Have You Chosen Your FM22 Save Yet?

[JAwtunes]

I'll be just be building a tactic for the first few weeks.  I can't enjoy a save until I have found a single tactic I know I can rely on and that suits how I like to play the game.  I do wish I could just adapt as I work my way through a save, but i just cant do it.

[anindyarajan19]

FC Barcelona.

Let's see. The club is in turmoil and several legends are nearing the end of their career. No money to sign big names and many players have big contracts which they do not deserve. However, there is also a young exciting group of players who can form the core of the team for almost a decade. 

Looks like it is time to shave my head and put on a suit. Bald Fraud 2 : Electric Boogaloo about to hit theatres on November 9 2021.

[Carambau]

Time to play with a team from Serie A, Empoli for who I got a soft spot

[Gegenklaus]

On 09/09/2021 at 10:19, NuFcPRO said:

for me its all about finding the right club and the club must have a badge i like

Go with Brønshøj this year then, man.   Make the Mose Derby happen again.

[Lesterfan_Cambiasso]

Would a Juventus save be boring? they look to be in absolute disarray at the moment

[johnnycnandy]

It's Always Sunny in Wrexham 

[DasMagicMullet]

Getting some great ideas from you guys, cheers. Quite tempted to do a Preußen Münster save.

[Superowl90]

I'll be having a crack at the great Dafuges challenge again in 22

[RandomGuy.]

Love smaller clubs who are looking to build and turn into a domestic force, so St Johnstone always my port of call.

Not really relevant this Summer though after they completed the cup double last season, first side outside Rangers or Celtic to do it since 89/90...

[Justified]

Beta : Liverpool. I always seem to get bored after 2-3 seasons anyways as it's a bit too easy so makes sense that it's a bit of a throw away.

Full Game : Journeyman. This year I did the dafuge challenge to take over Hitchin Town (was born there). Previous games I started unemployed and had long term saves with Dulwich Hamlet, Gloucester and Bath. Really enjoyable making smaller teams into big teams and then eventually moving once I feel like the club is self-sustaining. Funny the AI always seems to struggle when they take my seat

[janrzm]

On 08/09/2021 at 04:16, herne79 said:

Same as this year: Create a Club, take over Leyton Orient and turn them into...

I do like the sound of this but the game doesn't model the relationship between the Red Bull clubs even remotely like real life and that ultimately puts me off.

[herne79]

7 hours ago, janrzm said:

I do like the sound of this but the game doesn't model the relationship between the Red Bull clubs even remotely like real life and that ultimately puts me off.

Yeh probably not, however during the create-a-club process you can choose affiliate clubs and how they are affiliated.  For example I’ve chosen all Red Bull clubs as affiliates and told them to share scouting, marketing, match bids for players and a couple of other options.  There are loads of other options too such as share Board, kit, loaning, training and so on.

[DasMagicMullet]

Well, 1 documentary on East German football and I've hand my mind changed. Definitely going to start the save in Germany as one of the East German champions who are languishing in the lower leagues and try to restore their glory.

If I can find a Regionalliga database then I'll start as BFC Dynamo, who won 10 consecutive titles in the 80s before being dumped into the 3rd division when the Berlin Wall fell.

If I can't find that database early on then I'm starting with Dynamo Dresden (8x East German champions)

[Brother Ben]

38 minutes ago, DasMagicMullet said:

Well, 1 documentary on East German football and I've hand my mind changed. Definitely going to start the save in Germany as one of the East German champions who are languishing in the lower leagues and try to restore their glory.

If I can find a Regionalliga database then I'll start as BFC Dynamo, who won 10 consecutive titles in the 80s before being dumped into the 3rd division when the Berlin Wall fell.

If I can't find that database early on then I'm starting with Dynamo Dresden (8x East German champions)

You could always holiday for a season and reload until they are promoted to 3.Liga like they do in the youth academy/Dafuge challenges

Looks like he had to do a fair few reloads though

 

[Winski]

42 minutes ago, Brother Ben said:

You could always holiday for a season and reload until they are promoted to 3.Liga like they do in the youth academy/Dafuge challenges

Looks like he had to do a fair few reloads though

 

Yes, I can really recommend it! The German leagues are very fun to play in. And BFC Dynamo is a club I can only recommend. Their is a very good German database where you can play until their 6th tier. But you can also do what I did: holiday for one season and get them promoted to the 3. Liga. I had to reload for many times, but it was worth waiting! 

[ThunderCelt]

22 hours ago, DasMagicMullet said:

Well, 1 documentary on East German football and I've hand my mind changed. Definitely going to start the save in Germany as one of the East German champions who are languishing in the lower leagues and try to restore their glory.

If I can find a Regionalliga database then I'll start as BFC Dynamo, who won 10 consecutive titles in the 80s before being dumped into the 3rd division when the Berlin Wall fell.

