FM22: The English Football League thread

[robterrace]

In the build up to the season, plenty of players on the fringes of the squad went out on loan, all of them with the intention of getting them plenty of match time to get them into the first team in coming years.

Coming in to provide some depth in midfield on a free transfer, former Manchester City player, Romeo Lavia.

Also signing, for £10m, but heading straight back on loan to Dynamo Kyiv, was Mykola Skrypynk, the Ukrainian striker, has been a regular in the Ukrainian League in the last 18 months. He'll have 2 years to grow at Kyiv before returning to us.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

EFL Cup Record Broken Again

 

[robterrace]

Another signing that I needed to make, mainly to add some leadership and experience to the squad, arrived a week before the start of the season. Arriving for £5.75m from Crystal Palace, who had been relegated, was Welsh international centre back, Joe Rodon. He was a more physical centre back, and allowed me another option to play alongside or instead of the more technical defenders in my side.

Young Bulgarian winger, Angel Iliev has headed out on loan to Hertha Berlin, in order to help with his work permit issues. Hopefully, he gets enough match time, combined with international selection to make the cut.

That was all the business done before the first game of the season, a trip to Molineux to play Wolves.

 

[Woolly]

Many month's back I started a long term LLM save with Rochdale with the aim of taking them further than they have ever been before in the League. Since then I have posted updates in between periods when RL has got in the way. After back to back promotions I made it into the Campionship (the first time the club had every reached those heady heights), so every league place above 24th was going to be new territory. I knew getting out of the Championship is hard enough for clubs with large money reserves and decent sized grounds but for a club like Rochdale with poor resources, a small ground and barely adequate youth facilities it is near on impossible. 

Well I've just finished my 4th season in the Championship and have just been crowned Champions  which can only mean I have finally obtained the 'Holy Grail' of promotion to play with the Premiership big boys. The more amazing thing is I achieved it without spending millions on players (my record signing is a yound Dane called Ollie Okonkwo who has yet to estbalish himself in the first team) my squad has been made up of young hungry players disgarded by the likes of Liverpool, the two Manchester Clubs and the odd London club. 

Now the real work begins which is to stay in the Premier League next season and to build on what has already been achieved. I won't be posting anymore updates. My aim was to get Rochdale into the Premiership I've done that now so it's time to move on to see if I can achieve similar success with another club.

 

[ShaunG95]

Premier League Table - 2023/24

A solid debut campaign in the Premier League, I largely rotated between three different sides throughout the year too to try and keep the whole squad content. I believe this was probably the first season of many during my FM2022 play-time where I've managed to keep all of the players happy. The rationale behind this was also to try and develop the whole playing personnel equally, to which some did whereas others didn't due to under-performance on the pitch. It was a risk going into a Premier League campaign but thankfully we managed a good number of home wins when we played our stronger side.

I did sign some old guard to act as mentors - Radamel Falcao, Oscar Lewicki and Linus Wahlqvist. All three are not brilliant at Premier League level but are highly professional  to rub off on (not in that way). Falcao also came on against Fulham to score a brace and win us the game after a dreadful run of form, check out the goal he scored...

 

We finished our campaign with this masterful display at Turf Moor against Manchester United. We have temporarily moved due to the Wham Stadium being under Premier League capacity - the 'John Coleman Stadium' is currently being built.

Transfers In - £88m

You may well balk and think: how on earth has he spent this amount of money with a newly promoted side? Well, a lot of it was not paid up-front. Most of it will be paid over 3 years in installments which would have been damaging had we gone straight back down but luckily, we didn't. I would argue that I perhaps spent about £30-35m after being given a budget of £28m-ish. 

I did deliberately try to sign a few different players here too. I had Sotiris, Dasilva and Swedberg on my Shrewsbury save but aside from that, I wanted some completely fresh faces in. Alex Scott broke our transfer record alongside Marko Lazetic but I feel the pair are extremely promising going forward.

Transfers Out - £38.75m

I felt I got some really inflated fees for Sykes, Piccinini and Salimi so I took the money and ran! All of these fees were paid up-front so I had absolutely no qualms in moving them on as it meant that we reinvested in significant upgrades in quality.

