dothestrand

Finally finished the first season. Didn't do too much on the transfer front besides letting Mokotjo go mid-season. I was sitting in the play off spots most of the season. Happy to stay there and not bothered if we didn't go up. Even going into the last game in 3rd 3pts behind Fulham, I was happy, but as you'll see. So a lot of work to do this Summer - can't wait for the inevitable new contract requests!

It is, but I'm not sure about stacking the B team with 18yo Danes with 5* potential especially when you don't have great youth facilities and it isn't a youth save. You've got someone like Mathias Ross (AAB) who'd come cheap and could develop into a great defender, but he'd be less good than Racic. I want these guys to be good enough to be playing now.

I would keep a very close eye on Scotland. Loads of good youngsters come through. Across the city, look at Finlay Robertson.

@Ronaldo Beckham I recognise a few of those players from my shortlist. I'm willing to go quite late in pulling the trigger as none of the young Scandinavians would be likely to be anything other than backups at the moment. I wonder if you ever reach a point when the relationship with FC Midtjylland is at a point where you can have their players for free. I'd quite like Evander in my CM!

@Ronaldo Beckham Wow good progress! I'm still in S1 pre-season and have only signed Lewis Ferguson from Aberdeen really to beef up my CM options. I've signed a couple of young players from the French leagues for very little (FCSM are a great club to raid). I let Josh Clarke leave as he was never likely to play and his deal is up at the end of the season - might as well save those wages. I have my scouts on the lookout for young talent and I'm looking through every European league so I'm trying not to be too impulsive. I reckon we're probably fine with the squad we have at the moment. It would need someone very good to come in now (we probably have around 3m left of our budget). I wanted to sign AAB's Lucas Andersen, who could play anywhere across the CM and AM positions (formerly of Ajax) - I don't think we're a big enough club for him yet. I've seen him go to Premier League teams in other games.

Excellent stuff @Ronaldo Beckham I'll restart my save this evening. I will take a leaf out of @Fubz book and focus on loading up the French and Scandinavian leagues.

Look at the Athletic Club thread. @bowieinspace did a great job on that one. Here's a number of articles for some guidance (I had these saved in an email and mentioned them earlier in this thread when I first discussed a Brentford save). https://thesefootballtimes.co/2015/08/31/is-brentfords-analytics-revolution-the-future-of-football-in-england/ https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/apr/05/brentford-ditched-their-academy-premier-league-outcasts https://www.theguardian.com/football/football-league-blog/2018/aug/08/football-league-blog-brentford-happy-own-way-promotion https://www.sportperformanceanalysis.com/article/2018/6/8/the-history-of-brentford-football-analytics https://footballbh.net/2019/05/28/brentford-championship-tactical-analysis-statistics-analysis/ https://www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk/articles/are-analytics-working-at-brentford-championship

Yeah I reckon there would be enough interest. I think once a fair number are doing simultaneous saves, that justifies a separate thread.

All this Brentford chat is great! I didn't really get very far with my save, so I should start it again. Certainly in most saves they tend to get promoted or be in the play off positions, so it's definitely achievable with the squad. The club vision is very ambitious, with promotion by the second season, so whilst you might get a degree of a pass in the first season, you have to move quickly. By the end of the first season I'd look to find a replacement for Dalsgaard (who's 29), a young CB partner for Jansson (and probably move on Jeanvier), move on Mokotjo and have another option up front as I don't think Karelis is good enough. I'd definitely make sure the Scottish league is running as Lewis Ferguson of Aberdeen could walk straight into your CM, and the likes of Campbell and Turnbull (Motherwell), Porteous (Hibernian) and Robertson (Dundee) are great value. McKenna and Souttar are pricier CBs, you probably can't afford those too early on. The Scottish league tends to get great regens too.

After a while out of playing, I've just finished the 25-26 season. We were always in the mix but hit a great run of form at the back end of the season, partly because we'd played all the big teams earlier on. We won our last eight matches and luckily Barcelona dropped a point at Sevilla in the penultimate round so we could overtake them. As long as we won away at rivals Osasuna, we'd be champions. We beat them comfortably (2-0) to lift the title. Villalibre was again a regular source of goals, and he was backed up by Williams and three regens; Orbegozo (our right winger), Velez (our more attack minded central midfielder) and Telletxea (who alternates with Barrenetxea on the left wing). We picked up Odriozola in January when Madrid listed him. He's been superb. Everyone chipped in really, from the CBs to the other CMs. We need to improve our LB options - I'm trying to retrain one of our left wingers to drop back as there are slim pickings available. Next season, we'll be in the mix again and we'll want to do better in the CL. We were meekly knocked out by Monaco in the first knockouts. Screen shots of our best regens attached.

So the transfer window was busy. I'm trying to sign as many young UK and Irish players as possible and phase out the overseas players. Going into 20-21, I've won the first four games, including demolishing Leeds 4-1 away from home. Bazunu was obviously crazy money and he'll be my backup keeper for this season but he has such high potential. Boye/Rossiter were already agreed when I started the game but they'll move on next season.

I skipped a season in a save and Watford went down, so I'm going to start a game in the Championship (but I'll need to come back up!) A lot of dross that you can move on for decent money, which can be reinvested in good, young talent - and then there are the great young players already there!!!

For my first English save, I'm choosing my local team, Brentford FC. You might them best for their supposed Moneyball approach to football. In the last seven years, Brentford owner Matthew Benham, who made his fortune in gambling, is employing similar methods for Brentford. Their approach to recruitment is simple. Buy young, rough diamonds from the lower leagues, France and Scandinavia, polish them up and sell them on for big profits. The likes of Mepham, Konza, Maupay have been sold for seven figure sums in the last couple of years, and Watkins and Benrahma are likely to follow in the next year or so. If you're a manager who likes of dip into the market, you'll find Brentford an exciting challenge! The board are ambitious too. Play-offs in the first season and promotion in the second - that's a challenge! There are a few other challenges not built into the club vision that you might want to consider - not signing anyone over 23, selling any player on for a realistic profit (e.g if you can turn a 300-400% profit, you should sell), focussing on the aforementioned reasons, not developing strong youth facilities (you can sign young players for the first team, but you are not developing an academy and stockpiling kids), and making the most of your relationship with Benham's other club, FC Midtjylland. With 5m for transfers and 12k for wages, we might try to bring another couple of youngsters in if they're going to augment or improve the first team squad. But we should focus on what we've got primarily and look to make big transfers next season. The tactics might need a tweak but the board want attacking, entertaining football. The first XI should be something along the lines of what you'll see below. The Championship is always a competitive league and the play-offs would be a considerable achievement.

He is that good in my game. How much does he go for? I assume he is the son of the Derby legend?

2024-25 season finished - behind the big two (but not too far off 2nd) and ahead of the chasing pack. I think this is a record wins/points total so far though. The good news is that we have a strong performing squad with consistent performances by first team regulars. We're a little light at FB and with cover up top. But we have some excellent players coming through with a number of wonderkids (attached) - Telletxea, Velez, Alonso, Guruteza - who we need to build our squad around going forward. We have an embarrassment of riches in CM, about seven very good midfielders for three positions! Some good Basque youngsters are other clubs too, who we'll try to pick up. Muniain may move on this Summer if we get a decent offer. Williams too, possibly, though we do need him as a backup to Villalibre. Hopefully we'll keep pushing the big two into the next season and also make more impact in Europe (we tend to get through our CL groups but get dumped out in the first knockout round).