If I can't find that database early on then I'm starting with Dynamo Dresden (8x East German champions)

I agree.  I seriously thought about restoring an eastern German side to its former glory but I don't enjoy leagues I don't know so much so decided against it, but I  think it would otherwise be a fun challenge.

[rusty217]

On 17/09/2021 at 20:09, DasMagicMullet said:

Well, 1 documentary on East German football and I've hand my mind changed. Definitely going to start the save in Germany as one of the East German champions who are languishing in the lower leagues and try to restore their glory.

If I can find a Regionalliga database then I'll start as BFC Dynamo, who won 10 consecutive titles in the 80s before being dumped into the 3rd division when the Berlin Wall fell.

If I can't find that database early on then I'm starting with Dynamo Dresden (8x East German champions)

I've done this before (and will again) and it's a lot of fun. Definitely get a database for the Regionalliga, I'm sure there'll be one available pretty quick. It's pretty fun starting out at that level. Difficult to get up into the 3. Liga though given how few teams actually get promoted.

I definitely enjoy trying to make east Germany clubs competitive in the Bundesliga again, pretty crazy how little success they've had since re-unification.

Edited September 18, 2021 by rusty217

[wakesta]

I'm going to start with Derby in FM22

[kevhamster]

16 hours ago, wakesta said:

I'm going to start with Derby in FM22

That does seem like a tempting challenge.  I had the same idea.

 

[middleweight165]

On 07/09/2021 at 18:16, herne79 said:

Same as this year: Create a Club, take over Leyton Orient and turn them into...

Curious why Leyton Orient? Do you have kits for the team?

[warlock]

7 minutes ago, middleweight165 said:

Curious why Leyton Orient?

I'd guess because they're the lowest-ranked London team in the EFL, and doing it with West Ham would be less of a challenge . If @herne79 could find the time, I'm sure there are many of us who would appreciate a walkthrough of the process. I've looked at Create a Club a few times but found it pretty confusing.

Edited September 23, 2021 by warlock

[middleweight165]

12 minutes ago, warlock said:

I'd guess because they're the lowest-ranked London team in the EFL, and doing it with West Ham would be less of a challenge . If @herne79 could find the time, I'm sure there are many of us who would appreciate a walkthrough of the process. I've looked at Create a Club a few times but found it pretty confusing.

Makes sense. I would also be interested in this info. I think you are only able to Create a Club with the official database which is off putting to me, I could be wrong though. I'd also be interested to know, can you create a red bull club and integrate them into the Red Bull organisation like the other clubs.

I found this for badges and kits https://imgur.com/gallery/vNkMy0L

 

[herne79]

5 hours ago, middleweight165 said:

Curious why Leyton Orient? Do you have kits for the team?

 

5 hours ago, warlock said:

I'd guess because they're the lowest-ranked London team in the EFL, and doing it with West Ham would be less of a challenge

This .

5 hours ago, warlock said:

If @herne79 could find the time, I'm sure there are many of us who would appreciate a walkthrough of the process. I've looked at Create a Club a few times but found it pretty confusing.

 

5 hours ago, middleweight165 said:

Makes sense. I would also be interested in this info. I think you are only able to Create a Club with the official database which is off putting to me, I could be wrong though. I'd also be interested to know, can you create a red bull club and integrate them into the Red Bull organisation like the other clubs.

It's off topic so I'll hide what I do in a spoiler here.

Spoiler

Prior to FM20 there was a workaround to use an edited database by starting a new regular game using the edited database, saving it, quitting back to the start screen and starting a create a club from there, but that hole seems to have been plugged now .

Anyway, this is the process I used to create Red Bull London (the same applies to any create a club):

Start a game using Create a Club, load up whatever leagues you want to but make sue you untick "Disable first transfer window activity".  If you don't untick it you can'y get any new players into your newly created club.

Tip - before you start your new club, try and get a list of the players you would like to bring into your new club.  The player search feature during the actual process is pretty limited.

Once the leagues are loaded, choose/create your manager as normal.

Select the club you want to take over from the next screen and hit "Create a club".  You'll get to this screen:

Spoiler

Pick a new logo from the defaults or import your own (as I have done).  Enter a new name and so on, then edit your kit how you'd like.  You can have up to 3 team kits and 3 keeper kits.

If you want to retain the existing backroom staff (assistant manager, coaches, physios etc), tick the box.

The "Edit Relationships" is where you can choose who your rival clubs are and favourite/disliked people (if you want to).

Edit Affiliations is more interesting.  You get this box pop up:

Spoiler

Here you can choose which clubs you want an affiliation with and what type of relationship you have.  This is what I did for Red Bull London's affiliate link with RB Leipzig (and all the other Red Bull teams):

Spoiler

I don't know exactly what the links are between the Red Bull clubs but that seemed a sensible place to start without making it too easy.

