The Realism Thread

[kennypavey]

How is scouting filters applied in FM? Meaning, if I set a filter that I am only interested in players born in certain areas of Sweden, will they adjust which games they watch? Or will they watch games set by the scouting range, and just don't send reports since there were no Stockholm-based player participating?

[patpul]

Second season behind me. The promotion was so close, but... Poor two home results in last five matches complicated everything. Win against Torremolinons and draw against Motril or just win against Motril (only team, which beat us twice this season) would give us championship and direct promotion. Two more points would give us 2nd place and - due results Promotion Stage play-offs - we would play in Grand Final od play offs (as we were 3rd and Jaen 2nd, they won against us after extra time, as we won our semi final). I'm not so happy, because the promotion should be our, other side - it was another great season (predicted 6th), so we try to win promotion next season. I think, that most of my key players will stay, I'll try find 2 or 3 good signings and we can do it Board request is to reach Promotion Stage, so at least 5th place is obligatory.

Edited April 25, 2022 by patpul

[Tom14]

10 hours ago, kennypavey said:

How is scouting filters applied in FM? Meaning, if I set a filter that I am only interested in players born in certain areas of Sweden, will they adjust which games they watch? Or will they watch games set by the scouting range, and just don't send reports since there were no Stockholm-based player participating?

I don't think you can get that specific with scouting in FM. If you are wanting players based in and around Stockholm I think the best bet would be to scout the Norra and Sodra Svealand competitions.

[Junkhead]

13 hours ago, brookie1402 said:

I don't think you can get that specific with scouting in FM. If you are wanting players based in and around Stockholm I think the best bet would be to scout the Norra and Sodra Svealand competitions.

This, or/and scouting the youth teams of larger Stockholm sides

[Draakon]

Great thread.

That's one thing I love about FM - you can make your own set of rules and play the game as you like it, making it more suitable for you or just more challenging.

 

I have tried some sort of 'realism' save in FM20. Somebody posted a custom Estonian database and I took charge of my hometown team who plays in Estonian Meistriliiga, without much experience and minimum coaching badges. My first aim was to win the domestic title and get to European games, eventually increasing the reputation of the league and nation (something that danielgear tries to accomplish here: 

But the team was just semi-professional and cash-strapped, so we struggled a lot in the first season and because, unfortunately, I don't have too much time to play I understood it would take me too much time to get somewhere in this save (turn the club professional, get to Europe) so I had to give that up.

[patpul]

So it has happened

After four seasons we reached the promotion to Segunda RFEF (4th Spanish tier). It wasn't direct promotion, we won playoffs. I think we could win our league, but once again because of my mistakes we lost to many points against much weaker sides. I playd too offensive in this matches. Effect? Just draws.

In first season we've been amateur team, which should be relegated (prediction 16th in 17-teams league). We've ended top part of the table. Next three seasons we always played in play-offs: 3rd, 4th and now 2nd place.

Now board request is to finish in the middle of the table. Not sure we can, but we try. I don't want to became professional (now the club is semi) because of money - I don't want to get into debt. Now I have about 10-12 players who signed full-time contracts. And the other are on the temporary contracts. But we still loosing money. Small stadium (500 places), small town (about 14 000), maybe the owner will pay more And other thing - we should play well in Copa Federacion to get more money from awards. So, let's plan new season, new chapter of Atletico Porcuna history! :D

Edited May 7, 2022 by patpul

[DementedHammer]

I've recently got back into a long term save with Penryn Athletic in the South West Peninsula Premier Division West (the 10th tier of the English league system). I chose that specific region as, although I haven't been back to the UK since I was 13, I do have fond memories of visiting that region as a kid. Also, as far as I can see, this region is not that highly represented in the higher echelons of the football pyramid. So, although I plan to play this game realistically, it would be good to stay in this region of the country if at all possible.

I chose Penryn Athletic specifically, as they are predicted to finish 17th out of 18th, which will make things a bit more challenging and will also be more suiting to my preferred tactical style. (More on that later).

I walked in the door at the start of preseason to find a team of mostly youth players. This was quite a change for me, as I usually like to fill my team with experienced old hands, and then add a sprinkling of athletic younger players who can do the more physical stuff and give the older players more space to play.

If I'd picked my best eleven, attribute wise, I would have pretty much fielded an entire team of 15 and 16 year old players. So, I spent the majority of pre season, not only sorting out my main tactic, but also, trying a lot of different combinations of players to try and add a bit of experience into my starting eleven. I even retrained my most influential player, in order to get him into the starting lineup.  (Even with those accommodations, my first competitive match lined up with five sixteen year olds in the starting eleven and four more on the bench.)

Pre season involved a series of local friendlies, and a couple of 'glamour' fixtures against Weymouth and Torquay United. (In the latter, we got a man sent off in the first minute, were 2-0 down in the third minute, and ended up only losing 3-0 which I was happy enough with. We also lost the Weymouth game 3-0, which was also a good result, considering they are five divisions above us.)

