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[FM21] Hometown Heroes


_Ben_
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1 hour ago, Nottingham Forest said:

Basically should just give every FMCU award to you this year. Your threads provide me with much entertainment as you create an atmosphere that makes you feel like you’re playing the save. 
 

Edit: By you’re I mean me!

Genuinely - thank you so much for your support within this thread. If there is anything you want to see or want me to include - please let me know.

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August/September 2035

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This is a tough league!

August started off in the best possible way as we comfortably beat Burnley, who have really struggled this season. We then narrowly lost out to Sheffield Wednesday despite having the better of the game and the better xG before being completely outplayed by Forest - going down in the 2nd minute and doing nothing else all game. I was fortunate enough to be able to make nine changes for the meaningless Carabao Cup tie against Pompey, so was surprised when we won. A good win over Ipswich followed before a hammering to another big team that are struggling, Derby. Once again, a heavily rotated squad saw off Cardiff, albeit only on penalties.

September saw a poor performance against bottom of the league Coventry start us off - conceding three for the second time in a week. I used the 14 day to hammer home some defensive training and that has been rewarded with three league draws in a row - although two of those were against teams in the bottom five at the time: Wigan and Swansea. We held high flying Blues but the Ferencik strike was worth our entire 0.12 xG that we created in that game. Clearly - my plan here is to sort the defence, pick up points, keep morale good and move forward.

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We aren't doing too bad though. We are a little busier than I wanted but I definitely expected this and a little more passive than I wanted - but we are no longer a big fish in our league pond and have to be sensible. We are conceding what is expected for us - 15 goals against from 15.56 xGA and are conceding most from crosses (4) and through balls (6) with the most assists coming from outside of our box.

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My obvious concern is that we aren't winning enough - with just two wins this season. We do face Crewe, at home, next but I know that overpowering teams is hard at this level. I don't feel that it is necessary a tactical issue and a lot more down to quality. This is not helping, either:

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I did not recruit any other full backs over the summer and I am really feeling it now. Haywood and Glasscoe are young and nowhere near the level needed and I've lost Ofori for 4 months with a broken leg, leaving me very short here and eying some reinforcements in January.

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8 hours ago, tyler16 said:

How has Perfecto performed so far? Imagine he would get labeled as the type of player who would be kicked around in the Championship if this were real life. 😂

He's been pretty decent, to be fair!

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Four goals and two assists is a decent starting point for someone averaging 70 mins per game. I'd like some more chances created - especially when you compare that to the man, Carter Vincent-Day, who he is in competition with. 

His per/90 statistics look pretty good, for what I want:

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His game isn't about dribbling nor crossing so he's actually above the average in the areas I care about for his role and our style. I really wish that I could customise these xG graphs though with headings that I want!

One further point to notice and an area I want to work on is the number of times he's lost possession, as seen below:

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I can't split that into misplaced pass, tackle, out of play etc (which is a shame) but he is significantly behind Vincent-Day in KPasses/90 (1.70 to 3.55) so I'd have to assume that it's that final ball going astray. Compare their attributes and you can see a few things:

  • Passing: CVD
  • Vision: CVD
  • Flair: PJ
  • Composure: CVD
  • Decisions: PJ
  • Technique: =

You can probably see why Carter is outperforming him a little as he's probably the better player. However, I'm still more than happy as he's still very much in the 'bedding in' phase!

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October/November 2035

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From 'unbeaten in 11' to 'one win in 13' comes the roar of the media!

I think that we are executing our plans pretty well at the moment - picking up points in most games and riding through the more difficutl spells. Truth be told, October started annoyingly - we dominated Crewe and let in two easy goals from sloppy defending before pulling off a great win at playoff bound Blackburn. Barnsley, who enter December in 2nd place, also struggled against us as I felt our form may be turning around and we may be getting what we deserve from some more of the matches before a pretty dour league run has seen us not win since then. We lost, comfortably, away at Boro in that time too.

However, the bright spark is another Carabao Cup win and another win where we've been battered on xG by a bigger team than us, yet still gone through. We face Norwich in the next round and I just wish that it gave us a little more in the way of prize money to make this worthwhile.

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A little busier and a little more passive than the first two months but my analyst says that we are performing above average - with only our shots figure lower than the league average. I have a great scorer in Ferencik but wonder if the two AP experiment has cost me a little bit of firepower going forward.

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Vlad is now Pro after moving from Spirited. I think I can ascertain this information:

  • Determination: 13
  • Pressure: 15-20,
  • Professionalism: was 11-17 now is (probably) 18.
  • Temperament 15-20

Now, to look at what he needs to achieve that M.Citizen, with a strikethrough in what I can presume he already has:

Determination 14-20, Professionalism 15-20, Ambition 12-20, Loyalty 15-20, Pressure 14-20, Sportsmanship 15-20, Temperament 15-20

His mentoring group should allow his Determination to grow by that one point but, from then on, I have no way of knowing his other attributes. I can probably believe that his Loyalty, Ambition and Sportmanship are not below 5 as I'm sure that'd influence his personality or MH but having him in a group with a Model Pro/Level-Headed (so loyalty is, at least, 12) is the best I can do here without the use of a Model Citizen mentor.

