the challenge of overcoming the 12 point deduction and financial issues. Was really surprised to find the amount of good young players in the side. 10-ish games in now, and whilst I managed to immediately abolish the 12 point deduction I’ve started struggling to score goals and finding it difficult. 
 

Anyone else started a Bolton save since the Jan update?

[robterrace]

As well as Jude Bellingham coming in, Lucio departed for £39m, of which, £16m of that was spent on young Dutch midfielder,  Jochem Bouwman. 

[Something]

Hey guys, 

So i've just started a save with Exeter in League Two. I've noticed we're a little weak at LB and RB, although all over the pitch could do with a boost or a special player. Any recommended purchases in season 1? Thanks guys. 

[Jogo Bonito]

In the free transfer market, you could consider Shaun Cummings, Dwight Pascal, Reiss Awuah and Sam Habergham (probably injured at the start) for full-back positions. Loan options perhaps  worth checking are Tyrick Mitchell and Jude Russell (Palace), Ben Johnson (West Ham). Good luck with The Grecians.

[karanhsingh]

20 hours ago, robterrace said:

As well as Jude Bellingham coming in, Lucio departed for £39m, of which, £16m of that was spent on young Dutch midfielder,  Jochem Bouwman. 

Wow this kid looks something else!

[robterrace]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Wow this kid looks something else!

Yeah, hes a bit of a freak. Surprised that no other clubs were looking at him.

In other news, Benjamin Nygren looks set to leave me for Man City, after they met his release clause, and Matthias Bader is on his way to Bayer Leverkusen in Germany for £10m.

 

[Adamm90]

Things you love to see:

We're doing better than I thought we would be so far. We're making the most of games against teams around us in the league, but as always in FM, I seem to end up with a three game run of fixtures against the big sides, and the inevitable drop in morale follows. I've around £20M of my budget remaining (net spend so far around minus £20M) and a decent amount of wages now, thanks to the above.

 

 

[robterrace]

Couple of deadline day deals, as Nygren has rejected the move to Man City.

Joining from Cesena for £800k, is Carlton Thomas, the 18 year old coming through the Italian sides academy.

Next arriving, from Corinthians in Brazil for a fee of £22m, is Duilton. The 19 year old holds a Portuguese passport, so doesn't require a work permit, and joins on a 5 year deal.

Thomas will go out on loan, and that should conclude the movements, unless anyone heads out on loan, or to a club in a league without transfer restrictions.

[Rysen]

Just a quick little update as we come towards the end of the season as I'm very excited about where this could lead.

First, remember when I said we wouldn't be signing anyone in January? Well forget that. Ferguson handed in a transfer request due to not playing (although he didn't end up leaving) and left back was a position I needed to strengthen so in came Domagoj Bradaric from Lille.

Very happy to bring him in for under £2 million. He needs a bit of work defensively and has mostly been used against the weaker teams because of this but he seems to have great potential. Seems a good way to make a decent profit and get us set for the future a bit better.

Now for why I'm so excited. Our form has been excellent since...well November really. It didn't feel that impressive at the time but looking back in 26 matches we've only been beaten twice. Since losing to Cardiff in the middle of January we are currently on a 13 game unbeaten run. A lot of these have been 1-0 wins but should have been more.

The highlight in this was the 1-0 win AET against Premier League Fulham in the FA Cup. Made all the sweeter by the fact that 1) we fully deserved to win and 2) Tom Bradshaw scored the winning goal having not scored in 13 matches prior to that. This was the one moment more than any, and the 5 minutes following his goal where we saw it out so professionally, that had me pumping my fists like Jurgen Klopp. We now face Wolves at home in the quarter final (I thoroughly expect to get absolutely battered but it adds some extra excitement to the season)

There's been times in this run where it hasn't felt as good as it should have because of results elsewhere. Around February I had pretty much given up on any chance of automatic promotion because Leeds and West Ham have been so good and whenever I had the chance to move to within a few points of them we seemed to drop points.  But now with 38 matches played, West Ham top the table with 85 points, Leeds sit 2nd on 82 and we're right on their tails with 81. And guess what? They both still have to travel to The Den. Leeds are up next and I don't know if I've ever wanted to win a match more.