As a player, I played mostly as a defensive winger (in FM role parlance), or as a wing back, which probably rubs off on my preferred tactical approach, which is a defense first counter attacking style of play. I'd far rather win 1-0 than 4-3. So, I set about preseason fine tuning a tactical style of play along those lines. To be fair, although that style of play is my preference, when joining a new team, I always try to come up with a system and style of play that I feel suits the players at the club. I like to give the existing players a chance before signing any replacements, so it is only fair that I give them the best possible chance to succeed and come up with a system that lets them play to their strengths. (This also keeps FM fresh and interesting, as I've played a whole heap of tactical systems over the years that I never would have tried otherwise.)

On the whole, pre season went really well. I could see my system playing out pretty much as I intended. Although, of course, I tweaked things along the way and tried out several minor variations. Our best performance was probably the 2-1 loss to Plymouth Marjon. We totally deserved to win. They got two late goals due to me changing my entire starting eleven. The main issue was that the backline wasn't really capable of playing the system that I asked of them, which was a good learning point — I've got enough depth in defence to play the way I envisage, but if I had a major injury crisis, or two games in a week, I might have to rethink my tactical approach.

We've just played our first match of the season, a 1-1 draw away against Callington Town, who were predicted to finish seventh. 

The match started with them pouring forward and pinning us deep inside our half. But after the first five minutes or so, we started to absorb their pressure and hit them on the counter, as we had planned to. For the rest of the match, we looked the more likely team to score, until a nice through ball split us open and their striker scored with a cheeky lob. It was a quality goal for level ten. That said, I could see what they were trying to do from a couple of earlier attempted through balls, but I didn't have time to make the tactical change before they scored.

With nothing to lose, we poured forward and immediately equalised. After that, we shut up shop and saw the game out, happy to go home with a well earned point. I was very happy with what I saw in our first competitive fixture.

I know that the match engine isn't perfect, and nor is it likely to ever be. But for me personally, I really like how flexible it is in terms of being able to implement different tactical approaches. I always play full matches, and this match was a really interesting conflict of styles to watch. They really pinned us back on occasions, and played a lot of football in our half, but we also consistently broke and ran at their defence and created some good chances of our own. Up until their goal, we definitely looked the more likely team to score, and actually outshot them 12 (4 on target) to 10 (2 on target).

As my FM time is limited, and I play matches in full, there is unlikely to be much progress to report. But it is good to be playing again and getting back into what could well end up being a long term save.

_______________________________________

Edit: 
I should add that, although the media prediction is 17th out of 18 teams, the board want us to finish mid table, so this could easily end up being a short tenure.  Let's hope that I can keep them happy.

Edited May 10, 2022 by DementedHammer

[mightypvfc]

So chaps, I've found this thread. I think I qualify as I'm currently in the 8th tier of English football managing in the Northern Premier Division One South East.

I started the game unemployed with Sunday league experience and got laughed off by boards of League 2 and National League clubs. So I started applying for work at Northern Premier clubs and got an interview with Witton around 3 months after I started. I walked into the interview with a skip and a whistle and they seemingly liked the cut of my jib. They gave me the job. I had no time to pat myself on the back as I was away to Brighouse in the Intego League Cup Second Round a few days later. I threw together a starting 11 and we managed to benefit from their wasteful finishing and take our own chances. We came away with a 3-1 victory and we were carried through the game by our scintillating left winger. I was positively beaming, this role was made for me I thought to myself. I approached the next game with the arrogance of a young, untouchable manager not realising that the league was much harder. I proceeded to lose the next 9 games on the spin and by the end of the this run I was balder than Spalletti and began a routine of crying myself to sleep every night. Luckily, after waking up face down in a takeaway tub of chicken chow mein with no pants on, I thought that's enough. I had my epiphany. I'd stabilize my tactics instead of chopping and changing every game. I'd start a routine of higher levels of training and build from the back. 

I went away to 5th placed Radcliffe expecting to be battered. At this point, the board were frantically looking over my contract to see if they could find a loophole to get me out. They were almost willing another bad result that would finally seal my fate. I pulled my pants back up and took a defiant stand. No one was sacking this numpty and ending my career before it had even began. We arrived at Radcliffe with abysmal morale. An early Radcliffe goal would have seen our heads drop even more. Thankfully, we took the initiative and banged in a couple of goals. I couldn't believe my eyes. My first league victory and it only took 2 months. 

And so began our 4 game winning run. I was shocked but optimistic that we could pull ourselves away from any mid-season relegation dogfight. We were beaming and I actually saw a few of my players wearing smiles on the training ground. That's it I thought, I've cracked it! 

Unfortunately, the happy faces didn't last. We put in a poor performance against Nantwich and then the wheels came off completely against Warrington. We were positively smashed, battered, and wrapped up for a Yodel delivery back to Witton. Our heads dropped once again. I frantically tried to rally the troops for a late-season surge up the table but, despite my best efforts, our form never really picked up and we went down with a whimper in the end. And so ended Witton's stay in the Northern Premier Division for one season at least. That'll teach them for hiring a clueless numpty. 

[Brother Ben]

4 hours ago, mightypvfc said:

So chaps, I've found this thread. I think I qualify as I'm currently in the 8th tier of English football managing in the Northern Premier Division One South East.

