FM20: The English Football League thread

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Championship survival attained with 3 games to go. I don't think I would of survived if it wasn't for everyone's help on here so thank you guys. We done it as a team lol.

I will do a full update in a bit.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Wycombe Season 1 Review

As I said in the previous post I managed to keep up Wycombe but I do think if I hadn't changed tactics I wouldn't of stayed up. I ended up in 16th in the league which is remarkable for such a small team in their debut season in the Championship.

I didn't really have a standout performer for the season. Everyone in the team worked hard once we found the right tactic.

I only had 1 player who got more then 10 goals for the season and that was Paul Smyth my on loan Winger/Striker from QPR. I have offered to take him on loan for another season but I will have to see what QPR say and also whether Paul Smyth would want another season with Wycombe. Hopefully he comes back.

David Wheeler was overall probably my best player with 9 goals and 7 assists. Luckily for me he is already at the club and not an on loan player. Unfortunately he is 29 so he is on the decline but hopefully I can get at least another decent season or 2 out of him.

Another player at Wycombe I was impressed with was Scott Kashkett who got 9 goals and 6 assists and only played 27 games where as David Wheeler played a lot more games then Kashkett.

Honourable mention here is for Anthony Stewart my captain and Mr.Wycombe. Other then a season he spent at Crewe he has spent 10 years at Wycombe and made nearly 200 appearences for them. He was a leader on and off the pitch this season and lead by example. He played 45 games and even got 5 goals. 

I didn't get a Youth Intake but I assume that was cos I only managed to convince the board to give me a Youth Team and Reserve team so maybe I didn't get a Youth intake cos of that reason. Disappointed as I wanted to have some youngsters for next season but I have managed to sign a few youngsters who are getting released from Prem teams in the Summer.

Awards

Dominic Gape managed to get the Fans Player Of The Year. I didn't think he deserved it as I felt like Stewart or Wheeler would of been better choices but its the Fans who decide.

I have been given a wage budget of £74k per week and £500k transfer budget so we will see what I can do with that.

I am looking forward to next season.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I have a new club record purchase when I signed Giles Phillips for £600k from QPR.

I also signed this guy called Mohammed Aoulad on a free transfer. He is an 28 year old Moroccon striker and I got high hopes on him.

Adebayo Akinfenwa retired at the end of the season so I have got him as a coach for the Under 18's. I hope he improves his coaching attributes as he is a bit rubbish at the moment.

[karanhsingh]

Well done @Ronaldo Beckham happy to see that your season was a success. Akinfenwa I think will actually be a decent coach once you get him a few badges because he has high determination.

Best of luck for season 2! Maybe get in a couple of good players on loan. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

6 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Well done @Ronaldo Beckham happy to see that your season was a success. Akinfenwa I think will actually be a decent coach once you get him a few badges because he has high determination.

Best of luck for season 2! Maybe get in a couple of good players on loan. 

Cheers mate. I have now got Man Utd as my parent club so of course I had to bring James Garner to Wycombe to bring some much needed class to the team.

I couldn't make any other signings as I am £10k over my £74k wage budget and have no transfer fee left.

Going to be another tough season but I am looking forward to the challenge.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I managed to get one more player in before the transfer window closed but annoyingly I can't play him as he couldn't get a Work Permit.

Its a Nigerian player called Chukwudi Agor who looks like a really good prospect who I would of played straight away but I can't grrrr lol.

[karanhsingh]

46 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Cheers mate. I have now got Man Utd as my parent club so of course I had to bring James Garner to Wycombe to bring some much needed class to the team.

I couldn't make any other signings as I am £10k over my £74k wage budget and have no transfer fee left.

Going to be another tough season but I am looking forward to the challenge.

Parent club is a good idea in your place! Surely there must be one or two more players you can get off united? 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

10 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Parent club is a good idea in your place! Surely there must be one or two more players you can get off united? 

I already maxed out the amount of players I can loan in cos as well as Garner I have also got Teden Mengi, Matej Kovar and Nathan Bishop on loan.

[karanhsingh]

24 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I already maxed out the amount of players I can loan in cos as well as Garner I have also got Teden Mengi, Matej Kovar and Nathan Bishop on loan.

Mengi is a good one! Had him at Sheffield and he was excellent at championship level. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

8 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Mengi is a good one! Had him at Sheffield and he was excellent at championship level. 

Yeah he is doing ok for me so far.

