Jump to content

All Activity

This stream auto-updates

  1. Past hour
  2. CFuller

    25 Years

    ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Vicente del Bosque retires as Real Madrid manager after 15 years in charge, following a dismal 8th-place finish in La Liga. Former Sporting head coach Dong-Keun Lee leaves Botafogo to take over at the Santiago Bernabéu. After being snubbed by Real, current Sporting boss José Mourinho sulks, "But I'm the special one! I've just won my second Taça de Portugal!" Celta qualify for the Champions League after coming 3rd in La Liga, and excitement for next season grows when Los Celestes announce the £8.25million signing of 18-year-old Fluminense wonderkid Moacir da Rosa. Of course, it helps that Brazil legend Roberto Carlos happens to be a first-team coach at Celta. Moacir then takes the World Cup by storm as he scores FIVE goals in the Group Stage... only for Brazil to crash out to Serbia & Montenegro in Round 2. Spain are the first World Cup holders since 1966 to be eliminated at the Group Stage. La Roja feel 'La Furia' of their fans after losing their first two group games against Serbia & Montenegro and Colombia. 2010 runners-up Wales also suffer an early exit, though Craig Bellamy's penalty ensures that they sign off with a 1-0 win over England. The Three Lions then avenge their Euro 2012 defeat against Holland to reach the Quarter Finals. Ligue 1 champions Marseille add even more Iberian flair to their team, paying Atlético Madrid a combined £34million to sign striker Fernando Torres and winger Ricardo Quaresma. Les Phocéens also bring France goalkeeper Sebastien Frey back home, as he ends his 13-year stay at Parma with just a single trophy - the 2013 Coppa Italia. Former Italy and Roma captain Francesco Totti retires aged 37, having finished his playing career in Germany with 1.FC Köln. Ex-France striker David Trezeguet also calls it quits at 1860 München, though he'll never stop reminding Totti about Euro 2000. Ex-England boss Kevin Keegan retires from management after 13 years in the Scottish leagues with Elgin City. IN OTHER NEWS... Juan Carlos I - who had been King of Spain since the death of General Francisco Franco in 1975 - abdicates the throne at the age of 76. He is succeeded by his only son, who is crowned King Felipe VI. Barack Obama considers taking military action against the Islamic State jihadist group, who begin an offensive through northern Iraq and attempt to overthrow the country’s government. The United States still have troops in Afghanistan, by the way. Comedian and actor Rik Mayall suffers a heart attack after a morning jog and dies suddenly, aged just 56. Mayall was a pioneer of British alternative comedy in the 1980s, appearing on “The Young Ones”, “Filthy Rich & Catflap” and “Bottom” alongside his regular screen partner Ade Edmondson. LeBron James and the Miami Heat bid for a third consecutive NBA championship, as they meet San Antonio Spurs in a repeat of the 2013 NBA Finals. This time, the tables are turned when Kawhi Leonard inspires San Antonio to a 4-1 series win. A sports team called Spurs that actually wins championships - how novel!
  3. CFuller

    25 Years

    JUNE 2014 A week after leading Fulham to victory in the Division 1 play-offs, my status as the Premiership's newest manager was confirmed with a new, long-term contract. Chairman Richard Bailey was delighted enough to double my salary too! I wouldn't be the only Cottager to get a pay rise. Winger Wayne Cable and top scorer Peter Devlin had already signed new and improved contracts, and they were soon followed by centre-back Peter Mitchell and captain Florian Schneider. Left-back Arnar Guðmundsson extended his contract until 2020, though his salary remained at £15,000 per week. And here's something you probably couldn't have foreseen back in October - even John Forde signed a new contract. The excellent Irish goalkeeper was a little reluctant to renew his contract after our previous bust-ups, but he eventually agreed to a new deal that'll earn him £20,000 per week for the next six years. He's now overtaken Cable as our second highest-paid player behind Alan Stewart, but that just shows how important I feel John is to this team. Sadly, after only playing 19 games in the past two seasons, there would be no new contract for Jerel Ifil... at least not at Fulham. The injury-prone centre-back ended his three-year stay at Craven Cottage to complete a £500,000 transfer to Division 2 runners-up Bristol City, who will be back in Division 1 next season. I hope Jerel has better luck there than he did with us. Christian Weber won't be going up to the Premiership with us either. After just one year at Fulham, the Austrian holding midfielder will in fact be dropping down to Division 2! Despite being a decent signing on the pitch, Weber had a rather strained relationship with me off it, so I reluctantly agreed to let him join newly-relegated West Brom for £1.7million. Reserve duo Jamie Davey and Stephen Richardson will also be in the third tier next season, as they respectively joined Darlington and Rotherham