Best Eleven

Honourable Mention

Toby Savin was top quality when called upon and certainly raised his stock significantly with a really good season. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Peter Dunne Finally Leaves

After rejecting offers in the summer Peter Dunne who only had 18 monthes left on his contract and wouldn't sign a new contract decide to leave for Brentford for £8.5m and 30% profit on his next transfer.

He was a great player for us and will hopefully follow Jude Bellingham and become a superstar. 

Dunne rejected Dortmund weirdly to join Brentford.

I wish him well.

Talking of Jude Bellingham his contract expires in the summer which is rubbish for the club as we wont get any money from the future fee clause unless Dortmund get him to sign a new contract.

I was looking forward to counting all that money

I have managed to replace Peter Dunne with Birmingham born Nathan Ferguson who I signed from Crystal Palace for £250k.

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Ronaldo Beckham

[robterrace]

Little bit of deadline day work, as I look to strengthen the squad.

One player that had come up, mainly as my centre forward was also my strongest winger (and Sanna, as 5'5 is sometimes to small to be effective), was Bulgarian winger Petar Stoyanov. He'd been in Czechia with Sparta for the last season, after breaking through at Levski in his home nation. Dangerous with the ball at his feet, and also able to chip in with a goal or two, he was well within the profile of player I wanted, and with a release clause of £7.25m, it was a simple decision to sign him.

That concluded the deals I made on Deadline Day, with only youth player Cyril Daniel departing for £100k to Norwich. The 19 year old wasn't going to make it with us, so we cashed in on him.

There was interest in my midfield pair of Okeke and Simic, however, no-one made any bids for them, so, they remain at the club until January at least.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I just used the in game editor to extend Jude Bellingham's contract at Dortmund to keep my chances of getting money from his next transfer.

I could of just transfered him to Birmingham City on a free or maybe done a £100m transfer to a bigger club but I didn't want to do that much trickery

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Top Prospect From This Year's Youth Intake

Excellent Work Rate, Aggression and Bravery but annoyingly a Fickle personality. Hopefully some good mentoring will fix that.

 

[ShaunG95]

I have just completely FM'd Liverpool at Anfield and I couldn't be more delighted...

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Birmingham City FC Season 4 Review Part 1

Another season where I make the Play Offs.

Another season where I make the Play Off Final.

What do you think the outcome would be this time?

Surely not another Play Off Final loss 

I honestly feel like I am in Groundhog Day right now. 

I have no idea how much more I can do. We deserve to be in the Premiership by now.

Oh well roll next season 

I just scraped into the Play Offs with a 6th place finish and then I beat Brentford 3-2 on aggregate in the Play Off Semi's.

Best Players

Top Goalscorer - Troy Deeney

Deeney is like a fine wine and gets better with age. 

36 Years Old Deeney had his best goalscoring season for us with 21 goals. 

I hope he never retires. 

Highest Averege Rating - Marc Roberts

Roberts again with the best average rating. This time he gets a 7.14 average rating and was again solid in defence.

Annoyingly my 2 best players are my oldest players 

Most Assists - Keyendrah Simmonds

Another great season for Simmonds who managed to get 9 assists and 10 goals. 

Simmonds at 24 years old is starting to hit his prime years. I am hoping he stays here for a very long time.

How Are The Young Prospects Getting On?

Zach Jeacock - 24 Years Old GK

Jordan James - 20 Year Old English Midfielder

Jobe Bellingham - 19 Year Old English Midfielder

Ryan Strik - 24 Year Old Welsh Midfielder

Callum Sullivan - 20 Year Old English Right Back

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Part 2

Best Overall 11

Accolades

Marc Roberts wins the Fans Player Of The Season again. 

Ryan Stirk wins the Young Player Of The Season

Nathan Ferguson wins the Signing Of The Season

Steve Seddon wins the Goal Of The Season

My aim next season is to get promoted or the save ends.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Best Regen I Have Had With Birmingham

Keith Naylor looks amazing. 16 in Dribbling, 14 in Finishing, 20 in Determination and a Driven personality. 

He is going to be a superstar for Birmingham. 

I have promoted him to the first team already.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

This Is How You Make A Debut

A hattrick in his debut has already made Naylor a Birmingham legend.

I am excited to see how he does.

