Scottish Football - FM24

[RandomGuy.]

Anyone planning on Scottish saves this season? I try abroad saves but always end up back here at one club or another. 

Went with St Johnstone, on the "your world" database, and ita a good challenge. A tiny squad and no money, so any rebuild is going to take 2/3 windows and need you to just survive in that time until its done.

Interested to see how the likes of Queens Park get on this time around too. Obviously now professional, huge financial backing, and trying to copy an Ajax-esque approach to developing youth.

[JawZy]

I usually do a scottish save of some sorts.

havin recently done a lfew of mid table SPL saves, i might try Stranraer instead

[Conardo]

It must have been over 10 years ago that I played a few saves with Stenhousemuir. It was a good time.

[bestbrother]

Any of the lower league sides have much money knocking around?

[Nessaja Wolf]

Started a save with Airdrie - got my old go to LB/LWB 'Lewis Strapp' on a free - £400p/w contract - he's an assist king with that long throw.

[JawZy]

13 hours ago, bestbrother said:

Any of the lower league sides have much money knocking around?

Balance wise - your best sides at the start would be Queens Park. as for sustained profits, probably looking at Falkirk or Dunfermline. But theres not masses of money within Scotland.

[phnompenhandy]

6 minutes ago, JawZy said:

Balance wise - your best sides at the start would be Queens Park. as for sustained profits, probably looking at Falkirk or Dunfermline. But theres not masses of money within Scotland.

Apparently in FM24 beta Queen's Park are NOT due to move to Lesser Hampden.

 

I always do a lower league Scottish save. Right now, I've ported over my FM23 Kirkwall Thorfinn save  using a 13-tier mod.

[Fraser]

On 22/10/2023 at 17:11, RandomGuy. said:

Anyone planning on Scottish saves this season? I try abroad saves but always end up back here at one club or another. 

Went with St Johnstone, on the "your world" database, and ita a good challenge. A tiny squad and no money, so any rebuild is going to take 2/3 windows and need you to just survive in that time until its done.

Interested to see how the likes of Queens Park get on this time around too. Obviously now professional, huge financial backing, and trying to copy an Ajax-esque approach to developing youth.

I was born in Perth and I was a St Johnstone season ticket holder for a few years and I'm worried about the team this season - too many of the better players have gone and not been replaced over the last few years.

I usually do a Scottish save as Albion Rovers, but they dropped out of the league last season. Maybe I'll do an East Fife save this year (or run the game on a year and see if Albion Rovers get promoted)

[RandomGuy.]

7 hours ago, Fraser said:

I was born in Perth and I was a St Johnstone season ticket holder for a few years and I'm worried about the team this season - too many of the better players have gone and not been replaced over the last few years.

I usually do a Scottish save as Albion Rovers, but they dropped out of the league last season. Maybe I'll do an East Fife save this year (or run the game on a year and see if Albion Rovers get promoted)

Yeah this season hasnt been promising so far 😅 next few games feel hugely important.

[alwo]

Aberdeen starting 11 going into season 2. Having won the league on the last day of the season last year. Still some tweaks to the team to be made. Loan deals etc. But a strong team I think. Elia Caprille, Jesse Lingard and Toni Kroos in Aberdeen is fun.

[celtic_fc]

7 hours ago, alwo said:

Aberdeen starting 11 going into season 2. Having won the league on the last day of the season last year. Still some tweaks to the team to be made. Loan deals etc. But a strong team I think. Elia Caprille, Jesse Lingard and Toni Kroos in Aberdeen is fun.

That's some team you've built there, even the bench is really strong.

[parsdaft1982]

Just completed my first fm24 season with the Pars to get used to the game. Got them promoted after winning the league with 5 games to spare. 

 

Now not sure whether to wait for the full release and a lower league DB to be released, or start my journeyman save just now 

[Calum955]

Done a Your World game mode with the earlier Bulgarian start date so i wasn't lumbered with the shocking transfers Rangers made this summer. 

Didn't manage to punt Lawrence, Davies or Matondo so hopefully after decent loan spells i can get good money for them. 

