[FM23] I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business, but I am in the top one (A realistic hybrid challenge)

[wazza]

 

The Rules

1. The clubs board of directors are in charge of signing the Director of Football and Technical Director and I have no input into who they decide to sign.

2. The clubs board of directors are in charge of re-newing the contract of the Director of Football and Techincal Director.

3. I will approach the Director of Football with a list of my transfer targets, who I hope he will sign.  I will be allowed to go an attempt to sign these players myself, if he is unsucessful or if the bid I believe he puts in will damage the clubs finances / transfer / wage budget and amend as necessary by using add ons and incentitives in an attempt to lure the player to the club. I believe this is realistic as the signing of players is a team effort by a club.

4. The Director of Football will be in charge of finding new clubs for players that are transfer listed / added to the development list.  If I believe the bid for the player is too low, I will be able to intervene and attempt to sell / loan out the player myself.  I will also be allowed to offer the player out to genearate any interest if necessary and the Director of Football is being unsuccesful at this.

5. I will be in charge of all contract negotiaitons with all the players.

6. If a Technical Director is appointed by the board, I will have an input and be able to tell him what staff I want him to bring in and which staff members contract he is in charge of re-newing.

7.  If a club does not have a Director of Football or Technical Director model I have to obide by that and manage all transfers myself without there assistance.

The Set Up

I have loaded 123 leagues from 53 Nations some of which are playable and some which are view only.

 

 

 

 

The Game Start

I have normally started the game unemployed with no coaching badges and a Sunday League reputation, however for FM23 I have decided to start with my hometown club as I have not done this for a long time on FM, plus the club that I am going to start with has recently been taken over in the last year, which makes it more exciting for the save.

In real life the existing manager was also sacked around October and the club has alot of first team injuries.  To make my save as realistic as possible I have set the start date of the save to around October to replicate this while also using the editor to add in the injured players with the injuries and the estimated time out.  I have also made sure that the position of the club in the league is close to where it is in real life terms on my appointment as manager.  This will add to the realism of my save on commencement.

The Manager

 

I have Sunday League experience but have managed to gain qualifications so far up to the Continental A licence in my spare time.  In the league that I intend to start with the coaching badges should help, however I may find due to my lack of experience that the board and fans are quick to jump on my back if things start to go wrong, which may lead to me been sacked sooner than if I started at a lower league club.

The First Job

It is October and Shota Arveladze is  sacked as Hull Manager by new owner Ajun Ilicali

Speculation mounts over his successor until a shock announcement is made

 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by wazza

[wazza]

The Club

Club Background and History

The club has had relative success in the last ten to fifteen years, hopefully with the new owners backing I can get the club back into the Premier League.  Once back the top league the first aim would be to sustain the club there by having the correct foundations in place.

 

My Contract

I have signed a 1.5 year deal at the club. To have any chance of getting my contract extended I am going to have to hit the ground running and achieve the boards aims.  

 

Club Facilities

 

 

Club Finances

 

Club Squad and Dynamics

              

              

 

The first team squad is extremely large and will require trimming down in the transfer window as there is alot of deadwood.  In the previous transfer window alot of new players where signed and they will need time to gell.  This is why they possibly have not been doing well.  The squad looks strongest in midfield as there are a few 3.5 - 4 star players.  In defence it looks weakest and as there are 3 star players overall, this is an area I may have to look to improve once I fully assess the team.

Due to my lack of experience of this league it will take a long time to get these players to believe in me.  I am a motivator and strong communicator with the players and this may help get them onside in the beginning by constantly talking to them.  Another big thing will be to get them to believe in the way that I will want them to play and for also results to go our way and quickly.

Club Staff

 

As can be seen from the above staff the club operates with a Director of Football model, there is no Technical Director. 

The Director of Football is Lee Darnbrough who has very poor negotiating skills in his attributes, this may mean I have to step in on occassions and re-negotiate his offers to get the players I want. 

 

 

Under 21's

Under 18's

 

Club Vision

                     

This season I must arrest the slide in the current teams form if I am to make the clubs goal of a top half finish. at least the board does not want instant promotion and have set a timetable of when this can be achieved.  Looking at the squad I believe that they have enough in them to make a top half finish on paper.  For some reason or another it has not been working on the pitch, which will need to change.