on free transfers. Veteran defender Markus Heikkinen was released at the end of his two-year deal and is now considering retirement. And despite enjoying a brilliant season at centre-back, Clint Hill decided that winning the Playoff Final at Wembley was the perfect way to bow out. At the age of 35, Hill announced his retirement from professional football, ending a 17-year career that saw him make 586 league appearances across seven different clubs. Thank you for your service, Clint. We also bade farewell to 30-year-old striker Paul Hayes, who returned to Everton at the end of his loan spell. Though the 11 goals he scored in his 15 appearances were undoubtedly vital to us securing a play-off place, I doubt I'll be buying him permanently. Then again, Devlin originally joined Fulham as a loanee - and he's just been named the Fans' Player of the Year for a second season in a row! So don't rule out a similar comeback for Hayes just yet... Four Fulham youngsters returned to the club after spending time out on loan in the Conference. Forward Douglas McNeil had a great time at Slough, getting 12 goals and 11 assists, while defensive midfielder Chris McDonald was also excellent for Maidenhead. Sadly, defender Seán Lynch wasn't quite consistent enough to inspire Cheltenham to promotion, and Craig Price literally could not save Farnborough from relegation. In the backroom, we parted with coach Jon Goodman - who wished to spend more time on his acting career - and scout Martin Ling. I replaced them with a couple of familiar faces from my previous clubs. Technical coach Andy Peake came in from Kidderminster, while former Dagenham right-back Michael Walsh joined our scouting team after working with the Greek club Panachaiki for three years. And now we get to what you've been waiting for - the new signings! Of course, getting into the Premiership meant a huge influx in TV revenue and season ticket sales, and so the board allowed me to invest up to £18million into the squad! If we were to stay in the top flight, I would need to invest that wisely. Naturally, I kicked off our spending spree with a free transfer. 33-year-old South Africa stopper Aaron Mokoena will add plenty of grit, intelligence and strength to the centre of our defence - not to mention a vast amount of Premiership experience - following his arrival from Everton. He has also previously played for Ipswich. Daniel Johnson is another new addition to our backline, arriving from Nottingham Forest for £2.5million. Though we beat his Forest side 3-0 in the Playoff Final, I was very impressed with the 26-year-old's man-marking and tackling. Getting a big move to the Premiership must have seemed unthinkable for Johnson 12 months ago, when he was playing part-time for Leigh RMI after being released by his hometown club Darlington! Mokoena and Johnson are joined by a couple of international left-backs. First up is the energetic and selfless left-back Erwin Maas, whom we poached from Eredivisie side Sparta for £2.7million. The 24-year-old made his Holland debut earlier this year and is currently in Scandinavia as part of their World Cup squad. On the other side of our defence, we've been boosted by the arrival of England right-back Nicky Hunt, who cost us £2.2million from Bolton. The 30-year-old is a calm and reliable presence at the back, with his excellent decision-making and passing skills catching the eye in particular. Hunt has won 19 caps for England since his debut in 2011, though he wasn't selected for the World Cup. Don't worry - I've not forgotten about our attack! Though I'm confident that our current crop of attacking midfielders and forwards can perform in the Premiership, I am looking for another centre-forward to be Devlin's backup. There's a striker in South Africa that I really like the look of, and we're hoping to get him a work permit next month. Thinking further ahead, we brought in the explosive young forward Ian Donaghy from Cambridge United for £250,000. At the tender age of 17, the Northern Irish prodigy has already played in 80 Football League matches for Cambridge, scoring 28 goals. Ian is probably not ready for regular Premiership football, so he'll start off in our reserve team before maybe going out on loan next year. We also signed a 17-year-old Scottish left-winger called Brian Lindsay, who looks pretty quick and skilful. Lindsay's arrival means we now have nine Scots on our books - four in the first-team, and five in the reserves. And coming straight from our youth team is a new midfielder - 16-year-old set-piece specialist Ivan Lynch. And no, he isn't related to Seán Lynch, who also emerged from our academy a few years ago. While Seán is Irish through and through, Ivan is a local boy whose mum is half-Croatian. With plenty of money still in the bank, I'm sure there'll be more signings before the big kick-off. Our first game back in the Premiership - and my first ever match as a top-flight manager - will be at Elland Road against former champions Leeds on 16 August. Four days later, we will play our first home game of the season against... Arsenal! I can't wait!
