Heartbreaking dismantling of my squad

[ThamesIronWorksD]

Just finished a save where I took West Ham to a Premier League title with a couple of cup wins also. Got to the point where I wasn't enjoying the save, with all the TV money you get it's not much of a challenge.

Rather than just stopping I decided to resign and then holiday 5 and 10 years ahead. I fully expected to see the players I'd signed to go on and become club legends. Also the youngsters to develop into the home grown first team players I'd wanted.

None of this happened. Sadly my talented squad and youth academy was systematically ripped apart by AI managers.  My wonderkids were not played and eventually sold for 10m+. After a few years most of them were signed again by a top teams for over 50m.

My first team players were nearly all sold and replaced with players of a lower standard but higher wages. 

The worst bit was seeing the youth players who I had tried to give as much game time as possible, being completely ignored. Most were sold for a couple of million. Some were released at the end of contracts.  A lot of these players were again sold on after a couple of seasons to big teams.

All in all the dynasty that I thought I'd built was gone.

 

 

 

[NineCloudNine]

Pretty much what will happen to Liverpool when Klopp leaves 

Or what happened to Man Utd when Ferguson left.

Or Barcelona after Guardiola (though that took a little longer).

Edited January 31 by NineCloudNine

[Brodie21]

20 hours ago, ThamesIronWorksD said:

Just finished a save where I took West Ham to a Premier League title with a couple of cup wins also. Got to the point where I wasn't enjoying the save, with all the TV money you get it's not much of a challenge.

Rather than just stopping I decided to resign and then holiday 5 and 10 years ahead. I fully expected to see the players I'd signed to go on and become club legends. Also the youngsters to develop into the home grown first team players I'd wanted.

None of this happened. Sadly my talented squad and youth academy was systematically ripped apart by AI managers.  My wonderkids were not played and eventually sold for 10m+. After a few years most of them were signed again by a top teams for over 50m.

My first team players were nearly all sold and replaced with players of a lower standard but higher wages. 

The worst bit was seeing the youth players who I had tried to give as much game time as possible, being completely ignored. Most were sold for a couple of million. Some were released at the end of contracts.  A lot of these players were again sold on after a couple of seasons to big teams.

All in all the dynasty that I thought I'd built was gone.

 

 

 

This does annoy me. I realise a new manager will bring in their own players but they always rip the team up immediately. I do long-term saves in lower leagues & after a few seasons, it's a nice thought to move on but to still keep an eye out on your old team, to see what's improved or declined. However, as you say, the team & squad is torn apart & very quickly it bares no resemblance to the club you managed only a short while ago. 

[dannyo666]

On 30/01/2024 at 23:09, ThamesIronWorksD said:

Just finished a save where I took West Ham to a Premier League title with a couple of cup wins also. Got to the point where I wasn't enjoying the save, with all the TV money you get it's not much of a challenge.

Rather than just stopping I decided to resign and then holiday 5 and 10 years ahead. I fully expected to see the players I'd signed to go on and become club legends. Also the youngsters to develop into the home grown first team players I'd wanted.

None of this happened. Sadly my talented squad and youth academy was systematically ripped apart by AI managers.  My wonderkids were not played and eventually sold for 10m+. After a few years most of them were signed again by a top teams for over 50m.

My first team players were nearly all sold and replaced with players of a lower standard but higher wages. 

The worst bit was seeing the youth players who I had tried to give as much game time as possible, being completely ignored. Most were sold for a couple of million. Some were released at the end of contracts.  A lot of these players were again sold on after a couple of seasons to big teams.

All in all the dynasty that I thought I'd built was gone.