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January 2036: Personality change

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The mentoring group had an impact on Vlad's Determination...

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Now he's a Model Citizen/Unflappable.

I'm delighted to have taken a young Spirited striker and then being able to turn him into what I rate as the pinnacle in just four years. There are lots of things that have contributed to this - the main one being luck as I had no indication of a few of his hidden attributes - but it's still a sign that good personality coaches (which I am still adamant impact the starting personality) and a good personality squad, as seen below, are vital to player development.

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Model Citizen

  • Determination 14-20,
  • Professionalism 15-20,
  • Ambition 12-20,
  • Loyalty 15-20,
  • Pressure 14-20,
  • Sportsmanship 15-20,
  • Temperament 15-20

Unflappable:

  • Temperament 15-20,
  • Pressure 15-20

The only development I can think of here would be to be able to add Reserved (Controversy 1-5, Professionalism 15-20) to his Media Handling as that implies his rate of causing controversy would be very low.

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2 hours ago, abulezz said:

Golden Generation - this should be good!

Let's hope so. Still battling the fact that I've found the preview to not really match up to the actual intake but the money we invest into this really should continue to produce results as we progress.

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December 2035/January 2036

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Things were looking bleak until some New Year cheer spurred us on.

We really struggled throughout December but I stuck to my guns of ensuring a tight defensive shape with extra work throughout the weeks at improving our defensive efficiency as, I think, 46 points (every game drawn) will be enough to keep us in this league. We might have the joint lowest amounts of defeats but have the number of games we've drawn and we'd be joint bottom of the league.  We are drawing against teams like Reading (1st) and Watford (5th) - which are points I'd bank on other teams around us not getting.

We've been poor at times. There is no doubt about that. We can be very naïve and really create nothing, with Ferencik still being able to score in often 'lost' opportunities, which is amazing however, we have had two bright spots - big wins over Sheff Wednesday and Ipswich, which have done a lot to moving us away from the danger zone that we were creeping towards.

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The above figure is the amount I've accepted from  Bundesliga side Mainz for Jemal Grandison. He's progressed really well and is a decent squad member but this is a very big bid and one that I would not, in real life, ever be able to turn down for the lad.

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Lastly, the combination of mentoring and fining for poor performances has been working really well over the past few months - Levi France moved from F.Pro to Pro and gained Determination, whilst AbrahamssonGlasscoe and Haywood have all made Work Rate and Determination developments due to poor performances. This is great but I do worry how much overall progress they'd be making if they were playing better!

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March 2036: Interest

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Interest in my young American is now high...

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He isn't interested in staying here so, realistically, I've got three years until his contract expires and he goes for free or I cash in on him and not have to worry about finances for the rest of this save...

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2036 Youth Intake

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Excel CA AnalysisExcel Intake Tracker.

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[GK] Jackson Lowe

[CD] Conor Poole

[DM] Hunter Maddison

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Before we discuss the players, I want to point out that, once again, Bobby Hassell has done a great job of bringing through defensive players but we are very short on attacking talent through my academy; I wonder how much is linked to his Park the Bus style?

We do have three great players and the first is Jackson Lowe, who could go on to be my best goalkeeper. There's no weaknesses there but his Passing will be worked on, definitely. Next up is Conor Poole, who is a decent centre back and adds to a growing list of talent, even if his Concentration is very poor. Hunter, wonderfully named too, is a top prospect at DM and could go on to be a key player. Aggression, Bravery, Work Rate - even the most Tika Taka teams need a ball winner and I always look back to Marcos Senna in that Spain team. Hunter could be that man; he's tall enough to drop back into the DC slot as a HB but good enough on the ball to help in possession. I'm incredibly excited about his development.

I also quite like the dual-national full back duo of Musah and Chane - although I think they'll only ever be second fiddle to Haywood and Glasscoe.

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A great intake for us and one which I really think can continue our trend. Below is the best rated Intelligence (Ant, Con, Dec, Det) player from each intake as well as the best 'average' player. Those highlighted in yellow have made at least one appearance for the first team. I definitely think Hunter will also do this:

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February/March 2036

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Jekyll and Hyde!

I have no idea how we put together the run that we did in February, even if we were facing the bottom two teams and a Blues side plummeting out of the playoff places. However, the icing on the cake was the five-goal haul for Vlad at home to Blackburn, who pressed really high then didn't learn from their mistakes as he took it to them in the latter stages of the game. As you can see by March's goalscoring - he's been injured and is now away with the USA team and we are really missing that. I don't like to use the phrase 'one-man-team' but we are very much looking that way right now and I worry what will happen in the summer given the interest in him.