  4. Season 2034/2035 preview. This is the 11th season of me being in charge of the team. We've achieved two promotions. To be honest, I expected more when I started the save but I love how challenging this has been! I've been lucky with the board as they haven't had any unrealistic expectations in the competitions. Fingers crossed it will stay that way as we just got a new chairman through voting! New contract. I was feeling self-confident, so my first interaction with the new chairman was to ask a new contract for me. The board was happy to give me one. My salary hasn't gone up once in this save, but again I got two year deal with option for one more if promoted. Facility upgrade completed. This is going to be the last upgrade for a while, but I'm happy that we've gotten such good academy settings at this point of the save. Reputation update. Even if we have one of the highest average attendances in the league, our reputation is one of the lowest in the league. Better reputation should help us get better players from youth intakes (and it would make it easier to lure new players to the team, as it is almost impossible right now), but otherwise I'm not too interested in this topic. Friendlies. Two losses (one against our rich rival Stalybridge), one draw and 8 wins, that's a nice record from friendlies. My favourite results weere the win against Edinburgh City (they're in League 2 in Scotland) and draw against Notts County (League 2). There was also our first testimonial, for our centre back Moore, who has made the most appearances for the club. He was the backbone of our defence for several seasons, so I think he really deserved this testimonial. He's never been very good, but sometimes it is enough to get to the starting XI that you have more experience than others. Board expectations. Cup expectations are as ambiguous as they can be, but in the league we have a clear target: avoid relegation. I think that underestimates our team. My minimum expectation is top-half. I think our ceiling is somewhere between 3rd and 5th. It won't be a disaster if we don't make it to the playoffs this season, but I would be a bit disappointed. Top goalscorer odds. I think this is the first time our striker has been in this list, at least this high. Last season Adigun 32a scored 13 goals in the league and the top scorer got 26 goals. So he needs to double his tally to be in the contest for the golden boot! I don't think it's impossible, but he's yet to be that consistent to get to those numbers. Media predictions. During the pre-season our odds were all over the place. At one point we were as high as 5th in the odds table, and at some point we were as low as 16th. Our odds at 34.00 are better than ever in this league, so that's tells something about our progress. Curzon Ashton are clear favourites, and almost as clear 2nd favourites are Winterton Rangers. They are the only teams with wage budget of over 1m€, rest have 450k€ or less (we are just above 100k€). The journalists have identified our GK Parillon 30e as our best player - and I agree. He's so good that he's actually pushing other players' star ratings down. I think the best player is usually spot on, but the hot prospect can be anyone with 5 star potential ability. This time it's Clarke 34b. He can play anywhere in the middle and has nice base attributes, but I just don't know 1) where to play him and 2) if his personality will hinder all the progress. Starting XIs. 1st XI pictured above, 2nd XI below. 1st XI will play during the weekends, 2nd XI during weekdays. I made some changes to the starting lineups. Lennon 32f, Codling 32j, and Hayward 32k got promoted to this level. They all spent the previous season on loan and I got the feeling they have something to offer for the first team now. Our midfield is not the strongest and for some reason midfield players haven't been progressing too much - I hope this changes soon. We rely on our quality attacking trio and our star goalie. If they deliver results consistently, we have a good chance of getting close to promotion spots. The achilles heel of the team is the central defence, I hope they take it seriously when I instruct them to take fewer risks. The 2nd XI is selected purely on potential ability and vibes. Goalie is the same, but that's just because I loaned out our 2nd best goalkeeper. My highest expectations are on Lewys Lewis 34d (love the name!), Sweetser-Hawkes 34a and McMenemy 31f, who's been on loan for the last two seasons. Parillon 30e and Adigun 32a are the stars of our show and their profiles are already in this post, but I wanted to show a couple of more. Dugdale 31c has been fans' player of the year two times in a row and fans' young player of the year three times! Last season he got 14G+8A in the league and I hope he can continue on that path. I also have high hopes on Gould 33i who's been getting better and better. He has an important role as WBL as he's basically in charge of that side alone. Upcoming fixtures. We start our season relatively late as our first league game is in mid-August. Three games, all should be winnable, but I guess there will be some surprises for us
  5. Squad Stats. Jun 2051. Squad by Appearances. Squad by Goals. Squad by Assists. Squad by Avg. Rating. Squad by CA. The squad by CA shows that although we're much improved, we still have a squad that is hugely skewed in favour of PA over CA. We only have 15 players at the club with 3.0 CA or better, but conversely we have 33 player with at least 4.0 PA. For contrast we have just 3x players with 4.0 CA. Squad by PA. 7x 5.0 PA players. 9x 4.5 PA players. 17x 4.0 PA players. Squad by National Team. Squad by International appearances. Squad by U21 International appearances.