[Adamm90]

Not quite sure how I managed it, but the second half of the season we were fantastic - managed a few good home wins against Liverpool and Man Utd, and even a win that resulted in Guardiola getting the sack at City.

Probably going to struggle to keep hold of my star player. I turned down a bid of £35m from PSG last summer, but this season he's managed 12 goals and 14 assists in the league. Not bad for a £1.1m signing from Lech.

The board have announced plans for a new stadium. They had originally planned on extending (by a measly 1,000 seats) but have seemingly changed their mind. I've requested the training & youth facilities to be upgraded every year, but somehow they're still only deemed 'average'

A very positive looking set of figures to play with next season. I had a negative net spend this season of £25M, so I'll be throwing some cash around during the summer, and hopefully establish in the Premier League.

 

 

[StePratt]

Nottingham Forest - Season 5 2023/24

The aim of this save is a simple one. Return Nottingham Forest to the top of the European football pyramid. 

Transfers

Last season we finished 6th and qualified for the Europa League. This gave us the belief we could do better and gave us access to a better calibre of player. We raided Champions, Manchester United to grab Brandon Williams and Ronaldo Vieira for a combined £25 million, Joe Willock joined on a free from Arsenal. We also signed two re-gens from Chelsea and Villareal, respectively.

Tiago Silva, Joao Carvalho and Yuri Ribeiro the only notable outgoings, until January came around and we lost Joe Worral to Newcastle for £18 million and Alex Mighten joined Tottenham for £45 million. I wanted to keep Alex at the club, he'd done really well playing on the right wing. His departure left a sizeable hole in our starting xi. 

Jude Bellingham had moved to Leicester at the end of 2020/21 and was currently unhappy. He became my number one target, I even delayed the Mighten transfer so I could definitely get Jude over the line. £45 million isn't really in keeping with how I want to run this team, but we signed a world class player for a net transfer of £0. I was happy to proceed. 

 Europe

We were paired with Rapid Wein, Basel and Schalke. A solitary draw in Germany meant we progressed as group winners, meeting Champions League drop-outs Dynamo Kyiv in the next round. A 4-2 win at the City Ground secured our qualification. 

Portuguese giants, FC Porto, another Champions League drop out, were the next stop on our journey. Another solid home display led to a 4-2 aggregate win.

Back to Germany this time, Hertha Berlin awaited. You guessed it, Champions League drop-outs. Defeat in the German capital meant we had an uphill battle to get through to the final. 3-0 back in Nottingham secured our place in the final, 4-2 on aggregate again. 

The final was to take place in Portugal's Jose Alvalade Seculo, home of Sporting CP. Our opponents would be Hoffenheim, who started in the Europa League..........

 

 

Now we are aiming for the Champions League to complete the save. 

Other Competitions

We were battered in the semi final of the Carabao Cup by eventual winners Chelsea, don't even mention the FA Cup! We were fantastic in the league and maybe could have done better but for a few slip ups after resting players after European games. 

Onto next season, I want to win another trophy. A domestic one would be nice, but I'll certainly take another European one.

[robterrace]

Just having a bit of time away from the Forest save, I'm not bored of it, I just want to try a few things on another save..

So, I'm going a few miles down the road from home, and trying something at Doncaster Rovers.

[Dong21]

On 30/05/2020 at 23:20, wattzy said:

nyone else started a Bolton save since the Jan update?

I’ve managed Bolton for five seasons @wattzy, although I started the game before the January update. I’ve wrote regularly about my save in this thread if you’re interested. 
 

Will keep an eye out for how you get on with The Trotters!

[Rysen]

My second season in charge of Millwall has now finished. Last time I posted we were nearly at the end and locked in a promotion battle with West Ham and Leeds. Or at least I thought it would likely just be the 3 of us.