With safety all-but secured, it's time to turn my attention to what I want us to look like next year and how many of the 'squad' players are going to be kept:

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  • Ofori - four month injury but playing ok since returning. Probably kept on for depth.
  • Amazu - contract expiring and Weaver developing really well out on loan. More than likely allowed to leave
  • Chib - not good enough so will leave on a free
  • Morrison - angry at me for not being placed but not able to match Ferencik for form. I need some depth here but may cave and sell him
  • Broome - solid, if unspectacular. I have that academy bias but I reckon he's easily replaceable.

Time to get scouting!

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7 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

You've only got to look at our wages to confirm this:

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I know it's kind of cheating to include any league that has PSG in, but we're currently spending 2.3% of the gallons they're spunking all over the league, and that's after persuading the board to increase our wage budget.

That said, we're still only at around 5% of what Lyon (2nd in the rankings) are spending. 

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12 hours ago, turnip said:

I know it's kind of cheating to include any league that has PSG in, but we're currently spending 2.3% of the gallons they're spunking all over the league, and that's after persuading the board to increase our wage budget.

That said, we're still only at around 5% of what Lyon (2nd in the rankings) are spending. 

Sorry @turnip- I hadn't seen your thread and it's one that I regularly follow - as I love the alternate universe of fake players!

We are spending about 6% of what Watford are doing, which, like your Clermont, is just ridiculous that we can even compete.

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2035/36 End of Season

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I am absolutely delighted with this result. 17th is not really ever a place that we would be dreaming of, especially considering to how we've adapted to new divisions in the past - but we've really executed our game plans well and picked up points in places we'd never expect to pick up points as well as being the the fifth best scoring team in the league; ending with a ridiculous Goal Difference for a team at our place in the league.

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As a team, we've recorded some strange performances - being ridiculously clinical with our shooting, exceeding our xG by something mad like 13 goals. I think that this is largely down to Ferencik and his exploits as, arguably, the best striker in the league. We've been busier than we have been for the past few years, but, as a newly promoted team, I have to accept that.

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There are two real stand out performers here: Ferencik, who won the Golden Boot and scored more league goals (36) than any player has in the Championship since the start of the game and Vincent-Day, who was the primary creator for Ferencik. Even though his Average Rating hasn't suggested so, Elijah Suarez has really performed above average, even if one of those metrics is possession lost! I afforded plenty of minutes to youngsters Glasscoe and Haywood, even though they were the weakest performers on paper and the likes of Airey, France and Bohana cemented themselves as good players at this level from my academy, which is great.

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Got a fair bit of thinking to do over the summer with Ferencik probably wanting to move on. How I replace him could massively impact how we fare over the next few years.

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May 2036: Sorting Question

The kind of thing @Jimbokav1971 probably knows! I'm just playing with my squad views and the sorting. I can, for example, sort by ability and get that listed in descending order in terms of starts and surname, which is alphabetical.

However, when I sort by Personality - I get this:

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Now this is not in alphabetical order but appears to be in some kind of 'quality of personality' order? I think I can back this up even more by adding some poor personalities from my youth team (another Unambitious, Low Self Belief and Temperamental) and you can see the results here.

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Have SI kindly added the criteria to sort personalities or am I thinking too much into this?

 

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2 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

May 2036: Sorting Question

The kind of thing @Jimbokav1971 probably knows! I'm just playing with my squad views and the sorting. I can, for example, sort by ability and get that listed in descending order in terms of starts and surname, which is alphabetical.

However, when I sort by Personality - I get this:

0319be1260bf5b7f91f2ade234343817.png

Now this is not in alphabetical order but appears to be in some kind of 'quality of personality' order? I think I can back this up even more by adding some poor personalities from my youth team (another Unambitious, Low Self Belief and Temperamental) and you can see the results here.

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Have SI kindly added the criteria to sort personalities or am I thinking too much into this?

 

I can't remember how it was sorted before. Was it alphabetical? 

If it was then this is a very dangerous precedent because it suggests a ranking of personalities that we both know is not even close to accurate because of the variables involved in many personalities. 

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Here is the perfect example. Casual at the bottom is fine. No issue with that at all, but Fickle is below Low Determination and that's a big no-no for me. I actually quite like Fickle as and often keep an eye out for it. 

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Amb could be 20, Det could be 16 & Pro could be 17. What's not to like? 

Merc is another one. (It's very much on a par with Fickle for me).

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Amb could be 20, Det could be 17 and Pro could be 17. Nobody is going to turn their noses up at that. 

F.Sport is ranked above F.Pro is another no-no for me. 