  6. Not sure that Europe is a realistic expectation yet, although I appreciate the optimism As long as we keep fighting to improve, and stay away from the relegation fight, then we can be happy with that.
  7. nothing special, im starting to think its more about the current level of players as im struggling again this season... and this is my current preview
  8. Looks like the bottom four are really struggling so Guernsey should have no relegation worries, although I appreciate you want to be pushing into the top half, maybe even challenging for Europe. 🍀⚽️🤞
  9. I would like to see a more efficient sorting algorithm for the player and staff search lists
  10. Now it's the time mate. Take all the money from bank balance and...
  11. Sorry about that - your avatar threw me. I'm big on the motivation you stress here - my last tho campaigns, narrated here THORFINN – A Sporting and Social Revolution Begins A Highlands & Islands Journey are as much travelogues around my beloved Highlands and Islands of Scotland as FM careers. You could just as easily narrate a journeyman career around the South Pacific or Caribbean as you could a one-club save around the Hellenic League or Norwegian Third tier. You don't have to post a thread - you can indulge your OCD by googling the stadium and history of every opponent you face, stuff like that.
  12. First quarter update (2031-32 season) We are 13th in the league with Olympique Lyon. Not the best of starts but I hope we can turn things around. We are doing okay in European football though. Matias Soule has gone on loan to RB Salzburg. Lizandro Benavides has joined the club on loan from Liverpool. Felipe Vallejo has gone on loan to SC Freiburg.
  13. @knap I'm playing as you told me and at the end of January I'm first in the Premier League with the newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday. I changed my expectations to have some money in the top half. Do I continue with the same tactics or change? I find it difficult with the small ones (I lost in Norwich last time 2-1!)
  14. May 2051. Scottish Premiership. A bit of a strange finish to the season. we earned 2 points from our home games, despite scoring only 2 goals in these games, but then went and scored 4 goals away at Celtic and still came away with a battering. Hibs won the league with a 6 point margin over Celtic in the end, with Aberdeen a further 5 points behind and the us another 3 points back from then. It means that we were 14 points off the champions, (but 12 points clear of 5th), but when you consider that we dropped 13 points in the last 5 games of the season, we certainly were at least in contention after the split. I think the reasons for our late-season demise are probably partly down to our young squad, but also the exit from Europe on pens will have cost us in terms of morale and momentum. Yeah we fell away considerably over the last 2 months of the season, but we're playing in Europe again and at this stage that's all we need. Of course I would love us to be Champions and playing in the Champions League, but we're just not there yet. Debuts. Internationals. Awards. Goal-scoring GK's. (23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club). (23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club). (25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). (26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). (30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club). (31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). (33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). (37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club). (39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club). (40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). (43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 28/33 from the spot at 85%. (41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 6/10 from the spot at 60%. Finances.
  15. NOV 2041 - Match Day 10 - Vs Manchester United The Red Devils have been extremely poor this season, and despite having the better of the chances, we were unable to take advantage of their struggles. We played well but were unable to find the back of the net, and as we started to tire at the end of the game, we were probably lucky to escape with a point as they pushed hard for the win. We earn another valuable point, sitting in 12th place, 8 points clear of the relegation zone. Up next We travel to Blackburn to face the 13th place Rovers, in an important match against a similarly placed opponent.
