[FM20] Irchester Utd. Tier 10. England. Home. Youth Only.

[rodesire]

hold onto Conway, he's going places

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2050. 

Championship. From going 11 games without a win, we've now gone 12 games without drawing with 8 wins and 4 losses. That;s fired us up to 12th and we're now 11 points off the playoffs. 

[Jimbokav1971]

20 minutes ago, rodesire said:

hold onto Conway, he's going places

We will see. Too early to say at this stage. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Ill discipline record. Apr 2050. 

We still have 5 games to play. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Clauses. May 2050.

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2050. 

Championship. We had a really good last few months of the season but unfortunately it wasn't enough to close the gap to the Playoffs that we allowed to open in our winless December. We finished 6 points off the Playoffs.

[Tajerio]

39 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Apr 2050. 

Championship. We had a really good last few months of the season but unfortunately it wasn't enough to close the gap to the Playoffs that we allowed to open in our winless December. We finished 6 points off the Playoffs.

Wow. Birmingham shipped 100 goals? Tremendous.

Although I note you're not too far off that with 90, and there's two other clubs letting in more than 90. What a league.

Edited September 12, 2020 by Tajerio

[Sonic Youth]

That last intake looks pretty good. Are the 5* players going straight into the first team rotation? Definitely like to see that 5* defender getting at least 500 minutes by the end of the season.

Can I see what Cole looks like. A Model Citizen who could become a squad player and have a deeper influence on your squad?

That 50% transfer from America 

I like the looks of your next season, especially if December is the opposite of this season 🙏🏽

[Sonic Youth]

Is it time to look at your backroom staff again? Chance of upgrades?

Do you send scouts out to scout the next opponent/matches?

[-Jef-]

Conway already looks like could contribute in first team as a central defender! Shame about the league cos 6 pts difference is not a big task to overcome

[Jimbokav1971]

8 hours ago, Tajerio said:

Wow. Birmingham shipped 100 goals? Tremendous.

Although I note you're not too far off that with 90, and there's two other clubs letting in more than 90. What a league.

Yeah that is a lot. We always score and concede a fair few but that's a lot of other teams. 

Surprisingly though, and possibly backing up my point about goals being shared around, the top goal-scorer in the league "only" scored 24 goal. 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

7 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

That last intake looks pretty good. Are the 5* players going straight into the first team rotation? Definitely like to see that 5* defender getting at least 500 minutes by the end of the season.

Can I see what Cole looks like. A Model Citizen who could become a squad player and have a deeper influence on your squad?

That 50% transfer from America 

I like the looks of your next season, especially if December is the opposite of this season 🙏🏽

I try not to make snap judgements about how good an intake is anymore. It's too often seriously flawed.

None of them made any appearances during the run-in. 

(50d) Cole (IRL) (M.Citizen) * looks ok actually. He's certainly not going to play on the left of a 2 in the middle of a pitch, but he looks quite well suited to the more workmanlike role on the right of middle. I need to get rid of that PPM though. 

I don't have any words about the lost transfer money. I really have invested a lot of effort into the clauses aspect of the save, and while I sort of accepted the lost fees earlier in the save as "just one of those things", this is a bit different and far harder to swallow. 

We took 6 points from a possible 30 during that December period. It was awful. We also crashed out of the FA Cup. We were still scoring goals, (we scored 3 goals 4 times and were only held to nil once, but we conceded 5 goals twice and 3 goals 3 times and that's just too many. If we converted 3 of those draws into wins, that's your 6 points gap to the playoffs right there. 

The thing about this save is that even when we sell really good players to generate cash, just about everyone else at the club improves so we're always on what is a hugely upwards trend. We sold nobody this season which really helped us develop and we only have 1 player who's contract expires in 2051, (44b) Big Don (JAM)(Bal)6'5" *), and who I need to decide whether to offer him a new contract, (which is going to move him from £182,000 wages per season to at least £1M wages per season). I really don't think we can afford to start paying players that much with our current finances so I think I'm probably going to sell him with a 50% clause and a 12 month loan back so we get him back for another season. There is a balance to be had between keeping our best players and balancing the books. He's already worth £10.75M so can you imagine what he would be worth in the Premier League? It's a really tough decision to make. On the one hand I don't think I'm getting anyway near the best out of him, but on the other hand we don't have much depth on the left flank. 