[Jogo Bonito]

Well done @warlock and @Ronaldo Beckham for your different Championship achievements with Forest and Wycombe respectively. Good luck to you both for your next seasons 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, Jogo Bonito said:

Well done @warlock and @Ronaldo Beckham for your different Championship achievements with Forest and Wycombe respectively. Good luck to you both for your next seasons 

Cheers buddy. I feel like it is time for another Jogo EFL adventure on here soon lol.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I got a review for my first youth intake and I am happy that I got a healthy number of full backs coming through as I need them at the moment lol.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Wycombe Season 2 Mid Season Update

I wish I could end the season now as I am currently 8th in the league with 31 league games gone. I am having an amazing season so far but I worry form will drop and I will gradually slide down the league. I mean I am happy that I have pretty much secured survival again.

I have signed this player called Manasse Mampala from Everton for £300k. He is a Striker and will give competition to Smyth and Kashket.

The finances are a bit rubbish but it is expected when my income is so low.

I will do a full season update later.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I knew I shouldn't of got excited about my Youth Intake.

Look at this for an attrocious youth intake. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Wycombe Season 2 Review

I had my best season so far with Wycombe finishing 7th in the league and just missing the play offs by 3 points. I am very proud of my team.

Paul Smyth had another great season with 19 goals for the season. Annoyingly I can't take him on loan for another season as he is moving to Real Salt Lake on a free transfer.

Dominic Gape was probably the best overal player of the season. He had the best average rating, 3 goals and 7 assists.

David Wheeler had another good season with 13 goals and 7 assists. He is turning 30 now but I reckon he still has another 2-3 decent seasons left.

My Goalie who is Ryan Allsop had a great season and was a sturdy rock and I felt safe when he was in goal for me.

Another sturdy rock was Mr.Wycombe Anthony Stewart. He played nearly every game and had a 86% on Tackles Completed.

James Garner had a decent season for me but didn't have as good of as a season as I hoped he would.

Teden Mengi another player on loan from Man Utd was far more impressive then James Garner and formed a very good defensive partnership with Anthony Stewart. 

I am hoping to keep Mengi and Garner on loan for another season.

I am hoping for same again next season. I have turned the team from likely relegation candidates to now fighting to get into the play offs in the space of 2 seasons.

My long term goal is to win the Prem with Wycombe and hopefully I will do that with youth only but the facilities are not good to do that yet.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

My heart is broken. Why Mengi and Garner Why

Edited September 6, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Dominic Gape won the Fans Player Of The Season again.

Edited September 6, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Despite my best efforts to keep him I have unfortunately lost the Big Man Adebayo Akinfenwa from my coaching team after he accepted the managers job at Stockport. 

Good luck to him.

[karanhsingh]

Fantastic season there @Ronaldo Beckham. Hope you can push for the playoffs next year!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

4 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Fantastic season there @Ronaldo Beckham. Hope you can push for the playoffs next year!

Thank you buddy. I will name a stand after you if I ever get the board to agree to build a new stadium lol.

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Thank you buddy. I will name a stand after you if I ever get the board to agree to build a new stadium lol.

Hahahaha that would be quite an honour 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Wycombe Season 3 Early Season Update

Transfers

Notable tranfers out was Jake Forster Caskey who I sold to Blackpool for £400k and also sold Filip Orsula for £400k to Blackpool.

I didn't spend much money in the summer but I managed to get a few bargains.

Alan Patrick(regen) - American 19 year old striker who I managed to sign for £300, yes that is right £300 and has 4-5 star potential.

He hasn't done that well so far but none of my players have so far this season. He has scored 2 goals in 10 games. I am hoping he settles in and gets some more goals.

Emiliano Ozuna - A 25 year old Argentinian wizard signed on a freebie from Celaya in Mexico. He is far too good for Wycombe but I will make the most of him while I can. 

He has 4 star current ability and 4 and half star potential. I hope I get to keep him for a few years.

He has got 2 goal and 4 assists so far.

Omar Sowunmi - 25 year old English centre back I signed on a free transfer from Colchester. He has 4 star potential and looks decent. He has only played once but will get a few games this season.

I have also signed Dujon Sterling on loan from Chelsea who has been ever present this season so far.

Not had the best of seasons so far but I am hoping to bounce back.

[karanhsingh]

Ouch that's rough. But hopefully the win over Swansea means you're beginning to turn it around. 

[smplfc123]

Well done on your survival in the first season and excellent second season @Ronaldo Beckham. As @karanhsingh said, hopefully that win against Swansea is the turning point.