We secured a strong 2-0 win over Leeds to put us in an excellent position to finish in the automatic promotion spots as we sat ahead of them with a game in hand. We lost easily to Wolves (as expected) in the FA Cup. Unfortunately this was followed up by a 1-0 loss away to mid-table Hull whose goalkeeper was man of the match. At this point, Leeds started to drop points with a little more frequency and Middlesbrough were picking them up. A frustrating 0-0 draw with Boro followed the Hull defeat, again a match we should have won (another MotM performance from the opposition keeper). And suddenly my fixture list didn't look so friendly, having to visit QPR and entertain West Ham in the run in.

An excellent 3-0 win at QPR and then winning our game in hand away at Preston didn't put us in a position of any more comfort as Boro were still hot on our heels while West Ham were opening up a gap in 1st. Leeds at this point seemed pretty out of it and were destined for the play offs. We went into the derby match with West Ham top of the table and one win away from the title. We kicked off at 17:30 while Boro had won earlier in the day so a positive result was vital to keep us in control.

This is now my favourite result. Forget the Leeds match, forget beating West Ham away from home earlier in the season. This was the one. Wallace getting sent off was a huge blow. I thought he'd made a brilliant tackle but no (won the ball but I guess it was off the ground or whatever) and losing him for the last couple of matches was going to be painful as he's been far and away our best player this year. Mahoney came on following the red card and I was stunned at what followed. He's barely played all season as I don't particularly think he's much good, he hasn't really performed when given a chance and he's also been injured more often than not (he picked up a season ending injury in this match). But my word the free kick he took to equalise had me bouncing. It was beautiful. And then the 94th minute penalty to deny our rivals the title (for now at least). I couldn't believe it. We just needed to match Boro's last two results to go up by virtue of our superior goal difference.

But of course we can't do things easily. An incredibly frustrating 0-0 draw to Sheffield Wednesday, while Boro won (again) meant we would need to win against Reading in our final match to guarantee promotion. If Boro dropped points then we could as well but I didn't feel confident of that happening. In the end I didn't need to worry as we thumped them 5-1 rounded off with a stunning goal from McCarthy our back up right back. Boro also drew 1-1 to see us up comfortably.

End of Season review in the below spoiler.

Spoiler

Been handed a £34 million transfer budget and £425k per week wage budget so room for manoeuvre there. Squad is going to need lots of strengthening. Bialkowski will probably be off as he wants to leave once a replacement is brought in, need a new RB, at least 1 CB, probably a couple of new midfielders and an AML. This is gonna be tough. 

[Jogo Bonito]

Nice one @Rysen quite an entertaining run-in with lots of ups and downs, but fair play for getting the job done.

[jonathan44]

Wrong thread...

 

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by jonathan44

[Jean0987654321]

5 hours ago, jonathan44 said:

So Bari Jan 2024.

So far so good, I'm not going to win the league but am very competitive sitting in 4th position with 31 points, 6 behind Inter. In the Europa league I topped the group on goal difference against Everton. The away leg against Everton was a thrilling 3-3 draw after being 2 down showing some grit and detemination.

Player wise, fitting into a new formation was always going to be a bit of a challenge, with all 3 RW'ers in the squad only accomplised at the start of the season. In January 2/3 have now become natural, but ironically Despodov who hasn't is still probably the best performer at RM(a). Haaland himself isn't pulling up trees but his partnership with Salcedo looks to be growing with 14 goals between the pair. Otherwise Petkov is a really good backup striker, well worth the £4 million I spent on him. He's got 4 goals from 4(11) appearances with a 7.01 average and really looks like a class act. If I have to sell one of Haaland or Salcedo I have no hesitation on promoting him to first choice.

I've often wondered how good the club dividends are for the owners after sitting and growing a fortune (£30->50 million) for over a year now and finally they have given me some extra money! How to spend it however I'm not sure, I could sign some backups but I think I'll wait and see if anyone interesting gets transfer listed.

Shouldn't this be in the Calcio thread?