The Realism Thread

[George_84]

1 minute ago, psucolonel said:

When setting up my initial game, I am trying to use all of the available leagues in one way or another (view only or playable).Obviously it's tough to get the right combination....for the leagues I am designating "view only" I am loading up the nation in the custom database.  My issue however as a fairly new player, is which options here should I be selecting?  I will have far too many players for processing if I select all of the options...which ones do people consider neccessary for a realistic experience?  

Thank You for any advice and/or help

Cheers!

There is a great topic about setting a realistic database in football manager by DaVinci. He explains which setup to use and gives you some options depending on the hardware of your computer.

 

[psucolonel]

yes I just tried to ask him, but he wasn't very helpful...I am a newer player, so a lot of this doesn't make sense to me.  

[psucolonel]

The file that is provided for download doesn't seem to load in FM 23

[Brother Ben]

3 hours ago, psucolonel said:

When setting up my initial game, I am trying to use all of the available leagues in one way or another (view only or playable).Obviously it's tough to get the right combination....for the leagues I am designating "view only" I am loading up the nation in the custom database.  My issue however as a fairly new player, is which options here should I be selecting?  I will have far too many players for processing if I select all of the options...which ones do people consider neccessary for a realistic experience?  

Thank You for any advice and/or help

Cheers!

There are a lot of variables here.  At what level are you looking to start, what are the specs of your computer and will this be a short term or long term save?

Edited January 23, 2023 by Brother Ben

[Platinum]

Great seeing this topic is still getting lots of talk and updates. I've actually become a bit disheartened due to the way the DoF operates in the game

[Maviarab]

8 hours ago, psucolonel said:

The file that is provided for download doesn't seem to load in FM 23

He has not done a file for FM23 yet, all the settings still apply though.  This video may help you understand better:

 

[psucolonel]

Thank you..I will be sure to watch

[psucolonel]

Is this considered a good way to setup up a save?  Will this result in too many greyed out players on rosters?

https://www.footballmanagerblog.org/2022/10/best-way-to-set-up-football-manager-2023-save-fm23.html?m=1

[psucolonel]

I find that these are both decent advice on setting up a save...but they are both a bit different.  Yellow Card is suggesting you load the custom database players in divisions & continents, while not having view only leagues... but the FM Blog advice suggests all leagues as view only (except your own) and then having all players in the custom continental database.

[saintrainhard]

 

The stories start when I rejected offer from Leeds United for Bursik. Then he become unhappy. Some other players ask for team meeting to ask me let him go for another club. I tell them that our squad will be weakened if I sell Bursik as he is my best goalkeeper and I think I will have a chance for playoff if I can keep him. 

The interesting part is when I told them that, Bursik is the player that truly agree with what I said, so it become contradictive with the whole stories. And he address himself as third person, lol

[George_84]

On 23/01/2023 at 15:22, Platinum said:

Great seeing this topic is still getting lots of talk and updates. I've actually become a bit disheartened due to the way the DoF operates in the game

I've just finished my first season and I'm putting a lot of effort in the squad planner, adding players as transfer targets and declaring intrest in players to give the DoF a lot of hints on how I want to strengthen the squad. Hopefully he get's it and can land some players and hopefully these new tools make DoF behaviour more realistic. I do keep in mind that I'm managing a low reputation semi-pro club who's on a tight budget, so I expect to reach into the U18's to fill the bench on a match day.

So far my DoF made 1 excellent signing (a young CB from Sunderland), 1 mediocre signing (a young inconsistent striker), 1 loan deal I asked for, a young winger I couldn't use and a young CB who still has to prove his worth. Let's see how he does with the new input. I feel like the more I achieve with a club, the more I have a say in the transfers and the more I get to instruct the DoF and scouts to get me a specific type of player.

If delegating the squad building to the DoF becomes a bit to annoying to play the game, setting a scout focus is a a great addition to my lower league management game style. Going to the chief scout and asking him to search for a Left Wingback who's 23 years old to back up your 33 year old starting player, feels like a realistic approach to get new players in the club.

In real life I see DoF's from different clubs messing up the squad all the time. 

[George_84]

17 hours ago, psucolonel said:

I find that these are both decent advice on setting up a save...but they are both a bit different.  Yellow Card is suggesting you load the custom database players in divisions & continents, while not having view only leagues... but the FM Blog advice suggests all leagues as view only (except your own) and then having all players in the custom continental database.

I never put so much effort in getting the right game setup and just select the leagues I like to play in or who would add to the game experience. Try different game setups and see what you like best and what your computer can handle. 

[Brother Ben]

On 24/01/2023 at 16:16, George_84 said:

I never put so much effort in getting the right game setup and just select the leagues I like to play in or who would add to the game experience. Try different game setups and see what you like best and what your computer can handle. 

Yeah I think this is Good advice. you can drive yourself mad trying to get the perfect setup

[psucolonel]

yep..I am off in running...I did enable all of the leagues, but some are view only toward the lower divisions.  But every nation has at least one or two playable leagues.  