And congratulations to @warlock on promotion with Forest, an achievement I will not be replicating with rivals Derby in my first season (but i'm kind of glad about that).

[smplfc123]

So with us just over a third of the way in to our opening season, it's time for an update.

It's not been great. I've struggled to really nail down a style and philosophy I want to play with this Derby squad and that has shown in the results. Part of me wants to ingrain a young, hungry, high-pressing side using the excellent youth prospects I have at my disposal and part of me wants to play a more controlling, possession style, with the likes of Rooney and Huddlestone controlling games. I've since spent the first 16 games trying to find something in between:

A very poor start saw us drop in to the relegation zone, but with me starting to agree on a style for this squad and some key players returning from injuries that had rules them out at the start (Wisdom, Marriott, Holmes, Bogle etc.) we managed to get some more positive results. 

One thing that needs sorting is our inability to keep clean sheets. Just 3 in 16 league games isn't good enough. I've agreed a future transfer for Roos to join Montreal in January, however, loanee Hamer isn't much better. Our defence just seems to be too easily beaten and soft. In that 3-3 draw against Boro, we were 3-0 up at half time and as soon as they got their first goal back, I just knew we had nothing about us to stop the game from ending the way it did.

  

So 16 games in and we're sitting 16th. The board are happy as we're well clear of the relegation zone for now. I'm happy as we're starting to look like we've got a bit more of a plan on the field, but I'm still not fully settled. Bogle and Lowe have signed contract extensions, Bird and Knight have had plenty of game time and Whittaker and Sibley have had appearances here and there. My aim is to grow all of their game time as the season progresses. 

Hopefully an onwards and upwards push now after this international break will see us consolidate a mid-table spot and start to mould the side more to my style using the transfer market.
 

[warlock]

12 minutes ago, smplfc123 said:

It's not been great

Tough start for both you and @Ronaldo Beckham. Hope things continue on an upwards curve 

[karanhsingh]

4 hours ago, smplfc123 said:

So with us just over a third of the way in to our opening season, it's time for an update.

It's not been great. I've struggled to really nail down a style and philosophy I want to play with this Derby squad and that has shown in the results. Part of me wants to ingrain a young, hungry, high-pressing side using the excellent youth prospects I have at my disposal and part of me wants to play a more controlling, possession style, with the likes of Rooney and Huddlestone controlling games. I've since spent the first 16 games trying to find something in between:
 

Recent results seem to be picking up - what tactics are you playing?

[smplfc123]

I'm using a 4-1-4-1 (DM Wide) but until recently, it's been a bit hit and miss as i'm trying to figure out how best to utilise Rooney, the full backs and the attacking 3.

With Bogle now fit, we've got better stability down the right hand side and a few tweaks in roles and instructions has led us to a 9 game unbeaten streak, so long may that continue. 

What's more pleasing is that I'm starting to play the football I envisaged. I think with so many out injured at the start, so many youngsters being thrown in and with me not fully sold on what I wanted, the sticky start was to be expected. I've got a few on their way out of the door in Jan and hopefully 1 or 2 coming in to help reinforce this rise in form. 

[karanhsingh]

14 hours ago, smplfc123 said:

I'm using a 4-1-4-1 (DM Wide) but until recently, it's been a bit hit and miss as i'm trying to figure out how best to utilise Rooney, the full backs and the attacking 3.

With Bogle now fit, we've got better stability down the right hand side and a few tweaks in roles and instructions has led us to a 9 game unbeaten streak, so long may that continue. 

What's more pleasing is that I'm starting to play the football I envisaged. I think with so many out injured at the start, so many youngsters being thrown in and with me not fully sold on what I wanted, the sticky start was to be expected. I've got a few on their way out of the door in Jan and hopefully 1 or 2 coming in to help reinforce this rise in form. 

That's great sounds like things are picking up. I would think Rooney can make a good Regista, but you would need to play more mobile midfielders around him and possibly one of them as a BWM. 

BTW on my last save Archie brown became quite a good player too, keep an eye out for him. 

[warlock]

Darlington, November 2022

Having taken Forest to the Premiership in my parallel save I decided it was time to return to Darlington for our third attempt at winning a return to the EFL.

Quite a bit of transfer business was done in the summer as we looked to replace players who had been with us in the VNN but hadn't progressed as much as we hoped. I also decided this was make or break season. In the famous words of WC Fields, if at first you don't succeed try, try again. Then quit - there's no use being a damn fool about it.