I started the game unemployed with Sunday league experience and got laughed off by boards of League 2 and National League clubs. So I started applying for work at Northern Premier clubs and got an interview with Witton around 3 months after I started. I walked into the interview with a skip and a whistle and they seemingly liked the cut of my jib. They gave me the job. I had no time to pat myself on the back as I was away to Brighouse in the Intego League Cup Second Round a few days later. I threw together a starting 11 and we managed to benefit from their wasteful finishing and take our own chances. We came away with a 3-1 victory and we were carried through the game by our scintillating left winger. I was positively beaming, this role was made for me I thought to myself. I approached the next game with the arrogance of a young, untouchable manager not realising that the league was much harder. I proceeded to lose the next 9 games on the spin and by the end of the this run I was balder than Spalletti and began a routine of crying myself to sleep every night. Luckily, after waking up face down in a takeaway tub of chicken chow mein with no pants on, I thought that's enough. I had my epiphany. I'd stabilize my tactics instead of chopping and changing every game. I'd start a routine of higher levels of training and build from the back. 

I went away to 5th placed Radcliffe expecting to be battered. At this point, the board were frantically looking over my contract to see if they could find a loophole to get me out. They were almost willing another bad result that would finally seal my fate. I pulled my pants back up and took a defiant stand. No one was sacking this numpty and ending my career before it had even began. We arrived at Radcliffe with abysmal morale. An early Radcliffe goal would have seen our heads drop even more. Thankfully, we took the initiative and banged in a couple of goals. I couldn't believe my eyes. My first league victory and it only took 2 months. 

And so began our 4 game winning run. I was shocked but optimistic that we could pull ourselves away from any mid-season relegation dogfight. We were beaming and I actually saw a few of my players wearing smiles on the training ground. That's it I thought, I've cracked it! 

Unfortunately, the happy faces didn't last. We put in a poor performance against Nantwich and then the wheels came off completely against Warrington. We were positively smashed, battered, and wrapped up for a Yodel delivery back to Witton. Our heads dropped once again. I frantically tried to rally the troops for a late-season surge up the table but, despite my best efforts, our form never really picked up and we went down with a whimper in the end. And so ended Witton's stay in the Northern Premier Division for one season at least. That'll teach them for hiring a clueless numpty. 

Brutal 

You sir are most definitely in the right place!

[mightypvfc]

17 hours ago, Brother Ben said:

Brutal 

You sir are most definitely in the right place!

Thanks!

I would've enjoyed a bit of "brutal" during that 9 game losing streak. I was in mental anguish at the time, a few steps below brutal. I desperately needed fresh blood. The transfer windows don't apply to the 7th tier but, even so, I couldn't sign any half-decent signings to challenge the first team due to the dire financial straits we were in. The board had limited the wage offerings of the club to around £40 per week which would cover a tea lady and that's about it. Due to my inexperience in the game, I had no ready-made shortlists to lean on. I wasn't Harry Redknapp. I didn't have Hermann Hreiðarsson or Niko Kranjčar on speed dial to come and rescue us. I had to eek out loan signings from the 8th and 9th tier. We were in a complete mess. I managed to cling onto my job by my fingertips as we rolled over. The board were left reeling at the high weekly figure of £600 they'd bestowed on me. Surely, it would've cost too much to sack me during a worrying financial meltdown. I was safe... for now. However, I'd had a good chunk of the season to try to pull the club safe and I failed. The board weren't about me to let me get away from that without consequence. They set me a target of 11 points from the first 5 games of the new season. This would show them my minerals and what I was made of. 

If I got my act together in the close season I was certain I could make some shrewd signings. That was the aim. I had to sell our main striker and best goalkeeper for a combined fee of £3K. Their wages were too high and they were too good for the 8th tier. They were also itching to leave a sinking ship so leapt at the chance to join clubs in higher dvisions. I immediately used the space in the wage budget to bring in some fringe players from Bamber Bridge and Gainsborough who had been in the same league as us last season. I gave them relatively big wages for 8th tier football but I was sure they'd hit the ground running. This proved to be a misguided hypothesis. 

More to come when I can pull some more screenshots. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by mightypvfc

[George_84]

Hi everyone,

After the promotion to League 2 with Boston United, I parked the save for a while. A lot of stuff changes when you're out of the national leagues (transfer windows, professional club, doubting each and everyone at the club if they can make it to the next level, ...) and for realisms sake I thought a different approach would be more suited. 

The biggest change is that I stopped using the 1h drive rule as we are a professional club now. This doesn't mean I'm al over the player search screen, filtering the premier league prospects and the small nation internationals. I've given my head of scout full responsability in scouting assignments. I'm only allowed to ask for quick searches in specific positions, or transfer listed or loan listed players. My scouts will file reports and from then on I can decide who comes in or not. The DoF however is responsible for contract negotiations. 

As I wasn't expecting promotion, some out of contract backups and same deadwood had to leave the club. I could have used them in case I stayed in the national league for another season, but now they had to go as they would be a complete waste of money. Some decent players left the club on a free because they didn't agree with the new "professional" contract terms. Having some names on my shortlist to full in the gaps helped me quickly sign some decent players on loan. I managed to sign 2 young first team players from Cambridge who went up themselves and rather gave these 2 kids some game time in League 2, extended the loan of a promising left back from Doncaster, got a winger and a DM on loan from my affiliate club Peterborough (the DM was an extension from the previous season) and moved another talented CM in from Sheffield Wednesday who was brought to my attention by the scouting team. My DoF secured the transfer from a striker and a winger from Grimsby and Kings Lynn and a 31 year old CB (released from Millwall) joined my young backline to add some experience. A lot of trialists came and went to fill in the last gaps in the team (DM, CM and ST), but I couldn't afford the ones I wanted (or they joined other clubs). Those are off course the short-term targets for the scouting department.