 

[robterrace]

Just agreed a £10m fee for this guy to join in the transfer window.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Birmingham City Season 5 Review Part 1

Another season full of drama. This might be my final season on the save. 

How do you think we did this time?

We only gone and finally done it and got us back into the Premiership where we belong.

A lovely 3-1 win Vs Ipswich after we finished 3rd and beating Hull City 3-2 in the Play Off Semis.

Best Players

Top Goalscorer - Keyendrah Simmonds

Simmonds banged the goals in from anywhere in the attacking positions as he played up front or on the wings. 

He had his best season this season with some great performances and some vital goals and assists. 17 goals and 9 assists to be precise.

Best Average Rating - Ryan Stirk

Stirk was an unsung hero as he just stuck to his job and did it without much fuss. 

He was a calming influence.  He managed to get the highest average rating of 7.19 and had a 90% pass completion.

Most Assists - Josh Home

Josh Home has settled in nicely in the centre of midfield forming a good partnership with Stirk. 

12 goals and 9 assist for the season with an average rating of 7.13 is very good for the 20 year old.

How Are The Youth Prospects Doing?

Jobe Bellingham - 20 Year Old English Midifielder

Tony King - 18 Year Old English Midfielder

Jordan James - 21 Year Old English Midfielder

Chris Ogor - 20 Year Old English Defender

Adam Owen - 20 Year Old Welsh Winger

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Part 2

Keith Naylor - 16 Year Old English Striker

Best Overall 11

Accolades

Marc Roberts Won The Player Of The Season again.

Callum Sullivan won the Young Player Of The Season.

Signing Of The Season was Kane Wilson

I decided to release Troy Deeney cos he only played 15 games this season and there was players I prefered to play up front like Simmonds, Rico Richards and Keith Naylor.

I have also offered Marc Roberts a new contract as Player/Under 18's Assistant Manager as that is the role he will transition to with him eventually becoming the Under 18's Manager.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I decided to cash in Jude Bellingham's transfer clause in the end which got me £8.44m. 

I also decided to have a bit of fun and use the editor to bring Jude Bellingham back to Birmingham City FC.

Signed him on a free tranfer 

Jude is already an England international so I wont include him in my goal of having an England international represented by Birmingham.

Edited September 6, 2022 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Jono Cpfc]

@Ronaldo Beckham  congrats on getting promoted and love all the players progression! good luck in the prem

[Ronaldo Beckham]

34 minutes ago, Jono Cpfc said:

@Ronaldo Beckham  congrats on getting promoted and love all the players progression! good luck in the prem

Cheers buddy. Much appreciated.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Birmingham City Season 6 Review

A nice mid table finish which is better then I could hope for really. 

The Bellingham brothers were awesome. A lot of the time if one of them scored the other had assisted them.

My other key players were Tony King who is just so good. He is soon to sign a new contract with an £80m release clause.

My joint top goalscorer with Jude Bellingham was Keyendrah Simmonds who managed to score 15 goals in 26 games. 

I wanted to play youth prospect John Lee more often then Simmonds and I managed to give Lee some decent game time and he managed to get 6 goals from 12 games. 

Cos I had John Lee and Simmonds up front with Troy Deeney as back up I wanted to give top prospect Keith Naylor some first team football so I sent him on loan for the season to Newport County but he only played 11 games and only scored 2 goals. 

I will be either keep him and give him game time or be more choosey who I send him out to next season as he needs to be playing regular football for his progress to continue.

Overall Best 11

Jude Bellingham took all the awards with a clean sweep of Player Of The Season, Young Player Of The Season and Signing Of The Season.

My aim for next season as always is to do a little better. 

[robterrace]

Few things from January 2027 in my West Brom save.



Record fee received for Okeke. Given that we've made nearly 75 times what we paid for him, I'm not fussed, especially given that its going to get put back into the team.



Needed a bit of experience and steel in midfield, and. even though hes injured, he adds the right sort of mentality for me.



Signed for £400k, future prospect, who heads back out on loan. Nearly 150 career appearances, and room for improvement.

Comes in as future backup, Agirrezabala moved on to Lille, and Hoel Lervik was one that came up on my scouting list. £2.5m, and heads off on loan for the season.