Brought in good money shifting deadwood and now the squad is much better. Also got Marco Carnesecchi coming in January as an upgrade to the GK position but need a few more Scottish players to satisfy the quota for European squads. 

6th December now with 20m in the bank and Champions League football but looking like i might be dropping down into the Europa which is fine anyway. 

 

[alwo]

 

On 27/10/2023 at 08:10, celtic_fc said:

That's some team you've built there, even the bench is really strong.

Yeah I sold Duk for 10.5m in Jan and even though you only get to keep 50% (Benfica have a 50% of next transfer fee) I asked the board for more money on top of that and they gave it to me. Just plowed it into all the players I've seen in YouTube videos about the best/cheapest players to sign.

Also sold Clarkson on deadline day to Southampton for £10m (Liverpool got 25% of that too). No brainer really. He wasn't going to play ahead of Mainoo or Kroos.

Been an unbeaten start to the new season so far. Some big wins, including two Champions League wins, they are our easiest fixtures of the lot though. Was glad to beat Kobenhavn as they beat us to signing Morten Frendrup for only £10m on deadline day.

[Gary_Parker]

On 23/10/2023 at 11:49, phnompenhandy said:

Apparently in FM24 beta Queen's Park are NOT due to move to Lesser Hampden.

 

I always do a lower league Scottish save. Right now, I've ported over my FM23 Kirkwall Thorfinn save  using a 13-tier mod.

Queens Park are playing at Hampden this year because their redevelopment to Lesser is a total shambles. One stand and one massive exec box before they deemed it too small to house the level of support they believed they'd get this season. 

[phnompenhandy]

46 minutes ago, Gary_Parker said:

Queens Park are playing at Hampden this year because their redevelopment to Lesser is a total shambles. One stand and one massive exec box before they deemed it too small to house the level of support they believed they'd get this season. 

Yeah I know, but it needs to have a 'future stadium move' coded in at the start of the game. Just checking my save ported over from FM23 - we're in Sept '23 and the relocation to Lesser Hampden has been completed. From what I recall, this beta of FM24 doesn't have any plan to move out of Hampden.

[Gary_Parker]

39 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Yeah I know, but it needs to have a 'future stadium move' coded in at the start of the game. Just checking my save ported over from FM23 - we're in Sept '23 and the relocation to Lesser Hampden has been completed. From what I recall, this beta of FM24 doesn't have any plan to move out of Hampden.

It could be because Queens don't have any announced plans for their continued stadium development as yet or confirmation that they're moving back next season. But should definitely have some sort of date in there.

 

[alwo]

Controversial coach arrival? Perhaps.... But I thought it'd be funny.

[alwo]

Last 16 of the Champions League and comfortably winners of the league with an unbeaten season. That saw our player values rocket up. Against perhaps better judgement I decided to renew Toni Kroos' contract for another year even though he's now 35 and only 3 stars. But we signed Elia Caprile for his agreed price of £8.5m along with the most eccentric goalkeeper in the world Moisés Ramirez to be his backup. Then it was on with getting rid of the players I don't need anymore. Greg Taylor as per usual was released by Celtic on a free. But this year he looks a lot better than on previous versions, so he'll do as a backup. So Max Lowe is off to Saudi for £10.75m. Quite the swap. On the right back front Joshua Brenet was good for a free, but he's 31 and when the Saudis come calling you can't ignore it. £6.75m for him.

Last out so far (not even 1st July yet) is going to be Daniel Jebbison. He ended up being third choice striker behind Toklomati and Miovski (Miovski was even second top scorer in the CL). So he's going to Germany for £4.5m.

And with those arranged it's all about trying to make sure we don't rely on loans too much anymore (Mainoo is back for a third year, he completes this year he becomes home grown at Aberdeen and if we get enough money we can go after him and that's a no brainer) and so the two players I've made priorities:

Neither will be starters. But at least the worry over homegrown players should be a lot easier to cope with.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, Luka Topalovic. £1m from Domzale start of second season, just turned 18. 44 games total, 19 goals, 9 assists, 7 POM, av rating of 7.41. 17th place in NXTGen. He should be everyone's go to signing.

Edited November 1, 2023 by alwo
Forgot to mention Luka Topalovic.