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I think the 2 different options for F.Pro relate to Newgen and real player, (but not sure), but even if we take the top 1, guaranteed Pro of 15-17 is surely better than Det 10-14, Amb <15 and Pro <15. Don't get me wrong, Amb & Pro might be as high as 14, (and great if it is), but with F.Pro you have a guarantee of Pro 15-17, (or 18-20). I'd take F.Pro over a F.Sport all day long. 

So I would say yes this could be classed as progress, but a little like everything in the game it's a hint at information while also being a little misleading. (If that makes sense). 

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4 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I can't remember how it was sorted before. Was it alphabetical? 

If it was then this is a very dangerous precedent because it suggests a ranking of personalities that we both know is not even close to accurate because of the variables involved in many personalities. 

 

4 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

So I would say yes this could be classed as progress, but a little like everything in the game it's a hint at information while also being a little misleading. (If that makes sense). 

I don't know if it's ever been sorted alphabetically before but, as you said, I'm worried as there is far more to it than purely personality!

Glad I'm not the only one who is questioning it. Thanks for the examples too - definitely on your side with this.

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July 2036: Recruitment Part 1

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Out go ChibOfori and Amazu. I'm also making moves to allow Matty Toms and Shaun Morrison to leave, with the former having a big influence on a negative personality and the latter not being able to accept reduced playing time.

It means we need to sign a few more players than initially wanted, but we'll get overcome it!

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July 2036: Contract news

The news that Vlad Ferencik has agreed terms on a new deal, as seen below, is a massive thing for me! We've strengthened really well around him in the early stages of the window and I hope he can replicate the form of last year.

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2036/37 Recruitment

I am really happy with this and, despite the large increase in wage bill, feel that we've really strengthened and continue to build towards our end footballing goal. Here are the incoming transfers:

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Chris Cawley.  JosemaCameron Taylor-SinclairConnor EnglishMatthew BroughEli LopiaNicky Stevens.

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Cawley is a bit of a gamble as he's been a free agent for nearly 12 months now. Last summer, he priced himself out of a move here but now decides to join for a very respectable wage. He's got all of the right attributes for a right back in my team and is pretty well rounded, too; a definite step up on Ofori from last year. I went to Spain again, this time to bring in Josema, following his release from Rayo Vallecano. He's a bit more of a ball-winner than what we've really got, Scott Turner aside, and is adept with either foot, too. I like his Tackling, Teamwork and Decisions and I reckon he'll get about 50% of his football in the BBM(s) role and the other 50% in the HB(d) role, if Billy Airey is unavailable or is rested. Taylor-Sinclair becomes my second double-barrelled midfielder and, like Vincent-Day before him, comes in from a decent spell in Scotland - this time with Raith Rovers, of the Scottish top flight. He's the not too dissimilar from Josema in that he's well rounded with a good physical side to him. English, the Canadian, is probably my favourite signing on the window. He's 31 but my game, out wide, is not about pace, so this doesn't phase me at all. I love the combination of Composure, First Touch, Passing, Vision and Technique - all of which are top class. He spent a bit of time in the CPL before moving to Vancouver and then Montreal before we snuck in a £240k bid as his contract was expiring but I wanted him now. He'll be a regular if he performs anywhere near like his attributes suggest. Brough makes his deal permanent for just £150k, which is great. He was pretty solid last year and adds another dimension to my wing play as he's two footed. Lastly, the two strikers - Lopia, a £150k signing from relegated Crewe and Stevens, who comes with a good scoring record for Bundesliga 2 side Stuttgart, provide some competition and depth up top.

This now gives me the ability to field pretty much two separate starting XIs, as seen below. There is still a feel that the first XI is quite a bit stronger than the second, but we are combining sensible recruitment with academy players: France, Airey and Ferencik make my stronger side and Weaver, Haywood, Bennet, Bohana, Glasscoe and Abrahamsson are in the slightly weaker XI.

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The DNA is building as we are developing and recruiting more players with attributes suitable for the type of football I want to play and we are getting stronger throughout the team.

Edited by _Ben_
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September 2036: International recognition

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Bohana becomes the fourth (after Abrahamsson, Ferencik and Alric Kirwan) academy graduate to be capped at a full international level. Elijah Suarez, not from the academy, also got his first call up to the USA national team.

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Sorry to take it back to post 1 of this thread, but I have a question about your recruitment. I love to play LLM and always start off no badges and Sunday League experience and see where in the World I end up. Like you (although not necessarily on this save as you are from the town), I like to do some research into the club that I am taking over; learning about the town/city's economy, demographics, history (started latest save is in Poland so that's been an eye opener), and even politics, searching out blogs or translating articles about the club and it's players/staff.

I try to keep it as realistic as possible, notwithstanding how absurd it would be for a bloke from northern England to find himself in charge of a fourth tier team in Central Poland with no prior experience and not speaking the language, and so have the same type of priority in which you started this save in that I try to pick up released youth players from the bigger neighbouring clubs.

