FM21: The English Football League thread

[Jogo Bonito]

24 minutes ago, Fishlcfc_9 said:

Started a save with Lincoln in League One. Aiming to play a very similar style and personnel to the team in real life for the first season! Would be happy with challenging for the playoffs.

Not done much business - so everyone bar Bradshaw are Lincoln's real life signings and my only outs are Roughan and Bradley on loan. Bradshaw was available on the final day of the first transfer window and looks like a good pressing forward (Tom Hopper got injured right at the start for me, so not many options).

Basically the 4-1-2-3 Lincoln have been playing with Bridcutt dictating from the based of midfield, McGrandles and Jones pressing hard. Montsma is the star and ball playing centre back and Grant as a forward cutting inside. Gotts seems better than Eyoma but have used both in those positions.

Found that the long ball to a quick striker was killing me but changing Jackson to a cover duty has helped.

Doing okay up to January. Montsma has the highest rating in the division!

When checking League 1 clubs, Lincoln were right at the top of my list as I never managed them before (only a few of those left).

I also thought it's a strong squad, but picking up Bradshaw on loan was a great bit of business. Pleased to see a fan of the club managing them, because I can study how you approach it with style of play, favoured players and roles etc. Nice kits, decent stadium and fan base too. 

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, Meraklija Vujevic said:

I won Championship playing as Stoke with only one players signed

Main striker  scored 39 goals !

Only chalenging team is Wycombe rest is to easy.

I also won instant titles with Burnley Leeds Everton and offcourse i play with 3 at back.

English divisions are just to easy!

 

I agree, for a few versions I think English leagues have been easy. But is that not the same in all other countries too for the human manager?

[Meraklija Vujevic]

2 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I agree, for a few versions I think English leagues have been easy. But is that not the same in all other countries too for the human manager?

Everthing is easy if you know how to play game properly but most of people are just bad.

I mean people still play with wingers and use instant results.

Yesterday I won spain instantly with Granada.

Today started with Benevento due to people wish to win with them.

Also I decided only italian players can be signed to be more chalenging!

 

[sultan1991]

Has anyone played with Blackpool FC? I saw some highlights recently of their time in the EPL and am tempted to try and restore some glory there

[karanhsingh]

10 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Ah that makes sense, I was surprised you had so many Africans at that level. I can't recommend any more transfers, step away from the transfer button 

 chuckled at this.

9 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

What's TLDR mean ?

Too long didn't read.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

 chuckled at this.

Too long didn't read.

Oh ok lol.

I signed a couple more players in January after getting rid a few of the original squad.

I will post them later.

[Mackem742]

Great work again setting up this thread 

Ive started my usual save with Sunderland. Currently in the January transfer window in season 2. I won League 1 easilly last season with Jason Cummings being my star player, he bagged 41 goals in all competitions as we won promotion to the Championship. I was also very surprised to be able to sign Papetti on loan from Brescia and at only 18 years old he was a revelation too.

Went into my season in the Championship wondering if Cummings would make the step up and he has, currently on 19 goals for the season in January. I managed to re-sign Papetti on loan for another season so Im hoping he would be persuaded to sign permanantly if we get promotion to the Premier League (im listed on his profile as preferred personnel). I also brought in a 38 year old Jermain Defoe (couldnt resist) and hoping he will stay on in some capacity when he retires (if he retires, he seems to be just as fit as ever).

Championship season is going great, currently top by 2 points ahead of Blackburn, 4 points clear of 3rd place West Brom and 13 points clear of 7th place so I should be okay for a playoff place if not automatic promotion.

[warlock]

Just caught up with a bunch of posts. I'm sure the forum used to auto-follow threads you created but for some reason I wasn't "following" this one .

I've been experimenting (read: messing about) with Ipswich but I think I'm going with Plan B, which was to take on one of the relegated Premiership sides in the Championship for an easier introduction to this year's game. I'm not yet up to the complete rebuild needed in Suffok.

But congratulations to those who are already flying, and good luck to the rest of us 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

25 minutes ago, warlock said:

Just caught up with a bunch of posts. I'm sure the forum used to auto-follow threads you created but for some reason I wasn't "following" this one .