Slightly different option up front, cost £10m, which, for an international striker averaging 1 in 2, isn't too bad. Dangerous in the air, but can also cause issues on the floor. Scored on his debut, as well as in the defeat of Chelsea. Links up well with Saklamakis.

[robterrace]

Signing to replace the now departed Okeke.

 

I feel the buyback clause is a risk, but, hopefully, we can make the most of him in that time. Even with his wages, we'll make a profit on him.

[robterrace]

Another one from Exeter, who heads back down to Devon until the end of the season. £500k brings him to us.

Arriving from Palmeiras, midfielder Rogério José has an interesting looking set of attributes, and, could provide the 'X Factor' once he settles in.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I have probably asked in here before but does anyone fancy an EFL network game as I am getting bored of my Birmingham City save and also I have no desire to play a save on my own until FM23 comes out now so I was just wondering if anyone in here fancies having an network game while we wait for FM23 to come out?

 

[DaveMurray23]

Any recommendations for a right back?

[robterrace]

1 hour ago, DaveMurray23 said:

Any recommendations for a right back?

How far in?

 

[robterrace]

I may have broken something..

35 passes.

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by robterrace

[DaveMurray23]

9 hours ago, robterrace said:

How far in?

 

Pre-season year 5

[kopfan1977]

On 08/09/2022 at 22:15, robterrace said:

I may have broken something..

35 passes.

 

Wonderful goal.. Tiki taka, Followed by a good old fashioned Cross and header. Not just lumped upfield in hope

[Alejandro1202]

Barnsley V2 Season 1

So after seeing that Barnsley getting relegated after a Play-off run the past season I decided to do a What If? and try tp avoid the relegation from the start, I´ll be alternating this save with aother one so some updates will take longer

[robterrace]

Couple of bits of dealing that I've been sorting out throughout the season.

Teden Mengi will be heading off to Derby, who have just been relegated, for a fee of £2m.

Joining, firstly, from Bristol City, where he will head back out on loan, is Andrew Maycock. Despite his low technical attributes, he can be worked on to be a decent defensive option. We pay £7.25m for him.

Next, from RB Salzburg, is 24 year old midfielder, Luka Sukic.
At £5.75m, he is affordable, and is proficient in a couple of positions.

 

Also arriving from the Austrian leagues, is Arkadiusz Sobkowski. The 19 year old Pole is a potential stalwart in defence for us, with stamina and fitness to play the pressing defensive role we want. He, however, will head out on loan for the season, as we were unable to secure a work permit for him.

Also arriving is Uruguayan prospect Maximiliano Schiaffino. The 18 year old winger needs a little bit of work, as he has missed the last 6 months with a broken ankle.

 

[robterrace]

Another new signing agreed. I've not been happy with the attacking midfielders in my side, I felt Marcus Raynor didn't offer enough, despite being a very good player, and as such, a slightly bigger player was needed to act as the link, as none of my midfield was over 6ft and as such, the need for someone who could provide a bit of aerial support when needed was also important.
A scour of my scouted players was done, and a player with both the physical profile, and although his bravery may not be the greatest, its what I want, and the skillset required was found, and after a quick discussion with his agent, a release fee of £16.25m was found.

Joining on a long term deal, is Arthur (Arthur Wenderrosky Sanches) from Fluminese.

There was interest in Joe Bursik as well, and with our next first choice keeper, Norwegian, Peder Hoel Lervik on loan at Molde, we would need a backup to come in, should we need to shuffle keepers round, as Josh Griffiths wasn't at the standard.

Enter Dutch keeper, Fabian de Keijzer. The big 27 year old have been part of the Heracles side that finished 5th in the Eredivisie, keeping 8 clean sheets and being the presence behind the 5th best defence in the division. He was happy to come and be the backup/rotation option.

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by robterrace

[robterrace]

Couple more transfer related things.

For £10m, Yosef was a no brainer, some work to be done, but, he was good in the areas I wanted.

Giminez, at £2m, was a similar option, he needs some work on his finishing, but, if he develops as I want, he will be a top class striker.

Poirier had a £7.75m release clause at Derby, which was activated by their relegation, however, he was also their player of the season.

Edited September 16, 2022 by robterrace

[robterrace]

Well. Departure time.

Make a profit on him having only paid £1m, and the new keeper has been on loan in Norway, keeping up his sharpness.

