[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man

[shd34_216_42]

I like how you can offer coaches part-time contracts but not players.

[erik45]

Pre-season friendlies. A very solid pre-season! Most of the opponents were a bit weaker than us, but the Guernsey game showed we still are capable of playing well against team on the same level as us.

Season expectations. This doesn't look too rosy.  These are worst odds we have had, but I'm optimistic we can get at least top half finish. It is funny that the player who just turned 16 a month ago is both the hot prospect and the key player.

Seven new teams in our league, although we have faced some of them previously.

Transfers. Stop the press, we made signings! Both of the players are quite bad, but we need bodies if we keep losing our players at the same pace as last season. Kirnon is a Monsterratian full-back and Martin is a young Gibraltarian striker, who will start with the U21 team.

We lost five players in July, including our starting GK, and two CMs. Bailey left a big hole in our starting XI, but his replacement is quite okay (although just 16-years old).

Tactics. I made some tweaks to our system. I think using wing-backs left us too vulnerable in some situation, so I changed them to full-backs and gave the midfielders more responsibility of using the wide spaces. It seem like it worked during the pre-season, but the real test is still to come. I insist on using 4-3-3- because I think that IRL it is difficult to get to work. 

Also, I try to use two different XIs for this season. The first XI for the more important games and second XI mostly for the midweek games (or if needed elsewhere).

Upcoming fixtures. We start our season by facing a team from a division below us in the FA Cup before having three league games. Hanley Town were just above us in the final standings last season and the other two are new sides, so these games will give us a good picture where we stand in the league.

Edited February 11 by erik45

[erik45]

August 2029. Wins in the cups, losses in the league. I'm actually happy with this. Yes. we are in the relegation zone, but it feels like thing are starting to click again. In the last game of the month I used our 2nd XI for the first time - and it worked almost well  The OGs have been in good form as both Robert Jones and Kian Reddy have been scoring a lot, as Fagan 29a has been providing good chances for them.

Table. I'm not worried at the moment, I think we have a good chance of climbing up quite quickly when the cup games are over. 

Top players. As we have lost dozen(s) of good, young players from our academy, we are again in a position where real players are the best in our team. Fagan 29a is on his own league, but after that all the players with 3-3,5 CA are real players.

Upcoming fixtures. Six games (and even more if we advance in the cups), unusually busy September. The 2nd XI will play at least the FA Trophy game, but if we get more mid-week games, the 2nd XI will get more playing time. 

[erik45]

September 2029. Out of the cups, but we are getting our groove on in the league! Three games where we won the game by three goals, that's just an amazing performance level. We got unlucky against Halesowen and our 2nd XI did what they could in the FA Trophy.

Table. We are moving to the right direction.

Awards. As we were so dominant in the league this month, it was not a surprise that we got the player of the month and the manager of the month awards.

Contract. As I got the manager of the month award, I decided to try my luck and ask for a contract extension. Current contract is until the end of the season (with a +1 year promotion clause), but the board was not ready yet discuss a new deal.

Finances. We are doing really well, I think this might be the month with largest profit so far!

Upcoming fixtures. A busy month of five league games and the start of our league cup campaign. We are in a good form, but that's not a guarantee we are going to continue it. Mossley game will be the most difficult as they have won all the league games so far.

[erik45]

October 2029. No comments. I feel the game is messing with me right now. We are playing really well, but no reward. We demolished the league leaders Mossley, but somehow only got a draw from it. We've been putting up good numbers consistently, but at the moment luck is not on our side.

 

Table. We are still in the top half, but we need to start to win games. As seen from the xG table snippet, we are the best team in the league when it comes to xPts. It doesn't mean anything as long as we don't actually gain the points.

Player development. Ger Fagan 29a is already a leading player... for the league above us! 

Transfer in. We made a signing mid-season, wow! And not just any signing, but Luke Draper 27e who played over 50 games for us before moving to Radcliffe in Vanarama North. He didn't stay there for long, neither he did at his next team Prestwich Hays. I noticed Draper 27e being a free agent and was surprised when he was willing to negotiate a contract. He will be a rotational option for now.

Upcoming fixtures. A very basic month, I like it. Four games on four Saturdays, that's the real stuff. If we can play as well as the xPts suggests we are playing, we should be able to challenge for the win in all the games.

[erik45]

November 2029. After a disaster month, we stabilised our course. If looking at each individual games, we were dominating all the other games, but not the 5-1 win which was a very even context. Against Avro we created 4.10 xG which is amazing number in an away game. 

Tables. We are still some way off from playoff spots, but we are playing well at the moment, so we have every chance of getting there.

A star is born. Ger Fagan 29a is having a storming start to his career! We have had some players from Bermuda, Montserrat and Gibraltar who have played in their national teams or youth teams, but Fagan 29a is our first youth prospect who have done that. He scored a penalty in his first game - and in his third! He will turn 17 in the summer and I'm certain we will lose him almost immediately after that. Maybe we can try to sell him at the end of the season when he is still 16 so we can get a sell-on clause?

New contract. I tried to get a new contract two months ago with no luck. But now the board came to me and offered a two-year contract. I negotiated a +1 option after promotion.

Upcoming fixtures. Busy, busy month. In the midweek games our 2nd XI will get their chance to show if some of them can challenge for the spot in the 1st XI. If we want to get to the playoff spots, we need to get close to 2 pts/game every month.

[erik45]

Appearance record. Centre-back Craig Moore is our record holder. That's not really interesting, but I wanted to show this, because on the same day something else happened...

The previous record holder Tom Thorpe left the club only hour after it was informed that he is no longer the record holder for most appearances! 

He is actually a quite good manager for this level!

[erik45]

Youth intake preview. This is the best intake preview we've had so far!  As our previous intakes have been really, really good, I don't know if I can start to expect even better intake this time???

[erik45]

December 2029. I'm happy with this month. It's funny that we are actually playing worse than before, but we are getting results. We robbed Leek Town and Vauxhall game was a really even game where we happened to score two goals in the first 25 mins.