[Junkhead]

Thought I would check in & see how everyone is getting on

Not been about recently as decided not to buy FM23 which makes me feel really disconnected on the boards.  I haven't stopped playing though, loving my FM22 game at Manaus in Brazil.  They are easily the best team in their State Competition which means I'm basically able to use that as a prolonged series of friendlies to properly prepare for the league season.  This seems to have given me a real advantage in the league - having just avoided relegation in the first season, I managed to win Serie C in season 2 and am now preparing for the clubs first ever season in the second tier.

I've not done my usual trick of constantly restarting the game having replaced my trusty desktop with a laptop.  I didn't have the space to leave the desktop set up so every time I fancied a quick game, I was having to move the monitor sometimes halfway across the room & bring a small table in from elsewhere.  So I rarely bothered.  Now though, I'm able to just boot up and play a quick match - staying involved in my game has made a massive difference.

Hope everyone is well & enjoying their games!

[Tikka Mezzala]

On 12/03/2023 at 09:44, Junkhead said:

Thought I would check in & see how everyone is getting on

Not been about recently as decided not to buy FM23 which makes me feel really disconnected on the boards.  I haven't stopped playing though, loving my FM22 game at Manaus in Brazil.  They are easily the best team in their State Competition which means I'm basically able to use that as a prolonged series of friendlies to properly prepare for the league season.  This seems to have given me a real advantage in the league - having just avoided relegation in the first season, I managed to win Serie C in season 2 and am now preparing for the clubs first ever season in the second tier.

I've not done my usual trick of constantly restarting the game having replaced my trusty desktop with a laptop.  I didn't have the space to leave the desktop set up so every time I fancied a quick game, I was having to move the monitor sometimes halfway across the room & bring a small table in from elsewhere.  So I rarely bothered.  Now though, I'm able to just boot up and play a quick match - staying involved in my game has made a massive difference.

Hope everyone is well & enjoying their games!

I've had a long break from the 2023 edition of the game, preferring my saves from FM15 and FM17 of late. But I have been mulling over a return to the current version, and like yourself, I'll probably try South America, where I had a lot of fun in the 2015 edition. 

I think I've mentioned in the thread before that I tend to play as a real ex-player/manager in order to increase the realism. I just use the in-game editor to make sure everything is in order regarding duplicates and all of the information about the person I'm playing as (favoured clubs/personnel; attributes etc.). I've been having a think about who would be interesting to play as in South America. Among the current candidates are: Edison Mendez (former PSV and Ecuador midfielder, currently reserves manager at LDU Quito); Egidio Arevalo Rios (former Uruguay international midfielder, currently unemployed); Claudio Pizarro (former Peru international, Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen centre-forward, unemployed); Justo Villar (former Paraguay international goalkeeper, unemployed); Moises Villarroel (former Chile international defender, played for Colo Colo and Santiago Wanderers, unemployed); Elkin Soto (former Mainz05, Once Caldas, Colombia midfielder, currently HoYD at Once Caldas); Ronald Raldes (former Bolivia international centre-back, earning over one-hundred caps, currently unemployed). 

I've loaded up all of the South American nations, including the ones not in the original database (thanks editors of FM), and I'll decide later today who to play as. I'll probably provide some updates in here again once the save gets going. 

Edited March 14, 2023 by Tikka Mezzala

[Brother Ben]

Good to see this thread back. 

Was just about to start my long term post winter update save.  Loaded up my FM22 save as i wanted to download my tactic from it to use as a base for FM23 but I ended up looking through my squad and in a burst of nostalgia I think i'm going to go back to that.

[Tikka Mezzala]

A decision has been made: 

The face recognition software seems to have done an okay job this time. I've had some real shockers down the years. 

So I've removed the other Mendez from the game and taken on all of his personal/staff information. He's currently working as a youth coach with LDU Quito, but for the purposes of the save, I'm starting unemployed as it's not possible to manage the youth team. 

Some things to note for realism purposes: Mendez seems to have several relations in the game, including a son that plays for Club America de Quito in the second-tier of the Ecuadorian pyramid. Depending on where I end up working, it might be possible to sign him (or one of the other relations) if they are good enough for the team/willing to join. Among Mendez's favourite clubs are Barcelona (ECU) (supporter), El Nacional (player), and LDU Quito (player). Although he did play for Barcelona's big rivals Emelec during his career, so I certainly wouldn't rule out managing them, despite supporting their traditional foes. 

Mendez has a dislike of the current president of El Nacional, Lucia Vallecilla. I done a bit of research, and it turns out that while Mendez was a technical director with the club, he was accused of allowing alcohol into the club's premises, an accusation that he vehemently denies. There was a big falling out between the president, Mendez, and several players, meaning I won't be joining up with El Nacional while she remains at the club. 

Other than that, Mendez's playing career saw him amass over one-hundred caps for Ecuador, as well as playing for clubs in Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and the Netherlands, so I reckon he's well known enough to potentially land a role outside of Ecuador if such an opportunity arose. 

In terms of what type of manager I'll try and be, I think the door is open to be pragmatic with Mendez. He has played for some big clubs in the countries he's worked in, meaning he probably favours being on the front foot, but I don't see him being totally wedded to a particular philosophy. 

