vikeologist

I'm going to have to abandon my FM22 Ultimate save and go back to my national challenge. Just too many bugs. I came across one where the game started adding new leagues with all divisions, and I couldn't stop it, (could only make it so only the top division for each nation loaded) so I had 8 nations loaded. It's a challenge killing bug for me, and I was only in the early stages anyway. I'll give it another go on FM23, which hopefully will be less buggy, even at beta stage, than the game is now. I'm glad for all of you that don't seem to be encountering lots of bugs though. Clearly I have a talent for breaking the game. I know I'm behind on updating the leader board. Will get to it soon.

If a competition doesn't start, then it's unlikely to fix itself. I haven't heard of this happening (again, because it happened once a few years ago, and killed just about every Ultimate Challenge going on at that time). Please report it, or link to where someone else has, (and everybody else check it's not happening in their game). I hope you don't have to restart, but it's unlikely to happen to only one person. Perhaps, I'd have to ask if we can have a hidden thread on the site which you can only see if you're sent a link.

Vikeologist's 2024/5 QPR Report After saving QPR from relegation the second half of last season, I’d have loved to be able to move straight on to a Premiership club, but there weren’t many decent jobs came out (I did apply to top half of the table Southampton but didn’t even get an interview), so I figured my best chance was if I could get QPR promoted which I did, even winning the title on the final day of the season. As I’ve suggested in my notes below, it was easyish; we were always at the top of the table, but there was some element of doubt until right near the end. Unfortunately there still aren’t any decent jobs to apply for. I’d kind of like to get a job with a team playing in Europe now, but hopefully actually winning something will put me in good stead. I'm adding the other big 4 top divisions to increase my odds. The question is do I keep doing this challenge or go back to my Scotland nation building, which has been pretty much built as much as it’s ever going to be. Atm I plan to keep doing this, but I have no enthusiasm for QPR, so if I don’t get a better job soon I can see myself losing interest. I’m not going to put much work into QPR. Top Goalscorer - Macauley Bonne – 14 The same guy as last season. I did sign a new striker, but he was injured a lot and didn’t score all that much even when he played. Bonne isn’t that great, but the team as a whole scored enough, and we conceded the fewest goals in the division. I’ll definitely need another new striker for the Premier League though. Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui – 7.42 A central defender who was also in my Cameroon squad (albeit on the bench) for the ACON. He wants a big pay rise, but he’s 34 and has about 3 years left, so he’s going to be disappointed. Man of The Match – 3 players – 5 Most Valuable Player– Ilias Chair Chair is still our only good left winger, so in a poor field, I guess it’s him, because the player who is supposedly our best player, my defensive midfielder, didn’t actually play particularly well, and is now leaving on a free at the age of 34. Domestic Season Team Division Position MVP Notes 21/22 Oldham England League 2 11th Jayson Leutwiler Took over after 21 matches in 23rd and steered them to safety. 22/23 Oldham England League 2 3rd Carlos Tevez Promoted on last day of the season. 23/24 Oldham England League 2 Left after 19 matches with Oldham in 10th place 23/24 QPR England Championship 13th Rob Dickie Took over after 18 matches in 22nd (relegation) place. FA Cup Q/F /25 QPR England Championship 1st Ilias Chair Comfortable promotion, but not super-comfortable. International Year Team Achievements 2024-2025 Cameroon Acon Finalists 2025- Morocco Challenge Progress 0/32 Club 0/10 top domestic leagues 0/10 domestic cups 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/1 World Cup

Vikeologist's 2025 Cameroon ACON Report I think that my first ACON is likely to offer an interesting contrast with your fortunes. Doing one of my occasional palate cleansers from the other challenge by doing this. Found it hard to get back into, and one of the reasons is that I’m in charge of a Cameroon team that is, what’s the word? Rubbish. We finished behind Cape Verde in our AfNat qualifying, but 2nd place was enough and here we are. Frankly, I expect to do so badly I’ll be sacked but then, that wouldn’t be the end of the world. I plan to apply for pretty much every other available job at the end of the tourny anyway. The FA expect me to reach the quarter finals. I’d be amazed if that happened. Group Stage Second Round (if applicable) Quarterfinals (if applicable) Semi-Finals (if applicable) Final / 3rd Place Playoff (if applicable) After The Tournament

The question's never come up before. Does the update simply change which clubs players are at? Or does it change the attributes of players. I think that it should probably be ok. The trouble is that I can't give carte blanche to data updates as they could change which nations clubs are in. For instance, I can't allow people to use the Perugia 150 million one. What if we say that the only updates allowed are strictly transfer updates? Other than that; No 'league and data updates' from the workshop. What do people think? Is this unfair?