Table. The last two wins this month meant that we are getting closer to the playoff spots. Mossley and Nortwich seem to be in the league of their own (and we should be there as well, but we are not), but the rest of the pack is very even.

Upcoming fixtures. The new decade starts with a game against Hanley Town, who have been a difficult opposition for us in the past. That's not actually what I'm worried about. I'm worried about the transfer window, I feel teams are more active during it, even though our players can be signed almost throughout the year.

[erik45]

January 2030. Hanley Town showed us that there are better teams than us in the league. The rest of the games we should've won, but managed to do that only twice. We are not scoring enough, although we are creating chances quite consistently. The highlight of the month was the away win at Kidsgrove, where our 2nd XI did their job really well!

Table. At the end of last month, we were 3 points from playoff spots, now we are 5 points adrift. 16 games left, we need to find ways to win even games (and maybe even find ways to win games we really should be winning )

Average ratings. It is interesting that we are not scoring too many goals, but our three 1st XI strikers have the highest average ratings in the league. I understand it for Fagan 29a, as he has been both scoring and assisting a lot, but Reddy and Jones have been far more inconsistent.

Goalkeeper trouble? Our 1st team goalkeeper is turning 17 next month. There hasn't been any offer yet and I have my fingers crossed that there will be no offers this spring. Our second choice has 1 star CA.

Upcoming fixtures. We lost to Trafford earlier in the season and Mossley are leading the league, so it's a really tough start to the month. We still need ~2 points/game to keep our playoff dreams alive. Winning home games and getting something from the Workington is the plan!

Edited February 15 by erik45

[erik45]

February 2030. It went almost to plan. Mossley was strong, but not 4-1 strong. We were better than Atherton, but they scored two and we didn't. I was really happy with our 2nd XI winning Padiham convincingly!

Table. The gap between us and the playoff spots is one point bigger than the month before. I think we still have a realistic chance of achieving playoff, but we need to be at our best form for the rest of the season.

Transfer in! We re-signed a former youth product of our academy. Scott 27c played 35 league games for us in the DLF (su) role before moving to Vanarama North team Southport. I think we will lose our star player Fagan 29a at the end of the season, maybe Scott 27c can be the replacement? He started his second spell in the club with a bang, scoring a hat-trick in his first start. 

Player development. Fagan 29a is the best player in the team and now there's an indicator how much potential he actually has. One our coaches makes an educated guess that Fagan 29a can be Vanarama National League striker in the future. My gut feeling is that he is to going be a good signing for a League 2 side in the future.

Upcoming fixtures. Six games, only two at home. Our home form is much better than our away form when comparing to other sides in the league. However, I still feel that the most difficult game is against Avro who are on the same points as us in the league.

[shd34_216_42]

You should really sign the good youth to non-contracts at the very least once they are about to turn 17. Probably still going to lose them at some point but might be able to hold on to the player for a few months at least.

My typical rule for point requirements/game in a balanced league is 1.7 for playoffs, which translates to about 72 for a 42-game season. Not sure if you'll make it, but at least you didn't need to spend a million like some other teams.

[erik45]

19 hours ago, shd34_216_42 said:

You should really sign the good youth to non-contracts at the very least once they are about to turn 17. Probably still going to lose them at some point but might be able to hold on to the player for a few months at least.

My typical rule for point requirements/game in a balanced league is 1.7 for playoffs, which translates to about 72 for a 42-game season. Not sure if you'll make it, but at least you didn't need to spend a million like some other teams.

Yeah, basically all the youth players have signed a pre-agreement that they sign a non-contract when they turn 17. Only the players with lower potential continue with the youth contract after that point.

So far this season has been much easier than the last one when looking at the players we've lost. We lost couple of first team players during the summer, but after that it has been very quiet in the transfer market. Fingers crossed that it will stay that way!  

[erik45]

Youth intake 2030. A strong, strong bunch of players. There are no real standout stars in the intake, but 12 players with 5-star PA and all but one player with more than one star CA.  Here's a more detailed list of the players:

As one might notice, we have a lot of players from Isle of Man (and many with Irish 2nd nationality)! I'm also very happy with unusual 2nd nationality of Saint Lucia!  I might sign all the players, I still need to think twice about signing Chaplow 30o and Hallin 30p as they have low potential and bad personalities (fickle actually isn't so bad).

My favourites might be Hussain 30a, Gibbons 30b, Adams 30c and Parillon 30e.

These players might get some minutes already this season, but if we can keep our current players in the team and fit, I will prefer them as they've already played together.

[erik45]

March 2030. (Almost) perfect month! We just smashed everyone out of the park! Stalybridge game was totally different, because there was nothing going on. Both teams had two chances, they scored both and we didn't. Fagan 29a was at international duty for the last two games, Scott 27c was more than a good cover for him 

Table. We are in a playoff spot, I repeat, we are in a playoff spot! It is still very thight, but this is as good position as we've had this season.

Upcoming fixtures. Difficult month, where we need to be our best to keep ourselves in the playoffs. First two games should be wins (emphasis on the word "should"), but after those we have three really difficult games. I have a feeling that after the Leek Town game we know if we will be in the playoffs or not.

[erik45]

Last round. It can't get more exciting and nervous than this.  We are in the best position, but it can all change. We face Vauxhall, who are just outside the playoff positions. Leek Town faces Stalybridge who are seventh. Even Atherton has a chance of making it when they face Mossley who have already gained record points for a season.

[erik45]

April 2030. We had our biggest loss ever in the first game. Our second XI got blown away as Staveley scored with their first five shots on target. After that I was worried the team's morale might take a hit, but the players recovered excellently! As seen in the previous post, the last game was the decider. Was 0-0 enough?

Table. It was! 73 points is only our third best points tally in the league, but 4th is the joint best position we have ever achieved.

Playoff semifinal. Like two times before, we go to the playoffs without home advantage. Nortwich is always a tricky team and we have won only once away from home. I guess it will be an even game where we will get our chances to get a win from the game.

