FM21: The English Football League thread

[Ronaldo Beckham]

7 hours ago, warlock said:

A legend certainly, but a rubbish DoF 

Because I'm not sure how good they are in FM. DoF Cristiano Giaretta has 11 for JCA and 12 for Negotiating; the chief scout has 13 for JCA. It's meant to be a challenge but that seems like a step too far 

Perhaps I'll just do a York save 

Yeah but the fact that he is rubbish makes it more entertaining. Also he hasn't done a bad job at Peterborough in real life.

I look forward to whatever you end up doing.

[Mackem742]

10 hours ago, warlock said:

Nicely done! I see Pellegri did OK for you 

He carried us to be honest. Actually thats a bit unfair, Pellegri had a few weeks out injured in the crucial February period and Kaikai filled his boots really well.

[StePratt]

I've let around 10 players leave, free contracts, expired loans and sold a few deadwood. Really struggling to attract the players I want to push Oxford to the next level. I am trying to build a core around Stevens, Moore, Atkinson and Brannigan. Ideally need a young, Brexit friendly striker to fire me up the leagues, any suggestions? 

[Jogo Bonito]

2 hours ago, StePratt said:

I've let around 10 players leave, free contracts, expired loans and sold a few deadwood. Really struggling to attract the players I want to push Oxford to the next level. I am trying to build a core around Stevens, Moore, Atkinson and Brannigan. Ideally need a young, Brexit friendly striker to fire me up the leagues, any suggestions? 

I managed Oxford way back on the BETA after they were relegated to League 2, so things will have changed a little for you. How much can you spend? Paul Mullin should be free in 2021 unless his contract was extended or he moved on from Cambridge. You could look at Accrington pair Bishop & Charles, Yates from Blackpool, Jephcott from Plymouth, Eisa from Peterborough etc. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by Jogo Bonito

[Welshace]

2 hours ago, StePratt said:

I've let around 10 players leave, free contracts, expired loans and sold a few deadwood. Really struggling to attract the players I want to push Oxford to the next level. I am trying to build a core around Stevens, Moore, Atkinson and Brannigan. Ideally need a young, Brexit friendly striker to fire me up the leagues, any suggestions? 

Andy Ryan

Dale Taylor

Charlie Jolley

Tommy Wright

Stephen Humphrys

Aaron Collins

 

[StePratt]

Thanks guys. I'll take a look at them in the morning. I have very little to spend. Any money I have goes into the facilities, because I like to set myself challenges within saves to keep me interested. 

[warlock]

York City, December 2020

And so to the ancient Viking capital of Yorvik from where, once again, marauding warriors will venture forth to terrorize their English neighbours. And some early terrorizing was duly accomplished.

No campaign is without its setbacks, but a single loss in the league to Gateshead was a mere stumble. A decent run in the FA Cup saw us through to the First Round proper where I thought we might pull off an upset against L2 opponents Leyton Orient. In the event, we never threatened them while they tore through our defence at will.

We go into December top of the pile, with the best scoring and defensive records in the league.

On arrival I found the squad well-stocked with bodies but while the first-choice 11 is very good, there's not much depth behind them. I brought in two new players to fill the worst of the gaps. Aswad Thomas is a well-travelled LB who started his career at Charlton. I envisaged him as backup but he quickly made the position his own and is our most reliable source of assists. The second signing was CM Jared Bird, originally from the Derby academy and most recently at Barnsley. He has also quickly established himself as a first-team regular, with 2 goals and 6 assists in 14 starts.

That business pushed me over the available wage budget but by switching most of the transfer budget, and some of the scouting budget, into wages we're just about even on that score.

The lack of squad depth has been an issue during the first two months where the schedule has been punishing. Most weeks we've been on a Saturday/Tuesday treadmill, and we've struggled when star players have had to be rested. But things look better from here on, with 5 games a month going forward. More pillage and plunder please 

[Jogo Bonito]

27 minutes ago, warlock said:

York City, December 2020

And so to the ancient Viking capital of Yorvik from where, once again, marauding warriors will venture forth to terrorize their English neighbours. And some early terrorizing was duly accomplished. We go into December top of the pile, with the best scoring and defensive records in the league.