  16. FM24 Data Tweaks v3.5 Updated Enhanced Database: - Tweaked Players Details (3D Models, height, etc); Updated Player Shortlist file; Updated New Players-Staff file: - More adjustments into 24.3 Patch: - Adjustments into the Created Players; - Created a total of 663 new Players/Staff; - Created a total of 663 Cut-Out faces & icons; Few Samples:
  17. Today
  18. This thread has long run its course, and SI really should have nipped it in the but a long time ago. It really should have been closed after Santy and Rashidi explained very clearly that it doesn't happen in everyone's saves, and that player-controlled goalkeepers can overperform too. But as ever, it's an arrogant and very vocal minority who insist that their experience of the game screwing them over is the same as everyone else's. What we have here is a bunch of self-entitled whining crybabies who will not take any responsibility for their decisions, and will literally blame SI and FM for every bad thing that happens in their saves. They WILL NOT accept the fact - which has NEVER been disproven - that the ME cannot tell the difference between AI and human. They WILL NOT consider the possibility that it might be their tactics leaving their defences vulnerable. They WILL NOT bother to understand what "expected goals" really means. It's NOT how many goals a team should have scored in a game. It's one thing that they will stick their fingers in their ears going "la la la I'm not listening la la la". But when their language turns into passive aggression towards the developers, and they get hostile towards any person who even dares to counter their arguments... that's not acceptable. That should not be acceptable on these forums. But it appears that in 2024, abusive behaviour towards developers and other users isn't just tolerated on the SI Community - it's actively encouraged. And if this is the road SI and their (ahem) moderators are happy to go down, then it's not a community I want to be involved in anymore. For the record, I did have problems with underperforming goalkeepers on my last FM24 save - with a team that was comfortably the best in the Polish 4th division. It wasn't that extreme (our shot conversion rate was actually higher than the opponent's) but I was worried enough that I sought advice on the tactics forum. It wasn't because my tactics were too aggressive - if anything, I was perhaps conservative. Their advice helped, but not enough. I gave up on FM24, just as I'm about to give up on this toxic SI community.
  19. It looks like the devs are just being d*ckheads and leaving the game as is.
  20. Goodluck with this. Always enjoy your careers. I did toy with the idea of Vigo a few weeks back, it was between them, Villarreal and Valencia. Hopefully you stay in the mix for the top and bring success to Celta.
  21. No, seriously - this guy's Set Piece coaching is 6, and he's being suggested as a set piece coach. I'd fire the Technical Director, but it would make no difference. What's the point of having his feature in the game if it's this badly executed? Is it just so that we have buttons to press?
  22. Not only is that patently untrue, honestly it's not remotely accurate. But additionally, we've been told so many times to report examples and demonstrate the problem. This is devoid of purpose.
  23. Season Review 2031/2032 Campione, campione olé olé ole.. campione, campione olé olé ole! English Premier League Progress is key and we managed exactly that, finishing 2 places higher than our last year's position among the European places. It was a challenge navigating both the Premier and Europa Leagues with a squad who is only playing at the top tier for the 2nd time, especially during the business end, but it was well worth it as we secured Champions League football for the 1st time \o/ Les grandes équipes.. the championsssss! FA Cup We were knocked out at the first time of asking but it was no surprise as Jansen chose to play with his third-choice eleven in the return leg against Premier League Champions Man United. We chose to rest our 1st and 2nd choice players for the Prem and Europe, and it was a decision which paid off eventually Carabao Cup It was always going to be a tall task facing the cash rich blue boys from London without our first eleven as we fell to a Fourth Round 0-2 defeat. Europa League The boys have done it!! We bagged the Europa League during the club's 1st foray into Europe, and it was such a satisfying run. We also won it the best way possible, scoring right at the end of extra-time to beat RB Leipzig to the trophy. It's by far Jansen biggest achievement of his tenure but I heard that he's not satisfied and can't wait to go on to bigger and better things The Finances Let's keep getting richer! How You Lined Up The Europa League Winners :**) Player of the Year Omari Kellyman started with sporadic game time down our right but ended the campaign as our 1st-choice number 9 as he led the line so well for us. He's not your regular goal scorer but presses so well upfront and sets the tempo for the team. He also brings his team-mates into play very capably and managed to bag 10 assists in addition to his solid 14 goals. The all-rounded frontman is Jansen's Player of the Year! \o/
  24. Ha! Thanks for this! It's her* though, a rare enough beast in FM, although hopefully getting better with the next release. I think all the ideas about stories and motivations are right. What I didn't say about DeeBoi's stream is that there's just something cool about visiting nice cities all around the med. Maybe manage in towns or cities you've been to, or want to go to? Go on a tour of the Baltics. Spend your time in the sun somewhere? Go between teams that have the same sponsors? Try to win all the top level cups in South America? Or in Britain and Ireland?
  25. And one more thing is to copy this file to the folder below to show the red card __skin_folder__\graphics\boxes\custom\solid
  1. Load more activity
×
×
  • Create New...