I don't have any particular aims in the save, other than to enjoy a realistic career with Mendez, but I think it would be a real highlight if I could manage Ecuador at a major tournament. But we'll see how it goes. Have to land my first role before dreams can be realised. 

[George_84]

Just started a new save with as a LLM after losing intrest in my Curzon Ashton save. I gave almost all responsibilities to the DoF and only suggested him to sign players recommended by my scouts, but it really took the fun out of the game. With Curzon Ashton my DoF did some decent work on bringing in players I lacked in the first team and after 2 seasons of mid table finishes, I was looking at promotion places above all expectations when Tranmere offered me a job in the national league. I had to choose between a promotion battle in the VNR or the VNL. I choose to go to Tranmere as I really liked their squad and the chances for a promotion to League 2. We bottled it with Tranmere in the playoff final and half of the squad wanted out. The DoF at Tranmere however wasn't as gifted as the one at Curzon Ashton, and replaced many of the leaving players with older players, dropping divisions after not playing a lot for their former clubs. The few players I recommended to sign (U23's, as asked by the board), couldn't find an agreement with the DoF. However their wages would fit the wagebill. Now the board is annoyed with me that I didn't bring in young players and supporters think I should have done better with transfers. I'm parking the save for now, maybe it will grab my intrest sometime later.

So I started a new save with Hemel Hempstead, rockbottom in the league, with an awful squad and almost no staff. My DoF get's to negotiate contracts, but not sign any players in his own, as I would feel signings would be more realistic because the scouting, manager and DoF all agree to sign a player this way. Wish me luck!

[Junkhead]

Update;

Having won my third State Championship in three attempts at Manaus, a couple of slightly bigger clubs started sniffing around me.  With this being my (and the club's) first season in Serie B, and confident in my squad, I distanced myself from any interest in the hope of having a decent, mid-table season to improve my reputation a bit.

We actually got off to a storming start, topping the league after 5 games before balance started to restore itself and I spent the next 15 weeks or so hovering just under the top four promotion slots, but staying in touch.  I would have been very happy finishing in a top half position, but then suddenly a news item popped up out of the blue saying that recently relegated Cruzeiro - struggling two places below me in the table and expecting promotion - wanted me to replace the manager they'd just sacked but couldn't afford the compensation. 

I didn't feel I'd quite hit the ceiling with Manaus, but I was probably coming close to it. On the other hand, it's fair to say that - certainly domestically - Cruzeiro's ceiling was considerably above their current position. Unlimited, in fact. So with this in mind, I had what I felt was a productive conversation with the board. I asked them to consider reducing my compensation to allow and approach, which they rejected. However they agreed to invest heavily in youth and training facilities to keep me at the club. And then the next day sold out prize asset, 19 year old newgen centrehalf Boquita Novo who I had bought into the first team early in my first season due to an injury crisis. He had never lost his place, improving to the point where he was being considered as a potential leading Serie A player. We could have got far more than the £900k they accepted from Koln, and so I resigned.

Was offered the Cruzeiro role a few days later, and immediately had about 10 players banging my door down saying they wanted to leave given our relegation, and probably the fact that European transfer windows had just opened. Given that we were £4m in debt, I decided to take the hit and place those with any value on the transfer list but force the more experienced heads to stay and help develop the younger players. Four first choice players were sold for a total of around £6m, the board are pleased we are back in the black but the fans are gutted at a couple of the departures. Four games played so far and having taken 7 points, I'm still in touch and have climbed to 5th in the league.

Still loving Brazil!

[Tikka Mezzala]

On 22/04/2023 at 22:51, Junkhead said:

Update;

Having won my third State Championship in three attempts at Manaus, a couple of slightly bigger clubs started sniffing around me.  With this being my (and the club's) first season in Serie B, and confident in my squad, I distanced myself from any interest in the hope of having a decent, mid-table season to improve my reputation a bit.

We actually got off to a storming start, topping the league after 5 games before balance started to restore itself and I spent the next 15 weeks or so hovering just under the top four promotion slots, but staying in touch.  I would have been very happy finishing in a top half position, but then suddenly a news item popped up out of the blue saying that recently relegated Cruzeiro - struggling two places below me in the table and expecting promotion - wanted me to replace the manager they'd just sacked but couldn't afford the compensation. 

I didn't feel I'd quite hit the ceiling with Manaus, but I was probably coming close to it. On the other hand, it's fair to say that - certainly domestically - Cruzeiro's ceiling was considerably above their current position. Unlimited, in fact. So with this in mind, I had what I felt was a productive conversation with the board. I asked them to consider reducing my compensation to allow and approach, which they rejected. However they agreed to invest heavily in youth and training facilities to keep me at the club. And then the next day sold out prize asset, 19 year old newgen centrehalf Boquita Novo who I had bought into the first team early in my first season due to an injury crisis. He had never lost his place, improving to the point where he was being considered as a potential leading Serie A player. We could have got far more than the £900k they accepted from Koln, and so I resigned.

Was offered the Cruzeiro role a few days later, and immediately had about 10 players banging my door down saying they wanted to leave given our relegation, and probably the fact that European transfer windows had just opened. Given that we were £4m in debt, I decided to take the hit and place those with any value on the transfer list but force the more experienced heads to stay and help develop the younger players. Four first choice players were sold for a total of around £6m, the board are pleased we are back in the black but the fans are gutted at a couple of the departures. Four games played so far and having taken 7 points, I'm still in touch and have climbed to 5th in the league.