[erik45]

Playoff semi final. Northwich were the better team today. Not by much, as the xG is skewed by their penalty. When they missed it in the beginning of the second half I had a feeling we can still win this. They scored in the 81th minute and I thought the game is over. In the 90th minute we still got a chance... but we hit the bar, not once, not twice, but three times?! 

[erik45]

Season review. 4th for the 3rd time in 4 seasons.  Maybe next season we can win the league or at least get a home advantage to promotion playoffs? It was a weird season because the data suggests we played best football in the league during the autumn, but actually started to get results from February onwards when numbers suggested we were not that good anymore.

xG table. This is here to show a tiny bit of data behind the league table. Mossley were the best team AND they got extremely lucky. We were about as good as our numbers suggested, but the teams around us were able to gain more points. We are yet to have a very "lucky" season, maybe next time?  

Best eleven. I show this because I felt it was very weird we have no players from the academy in the best XI. But when I thought about it, the reason for this is the best players don't stay that long in the team to make it to the best XI. I think Ben Scott 27c has the best chance of making it to the team as it looks like he's going to be a starting striker next season.

Debutants. We had 12 players who made their debut this season. Spooner 29f is our best GK by far already and Hussain 30a, Gibbons 30b, Armstrong 30d and Young 29e are going to have a big role in the team.

Transfers. The positive of the season was we were able to re-sign some of the players who had left the team earlier. Draper 27e is a back-up player, but Scott and Lonsdale are going to be in the first XI next season.

In transfers out, we got lucky this season. We lost only one player during the season!  And the big news is that we actually sold a player! More about that in a separate post.

Expectations. We are going to need to just avoid relegation to make the board happy????  Yes, we lost our star striker, but rest of the team is a bit better than previously. I want to aim for the playoffs.

[erik45]

Transfer offer. I wanted to make a separate post about this as it's the first time we are offered anything for a player. As all players of 17 and above have a non-contract, only players who are 16 (or 15) the ones teams need to make a transfer offer. We have had dozens offers, but so far they've been 0€ offers with no clauses. If I've tried to add clauses, they've rejected the counter offer immediately. 

Fagan is about to turn seventeen later in the summer and I was certain he would be gone before the start of the new season, so I was eager to get offers from him. Bury was the only team interested (which is weird), but they made an actual offer. I renegotiated it as for me the only important thing is sell-on clause. I don't think Fagan 29a is going to be a superstar, but I could see a League 1 or even a Championship team chasing him in a few years. At that point the transfer could anything between 50k€ and 1m€, anyways much more than we can get right now.

They were not happy with my first counter offer, but this one they accepted. I think I could've get a few thousand euros more, but I just focused on the sell-on clause. Our bank balance is more than good already.

 

It was weird that his valuation is not much better than it was at Isle of Man. I think he's physicals are the hindering factor for being a proper good player, but I think he will have a decent pro career.

The positive signal is Bury put him in the first team. That tells something how much they value him!

 

Previous transfers. As Fagan 29a can possibly be the best product of our youth academy so far, I wanted to show some of the players who have left earlier. Here are the three who have actually gotten some playing time in higher divisions.

Murphy 27d is close to getting to the first team in Grimsby as he made 12 appearances for them, starting six of those. Grimsby Town are a decent side in League 2, so that's quite impressive from Murphy 27d!

McCrory 27a is from the same youth intake as Murphy 27d, but McCrory 27a is yet to make an impact outside of Isle of Man. He has one sub appearance for Rotherham in League 1, but mostly he has been playing for their youth sides. McCrory 27d also has youth international appearances for Irelands U19, where Fagan 29a is the starting striker.

Jatta 28n has been one of my favourite players. He had a high CA when he came from the youth intake, but not the best PA. When he left our team, he was the best player in the team, although not the most consistent. In his first season with Utsiktens they got promoted and now he plays regularly in Superettan, the second highest level in Sweden. He's still just 18 and he has 9 appearances for Sweden U21s, so I think he will have a very good pro career! I don't think he will make it to the Sweden's national team, but he's also Gambian so maybe they will call him up later in his career?

[erik45]

Season preview. We have been five seasons in the same division. Could sixth time be the charm? Our team is more balanced than ever before and especially the 2nd XI is better than before.

Pre-season. Wins against weaker teams, losses against stronger (Guernsey being the exception proving the rule). Both the 1st and 2nd XI got minutes so they are ready for a new season!

Media prediction. They are predicting us to play be in the mid-table positions - as they have predicted every season. We've been 8th, 4th, 4th, 12th, and 4th, so we've been higher up than predicted every year. Stalybridge Celtic is again a heavy favourite, but they just don't deliver. More about them later in the post.

Squad analysis. Our squad's personality has "dropped" from professional to fairly professional to fairly loyal in the last two seasons. Key player is our starting GK and hot prospect the DLP for the 2nd XI, player profiles below.

 

1st XI. This year we don't have a standout star player, GK Spooner 29f maybe being close to being it. After many season, we have a "new" target man. Robert Jones has been holding his spot in the starting XI, but he's turning 35 next month so I wanted to start the transition in the summer. Ben Scott 27c is not the tallest (180 cm), but he has good first touch, heading and balance so maybe this will work?

We have very, very young defensive line, Moore is 26, but others are 16, 16 and 17, goalie being also 17. It is a challenge, but I think they are the best players for their positions.

 

2nd XI. This XI will play all the mid-week fixtures and possibly some of the league cup and FA Trophy games. Usually I use the same GK for both XIs but as we got a good GK prospect from the latest intake, I put him in the 2nd XI. That's also a precaution as it is possible we can lose our 1st XI goalie any time.

There's one new name in the team. It is Montserratian centre back Lee Dyer, who's a youth product of Fleetwood Town. He's 22, so he can be considered a seasoned professional in this team.

 

@shd34_216_42, you commented earlier about the yearly salary budgets. I looked at the teams who have absurdly high budgets and I found a common theme: tycoons!  

