[FM21] Teams to manage

[Sunderland AFC]

I'm looking for a save to do in Europe. Probably in a traditionally smaller league where I'm one of the top 2 or 3 teams and can have domestic success but struggle to compete in Europe.

Unsure who to go with 

[bluenonny]

Slavia Prague

[rafaelbenitez]

2 hours ago, Sunderland AFC said:

I'm looking for a save to do in Europe. Probably in a traditionally smaller league where I'm one of the top 2 or 3 teams and can have domestic success but struggle to compete in Europe.

Unsure who to go with 

How small are you looking for?

Off the top of my head:

Netherlands - PSV/Feyenoord (PSV definitely closer to the top)

Portugal - Sporting CP (not won the league since 2002)

Turkey - Besiktas (two gigantic local rivals in Fener and Galatasaray with new boys Basaksehir also on the up)

[Jogo Bonito]

2 hours ago, Sunderland AFC said:

I'm looking for a save to do in Europe. Probably in a traditionally smaller league where I'm one of the top 2 or 3 teams and can have domestic success but struggle to compete in Europe.

Unsure who to go with 

Slavia Prague or St. Gallen in Switzerland?

2 hours ago, bluenonny said:

Slavia Prague

Perfect suggestion, they have a great squad.

[silentwars]

3 hours ago, Sunderland AFC said:

I'm looking for a save to do in Europe. Probably in a traditionally smaller league where I'm one of the top 2 or 3 teams and can have domestic success but struggle to compete in Europe.

Unsure who to go with 

Valarenga in Norway - they have great facilities and youth set up. I've had some fun in the Danish league on this years FM as well, might be worth taking a look at.

[Jogo Bonito]

After watching the Europa League tonight, I was reminded of my Young Boys side of yesteryear where I signed tonight's hat-trick hero Mislav Orsic (along with a very young pair called Haland and Davies, not sure what came of them?). Not to mention my best ever FM goal video in there from FM15 with Grasshoppers! Maybe once my time in Parma ends I might need to re-visit Switzerland again, but this time with St. Gallen.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

50 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

After watching the Europa League tonight, I was reminded of my Young Boys side of yesteryear where I signed tonight's hat-trick hero Mislav Orsic (along with a very young pair called Haland and Davies, not sure what came of them?). Not to mention my best ever FM goal video in there from FM15 with Grasshoppers! Maybe once my time in Parma ends I might need to re-visit Switzerland again, but this time with St. Gallen.

 

I completely forgot I posted that thread lol. Good memories going through that again.

I might give FC Basel a try at some point as I have never managed them and I like their kits.

[BadAss88]

Wanna start a Glory Hunter-save (win top 5 leagues + domestic cups + CL + EL + EC + WC in 20 years) but I'm uncertain with which team.. AS Monaco, OGC Nice, Hertha BSC, Borussia Dortmund or Internazionale.

[FMunderachiever]

On 16/03/2021 at 11:20, Sunderland AFC said:

I'm looking for a save to do in Europe. Probably in a traditionally smaller league where I'm one of the top 2 or 3 teams and can have domestic success but struggle to compete in Europe.

Unsure who to go with 

AEK Athens would be good for you I think

[AddicksFan]

Got a nice FC Nordsjaelland save going....looking at also starting a DOF save....looking for a team outside the top 5 leagues...just so much choice!!

[Ewan0404]

On 23/03/2021 at 21:12, FMunderachiever said:

AEK Athens would be good for you I think

@Sunderland AFC I played as AEK in FM20 and loved it, was a really fun save.

[BeadyRoller]

What is a second division league in Europe which has a couple strong teams that are high favourites to go up? Me and my friend are after a good network save but want to start with a couple strong teams with a good foundation to build if we get promoted.

 

Cheers,

[silentwars]

9 hours ago, BeadyRoller said:

What is a second division league in Europe which has a couple strong teams that are high favourites to go up? Me and my friend are after a good network save but want to start with a couple strong teams with a good foundation to build if we get promoted.

 

Cheers,

The Championship? - Norwich, Bournemouth, Brentford & Watford are all strong teams.

[Ewan0404]

10 hours ago, BeadyRoller said:

What is a second division league in Europe which has a couple strong teams that are high favourites to go up? Me and my friend are after a good network save but want to start with a couple strong teams with a good foundation to build if we get promoted.

 

Cheers,

Hamburg and Hannover in the German Bundesliga 2 would be good.

Or in Italy you could go Brescia and Monza?