On arrival I found the squad well-stocked with bodies but while the first-choice 11 is very good, there's not much depth behind them. I brought in two new players to fill the worst of the gaps. Aswad Thomas is a well-travelled LB who started his career at Charlton. I envisaged him as backup but he quickly made the position his own and is our most reliable source of assists. The second signing was CM Jared Bird, originally from the Derby academy and most recently at Barnsley. He has also quickly established himself as a first-team regular, with 2 goals and 6 assists in 14 starts. That business pushed me over the available wage budget but by switching most of the transfer budget, and some of the scouting budget, into wages we're just about even on that score.

The lack of squad depth has been an issue during the first two months where the schedule has been punishing. Most weeks we've been on a Saturday/Tuesday treadmill, and we've struggled when star players have had to be rested. But things look better from here on, with 5 games a month going forward. More pillage and plunder please 

Ah, good man. Blistering start too. Don't worry about the money, you'll soon be swimming in the stuff. I remember Thomas from his Grimsby days, and Bird was one I looked at for York too (didn't sign him but looks great for the level). Promotion is a matter of time, although just one auto spot of course.

[warlock]

16 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

although just one auto spot

Yes, a great incentive to win the league and avoid those pesky playoffs 

[smplfc123]

Congratulations on your promotion @Jogo Bonito even if it was only a short save. 

Great start with York there @warlock and some nice wins over fellow North East clubs Darlington and Spennymoor!

Looking forward to see how you spend that summer budget on after promotion @Mackem742.

I've been busy with work last couple of days, so haven't had chance to get much done with Bristol Rovers. A couple have left at the end of the season, with the biggest loss being loanee Oztumer agreeing to go and play in the Turkish Premier League, not that I can blame him. I took an interview with Championship club Sheff Wednesday out of interest, but they decided to go a different way and to be honest, I wasn't really keen as they're in mountains of debt. Will do an update properly once the transfer window is completed.

[StePratt]

@Joga Bonito @Welshace I've made an offer to Aaron Collins. He's on a free, so right up my street. Accrington and Blackpool both got promoted, so their players are unobtainable right now. Burnley got relegated too, so the Championship is a Lancashire hotpot right now.

[joe5p]

Sorry if slightly off topic. In terms of realism, I am 2 thirds of the way through a big media update for Scotland and England in collaboration with majestic. I have Scotland covered, and tested, but for England I don't have the personal knowledge to add local press beyond some that are in majestic's file and some obvious ones e.g. mainstream TV and Website/Newspapers plus local level - Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo, Evening Standard.

For clubs and areas covered in the football league, my knowledge is limited, but from testing in Scotland it does improve the media input.

If anyone plays in England or is from an area of England where there are prominent local media in terms of football, feel free to PM me and I will add them in. Just need name of media, name of journalists and clubs or leagues covered. Can also check what is there against any requests.

The media module is limited in that football media is so varied, so pundits are flooding TV and papers but aren't journalists. I have included them, as think it is better to have them than not have them but it would be more realistic if there was a pundit module, whereby they comment but don't ask questions. The majority of the update is actual journalists/TV presenters/Interviewers with the odd pundit here and there.

Also added a wider range of bookies to add to the variety. 

For Scotland, loads of fan based podcasts/fanzines are going in too. England already has a decent variety but happy to add more.

PM me to request any source or journalist and I will add them in. 

Screenshot shows Hibs, so Scottish media, but same applies to English teams, albeit local sources are currently less prominent than national ones.

Edited April 8, 2021 by joe5p

[Mackem742]

Just to make you all aware Ive spent the entire £44 million and Ive got 9 new starters out of last years first choice 11. The only players to have survived from last years side is Pellegri and Robinson who are both back on loan. The season hasnt got off to the best of starts so I may have made the same mistake as my previous save, ie signed far too many players. Im not at my computer at the minute but I got off to a cracking start by beating Leicester 3-1 at home on the opening day before being brought back to earth with a bump by losing 2-0 away at Sheff Utd, who came up with me, we were appalling in that game and numerous bottles were thrown in the dressing room as well as several "chats" with many of the players who played that game. A narrow 2-1 home win against Lincoln in the Carabao Cup was followed up by a 1-2 loss at home to Burnley with Chris Wood getting an 89th minute winner when we were pushing for a winner ourselves. Looks like its going to be another season of struggle.