Still loving Brazil!

Cruzeiro are a big club. A good forward step in your career. 

[Conardo]

Am 26.1.2023 um 00:14 schrieb Brother Ben:

Yeah I think this is Good advice. you can drive yourself mad trying to get the perfect setup

This!! 

[Conardo]

Am 14.3.2023 um 16:28 schrieb Brother Ben:

Good to see this thread back. 

Was just about to start my long term post winter update save.  Loaded up my FM22 save as i wanted to download my tactic from it to use as a base for FM23 but I ended up looking through my squad and in a burst of nostalgia I think i'm going to go back to that.

This happens to me every year again 

[Tikka Mezzala]

I've been unable to get into a save in this version of the game. I normally play as a real life manager/ex-player, but nothing has really captured my imagination. In a last effort to get some enjoyment out of this year's game, I shall be eschewing the self-negation, putting on my best suit (from George, ASDA), and putting myself forward as a managerial candidate. 

I've loaded up the Scottish leagues all the way down to the WOSFL Division 4, as well as most of Central Europe (my maternal family are Czech/Slovak). So I'll be looking for an opportunity close to home in Glasgow, or perhaps one that would allow me to head over to Czechia to stay with family as I try to carve out a career for myself there. 

 

 

[Tikka Mezzala]

On 14/05/2023 at 20:48, Tikka Mezzala said:

I've been unable to get into a save in this version of the game. I normally play as a real life manager/ex-player, but nothing has really captured my imagination. In a last effort to get some enjoyment out of this year's game, I shall be eschewing the self-negation, putting on my best suit (from George, ASDA), and putting myself forward as a managerial candidate. 

I've loaded up the Scottish leagues all the way down to the WOSFL Division 4, as well as most of Central Europe (my maternal family are Czech/Slovak). So I'll be looking for an opportunity close to home in Glasgow, or perhaps one that would allow me to head over to Czechia to stay with family as I try to carve out a career for myself there. 

 

 

Despite some offers from pretty close to home, I actually headed south of the border to involve myself in Guillem Balague's Biggleswade United project. Until I'm an established manager, whenever a club has a DoF model, I'll be allowing the DoF to run a lot of aspects of the club. I'll stick to training the first team players and selecting the team for matchdays. 

The good thing about signing on at Biggleswade is that Guillem is the DoF and he has very good attributes for this level. Given that he'll be responsible for recruitment, I think I can put my trust in him to get the squad up to scratch. At this moment in time I'm a little concerned about the lack of quality in the goalkeeping department and the defence, but within a couple of days at the helm, Balague had arranged a trial for a decent 18 y/o keeper. So I'm encouraged by the early signs. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

I'm definitely someone that learns from his mistakes. One of my first saves in FM23 was in the Scottish junior leagues, and I made the mistake of putting off contract renewals until the second half of the season. My thinking was that it would give me time to learn about the team and who I'd want to keep. But boy was I in for a rude awakening! 

I ended up losing a bunch of players because they were asking for improved terms. I then headed into the summer needing something like eighteen players to give me an XI and a bench. There was a mass scramble for players by every club in the lower echelons of the Scottish game, and I came out of the window much weaker. 

This save I've given everybody a one year extension on equal terms to their current deal. That gives me the security of at least being as strong as this season. Hopefully I can then add some players to make us better and let go of the ones I don't really want on my terms, rather than losing everyone and trying desperately to piece a team together. 

[Junkhead]

At a turning point in my save. Having got Cruzeiro promoted during my first full season, I've survived and am likely to qualify for continental football (although 12th and up do in Brazil - I'm tenth).

I've managed to turn a £16m profit in the 2.5 years I've been in charge to get the club out of financial difficulty through the consistent sale of star performers and promotion from the youth team or cheaper alternatives. 

However, I have little doubt I'm overachieving and it's looking unlikely I will be able to significantly strengthen the squad - a couple of my younger stars want to move to bigger clubs, and annoyingly they have relatively low release clauses. I've not really been able to identify replacements for these players, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it. Not only that, but of the four teams going down, 2 had never played at this level before and have had nightmare seasons (one being my former club Manaus), and another hadn't played at this level since the 70s. The teams coming up, however, include Botafogo, Vasco & Paranaenese - all of whom are clubs a similar size as us and with better squads than the relegated clubs.

Added to that, another slog in the state championship (basically 14 friendlies and then a final against Minearo) and the prospect of my depleted squad also having to play at least 10 extra games in the Copa Sudamerica is making me feel like it's probably time.

I've been offered a job at Boavista, currently sitting at 10th in Portugal (it's November) off the back of two 5th placed finishes. They play a similar formation to me so I should be able to carry on developing my main tactic, and I suspect that I would be able to tempt a couple of the young lads from Cruzeiro who are ready to move on. It's a decent sized club in a big league, my Manager speaks the language, and it feels a realistic move for a mildly successful Brazilian Manager into Europe.