I've been experimenting (read: messing about) with Ipswich but I think I'm going with Plan B, which was to take on one of the relegated Premiership sides in the Championship for an easier introduction to this year's game. I'm not yet up to the complete rebuild needed in Suffok.

But congratulations to those who are already flying, and good luck to the rest of us 

Bournemouth would be a great shout for a nice, easy first save with the squad they have and the money to buy more players.

[MaxeyN17]

So after loading up my save this morning, I find I'm still in a job at Posh! Apparently I saved it a couple of days before getting the sack and I pressed continue a few times to see what would happen and made it to the next game without being sacked!

I have four games left of the season and I'm in the play-off spots by six points, so it's looking good. 

[robterrace]

38 minutes ago, MaxeyN17 said:

So after loading up my save this morning, I find I'm still in a job at Posh! Apparently I saved it a couple of days before getting the sack and I pressed continue a few times to see what would happen and made it to the next game without being sacked!

I have four games left of the season and I'm in the play-off spots by six points, so it's looking good. 

Fantastic.

[MaxeyN17]

Playoffs made and, as you can see, none of the playoff teams go into them in brilliant form. We face MK Dons who we beat at home and drew away during the regular season.

[MaxeyN17]

One win apiece during the league season, come on lads!

[Jogo Bonito]

9 hours ago, sultan1991 said:

Has anyone played with Blackpool FC? I saw some highlights recently of their time in the EPL and am tempted to try and restore some glory there

One of the two League 1 clubs that I thought were a good idea (along with Lincoln). A great choice now you have the new owners, in my opinion.

[robterrace]

I've decided, that in the absence of Layton Stewart, who decided not to return to ourselves for a second season, and with Connor Wickham and Jerry Yates not being up to leading the line, and the rest of the strikers being youngsters, I needed another striker.

One was found on loan, and, in a rare occurrence for me and this save, he wasn't a UK National.

Welcome, on loan from Norwich, Pedro Marques.

90 seconds into his debut against Newcastle in the cup, he shows exactly why I signed him..

[MaxeyN17]

PETERBOROUGH UNITED FC - SEASON 2020/21 REVIEW

Well, what a season that turned out to be. Completely topsy-turvy and at one point it seemed I was on the verge of (and indeed was) being sacked. The first five games left us top of the league and feeling very good. Then an eight game run of no wins with five losses left us languishing down in mid-table. We then put together a run of ten games undefeated with nine wins putting us back in contention. A play-off place was finally secured in the penultimate game of the season with a 1-0 victory over Lincoln City.

MK Dons proved no match for us in the semi-final, with a 2-0 home win and a 2-1 win at stadium:mk guiding us to the Final, where we would face Charlton Athletic and former Posh talismans Conor Washington and Marcus Maddison. A close-fought and tentative final ended with a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Siriki Dembele and Samuel Shashoua.

In terms of the cups, we made the Quarter-Finals of the EFL Cup, finally being knocked out by Watford. The Fifth Round of the FA Cup was our last as we were eliminated by Birmingham City whilst the EFL Trophy was deemed irrelevant and was used for rotation and we exited at the group stage. 

Given the inconsistent nature of our season, you'd think it would be difficult to pick a player of the season. Well, it couldn't have been an easier choice really.

Ricky-Jade Jones started as an impact sub who ended up being thrust into the starting lineup due to injuries to Jonson Clarke-Harris and Sammie Szmodicz. He never looked back and finished as our top scorer for the season and the league's fourth top scorer. In fact, nobody in the 20 had a better goals to minutes ratio than young Ricky-Jade. Whether he can make the step up to the Championship is another matter entirely but he has thoroughly impressed me. (On a side note, I'm glad to see that he's been rated quite highly, for a Posh player. I'm convinced he's destined for the top in real life.)

A close second to Jones would be Jack Simpson, a January recruit from Bournemouth for a fee of £140k. He made one of the starting centre-back spots his own very quickly and averaged 7.21 from 19 matches, earning five MOTM awards in the process. He is certainly Championship quality. 