Sorry. Saw your Canada question on my phone (which I don;t log on to site on). Canada's fine. Official add on league. The Mali job, well we have to accept the bad bugs, so I have no objection to the good bugs, but honestly I'm not sure it's a bug. Mali isn't that fantastic an international job. It is possible to get an international job straight away. Not necessarily a good idea to take it.

TL;DR- I'd rather not change the challenge in the middle of FM22. Generally speaking, I'm reluctant to change the challenge at all. It's just a me thing perhaps. I don't like change. That said, I might be open to the idea of changing things for FM23. I think it actually would change the challenge, but then again it might be an excuse to start a new thread, and maybe have a resurgence of interest before the game itself changes the challenge (for instance with the introduction of women's football). The both good and bad thing about limiting the leagues is that it standardises the challenge, but also means that folk like you and I who've done this challenge a few times fancy a few modifications to the hamster wheel, (not to mention I've been reading about the hamstering for nearly 8 years now). The league thing was something that was decided by everybody in the first year or so, and on the whole I want the challenge to stay the same, rather than 'evolving'. (I didn't even want to change the starting age 20 thing, but someone started it older, and experiments proved that it made zero difference, although for all I know there are consequences at the other end, e.g. being a very old manager. It wouldn't bother me if someone started a new challenge with all leagues playable. One of the thoughts behind the limitation originally was to encourage other people to think up new challenges with the custom leagues, which I think has happened. I don't necessarily want the challenge to go on forever. In fact at one point I wanted to stop the thread (and implicitly the challenge) after 100 pages of the last thread. 'For everything there is a season' etc. So if all leagues were introduced for FM23, I'd kind of want it to be a year long farewell party for the challenge, (although obviously the challenge wouldn't actually end. I'd just stop overseeing it for FM24). Bear in mind that 8 people completing on FM21 was a record for the thread, though of course the glory days of the thread were a while ago. Finally, when women's football is introduced, I will integrate it into a new Ultimate FM Challenge, and that basically will be new leagues into the challenge. I expect that will happen in FM24. Obviously I welcome everybody's thoughts on these matters. Do people want RB's opening up of leagues?

It can often be unrecoverable. Linked to another thread in CSE, there might not be all that much difference between average and high professionalism, but some combinations with low professionalism; OMG, and if this personality change happens when he's influential enough not to be mentorable, it's a lost cause.

What was the actual change in his personality? What do he go from and to?

@BigJackI admire the way you're planning to finish the challenge. Most people so near the finish just want to get it over with. I certainly do. It's like the end of a marathon, but 100 metres from the finish line, you've decided to take part in a quick triathlon first. I'm currently doing this challenge for a season (maybe) as a palate cleanser to my other challenge which is much the same every season now. I'm managing QPR in the Championship, in my (I think) 3rd season, and maybe starting in a big nation like England and working your way up quickly is a good way for me to make progress in the challenge quickly, but I find it a tough way to do the challenge because I want to be completing a competition objective. I'm not really planning to stay with QPR, or even win anything with them. I'm just using them to get a job with a top club, so it's hard to be invested. (Especially since there's no chance of my carrying on the save into FM23). I may well attempt the challenge properly next 'year'. You of course are planning to take Charlton all the way. If a job becomes available at Man City or the like, will you be tempted, or even know?

Vikeologist's 2034 Scotland World Cup Report We’re 10th in the world. We’re the top seed in our group, which we should win comfortably. I’d hope we could make the quarter finals. Germany, Holland and Belgium didn’t even qualify. We did only finish runners up in our qualifying group, but IIRC that was because we had someone sent off in our final match. The FA want us to reach the 3rd round, or last 16, which will involve one fairly tricky match. There’s a danger of complacency. It will only take one disastrous tournament for me to be sacked, but hopefully qualifying for every tournament so far has earned me some capital. 4 years ago we finished 3rd, and we were left with what ifs, (although chiefly what if England weren’t better than us in every area of the pitch). 14 of the 23 man squad play for Hibs, (including 9 of the starting eleven). Only 7 of the squad are 30 or over. Kieran Tierney (who also plays for Hibs) came out of international retirement and is 37. Group Stage 2nd Round (if applicable) 3rd Round (if applicable) Quarter Final (if applicable) Semi Final (if applicable) 3rd Place Playoff / Final (if applicable) After The Tournament