It's clear I need to take the job - anyone else get nervous at this point?! 😂

[Brother Ben]

17 minutes ago, Junkhead said:

At a turning point in my save. Having got Cruzeiro promoted during my first full season, I've survived and am likely to qualify for continental football (although 12th and up do in Brazil - I'm tenth).

I've managed to turn a £16m profit in the 2.5 years I've been in charge to get the club out of financial difficulty through the consistent sale of star performers and promotion from the youth team or cheaper alternatives. 

However, I have little doubt I'm overachieving and it's looking unlikely I will be able to significantly strengthen the squad - a couple of my younger stars want to move to bigger clubs, and annoyingly they have relatively low release clauses. I've not really been able to identify replacements for these players, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it. Not only that, but of the four teams going down, 2 had never played at this level before and have had nightmare seasons (one being my former club Manaus), and another hadn't played at this level since the 70s. The teams coming up, however, include Botafogo, Vasco & Paranaenese - all of whom are clubs a similar size as us and with better squads than the relegated clubs.

Added to that, another slog in the state championship (basically 14 friendlies and then a final against Minearo) and the prospect of my depleted squad also having to play at least 10 extra games in the Copa Sudamerica is making me feel like it's probably time.

I've been offered a job at Boavista, currently sitting at 10th in Portugal (it's November) off the back of two 5th placed finishes. They play a similar formation to me so I should be able to carry on developing my main tactic, and I suspect that I would be able to tempt a couple of the young lads from Cruzeiro who are ready to move on. It's a decent sized club in a big league, my Manager speaks the language, and it feels a realistic move for a mildly successful Brazilian Manager into Europe.

It's clear I need to take the job - anyone else get nervous at this point?! 😂

Yeah I'd take that job.  Portugal seems perfectly natural progression and you've earned the chance.  Portugal has pretty loose laws on foreign players too so you could probably take a few Cruzeiro players with you too.  (one of my favourite things to do in the game)

And their away kit is yellow, which as you know is a deal breaker!

Edited July 22, 2023 by Brother Ben

[Junkhead]

Well this was a mistake 

It's a career step up, but they're £4.5m in debt and have 4-5 players who I would keep in the squad at this level & not much else.  Gonna be a really fun rebuild!

[George_84]

It's always tempting to switch to a bigger club, but I've also learned the hard way that is not always the best move. You say you're overachieving, but is your board having unrealistic high expectations? As long as you feel like you can meet the expectations, you can always go for it and see what happens. I sometimes find myself with the same doubts when the season is finishing, players wanting to move out of the club and not finding decent replacements or missing transfer targets. But most clubs find themselves in the same situation so a lot can change in these uncertain pre-season times. 

But I do think you made a realistic transfer to Boavista. So good luck with the rebuild! 

[Junkhead]

19 hours ago, George_84 said:

It's always tempting to switch to a bigger club, but I've also learned the hard way that is not always the best move. You say you're overachieving, but is your board having unrealistic high expectations? As long as you feel like you can meet the expectations, you can always go for it and see what happens. I sometimes find myself with the same doubts when the season is finishing, players wanting to move out of the club and not finding decent replacements or missing transfer targets. But most clubs find themselves in the same situation so a lot can change in these uncertain pre-season times. 

But I do think you made a realistic transfer to Boavista. So good luck with the rebuild! 

I had done 5 full seasons in Brazil and with the State Championships, it can be an absolute slog. If I'd been playing in Europe I'd have been 2-3 seasons further forward, I think. 

Cruzeiro are possibly a bigger club in the grand scheme of things, but there were 10-12 clubs who are just as big (or bigger) with better squads. Boavista on the other hand SHOULD come top six at worst every year. Until I arrive, obviously 😂

[Soulfusion]

Nice to find a place that still exists to suit my own style of play. For some unfathomable reason I have always attempted to play FM realistically, even before the days of the internet, Llama's and such. Starting at the lowest possible league and (hopefully) progressing, using my real (lack of) experience and qualifications, scouting to find players, own tactics etc. etc. and continued to refine them as different game iterations came out. In a previous life I was a regular in the old "lowerleaguemanager.com" site, now sadly departed.

My last two saves have involved the use of the editor to all English Leagues down to Level 8, and more recently Level 10. I start as a younger self of me (40), unemployed, with no qualifications and my Sunday league experience. Level 10 sounds about the right level to start; clubs are part time (generally) and so balancing finances is a requirement. I have opted to load down to Level 12 as playable to give my youth players good loan opportunities for regular first team football. Attributes masked and maintain signings from the last window, so stick with the same squad for the first season until a scout is employed and put to work. One (self imposed) rule is to only scout and sign players that are within a realistic distance from the club I am managing. Would a player playing for a club in the North-East or East Anglia for example consider playing in the South West part time for £50/week? Very unlikely. At this level I do have gripes with the amount of staff that are assigned to clubs. Is it realistic that clubs in Hellenic League West even have a DoF, let alone Sports analysts etc. so most get a P45 before I get to work which can be annoyingly expensive at the outset. My other gripe is the stadiums to grace my 20 or so loyal fans and their dog but one cannot expect the guys giving us the opportunity to play down at this level to also make time for realistic graphics. 