[Yellowbucket58]

How hard is it to keep talent while playing in the Eredivisie? If I were to start a save as Ajax or PSV would it be impossible to keep a world class player if I were to develop one? Really want to start a save in the Netherlands and groom/develop talent but don't want to invest heavily on a player(s) simply to see him leave as soon as he develops into a good to great player.

[steevo55]

Il y a 19 heures, Yellowbucket58 a dit :

How hard is it to keep talent while playing in the Eredivisie? If I were to start a save as Ajax or PSV would it be impossible to keep a world class player if I were to develop one? Really want to start a save in the Netherlands and groom/develop talent but don't want to invest heavily on a player(s) simply to see him leave as soon as he develops into a good to great player.

Like in every clubs, it's easy to keep world class players. If the player plays a lot, he will quickly became a "highy influential player". When he asks you that he wanna leave, just tell me that he is too important for the club, he will surely like it, mostly if you are one of his prefered people (that will arrive too if he plays a lot).

It's the same way i always used in my saves from previous years, it always works (in Austria, Romania or Netherlands)

 

[wakesta]

I have decided to manage Las Palmas within the Segunda Division in Span

[3rik]

Quit the save in Cukaricki Stankom after 3-4 months. Can't really pinpoit why but felt wrong. Maybe to easy of a challenge. I always get stuck in the same plays with a team with good youth and the team is quite good right away making it all about scouting for regens from the second season and the results comes anyway because of a good team. 

Have had a Youth Academy only save in Sweden as well, and it was fun but got repetitive after 6/7 seasons when your teams reputation gets higher and you are to depened on getting stars every season.

Have made a pause with my NEC save after getting 3rd in Eredivise in the second season and now the save feels quite done despite not winning the league. The challenge was to easy maybe? 

What can i do to take on a different challenge? Bilbao or something like that? A big team that needs to win right away?

Edited April 6, 2021 by 3rik

[Muttley84]

11 hours ago, 3rik said:

Bilbao or something like that?

Why not go a bit different, and do it Basque only, but with Eibar or Alaves. If you really feel hardcore about this, drop down to Segunda B and take a Basque club from there - Arenas de Getxo, Real Union de Irun or Amorrebieta!

[BadAss88]

15 hours ago, 3rik said:

Quit the save in Cukaricki Stankom after 3-4 months. Can't really pinpoit why but felt wrong. Maybe to easy of a challenge. I always get stuck in the same plays with a team with good youth and the team is quite good right away making it all about scouting for regens from the second season and the results comes anyway because of a good team. 

Have had a Youth Academy only save in Sweden as well, and it was fun but got repetitive after 6/7 seasons when your teams reputation gets higher and you are to depened on getting stars every season.

Have made a pause with my NEC save after getting 3rd in Eredivise in the second season and now the save feels quite done despite not winning the league. The challenge was to easy maybe? 

What can i do to take on a different challenge? Bilbao or something like that? A big team that needs to win right away?

Start unemployed and see what comes on your path..

[oze07]

I wish the likes of rennes, lyon and lille were in a better league. anyone point me in the right direction of similar teams in spain,italy or germany? i would really like to exploit the south american market aswell. for the likes of menino,calegari, kaio jorge etc. i know portulgal is a good place to start, but again, would prefer a better league. thanks!

 

[ShaunG95]

2 hours ago, oze07 said:

I wish the likes of rennes, lyon and lille were in a better league. anyone point me in the right direction of similar teams in spain,italy or germany? i would really like to exploit the south american market aswell. for the likes of menino,calegari, kaio jorge etc. i know portulgal is a good place to start, but again, would prefer a better league. thanks!

 

Hertha is a good shout. They have a rich sugar daddy who throws money at you a la Man City's owners. Failing that, you've got Almeria in Spain (2nd tier) who are also quite rich to really breach the status quo in those countries.

In terms of naturally 'similar' teams to those mentioned though, Villarreal, Celta Vigo or Valencia in Spain, Bologna, Sassuolo or Fiorentina in Italy or Frankfurt, Hoffenheim or Koln in Germany.

[Michael Hughes]

4 hours ago, ShaunG95 said:

Hertha is a good shout. They have a rich sugar daddy who throws money at you a la Man City's owners. Failing that, you've got Almeria in Spain (2nd tier) who are also quite rich to really breach the status quo in those countries.

In terms of naturally 'similar' teams to those mentioned though, Villarreal, Celta Vigo or Valencia in Spain, Bologna, Sassuolo or Fiorentina in Italy or Frankfurt, Hoffenheim or Koln in Germany.

