[FM20] Bringing Her Home

[Earnie is God!]

Sometimes I don't get this game. How can my board be disappointed in the finances of a deal to sell a 30yo 5th or 6th choice midfielder for £31m, just 2 seasons after paying £8.25m for him? Stupid FM

Well, after a relatively poor start to the season, I've reverted back to the two tactics I used last year that did so well for us.
My concern, as already mentioned, is that we don't really have the wingers for it this season as we had two in on loan last campaign and their clubs don't want to loan them out again.
It's now Transfer Deadline Day and, typically for me, I'm in a rush to bring in a quality winger or two before the deadline

[Earnie is God!]

I managed to get one in the door last minute

[Earnie is God!]

♫ I had this perfect dream ♫

♫ Barcelona, It was the first time that we met
Barcelona, How can I forget
The moment that you stepped into the room, You took my breath away ♫

Ah, Freddie, we still miss you dearly.

Yes, it's the Champions League and first up for us is Barcelona at home. Realistically, with Juventus also in the group, we are probably looking at 3rd place at best and to drop down into the Europa League.
But we'll give a good account of ourselves for sure and hope to ruffle a few feathers along the way.

We're not going to play defensively though, especially at home. If there's one thing I've learnt about FM20 it's that the best way to get anywhere is to attack.
After a cagey opening 10min, star striker Murray breaks into Barca's penalty area

 surrounded by players, can he get a shot away? 

Even better, he squares it to Ortiz to tap in his first of the season

Truth be told, we were 2nd best all game and when they equalised at the start of the 2nd half I expected them to take over and give us a thumping.
Thankfully that didn't happen and, with just seconds to go, it looked like this was going to end in a draw.
Can't complain at that, taking a point off the Spanish giants. But it wasn't to be...

Agony in the 89th minute and we ended up with nothing. Ah well, only Juventus away in the next game 😢

Quite a poor start to the season for us so far
 and it's not set to get any easier 

[Earnie is God!]

4-4-****ing-2!!

Our form continued to be pretty poor. We weren't conceding too many but we just weren't scoring either.
 Sure, we've had a couple of injuries but we should be doing far better than this 

With Manco, my only decent LW returning from injury, I decided to go back to basics and play a 4-4-2 system.
Fair to say it's made a massive difference

Back to back wins in the CL has given us faint hope of getting out of the group and some solid performances against some of the so-called lesser sides in the league has moved us closer to the top 6.
With Juventus beating Barcelona both home and away, all we have to do now is beat Barca by 2+ goals at the Camp Nou next week to put us in prime position to qualify. Simple, right?

Edited July 11, 2020 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

Our decent form continued 

But then we came up against Norwich who, for whatever reason, we just can't seem to beat

This game appeared to be going the way of the others, especially when they scored twice just before HT to lead 2-0.
I'm sick of the sight of them tbh and desperately need that monkey of our backs.
We did manage to pull one back early in the 2nd half and, with 10min to go, we equalised but could we finally get a win against them?
 Yes, yes we could  

100% win ratio for us in November

And we followed that up with a 0-0 draw at Man U

 

[Earnie is God!]

As for the CL match in Spain, we took an early lead but, just like in the home tie, Barca scored twice to snatch victory away from us.
However, unlike in the home tie, we equalised deep into stoppage time.

Not that significant perhaps as they are above us on H2H records so unless they drop points in their final game in Romania and we also somehow beat Juventus, our CL dream ends here.
Not to worry though as we'll be in the Europa League instead which is better than we were expected to do.

Our preparation for that Juve match didn't go well as we were thumped 3-0 at home by dirty Leeds which also ended our unbeaten run

Right, onto the Juventus game and we started very well, Murray giving us a 12th min lead.
But it all seemed in vain as Barca were already winning in Romania. Nothing we could do about that though.
Murray doubled our lead just before HT and I hadn't noticed any other scores in the other game.
The 2nd halves of both fixtures weren't the best in terms of goals and chances and so, approaching 90min, we were 2-0 up with Barca winning 1-0.

Then there were two injury time goals, one in each game. Juventus scored against us to half the deficit and make it 2-1.
The other one I knew nothing about until after the match. Turns out those cheeky Romanians were happy to spoil Barcelona's party with an equaliser which sent us through to the knockout stages!!