[stockwellpete]

54 minutes ago, Soulfusion said:

My other gripe is the stadiums to grace my 20 or so loyal fans and their dog but one cannot expect the guys giving us the opportunity to play down at this level to also make time for realistic graphics. 

When I started a game with a Premier League team, I opted for an intra-squad friendly. Presumably, the ground where this match was played was the club's own training ground. It seemed to be much less developed than many of the Vanarama South and Vanarama National grounds I have played on in this game. In fact, the training ground bore some similarity to Carshalton Athletic's ground at Colston Avenue in real life. It has allotments behind one goal and a park down one side. So maybe, the training grounds of elite clubs could also be used for clubs at steps 7,8 and 9 in the UK pyramid? I am not sure how many versions of the training ground there are. Of course, some of the grounds in the Vanarama South are well developed as they belong to former league clubs who are now having a spell in the doldrums (e.g. Yeovil Town, Torquay United).

[Soulfusion]

Bought new laptop, check. Purchased FM23, check. Loaded Lionel Messi's extended league database down to England level 10, check. 

Retired 39 year old (in game) Sunday League footballer with no coaching qualifications starting unemployed in July 2022 looking to make a reputation in the English lower leagues. Declare interest in the vacancies at Almondsbury Town, FC Bristol, Shirehampton and Tytherington Rocks of the Western League Div. 1. FC Bristol have no interest in a complete novice so my C.V. is sent to the other three clubs.  Folkestone Victoria of the Isthmian Prem confuse me with somebody else and offer me a interview which I attend simply for the experience. Almondsbury offer me an interview but are not interested in funding my coaching badges. Shirehampton are the next club to discuss my football vision. They promise to fund my education and I sign on the dotted line!

"Firmitas In Profundum"

Starting work bright and early on 11 Jul 2022 I get myself a pot of tea and wait for the staff to turn up. The Chairman rolls up mid morning and invites me to a meeting where I assume I will be introduced to everyone. Apparently it is just the two of us until I am able to get my own staff in. 

Next stop, the squad. Two friendlies have already played - a defeat and a draw. I find 17 lads kicking a ball about and am told this is my first team squad. I am also responsible for the U21's and U18's where I discover another 18 bodies and get to work. We win three and draw the other friendlies in pre-season and look to be in good shape for the new season although I still have not found anybody to join me in the dug out!

 

 

[Brother Ben]

12 hours ago, Soulfusion said:

Bought new laptop, check. Purchased FM23, check. Loaded Lionel Messi's extended league database down to England level 10, check. 

Retired 39 year old (in game) Sunday League footballer with no coaching qualifications starting unemployed in July 2022 looking to make a reputation in the English lower leagues. Declare interest in the vacancies at Almondsbury Town, FC Bristol, Shirehampton and Tytherington Rocks of the Western League Div. 1. FC Bristol have no interest in a complete novice so my C.V. is sent to the other three clubs.  Folkestone Victoria of the Isthmian Prem confuse me with somebody else and offer me a interview which I attend simply for the experience. Almondsbury offer me an interview but are not interested in funding my coaching badges. Shirehampton are the next club to discuss my football vision. They promise to fund my education and I sign on the dotted line!

"Firmitas In Profundum"

Starting work bright and early on 11 Jul 2022 I get myself a pot of tea and wait for the staff to turn up. The Chairman rolls up mid morning and invites me to a meeting where I assume I will be introduced to everyone. Apparently it is just the two of us until I am able to get my own staff in. 

Next stop, the squad. Two friendlies have already played - a defeat and a draw. I find 17 lads kicking a ball about and am told this is my first team squad. I am also responsible for the U21's and U18's where I discover another 18 bodies and get to work. We win three and draw the other friendlies in pre-season and look to be in good shape for the new season although I still have not found anybody to join me in the dug out!

 

 

Good start there SF, nothing like a new laptop to get you in the mood for LLM

KUTGW !

[Soulfusion]

A little background information about Shirehampton. Despite sounding like a place lifted from the pages of Tolkein's Middle Earth it is a distinct village north west of Bristol, near Avonmouth. The football club was founded in 1952 and has a "illustrious" (not my words) local history. Honours include winning the Somerset County League in 2000 & 2011 and the Somerset County Cup in 2015. The club was admitted into the Western League Division One in 2022. It has a groundsharing agreement with Bristol Manor Farm at The Creek whilst improvements are being made to its Penpole Road ground. The literal translation of its motto "Firmitas In Profundum" is Firmness In Depth; ironic considering the thin squad and non-existent backroom staff!

The Chairman wants us to fight bravely against relegation but I told him to expect a mid table position to add a few more pennies to my wage budget. Thankfully the media prediction is 10th so we shall see....

[f1dave]

Hi to some familiar names

 

Back on the wagon after a long time off. Been playing a bit of FM2020 Touch because I'm just not going to have the time for the full thing at present. Started at Tonbridge, got sacked. Was hired by King's Lynn, and after 15 games "the board are deeply saddened by your leadership of the team".

I am nothing if not consistent.

[Soulfusion]

Hi Dave

I've only just rekindled the passion for FM in the last six months. Trust that you are well sir.