Stalybrige Celtic: tycoon took over in Jan 2026

Atherton Laburnum Rovers: tycoon took over in Jun 2026

Avro: tycoon took over Feb 2030

Vauxhall Motors: tycoon took over in Jun 2026, and a new chairperson promotion from within in Jun 2029

I think it's weird that we have four (or maybe three, as I don't know if Vauxhall's new chairperson is from the same tycoon) tycoons in the league, especially as none of them have gotten promoted.

In the screenshot below there are the annual salary budgets. We are not spending all of the wage budget because we can't offer part-time contracts. I think we could spend about 150k€ in salaries without it affecting our finances too much.

 

Finances. We are in a strong position. I'm trying to save up so that if we some day get promoted, maybe we can start to offer part-time contracts.  

Upcoming fixtures. First competitive fixture is against Moulton in the FA Cup. They are on the same level of the footballing pyramid as us. Then couple of league games. Silsden and Avro are always tricky fixtures, I know nothing about Barnoldswick, and we got four points last season against Workington.

Edited February 18 by erik45

[erik45]

August 2030. Best start to the season as far as I can remember. Wins in the FA Cup got more convincing each round. Over 2200 people came to watch us demolish Billingham Town!  We've started quite well in the league also, with our 2nd XI getting a win against strong Avro side.

Upcoming fixtures. More cup games and if we get through in them there will be a lot of rescheduling. Away against Warrington Town is going to be the trickiest league game. If we want to be in the promotion contest, we need to keep grinding points.

In the FA Cup we visit Wythenshawe Town who are now a mid-table side in Vanarama North. They are clear favourites, but I wouldn't rule us out totally.

[erik45]

September 2030. Good in the FA Trophy, okay in the FA Cup and quite bad in the league. I'm bummed about the Wythenshawe loss as we were controlling the game from the beginning, but then in the 36th minute they scored against the run of play and in the 38th minute McCaffrey got a straight red. Even with 10 men we had an even game, but our hopes took a hit when they got a penalty in the 82th minute - and scored it. We scored straight after that but couldn't find the net again after that.

Table. We are still in an okay position, but we need to turn tight games into wins if we want to get closer to the top.

Upcoming fixtures. Now our focus starts to shift towards the league as we are out of the FA Cup. Winning at home, drawing away, that would be nice, wouldn't it?

[shd34_216_42]

11 hours ago, erik45 said:

 

@shd34_216_42, you commented earlier about the yearly salary budgets. I looked at the teams who have absurdly high budgets and I found a common theme: tycoons!  

Stalybrige Celtic: tycoon took over in Jan 2026

Atherton Laburnum Rovers: tycoon took over in Jun 2026

Avro: tycoon took over Feb 2030

Vauxhall Motors: tycoon took over in Jun 2026, and a new chairperson promotion from within in Jun 2029

I think it's weird that we have four (or maybe three, as I don't know if Vauxhall's new chairperson is from the same tycoon) tycoons in the league, especially as none of them have gotten promoted.

In the screenshot below there are the annual salary budgets. We are not spending all of the wage budget because we can't offer part-time contracts. I think we could spend about 150k€ in salaries without it affecting our finances too much.

Tycoons make sense (I'm also guessing those teams are fully professional rather than semi-pro), although you would think the tycoons would be interested in bigger teams. Probably churning through coaches like crazy for those teams as well.

[erik45]

October 2030. Only one win in the league, that's not good. Feels like something just isn't clicking at the moment. I feel like we've been getting more red cards and conceding more penalties than before (but I haven't checked any data on it). Maybe things will get better if players get more minutes together?

Cup games are good experience for the 2nd XI so I'm happy we still have one cup run going on.

Table. We are very much a mid-table side at the moment. 12 points to the top is way too much at this point of the season, but fortunately we are just 4 points off the playoff places.

Upcoming fixtures. We face the bottom two first before continuing in the league cup. After that we have much more difficult opponents, 7th, 6th & 10th. 10 points is what we are aiming for.

[erik45]

November 2030. Good month - really good! Hanley Town were better than us, but even in that game we were close of getting something out of it. We didn't concede for four games, that's just amazing!

I forgot to take a screenshot of the league table, but we are 8th in the league, two points outside of playoff positions.

Transfer out. We lost our best outfield player... after he got the non-contract on his 17th birthday, he stayed in the team for less than a month.  He was our starting left back, and what made it even worse was that three weeks later we lost his backup as well.   We've lost 9 players so far, but only four of them had some kind of role in the first team.

Upcoming fixtures. No cup games this month (we are still in the league cup), but many difficult league games. Kidsgrove is the only side from the bottom half. We also face two of the leagues sides owned by tycoons, Atherton & Stalybridge who both have 1 m€/year wage budget  

We also get our youth intake preview. I'm hoping for quick and/or strong strikers and wing-backs with good physicals. 

[shd34_216_42]

I wonder what happens if you delay the new contract for youth players until absolutely necessary, given that the non-contract at 17 doesn't keep the player around that long if at all.

What database are you using, out of curiosity?

[erik45]

5 minutes ago, shd34_216_42 said:

I wonder what happens if you delay the new contract for youth players until absolutely necessary, given that the non-contract at 17 doesn't keep the player around that long if at all.

What database are you using, out of curiosity?

Almost all the players have signed a pre-contract so when they turn 17 they automatically switch from youth contract to non-contract. The contract negotiation happens when I sign them from the youth intake, I do nothing after that. Only the players with least potential want to have youth contract. But it would be worth trying to try give also better players youth contracts only, which I guess they see as worse option than the non-contract.

I'm using @ivanwright26's (I don't know if this is the same person, but it's the same as his Steam handle) "England Level 10 League & Data Updates" which I got from Steam Workshop. It feels realistic enough, and has worked very well so far!

[shd34_216_42]

I actually use his database on FM22 and from experience I usually have the opposite problem in that everyone wants actual contracts (after a promotion of course), and the non-contract players tend to stay longer. Interesting what two years can change.