Preseason was ok, a lot of games to maximise playing time for the trialists and the new players. But when the season started, we were ready! 9 games in and we are top of the league, beat Middlesborough in the Carabao cup and making it to the last 32 teams, still alive and kicking in both FA Cup and Papa Johns Trophy and doing this with 4 players in the starting 11 having played with us in the Vanarama National North!

Staying in league 2 is the main target, strengthening the team as we do so and getting better every year. We are having a good run, but sooner or later it will all fall down!

Proudest moment: my 16 year old academy player, getting subbed in against Middlesborough and scoring the winning goal! 

[Platinum]

On 08/05/2022 at 23:00, DementedHammer said:

I play matches in full

I also do this !

[mightypvfc]

I'm playing a similar way @George_84. A few days ago I had a total rehash of my own rules. I gave the Chairmen the responsibility of hiring and firing the DoF. He proceeded to hire one immediately. I then delegated all transfers sales to the DoF. He's also in charge of buying players and finalising purchases. I'll just give him a list of my targets and see what he can do. I'll then have to deal with any promises that are made. I've also filtered transfer stories out of my inbox. My thinking is I shouldn't be in the know whether a club has made a bid on a player on my shortlist. Placing a player on my shortlist doesn't give me instant access to his personal decisions.

Also, I'm using the "No Attribute" skin from the Skinning forum. It hides all attributes and rating stars among other things. It's definitely more of a trial and error system. 

[DementedHammer]

I really should try that no attribute skin sometime. It sounds like a really good challenge. 

[mikcheck]

17 horas atrás, mightypvfc disse:

Also, I'm using the "No Attribute" skin from the Skinning forum. It hides all attributes and rating stars among other things. It's definitely more of a trial and error system. 

How are you finding it so far? Do you prefer it over attributes numbers? And your decision to sign a player, what do you based on, scout reports?

Edited May 13, 2022 by mikcheck

[George_84]

On 12/05/2022 at 19:05, mightypvfc said:

I'm playing a similar way @George_84. A few days ago I had a total rehash of my own rules. I gave the Chairmen the responsibility of hiring and firing the DoF. He proceeded to hire one immediately. I then delegated all transfers sales to the DoF. He's also in charge of buying players and finalising purchases. I'll just give him a list of my targets and see what he can do. I'll then have to deal with any promises that are made. I've also filtered transfer stories out of my inbox. My thinking is I shouldn't be in the know whether a club has made a bid on a player on my shortlist. Placing a player on my shortlist doesn't give me instant access to his personal decisions.

Also, I'm using the "No Attribute" skin from the Skinning forum. It hides all attributes and rating stars among other things. It's definitely more of a trial and error system. 

Don’t you think agents would leak offers to the press or even interested clubs to push up the price or wage? As soon as club x makes an offer for player z, the agent could drop a message to other clubs to make their move before their transfer targets signs somewhere else?

 

 

[DementedHammer]

I guess it depends what level you're playing at. In my level 10 save, I definitely wouldn't expect to know. Whereas, further up the pyramid, what you said may well indeed happen. 

[George_84]

22 hours ago, DementedHammer said:

I guess it depends what level you're playing at. In my level 10 save, I definitely wouldn't expect to know. Whereas, further up the pyramid, what you said may well indeed happen. 

Exactly. I think that is the beauty of approaching realism in your game. In level 10 you are handling everything yourself from mowing the lawn to washing the shirts and signing players. When you're in the professional leagues, you got someone to take care of that because you spend all your time keeping prima-donna's happy and having scout-, board-, staff meetings. I'll definitely take this approach to transfers with me if I ever start that low.

[George_84]

A quick update on the Boston save.

After taking the league by storm in the first 10 games, seeing us top of the table, reality kicked in. A series of draws and losses saw us tumbling down to 10th place. It made me question the ability of my players and noticed some attributes are not as good as they should be. But with quiet some players playing in the national league north 2 years ago this should not be a surprise. A major squad overhaul was never gonna happen as I just wanted a quiet season in league 2, while searching for reinforcements for the future. I am gently trying to improve the team, staff and facilities to become a stable league 2 side, but it is hard to get better players when you're the smallest duck in the pond.

[patpul]

Another promotion!

With Atlético Porcuna we've been predicted to finish 9th. But after strong fight vs Orihuela, we've won promotion to Spanish Primera RFEF (3rd tier). Just four lost games - one away against Orihuela, another one last in the season - no matters and two which shouldn't happen - we were leaders and our opponents  - 17th.

I see at least two problem to avoid relegation. Firs is money - now we are 0,5 million euro i debt, so our wages buget will be so short I think. And another one is that we have to make (good and free) signings. But - look at first point - there will be no money. But we'll fight

[George_84]

Another update on the Boston United save:

as I tought realism caught up with us after a strong start to the season in league 2, we bounced back to the winning days! League leaders Wigan were to strong for the competition, but a series of wins and draws saw us climbing back to the second place. A selection of 7 teams was fighting for a promotionspot and we were right in between them. 
Exhausted key players forced me to hit the transfermarket. I was looking for a striker, a central midfielder and a defensive midfielder. 2 midfielders were brought in by the DoF after making them transferpriorities, but we couldn’t find a suitable striker. Swansea and Charlton approached me for a job interview, but I wasn’t keen on switching teams in the middle of the season. Both teams were battling against relegation in the championship and looked like a rebuild job with an ageing squad and a lack of talent.