[alwo]

Potential banana skin. De Zerbi's off to Juventus. I attended the interview, acted like a prima donna expecting them to laugh me out the door but then they offered me the job anyway. Think I'll turn it down but it was tempting. Brighton are an exciting young team.

[alwo]

Not quite sure how Tottenham thought he'd somehow improve their squad. He became the most expensive Macedonian player of all time and our record sale on the 24th of January 2026, and then by the 18th March he's played once. As a sub. I shifted most of it into wage budget and I have three Man City players coming in on frees.

Taylor Harwood-Belis, James McAtee and Liam Delap will arrive in the summer. Along with Matthias Braunöder from Austria Wien, PSG were sniffing around but we got in there first. Lazar Samardžić from Udinese will join on a free too, along with Lucas Román from Barcelona and Junior Kroupi from Lorient. Scouts doing their jobs around Europe finding the players out of contract. I'll probably have to move on a number of players in the summer, especially since most of those players are midfielders. But since most are on loan or out of contract at the end of the season I don't see much of an issue.

Top of the league again, into the last 16 of the CL, having beaten Lazio 3-1 on aggregate. All going well.

[robterrace]

Just seen something pop up in the (newer) test I'm just running on A Scotland DB. Two Hojland brothers on either side of the Old Firm 🙂

 

Edited November 25, 2023 by robterrace

[Eckauskas]

Hearts always my first port of call when a new FM comes out. Got two years into a save before becoming annoyed with myself that all the 4/5 star prospects I had were all neglected and ended up playing lower league football in Scotland. So I'm gonna start afresh and loan out the likes of McLuckie, Smutek, Denholm, Friel and Wilson to try and build a team around them if possible.

I might even take on the Northern Ireland job too so that international breaks don't seem so tedious.

[phnompenhandy]

I'm narrating my lower league Scottish career in inordinate detail here, if anyone's interested

THORFINN – A Sporting and Social Revolution Begins

[Brian]

Currently trying to play Ten Hag ball (Ajax 18/19) at Celtic and going really well. 

Yes, I know Celtic are just overpowered.  

c

 

Quote

''If you play on possession, you don't have to defend, because there is only one ball.'' Johan Cruijff

 

[axehan1]

13 hours ago, Brian said:

Currently trying to play Ten Hag ball (Ajax 18/19) at Celtic and going really well. 

Yes, I know Celtic are just overpowered.  

c

 

 

What is your formation to get all that possession?

[Brian]

5 hours ago, axehan1 said:

What is your formation to get all that possession?

Running the 4-2-3-1 that is inspired on Ten Hag's 4-2-3-1 at Ajax.

Some roles are based on the playing player:

Right wing

• Daizen Maeda - Winger support 
• Liel Abada - Inside winger support

Striker

• Kyogo Furuhashi- Advanced Forward attack
• Oh Hyeon-Gyu  - Pressing Forward attack

[Conardo]

What scotland league files do you guys using? Any Recommendations?

[Brian]

One of the most intense finals I've ever managed on Football Manager. Managed to overcome a 3-1 trial at half-time. 

[Fox-7-]

Hi guys, has anyone coached or is coaching Kilmarnock? I'm in my first season, no transfer budget with little margin for wages. Finances are expected to get worse over the years, can they improve quickly if I manage to qualify for ECL or EL at the end of the season? Currently sitting 5th in Novembre and in Scottish League Cup final

Edited December 4, 2023 by Fox-7-

[Brian]

22 hours ago, Fox-7- said:

Hi guys, has anyone coached or is coaching Kilmarnock? I'm in my first season, no transfer budget with little margin for wages. Finances are expected to get worse over the years, can they improve quickly if I manage to qualify for ECL or EL at the end of the season? Currently sitting 5th in Novembre and in Scottish League Cup final

Kilmarock is bottom at my save, although they're underperforming xG points by 14 (!). 

How much are you in debt? European money always helps. But I would look to make room in your wage budget and singing free players only. You should be getting in the Champions League within 2/3 seasons. And with that money, you can look for good, young players to eventually compete with Rangers and Celtic. 

[davehibb]

I'm thinking of a Scottish save this year, possibly youth only.