[warlock]

20 minutes ago, Mackem742 said:

Ive spent the entire £44 million and Ive got 9 new starters

I suspect you're right about your problems - that's a lot of players to integrate into the side. Especially so alongside two loan signings. But if you can ride out the poor start then good players should help you stay up. Hopefully 

[Mackem742]

5 minutes ago, warlock said:

I suspect you're right about your problems - that's a lot of players to integrate into the side. Especially so alongside two loan signings. But if you can ride out the poor start then good players should help you stay up. Hopefully 

It doesnt help that the board want me to sign players under the age of 23 AND high profile players. What high profile under 23 player could I buy with £44 million. I could maybe buy 1. 

I signed a load of under 23 players but none of them high profile 

[warlock]

York City, March 2022

I've been playing a lot since my last update so here's a quick report as we head to the business end of the season. After our flying start it was probably inevitable that we'd struggle at some point, and that point turned out to be Christmas. After looking forward to an easier schedule we made problems for ourselves by failing to see off Chorley in the FA Trophy. After a hard-fought extra time win, we faced them again a week later and a rotated side struggled to create much. We then exited the Trophy to National side King's Lynn before seeing out the year with two tame draws.

We also found ourselves facing parked buses and 6- and 7-defender systems that we struggled to break down. After a shaky start to January I decided to switch to the 4231. Although the move from 2 up top to a lone striker seems counter-intuitive, it's actually a switch from 2 strikers to 4 forwards. After a couple of games to settle in to the new system, it produced 5 straight wins in February.

The switch also saw a recall for out-of-favour striker Jack Redshaw, who turned out to be our best option for the AMC role. My faith in the Mighty Midget was repaid when he bagged 8 goals in those 5 victories. The new-found admiration turned out to be mutual:

With no money for transfers or loans, we did no business in January apart from terminating the loan of striker Gabby McGill. I was tired of news reports saying he was determined to end his goal drought but the drought went on and on. Using a lone-striker system meant we no longer needed him, and his return to Scotland saved us a couple of hundred pounds a week in wages.

We enjoy a 13pt lead at the top of the table, with a goal difference that's worth another point. Still the best offence and defence in the league, coupled with best possession stats and the best disciplinary record. Yay us!

 

[warlock]

17 minutes ago, Mackem742 said:

the board want me to sign players under the age of 23 AND high profile players

Yeah, that is annoying. I've had it in a couple of saves and always ignore it 

[hasdgfas]

Hello??? What???

This is against "second season in the Prem" Norwich too. We absolutely stomped them.

[warlock]

3 minutes ago, hasdgfas said:

We absolutely stomped them

Indeed! I assume the Norwich 'keeper had a bit of a 'mare - 8 goals from 11 shots on target 

[Jogo Bonito]

8 hours ago, smplfc123 said:

Congratulations on your promotion @Jogo Bonito even if it was only a short save. 

I've been busy with work last couple of days, so haven't had chance to get much done with Bristol Rovers. A couple have left at the end of the season, with the biggest loss being loanee Oztumer agreeing to go and play in the Turkish Premier League, not that I can blame him. I took an interview with Championship club Sheff Wednesday out of interest, but they decided to go a different way and to be honest, I wasn't really keen as they're in mountains of debt. Will do an update properly once the transfer window is completed.

Thanks mate. I'm almost decided on the continuation of that short save, which sees me leaving promoted Port Vale and taking over a different League 1 club. Lots of preparation and time went in to planning what I could do in my new job, once I decided which of two options appealed the most. Having taken over in May 2021 it was a slow process, but with no signings made in their first season by the previous manager, I had the entire window to look at which free transfers I should make (plenty of them came in even though a few targets were lost when contracts were extended), sort out which loans to renew (none), which players to release (nearly all of them), and which players to sell (a good handful already). I lost of couple more new players after incoming deals were agreed as the transfers were cancelled during a temporary signing embargo. That has now ended and although the owner still wants to sell, some big financial improvements have been made by arguably the biggest clear-out in football history.

Good to see you loyal to Bristol Rovers, and I'm sure you'll find a good replacement for 'The Turkish Messi' too.

@warlockComfortable, much better than the gap at the top in my first year with York. Surprised but pleased to see you made use of The Pocket Rocket. Many headers from the 5'4" man? Raking in the cash now?

Good luck to everyone else!

Edited April 8, 2021 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

12 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

big financial improvements have been made by arguably the biggest clear-out in football history

Most interesting... can't wait for the big reveal 

12 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Surprised but pleased to see you made use of The Pocket Rocket. Many headers from the 5'4" man? Raking in the cash now?