 

Supporters Vision

One of my first aims must be to get the fans on board with what I am about, they have a very high influence on the board and not keeping them happy could cost me my job.  The fans would have expected a more experienced manager than myself following Shota's sacking, especially with the club aiming for a return to the Premier League.  The only way I can see to keep them happy is to win games and create entertaining football.

Media Prediction

 

Current League Table on Appointment as Manager

As can be seen the team has not been doing very well and the squad looks alot better on paper.  The team on current form could be heading for a relegation battle rather than a top half finish that the board wants or the 8th place predicted by the media.  I will have some serious work to do.   One of the reasons for this poor start to the season could be due to the amount of key players who have major injuries and are out for some time, which may not have helped the team to settle under the previous regime.  I am going to have to work with these constraints and try to arrest the fall. 

 

 

Contracts

 

The club won promotion back to the Championship 2 seasons ago and there are a few players who are up for contract renewal who are only League One standard.  I will have to assess these players to determine if I think they can make the step up to the Championship and gain promotion to the Premier League eventually.  16 player contracts are up for renewal  or loan signings can be returned to there parent clubs at the end of the season, this will help reduce the squad size and hopefully free up some wages so that I can fetch in any players that I may want to attempt to sign if I think these players need moving on.  If I believe I need to make signings in the January transfer window to help the team along from its current form a decision will need to be made on these players quickly.

Aims and Plans

The club does not have an assistant manager so I will look at fetching somebody in to help me, while I will also assess the team and decide what I think is the best starting 11 and tactics for them.  I will look at bringing in some new coaches and scouts and may mutually terminate a couple of existing staff contracts.  I do not want to make wholesale changes everywhere to start with and will bring in staff  when the contracts have expired so not to cost the club money in alot of termination fees.  I need to be strong with the players and motivate them to get them out of the current slump.

I will start to formulate plans and tactics for the team to fetch the best out of the players and look at key statistics in the Data Hub to help me formulate these

Edited July 6, 2023 by wazza

[wazza]

Season 2022 - 2023

Squad

 

Transfers

Following the takeover of the Tigers, Shota the previous manager was backed in the transfer market as 14 new players where brought into the club.  However, it did not work out and after 12 games he was sacked and I took over the team. In the January transfer window I approached Lee Darnbrough. my Director of Football with a list of transfer targets that I wished him to sign, which he managed to do without my input and intervention.   There were a couple of other players as well which were transfer targets and Lee failed at signing these and so did I after intervening in the deals.   All three  signed transfer targets have Championship experience, which I feel is needed for the team has alot of the players that was signed by Shota did not have this experience and were brought in from abroad.  

The Chairman is of Turkish origin and wants players in the team who are based in Turkey or of Turkish nationality, the team under Shota brought in alot of these type of player already and I feel that we will need a blend of both what the board want plus English Championship or higher league experience if we are to progress further.  

I took up the reigns at the Tigers during October 2022, therefore all transfers before this time in the transfer in and out tables was by the clubs previous manager

 

 

Season Media Prediction

 

Board Expectations

 

Supporters Expectations

 

End of Season Acolades

Championship

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back at the 2 times we have played Burnley they have beaten us on both occasions.  The ties are going to be very tough. 

 

 

Playing at home in a nervy match, we dominated the possession statistics (63%) and also had number of shots on goal (16 shots with 7 on target), but could only manage a 2-2 draw, after conceding on 38 minutes.  Burnley are a good solid team who take there chances when they arrive, which was the difference between the two teams.  Burnley took there chances where we did not.  We ended up coming back and managing a 2-2 draw in the 1st leg.  

 

We again dominated the possession stats (63%) and managed 17 shots on goal with 5 being on target.  In that statistic the only goal we scored was a penalty and not from open play.  Burnley in there 37% possession had 13 shots with 5 being on target.  They again showed there proficiency in front of goal, which is the difference between the teams.  

When I took over the team they were heading into a relegation battle as they were languishing in 19th place in the league on 13 points with a -3 goal difference.  I have managed to take the previous players and make them into play-off contenders.  With some astute signings next season I am hoping we can cement a promotion place.  To do this though I will need to make the team more proficient in front of goal and get them to score more frequently than they have been. 

 

FA cup

 

League cup

 

How the team lined up

 

Awards and records

 

Even though its not technically an award it shows how I am slowly turning the club around and beginning to get noticed by coming runner up in the April Manager of the Month awards.  On two other occasions in the season I came third, especially when at the beginning of the season I had a lot of doubter's and the jury was out on my performance.