I don't want to be one of the big boys but I don't want to start too far down either. I might still go for an expanded DB though in case my B team gets into a playable league.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm thinking maybe Falkirk, Ross County or Caley Thistle.

[celtic_fc]

Dundee United?  Got a few good youth to start with and first season in the Championship would give you an opportunity to play a few youth players from the start.  

Plus you've got the challenge of winning the league and reaching a Europa League final like they did in the 80s.  

 

Queen's Park would also be decent now they're not strictly semi-pro.  

[davehibb]

14 hours ago, celtic_fc said:

Dundee United?  Got a few good youth to start with and first season in the Championship would give you an opportunity to play a few youth players from the start.  

Plus you've got the challenge of winning the league and reaching a Europa League final like they did in the 80s.  

 

Queen's Park would also be decent now they're not strictly semi-pro.  

I did consider them for those very reasons but I think i want to go with a blub with a little less history, so that we can create our own. :)

[Gary_Parker]

 

1 hour ago, davehibb said:

I did consider them for those very reasons but I think i want to go with a blub with a little less history, so that we can create our own.

Queen of the South, Hamilton, Raith Rovers or Dunfermline i'd go with. 

[Fox-7-]

Il 5/12/2023 in 12:28 , Brian ha scritto:

Kilmarock is bottom at my save, although they're underperforming xG points by 14 (!). 

How much are you in debt? European money always helps. But I would look to make room in your wage budget and singing free players only. You should be getting in the Champions League within 2/3 seasons. And with that money, you can look for good, young players to eventually compete with Rangers and Celtic. 

Oh surely that's the only way I can operate on tranfers and I'm already doing It almost to the limits.

But does the financial projection take into account the current form and the possible finale position in league table? This was my situation in October

 

Now I'm on a 7-match undefeated streak, stabilizing myself well in the top 6 of the table and now in December, without having done absolutely anything for the financial part, the situation has become like this in less than 45 days

[maxi7]

Opted to do my annual Motherwell save in anticipation for it go terribly and frustrate me for ages.

Weirdly turned into my 2nd most successful Motherwell save ever and 12 seasons down already which is scary, although it was started in the beta. 4 league titles, 7 Viaplays and 2 Scottish Cups with Knockout stage football at least in every season since 25/26 whether it being the UCL, Europa or the Conference. One stint in the conference got to the semi's where we lost to Spurs, which weirdly got us qualification for the Club World Championship.

I had a great start like real life and unlike real life where we've struggled from the striker crisis with the extra body in Lee Erwin I kicked on after the Old Firm double header. Ended up easy top 6, with a late downfall taking us to 5th. Unable to get Mika firing was frustrated but Shaw and Bair were surprisingly very good. Mugabi was a cheat code for corners.

After season one I was continually 3rd, then 2nd in 28/29 before winning the title then bottling the next 2. Season 31/32 saw a horror show and us finish 4th, but won every title since.

Building up was easy after the 1st season, good wheeling and dealing and loans. I always played a variation of the 3-5-2 we do in real life, so getting quality there was key, Montgomery from Celtic was fantastic so much I got a big sale out him after a few seasons, 68k for Liam Scales was great and going back to old FM hero Dale Taylor got me kicking on.

John Fleck on a free was quality in the middle of the mid 3 and Sam Curtis as RWB was amazing after signing from St Pats.

2025/26 saw me get Van Persie in on loan, incredible business' and so good we never saw him again. Tom Bayliss and Sonny Perkins did a great job aswell continued to kick on.

I then managed to £9m for Clinton Mola, Blair Spittal, Bevis Mugabi and Sam Curtis and that's when the newgens came, plus the free transfer of Thiago Helguera from Nacional. 

Recruitment from here was just as many youngsters as you can, improve them, punt them on and next. 

I now sit in 2035 with all those above accolades, the John Hunter Park as our home ground which will expand to 38k so we have to play at Hampden this year. Full maxed out recruitment, nearly 5 star facilities and £234m in the bank with £153m to spend. The wage budget is £1.6m which of course is unsuistanable and I spent just £763k of it.

Many signings i make are which release clauses and usually aim to try get 20-40million pending on what can be agreed with the player then source the next talent.