Vikeologist's 2033/4 Hibs Report Sort of feel it would be boring to write much about the season. The last 2 seasons we’d had comfortable leads midway through the season before throwing it away due to having to play lots of European matches. This season we didn’t take our foot off the gas, and won with about 8 matches to go. In the Champions League we topped our group but came up against Liverpool in the first knockout round. We managed to make it close despite their massive skill advantage, but still lost 7-6 on aggregate. There’s not even anything exciting going on in the coefficients anymore. Scotland is comfortable in the top 5 Euro nations ahead of France, but still a long way adrift of Germany in 4th. At least this meant I could give run outs to lots of our young players, and give our senior players a rest before the World Cup. The only outstanding issue was whether we could win the Scottish Cup. It’s been a few season since we won a domestic cup largely because I usually play the reserves. Not this season though. Nonetheless, Celtic beat us in the final against the run of play. A bit annoying. With regard to achieving the challenge, there’s not much going on. Both Hibs and Scotland are not going to get much better. About 9 of the national starting eleven play for Hibs. We might win the Champions League, Euros or even the World Cup, but it’s unlikely, and probably not going to get any likelier. The national DYR isn’t going to go up. My board won’t build a new stadium, so I’m stuck with a 25 limit until the board changes, which won’t be any time soon. Squad Top Goalscorer – Ethan Wilson – 27 A lot less goals this season, but that’s because he didn’t play nearly so many matches with squad rotation and going out of the Champions League early. A goal every 110 minutes is fine, although hopefully he does better during the World Cup. Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Chris Mochrie – 7.67 It’s like Mochrie knew that after 5 seasons straight I’d tossed the MVP bone to another player and decided to not leave it to chance this season. Man of The Match – Ethan Wilson / Chris Mochrie – 6 Again, a low total due to lots of squad rotation. Most Valuable Player– Chris Mochrie Definitely the MVP of the entire save. Wonderkid / Youth Watch Aidan Downie 30a is the only official wonderkid now, as Duncanson at 21 might be too old, but 19 year old Billy Hughes 31e was the NxGn winner, and our only player to feature. I sold a promising striker Brandon Kirk 31a to Porto, because he wasn’t going to develop behind lone striker Ethan Wilson who’s only 26. Having to think about both Hibs and the national team means that I have to at least consider selling promising young players if I think they’ll get enough first team action elsewhere to develop, (which they usually don’t). Next up this summer the World Cup. Hibs Season Position MVP Notes 21/22 4th Kyle Magennis Scottish / League Cup double. 22/23 3rd Kevin Nisbet No trophies, but massive progression. 23/24 4th Kyle Magennis Scottish Cup Winners 24/25 2nd Kyle Magennis Another domestic cup double and first CL qualification. 25/26 4th Kyle Magennis League Cup and reached the group stage of the Champions League 26/27 2nd Josh Doig Europa Conference Winners 27/28 3rd Chris Mochrie Scottish Cup winners 28/29 2nd Chris Mochrie Scottish Cup winners (again) and CL S/F 29/30 2nd Chris Mochrie Threw away league title last match of the season. 30/31 1st Chris Mochrie League/ Cup double. 31/32 2nd Chris Mochrie No trophies 32/33 2nd Ethan Wilson Threw away a 7 point lead with 4 matches to play. Europa League. 33/34 1st Chris Mochrie Won league with about 8 matches to spare. CL 1st KO Round. Lost Sc Cup final. Scotland Season World Ranking Next Year's Euro Coefficient Prem League Ranking 21/22 41st 10th 11th Qualified for the World Cup 22/23 18th 8th Promoted from Euro League Div B after winning all 6 matches. World Cup R2 23/24 19th 8th 9th Topped Euro Championship Qualifiying. Reached Euros Q/F 24/25 16th 8th 8th 2nd in Euro League group. 25/26 17th 10th 8th Qualified for World Cup 26/27 20th 6th 9th Eliminnated in WC R2. Stayed in NL Dision A. 27/28 18th 6th 7th Qualified for Euros. Reached Euros Q/F 28/29 16th 6th 7th 3rd in Nations League group 29/30 18th 5th 6th Qualified for World Cup (on goal difference, in 2nd place). 30/31 12th 5th 6th World Cup 3rd place. Avoided Nations League group of death relegation. 31/32 11th 6th 6th Euros Q/F 32/33 8th 5th 6th Nations League S/F