Another departure, and one, that hopefully will show that my succession planning works.

18 months, 22 goals, £60 million profit.

Skrypnyk comes back off his loan, and is the better player of the two.

Edited September 17, 2022 by robterrace

[robterrace]

Deadline day signing, to fill a development role in the squad for next season. He heads back to Osijek after signing for £4.4m

 

Another one to develop over the next couple of years as well.

Edited September 19, 2022 by robterrace

[robterrace]

Couple of bits and pieces of business, mainly with loans, but, hopefully, more to come. 

[warlock]

8 hours ago, robterrace said:

Couple of bits and pieces

Good to see you still going .

I'm afraid my interest in FM22 finally drained away completely. Waiting on FM23 now.

[soundboyy]

I don't usually post but thought I'd share this - Huge success with the mighty Swindon!

Been having casual saves with them for probably 20 years & this is by far the best I've achieved, It's been fun! Here's hoping for real life 

[Balotelli]

Iam playing as Blackburn rovers on the beta. And have decided to cash in on Diaz (depending on how much of the fee I get). Any suggestions who I could get in without breaking the bank. I looked at the lad from Coventry but he wanted 35k a week so that's a non starter. Want to keep it true to life ie someone fairly young/unknown who won't want ridiculous wages. Any suggestions? Cheers

[Jogo Bonito]

8 hours ago, Balotelli said:

Iam playing as Blackburn rovers on the beta. And have decided to cash in on Diaz (depending on how much of the fee I get). Any suggestions who I could get in without breaking the bank. I looked at the lad from Coventry but he wanted 35k a week so that's a non starter. Want to keep it true to life ie someone fairly young/unknown who won't want ridiculous wages. Any suggestions? Cheers

Domestically you could consider Adebayo (Luton), Riis (Preston), Jebbison (Sheff Utd), Lavery (Blackpool), Piroe (Swansea), Joao (Reading), Clarke-Harris or Jones (both Peterborough) or even Nisbet (Hibs).

Further afield, Canada or Africa possibly. But WP issues may hinder so in Europe perhaps Ireland, the Nordic or Baltic regions, Balkan States, Holland, Portugal and Central Europe like Poland & Czech Republic would throw up lots of realistic targets. Or being more specific possibly Beto (Udinese) or Vanzeir (USG) may be interested and/or just about affordable?

If in your first season, there are Shankland (Hearts) or Bishop (Portsmouth) who might be realistic but only just joined their clubs. If looking ahead, I really like Herculano Nabian in real life, but he is away on loan at the start of the game.

Edit: I forgot to also suggest Stewart (Sunderland). Blackburn was one of two Championship sides on my shortlist, so will be interested to see who you get in and how it goes.

When I say shortlist, there are also two League 1 sides, a League 2 side, two PL clubs, a couple in Italy, one in Belgium, and possibly one or two others elsewhere. But I think this year, I do need to start in England.

Edited October 30, 2022 by Jogo Bonito

[Balotelli]

Ok so the board were only willing to give me 600k of the 10 million pounds bid haha. Safe to say I'd sooner let him walk for free. I managed to get him to resign on another save attempt. So we shall see.

So update. Got to December and still dead set on not signing this time around. I've managed to increase my percentage of transfer revenue so have got 2.4 million of the 10 million I got for him from Wolfsburg. I've managed to bring in Facundo farias from colon. Looks solid just hope he can replace the goals Diaz got us. We're second but have been beaten by the dingles so i already feel like restarting 😂.

Edited October 31, 2022 by Balotelli

[kopfan1977]

Is someone doing this thread again for FM23?

I loved reading and following some of the glorious journeys in here

[warlock]

2 hours ago, kopfan1977 said:

Is someone doing this thread again for FM23?

Hopefully someone will, but I'm afraid it won't be me. I have no plans for a save in the EFL this year, having done it to death in recent FMs. I'm planning on exploring the European leagues in FM23 since I've only done a handful of saves there in all my years as an FM manager. Time for pastures new.

[Jogo Bonito]

Thanks for your great efforts over the years, much appreciated 

Let me know which territory you end up in, I feel sure we will meet again there!

[Dong21]

I second what @Jogo Bonito has said and will keep an eye out for where you end up managing @warlock