 

 

 

This is a killer 100%....everytime the AI just dismantles world class team and bring in nobodys for 300k a week..plus the AI stacks defenders for some reason,the only way ive found is when you move on try to move to a better team with loads of funds and try to buy all those players ASAP,especially the wonderkid's because as a player of the game there's noting better than seeing them flourish and you do get really attached to them

[tezcatlipoca665]

In my Milan save in FM23, Ange Postecoglou took over from me when I decided I got bored of winning the domestic trophies repeatedly and left the club. He actually managed to win the Champions League with the team I created in his first season - something I couldn't do (got to the semis a few times) - after I took over a Marseille side with an average age of about 29 years old and had to absolutely gut and rebuild. The season after that CL win, he started selling Milan's best players and brought in a bunch of average utility players that could play multiple positions but weren't really any good at one of them. The worst thing was the fact that he sold Kylian Mbappe for like £50m to Real Madrid or something stupid like that, whom I brought in on a free transfer on a decent contract because he was a free agent for long enough that his wage demands finally fell to a realistic level. Anyway, I was appointed the Real Madrid manager a few seasons later after Ancelotti retired, and linked back up with Mbappe. Milan was just an average team by then with about three on my wonderkid newgens that stuck around.

[NineCloudNine]

I’m not sure this is much different to what happens IRL. Very few squads look the same after a season or two of a new manager. There are enough wtf signings made by new managers to suggest that the OP’s experience is closer to the norm.

Edited February 2 by NineCloudNine

[ThamesIronWorksD]

3 hours ago, NineCloudNine said:

I’m not sure this is much different to what happens IRL. Very few squads look the same after a seaaon or two of a new manager. There are enough wtf signings made by new managers to suggest that the OP’s experience is closer to the norm.

I think you're right, but I was still gutted that my youth left back that I'd brought on as a sub as often as I could and played in all cup games was then discarded without being given a chance. He was obviously a player that would become at least good PL level.

He left to join Charlton in the Championship and Newcastle signed him for £45m the season after.

[Weller1980]

The real heartbreaking issue here is that fact we were promised better ai squad building in the headline features for FM24. 

 

[janrzm]

The reason I can never do a journeyman save.....watching the AI destroy all my hard work in 2 seasons is excruciating. 

[Kickballz]

On 31/01/2024 at 07:51, NineCloudNine said:

Or what happened to Man Utd when Ferguson left.

Arguably started before Ferguson left. They still had Giggs, Scholes, Ferdinand, Vidic, Rooney and a fragile, but brilliant, Van Persie who luckily for them was fit for most of the season. Other than that the squad was pretty awful. Credit to Ferguson though for still getting the most out of them.

[tezcatlipoca665]

7 hours ago, Kickballz said:

Arguably started before Ferguson left. They still had Giggs, Scholes, Ferdinand, Vidic, Rooney and a fragile, but brilliant, Van Persie who luckily for them was fit for most of the season. Other than that the squad was pretty awful. Credit to Ferguson though for still getting the most out of them.

Right. It's not even arguable - Moyes brought in, like, two notable first-team players and had no notable outgoings aside from Giggs who retired. The team needed a rebuild about a season or two before Ferguson left; Moyes was given practically no time to do anything, and van Gaal had to struggle against rebuilding with a poor transfer policy that brought in players he wasn't fully invested in, who were being brought in for crazy wages and overpaid transfer fees.

Guardiola with Barcelona being used as an example is a joke. When was this 'dismantling' of Barcelona by a manager? Was it 8 seasons later under Koeman? Barcelona was still winning La Liga regularly post-Pep and only had what could be considered an actual bad spell just before and during Ronald Koeman in 2020, and a lot of their problems since then can also be attributed to the fact that they've been severely financially mismanaged. I don't think anybody saw Barcelona 3 seasons later with Messi, Suarez and Neymar under Luis Enrique and thought 'this team has been ruined since Pep left!! '

[Hovis Dexter]

6 hours ago, tezcatlipoca665 said:

Right. It's not even arguable - Moyes brought in, like, two notable first-team players and had no notable outgoings aside from Giggs who retired. The team needed a rebuild about a season or two before Ferguson left; Moyes was given practically no time to do anything, and van Gaal had to struggle against rebuilding with a poor transfer policy that brought in players he wasn't fully invested in, who were being brought in for crazy wages and overpaid transfer fees.