We enter the last 10 games with a high amount of confidence and in second place behind the unbeatable Wigan. Small margins between 5 clubs make it a thrilling last part of the season. But then it all falls down. We drop points every week, only winning 2 games. We go to 3th place and hang on to that last promotion spot only because Forest Green are drawing matches they should win. Last game of the season sees us travelling to an already relegated Barrowside with nothing to lose, Forest Green meets Crewe Alexandra who are still fighting for playoffs. We play bad. No creativity, no chances, key players not showing up. 18mins in and Crewe Alexandra takes the lead. Promotion seems secured! 39mins in and a glimpse of creativity puts it 1-0 for … Barrow. Half time motivationspeeches are given, but we keep playing badly. A header on the crossbar and twi clean chances are missed. 73mins in, 1-1, Forest Green equalise and leap frog to 3th place on goal difference, leaving us 4th and on a play offs spot. A final push for an equaliser is not about to happen and we are not going up unless can win the play offs.

Although avoiding relegation was the objective, being this close to promotion was an absolute fairy tale. Winning the playoffs or not, a rebuild of the squad is an absolute must, with many players punching above their weight.

[Brother Ben]

@George_84 Good going there mate, absolutely gutting though to fall out of the automatic spots at the final hurdle!

Good luck in the playoffs though, let us know how you get on  

 

Also managed to bag myself my first promotion in FM22!

After 7 seasons trying and only confirming it on the final day it's fair to say I was literally punching the air with joy   

With 3 games left to play the table looked like this

Thanks to a Newcastle in 1996 style capitulation from Halifax a draw on the final day was enough to seal the title with the final table looking like this

To be fair i'd been due a bit of luck after 2 really tight playoff defeats over the years so I will take it!

Here's my history with Stalybridge

Edited June 13, 2022 by Brother Ben

[George_84]

@Brother Benit’s a bit of a mixed bag for me. I took a quick rise through the leagues with back to back promotions so I didn’t expect the lads to play for promotion (gk, lb, cm & aml are key players since the vnn). But when you’re this close, it’s always sour to miss it. Let’s see where the playoffs take us.

Congrats on the promotion! A couple of years of hard work makes it al worthwhile!

[Brother Ben]

2 minutes ago, George_84 said:

@Brother Benit’s a bit of a mixed bag for me. I took a quick rise through the leagues with back to back promotions so I didn’t expect the lads to play for promotion (gk, lb, cm & aml are key players since the vnn). But when you’re this close, it’s always sour to miss it. Let’s see where the playoffs take us.

Congrats on the promotion! A couple of years of hard work makes it al worthwhile!

Its great to bring a load of players along for the ride, it definitely adds to a save

Thanks!

Honestly people in my office can't understand why i'm in such a good mood on a Monday morning 

Obviously its taken me a long time but I do use the 1 hour rule and other LLM guidelines so sometimes its to be expected.  

[George_84]

Some saves bring you immediate succes, some make you work hard for it. It all depends on which gives you the opportunity to be the manager. I got the chance to start at an underperforming Boston side, with better facilities and opportunities than other teams in the same division. But I guess Stalybridge is a different place to start. 

I dropped the 1 hour drive rule and made my DoF repsonsible for the signings after promotion to League 2. Great fun!

[George_84]

The playoffs were an absolute disaster. Crawley beat us twice in the semi's (and won the final) and that is all there is to say about it. On a positive note, my CB is named player of the year! Meaning he'll be attracting interest from bigger clubs! My DoF already refused St Mirren, but Lincoln are heading to the championship and are interested aswell. My CB is not happy about being kept in Boston. Hopefully the new signings can convince him to stay. 

The DoF didn't waste any time with signing new players with succesfully signing a forward, failing a LB and trying to get in a MC. The forward is way better then the ones we have, so I'm slightly optimistic. He also moved out my AMR who was with me since the national league north. We caught decent money for a backup and I wished him good luck with his new club. It's a bit weird not handling the signing and contract negotiating with players myself, but this gives me time to focus on tactics and training.

I also let my assistant manager go. I felt his suggestions and comments did not help anymore. Best of luck for him to.

[Platinum]

15 hours ago, George_84 said:

The playoffs were an absolute disaster. Crawley beat us twice in the semi's (and won the final) and that is all there is to say about it. On a positive note, my CB is named player of the year! Meaning he'll be attracting interest from bigger clubs! My DoF already refused St Mirren, but Lincoln are heading to the championship and are interested aswell. My CB is not happy about being kept in Boston. Hopefully the new signings can convince him to stay. 

The DoF didn't waste any time with signing new players with succesfully signing a forward, failing a LB and trying to get in a MC. The forward is way better then the ones we have, so I'm slightly optimistic. He also moved out my AMR who was with me since the national league north. We caught decent money for a backup and I wished him good luck with his new club. It's a bit weird not handling the signing and contract negotiating with players myself, but this gives me time to focus on tactics and training.