So, where do we stand for next season? Well, we've been given an initial £130k p/w wage budget and a £3m transfer budget. But the squad needs a lot of work done. I wasn't really expecting to go up this season and would've been happy to spend another year in League One to develop some of the youngsters and properly stamp my mark on the squad. Still, getting promoted can only be a good thing and I'm sure there will be plenty of transfer business in the summer that will hopefully keep us up in 21/22.

[robterrace]

Erm.

Well, I think that may be a very good offer in the end.

 

He turned the move down. Just signed a new contract...

Loyalty 200;

[warlock]

1 hour ago, MaxeyN17 said:

Completely topsy-turvy

I'll say! A good season with Posh but especially so given where you were in the spring 

[Jogo Bonito]

@MaxeyN17 Great stuff, well done. In the last few versions Simpson always seems to be available for League 1 & 2 clubs to sign, either for free or a very reasonable fee. Solid if unspectacular he is an absolute steal as an ever-valuable left-sided centre back. I've heard lots of good things (or hype) about RJJ so nice to see him step up and prove his worth. One to watch for sure, in game and IRL.

[MaxeyN17]

Will do a full write-up/season preview either later tonight or tomorrow but thought I'd share this. Couldn't resist bringing back a former London Road favourite: 

[MaxeyN17]

PETERBOROUGH UNITED - SEASON PREVIEW 2021/22

As mentioned in my season review, I don't think my squad is anywhere near up to Championship standards, so the summer was all about strengthening. I decided to move the vast majority of my transfer budget into wages and set about listing players I wanted rid of. Leaving the club were Mo Eisa (£100k), Ryan Broom (£85k), Dominik Nagy (£100k), Aidan Barlow (£100k), Lynden Gooch (£100k), Frazer Blake-Tracy (£76k), Dan Butler (£60k), Louis Reed (Free) and Daniel Gyollai (£11k). This left me with a good amount to spend in wages and loyalty fees etc. 

I opted for proven experience in the Championship and/or Premier League whilst also bringing in a few loanees. Joining London Road on free transfers were Jon Toral, Jack Wilshere, Dwight Gayle, Charlie Austin and Stephen Henderson. I also spent £77k on Conor Townsend from West Brom. Our loan signings were Neco Williams, Marvelous Nakamba and Phillipe Sandler. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

I'm quite happy with the squad I've built so far, there's still room to bring in one or two more but we will see what becomes available. 

I have played two games of the season so far but I will leave those for a future update coming possibly tomorrow!

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by MaxeyN17

[Jogo Bonito]

24 minutes ago, MaxeyN17 said:

I opted for proven experience in the Championship and/or Premier League whilst also bringing in a few loanees. Joining London Road on free transfers were Jon Toral, Jack Wilshere, Dwight Gayle, Charlie Austin and Stephen Henderson. I also spent £77k on Conor Townsend from West Brom. Our loan signings were Neco Williams, Marvelous Nakamba and Phillipe Sandler. 

Good squad strengthening there, nice work indeed.

[robterrace]

So.

I had a little nightmare scenario pop up.

One of the youngsters I got in the summer, has gone out on loan, the other two are still very raw, and picking up some experience in the Under 18s squad.

Luke Coddington, who is my backup, injured himself in training, pulling a hamstring and putting himself out for 3 weeks. 2 days after that, Will Huffer, my first choice, broke a finger, putting himself out for a month.

Not good news. 

My 'first choice' backups now, were 18 year old Remy Mitchell, and a 17 year old we signed from Gillingham.

So, little bit of scouting and shopping, gives us, Ben Amos on a 10 month contract. Hes happy to come in an get backup time, which means I can shift Mitchell out on loan.

 

 

[Nazdroid]

Looks like i'll be promoted with Portsmouth in my first year to the Championship. Any ideas of a potential tactic that could help me am for a high table finish in the championship in my second season? 

[karanhsingh]

I think I am going to join in the fun here, since Robben retired and effectively killed my Groningen save.