 

 

Moments to remember

 

The Finances

 

Team Stats

League Goalscorer's

 

Oscar managed 18 league goals, the teams runner up goal scorer was Ozan Tufan who scored 8 league goals, which was not enough to enter into the top 20 chart.  I will need to improve our attack next season and fetch in players to match Oscar if we are to progress.  We will need to provide a reliable back for Oscar who can also find the net for if Oscar is suspended or injured.  That player will be brought in to push Oscar to earn his first team place.

 

Assists

Seri has done a fantastic job in feeding Oscar for his goals,  There were a number of players in runner spot all having 3 assists each.  Again if Seri was injured we need cover for him as he is a major part of how the team play.

 

Club Information

 

Manager Info

 

 

Manager history

Season    Club             League              Position      FA Cup         League Cup      Champs Lgue      Europa Lge       Comm Shld                       Achievements 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------               
 22/23    Hull City        Championship          6th         4th rnd         4th rnd           n/a              n/a               n/a            

                                              

Style of play statistics

 

The clubs main tactical style is to play Pass and Move Football. combining short plays with Positive / Attacking football.

The team should therefore have a good average possession rating in the league along with a high pass completion ratio. 

The team has done well in keeping hold of the ball 55 % and is joint 5th.  Slight improvements (3% or more) need to be made at keeping possession if we are to top the charts in this regard.  The previous managers style of football  (12 games) will also be incorporated into these charts. so that will reflect on the results. 

The team has done well in its Pass completion ratio this season finishing in 2nd place, joint top.

 

Average possession

 

Pass completion ratio

                                        

 

Conversion rate

                                                   

The team has not done very well compared to other teams in the league at converting there chances and a vast improvement is needed in this department.  Encouragingly we have had 619 shots on goal, however the conversion rate needs drastically improving next season

 

Defensive stats

  

 

The team has been pretty solid defensively.  Improvements can be made for next season though, especially in defending direct free kicks, where 4 goals where conceded.

 

Formation and tactics

The clubs main home tactic was 4231

 

The clubs main away tactic 433DM wide

 

The second positive mentality tactic was used if things was not working as a Plan C

 

Staff 

In

I brought in Nicky Butt as Assistant Manager and brought in many new staff members.  All new staff members, if possible will have a positive personality so that this rubs off onto the players.

Tan Kesler the club's Director is responsible for renewing the Director of Footballs contract or appointing a new one.  Lee Darnbrough is the current Director of Football and his contract is up at the end of the season.  I hope that Tan decides to terminate it as his attributes are not brilliant, especially in negotiating.

 

 

Looks like for the time being I am stuck with Lee as my Director of Football

Tan is also responsible for hiring / firing a Techincal Director and he approached and signed Tom Reid to fill this role.

 

Out

 

End of season club vision progress

Board

 

Supporters

 

Next Season

 

At the end of the current season I accepted the above club vision with the board, however as we made the play-offs this season I do not see why the players should not be pushed to do the same again next season.  This makes sure that each season the club is progressing.  I told the players my play-off expectations in the end of season team meeting.

 

There are a number of players who are out of contract, some of which I will be re-newing new deals with.  A lot though will depart and I have a list of targets of who I will ask the Director of Football to go and sign, which hopefully he can without my intervention.  I will also look at progressing the strength of my backroom team by bringing in better staff with more positive personalities where I can.

Edited July 31, 2023 by wazza

[wazza]

Season 2023 - 2024

Squad

 

 

Transfers

 

 

As well as the players above being sold a number of players contracts did not get renewed at the end of last season / commencement of this season, most notably Lewie Coyle the club captain of who I deemed not good enough for this level.

 

 

 

 

The board asked for me to reduce the wage budget by approx £3million - £3.5millon per year in the January transfer window due to the clubs finances which where beginning to spiral out of control.  A number of players where sent out on loan and two players sold for over a million pounds in transfer fees to help.  It was a tough juggling act to decide who to sell, ideally I wanted to get rid of Bobby Reid as he was costing the club nearly £1.2million in wages for very little return on the pitch - my decision to sign him at the end of last season been a poor one.  However nobody was interested in him.