Once finished, then go to the next screen and choose your new "dream team".  You can keep all the existing players if you want to or remove the ones you don't want to free up budget for the ones you do (which is where some previous "scouting" of who you want in your team can come in handy).  If you can afford them you can put literally any player from the loaded database into your new club.

Tip - many (potentially) high potential young players can be had very cheaply (although that's pretty cheaty because you end up with either a team with stupid potential which walks the league and/or a load of money at the end of the season because all the big clubs make silly offers for your players).

It's worth noting that you won't be able to lever in loads of the world's best players, unless you start with a super high value club.  For Leyton Orient Red Bull London I only get £2.5m total squad budget - even if I completely clear out the existing squad.  So I won't be putting Haaland into east London any time soon (his budget value alone is £92m). 

Note that that £2.5m is for my entire playing squad from U18s up to my senior squad.  So upwards of 50+ players.  Usually I'll either just keep the entire playing staff and have at it, or remove just the players which have a value and start from there.  Players with value tend to only be your senior squad players and a few younger players - if I only remove them then pretty much all players in the youth teams will remain and I only need focus on (and spend my budget on) bringing in my new senior players.

btw - you still need to abide by league rules.  So for example in League Two where Leyton Orient play, you have to have 7 players trained by a club in England in your match squad, so I can't fill Red Bull London with 50 Brazilians.  It's worth noting however that at this point only you can ignore Work Permit issues, so if you do want to bring in someone who would normally fail a WP, you can.

Personally I treat it a bit like "money ball" - finding some good value in amongst the lower league players.

That's pretty much it .

 

[warlock]

23 minutes ago, herne79 said:

I'll hide what I do in a spoiler here.

Brilliant, thanks 

[herne79]

1 minute ago, warlock said:

Brilliant, thanks 

Made an edit for something I forgot.

[MChapp1867]

How long does it typically take for the database edits to release that allow playable clubs below the Vanarama North/South in England?

I’ll be starting with Whitby Town as soon as I can.

[bakersdozen22]

Beta I'll choose my real life team Bristol City. But when it's released I plan on doing a UK unemployed no badges no experience sort of thing. Did a similar save on FM21 starting with Stranraer and moving on to Morton, Willem II & Bristol City. 

[Welshace]

14 hours ago, MChapp1867 said:

How long does it typically take for the database edits to release that allow playable clubs below the Vanarama North/South in England?

I’ll be starting with Whitby Town as soon as I can.

Well it's normal users like you and I who make them, so its a case of how long is a piece of string? could be weeks, could be months.. depends on what you want out of it..

 

If it's literally just unlocking it, you can do it in two minutes within the pregame editor.

[Jiub]

At least one save with IF Brommapojkarna.

I started a save with them in FM2020, and again in 2021 and it has become my favorite team to manage in the game.

The premise of the save is that you are in the 2nd/3rd tier of Swedish football (depends on the year), and you have exceptional academy coaching and youth recruitment (assuming they won't change). In the 2020 and 2021 FM games you also had a decent (not much but by the league standards) amount of money to start with. You can go on to do what you want: whether that is to try to be the best youth academy in the world, or try to climb the ladder and win the Champions League. 

I'm also interested to start with Wrexham and Monza, both of which I had a save with in FM2021 -- and only because of the chairmen of these teams: Ryan Reynolds and Silvio Berlusconi.

[JamieTC13]

Planning a unemployed save with first transfer windows disabled, and then build a nation 

[Deisler26]

Viktoria 1899 Berlin, youth only

[Mr Figo]

Newport County - there's a manager vacancy at the moment!

[Nahuelzn]

For the beta I just choose a team on stream the first day of release. I don't know still where I'm going to be.

But once the game is polished after the first updates and the editors have their files on, my main save this year will be a journeyman one starting in Zanzibar.

The idea is that I can only move from certain countries. From Zanzibar I can only go to mainland Tanzania. From Tanzania I can go to any country in East Africa. From there I can choose any African country. Then middle east. And then the rest of the world.

 

 

[Powermonger]

5 minutes ago, Nahuelzn said:

The idea is that I can only move from certain countries. From Zanzibar I can only go to mainland Tanzania. From Tanzania I can go to any country in East Africa. From there I can choose any African country. Then middle east. And then the rest of the world.

Thats quite a few restrictions, is that a hard career path to follow in the save?

[silentwars]

I fancy doing a rebuild with Sheffield Wednesday and possibly a European save with Villareal. Might have to play a season with PSG just for the fun of it as well.

[Nahuelzn]

3 hours ago, Powermonger said:

Thats quite a few restrictions, is that a hard career path to follow in the save?