[f1dave]

I am SF, thanks for asking. Could do with a centre back with half a clue, mind.

[IgnorantLobster]

On 17/08/2023 at 10:12, Soulfusion said:

A little background information about Shirehampton. Despite sounding like a place lifted from the pages of Tolkein's Middle Earth it is a distinct village north west of Bristol, near Avonmouth. The football club was founded in 1952 and has a "illustrious" (not my words) local history. Honours include winning the Somerset County League in 2000 & 2011 and the Somerset County Cup in 2015. The club was admitted into the Western League Division One in 2022. It has a groundsharing agreement with Bristol Manor Farm at The Creek whilst improvements are being made to its Penpole Road ground. The literal translation of its motto "Firmitas In Profundum" is Firmness In Depth; ironic considering the thin squad and non-existent backroom staff!

The Chairman wants us to fight bravely against relegation but I told him to expect a mid table position to add a few more pennies to my wage budget. Thankfully the media prediction is 10th so we shall see....

As someone whose family grew up in Shirehampton and who has been to their ground many times in the past few years, I look forward to hearing more about it -- I have a few friends who play for teams in your division so always fun to see it mentioned online!

[Platinum]

Hoping I'll be back in here for FM24, it all hinges on if DF functionality and behaviour has been improved

[f1dave]

^ Similar note, I ended up abandoning my FM20T save because

a) FM23 was 1/3 of the normal price

b) The match engine was starting to ruin things for me on my save. Essentially I was, no matter which of three different formations and tactics I used, constantly on the end of long shots. And I mean _long_ shots. I can live with a few hit and hopers going in but it was maybe 2 in every 3 games where semi-pros with poor shooting and long shot stats were drilling absolute thunderbastards into the net.

 

Anyway, I'm pleased to report FM23 doesn't show the same problems and I'm gamely trying to make a fist of it with Farsley Celtic in the Conference North.

 

EDIT: After sitting down and carefully planning a change in tactic for about 20 minutes, desperate to break my team's winning run, my best player has decided to two-foot someone in the first minute and receive a straight red.

Edited August 21, 2023 by f1dave

[Soulfusion]

"Firmitas In Profundum"

It's Halloween 2022 and Shirehampton are a third of the way through the League campaign. The tictac that worked so favourably in pre-season has (surprisingly) continued to do well during the season proper. We sit comfortably in the play off places of Western League Div. 1, 3 points and a game in hand, behind leaders Wincanton Town. Our foray in the FA Vase was ended by Western League Prem side Cadbury Heath 2-1 although we did overcome Saltash Utd from the same division on pens to reach the First round proper. Leading the way is my top striker "Polish" who has bagged 14 goals from 14 appearances. Providing the bullets to "Polish" is "Tommy Gun" with 5 assists and my pass-meister is "2-Jays" although he does seem to like the occasional two-footed lunge which has seen him serve a 3 match suspension. Collecting yellow cards is a favourite hobby for the side with five players having served 1 match bans already!

Staff recruitment has proven to be more of a challenge. A Scout arrived in August and a Coach during October. The selection process was straightforward as both candidates were the only ones to apply! Clearly the job is a labour of love for both as neither wanted a salary which is good for the bank balance but I can't to be too critical if the advice is cack.

My first signing arrived in October. Another attacking midfielder (of which I have plenty) but his stats are good and my so-say best AM has proven to be not so good in practice so far. I didn't spot that he would miss his first game with us through suspension (Another candidate for the yellow card challenge!) but he announced his arrival with a 30 yard free kick goal in a 5-2 humbling of Almondsbury. I managed to bump into the Almondsbury Chairman after the game barely able to suppress a smile to let him now Shirehampton were funding my first coaching course.

There are the first mumblings of dressing room discontent though with two players supporting my underused striker, "Battle", complaints he should be playing more often despite "Polish's" performances. Well "Battle" you best perform in the next game as "Polish" has just collected his 5th yellow card... 

[f1dave]

KUTGW there SF, it's always nice when your extra-lower league team isn't just continual cack

[Soulfusion]

Yes Dave the team are playing well and are good to watch. Not convinced it is because we are that good, probably because the opposition is not!!

[f1dave]

Took over Farsley Celtic, predicted to finish 22nd in the league with an extremely thin squad. Fans and board had low expectations, to say the least.

Looking at the squad, while there were definitely holes the rest of the fabric wasn't actually that bad. I was quietly confident that the right additions could make all the difference and see us stay up. Extremely versatile MC/DR/AMR Lizard was a loanee who could practically do it all, and a fellow loan player in the midfield was an excellent defensive foil. We had some old and rickety centre halves who were nonetheless very solid gatekeepers. Attack was the main weakness, so I brought in a loanee striker and a bit later in the season loaned Homer, an attacking right winger. My only real contract signings of note were my new keeper Manuel and up and coming midfielder Sonny, both who were released by bigger teams nearby after being told they weren't good enough.