I was happy with the squad I was able to assemble, although given the poor quality of scouts and coaches you never know what to expect. And what I didn't expect was the start to the season we enjoyed:

Seven wins and a draw from the opening 8 games was remarkable but not quite enough to secure top spot as Wrexham managed a 100% record from the same run. Our next 8 games were far less enjoyable but Wrexham also began to struggle and were replaced at the top by Chester, but we did just enough to put us firmly into second place. By November we had settled into a rhythm of doing well at home but struggling on the road. Our last game of the month will be a table-topping clash against Chester:

Best performers so far have been striker Joe Hardy, 24, formerly of Brentford and Liverpool who is now on the radar of L1 Bolton; CM Stefan Mols, 23, picked up on a free when he was released by Blackburn; and Norwegian winger Thelo Aasgaard, 20, who joined on a free from Wigan. Ruben Sammut is our international star midfielder with 32 caps for Malta and once a member of the Chelsea academy. GK Hannes Sveijer, on loan from Barnsley, came in last season as a backup but quickly claimed the No.1 jersey and we renewed his loan this season. So far the Swede has 9 clean sheets in 20 games.

Looking ahead to January I'll be looking to end a couple of loans that haven't worked out and using the available slots to bring in some hopefully better talent to help us push on in the second half of the season. We're particularly weak on the left side in both FB and AML positions. But first we have to negotiate a way past Chester, who have become something of a bogey team in this save. They have a lot of EFL experience among their ranks and their three most valuable players - ex Cardiff striker Omar Bogle, former Scunthorpe winger Ryan Colclough, and u21 Irish international Mark Sykes - are currently worth about half a million quid, which is rather more than my entire 25-man squad!

[karanhsingh]

Great stuff @warlock! 

Are the top 3 guaranteed promotion?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Well done @warlock

[warlock]

51 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Are the top 3 guaranteed promotion?

Nope - only the champions are guaranteed promotion; places 2-7 go through a 3-round playoff for the second promotion place. Makes it an incredibly difficult division to get out of, compounded by the fact that you're up against a lot of former EFL clubs who - at least for the first couple of seasons after relegation - tend to have a bit more money and better players. There's double-jeopardy, too - the bottom four teams get relegated.

If you follow the Dafuge Challenge thread, you often see teams win immediate promotion to the VNL, struggle for years to get up to L2, then a rocket ride to the Championship, then more years of struggle before getting to the PL. It's not for the impatient  

[karanhsingh]

5 hours ago, warlock said:

Nope - only the champions are guaranteed promotion; places 2-7 go through a 3-round playoff for the second promotion place. Makes it an incredibly difficult division to get out of, compounded by the fact that you're up against a lot of former EFL clubs who - at least for the first couple of seasons after relegation - tend to have a bit more money and better players. There's double-jeopardy, too - the bottom four teams get relegated.

If you follow the Dafuge Challenge thread, you often see teams win immediate promotion to the VNL, struggle for years to get up to L2, then a rocket ride to the Championship, then more years of struggle before getting to the PL. It's not for the impatient  

Interesting. No I can't say I've followed the Dafuge challenge much or ever tried it, seems too hard for me! The most I've done so far is started off in league one. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

On 08/09/2020 at 04:44, karanhsingh said:

Ouch that's rough. But hopefully the win over Swansea means you're beginning to turn it around. 

 

On 08/09/2020 at 08:57, smplfc123 said:

Well done on your survival in the first season and excellent second season @Ronaldo Beckham. As @karanhsingh said, hopefully that win against Swansea is the turning point.

And congratulations to @warlock on promotion with Forest, an achievement I will not be replicating with rivals Derby in my first season (but i'm kind of glad about that).

 

On 08/09/2020 at 10:38, warlock said:

Tough start for both you and @Ronaldo Beckham. Hope things continue on an upwards curve 

Thank you for the kind words guys. Sorry I have took longer to reply, I had a loss in the family a few days a go so just trying to deal with that.

I have turned things around and I am currently 11th with 3 games to go.

My Youth intake was rubbish with only producing 1 player worth signing.  The rest was rubbish. I need to make more money to improve facilities.

I will do a full season review soon.

[Jogo Bonito]

Sorry for your loss @Ronaldo Beckham

Nice updates everyone, good to follow from afar.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Sorry for your loss @Ronaldo Beckham

Nice updates everyone, good to follow from afar.

Thank you Jogo.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Wycombe Season 3 Review

Another good season with Wycombe ending 10th. Not as good as last season but still a very good season considering the squad I have.