All the groups

Yes, that means we'll be playing one of: Sevilla, PSG, A. Madrid, R. Madrid or Roma but this is an unexpected bonus for us and we have nothing to lose

Edited July 11, 2020 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

We might even get two decent players this season

[Earnie is God!]

Champions League draw and we are halfway through it...

This means we can only get PSG or Real Madrid 😨 and we end up with...  PSG.

Fair to say that they are still the absolute dominant force in France and Mbappe's still going strong aged 32.

[Earnie is God!]

Just after the halfway stage, this is where we stand

Not as high in the league as I would have liked and we are struggling to score this season for some reason but it's better than what was expected of us.
Add in the progression in the CL and it's been a good season so far.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Fantastic performance in the Champions League.

You didn't like the group to start with. I'd love that group as a Champions League debut. Two giants to play against and no pressure to get through as a result. Can't lose in that scenario.

[Earnie is God!]

True but the board expectations at the start of the season were just to be in the group stages so there was no pressure anyway.
I've not played in 2 days but will have a few hours now and see if we get to the PSG match.

[Earnie is God!]

Erm, say what now? 

I got my way in the end but I'm shocked that, after qualifying for the knockout stages of the CL and being in midtable in the league, both way above expectations, they came out with that nonsense.
And it's not as if recent results have been bad either. Sure, there was the 3-0 loss to dirty Leeds but only Liverpool and Man City have also beaten us, we drew with Barcelona, Man U and Chelsea and have won the rest.
Stupid FM!

Edited July 14, 2020 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

I wonder if the board will stop thinking we are playing badly soon
 Clearly must be doing something right 

4-4-2 been tweaked a little bit with more suitable roles for my players and it's going well

[Earnie is God!]

Good form continues and we are finally starting to find the net on a regular basis now

Of course, just when I think we are finally on track for an excellent run of games, this has to happen...

[Earnie is God!]

January Transfer Window

Young striker Bakos joined at the start of the month and I brought in a loanee to cover for Murray's injury up front.
37yo Raheem Sterling is set to retire at the end of the season but he's still class and surprisingly not lost too much in the way of pace or stamina.
For £500k, I couldn't resist the opportunity to bring him in and he's started well for us, 5 assists in 3 games so far

[Earnie is God!]

We followed that up with a 1-0 win over PSG

But have leaders Liverpool next, just 3 days later. I wonder if Sterling will produce the goods against his former club.
Our record against them isn't great, just the one win in a friendly

The only thing going for us is that we are at home and they haven't beaten us at our place yet.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

Some tricky games coming up for us in the next few weeks

[Earnie is God!]

Another home draw v Liverpool, this time 0-0.
The game was that bad, there were zero highlights 🙄
Still, we'll take a draw against the table toppers and take our talents to Leeds next weekend.

[Earnie is God!]

League Cup Final and Man City beat Liverpool on penalties.
It caught my eye because in the competition review, it claims that a 0-0 draw in the 3rd round was the best match of the tournament
And I'm sure there are ZERO Man City players who were delighted about sharing a £45,000 pot for winning the whole thing 🙄

[Earnie is God!]

Our European dream is sadly over.
We took a 1-0 lead to France but PSG absolutely mullered us and were 2-0 up before we had a man sent off.
I had little choice but to go for it and try and get the away goal that would have seen u go through. Instead, they caught us out and scored a 3rd late on.
Oh well, we did really well to get this far, will have to try and get back into Europe next season.
On the plus side, Man U went out too

[Earnie is God!]

What sort of rallying cry is "we have failed to score in our last two games, Arsenal have failed on 2 occasions. I'm expecting a victory." 

How does that make any sense? Stupid FM.

 Another gem.

Big spending Chelsea but has it done them any good?  Not really although it's a very close race between a number of teams this season

As you can see, we aren't too far off the top 6 ourselves and we have the FA Cup still as another possible route into Europe.
We made it all the way to the Semi Finals where we faced Liverpool.
We were 2-1 down going into injury time but a late equaliser sent the match into extra time.
I felt we were favourites as Liverpool had just had a man sent off so we should be able to take advantage.
Sadly, it didn't work out that way as they scored not once, not twice but three times in the extra 30min to beat us 5-2

Therefore, our only chance of EL football is in the league and we put the FA Cup disappointment behind us in the next two games where we stuffed Forest 7-3 and Bournemouth 5-1.
The 'Muff game was 1-1 with just a few minutes left then I don't know what happened as we scored 4 goals before the final whistle.