Not many headers  He did well in pre-season, crocked himself before the first competitive game, missed a couple of months then spurned a couple of opportunities to stake a claim to a place. Only the switch in system gave him another chance.

As for finances, no sign of an avalanche of money. We're losing about £40k a month, but not sure what's happening about the stadium. In game, it shows as York Community Stadium, built 2019, capacity 8,512, with an average attendance of 2,770. No mentlon of a new stadium or upgrade yet.

[Jogo Bonito]

12 minutes ago, warlock said:

Most interesting... can't wait for the big reveal 

Not many headers  He did well in pre-season, crocked himself before the first competitive game, missed a couple of months then spurned a couple of opportunities to stake a claim to a place. Only the switch in system gave him another chance.

As for finances, no sign of an avalanche of money. We're losing about £40k a month, but not sure what's happening about the stadium. In game, it shows as York Community Stadium, built 2019, capacity 8,512, with an average attendance of 2,770. No mentlon of a new stadium or upgrade yet.

That is the new stadium. On the patch I had, they were packing out the stadium and had a much larger average attendance than that (6,923). The money was insane so I wonder if that was scaled down on 21.4 then. I had about £600k to spend for season 2 with £30k p/w wages. The club balance in June 2021 was just under £1.5 million and none of that was from transfer sales as there wasn't anything really.

Well done with Redshaw, He didn't play a single minute for me and even turned down a move away to a higher-league club which cost me money. 

The big reveal, ah yes. Hopefully one day soon 

Edited April 8, 2021 by Jogo Bonito

[joe5p]

I won't spam the thread guys, but @Jogo Bonito sent a request in to add local media for Reading (Get Reading) as shown below. Keep them coming via PM if you want any local to the team you are managing or support. Real journalists not all in yet but sources looking good. Cheers. 

Edited April 8, 2021 by joe5p

[warlock]

3 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

The money was insane so I wonder if that was scaled down on 21.4

Looks like. I was looking forward to a pot of money, but I guess I can live with the usual Vanarama parsimony 

[causticgrip]

Bournemouth Season 7

I was on track for an incredible season until February, when I was hit by injuries and key players forgetting how to play! Bit sus tbh, like the game was sabotaging me -.-

Transfers, not much to say apart from I signed Liam Delap on a free who has good potential and sold Dele Ali because he was demanding too high a salary and too long a contract for a 30 year old player

Some good performances from my 100% British squad. No regens but no problems with age yet though. Solanke was on track for a goal a game scoring record like last season but in February he became absolutely useless and eventually replaced him in the lineup with Brewster. Ramsdale suddenly making loads of mistakes in goal too but still got the league clean sheet record of 24

 

-Pleased to regain the Premier League and it was comfortable enough in the end

-I wasn't able to retain the Champions League, knocked out my nemesis Man United. They went onto to win the competition though tbf

-Bit disappointed to get as far as I did in the domestic cups and not win at least one. 

-8 players in the team of the season, don't think i've had that many before.

 

Aims for next season are to win like a proper double or even a treble. 

[warlock]

Sealed the title with 4 games to go, but it was a bit of a slog... note that Brackley went down to 10 men after 8 minutes and it took us another 80 minutes to make the breakthrough.

Also this:

Not exactly the bumper payday I was expecting after Sr. Bonito's first season with York. We shall cut our cloth accordingly 

[CityAndColour]

21 hours ago, StePratt said:

@Joga Bonito @Welshace I've made an offer to Aaron Collins. He's on a free, so right up my street. Accrington and Blackpool both got promoted, so their players are unobtainable right now. Burnley got relegated too, so the Championship is a Lancashire hotpot right now.

I hope he is more effective for you than he is for us in real life.

[Gunner 101]

Nice one @warlock I wouldn’t worry too much about the transfer budget, it’s not as important at this level I would say. Looking forward to seeing your progress. 

[Mackem742]

Okay so after having a bit of a think Ive started the season again. Normally I wouldnt but I had an autosave from the final day of my Championship season so Ive gone all the way back to May and Im going to do the whole pre season again (apologies if this is frowned upon). I made my usual mistake and signed way too many players so Im going to try and have my most in depth transfer window yet and try to buy 4 or 5 really good players that will improve the squad, rather than buy 12 or 13 players to completely replace my team from the Championship. Last seasons best performers are going to get a chance to step up in the Premier League. 