---------------- Match Records ------------------------------ Biggest Win - Vikeologist - Valencia 20-0 Malpica - proof Biggest League Win - Vikeologist - Everton 12-0 West Brom - proof Highest Number of Different Goalscorers - treva - 9 different goalscorers (Croatia 13-0 Azerbaijan) - proof Fastest goal - Fastbasher - 11s - proof Most hattricks in a match - _JHTB_ - 4 - proof ------------------------------ Player Match Records ------------------------------ Oldest Player - Surd - Amir Karic - 46 years 74 days - proof Oldest Goalscorer - Surd Amir Karic - 46 years 74 days - proof Youngest Goalscorer - Vikeologist - Adam Tapping - 15 years 216 days - proof Most U19 Goals - LetsNotScoreGoals - Jaroslav Knakal - 8 (against Besiktas U19s) [proof] Most Assists by a player in a Match - bjwphneb - Alberto Agudo - 5 - [Proof] Most Goal Contributions in a match - bjwphneb - Bernd Rutten - 7 - [Proof] -------------------------------- Player Season Records -------------------------------- Highest average rating - Britrock - Mandla Mkhwanazi - 8.18 - proof Most clean sheets (38 game season) - treva - Elian Dichara - 27 - proof Most Assists (38 game season) - _JHTB_ - Gabriel Ahumada - 42 - proof Most Goals (38 game season) - Vikeologist- Nathan - 45 - proof Most Club Goals - Vikeologist - Nathan - 56 - proof ------------------------------- Player Career Records Most Career Appearances - Fastbasher - Bryan Pham Ba YP39a - 963 - proof Most Career Goals - Fastbasher - Bryan Pham Ba YP39a - 472 - proof Most international caps - XaW - Ganbold Mönkh-Erdene (Mongolia) - 95 - proof Most international goal - XaW - Rouven Brinks (Austria) - 33 - proof ------------------------------- ------------------------------ Other Player Records ------------------------------ Fewest Goals to win top scorer (38 game season) - _JHTB_ - Jean-Yves Lapasset - 14 - proof ------------------------- Seasonal Records ------------------------ Highest point total (38 game season) - _JHTB_ - Atletico Madrid - 107 - proof Highest goals scored (38 game season) - Vikeologist - Valencia - 156 - proof Highest goal difference (38 game season) - Vikeologist - Valencia - 128 - proof ----------------------- Team Records Matches won in a row - Vikeologist - Kaizer Chiefs - 30 - Proof League matches won in a row - Vikeologist - Valencia - 41 - Proof Matches Without Losing - Vikeologist - Kaizer Chiefs - 50 - Proof ----------- ----------------------------------- Manager Career Records ----------------------------------- Most Languages (Learnt to be) Spoken Fluently - bjwphneb - Scott Williams - 6 - [Proof] ------------------------------- International Records ------------------------------- -------------------------- The Hall of Shame -------------------------- Most players picking up multi-card bans in one fixture - _JHTB_ - Liverpool - 4 - proof Shortest Time Spent at Club Before Being Sacked - bjwphneb - Scott Williams - 54 Days - [Proof] ------------------------------------ Miscellaneous Records ------------------------------------ Most goals scored in a cup competition - Vikeologist - Kaizer Chiefs - 84 - proof -------------------------------

I'd suggest only having 2 to 3 leagues loaded at any time. Just add and remove as you go along. It's probably a good idea to have some idea where you want to go, and where you plan to go next. There are generally 2 main paths that people take. Start in Asia (probably China) or S Africa. Do the Americas and then finish in Europe. Or start in Europe, at a lower division English club for instance, do the whole of Europe and then the rest of the world. But really just start where you fancy starting. If you start at too low a club, it can add years to your challenge, and I give some advice at the start of the thread, but the main thing is to have fun. On the other hand, you have to load up a league where you're going to be able to get a first job.

For legal reasons you couldn't do it with real people at the start of the game, but I'd like to see unfit owners try to take over clubs, and maybe sometimes succeed. Board takeovers failing because the EFL block it (which would be primarily a UI thing changing the message you get when a takeover fails). Boards being a nightmare a la (just off the top of my head and just league 2 clubs because God knows there's enough just there, some thankfully largely in the past) Bradford, Oldham, Swindon, Rochdale). So, some specific things Board interference Supporter unrest Financial mismanagement Terrible PR Generally awful board management. I realise that there'd have to be a balance, and you don;t want the game to become depressing or for users to not be able to achieve success ever with their favourite club, but long term, it would be nice for lower division teams to face the same kind of problems as they regrettably often do in real life.