Emiliano Ozuna was amazing for me. He ended up scoring 28 goals and 12 assists either on the left wing or up front. He is a special talent and I can see some decent Prem teams coming in for him in the Summer.

Ozuna also won the Fans Player Of The Season. 

The sad news about Ozuna is that he only has a £2.8m minimum release clause and he wants way too much money to sign a new contract. He wants £30k a week to stay and the max I can give him is £9.5k a week so annoying he will be going on the cheap in the summer and I will cry lol.

Scott Kashket had a good season as well. Scoring 14 goals and 8 assists.  Annoyingly his contract has only 12 monthes yet and he wants £13k a week for a new contract and I can only offer him £9.75k per week grrr.

My other stand out striker was Manasse Mampala a £300k signing from Everton. He managed to score 10 goals in 18 games. 

My aims for next season is to try get into the play offs. Try keep my squad that I got or at least replace the players with other good, young prospects and try improve my finances so I can improve facilities etc.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I am crying right now. Please don't leave us Ozuna

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I did lose Ozuna in the end as he went to Brighton to £2.8m but I have replaced him with a player I signed last season but he could only come now and he looks like a right gem.

[warlock]

45 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I am crying right now. Please don't leave us Ozuna

Almost a line from a Lloyd Webber musical 

Good luck with Le Bamba.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, warlock said:

Almost a line from a Lloyd Webber musical 

Good luck with Le Bamba.

It was unintentional but I will take it lol.

Yeah my situation gets worse as Fred Onyedinma's contract had less then 6 months left on it and he wouldn't sign a new contract. He had a £6m release clause but nobody wanted to offer me that much so I got £3m for him in the end but wouldn't of got anything for him in 6 months time so it is a bittersweet ending for one of my best players.

Here are my transfers so far.

[karanhsingh]

@Ronaldo Beckham sorry for the loss in your family mate. Take care.

That's a good season eventually. Also ASEC is my favorite club in the game to buy players from. They get amazing newgens. Bamba looks very promising! 

Does he have dual nationality? How did you get a permit for him? 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

4 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

@Ronaldo Beckham sorry for the loss in your family mate. Take care.

That's a good season eventually. Also ASEC is my favorite club in the game to buy players from. They get amazing newgens. Bamba looks very promising! 

Does he have dual nationality? How did you get a permit for him? 

I assume he has dual nationality. I will check when I get home tonight. I can't imagine we would of got a work permit for him otherwise.

[smplfc123]

Well done on finishing 10th @Ronaldo Beckham, shame about losing a couple of good players though.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, smplfc123 said:

Well done on finishing 10th @Ronaldo Beckham, shame about losing a couple of good players though.

 

Cheers mate and yeah its part of life being a small club. I just wish Ozuna had a bigger minimum release fee but life goes on and hopefully Bamba can help me get over the loss of Ozuna.

[karanhsingh]

4 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I assume he has dual nationality. I will check when I get home tonight. I can't imagine we would of got a work permit for him otherwise.

Yes unless you got a nice brexit 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Yes unless you got a nice brexit 

I didn't see anything about Brexit but maybe I skipped past it or I might have this file that Brexit never happens or something like that.

I am having a break from my Wycombe save for now but will come back to it.

I got the urge to do a French league save probably with Monaco, Lille or Rennes.

[smplfc123]

END OF 2019 UPDATE

So with the board just wanting me to avoid a relegation battle this season, I felt there would be plenty of room to experiment and give youth a chance. We've managed so far to do both, although the experimenting is yet to lead to a style and philosophy I can nail down on. I'm still a little stuck on how I want this team to play and what roles to use, but I feel we're getting closer. This is how the table looks now that we're in to January 2020:

So as you can see we're sitting comfortably in 13th, a good 15 points clear of the relegation zone. Scoring isn't a problem, with us sitting 7th in the scoring charts. The goals are evenly spread amongst the team too, with Rooney leading the way on 7. The problem is at the other end. We're too nice and passive for my liking and when the soft defence is beaten, Hamer isn't offering any resistance in goal.

With that in mind, GK is the top priority in January. I've already agreed a deal to Sell Roos to Montreal in Feb and Forsyth is also moving to North America to team up with Cincinati. Another CB and LW are also on my list, but I'm not one for buying many in Jan.

In good news, Sibley, Lowe, Bogle and Bird have all signed new long-term deals. Those 4, along with Whittaker and Knight, have all seen plenty of first team action too, with a couple of them excelling.

The aim is to avoid a second half collapse in this season as it looks likely we'll have nothing left to play for should we go out of the FA Cup in the next round.