That has put us up into 6th and if we beat Arsenal in our next game we'll be guaranteed at least 7th.
37yo Raheem Sterling is also apparently back in the frame for an England call-up 😲

Edited July 16, 2020 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

We lost 2-0 to Arsenal and dropped to 8th.
But our final game was at 17th placed Wolves and we started it very well, going 1-0 up early on.
1-0 became two then three and then four! Yes, after just 24min we were 4-0 up and Wolves were going down.
They pulled a goal back from the penalty spot and then just before half time, two-goal hero Ortiz was sent off for throwing an elbow.
Still, we were 4-1 up so we'd still win, right?
WRONG!
Seun Abubakar, who had scored just once in the league this season for them, bagged a 7min hat-trick and it was now 4-4 with still 30min to play 

I made a triple defensive change, Wolves missed two glorious chances to take the lead and we held on for a draw.
In the end it made no difference to our European chances as, even with a win we would have finished 1pt shy of what was needed.
But it made a massive difference to Wolves as coming back from 4-0 down to earn that point was the difference between staying up and going down, Fulham the unluckiest of teams to go down instead, on goal difference.

I can't really complain about the season as a whole though. We might have finished 15pts worse off than last season's 2nd place but our CL campaign did take a bit out of us and we weren't as underestimated this season.
I'm pleased to see that in two seasons in the EPL, we have only lost 13 games and most of them to the bigger teams.

It's also interesting to note that the 78pts we had last season would have been enough to win it this time.

Edited September 5, 2020 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

Season 2031/32 Review

 A good season overall and a few players inducted into our best XI 

No surprise to see Murray named Fans' Player of The Season. Four years in a row he's been our top scorer now, an excellent signing

Club vision has largely remained the same and we are expected to be mid-table again next time. A healthy increase in our wage budget too so I'll be on the lookout for a couple of players

Facilities continue to improve although our youth recruitment is very poor and the club, despite agreeing to improve virtually everything else, stubbornly refuse to improve that 🤷‍♂️

Our wages remain one of the lowest in the division but that will change soon enough and when our new stadium is completed this time next year, it will go up again

Scouting remains an annoyance for me as they come up with some truly awful players, even though my scouts have some great JPA and JPP attributes.
This one annoyed me the most, as the most highly recommended player is one who is already joining us in the summer 🙄

Stupid FM

Edited July 19, 2020 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

I'm after this guy to partner Murray up front. He's a free agent in a month and we've agreed a £200k/wk deal.
A little expensive perhaps but when I think a guy this good would normally also cost in excess of £50m in a transfer, it starts to look a better deal

And he's just agreed to sign so that's one position sorted.
We have a really good LB out on loan right now and he's just about ready for the first team so that's another issue solved.
Might do with another LW, will have to see what's out there. Apart from that, I think I'm good for the new season already. Although that does depend on us keeping all our star players.

[Earnie is God!]

Summer Transfer Window 2032

Well, with a £75m release clause it was inevitable some team would come in for Ortiz and we have no option but to accept

He's been with us for 18 months and done well but that's a very healthy profit for us.
And with us bringing in Gaissmayer up top, I don't mind selling Ortiz.

I think it's just the start of what will be a big transfer window for us. We've already sold off a few youngsters to the likes of Leeds and lower teams.
I've also turned down an offer for fans' favourite Danny Jones and a loan offer from Wolves for Almada (?). No thanks!

[Earnie is God!]

 Another nice offer in and we have three LBs, one returning from loan, so he can go for that amount.

Chairman standing down? Not sure whether that means there will be a takeover or not though tbh 

[Earnie is God!]

As expected 

 A sizeable jump up the rankings. We need to get back into Europe next season, that's my goal

[Earnie is God!]

A few poor offers for my 5th choice CB but Franky's one is decent and he'd like to go there so I managed to negotiate for £20m

Also had a number of offers for my young CM/AM. He ideally wants to join Newcastle but they aren't offering as much. Have tried negotiating and will see if they come back with a better offer.

Meanwhile, the takeover looks to have traction... 

[Earnie is God!]

More interest  I need to try and get deals done before any transfer embargo from a takeover occurs

[Earnie is God!]