The easiest solution to reduce the wage budget would have been to let go one or two of the top earners, however no other club was interested in any of them, Seri, Tufan and Oscar where also part of my spine of the team and I really did not want to lose them.  I could have tried offering them out to try and generate some interest, however if no other club wanted to put a bid in, this may have disrupted the dynamics and may have put a dent in my  promotion push. I decided not to risk it and to try and get rid of some squad / fringe players on loan or for a fee instead.  This decision could have easily backfired if these squad / fringe players could not be shifted and it would have made the board unhappy with me as one of my key objectives was to make sure that the clubs wage budget was not higher than specified.  It was a difficult challenge at the time, but one which the board said needed to be done or the clubs finances could have taken a massive turn for the worst.  

Due to this I began to realise that the clubs board is probably not a wealthy as I first thought they were and have gambled all of there money on going up into the Premiership at the first / second attempt.  Even though the board not said they wanted promotion this season, I cannot see how the club can maintain its finances with the current squad without promotion to the Premiership as each season a top earner is going to have to leave as it is unsustainable to keep losing money.

 

Season Media Prediction

 

Board Expectations

The board have stated that they want a top half finish.  I do not believe that the clubs finances can survive with the current squad without promotion.  I have alot of quality players and if promotion is not sealed this season I can see me having to get rid of some of them, especially the high earners as the club is losing money.

Supporters Expectations

 

End of Season Acolades

Championship

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winning the Championship was special, the board did not state they wanted it, however as can be demonstrated the clubs finances needed it, especially if quality players were to be brought in.  Without promotion next season would have been tougher as players like Tufan and Seri would have needed to have been sold for cheaper alternatives as in my eyes the club could not keep on losing money the way it was.

 

 

It was good for Henrique who was a rock in my central defence to be noticed and be a  runner up as a Championship signing of the season

 

FA cup

 

League cup

 

The squad was rotated for the FA cup and League cup fixtures.  Second choice goalkeeper Matt Ingram featured for the majority of the cup fixtures.  As we approached the Semi Final against Newcastle I dropped Ingram and replaced him with first choice keeper Nathan Baxter as I really wanted to get to the League cup final for the first time in the clubs history - we still though got beat and knocked out by Premiership team Newcastle United.  I was not very loyal to Matt, but the teams needs are more than the players.

 

The highlight of the run was beating 'Spurs' in the Quarter finals - the team had 8 shots compared with Tottenham's 18 and where 1-0 down, however Oscar came up trumps with virtually the last kick of the game (90+2 minutes) where he equalised and took the game to penalties in which we won the shootout.  They were dramatic scenes at the MKM stadium at the final whistle.  What made this result even more remarkable was that Spurs had won the cup the season before and where its holders.

 

How the team lined up

 

Awards and records

 

 

About a year and a half ago the press was saying that the 'Jury was still out' on me.  This season is my first full season and I have taken the club to promotion to the Premiership and to the Semi final of the league cup.  Both these achievements have exceeded the expectations of the board.  Last season I took over a club languishing close to the bottom of the league in a relegation battle and took them to the play offs.  I believe now I have proven any doubters wrong

 

 

Moments to remember

 

 

The Finances

 

Team Stats

League Goalscorer's

 

Oscar managed 21 league goals - 3 more than last season 18 goals.  As we did last season the goals came from all over the team, Tufan and Sayyadmanesh getting 7 a piece with Halil Dervisoglu getting 10 goals. 

 

Assists

Last season Seri was 4th in the Assist charts with 10 assists - he only managed 7 this season,  However two other players made it into the top 5 Sinik topping the league on 11 and Docherty who was Seri's partner  getting 10. 

 

Club Information

 

 

 

 

I can't understand how the club has a remarkable season, gains a stature increase but drops down the European rankings league. We will look to address this once in the Premiership as my aim is to make us a solid, difficult to beat team so that we maintain our Premiership status each season and slowly get better season on season.  We though in the footballing world be expected to go straight back down.  Challenge accepted!

 

The club needs to make sure it has its own Youth players coming through the ranks and develops its own players.  It is evident that the clubs finances took a massive hit this season as the board told me to reduce the wage budget. Through developing our own players we can attempt to get players cheaper and sell on for a profit if necessary when the time is right and if the players in question do not fit in with the team.  The club needs to be sustainable and stand on its own two feet and to do this we need to make sure that we are maximising all our revenue streams of which Youth development is a major one.