(50c) is a left winger, but he's also casual, so there is no guarantee that I will be able to develop him anyway. Either way he looks way short of this level. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet, offer him a new contract on £20k+ per week and hope that I can work out how to use him more effectively. A 2nd playmaker is 1 option. As is moving him forward 1 slot and experimenting with a WTM, (which is what I really want to do). 

[Jimbokav1971]

8 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Is it time to look at your backroom staff again? Chance of upgrades?

Do you send scouts out to scout the next opponent/matches?

I've actually been (relatively) good at looking at our staff in this period of the save. (I was awful before), so I'm happy with what we have. (Both in terms of ability but also of course personality). 

I'm not happy with my HoYD at the moment. (I think we can do better). He's on a month to month contract at the moment but I can't find a better replacement which is both good and bad.

In terms of facilities we're at 16.20.20.19 now but I have managed to just squeeze another upgrade out of the board. 

Facilities. May 2050. 

That's a LOT of money though. 

I also tried to get a loan Manager in for the 1st time, (we have 26 players out on loan right now), and I was surprised by this response. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, rosque said:

Conway already looks like could contribute in first team as a central defender! Shame about the league cos 6 pts difference is not a big task to overcome

(50a) Conway (IRL) (F.Det) * does indeed look decent at this early stage. I didn't blood him at all during the run-in. If I'm completely honest I was still pretty peeved at the missing 50% clause money and just wanted the season to end. 

This is what we have at centre-half right now, (sorted by CA). 

(45g) Lloyd (F.Det) * is 21. 

(48b) Agombar (Bal) is a right back.

(47d) Frecklington (L.Heart) * is a centre-mid. 

(46b) Varallo (AUS) (Unamb) * is 21 and has come on leaps and bounds this season at Ipswich.

(44d) Gough (LIB)(F.Amb)6'1" * is 23, (and now 6'2"). 

(43a) Cresswell (F.Det) * is 23. 

(49c) Smith (F.Pro) 6'4" is 17 and has just started breaking into the senior side, (because (46b) Varallo (AUS) (Unamb) * was away). 

(50a) Conway (IRL) (F.Det) * is 17, 6'2" and is currently 6th choice centre-half, but at 5.0 PA looks to be worth investing in at this stage. I don't think I can start playing him in games that we want to win immediately, but I certainly think he will get opportunities in a rotated squad when we rest our 1st choice players. 

I think that we can all agree that our centre-backs are not up to the level we are playing at, but they are what we have and with the exception of the 3 players below, we haven't lost loads either. (That's the main reason I want to change the HoYD). I want someone who can produce more defenders and to that end I'm looking for someone who prefers 3/5 at the back at it will increase the chances of decent centre-backs being produced. Looking at the above players, I think it's understandable why we conceded 90 goals in the league last season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

9 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Do you send scouts out to scout the next opponent/matches?

Sorry, forgot to respond to this bit. 

I don't scout opposition instructions because I don't play the games remember. 

Because I use an IR button there is no opportunity to do team-talks or opposition instructions or to react to anything at all. There is quite a different method to playing the game like this and opposition scouting just tends to cloud the issue for me. Instead I just want to focus on what we do, and do it as well as we can. The biggest way in which use of the IR button impacts on a save like this is that you can't put n young players on the bench and expect your Ass Man to use them. He just won't. You just have to accept that and find an alternative solution as to how you blood youngsters. My method is to start them rather than put them on the bench and allow the Ass Man to drag them off at HT. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Another player poached. May 2050. 

I'm a bit peeved that we're still getting players poached by Championship clubs. 

I've looked at signing (HG47) Brendan Gillies, (because he looks great physically and I would like him even without knowing his PA), but I went up as far as £5M and without knowing his PA I wouldn't go further than that so I'm leaving it for now). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Biggest signing of the save. May 2040. 

(43j) Richard Jenkins (RES) was sold to Barnsley 2 years ago for £10.5M. 

We've signed him back for £1.3M. 

When he left he was our best player. Now he's just 3.0 CA and 3.0 PA. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sponsorship in the Championship. Jun 2040. 

[scousevasey]

52 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Biggest signing of the save. May 2040. 

(43j) Richard Jenkins (RES) was sold to Barnsley 2 years ago for £10.5M. 

We've signed him back for £1.3M. 