My list of targets so far are:

GK (backup)

CD (Starter)

RB (Back up)

CM (Starter)

ST (Back up)

If I can get any on frees that will be a massive bonus.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Mackem742

[smplfc123]

2 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

Okay so after having a bit of a think Ive started the season again. Normally I wouldnt but I had an autosave from the final day of my Championship season so Ive gone all the way back to May and Im going to do the whole pre season again (apologies if this is frowned upon). I made my usual mistake and signed way too many players so Im going to try and have my most in depth transfer window yet and try to buy 4 or 5 really good players that will improve the squad, rather than buy 12 or 13 players to completely replace my team from the Championship. Last seasons best performers are going to get a chance to step up in the Premier League. 

My list of targets so far are:

GK (backup)

CD (Starter)

RB (Back up)

CM (Starter)

ST (Back up)

If I can get any on frees that will be a massive bonus.

No need to apologise, the game is there for you to enjoy it however you see fit!

I'm definitely more of a pragmatic player that prefers your second option though. I feel the second approach is more "realistic" in my head and signing loads of players each transfer window would kill that realism for me, but I know plenty of players that enjoy doing that and have brilliant saves off the back of it 

As @warlocksaid, I also ignore the transfer requirements from the board. In fact they are "devastated" by my lack of U23 signings for the first team this summer with Bristol Rovers, but it hasn't affected my position with them. Like you have done, I identify the key positions I need and find the player who fills that role the best. If they fit within the boards requests then great.

Are there any stipulations on the positions you're looking for? For example are you after HG players to help with the rota? Are you after experienced prem players to help bring that know-how to the side? The CM starter, is he an all action B2B you're looking for or a deep holding player? For me buying less in the windows is actually more of a challenge as it means you really do have to get most of them right.

Either way, I hope you enjoy trying it again this way 

 

[warlock]

4 hours ago, Gunner 101 said:

I wouldn’t worry too much about the transfer budget

It's not a problem. In a parallel universe @Jogo Bonito won promotion with York and was given a bumper warchest, so it's something that has been adjusted for the most recent update. Much more realistic, I think. And you're right - the budget doesn't matter much; I don't think I've ever paid a transfer fee in non-league.

[warlock]

3 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

Ive gone all the way back to May

Time travel  . Better luck this time!

[Jogo Bonito]

@Mackem742 Sensible move, nothing to be concerned about there. Good luck on the 2nd attempt.

@smplfc123 Your ideas echo mine and that's how I usually play it too. There are the odd exceptions where you really like a club but they have loads of underperforming players and a stack of them have contracts expiring.

That's what I inherited in my new save and I saw it as perfect timing to wave goodbye to the dross, consolidate the wage bill and add more quality. I feel that kind of scenario still fits in with realistic if you don't expect the club to offer those players new contracts IRL, and you can bring in your new recruits for a minimal outlay. The club in question will probably do this themselves in the summer, I'm just ahead of the game for once 

But I agree that generally it's nice and even better when we can take a club on and do subtle changes rather than a complete overhaul. 

@warlock I agree on the fact that the financial position at York seems to have been adjusted for the better in 21.4, and I also agree that you don't really need to spend money at that level. The starting squad at York plus a few free additions should take you to at least two promotions really.  But if you do need some of the funds I had, I'll try and send a portion to you by FM wireless transfer.

[hasdgfas]

JANUARY 2034 UPDATE

A few things to talk about halfway through the season. First, some notes on a former player:

I am so, so happy to see his success.

Just look at him, he came from our academy

Now, back on the home front:

Out in the cups to two Prem teams, nothing shameful in that. Looking at the table....

 

Oh, is that us in a playoff spot after 24 matches? It sure is. I'd still like a bit more consistency, but I guess this is the Championship, and what I've learned in three seasons is anyone can beat anyone in this League. Looking forward to the second half of the season! I think we've put ourselves in a great spot, and I hope we can keep it up.

[StePratt]

Season 2 at Oxford United. Three league games in and Barnsley have offered an interview, I have zero interest but it means we are making decent progress. After those league games we occupy top spot with 2 wins and a draw. One player who has been an absolute standout is Yan Dhanda, signed on a free form Swansea. Played 4 games and has 4 POM awards! That's a great start to life at the Kassam Stadium for Yan.

Edited April 9, 2021 by StePratt

[Jogo Bonito]

New club time.