The question I have is, do you do anything special in terms of recruitment? Do you offer trials to these types of players or play without attribute masking on? The reason I ask is that I always tend to 'forget' about this side of the game and end up without any scouting packages to save money. It gets to a point where my players contracts end in a weeks time, and so I renew them so I have some sort of squad where I at least know who I've got without having to gamble on players I know little about. I find it very difficult to squad build this way so was curious as to what your approach is.

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14 hours ago, brookie1402 said:

Sorry to take it back to post 1 of this thread, but I have a question about your recruitment. I love to play LLM and always start off no badges and Sunday League experience and see where in the World I end up. Like you (although not necessarily on this save as you are from the town), I like to do some research into the club that I am taking over; learning about the town/city's economy, demographics, history (started latest save is in Poland so that's been an eye opener), and even politics, searching out blogs or translating articles about the club and it's players/staff.

I try to keep it as realistic as possible, notwithstanding how absurd it would be for a bloke from northern England to find himself in charge of a fourth tier team in Central Poland with no prior experience and not speaking the language, and so have the same type of priority in which you started this save in that I try to pick up released youth players from the bigger neighbouring clubs.

The question I have is, do you do anything special in terms of recruitment? Do you offer trials to these types of players or play without attribute masking on? The reason I ask is that I always tend to 'forget' about this side of the game and end up without any scouting packages to save money. It gets to a point where my players contracts end in a weeks time, and so I renew them so I have some sort of squad where I at least know who I've got without having to gamble on players I know little about. I find it very difficult to squad build this way so was curious as to what your approach is.

No worries - thank you for the comment.

I set this game up with every intention of doing a proper LLM job like you mention. I've done Gundo/Dafuge challenges all over the place: Spain - Guadalajara; Belguim - BX Brussels; Brazil - Volta Redonda; Austria - First Vienna; Norway - Lyn; Argentina - Barracas Central and then more than I can imagine in Italy but I always fall away from the true meaning of it and I'm quickly using search tools, holidaying, instant resulting etc. I wanted this, the first time I've started so far down the leagues, to be true to the style but, being honest, it hasn't been.

In the early days - I tried to keep recruitment as 'close' as possible. I didn't have any scouts as I couldn't afford them so I reverted for the player search and added a 'last club' into the columns - then trialling those from Villa, Blues, WBA etc. I think that is kind of realistic as they live in the area and may be tempted to come and join us. As we got bigger, I stretched the boundaries but, in an admission here, did just sign players who I felt looked really good upon their release. I use attribute masking but could filter the unattached list down a little with my 'DNA' markers.

Now I've grown to a bigger club - my recruitment largely focuses on the recruitment team and my short term focuses, which is quite realistic, I feel! Sadly, I can't enforce any of my own club visions (which I know can be added to a scouting mission now) and, because I started on the Beta, can't add Caribbean leagues like Jamaica and Trinidad - which is where I'd want to scout.

To be fair - I'd say my recruitment is poor, compared to what I've seen other players do. I'm 16 seasons in and in the Championship, yet other people would be winning the ECL by now. However, I'm happy with that and it's pretty realistic (well, it's not realistic at all to have Redditch here but it's more realistic anyway). My big saving grace is my academy focus and that really allows me recruitment to not be as good. I can fill a hole with a substandard player who has good PA and then 'call it' youth development. 

I'd be very interested to read about your save in Poland though and, like you, I love to 'read around' the club I'm managing - although that's far easier this time as it's the town I was born and have grown up in - so I'm pretty well versed in it's (lack of) culture. 

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August/September 2036

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A little bit inconsistent but we are making some good progress.

I have spent a lot longer, watching all of these matches at a Comprehensive level (normally I use key or even IR) and really drilling down into what we are doing on the pitch. We scorned a two goal lead against Forest and then another lead against Blues as our style, although balanced, does seem to leave us vulnerable to all-out-attack. A quick diagonal ball has, twice, caught out our IWB's who are still central following the turnover in possession. It's a fine line to draw here as I could stop this from happening by playing FB or WB that stay wide or I could up the level of pressing in the midfield, hoping to cut out these balls before they come - but, obviously, both of those have their own drawbacks, too. A disappointing defeat to local rivals (from what I gather, WBA are just desperate for anyone to be their rival - mind the gap!) but that was followed with a strong performance at home to Sunderland, who are a decent team at this level.

Our second string has, just about, made it through three rounds of the Carabao Cup but needed penalties to do so, twice. 

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The standout player from the past two months has to be Matthew Brough, who has really cemented his place in the team as a CM(a). His statistics don't do him justice for the impact that he's had:

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Despite being comfortably my best player on paper, Vlad has struggled this season with just one goal in six. He was away at the Olympics so missed the start of the season and has picked up a couple of little niggling injuries, which have stopped him finding his feet.