Guardiola with Barcelona being used as an example is a joke. When was this 'dismantling' of Barcelona by a manager? Was it 8 seasons later under Koeman? Barcelona was still winning La Liga regularly post-Pep and only had what could be considered an actual bad spell just before and during Ronald Koeman in 2020, and a lot of their problems since then can also be attributed to the fact that they've been severely financially mismanaged. I don't think anybody saw Barcelona 3 seasons later with Messi, Suarez and Neymar under Luis Enrique and thought 'this team has been ruined since Pep left!! '

Quite correct. Excellent analysis.

[NineCloudNine]

7 hours ago, tezcatlipoca665 said:

Guardiola with Barcelona being used as an example is a joke. When was this 'dismantling' of Barcelona by a manager? Was it 8 seasons later under Koeman? Barcelona was still winning La Liga regularly post-Pep and only had what could be considered an actual bad spell just before and during Ronald Koeman in 2020, and a lot of their problems since then can also be attributed to the fact that they've been severely financially mismanaged. I don't think anybody saw Barcelona 3 seasons later with Messi, Suarez and Neymar under Luis Enrique and thought 'this team has been ruined since Pep left!! '

That was me, a lifelong Barcelona fan . And I did say "though that took a little longer". The OP's point wasn't that the club he left started to fail, it was that the team he had carefully nurtured was dismantled over the next 5+ years. Post Guardiola Barcelona abandoned La Masia, bought first-team ready stars and didn't refresh an ageing core. The 2015 team was awesome, but it was very different in style and composition to Guardiola's teams. And after 2017 the mismanagement of transfers and finances destroyed what was left. That was only 5 years after Guardiola left, well within the timeframe described by the OP.

[tezcatlipoca665]

3 hours ago, NineCloudNine said:

That was me, a lifelong Barcelona fan . And I did say "though that took a little longer". The OP's point wasn't that the club he left started to fail, it was that the team he had carefully nurtured was dismantled over the next 5+ years. Post Guardiola Barcelona abandoned La Masia, bought first-team ready stars and didn't refresh an ageing core. The 2015 team was awesome, but it was very different in style and composition to Guardiola's teams. And after 2017 the mismanagement of transfers and finances destroyed what was left. That was only 5 years after Guardiola left, well within the timeframe described by the OP.

Barca held on to those players for as long as they could - really too long, though it's not like it wasn't successful in the short term while they ran that horse as long as they could before its legs broke. I'd argue that the real problem there is that they tried to hold on to the core group moulded under Pep as opposed to what the AI managers tend to do in this game, which is sell them at bad prices and either don't replace them or bring in players that can play in about 7 positions (and none of them well).

Kinda sad to see how Barcelona are now irl - probably not too far removed from the Joan Gaspart days in the next coming seasons at this rate. Idk though, at least that didn't last too long.

 

Edited February 4 by tezcatlipoca665

[ThamesIronWorksD]

Love this forum. My disappointment turning into a debate on how United & Barcelona faired following long term successful managers leaving the club. 

Edited February 5 by ThamesIronWorksD

[NineCloudNine]

9 minutes ago, ThamesIronWorksD said:

Love this forum. My disappointment turning into a debate on how United & Barcelona faired following long term successful managers leaving the club. 

You are in exalted company…!

[AntSou]

On 01/02/2024 at 14:28, NineCloudNine said:

I’m not sure this is much different to what happens IRL. Very few squads look the same after a season or two of a new manager. There are enough wtf signings made by new managers to suggest that the OP’s experience is closer to the norm.

This isn't true. Most professional clubs are well structured and promising players are kept an eye on, even if the current manager isn't keen on giving them playing time.

Mismanagement is a general problem with the AI. Including in your own club. Like the absurd amount of staff positions that many clubs allow, but if you actually fill them all in (as they encourage you do), the finances will take a nose dive. They then need to fix it after the fact, rather than pre-emptively. 

[NineCloudNine]

1 minute ago, AntSou said:

This isn't true. Most professional clubs are well structured and promising players are kept an eye on, even if the current manager isn't keen on giving them playing time.

Good point on the kids. I stand by my view on the first team though. Agreed on staff.