Agree with the Almeria suggestion.  I’m in season 2 with them the now and really enjoying it.  The owner defo puts money in, although it’s mostly sponsors he’s getting now, instead of his own money lol! They’ve never won a single honour as well, which makes it even more of an ideal save.

[ShaunG95]

7 hours ago, Michael Hughes said:

Agree with the Almeria suggestion.  I’m in season 2 with them the now and really enjoying it.  The owner defo puts money in, although it’s mostly sponsors he’s getting now, instead of his own money lol! They’ve never won a single honour as well, which makes it even more of an ideal save.

Did you get promotion in the first season? I am contemplating a longer term save either with them or Hertha, someone of that ilk.

[Michael Hughes]

53 minutes ago, ShaunG95 said:

Did you get promotion in the first season? I am contemplating a longer term save either with them or Hertha, someone of that ilk.

Yeah, won the league by 4 points, which the board demanded lol! It’s worth a go imo, the fact they’ve not won any honours adds to appeal for me.  Finished 5th in season 2 after bottling it for top 4.  The team isn’t that good for la liga, only 3 of the owned players from season 1 easily made the jump but the board back you in the transfer market.

[ShaunG95]

2 minutes ago, Michael Hughes said:

Yeah, won the league by 4 points, which the board demanded lol! It’s worth a go imo, the fact they’ve not won any honours adds to appeal for me.  Finished 5th in season 2 after bottling it for top 4.  The team isn’t that good for la liga, only 3 of the owned players from season 1 easily made the jump but the board back you in the transfer market.

I'm very tempted. So what was your transfer budget looking like as you entered La Liga? I'm intrigued.

[Michael Hughes]

2 minutes ago, ShaunG95 said:

I'm very tempted. So what was your transfer budget looking like as you entered La Liga? I'm intrigued.

Can’t actually remember tbh but it was reflective of the investment, roughly between 20 and 30 mil.  Due to release clauses in Spain, you can get some bargains.  The only 3 players in my team from season 1, that are owned anyway, that can make the step up are Alex Centelles (very good left back), Lucas Robertone (solid cam, who was amazing in season 1) and Umar Saqid (decent striker, who banged in 16 goals and 22 goals in season 1 and 2 respectively).

[Fyakin]

After reading the thread I got 2 teams in mind.

Almeria or AEK.

What would you think will be the most fun and why?

So hard to choose.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

9 hours ago, Fyakin said:

After reading the thread I got 2 teams in mind.

Almeria or AEK.

What would you think will be the most fun and why?

So hard to choose.

Any idea how much money Almeria get to spend ?

[ShaunG95]

2 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Any idea how much money Almeria get to spend ?

They only get £1m in the first window.

[silentwars]

12 hours ago, Fyakin said:

After reading the thread I got 2 teams in mind.

Almeria or AEK.

What would you think will be the most fun and why?

So hard to choose.

Almeria would be more appealing to me as you've got lots of big clubs you've got to compete with before you can win anything. I'd imagine you could dominate Greek football with AEK within a couple of seasons which could get a tad boring. 

[smplfc123]

I'm looking for a mid-table team in the top division, preferably outside of the UK. A team where the expectations aren't stupidly high in the first season, but also aren't predicted to go down.  

A team that has some room to grow, the equivalent of someone like Southampton or West Ham in the PL.

[oze07]

I'm looking for a team in probably Spain or italy that likes to raid the south  American talent? Also has a bit of cash. I'm thinking ac milan or roma for italy.  I like the look of Seville,  but I would like a team that has a decent budget at the end of the season? 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

18 minutes ago, oze07 said:

I'm looking for a team in probably Spain or italy that likes to raid the south  American talent? Also has a bit of cash. I'm thinking ac milan or roma for italy.  I like the look of Seville,  but I would like a team that has a decent budget at the end of the season? 

Just bare in mind if you are managing in Italy you would be limited to a certain amount of Foreign players but in Spain I think its not as bad for restrictions.

Valencia would be a good choice of a team as they have a good squad but you can also sell some players to get a decent transfer budget.

[oze07]

8 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Just bare in mind if you are managing in Italy you would be limited to a certain amount of Foreign players but in Spain I think its not as bad for restrictions.

Valencia would be a good choice of a team as they have a good squad but you can also sell some players to get a decent transfer budget.

Ok thanks. I'm torn between,  Valencia, sociedad or sevilla.  Just dont want to struggle with no money.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

3 hours ago, oze07 said:

Ok thanks. I'm torn between,  Valencia, sociedad or sevilla.  Just dont want to struggle with no money.

I don't know if Valencia have any money issues these days but if you want a financially sturdy team then probably best to pick Sevilla.