When he left he was our best player. Now he's just 3.0 CA and 3.0 PA. 

This piqued my interest after your conversation about clauses - so I went back a page to see what clauses you had for 43j Jenkins

On 10/09/2020 at 14:36, Jimbokav1971 said:

We've got 14 players with clauses outstanding who have been sold. 

It is a shame there wasn't a 50% of next sale in, but you did have an instalment payment due from Barnsley.

As far as I know this will still stand as it is a fixed part of the transfer fee, not a performance clause.  How much are they going to pay you when he is now your player?

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Big Transfer. Jun 2050. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 minutes ago, scousevasey said:

This piqued my interest after your conversation about clauses - so I went back a page to see what clauses you had for 43j Jenkins

It is a shame there wasn't a 50% of next sale in, but you did have an instalment payment due from Barnsley.

As far as I know this will still stand as it is a fixed part of the transfer fee, not a performance clause.  How much are they going to pay you when he is now your player?

When I was doing the deal I went back to see if we had a clause on him because it would impact on how much I was prepared to pay for him. (As it was £1.3M was a no-brainer). 

I checked earlier and He was one of the few players who was sold without a 50% clause. 

[scousevasey]

Just now, Jimbokav1971 said:

When I was doing the deal I went back to see if we had a clause on him because it would impact on how much I was prepared to pay for him. (As it was £1.3M was a no-brainer). 

I checked earlier and He was one of the few players who was sold without a 50% clause. 

Does he still have an installment due to you from Barnsley, despite being back with you?

As that is the equivalent of them then refunding some money to you from the purchase - despite it really being part of the original fee

[Jimbokav1971]

8 minutes ago, scousevasey said:

 How much are they going to pay you when he is now your player?

What a shambles of a deal this was for them. 

The reason they are off-loading him though is because they are in the Premier League so maybe that makes more sense. 

He was good enough for them the 1st season, but they got an upgrade. In fact they got at least 3 upgrades. They have 3 right backs who look better than him. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 minutes ago, scousevasey said:

Does he still have an installment due to you from Barnsley, despite being back with you?

As that is the equivalent of them then refunding some money to you from the purchase - despite it really being part of the original fee

Sorry. Have responded to that now. 

They owe us more than we paid for him. 

Sold him for £10.5M

Bought him back for £1.3M

He's already worth £1.7M

Who's to say we won't sell him again. 

[scousevasey]

17 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

What a shambles of a deal this was for them. 

The reason they are off-loading him though is because they are in the Premier League so maybe that makes more sense. 

He was good enough for them the 1st season, but they got an upgrade. In fact they got at least 3 upgrades. They have 3 right backs who look better than him. 

I quite enjoy seeing that.  I know that technically that £1.7m is included in the original £10.5m, but as it isn't in your bank account yet, they haven't realised that they are going to pay his transfer fee and a huge chunk of his wages in the coming months

15 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Sorry. Have responded to that now. 

They owe us more than we paid for him. 

Sold him for £10.5M

Bought him back for £1.3M

He's already worth £1.7M

Who's to say we won't sell him again. 

Even more enjoyable seeing that his value is more, meaning they really could have fought for a better deal.

 

It would be great to see them relegated, have a fire sale, then come back for him to help them get promoted, and give you another  chunk of change

[Jimbokav1971]

ENOOOOOOOOOOOORMOUS Bid. Jul 2050. 

This is a simply enormous bid. He's contracted until 2053 and is our best player so I don't want him to go, but if I could I would have sold him for half that plus 50%, a friendly and a 12 month loan. 

The problem is that I really need the loan if we are going to get into the Premier League. 

They have given us 30% profit so I can't renegotiate for that, but I would love to be able to renegotiate for a loan deal. (Not even sure if that's a thing). I can't protest this. I just can't. 

We've currently got £33M in the bank and have a transfer budget of £75M. 

I'm thinking about protesting this so going to make myself a drink and decide I think.  

Quick thoughts anyone who is about? I'm really torn on this. 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Ok. I've taken a deep breath and...............

Wow. That's a BIG decision. 

 

[Pompeyboyz]

ooooof

[Thebaker]

8 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

 

I'm not happy with my HoYD at the moment. (I think we can do better). He's on a month to month contract at the moment but I can't find a better replacement which is both good and bad.