I also let my assistant manager go. I felt his suggestions and comments did not help anymore. Best of luck for him to.

Do you suggest players to your DoF?

[George_84]

@Platinumyes, but he’s also responsible for signing first team players. My approach is that the manager (me), the DoF and the scouting department go through the list of players suggested by the scouts. Any player I find interesting is scoutend until I have a clear view of the players attributes. If I see a player I really want I suggest him to my DoF who makes the approach. Next to this method, the DoF signs players in the departments he thinks we need strengthening (suprise, here’s your new winger you never heard of!) I do have the opportunity to have the last call on the signing, so I don’t get stuck with 4 RB’s.

[mikcheck]

Does anyone or how many of you play with that skin that shows stars or other things instead of player attributes?

[AEJ]

It's been a long time since I last played FM

The last 2 times I tried to play with the custom strict rules I set up (page 18 of this thread) I failed because of, first, technical issues and, second,  a complete lack of time

Not this time (I hope). Let's try one last FM22 save. The point is to not buy FM23 on launch. The only way to control my FM addiction is to have a long term FM22 save going strong by november

So... same rules as those posted on page 18. No editing them. I am not expecting a sucessfull career, honestly, but thas the point I guess.

The FM addiction is strong. Just because it's been a couple of months without touching FM, it's the only thing I want to do now on my free time 

Edited June 21, 2022 by AEJ

[Brother Ben]

25 minutes ago, AEJ said:

It's been a long time since I last played FM

The last 2 times I tried to play with the custom strict rules I set up (page 18 of this thread) I failed because of, first, technical issues and, second,  a complete lack of time

Not this time (I hope). Let's try one last FM22 save. The point is to not buy FM23 on launch. The only way to control my FM addiction is to have a long term FM22 save going strong by november

So... same rules as those posted on page 18. No editing them. I am not expecting a sucessfull career, honestly, but thas the point I guess.

The FM addiction is strong. Just because it's been a couple of months without touching FM, it's the only thing I want to do now on my free time 

Just read your rules back and I know you've said you'll start unemployed but here's the LLM Picker for bottom league clubs sorted by stars.

https://www.the9llamas.com/llmpicker/llmpicker22-blue-llama#h.qm4qn8u8qnhm

Good luck with your save, keep us updated as you go along!  Don't worry about being successful, heck, as you can see from my post further up it took me 7 seasons to get out of the bottom division so it's all relative when you put constraints in in an effort to be more realistic 

[Brother Ben]

On 19/06/2022 at 20:34, mikcheck said:

Does anyone or how many of you play with that skin that shows stars or other things instead of player attributes?

I have done in previous FM's but I was already well into my save on FM22 before I found one.  Personally its just the stars i'd like to turn off, I think they make me a tad lazy when it comes to assessing players

[mikcheck]

13 minutos atrás, Brother Ben disse:

I have done in previous FM's but I was already well into my save on FM22 before I found one.  Personally its just the stars i'd like to turn off, I think they make me a tad lazy when it comes to assessing players

Hi, thanks. 

Sorry but what do you mean by stars making you lazy when it comes to buy players? What would you like instead of stars? 

Dont you think it makes the game funnier and more challenging? 

Edited June 21, 2022 by mikcheck

[Brother Ben]

21 minutes ago, mikcheck said:

Hi, thanks. 

Sorry but what do you mean by stars making you lazy when it comes to buy players? What would you like instead of stars? 

Dont you think it makes the game funnier and more challenging? 

I mean the stars as in the ability and potential ones as judged by your staff

I'd like it to be like previous FM/CM's where there were no stars and you had to judge players solely on attributes.  It makes me lazy because it tends to affect my judgement of players when it can be wrong a lot of the time, especially when you manage low down like I do with terrible staff.

There was a Skin like this for FM21 but by all accounts the stars are on so many screens it is really hard to implement.

I've used the kind of skin involving the attributes that you refer to in the past and enjoyed it too, but it makes you have to devote an awful lot of time to the game and I found myself writing endless notes on players.

It can be quite realistic in my mind though, I used to use the attribute colour skin and have one colour for attributes 1-5 6-14 and 15-20.  Gives you a nice at a glance picture of what players are really bad and good at.

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Brother Ben

[mikcheck]

I understand what you mean now by the stars and I agree. I'm still playing FM21 and the skin I use is the one from this forum that doesn't show player attributes and no stars too, which is good too. But the same skin for FM22 even though it doesn't show player attributes, it has stars.

Just for curiosity and with no player attributes, in what information do you based on to sign new players? Scout reports and player statistics for example? Or do  you even watch some matches?

 

[Brother Ben]

3 hours ago, mikcheck said:

 

Just for curiosity and with no player attributes, in what information do you based on to sign new players? Scout reports and player statistics for example? Or do  you even watch some matches?

 

All of those things yes, very rewarding and challenging if you have the time

[AEJ]

1.

Wednersday night I began my journey unemployed. Played a couple of hours yestreday as well. The save started at december 6, 2021. I had 3 months to find the best half a star job possible or I would have (after 3 months) to accept the first role availabe, ****** or not. One month passed and I was getting a little worried, so I accepted the job of the last placed team in the northern irish third division. As there is no relegation in the division, I said **** it

I am managing the great Distillery FC!