I thought there was once a thread where people could put forward ideas for new challenges. If there was, it's probably been archived now, and perhaps it had a misleading title, because I can't find it. This could be a thread where people can get advice and have their raw ideas workshopped. Alternatively you could see if others will say that they want to join in. Obviously there's nothing to stop people just starting a thread for their challenge, getting going, and seeing who joins in. This is just an alternative space. I have a couple of ideas. I don't want to 'run' them, because I do one already. If you post an idea in this thread, and someone starts a new challenge thread and changes the rules, that's up to them. Any idea here is 'public property'. Lastly, there probably are no new ideas. I mean, my first idea is not exactly new at all. There have been a lot of ideas for challenges that didn't really work, but were basically sound ideas.

Please feel free to post here, whichever version you're playing on. The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge The History: This challenge was created for FM15 by LetsGetReadyTo The Rules: The Basics Win 32 competitions starting with no qualifications and Sunday League experience The Small Print Please post a screenshot of your starting profile so we can see that your manager is suitably inexperienced and unqualified. After that the more screenshots the better. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 32 Competitions you must win to win the challenge 10 Leagues La Liga (Spain) Premier League (England) Bundesliga (Germany) Ligue 1 (France) Serie A (Italy) AND 5 OTHER TOP LEAGUES. 5 Champions Leagues Champions League (Europe) Champions League (Asia) Copa Libertadores (South America) NACL (North American Champions League) ACL (Africa Champions League) 6 International Tournaments UEFA Euros (Europe) AFC (Asian Cup Of Nations) Copa America (South America) Gold Cup (North America) ACON (African Cup Of Nations) <Not the African Championship of Nations - CHAN> FIFA World Cup 11 Others Domestic Cups from 10 separate nations required where all the top level teams are entered (apart from Mexico - see post 3). Some nations have 2 cups that meet this criteria. It doesn't have to be the 'main' cup. FIFA Club World Cup ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEW - Your manager can be any age at the start of the game, (but do pay attention to the guidance on nationality / languages below) Start Unemployed (and continue unemployed as long as you like). Sunday League Reputation No Coaching Badges (at the start. You can and should obtain them along the way). Starting attributes can be allocated as you wish. No additional languages beyond those generated by your nationality(ies) Any nationality (it doesn't have to be your genuine nationality) Second nationality only if you genuinely have a genuine second nationality and you have used your real primary nationality Game Setup For FM23 the following piece of advice is critical. I don't think you'll be able to complete the challenge unless you do this. No disabling attribute masking in the full version of the game No use of in-game editor (including things like Genie Scout) for anything other than cosmetic changes (e.g. team strips). All other advanced options (e.g. adding players to playable teams) are allowed. (See advice below in post 3) Any version of FM from Football Manager 2015 onwards is allowed, (Classic, Full Fat, Touch, Mobile) but note the instructions for Touch below You can start with any number of nations loaded, any database size, any start date NEW - You can use official SI expansion leagues, (Gibraltar is currently the only official expansion league, but Canada used to be before FM22) but apart from those you cannot use any customised databases, for instance to add playable nations or divisions Finally - Don't reload matches. We're pretty laid back about your playing the game however floats your boat, but the whole point of this challenge is that you might fail, in either big or small ways. Possible Bug Alerts Bugs don't necessarily affect everybody, but here I'll detail ones that may occur and how to get around them. They may have been fixed. They may not happen to you. They're just possible bugs. The main big in FM23 affecting this challenge is that in Africa you can't register players for the Champions League or Confederations Cup if they have ever played in either competition for another African side during the course of the save. This obviously limits your options, and if you're not careful, can really screw up your chances of winning the African Champions League. There is what looks like a very similar problem with the North American Champions League It would appear that SI haven't fixed either of these bugs so we just have to work our way around the problem. If you have any good players you can register, don't let them go, because you'll have a hell of a problem replacing them. Give them whatever they want and tie them up for years in advance. FM Touch Instructions To do this challenge on Touch you will need to unlock national management before you start this game. You can do this either by having unlocked it in a previous save and then restarting, or by purchasing it. If you don't do this, you will never be able to manage an international team, which would make the challenge impossible. You could also unlock / purchase the attribute masking before starting, but this is discretionary. All other unlockables in Touch are strictly banned so if you have unlocked any, please ensure that they are not activated at the start of the game. I think you need to remove league and nation restrictions at the start of the game so that you can add and remove leagues throughout the game.