[erik45]

December 2030. Christmas didn't come early, it didn't come at all..  In the first game of the month,against Kidsgrove, we had 2 man advantage for almost 15 mins, but we couldn't equalise. In the last game against Trafford we were leading 2-0 until the 80th minute. Then GIbbons 30b conceded a penalty and got a yellow from it. Still leading 2-1. But minute later he took another yellow and in the 84th minute Trafford equalised.

These two games tell the story: we do not have the luck on our side as we should be winning a fair amount of games. We do not have enough quality and consistency to fight for the promotion without some good luck - and we haven't had that yet.

Table. Even after a quite disastrous month, we are "only" six points from the last playoff place.

Youth intake preview. This is the worst preview so far, but it is still a 5-star intake. Having full-backs as the most promising position is really nice, my dream would be a physical beast as left or right back  

Upcoming fixtures. New year, same old opponents. We need to find our form to be able to at least challenge for the promotion spots. Warrington are the best side of these, other teams should be close to our level.

[erik45]

January 2031. Hey, this is an okay month! Not great, but okay!  If we had gotten a win against Warrington in a very even game, this would have been a very good month. We lost to a better side in the league cup, but I don't really care about that competition, it's all about the league.

I have tried to simplify our tactics so we don't end up in situation where the opposition can get easy chances against us. I'm not a tactical mastermind, but I've never had any major issues with tactics in the earlier editions of game. In this game I have one issue and it is: How the **** do I defend cutbacks and low crosses???? 

It seems it's literally impossible to do anything if the opposition gets the ball near the goal line - doesn't matter if they are close to the goal or not. I know that in many of these situations my full-backs are alone 1vs1, but that doesn't explain why my centre-backs are totally lost when the cross/cutback comes...

Table. We are one position worse than the month before, but still 6 points from playoffs. The tycoon side Stalybridge looks like they can actually get promoted (finally ).

Upcoming fixtures. The only somewhat exciting game is the game against Buxton, who demolished us 4-0 in the reverse fixture. I'm looking for a revenge (and many wins)!

Edited February 22 by erik45

[erik45]

February 2031. 

The funniest thing is that we kept our only clean sheet in the game where our goalie got injured in the first half and we didn't have another goalie on the bench so the tallest player was subbed in (and he even got one save in the game ). I'm very lost with the team and the tactics. I don't want to keep chopping and changing, but at the same time it feels there needs to be something radical happening so the team starts to perform again. We are still unlucky, but on top of that our level of playing has dropped quite a bit.

Table. It seems very unlikely we will be in the playoffs this season. I just hope youth intake gives us a boost for the next season (and maybe some ideas how to play).

Upcoming fixtures. Two games against teams in the relegation zone before three very difficult games. And then we end the month again against a relegation battling side.

[erik45]

Youth intake 2031. In the preview it said we had only one position with A-grade talent (full-backs). We have 5-star PA talents for all the outfield positions. On top of that, we have 4 players who's CA is already 2,5 stars or more! 

Now that I'm looking this more closely, this is a very good intake, close to being my favourite so far. We got a right back with quite good physicals, a potentially new target man and a quick forward - all these were on my wish list! In addition, we also got a good central defender(s) and some interesting options to midfield. Interestingly there are much less different nationalities than before.

My top three of the bunch: Stewart 31a, Allard 31n & Jordan 31p (the player with least perceived potential of the intake!). Here are their profiles:

Stewart 31a is the best player of the intake. He'll be in the first XI in no time. He has good stamina and work rate, which are important in his positions and he isn't slow. He needs to get better defensively, the future will tell if he can.

Allard 31n is so low in the "ranking" as he doesn't have 5 star potential. But he is tall, has quite good mental stats and he can tackle & head the ball - what's not to like? At the moment he's not the strongest nor does he have good defensive positioning stats, but he will be in the first team next season anyways.

Jordan 31p has the lowest potential, but he has one unique quality that sets him as one of my favourites: his quickness! If he can develop it even further (and get better attacking mentals) he might become an effective lower division advanced forward.

---

I think I sign all the players from the intake. Some of them have awful personalities, but... maybe I can change him?  

For the first time I tried to offer players only youth contracts (not non-contracts they've ask for) and to my surprise, it seems like it works! With youth contract they will be with us at least until June 2033. I think other teams can try to sign them, but then we get some small compensation. Here's our star with his new contract:

 

Edit. Did I miss a future superstar?? Walcott 31k did something special in his U18 debut! If he develops nicely, he might become the first XI target man in a season or two. 

Edited February 23 by erik45

[erik45]

March 2031. We won four games, what is this?? Against Runcorn - who are going to get relegated - we couldn't get anything done until they had a player sent off, after that it was a smooth sailing. Clitheroe and Leek Town losses meant that our slim hopes of getting to 5th place were practically demolished. I don't know if that helped the team relax or that we got our best GK back from injury, but the latter part of the month was really good!

Table. Five games left, 9 points to the last playoff spot (and 5 teams between us and the 5th). We are not going to make it to the playoffs, but we can get as high as 6th if the good form continues.

Upcoming fixtures. The last month of the season is full of tough opponents. 5th, 7th, 1st, 3rd and 9th - that's some tricky run. In a way I'm happy that we are not fighting for the promotion anymore because these matches will get me nervous anyway  

[erik45]

April 2031. This month describes our whole season very well. No consistency, too many goals conceded, but also surprising wins! The good form from March didn't continue, but that was somewhat expected as the oppositions this month were much tougher. I was happy to end the season on a positive note against Trafford. The win meant we overtake them (and Hanley Town) in the last round.

Table. As said, we leaped over two teams in the last round and that meant we finished on the top-half of the table. The board had expected us to avoid relegation, so we did much better than that. I felt we could be able to be in the playoff fight, but we didn't have any consistency. This was the first season that two teams got over 90 points - and they went all the way to gain more than 100 points!  I really hope Stalybridge get promoted as they have massive financial advantage (tycoon owner).

xG table. We got the points our xPts suggested we should get. As we don't have too many solid players for this level (we have 6 players who are regarded as "good" players for this level) and our tactics haven't been excellent, we need a little luck if we want to get promoted. This season the xPts was positive for teams that were already doing well, maybe we can say they "deserved it" as they were playing well.