[silentwars]

On 11/04/2021 at 20:34, smplfc123 said:

I'm looking for a mid-table team in the top division, preferably outside of the UK. A team where the expectations aren't stupidly high in the first season, but also aren't predicted to go down.  

A team that has some room to grow, the equivalent of someone like Southampton or West Ham in the PL.

Villareal, Sassuolo, Torino, Stuggart, Koln 

[Bertieb39]

I want to go for a fun save, where I can build the best team ever...can you advise which of the elite teams get consistently big transfer budgets each season. Was thinking Real Madid?

[Gee_Simpson]

3 hours ago, Bertieb39 said:

I want to go for a fun save, where I can build the best team ever...can you advise which of the elite teams get consistently big transfer budgets each season. Was thinking Real Madid?

Yeah, also PSG and Man City 🤢

[DominicForza]

8 hours ago, Bertieb39 said:

I want to go for a fun save, where I can build the best team ever...can you advise which of the elite teams get consistently big transfer budgets each season. Was thinking Real Madid?

 

5 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Yeah, also PSG and Man City 🤢

Bayern Munich

[DominicForza]

On 02/04/2021 at 19:30, Yellowbucket58 said:

How hard is it to keep talent while playing in the Eredivisie? If I were to start a save as Ajax or PSV would it be impossible to keep a world class player if I were to develop one? Really want to start a save in the Netherlands and groom/develop talent but don't want to invest heavily on a player(s) simply to see him leave as soon as he develops into a good to great player.

 

On 03/04/2021 at 14:40, steevo55 said:

Like in every clubs, it's easy to keep world class players. If the player plays a lot, he will quickly became a "highy influential player". When he asks you that he wanna leave, just tell me that he is too important for the club, he will surely like it, mostly if you are one of his prefered people (that will arrive too if he plays a lot).

It's the same way i always used in my saves from previous years, it always works (in Austria, Romania or Netherlands)

 

Part of the fun of managing in Netherlands (or similar leagues) is continuing to develop and integrate the next generation of players.   With Ajax or PSV you will still be able to dominate the league and be competittive in Europe.  

[silentwars]

9 hours ago, Bertieb39 said:

I want to go for a fun save, where I can build the best team ever...can you advise which of the elite teams get consistently big transfer budgets each season. Was thinking Real Madid?

PSG will probably have the most funds but it might be more boring than the PL or LA Liga due to the lack of competition. Would go for City, United or Real.

[krisdonna]

On 16/04/2021 at 13:34, Bertieb39 said:

I want to go for a fun save, where I can build the best team ever...can you advise which of the elite teams get consistently big transfer budgets each season. Was thinking Real Madid?

Bayern, Barcelona or Man City

[steevo55]

Le 16/04/2021 à 13:34, Bertieb39 a dit :

I want to go for a fun save, where I can build the best team ever...can you advise which of the elite teams get consistently big transfer budgets each season. Was thinking Real Madid?

There's money in Germany too ! My team with Dortmund before starting the third season.

[wakesta]

I have chosen Adana Demirspor within the 1st division within Turkey. 

 

[silentwars]

2 hours ago, wakesta said:

I have chosen Adana Demirspor within the 1st division within Turkey. 

 

That sounds like an interesting challenge 

[Gee_Simpson]

7 hours ago, steevo55 said:

There's money in Germany too ! My team with Dortmund before starting the third season.

How on earth have you managed that? I would assume monthly installments?

[steevo55]

Il y a 4 heures, Gee_Simpson a dit :

How on earth have you managed that? I would assume monthly installments?

Not so much (still just 120 M that I will pay in nex january). I had over 100M after first season and same after second season. I managed to sell at good prices some players at the club and players who come on a free transfer.

I finally made 2 more transfers, here's my team updated and transfer history.

 

[Gee_Simpson]

18 hours ago, steevo55 said:

Not so much (still just 120 M that I will pay in nex january). I had over 100M after first season and same after second season. I managed to sell at good prices some players at the club and players who come on a free transfer.

I finally made 2 more transfers, here's my team updated and transfer history.

 

Ah yeah I forgot you are Dortmund  I had it in my mind you had also bought Haaland and Sancho but obviously you already own them

[AddicksFan]

On 16/03/2021 at 11:20, Sunderland AFC said:

I'm looking for a save to do in Europe. Probably in a traditionally smaller league where I'm one of the top 2 or 3 teams and can have domestic success but struggle to compete in Europe.

Unsure who to go with 

FC Nordsjaelland, have a fantastic young team that can push Copenhagen and Midjytlland for the title.