After one year with Port Vale, I have vacated and taken the Ipswich Town job in May 2021. They are a traditional old club that I like, but the drawback was that I managed them in FM20 and they still have the same under-performing players. However, in FM21 their manager in game was not Paul Cook (the current boss arrived after the data lock) and so it felt right to be 'the new man' myself.

The club has also acquired new American owners this week (not yet in game) who have mentioned there will now be substantial investment on and off the pitch. The local word is that there will be a mass exodus of players as they have a large number of expiring contracts in the summer of 2021, and they want to improve the quality of the squad.

I don't need the cash investment here, but the rest of that matched what I wanted to do with them myself. And at least now it doesn't feel unrealistic to overhaul the squad completely in one window. Starting in the summer of 2021 and having made no signings in game during 2020/21, it was time for me to get to work. And I have done that in ruthless fashion. The other good news is that the board are demanding nothing other than a mid-table finish for 2021/22 after only achieving a disappointing 14th spot in 2020/21 under the previous manager.

[warlock]

12 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

New club time

 Looking forward to following this one! Best of luck... I'd keep Wolfenden, the rest can go.

Edited April 10, 2021 by warlock

[Jogo Bonito]

A quick look back at what happened with Ipswich Town in season 2020/21 under the previous manager (Doncaster beat Blackpool in the PO Final by the way)

Before we get to anything else, here is the long list of players (19) that I released from the club at the end of 2020/21

There were also six loan players who all returned to their parent clubs

 

[Jogo Bonito]

And here is the transfer business from what FM sees as season 1 (those done inward & outward by me from June 2021 are highlighted)

And the final bunch of transfers all done by me in what FM counts as season 2 from 1st July 2021

Combined, that is £244k spent by me and £605k sold (£4.2k of that sale total being before I arrived)

And by not extending the loans and shedding so many players, I have achieved what I wanted - a leaner squad, with much lower wage costs and significantly more quality

The negative of waiting one year before taking over?

I'd fully intended to grab Brian Talbot as Chief Scout from Fulham and to employee Joe Royle too - but both retired in the summer so that won't ever be possible

It was also impossible to recruit a handful of players I wanted from overseas (a couple of Dutch as a reminder of the glory years & an American as a nod to the actual new owners)

These probably would have been possible pre-Brexit in season 1, so sadly I missed the boat on these ideas too

Anyway, I got most of what I wanted so it's greedy to moan too much about that 

And as the player movements have been so busy, here is a full view of the 22-man squad I have assembled on the cheap for 2021/22

Unlike with Port Vale, this has all been done without any editing at all - so I feel it's 'clean' and I'm very happy with my squad

Edited April 10, 2021 by Jogo Bonito

[Gunner 101]

Good luck with Ipswich @Jogo Bonito Looks a decent side that you have started to build. Be interesting to see how Ellis Simms does for you. He's really starting to excel for Blackpool IRL. 

[Jogo Bonito]

27 minutes ago, warlock said:

 Looking forward to following this one! Best of luck... I'd keep Wolfenden, the rest can go.

Thanks mate. It wasn't far off that. I'd have happily shipped out Cornell & Norwood but I couldn't get who I wanted instead just yet so I'll let them go at the end of 2021/22 instead.

Me at Ipswich and you at York. It's a funny old game.

3 minutes ago, Gunner 101 said:

Good luck with Ipswich @Jogo Bonito Looks a decent side that you have started to build. Be interesting to see how Ellis Simms does for you. He's really starting to excel for Blackpool IRL. 

Thanks mate. No more building this season as I have the right numbers and balance needed even though there is a month left of the window. I really like the look of Ellis Simms, seems like a Calvert-Lewin clone in the waiting. The original plan was to have no loan players at all, but that was when I thought I could steal him from Everton on a permanent deal. I think they did something on his contract so I just had to loan him instead. 

[warlock]

13 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

significantly more quality

Oh yes! A much improved squad, and some key upgrades that I struggled to make in 2+ seasons there. Not brutal enough, that's my trouble 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Good luck with Ipswich @Jogo Bonito I look forward to you bringing back Ipswich legends like John Wark.

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, warlock said:

Oh yes! A much improved squad, and some key upgrades that I struggled to make in 2+ seasons there. Not brutal enough, that's my trouble 

It's not my usual style, but I really wanted to manage Ipswich and this was the only way. Knowing that IRL this won't be far off what they do this summer made it 'realistic' enough for me.