I fear we may see a lot of this over the next month or two

[Earnie is God!]

No thanks

Not all our transfers go down well

And we are moving on up, should help with attracting better players

[Earnie is God!]

New Board, New Hope?

A few weeks later it was confirmed
 So how much money is he putting in? 

Nothing, and nothing raised from becoming a PLC either 🙄😢
So what are they expecting of us this season and beyond? Well, it's not too different, a top half finish rather than mid-table this season.

I removed the '4yr contract for 1st teamers' as some of the better ones don't want to tie themselves here for that long.
They expect us to have the best youth system in the country by next season 😲 This new chairman had better boost the junior coaching then. At least we can sign players again though

[Earnie is God!]

New season fixtures are here and it's once again not a bad start. We need to hit the ground running this season though, I want a top 6 finish at least

 Still don't want no stinking Man U job either 

[Earnie is God!]

Good start

[Earnie is God!]

A few new signings

And plenty of big money sales

Especially this one

I hate selling players to Man U so demanded £80m and they agreed 😲
Perhaps they see something in him that I don't but he's a decent player for sure, just not £80m decent but I'm not going to complain

We've now become a PLC but not sure what difference that will make 

 and a rather random job offer from Ukraine ?!

[Earnie is God!]

Followed by a load more a few weeks later

Normally I'd be tempted but I think it might distract me and drag out the save even longer than it has been already.

Meanwhile, another free transfer joins and it's a rather big one

He's still got it and will fit in nicely with the 4-2-4 system I'm thinking of using this season

[Earnie is God!]

Blimmin Spuds, rip-off merchants

[Earnie is God!]

Predicted to finish 10th and we have two players in the running for top scorer

Season ticket sales remain around the same for the 2nd season running. We'll see when we get our new stadium next year.

We've started the season with a very one-sided 1-0 win over Palace. Plenty of possession is very nice but a bit concerned we didn't convert more of our chances

[Earnie is God!]

Just as I was about to switch the game off, it gave me this dilemma.

It's Wales after all and just about the only one I'd take. I think I'll sleep on it

[Nobby_McDonald]

Another solid season Earnie.

[Earnie is God!]

@Nobby_McDonald yes mate. A bit of a shame we didn't make it into Europe but it does mean we can focus more on the league this season and hopefully finish at least in the top 6 this time.

I'm going to try and get through this season and finish it before the weekend. I've managed about 13 seasons in 14 weeks so far so I only need to go a little quicker but it may be an issue if I take the Wales job.
I've not played it at all today as was in hospital for an operation but will aim to make up for it in the next few days seeing as I'm stuck in the house, signed off work for two weeks

[Earnie is God!]

I couldn't resist. Not had a look at the squad yet but there looks to be at least a few good players in it and hopefully a lot more in the wings and upcoming.
Not sure exactly how long I'm going to be in charge. I guess it depends how much this slows me down. I imagine quite a bit to start with until I can gather all the Welsh players into the pool and assess them.

[Earnie is God!]

Germany have just won Euro 2032 and so are now both Euro and World Champions.
The Welsh board are not bothered about how we do in the Nations League which gives me a little freedom to experiment.
The draw for the World Cup qualifiers haven't been made yet either so no idea who we are going to be playing.

[Earnie is God!]

I'm still recovering from my operation on Monday. Not been sleeping well, in quite a bit of pain and feeling sick. Not been playing FM much at all really but have had a look at the Welsh squad and possibilities.

It took me a day to sort out all the possible Welsh players who I might want involved for Wales, either now or in the future, a total of 152.
Not too many and very few who can play down the left side of midfield unfortunately. These are currently my best LM or LW options 😨

Of course, the likes of Bale and Ramsey have long since retired and a few real life youngsters coming through e.g. Ben Woodburn are a bit old or actually not any good in my save.

Woodburn for example is only 32yo but has been without a club for a year and his attributes have fallen through the floor so he's a wasted talent unfortunately.

Rabbi Matondo is merely decent but one of only a few options to play RW 

Chris Mepham is 34yo but still one of our best CB options and named Welsh vice captain by the previous regime. He's lost his pace though so won't be around too much longer

 Ethan Ampadu is our 31yo captain and can play CB or DM, a really good option there too.