 

 

I also tried to get a loan Manager in for the 1st time, (we have 26 players out on loan right now), and I was surprised by this response. 

 

Knowing what makes a good HoYD is tough, a good personality or one rated highly in JPA and JPP. Which ever it is, i'm certain i don't know.

Loan manager is linked to rep i think as the option came available for me even though i don't have many youth players around.

I would have sold Ndlovu as that is a lot of money and the 30% clause could have added a lot more

[Jimbokav1971]

Just now, Thebaker said:

Knowing what makes a good HoYD is tough, a good personality or one rated highly in JPA and JPP. Which ever it is, i'm certain i don't know.

Loan manager is linked to rep i think as the option came available for me even though i don't have many youth players around.

I would have sold Ndlovu as that is a lot of money and the 30% clause could have added a lot more

The problem with £40M + 30% (of profit), is that it might have not have added anything. That's the danger with profit rather than value. If I could have done a deal for £20M 50% of re-sale, a friendly, £5M worth of assorted add-ons AND a loan back for 1 year then I would have done it. 

[olliep]

Can't believe I've got to the end. Read 20 pages today. This is a fascinating and brilliant story. KUTGW!

[Jimbokav1971]

28 minutes ago, olliep said:

Can't believe I've got to the end. Read 20 pages today. This is a fascinating and brilliant story. KUTGW!

Thanks very much. 

As my favourite YouTuber Quill18 says "If you have enjoyed it half as much as I have........ then I have enjoyed it twice as much as you!" 

[Jimbokav1971]

New Affiliate. Jul 2050. 

[Pompeyboyz]

2 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

New Affiliate. Jul 2050. 

The LingLong Tire SuperLiga 

There is a great competition

[rodesire]

never seen them produce a world class player but they do tend to poach talented serbians on my saves

[Jimbokav1971]

Big contract. Jul 2050. 

This is a LOT of money for us. It's £25k per week which equates to £1.3M per year and I also gave him a cash bonus of £600,000 and the agent got £100,000 so we're up to £2M. His contract expired at the end of next season so I wanted to sell him now and then get him loaned back but I couldn't get a deal done. I think this is because I've not been getting the best out of him. 

I've been playing (44b) Big Don (JAM)(Bal)6'5" * as a W(s) in the ML slot and that works great for the team. It doesn't work great for him though. He's certainly got some playmaking ability. (Actually, he has significant playmaking ability), but our DLP(s) plays in the MCL slot and I don't want them to crowd eachother. 

He's 6'5" and has jumping of 15. The other option is that I push him forward into the AML slot and play him as a WTM, bit when he doesn't play then I have to find someone to full that spot that I actually haven't got....... Unlesss...... Hold that thought......

This could be interesting. 

(49b) Big Niño (COL) (Unamb) is 6'7" and it's hard to get him game-time at the moment. What I could do is use him as the back up WTM on the left and that way I could use both of them in the same attacking role at set-pieces. Even if the position change doesn't work, their effectiveness at set-pieces is bound to pay dividends. 

I'm in. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, rodesire said:

never seen them produce a world class player but they do tend to poach talented serbians on my saves

The league isn't even active so they probably don't have any players and even if they do we can't sign them. I will try and change the details of the link so that we can get some of their youth players coming through our Academy though. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1st fine of the season in the 1st game of the season, (again). Jul 2050. 

We won. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2nd fine of the season. Aug 2050. 

We drew. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Loads of cards but no fine. Aug 2050.

We were shown 7 yellows and 2 reds away to Watford in the Carabao Cup, but we still somehow won on penalties against Watford. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2050. 

I didn't realise quite how long our unbeaten run was at the end of last season. 

We've gone 6 league games this season unbeaten in the league which means we went 9 games unbeaten in the league at the end of last season. 

Championship. Our form is great in terms of results, but we are squeezing past teams rather than hammering them. We've also won 3 different games 1-0. That's not like us at all. Some might even call it fraudulence......

Cup games. We've not been good in the Carabao Cup wither, but we have squeezed through 2 rounds so far and although Crewe are a Championship side we might still be able to squeeze through. 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Transfer News. Aug 2050. 

I was tempted to stick a cheeky bid in for him myself, but we have a couple of youngsters who need game-time and it didn't make sense to knock them down the pecking order by signings someone ahead of them at centre-half. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Strange Bid. Sep 2050. 