Looking at a Championship club that has a very encouraging & promising set of youth coming through, to see how far they can go.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

9 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

I think I am going to join in the fun here, since Robben retired and effectively killed my Groningen save.

Looking at a Championship club that has a very encouraging & promising set of youth coming through, to see how far they can go.

Who are you going to be then. Reading would be the obvious choice for what you want or Swansea.

 

[craiigman]

He can barely run bless him, but what a hero

[craiigman]

37 minutes ago, craiigman said:

He can barely run bless him, but what a hero

Good goal as well

 

[craiigman]

Was looking for extra striker cover, but then saw he was free agent, why not give him a go. Reasonable wage all things considered.

[MaxeyN17]

Well, this is annoying.

Darragh would never accept a bid without a sell-on clause in real life 

[Mackem742]

Into February now and its going well. It looks like its going to be an exciting end to the season, a 3 horse race for automatic promotion.

[Parmie]

Bradford City Season 4 (2023/2024):

Transfers. 

Big news, we spent some money on a player. I signed scout Juan Echeverria who had been released by Man United, coming with full knowledge of both England and Colombia, I started seeing Colombian youngsters in my scout reports, despite being outside of our range, I took a punt on newgen striking duo Harrison Polo and Jhonnys Pitre, potentially a new advanced forward, deep lying forward combination for years to come. That's presuming work permit issues are resolved, Polo, with the cooler name, is granted one on signing, while Pitre, a Colombia U20 and on 4x the wage of Polo, isn't granted one, we'll see if we can loan him out and reapply.  I'm also getting reports from the US, not sure why as we have no knowledge in North America, however, a 'promising' left back Jalen Dragavon is reported on, and gets a permit. The loans from Man City drying up after the players good enough to add 1st team value won't sign, and the remainder being below Championship level.

Reece Staunton, Bradford academy product, just wasn't get enough game time to meet his potential, so he left us to pursue more playing time at Wednesday, McNamara, a free signing from Man City the year before was a keeper with potential (up to Championship level according to coach reports) but still short of cash, and a new prospect through our academy arriving, I thought if Joe Lumley stays fit, we can let him go. At the end of the season Calum MacDonald went to Millwall for £450k as he was never getting in front of O'Connor, with Dragavon arriving, he can safely leave.

League form is a lot more consistent this season, all the established players have a good relationship with me which helps and we're nicely in midtable until February, when we start to put together some wins to get into the playoff spots, the end of February starts a string of 7 games without a win and we drop back out again. However, that is an improvement on last season so we're making progress. The only disappointment is David Faupala's relatively poor performance with only 19 goals this season, breaking a toe in November didn't help and loan signing Adam Idah got a couple more with 21.

I've been giving some game time to academy graduate Harvey Stares, who looks like a good prospect. Here he is along with the Colombians.

[Mr_Demus]

I am looking for a team in either the Championship or League 1.

-Healthy finances. By that I mean a team that isn't making a huge loss each month.

-I shouldn't be able to push for promotion in the first season, but they shouldn't be clearly worse than every other team in the league neither.

-Cool colors help, but not that important.

-Preferrably a team with little history, but a fallen giant is okay as well.

[craiigman]

4 minutes ago, Mr_Demus said:

I am looking for a team in either the Championship or League 1.

-Healthy finances. By that I mean a team that isn't making a huge loss each month.

-I shouldn't be able to push for promotion in the first season, but they shouldn't be clearly worse than every other team in the league neither.

-Cool colors help, but not that important.

-Preferrably a team with little history, but a fallen giant is okay as well.

I’m not sure on the finances side, but Blackburn?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Cambridge United Season 1 Youth Intake

My youth intake was pretty decent and my best prospect is from Ivory Coast which is nice. Here is a screenshot of him.

Armand Kouame

I will do a full season review later.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Potentially Breaking records with Cambridge

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[karanhsingh]

8 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Who are you going to be then. Reading would be the obvious choice for what you want or Swansea.