We settled on a tactic relatively early and had an excellent start to the season - solid but unspectacular results that showed we were very hard to beat, and a gradual climb up the table until by 1/4 of the way in people were talking about how we were potentially going to compete for a playoff spot. Then we had a couple of injuries and some players fall off a cliff (the centre halves in particular showed that ageing legs get no faster) and we went on a horrific run of form. This was punctured by a couple of brief revivals where we got genuinely good results - among them a 0-0 at Chester who were second at the time, and 2-1 at Kidderminster which put paid to their promotion hopes. This blip was just enough to stop us being thrown in the relegation mix. We were mentioned in a couple of 'scrap for relegation' media pieces but realistically always had a two or three game buffer. Eventually we maintained this right to the end and survival was assured with two weeks to go.

Board and fans are happy enough, and want the same next year. Age means I need to replace 3/4 of my defence, which I'm not unhappy about considering the amount of times I saw them confusing Conference football for Walking football as strikers sprinted on through the line.

[Soulfusion]

Well done for keeping Farsley outside the predicted relegation places all season. Hopefully your scouting team will find some decent defensive reinforcements for next season.

KUTGW

Edited August 30, 2023 by Soulfusion
grammar

[Soulfusion]

"Firmitas In Profundum"

We are three weeks into January and are now two-thirds of the way through the season and can look forward to the business end of the season as this table illustrates.

It has not all been plain sailing though as "Tommy Gun" accepted an opportunity to go home to Ireland at the beginning of December. Suspension and injuries have also been a challenge to overcome. Both my regular starting centre-backs were one card away from a two game suspension so I benched one to mitigate the risk of losing both at the same time. Within 15 minutes the replacement centre-back pulls a hamstring, the starting centre-half collects a card and then my captain, "Skip", not to be outdone, picks up a card during the second half leaving me to play two matches with a U21 youth player DC and a DM acting as an emergency centre-back!

"Polish" continues to score a goal a game and my AM acquisition, now named "Superman", has scored nine goals since joining.

On the staff front another coach has joined the roster, again for no money and with poor attributes but it is one less job for me to do! Still need an Ass Man, Physio and Head of Youth Development and I am concerned how poor this year's youth intake will be without one. However I now have my first coaching badge, and my coaching attributes are improving. One cloud on the horizon is some unrefuted media speculation that the Chairman is looking to step aside.

In other news England became World Cup winners in Qatar beating Holland 3-1 in the Final.

    

[f1dave]

3 hours ago, Soulfusion said:

In other news England became World Cup winners in Qatar beating Holland 3-1 in the Final.   

 

This is the realism thread, right?

[Soulfusion]

"Firmitas In Profundum"

April 1st and there are five match days remaining in Western League Div. 1. Shirehampton sit in first place on 72 points, one point better than FC Bristol in second (although they have superior goal difference). The media speculates that Brislington (68 pts) and Wincanton Town (65 points) are still in the race for the title but I believe it is a straight fight between us and FC Bristol. Wincanton Town are the first to wobble drawing away to Cheddar. FC Bristol and Brislington record easy victories but our 2-1 win is complicated. "Dozy" our DM/emergency DC picks up a straight red after 16 minutes and "Skip" collects a 15th card and both look forward to a 3 match suspension. 

Wincanton Town draw again in the midweek fixtures but Brislington, FC Bristol and us record straightforward wins leaving three clubs in the title hunt. Match day 40 and it is our turn to wobble. We take an early lead against Hallen and they go a man down on 37 minutes but do cannot press home the advantage. They equalise on 80 minutes. FC Bristol and Brislington both win and we drop to second behind FC Bristol.

On the penultimate match day we are away to Bishop Sutton. Our main assists man "Mint" concedes an early penalty which Bishop Sutton convert. "Polish" grabs an equaliser and then Bishop Sutton are reduced to 10 men. On this occasion we press home our advantage. "Mint" makes up for his earlier mistake and "Polish" completes the scoring to see us win 3-1. Brislington win easily to maintain the pressure. FC Bristol have a late collapse and see a 2-1 home lead over Longwell Sports become a 3-2 defeat in the last ten minutes.

We top the table going into the final match day of the season and are home against 6th place Bishops Lydeard. "Skip" returns to captain the side and we start strongly with "Superman" scoring a great goal after 4 mins. "Polish" adds a second on 52 mins and we can relax; except Bishops Lydeard have not read the script and pull one back on 61 minutes. In the other games Brislington go one up against Wincanton Town on 60 minutes and Portishead Town lead FC Bristol. Bishops Lydeard level on 72 mins and before I can work out whether our goal difference is superior to Brislington's we concede another on 74 minutes. FC Bristol score an equaliser against Portishead.

As it stands Brislington are top, we are 2nd and FC Bristol are third although they could go top if they find a late winner. I go out all attack pushing players forward in a desperate chase for for an equaliser. Instead Bishops Lydeard make it 4-2 in injury time and I wonder how difficult it will be to raise the lads' morale for the Play-Offs.....

 

However I see a stage being built in the middle of our ground and a trophy being brought out bearing red ribbons. I check the results and discover Wincanton Town's main man has scored his 58th (!) league goal of the season at Brislington on 85 mins and FC Bristol have failed to find a winner making us CHAMPIONS!

 

In the Play-Offs Cheddar beat FC Bristol 2-0 after extra time to join us in Western League Prem.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Soulfusion