This isn't about the fact that someone has bid £8M for our player, but who has bid £8M for our player. 

To those of you who don't know, Dundalk are an Irish club and while they seem to have dominated the Irish league, (with better known Shamrock Rovers), it's a surprise that their existing record transfer is £2.1M never mind about the fact that they are now bidding £8M for a player.

They have qualified for the Europa Conference Group stage this season. 

But last season they qualified for the EURO League Group stage.

In actual fact this will be the 18th (EIGHTEENTH) time, that they have qualified for the Group Stage of a European competition since the save started. 

That's astonishing. 

[Pompeyboyz]

Wow, they must have a fair chunk of money in the bank then with that many Group Stages.  

All Europa League and Conference or ever Champions League?

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, Pompeyboyz said:

Wow, they must have a fair chunk of money in the bank then with that many Group Stages.  

All Europa League and Conference or ever Champions League?

No. Not a single Champions League. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Left Wing problem position. Sep 2050. 

Some of you will know that I have been having a problem with getting performances out of (44b) Big Don (JAM)(Bal)6'5" * on our left flank. We have been playing ok as a team, but I have not been getting the best out of him. It's a balance between what's good for the team and what's good for the player and I don't think I have it quite right. 

He's been a bit of a bit-part player so far this season, but we are still winning, (or at least not losing). 

As mentioned, I found a 6'7" left sided striker, (49b) Big Niño (COL) (Unamb) to back him up, and he's actually been the main player in this position so far this season. 

I think their "form" typifies the problems I am having here. These are 8 games that have seen us win 6 and draw 2, although we certainly haven't been as free-scoring as we usually are. We are better defensively, (these 2 players have been tasked with going back for set-pieces), but although I also tweaked their attacking set-piece instructions, they are not working as intended and I think I need to tweak them again. 

There has been not an assist or a goal between them and now (49b) Big Niño (COL) (Unamb) will be out injured for 3-6 weeks. I think I'm going to stick with this and I just need someone to fill in while (49b) Big Niño (COL) (Unamb) is injured. 

19 yo (48j) Sharpe (F.Pro) has only made 1 appearance this season, (in the Cup), and I think he will come in as a back-up on the left while (44b) Big Don (JAM)(Bal)6'5" * will start. (48j) Sharpe (F.Pro) is 6'2" and has jumping of 16. I think he can fulfill the set-piece role and I think anyone can do a job in the ML position during open play. 

What I'm going to do is change the individual instructions for (44b) Big Don (JAM)(Bal)6'5" *. I'm going to make him a W(a) to start off with and see if I can get him to become influential in open play. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Clauses. Sep 2050. 

(HG47) Luke Bird becomes the 2nd poached player to generate income for us. 

We've just got 2 clauses available to buy right now.

(38c) McCormack (IRL) (Bal) * is 29 now and valued at £2.3M so £550k wouldn't seem to be a good deal for his 50% clause, but our scouts think they would accept £775k for him so I think I'm going to cash it in. 

I think I'm quite happy to leave these (49e) Hayes (Res) clauses as is for the time being. 

[Thebaker]

a different role out wide may be needed ,none really look like wingers to me.   Dom could be a winger but maybe wide playmaker is better, the other two look like wide target men but that is only available for AML not ML.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, Thebaker said:

a different role out wide may be needed ,none really look like wingers to me.   Dom could be a winger but maybe wide playmaker is better, the other two look like wide target men but that is only available for AML not ML.

Exactly. WTM is what is screaming out at me but you also have to remember that we are playing well at the moment and if this needs to be a conservative role that compliments the team then so be it. I just don't think the balance is right. 

We have lost the next game, but that was largely because of a 1st half red card so I don't want to make any knee-jerk reactions. You have to remember that I'm not watching the games so changes have to be made really gradually.

At the moment I want to stick with the ML slot rather than advancing to the AML slot. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sept 2050. 

Championship. A real horrible month that saw us decimated by suspensions, little knocks and poor condition. I tried to rotate the squad as best I could, but we just had some positions with very few options and for the 1st time in a long time I even had to resort to playing wrong sided players at full back. 

All things considered we actually did ok. A 1st half red card cost us against West ham and the team I picked against Forest was the weakest we have fielded in a long time. 

Cup games. Bournemouth are 16th in the Premeir League so this is a tough ask, but we will give it a go.