 

Neither of those. It's Derby 

@Stuniversewill probably be happy to hear! 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, karanhsingh said:

Neither of those. It's Derby 

@Stuniversewill probably be happy to hear! 

Derby seems a popular choice this year. I had a great save with them on FM20.

Good luck to you.

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Mr_Demus said:

I am looking for a team in either the Championship or League 1.

-Healthy finances. By that I mean a team that isn't making a huge loss each month.

-I shouldn't be able to push for promotion in the first season, but they shouldn't be clearly worse than every other team in the league neither.

-Cool colors help, but not that important.

-Preferrably a team with little history, but a fallen giant is okay as well.

Best to check out the opening posts by Warlock. 

[karanhsingh]

Just now, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Derby seems a popular choice this year. I had a great save with them on FM20.

Good luck to you.

Thanks. Is it? Don't think I noticed anyone else managing them yet. 

Probably because they are struggling IRL and the number of youth prospects. That's what attracted me. They are also about to be taken over but that's not in the game as yet. 

[Jogo Bonito]

2 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Neither of those. It's Derby 

@Stuniversewill probably be happy to hear! 

Boo! Good luck though 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, karanhsingh said:

Thanks. Is it? Don't think I noticed anyone else managing them yet. 

Probably because they are struggling IRL and the number of youth prospects. That's what attracted me. They are also about to be taken over but that's not in the game as yet. 

Oh maybe I am getting confused with FM20 lol.

[Jogo Bonito]

1 hour ago, Mr_Demus said:

I am looking for a team in either the Championship or League 1.

-Healthy finances. By that I mean a team that isn't making a huge loss each month.

-I shouldn't be able to push for promotion in the first season, but they shouldn't be clearly worse than every other team in the league neither.

-Cool colors help, but not that important.

-Preferrably a team with little history, but a fallen giant is okay as well.

Bristol Rovers?

[karanhsingh]

17 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Boo! Good luck though 

Love the enthusiasm 

Have you kicked off yet? 

16 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Oh maybe I am getting confused with FM20 lol.

Perhaps! 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, karanhsingh said:

Love the enthusiasm 

Have you kicked off yet? 

Perhaps! 

Yeah definitely confusing it with FM2020 as there was a thread just for Derby saves wasn't there which was quite popular.

Anyway I look forward to seeing how you get on with Derby.

[Mr_Demus]

23 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Best to check out the opening posts by Warlock. 

I have read that, but could still use some advice

[Jogo Bonito]

5 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Love the enthusiasm 

Have you kicked off yet? 

I'm going to finish my first season BETA with Tottenham (won't be winning the league).

I've set up three League 2 games, played a handful of games with each and now trying to decide which of them to continue with. Or whether to go with the Cambridge no-transfer challenge I was set. I also quite fancy a few League 1 clubs including Lincoln & Blackpool. And Reading, it's been quite a few years since I could say I like the squad but it was good last year and even better this year. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Cambridge United Season 1 Review

Record Broken

The prize money for winning the League 2 is as expected not very good. £25k lol.

Key Players

I had a few key players but lets start with the goal machine that is Paul Mullin

Paul Mullin

Mullin smashed up League 2 with 38 goals and 9 assists. He really was the Harry Kane of League 2. 

I just hope he can make the step up when I play League 1 football.

Idris El Mizouni

If Paul Mullin was Harry Kane then El Mizouni was my Heung-Min Son with 12 assists and a few goals as well.

Unfortunately I had him on loan and he will be going back Ipswich at the end of the season.

Richard Nartey

My signing of the season Nartey has been a leader at the back with a 78% tackles completed, 94% Pass Completion ratio and 5 goals scored. The only downside is he picked up 11 yellow cards this season, I do hope he tones that down moving forward.

Kafoumba Toure

The other half of my Striker partnership, Toure scored 21 goals in 38 games. Overshadowed by Mullin but definitely contributed. Another guy who is good with the assists as well getting 10 assists. 

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Jogo Bonito]

@Ronaldo Beckham Really great work, although I can't believe how you spell El Mizouni right but not Mullin, after all he did for you 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Cambridge United Season 1 Season Review Part 2