Objective. Board is delighted that we got a top-half finish, but it's a bit sad that they're expectations have gone down for the last two seasons.

Finances. Next season we will have more than 1m€ in the bank! I'm saving it so we can turn pro. It is a high risk, high reward strategy - and there's no guarantee the board wants us to turn pro - but it is the most interesting strategy for me. 

Transfer clause. We have first clause we can sell! 35k is nothing for us at the moment, so we will keep the clause. Bury just won the Vanarama North and Fagan played in 15 league games, so I think he's value will just go up. The only negative thing is that he's no longer getting called up for Ireland's U19s, but he's only 17 so no need to get worried (yet).

[erik45]

Season 2030/2031 review. I'm not going to do a deep dive, but I picked some stats that I find interesting. 

League progress. This might be our worst season in the Northern Premier League Division 1 West so far. Yes, we were better than media prediction or board expectations, but that's not interesting for me. For me the interesting thing is comparison between seasons. For me, it looks like we are not making progress in the league. Yes, we have a lot of high potential young players, but it doesn't benefit us if they don't develop and stay with us. I think now we are in a better position as I changed how we handle contract negotiations during youth intakes. All the players got youth contract until end of 2032/2033 season, so I think that will benefit us a little next season and a lot season after that.

Player stats. Lonsdale 28b was our best player. There are two players with higher average rating, but Lonsdale 28b was the most consistent player of the season. He is playing as DLF (su) and he's numbers suggest he gets 0.82 goal contributions/90 mins, which is good for a 19-old player. As I'm looking at these numbers, I'm actually quite satisfied with them. No-one has elite numbers in the attack, and only disappointment is McCaffrey, who I think should do better in CM (At) role. I might try to use him in a more defensive role and put someone else as the attacking player of the midfield three. There are couple of younger players, who could be good in a box-crashing midfielder role.

Tactics. I use the same 4-3-3 format, but I have made quite a bit of changes in the roles and team instructions. I've tried to simplify things, but I feel things are quite the same in the end. What we need to do is get better defensively as we conceded over 70 goals in the league. If we can keep scoring 80+ goals a season, but concede 50 goals or less, we would be in a good position. Maybe I can get one of the midfielders to help out more without losing our attacking threat?

I think the biggest challenges are: we are letting opposition to shoot too much and some of our defenders are losing too many aerial challenges. As I would like to keep the 4-3-3 system we maybe need to change the roles of the players to make the difference. Maybe less symmetry so we can have three "defensive defenders" and one with more attacking freedom - and having one of the midfield three in a wider role? Or maybe we need to win the ball higher up the pitch which means more pressing with the forward line?

[erik45]

Season 2030/2031 review, part 2. I continue the season review by adding some random screenshots that feel significant to me. 

Legend retiring. Robert Jones, who's been the target man for our team, decided to retire as 35-old club legend. He's been one of our most consistent performers throughout this save. In the end he was only a 1,5-star player, but he almost always played very close to his best capabilities. We have one or two options to take his place, but I felt that in Football Manager my target forwards are usually a bit older players, who have good mentality (and of course at least okay stats for TM role). I don't know if it just me but I feel young target men just can't play well in their natural role. Maybe it is about not being able to be consistent, maybe about their lack of physicality. Next season we will have a young target man, whether I want it or not

Transfers. We had two players coming in this season. Monsterratian Lee Dyer was a good 2nd XI centre back and I hope he stays in the team as there are some contract offers from other teams on his table. When I signed O'Reilly 27i on loan to us I did just because I could. I didn't see him having a major role in the team. Three months later he was the only proper left back in the team and ended up playing almost 30 games. As Hyde United set him for release at the end of the season, I decided it was time to get him back to the club permanently.

Professional status. I tried to ask us to go professional, but the board didn't agree with the need. No problem. But I thought the reason of rejection was so funny: "People love to root for the underdog."  That is an excellent way of saying that they don't want to take this financial risk.

[erik45]

Season preview. Our progress has stalled quite badly in the last couple of seasons, but optimism is still there! We are financially stronger than ever and contract situation of the players is much better than previously. Now we shouldn't lose our players before their 18th birthday!  Some of the "older" players haven't been willing to change their non-contract to a youth contract, so there are still some young players we are in danger of losing. In our first XI, only 2 of the 11 players have a youth contract, so 9 can leave when they want to. It seems like that if the player is asking for a non-contract with appearance fee of 50 € or more, they do not accept the counter offer of giving a youth contract.

League preview. We have the same odds and predicted position as last year. Those were a bit better before we lost two first team players, but at least we are not worse than last year. We have new oppositions to face as Belper Town and Coventry United were moved to this division. Belper Town might be a really difficult opponent as they gathered more than 90 points last season in Div 1 East and lost the title by 2 points. All the promoted and relegated sides we have faced before.

Media considers our best player to be our starting GK Spooner 29f, which I agree. They consider our back-up GK Parillon 30e to be the hot prospect, but I think we have more interesting options for a breakthrough star.

It is so stupid that the league's season preview shows projected line-up as 5-2-3 even though the preview page recognises the preferred formation being 4-3-3 narrow...  I think this is because I chose 5-2-3 as my manager's preferred formation, but I haven't used it at all after that.

Tactic and starting eleven. I made some changes to the system. As I'm lazy and I let the assistant to take control of the friendlies, I don't know how well the changes are working. In an ideal world this system would work as 4-3-3 defensively and something close to a 3-4-3 when we have the possession. I also want us to press little higher. It's a risky tactic but it will hopefully make me and the players feel more alive. 