Scouting wise I actually don't do much, it's either shortlist from NXTgen list if at a smaller club, or a decent u23 player from an agent on deadline day where the player has at least B+ recommendation.

That and of course I've had some fantastic talents come through intakes to the stage I regularly start to 17 year olds in 2035. The best intakes I've had in all my Motherwell careers I've ever had on FM.

Any other info people want to know just ask and I'll try source it from my game or my twitter thread on it. 

 

 

[Fox-7-]

First season gone in Kilmarnock! Managed to finish the regular season in 3rd place with the second best defense thanks to a solid 4-4-1-1 DM and a tall&strong TF upfront (Diabaté free agent, young Keke Topp on loan from Schalke 04, Vassell didn't perform well and suffered ACL rupture in December), while I had awful results after the split  losing three matches and drawing two, getting surpassed on the final day by Hibs.

In the Scottish League Cup I reached the final, losing to Celtic, whilst in the Scottish Cup I was promptly knocked out in the first match, a shocking extra time defeat to League 1 side Alloa. 

A great year anyway, money from the championship placement has restored the finances and now we will prepare to strengthen the team to try to enter the Europa League group stage!

Edited December 20, 2023 by Fox-7-

[tm91]

Really enjoying it this year. Somehow managed to fluke my way to the CL Quarter Finals in the 1st season as Rangers, although that'll be that as I've drawn Newcastle and my players are starting to get injuries. Celtic went on a massive winning run but I've managed to open up a 9 point gap; got to now beat them in the Scottish Cup semi to have a shot at the treble. Averaging 70% possession this year; the match engine feels far more fluid.

Found you can get Doig and Ferguson surprisingly easy though - I got Doig for £6m+Yilmaz and a sell-on clause and Ferguson for £3m + Barisic and a sell-on clause.

Edited December 27, 2023 by tm91

[maxi7]

Only negatives I've noticed along the way is again squad development with the Old Firm, end up with players on mental wages and very average quality which has saw them sucked into everyone else clutches. Won my last title by 23 points over Kille and 30 over Rangers and Celtic. I had 92 points so still 9 games where I slipped up. So domestically I'm breezing and really playing for free titles and to hopefully see the old firm's demise financially.

My other frustration has been AI's handling of tycoon takeovers. In any tier in Scotland this would benefit the club and there's been a few, which to be fair is realistic as it's happening more and more in world football.

St Johnstone got one and got nearly relegated, Dundee with theirs got relegated and now have players on 22k in the Scottish Championship. Ayr United got one after 1 relegation back to the championship and have pretty much yo-yo'd since.

Alloa got one in the championship, but now find themselves in a position where they got a few relegations and ended up in League two and the chairman has withdrew funding.

Raith Rovers have just gotten one as they've been relegated to League one, so will be interesting how they go with this new influx of money.

I must admit it's my beta save that's carried on and a lot of sides that drop down end up going Semi-Pro, but I've noticed in other saves post patch this still continued, so I don't think it's an issues as not all end up semi pro. As in someone like Ross County did but Falkirk did not. 

[Hoofenballen]

Anyone with any thoughts on Arbroath as a club to manage? seem like big overachievers and a difficult next step tp get them to the Premier League?

[Fox-7-]

Second season ended in Kilmarnock...the year didn't start very well as we lost in the Europa League qualificarions against Lech Poznan, and subsequently in the Conference League playoffs against Lask Linz, so we couldn't play any continental competition. On the other hand this allowed me to focus on the SPL, and to stabilize myself as the best side behind the Glasgow teams. We thus finished in third place in the standings, although again in the last 5 matches after the split we had slightly disappointing results which almost cost us the comeback from Aberdeen. For me the greatest achievement is to have the second best defense in a championship where many goals are scored by all teams , although I would like to reach the goal of keeping an average below 1 goal per game conceded

 

In the national cups, Celtic gives us delusions, given that it eliminated us in the quarter-finals of the League Cup but most of all defeated us in the Scottish Cup final, after we managed to beat Rangers in the semi-final on penalties.

With these results the finances have undergone a very good increase, now I believe I can start to do some really interesting things in building the team in view of the upcoming season