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The development of Hunter Maddison, below, has been wonderful and, according to my staff, he's now at a League One level - which is incredible for a 17 year old. He'll be moving to the first team for some of the lesser games (not that there really are any) going forward and hopefully joining the first team fully in the next year or two.

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Edited by _Ben_
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November 2036: Academy update

I'm pleased to say that my effort in youth development is paying off and we are beginning the first phase of an effective academy - and that is providing players for our own team. With just three academy prospects moving on to equally as good or better things (Kirwan - Celta Vigo, Krasniqi - Watford and Broome - Leyton Orient) we are not yet at phase two of the plan whereby it becomes a profitable scheme.

Below are the academy players who are within my first team:

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This is a hugely pleasing graphic as, arguably, my top three players - Ferencik, France and Abrahamsson, are all homegrown at the club. There has been hard work with the mentoring side of the game to ensure that these have the best possible personalities - remembering that you can't become a M.Pro until you are 23 so I have no way of telling how effective it has been for the likes of Bohana, France, Glasscoe and Bennett, who all started with different personalities. The big outlier here is the Concentration level of Niklas Abrahamsson, and, on reflection, I feel that I should have begun alternative training at a much earlier age for him - as the CM(s) role (not what he'll play) has seen some good developments in his mental attributes.

Here are the top players currently in my u23 squad. I would go as far as saying that 95% of these have a customised 'development plan' (of which I'll detail at a later date) with different metrics that they are working off and targets that they are aiming for.

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Hunter Maddison and Jackson Lowe have both received international recognition at youth level and it's really only a matter of time before they are seeing first team football. Brandon Bond, despite being strong in his Intelligence, is a strange kind of footballer and not one necessarily suited to the style I want to employ. However, at just 17 - I'm looking at a slightly different pathway for the lad, as a Ball Winning Midfielder. Martin Sadler is fourth in the pecking order of promising goalkeepers and, annoyingly, not even last - with Walters and Byrne also tipped to become pretty decent. The possibility of having Glasscoe and Haywood as starting full backs with Chance and Musah behind them is fantastic an I'm doing all I can to push those two on also.

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My recruitment model is now making a huge shift towards ready-made replacements for players in the short term as well as those who can be used as mentors going forward. My plan is that now 90% of my young players (>23) to enter the team are from my own academy. I will, obviously, still keep myself in the market for outstanding young talent but I want this to become an organic movement of players through the squads, moulded in the style that I want to employ with them (which does not necessarily mean team shape - just playing style).

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October/November 2036

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A much quieter two months and one where we have shown some real quality.

I would say, as we approach the mid-point, that the table is incredibly skewed - there are many teams that are below us that are predicted to finish above us - the likes of Burnley, Newcastle, Derby and Sunderland are all considerably bigger clubs than us and will, no doubt, come back stronger at some point. However, take no credit away from our performances this season as we've continued to play some lovely football and mix it up with the bigger boys of this league.

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My one area of real focus has been the wide players. My plan, for this season and last, has been to pair an AP(s) with an AP(a) to create ball magnets and, as such, central overloads. Below is a brief statistical analysis of them:

Firstly, I was interested in how they were performing, overall:

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However - I want to see a little more than that...

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Firstly - my roles play out quite differently. The AP on the left is on support and partners the CM(a) so has less space to create but more options for passing and, as expected, is going to contribute less to the goalscoring aspect of our play. The right sides AP is next to a BBM(s) so has more space to roam into and is expected to contribute more to the offensive side of the game and scoring goals.

From the above - I can pretty much discount Brough from all of this, as he's found a new home in the CM(a) role and is playing well. My go-to has been Vincent-Day on the right and a combination of English and Abrahamsson on the left, with Jimenez kind of playing wherever. So, I'll be looking at Vincent-Day's attacking output and English and Abrahamsson's passing output to see how well they've done. On the back of that, it's clear that they are all abiding to my overarching principle of pass and move, not dribble.

Whilst Vincent-Day is among the better for Shots/90 and his conversion rate - his xG differential suggests that those goals he's scored are from tight angles or not probable to lead to a goal that often - which is not great. I worry that, perhaps, the Hold Position player instruction is stopping him getting into the box quite so much so have swapped it out for the Get Further Forward one. Overall, though, his play is good as he has the joint most assists and, even though we're small and don't play for set pieces, is earning loads of them. 

On the left, it's fair to say that English has underperformed somewhat. The Chances/90 is clearly not working (or the lack of decimal place might mean it's rounded those cells down, strangely?) but not creating as many key passes or assists as his more offensive minded counterpart Vincent-Day and also not finding the net himself, performing below the league average for attacking midfielders in all but one of the shooting areas. 

I must say that I feel Perfecto has been a little hard done by here. He's had the least number of minutes yet the best overall returns.