Comparing to the last seasons 1st XI, we have three new names in the sheet. We lost our starting DLP in the summer, so I moved McCaffrey from CM to DLP. Doyle was previously in the role of Carrilero, but as I opted for Mezzala, I put Doyle in the CM position. As Mezzala, I chose Adams 30c. The other two new players are in the attack. Robert Jones retired and Lonsdale 28b left the team (), so I have Walcott 31k as Target Man and Magiola 28l as DLF. If they perform, they get to keep their positions, but there are multiple options right behind them in the pecking order. I'm still hoping to get a proper quick striker. Then I would move Scott 27c to DLF, which suites him a bit better.

The 2nd XI is all about the potential. There are three players who are 20 or older, rest of the players are 17 or younger!  

 

Reputation. Our reputation is still obscure and I don't think that will change until we get promoted. Reputation-wise we are considered a bottom half team, but our home attendances tells us we are one of the bigger sides in the league.

Transfers. We didn't have any transfers in, but quite many out. Almost all of them could have had a role in the team in the near future, so I'm not happy losing them. But the only major losses are transfers of Young 29e and Lonsdale 28b who both were starting players in the 1st XI. Neither of them got any better contract and now they both are considered as fringe players in their new teams, but at least they get to represent a team that plays in a higher division.

Pre-season friendlies. Very good, very nice! Only loss against a League 1 side , we scored a lot of goals  and conceded 12 in 8 games . The wins against Guernsey (1 level above us) and Halifax (3 levels above us) were the highlights of July as well as Ethan Walcott 31k's scoring record (9 goals in 7 games).

Upcoming fixtures. First competitive game is in the FA Cup against Pickering Town, who are a mid-table side from the league below us. We should be clear favourites for the game. After that we face two tycoon-owned sides away from home, no points expected there. From the home games we need wins and it is possible to get them, but we need to be at our best as games against Mickleover and Leek Town have been really evenly contested.

[shd34_216_42]

The big issue with going pro is the youth contracts go from cheap to not cheap. (In FM22 it went from ~5 pounds/wk to ~150 pounds/wk, it might be a bit higher now.) I think you would need a balance of 1.2 million euros or so to make it viable for the board to consider it (or have a tycoon, like some teams that keep failing to be promoted) and then you would have to be far more selective about which youth you keep from intakes.

Realistically, I think you have the same issue in that you really need to be promoted to make going pro a consideration.

I'm guessing the allowed free agent options are terrible.

[erik45]

On 25/02/2024 at 16:19, shd34_216_42 said:

The big issue with going pro is the youth contracts go from cheap to not cheap. (In FM22 it went from ~5 pounds/wk to ~150 pounds/wk, it might be a bit higher now.) I think you would need a balance of 1.2 million euros or so to make it viable for the board to consider it (or have a tycoon, like some teams that keep failing to be promoted) and then you would have to be far more selective about which youth you keep from intakes.

Realistically, I think you have the same issue in that you really need to be promoted to make going pro a consideration.

I'm guessing the allowed free agent options are terrible.

Yeah, there really aren't any good options in the market - and that's been the case after the first season. We've recruited couple of free agents to be rotational players, but hadn't had any proper options that would strengthen the first XI. I think Louis Parral has been closest to that and we signed him on 2024

And I know that the real risk with going pro is youth contracts. I would try to take the risk if I have the feeling that we can either a) get promoted every year from here onwards or b) get bigger teams to buy our players with high sell-on clauses. Preferably we would need both options to happen

[erik45]

August 2031. Amazing start in the cup, but then...  We should've won against West Auckland, but we just didn't find the net. We were the better team in both games. On top of that, tycoon owned Stalybridge demolished us and our 2nd XI could only get a draw at home against Mickleover. Not the best start to the season, only way is up?

Ex-player. One of our first players to play in Vanarama North just transferred to Ipswich Town who play their 2nd season in the Premier League!  Morris 27g is in their U21 team and he has quite nice valuation (and it has gone up in few weeks to 4,1-6€m!). We didn't get anything from his move from Gateshead to Ipswich as it was a free transfer. Maybe next time we will get some solidarity payments.

Upcoming fixtures. Some fixtures got moved because of cups and it meant we didn't have any game during the last weekend of August. I arranged a friendly to keep our fitness levels and hopefully a win against a weaker opposition will do wonders to club atmosphere. 

[erik45]

September 2031. Solid in the FA Trophy, but not in the league. It was our 2nd XI taking care of the cup games, maybe they need to get more game time (although they were the ones losing to Buxton)?

Table. Not where we want to be... we are already 11 points behind the top two 

Upcoming fixtures. Busy month, both XIs will get plenty of playing time! This shouldn't be the most difficult month even if we meet the league leaders Silsden.

[erik45]

October 2031. Out of all the cups, but we are playing better and better in the league! We gained 13 out of 15 possible points, that's really good! I'm especially happy about our target men (Dugdale 31c, Walcott 31k & Broe 31d) who all got in the score sheets this month. I was worried that after Robert Jones retired we would not have any good target men, but seems like my worries were not justified. I can't remember the last time I've had such young TMs playing so well!

Table. We shoot right up in the table, but there's still some gap between us and the teams in playoffs. For some reason, I've had very good feeling about this season - and now the results match my feelings  

Transfer in. Phizacklea 29b sounds like a Greek-ish name to me, but I just learnt it's an old Anglo-Saxon last name. As he's born here in Isle of Man we were able to re-sign him. He will become part of the 2nd XI sooner or later. I was particularly happy with this signing as we took him away from our direct competitor, Nantwich Town. 

Finances. I added this here as it's the first time we have surpassed the 1m€ line!

Upcoming fixtures. Only league games left, and all on Saturdays. First XI will play in all of them, I think we have a chance of being at least almost as good as this month.

[erik45]

November 2031. Undefeated month!  Two trashings and then three dull 1-1 games. I'm happy with everything but the Avro game. They are so bad, but we just couldn't score until the 83th minute when they were playing with 10 men. As Kian Reddy was injured for good part of the month, Walcott took his role - and was even better than our all-time leading goalscorer!