 

 

 

 

 

Now we are in the promised land I intend to bring in more quality scouts and extend the scouting network to look for more players.  The extra finances from the Premiership TV money will help me do this.

 

 

I am a little taken aback at the size of the transfer and wage budget.  It is again showing to me that the board do not have that much money.  I think there is going to have to be some wheeling and dealing going on to fetch the right players to the club.  If I have 36million to spend in transfer fees that is three 10 million pound players.  I believe we need more than that if we are to have a chance of surviving next season in the Premiership.  I will also expect that I will be held to ransom by clubs and players agents over the fees.  I do not believe my Director of Football will be able to negotiate the deals that are needed to  be done to compete next season, but we shall see.  I may have to pay some monies up front with the remainder of the fees spread over a number of years and fetch in more players who are worth over 10 million pounds.  Depending upon which players are interested in signing for me I may have help Lee Darnborough my Director of Football to get some deals of these deals over the line or relegation may occur.

 

Towards to end of this campaign and ready for next season I wanted to make sure that any young players who went out on loan went to a league club with good training facilities so that they can progress better and that I form a link with the club. I therefore asked my chairman to look around for a league club that would be suitable

 

I have chosen Cambridge as my affiliate and it will be my intention to send out any youngsters that I feel will benefit from League two football with the benefit of using Cambridge's good training facilities.  I am hoping that this link will help progress and develop my young players by making sure that they have 1st team football.  This will be better for them than playing in the U21 or U18 squads.  

My priority after promotion is obviously making sure that the 1st team squad has enough quality to make sure it survives in the Premiership.  Once I have this squad I will aim to look at buying younger players to play in my U21 and U18's who will also supplement the youth players coming through.  Depending upon my budgets (which look quite low from the initial assessment) this may take a few years before I can start looking at improving these two teams unless a cheap good quality bargain is available in the market.

 

Manager Info

 

 

 

 

Manager history

Season    Club             League              Position      FA Cup         League Cup      Champs Lgue      Europa Lge       Comm Shld                       Achievements 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------               
 22/23    Hull City        Championship          6th         4th rnd         4th rnd           n/a              n/a               n/a  
 23/24    Hull City        Championship          1st         3rd rnd         Semi Final        n/a              n/a               n/a                         Man of mth x 3 / Man of Year                           
                  

Style of play statistics

 

The clubs main tactical style is to play Pass and Move Football. combining short plays with Positive / Attacking football.

The team should therefore have a good average possession rating in the league along with a high pass completion ratio. 

The team has done well in keeping hold of the ball and where the best in the league with 61% average possession being recorded and this bettered last season rating of 55% (joint 5th),which shows that the team has got better over time and through training.

The team has also increased by 3% (85%) to last season in its pass completion ratio statistics, this season the teams stats showed 87%

 

Average possession

 

Pass completion ratio

 

   Conversion rate

 

The team has also converted chances better than last season of which they finished 20th in the table with a rating of 10%, whereas this season they managed a 11% rating, while only a slight increase this put them in the top 5.  

 

Defensive stats

 

The team has been pretty solid defensively and better than last season conceding 4 goals less. with only 1 indirect set piece been conceded.

 

Formation and tactics

The clubs main home tactic was 4231

 

The clubs main away tactic 433DM wide

 

 

An attacking mentality tactic was used if things was not working as a Plan C, which was  changed from last seasons 5212 positive formation as I believed this brought more balance and suited the players better

 

Staff 

In

 

Out

 

Next Season Board Vision

 

 

The board and supporters want me to 'Attempt' to avoid relegation from the Premier league next season.  I will need to build a sold team to realise this and to make sure that we fight and are not push overs.  Next season I will also be playing Leeds United as they are in the Premiership, I will need to make sure I am competitive against them and make sure that when we walk off the pitch we have been in a game and not been pushed over.

 

 

I have told the players at the end of season team meeting that we will probably come back down again but I will be adding players to the squad to help them compete and of which I got a positive response.  I also aim to improve the scouting team so that our network can be increased.  I will also look at certain staff members whose contracts are up for renewal and decide weather or not to offer them a deal or replace them.  I will look at adding more positive personalities across my coaching staff if I can find staff members of good enough quality.

Edited July 31, 2023 by wazza