The first 3 games? 3 losses of course. 

I am getting fired before the new season begins 

 

Edited June 24, 2022 by AEJ

[AEJ]

2.

The expectation of the board is to not finish bottom, but I don't think it will be possible.

The next game is away against second place. We are one defeat away from setting a new league record of most defeats in a row 

 

 

[Junkhead]

Some great updates on here, just catching up. I've not really touched FM with any seriousness over the last couple of months, probably because I started a challenge which is obviously completely impossible, particularly for a serial restarter like me.

Going to start a save to get me through the summer and beyond, but as per it's taking me an age to pick a team. Narrowed it down to three - RFC Liege, Ankaraspor or Messina. All lowest playable league, and all loads of potential for a long career.

Ankaraspor have really good facilities, Messina have a great stadium and divisional rivalries, and Liege last won the league 70 years ago. Decisions, decisions....

 

[Brother Ben]

I'd say you have unfinished business in Turkey

[AEJ]

3.

I was not sacked!

In the end, we had a decent run and did not finish last!

So, for the new season, I went deep in to the transfer market. The team changed a lot, for the better. I think we became one of the favorites to win the title

But, of course, the season has not been easy. Right now, I am third, after being league leaders. It pisses me off how unlucky I am. My strikers do not know how to finish, my players are always suspended and I had a couple of injuries. Of course I lost five really important players for the most important match so far. I lost the match

And then I lost 6x1  . I am using an assymetric 361, but I think it's time for a change. 

I am starting to realise that I have to stop being so harsh to my team. They do not react well to criticism, especially in training. Almost ALL of my players are getting  A LOT worse attribute wise. Those red arrows kill me every time. Maybe this group of players is not good enough mentally to win something.

The press somehow hates me as well. And other managers mock me all the time. I hate them all

There is no danger of being sacked, but I almost quit after one especifc game. In the second match of the season I was facing the worst team of the league. 3x1, almost at half time. Easy game. My best player gets sent off. 3x3. ****. Fast foward a couple of months, I am facing the same team in the league. 2x0 almost at half time. Easy game. THE SAME ****NG PLAYER GETS SENT OFF AGAIN. 2x2. I was first at the time, then dropped to second.

I am tired of this ****** team 

Edited July 6, 2022 by AEJ

[DementedHammer]

Last night, I had one of the most bizarre games that I've had in many a season.

We were 1-0 down, when my fullback literally stopped playing to protest about something, whilst his man broke free and, now totally unmarked, had a simple finish to put us 2-0 down. What he was complaining about, I have no idea.

We pulled a goal back a couple of minutes later, and then equalized 10 seconds after halftime straight from the kick off. After that, we were on top for the remainder of the half.

In the 70th minute, the opposition had a goal kick. Their keeper kicked it long, and as it sailed over the midfielders, our central midfielder elbowed his opposite number who damn near flew a couple of metres. Instant red card. He's lucky he wasn't arrested!

 

After that, the game petered out to a 2-2 draw. Which was fine by me. The opposition didn't really push for a winner either and, if anything, we were still the more dangerous side, although we gradually shut up shop as the minutes progressed and safely saw the game out.

This game brought back memories of CM01-02 where I had a guy sent off for a headbutt, and FM06, where I had a goalkeeper pick up a back pass and give away an indirect free kick pretty much on the goal line.

I love playing with level 10 teams with fake players. So many weird and unexpected things happen every now and again.

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by DementedHammer

[bpecanha]

I always try to keep it real while playing Football Manager, often looking for scouted/suggested (in game) players. This time I'm playing a little bit different, I'll explain.

I'm using a custom database that enables all state championships in Brazil. If you want to play Rio de Janeiro's state championship, in example, you'll be able to play in Rio's 5th division (and yes, there's a 5th division in Rio IRL). I'm playing with my local club, Gonçalense, they start in Rio's Second Division (Carioca Série A2). If you aren't in a national division, you need to qualify to 4th Division through the state championships, and that is the challenge for me.

I usually don't sign players using attributes only, but it's almost impossible to do anything different in this league (believe me, I've tried). However, I'm trying to keep as tight as possible in finances, calculating all my incomes, debts and wages to know how much can I spend in player/staff wages in a season. The database I'm using is very well known in Brazil, and I see a lot of people just signing good players, ruining their finances and recovering them in the long term. I want to grow, but without compromising my finances - and this is giving me a lot of work.

In the 2022 Season, I've decided to sign only players on loan. And believe me, I've seen things like that happening IRL at this level, so I don't feel this is unrealistic at all. We did well enough to win the Carioca Serie A2, finishing 2nd in the First Stage and then winning the Final Stage with 15 points in 6 games. We have also played in the Rio Cup, which reunites smaller clubs from Rio. We had a great campaign in the Group Stage, but lost in quarter-finals against Bangu on penalties.

2023 was a much tougher year for us, as we played in Rio's First Division, alongside the four giants in the state (Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Vasco). Our team was by far the worst in the league, but somehow we managed to scrape two wins against direct opponents and survived. Copa Rio was frustrating - we lost again on penalties, this time in the Round of 16 against Angra Audax (who would end losing in the final).