I also avoided signing new players I'd worked with before - e.g. Mo Eisa who was both available and affordable. In truth I wanted better than Ladapo as my final signing, but after delaying that confirmation as many times as I could and my foreign striker still not able to get a WP, I felt I should finalise as in real life he would be a good League 1 striker for Ipswich.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

Just now, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Good luck with Ipswich @Jogo Bonito I look forward to you bringing back Ipswich legends like John Wark.

I'd love to bring back John Wark, but he isn't in the game. He does corporate hosting for them and Mick Mills does Radio Suffolk punditry but I'll just have to imagine them in those roles instead. I did sign Adam Phillips purely as my 'new John Wark' though as he is a goal scoring central midfielder. He arrives in the box well, although not from as deep as Wark used to do. Best I could do though!

I was genuinely disappointed that Brian Talbot & Joe Royle both retired before I could recruit them, as did George Burley. And both Arnold Muhren & Frans Thijssen were in the game until a year or two ago but no longer. Dutch forward Robert Muhren is someone I have signed before (he is a relation to Arnold's brother Gerrie) but he is too old/expensive for year 2021 so I left that one alone.

In real life Kieran Dyer is U23 manager and assisted by Terry Butcher and luckily they are both still with us. I couldn't tempt unemployed Mick McCarthy to the staff yet but will keep trying.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I'd love to bring back John Wark, but he isn't in the game. He does corporate hosting for them and Mick Mills does Radio Suffolk punditry but I'll just have to imagine them in those roles instead. I did sign Adam Phillips purely as my 'new John Wark' though as he is a goal scoring central midfielder. He arrives in the box well, although not from as deep as Wark used to do. Best I could do though!

I was genuinely disappointed that Brian Talbot & Joe Royle both retired before I could recruit them, as did George Burley. And both Arnold Muhren & Frans Thijssen were in the game until a year or two ago but no longer. Dutch forward Robert Muhren is someone I have signed before (he is a relation to Arnold's brother Gerrie) but he is too old/expensive for year 2021 so I left that one alone.

In real life Kieran Dyer is U23 manager and assisted by Terry Butcher and luckily they are both still with us. I couldn't tempt unemployed Mick McCarthy to the staff yet but will keep trying.

Either that or see if Terry Connor wants to come back as I think he was there with Big Mick.

At least you got Andre Dozzell there.

[Jogo Bonito]

12 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Either that or see if Terry Connor wants to come back as I think he was there with Big Mick.

At least you got Andre Dozzell there.

TC won't be interested unless Big Mick is there 

Here is the current staff list, those done by me are highlighted. Delighted with my DOF as he is a legend of FC Twente from where both Muhren & Thijssen were signed back in the day. I've purposefully not got any AM so far as the one I want isn't agreeing yet. But I want to leave the role vacant until I get one I really want.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Jogo Bonito

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

TC won't be interested unless Big Mick is there 

Here is the staff list so far, those done by me are highlighted. Delighted with my DOF as he is a legend of FC Twente where both Muhren & Thijssen were signed back in the day.

I've purposefully not got any AM yet as the one I want isn't agreeing yet. But I want to leave the role vacant until I get one I really want.

I bet Robbie Keane is rubbish as a coach on FM lol.

Some nice staff there. You could really turn Ipswich into the New Ajax or at least a bit similar to Southampton used to do. 

[Jogo Bonito]

7 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I bet Robbie Keane is rubbish as a coach on FM lol.

Some nice staff there. You could really turn Ipswich into the New Ajax or at least a bit similar to Southampton used to do. 

He is an average coach but has 15 attacking (which is what he will be doing for me). All his mental stats are 11-17 so I think he should be good around the place with his reputation too. Roy Keane was also unemployed but I didn't fancy having him around again. I just checked now and he is AM at Man Utd 

It won't be possible to sign foreign players so the original idea I had to 'go Dutch' a few times won't come to fruition. I signed a couple for Port Vale but I'm not likely to go after either of them.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Jogo Bonito

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

He is an average coach but has 15 attacking (which is what he will be doing for me). All his mental stats are 11-17 so I think he should be good around the place with his reputation too.

It won't be possible to sign foreign players so the original idea I had to 'go Dutch' a few times won't come to fruition. I signed a couple for Port Vale but I'm not likely to go after either of them.

Oh ok fair enough. I meant mimmick Ajax's philosphy but with UK players mixed with a few Foreign players you can bring in. 

I want to do something like that but I am trying to think how I can replicate how Ajax do it from the youth teams to the first team.