Yes! But the idea is not so much to win the Champions League for example, just to enjoy in the current team I'm managing. If I like a team in Tanzania for example, I could manage it for years before attempting to make a move to other country. 

I've been playing with a one-club save for years for now, I want to try something different this time!

[JohanCruyff#14]

On 07/09/2021 at 07:02, DasMagicMullet said:

I'm still torn. I like smaller European leagues where I could make a team the dominant force in the nation and then try and make an imprint on Europe. FM21 had me going through Norway with Tromso and then Molde.

For 22, I'm considering either Ukraine (had a Ukraine FM08 save that is still my favourite ever) or the Swiss league, but not sure which team. I did like the idea of FC Vaduz as the Liechtenstein representatives in the Swiss league, but the fact they cannot be crowned champions obviously kills it a bit. 

Just wondering if others had settled on their FM22 story yet?

I've been leaning that way too in recent FMs. Norway's a great place to manage. One of the best saves I've ever had was with Alta, getting them to the Eliteserien is one of my greatest achievements in 25+ years playing FM. Think that was FM 20.

Thinking of taking FC Sudtirol in Italy's Serie C, or maybe taking a shot in Austria. Or maybe a provincial French team. Or have a go in Croatia

Too many choices, so little time

Edited October 5, 2021 by JohanCruyff#14

[TioPatinhax]

Any criteria you like to use when the time comes to choose a new save? What is your decision process like?

[metallimuse]

1 hour ago, TioPatinhax said:

Any criteria you like to use when the time comes to choose a new save? What is your decision process like?

Tend not to go in any of the top 5 leagues in Europe and not go a top team in whichever country I choose.

Try to choose a a country that has a few leagues in it and I like to try and take a club outside the top league up the ranks.

If I go one step further and do some research I like to try and choose a team with a rich history who’s fallen down the pecking order or a big city that doesn’t have a team competing at the top.

Basically a team in which I have to struggle with to enrich. I don’t understand people who go for top teams with huge bank and just splash the cash to win.

[Brother Ben]

2 hours ago, TioPatinhax said:

Any criteria you like to use when the time comes to choose a new save? What is your decision process like?

Llamas.

I use llamas

[Viking]

I'll drag Millwall to the bottom with my first save, as per usual.

[decapitated]

PSG or Newcastle at first whilst I get used to the new match engine.

[Vali184]

Probably Nottingham Forest first.

Or SD Huesca.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Vali184

[Zabet Philosophe]

I'm torn between 2 ideas for next year's FM, both involving the same region more or less. The 1st one is just a simple journeyman save throughout Eastern Europe, but starting with a top-flight team since I spent the entirety of FM21 wallowing in Western Europe's lower leagues. I think it'll make for a neat little save: not sticking to just one club and one league is realistic, because there's not a lot of job security in places like Greece, Croatia and Turkey., and on the other hand there's plenty of opportunities to grow, starting in lower-ranked European nations and maybe getting to a top 5 league in the end if things go right.

Staying in Eastern Europe, the other one is a much weirder idea: I've read a few days ago about the rise of Lorinc Meszaros, right-hand man and childhood friend friend of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who went from being a gas-fitter to the richest man in Hungary in the space of just a few years (gee, I wonder why). Orban and his cronies are dipping his hands into football now, and there's a lot of Hungarian-owned clubs in neighboring countries on the rise in recent years: NK Osijek (Croatia), Sepsi OSK (Romania), TSC Backa Topola (Serbia), DAC Dunajska Streda (Slovakia)... These clubs are generally linked to the Hungarian minority in these countries, and I think it makes for a great career idea: start out as an unqualified amateur who just so happens to be related to the prime minister in some way, get shoehorned into one of these clubs, and try to work my way up to the top of European football managing only Hungarian or Hungarian minority teams. Frankly, I don't think I'll be able to pull this off, since I'm completely inept at this whole FM thing, but if any of the more experienced players here want to give this (genius, in my humble opinion) idea a try, be my guest.

[footballfreak78]

Newcastle is about to be a popular save.

[casualassassin]

I've been contemplating streaming a Glory Hunter save like Doctor Benjy did in 19, but I did want to ask this group how to set it up? I'd only do top-5 leagues, so would I only load those leagues? And how in-depth do I have international competitions(Euros and World Cup).

Also going to do an Oxford City save, as I've done every year. Goal is to get to the Prem, but I've yet to actually complete it. Farthest I've gotten is League 1 then got sacked due to poor performance. 

[Aquaplex]

Bayern Munich as always.  Mia san Mia

[Dagenham_Dave]

Milan for the beta probably, then I'm going to finally try and get Stirling Albion into Europe in the main save. 

[bahmet]

Newcastle)

[janrzm]

No doubt be a few thinking Newcastle will now be an attractive option. It'll be disappointing if they aren't fully up top date in game before release.