Now I'm starting 2024 and things are looking slightly better. We still have a weak squad, but it's looking likely that we'll survive again in the state league. We are keeping finances in a good level - board offered me 31k p/m to spend, but our club are only spending 22k. Finances are also looking good and this is encouraging.

[Junkhead]

Glad to see everyone enjoying their saves!

I chose Messina in the end, through pre-season and just about to start the proper games.  Enjoying it!

[George_84]

I recently found some time to continue with my Boston save. Second season in League 2 and putting my DoF in charge of the signings. As my main target for this season is to further establish myself as a League 2 club, I thought it would be perfect to see how the DoF handles the recruitment of new players. There is a solid base of players to avoid a relegation battle and my scouting team identified some possible targets I could pass on to the DoF to sign for the team. Every signing my DoF presents to me, does have to get my final approval.

I can't say I'm to impressed with the signings my DoF is making. So far he got us a better goalkeeper and a better right back, but he also got 2 unknown players from the lower divisions in Scotland and a striker who was unemployed for a season as backups. I also didn't approve another winger, 2 veteran midfielders and a very slow striker. He also failed to sign some of my targets but got us the striker I wanted although he wasn't very keen in the first place. He did get rid of some deadwood for decent money. 

I think the DoF is underperforming because of the low standards I set in the recruitmentmeetings, so I'll make sure the next meetings are more ambitious. We have 14 days untill the transferwindow closes and I'm looking for some much needed reinformcements and some squad debt!

The first 2 games gave me a lose and a win, the new faces are still trying to blend in!

[Andreh68]

Em 22/06/2022 em 12:41, mikcheck disse:

I understand what you mean now by the stars and I agree. I'm still playing FM21 and the skin I use is the one from this forum that doesn't show player attributes and no stars too, which is good too. But the same skin for FM22 even though it doesn't show player attributes, it has stars.

Just for curiosity and with no player attributes, in what information do you based on to sign new players? Scout reports and player statistics for example? Or do  you even watch some matches?

 

I know and use a skin that changed attributes from numbers to stars levels, and there is an option to hide PA stars, but not CA, as far as I know. Would love one without the CA. Or at least if there is a way to decrease to just 3 levels of CA stars. Poor, average and above average.

 

Em 20/12/2020 em 04:12, Junkhead disse:

Game started with about 20 additional leagues from creators I trust (not gonna tag them as will likely annoy them, but Timo61, Lukafanzer, Wiery & Dosukoi - @francis#17 I will DM you!).  As well as realism files from @Daveincid & @majesticeternity & Nik33's Agents pack, this leaves me with 155 leagues from 73 nations & gives me a decent spread of African, Asian & South American Leagues.  I am hoping as well as opening these leagues up, it might help minimise the newgen issue which SI have mentioned.

I have also decided to do something which I NEVER usually do & that is "add players to playable teams".  This will help populate the squads in the new leagues I am using, but also fill my u18's at Kidderminster with newgens right from the start.  I think there is an argument that this isn't realistic, however this will hopefully mitigate some potential issues with newgens as all clubs will benefit from a full youth team.

Going to be using the hidden attributes skin initially, will see how that goes.

Sorry to dig a post so old,and to have not read the entire thread. How do you feel today about the add players to playable teams. I always avoided it to not make unrealist rosters, but the problems that teams with no players bring might be even more unrealist.

Thank you

[Junkhead]

1 hour ago, Andreh68 said:

I know and use a skin that changed attributes from numbers to stars levels, and there is an option to hide PA stars, but not CA, as far as I know. Would love one without the CA. Or at least if there is a way to decrease to just 3 levels of CA stars. Poor, average and above average.

 

Sorry to dig a post so old,and to have not read the entire thread. How do you feel today about the add players to playable teams. I always avoided it to not make unrealist rosters, but the problems that teams with no players bring might be even more unrealist.

Thank you

Depends. I've found the last few years that additional leagues for a more immersive game world is essential to my enjoyment (not typically LLM, of course).  If I am starting in say, England, where the sides in the nationwide north/south don't have a youth team, I don't add players. Yes it means lots of the sides in the divisions I've added start with no players, but I am unlikely to notice. On the other hand, if I start in say Italy, where most teams have full youth squads, I add them. My team still starts with real players but added leagues are populated.

Worth noting that I sometimes start with fake players, in which case I 100% add players.

[wazza]

I want to make the game as hard and realistic as possible.  Alot of clubs now hire the manager and call them 'Head Coach'. I guess this means that all they do is coach the players that the DOF or chairman fetches in and having no say in the transfers into the team.   Is this the realistic way that clubs carry out there transfer business now without input from the manager or am I reading into it?

This would make the FM save harder if you were just a head coach and not allowed any input into the transfers of each club. This could also be varied from club to club so one club allows you to be involved in transfers and another doesn't with it all stipulated in the club vision as this would normally be the chairman's decision on how the club is run rather than the manager telling the club how to do transfers when they arrive.

Does anyone know or can advise of which current English Championships operate only with a DOF for transfers and not allow the manager input into them and only have to coach the players that are brought in by others.  

 

[Mars_Blackmon]

Is there anyone who plays this way and have a youtube channel?

[fc.cadoni]

41 minutes ago, Mars_Blackmon said:

Is there anyone who plays this way and have a youtube channel?

FMLlma is one.