Ex-Liverpool youngster Neco Williams is set to be our regular RB

I'll probably go with something like this:

There are a few other real life players still about but none of any note really and the rest are newgens.
It's going to be a tough job but have found a few kids with dual nationality who I have convinced to join the cause. Not sure how long that feature has been in FM where you can talk to a player to try and convince them to commit to your country but I like it.
Two of those players were ex-Dronfielders actually and I have used my previous relationship with them to get them on board. Neither are anything special, and I wouldn't want them back at the club as they aren't good enough, but they could do a job for Wales.
I guess that shows just how poor the national side is.

Not regretting taking the job but my hopes of leading my country to World Cup glory have somewhat diminished. I think my best hope would be to qualify for the Finals but we'll see.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

Meanwhile, back at club level and there are a few days left of the transfer window. Real Madrid make a bid for my star GK, who has pretty much gone under the radar so far, and I dread to think of his reaction when I turn the offer down.
Thankfully, the concern soon disappears as he's not even interested in listening to what they are willing to offer him

[Earnie is God!]

Real Madrid wouldn't stop bidding for my GK but we held them off, even for almost £60m. For the first time in ages, I haven't been pressured into selling a player I didn't want to. We are in amongst the big boys now
 I did sell my other GK though and replaced him with an English backup 

Good to see we are still producing young talent, I hope to be top of this table one day soon

 

[Earnie is God!]

Welsh Adventure

Northern Ireland away in our first game and we were much the better side. 2-0 up but a late goal for the home side had us a little nervous but we won 2-1.
Slovenia at home a few days later and a bit of rotation was needed, meaning our 2-goal hero from the Irish match, midfielder Jack Jones, was rested.
We made a bit of a meal of it but, after Jones was brought on from off the bench, he helped set up a late goal from former Dronfield Serbian-born winger Kaplanovic to seal the win.

        

Norway also won both games so, even at this early stage, it looks like a battle between the two of us to see who goes up to League A.

[Earnie is God!]

A solid win over Norway puts us in control of the group.

We followed that up with a superb win over NI. Evans, not a bad striker but by no means World Class, scored 5 in a game

 Looking great to top the group and it isn't just the senior side doing well 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Another takeover just months after the last one? I think not. More improved facilities though

We went top of the table the other day, before Spuds won their game in hand and replaced us but things are going very well.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

Good Form Continues

Top of the league but Cardiff in a whole World of trouble after a 10-0 defeat at Man City!!
Back to back wins over Man U and Liverpool for us in what could well have been a very tricky period.
I'm obviously delighted with our form and our new striker Gaissmayer has been banging them in

A double header v Villa this coming week followed by Norwich but then, after the international break where we'll be taking on Norway and Slovenia, we face some tougher matches against the likes of Arsenal, Man City, Spuds and Everton.

[Earnie is God!]

Longest...Penalty...Shootout...Ever

We hosted Aston Villa in the League Cup in our next game and even though we totally dominated the match, we missed a whole host of chances to win it.
After 90min, we faced the penalty shootout and, with Villa leading 5-4 in sudden death, it came down to my RB Jean Carlos who had picked up an injury near the end of the match but I'd used all our subs so he had to stay on.
As he hobbled towards the ball, I was already planning our revenge over Villa in our league match in a few days' time, but could Carlos extend the wait?

 Yes, yes he could. He made it 5-5 after 6 pens each 

20 penalties in, and 14 of them scored, it was down to the 'keepers to sort this out.

Up stepped Martins for them...  but he hit it straight at Crocker  

With the game taking so long, both GKs decided to put on their own HT show with a bit of line dancing...

Crocker stepped up to win it for us...  but it was saved by his counterpart 

And so the shootout went on... 
Then, after 23 penalties and 5 successive misses, Marcus Rashford sauntered up to give us the win and send everybody home. He sent the GK the wrong way...
 but hit the opposite post and so it continued 🙄

Nine more successful spot kicks later and it was back around to the injured Carlos to drag himself off the floor for a 2nd time and keep us in the contest. Could he do it again?

Sadly, not this time. Out of the cup we go
34 penalties, 23 successful and we are into the record books for the longest penalty shootout in English football history, eclipsing Liverpool's 30-shot, 14-13 shootout win over 'Boro in 2014

It's not been the best of weeks for Carlos

Edited July 27, 2020 by Earnie is God!