I think that getting this combination working and ensuring that a fit-again Ferencik is firing on all cylinders is going to be the key for us in the medium to long term!

 

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2037 Intake Preview

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I'll just focus on what I've already got at the club this year, ok?

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(N.B. I'm still in the camp that this does not in any way, shape or form match the actual intake. I've had three (I think) examples of being told it would be a great/good/golden intake at this preview then being told nobody stands out, so I'm hoping it goes the other way, too).

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December 2036: Player Development - Brandon Bond

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Above is Brandon, who my staff really seem to love - believing he can be good enough for the Championship in the future. He does have some warning markers: low consistency, very one footed no indication of his ambition or professionalism: 

  • Realist (Sportsmanship 2-5, Determination 11-17, Professionalism <18, Leader <19) and Unflappable (Temperament 15-20, Pressure 15-20).

However, he's developing well so it's now up to me to make sure that the attributes that are growing are the right ones and that he becomes a rounded, and useable player. I've ran him through my Excel analyser than uses all of the same combinations I have in my polygon, but these are spread out to make it a little easier to see. For the positional indicator, I have grouped together a few of the key attributes and areas from the radar to create what I feel is necessary for this role within my team.

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Immediately, I can see that Brandon isn't really suited for the centre back role as his technical ability is just too poor. However, he's got a good work rate and is pretty good at pressing the opposition. His shooting is, strangely, better than his dribbling and technique, too, although both are pretty poor!

I also like that he's 6'4" and 85kg with fantastic Bravery (17). 

Because he's making such good progress, I'm going to use a broad schedule for him and then tighten it up as he develops a little more, so I'm opting for the BBM(s) role.

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You can see that it does hit some of those terrible attributes (finishing, dribbling, passing, off the ball) but, combining it with Defensive Positioning, means I'll hit his good and very good attributes too. 

I'll be reviewing this once he has hit the following targets:

  • Marking has reached good (10+)
  • Decisions are good (10+)
  • Passing is average (6+)
  • He has reached a better level of ability in the CM role.
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December 2036: Elijah Suarez

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Despite struggling a little with his average ratings, Elijah is actually performing considerably above average for his midfield position and has forced his way into the USA set up. However, I am most pleased with the development that he has made since coming to the club back in 2033.

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He's become far more rounded and I actually really like that he lacks flair - meaning that he uses his vision, technique and passing ability to keep our play moving without necessarily doing anything unexpected - the metronome, if you will. Because he 'Comes Deep to Get Ball' I can't get him to 'Get Forward Whenever Possible' which does limit his effectiveness in the CM(a) role so I'm in the process of trying to swap those over and I'm also toying with the 'Arrives late in opponents area' although, given the nature of our play, I often want him as the furthest forward player, alongside the PF(s) - so this probably isn't wise!

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Hats off to the rather wonderful Jorge Bennevendo for finding him...

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December 2036/January 2037

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I fear that we're about to start a run that will see us end a little closer to the position I envisaged at the start of the season...

In most FM saves - I favour a small, tight knit group of players who often take the brunt of injury crises but this time, I feel much more prepared for that and I feel that the problem is largely due to a lack of class. That's not an issue at this point as we look to steadily build something and, being honest, if I'm still in the same place in five years - the board back me, it's just that Newcastle, for example, manage to spend £28m on an unknown (to me) 19-year old Spanish centre back. We are light years away from that.

The losses in December were fine, and expected. Wolves and Blues (as much as this pains me to say) are good teams and far better than us - with at least one of them probably going to be in the Prem next year. The draw at home to Newcastle was valiant and the loss to Liverpool, expected. However, the scheduling (for all teams, not just ours) over the festive period has killed us - with knocks to four or five players. The loss to Plymouth, who are near the bottom of the table, annoyed me as did the manner in which we lost to Portsmouth, once again registering less than 0.5xG.

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The xG, or lack of it, has been a season wide issue for me. Ferencik, whilst still being potent, has not found the form of last year and, without an out-and-out scoring on the wings, I'm not creating as much as I really want to. The CM(a) role is working really well but I'm wondering if I actually need a striker to play there - a man who gets into the box but can find the net better than a centre mid. I'll think about it for the summer...

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March 2037: New affiliate

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Biala Podlaska is a town about half the size of Redditch and located in the North East of Poland. I had no idea that there was a football club there and, what I can get from this, a pretty successful academy, too. Sebastian Szymanski appears to have graduated from there and is a decent player, now plying his trade in Russia.

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When I get to choose an affiliate, I like to look for academies and those with decent youth setups so I can, eventually, use it to get players for my own intakes. The best way I have found to do that is to sort by active league and look at those not playing in them. I found Crepes Lloraine (a similar setup to Clairefontaine) whilst playing as San Marino a few years back doing this method and seem to have found another here:

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Why Poland? As I mentioned in the early stages of this career - Redditch has links to Poland and Eastern Europe through migration and this is a homage to that.