Table. Many draws meant we couldn't get higher in the table. I really want to get to the promotion battle AND get a home advantage, but we still have 7-point gap between 3rd place and us.

Job interview. I haven't had these in a while. Exeter are doing quite well by playing in the Championship. But I'm dedicated to FC Isle of Man, so I say no to this possibility.

New contract. 2 + 1 (activated if promoted). Same amount of money, but I'm all about the commitment

Media. This is the first time I see one of our own youth products is considered for an international team. Jatta 28n plays on the third level of Swedish footballing pyramid. He has some U21 games for Sweden, but he's eligible also for The Gambia and England. I kind a hope he chooses the Gambia as I see it as the most realistic team to get some minutes.

Upcoming fixtures. Difficult start for the month as we face Nantwich. If we want to be in the promotion contention, we need to be able to handle these kind of games. The 2nd XI will get some minutes against Barnoldswick. I think I start to get some friendly games for the 2nd XI to keep them fit.

[erik45]

December 2031. Yeeeeees, what a month - again!!! 15 games undefeated in the league! We are playing so well! We are not dominating the game, but we are scoring so efficiently that the opponents can't match that. Kian Reddy has found his form after a minor injury. He's been here from the beginning and even if he's not the most consistent player, he surely is a deadly striker.

Table. Our amazing form means we are in the playoff zone! Stalybridge looks too strong this season (and they are, their wage budget is 1< m€), but we are just one point away from home advantage.

Youth intake preview. Not too many A grades, but three players for ST, CM and CB positions is something to wait for!  Also, it is supposed to be a 5-star intake, let's hope it will be!

Upcoming fixtures. Most exciting game of the month is going to be against Stalybridge. They are absolutely flying in the league. They are both the best and the luckiest team in the league as they have best xPts and their are outperforming it the most.

[erik45]

January 2032. The league leaders were too strong for us, but it didn't stop us from continuing our strong form in other games. I love how the team bounced back after the loss by scoring six goals against Atherton who are in promotion battle with us.

I forgot to take screenshot of the table, but at this point we are third in the league table, Stalybridge being 1st and Trafford 2nd.

Transfer out. Gibbons 30b is from the last intake who didn't get youth contracts so he was free to leave whenever. Cannon Woods started from the level 10, but they got bought by a tycoon in 2025 and are now a top half side in Vanarama South.  Gibbons 30b was available for a loan but he decided to join Whitehawk who play in the Isthmian Premier (can't blame him). He was our best CB, let's see how our team can cope.

Upcoming fixtures. I forgot to screenshot at the turn of the month, so a bit different view this time. Staveley Miners Welfare has been a tricky opponent for us and they are playing well at the moment. Rest of the teams should be winnable.

[erik45]

March 2032. Oof, this is a bit of a blow. We are playing in the same way as earlier, but we don't have the luck we had.

Table. Our blip in form means we didn't gain any advantage in the promotion battle. It is very close and teams in positions 2nd to 8th are all very close to each other. I know I'm a bit too optimistic at this point, but I really want us to get to the 2nd place so we could have home advantage in both semis and in the playoff final. But first we need to secure playoff spot  

Upcoming fixtures. I was too eager to play and took the screenshot of the fixtures (and the table) after the first round of March. Target man hat trick, I love it!  Nantwich Town is going the be THE challenge of the month. The 2nd XI will get their chance in the mid-week games.

Also, it is youth intake time!

[erik45]

Youth intake 2032. Oh my days, this is an amazing intake! Both high PA & CA players! Four players who have 2,5 or better CA  If there's something negative to be said, it is that two of those players have a challenging position: ML (we don't use) and RB (we already have two exciting talents).

 

Players. All the English players are from the island. Once again, we have some Swedes in the intake. Is there some reason for it? Viking connection?  My favourites are Adigun 32a, Mardic 32d and Alie 32p (yes, the one with the worst star rating). Their and other high potential players' player profiles can be found below.

 

Intake tracking. Once again, a lot of high potential players AND even more players with a decent starting CA. Stats-wise this is a good intake, but not the best. What impresses me is the small number of negative personalities, that's a good sign for the future!

[erik45]

March 2032. We are scoring SO much! 22 goals in six games is something I can't remember doing earlier in the save. On top of that, we are winning everything we can (Nantwich was just too much, they were the better side). And both our 1st and 2nd XI are doing their job. 

Table. Even with our form, we are definitely not running away from our competitors. We have almost guaranteed our place in the playoffs, but we want to do better than previously and get the home advantage.

Transfer out. Losing our 5-star PA goalie just before the most important games of the season is...not optimal   Spooner 29f went up one step in the league pyramid and still is the first choice keeper for them. That tells something about his current level.

The new #1 is Parillon 30e. A year younger than our previous #1. Parillon 30e has a bit over 20 starts with the first team, so he's not a total rookie. He has really big shoes to fill - and he needs to fill them fast - but I think he's quite decent option at this point.

U18 champions. This is the third time our U18s won the league, this time they did it 5 games before the end. 

Upcoming fixtures. Oh dear... I'm feeling nervous. Not because the fixture list, but because this is the end of the season and probably our position in the table will be decided in the game against Trafford (who are currently 3rd). The first two should be relatively easy, but then... let's see  

Edited March 8 by erik45

[erik45]

April 2032. Two clear wins, two almost-as-clear losses. Trafford had the chance to overtake us if we failed to collect more points than them. Did we fail?

Final league table. Yes... but we still got the home advantage!  But only for the semifinal, so if we progress we need to play away from home  and the final is just three days after the semis!  Also, please take a look of our goals for column! 113 goals, that's new league record 

Semi-final opponent. Atherton have been in solid form, winning 6 out of last 8 games, losing only once. They have been a very very difficult opponent for us, we've beaten them only once. But on the flipside, the only win came this season, just a few months ago when we demolished them 6-3!

Expectations. Both the board and the fans think we are going to lose the game...   I think we are slight favourites, but we really need to find the game balance after losing the last two games of the regular season.