Edited by _Ben_
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2037 Youth Intake

Well, first thing is that it's clear that Redditch was not a good place for births in 2020 or 2021 - which is obviously not true to life as we've spent most of it locked in our own houses! There is not a single player from Redditch in this intake...

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Excel CA AnalysisNationality TrackerIntake Tracker.

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[DC] Jordon Roberts

[MC] Patrick Reece

[ST] Mason Stokes

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Not the best intake, by any means, however, Jordon is another strong looking centre back who tops the list of potential CB's for me.

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February/March 2037

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We finally broke out of our losing streak, and with some style!

The Burnley game was infuriating - after just 15 minutes, we were 3-0 down thanks to some Burnley-esque wing play, where we just could not contain their physical superiority in the box. However, after a spell of being constantly berated, we pulled it back to 3-3 by the break. Burnley were awful in the second half but scored a lucky goal in the last ten minutes to take the points. It's always the way when you're out of luck! We did, however, break the streak away at lowly Cardiff and then, Baggies game aside, haven't really looked back!

We probably won't catch QPR in ninth but a finish of tenth, or just below, is a nice development on last season.

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Following the wonderful progress of Hunter Maddison, I decided to cash in Josema, who will be moving back to Spain and Alaves. I have got his market value though, which is great news as we still lose a lot of money each month.

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April 2037: Fines

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Just a quick point here as I push on into April - this is the difference between an Outspoken MH with a Level Headed player. You'd never realise that Llorente played much worse, scoring a 6.1 rating compared to Chance's 6.4. Chance also picked up a point on his Work Rate as he looks to improve and work harder to stop it happening next time.

This is why I push so hard for those behind the scenes developments!

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May 2037: Personality Updates

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Firstly, Scott Turner has just moved to a M.Pro. This is the second time it's happened to an older player (after Brad Rothwell) and shows the power of squad personality. Speaking of which, below is ours now:

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A look at the whole squad shows me this:

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This is phenomenal, in terms of Pro! Just to explain - here are the minimum Pro values for these personalities:

  • M.Citizen - 15
  • M.Pro - 20
  • Pro - 18
  • Resolute - 15

That means that only four players in my squad have less than excellent Professionalism, which I am delighted with. It is worth noting though that a few players say they are struggling to connect with Perfecto due to differences in Professionalism - therefore, I'd say that his is quite low (I know it can be no more than 18 but, anything over 15 - given his Det level - would turn him to Resolute).

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2037/38 End of Season

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Middle of the pack.

I'm really happy with the steady, yet marked, improvements. I am delighted (for this save anyway) to see Blues and Stoke promoted and Villa not relegated - strengthening the state of Midlands football in the game with, hopefully, Wolves joining them, too. West Brom aren't great and may well be in this league just as long as I am!

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As I said - marginal gains. A little more bit defensively impenetrable and a little more offensively aggressive.

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For the first time in this save - my goalkeeper does not top the minutes accrued list as I rotated a little between Rothwell and the developing Weaver. Ferencik was the best player, once again, but I'm really happy with the contributions - not the game's calculation of Average Rating - for Elijah Suarez, even if he's giving the ball away a lot! Billy Airey is also doing pretty well and has adjusted to this level but will face competition from the up-and-coming Maddison now. Injuries meant that Anthoneil Chance got a fair bit of game time but, as you'd expect, was pretty poor. It did wonders for his development though.

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I have a pretty radical plan for training next season to see just how far I can push my system and style of play and I'll hopefully be able to detail that, providing I don't get entrenched in transfer dealings. I really don't have a lot planned in that area but there's always those few who pop up, either unattached or a good scout find that I may take a look at.

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May 2037: Academy development

Below are the birth places of the players currently in my first team that have graduated from my academy:

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My job is to now make us the most attractive academy proposal in the Midlands so that we are beating off a whole host of other clubs for top players. A quick look at the current England squad shows me that Cole Toulson (of the Villa academy) and Demetri Jennings (from the Fulham academy) have grown up locally and, at a push, I could maybe include the two lads from Loughborough (one from Forest and the other from Leicester - as it's, technically, East Mids).

I want to be producing this level of players! Although, that does bring me to my annoyance that, still, the U18 clubs for pretty much every team in the country are empty. This isn't quite gamebreaking but a huge annoyance for me. I'll have a proper look at that later on.

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4 hours ago, Nottingham Forest said:

Solid season. Which means Champions next season. Could Rugby not be classed as local?

Of course. I'm not doing a great job of keeping track of the places locally as I keep missing them! The lad from Rugby is pretty good too, even if he came through at Preston...

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EDIT: As for champions? Yeah..in about five years maybe!

Edited by _Ben_
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