Dong21
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Posts posted by Dong21
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On 30/05/2020 at 23:20, wattzy said:
nyone else started a Bolton save since the Jan update?
I’ve managed Bolton for five seasons @wattzy, although I started the game before the January update. I’ve wrote regularly about my save in this thread if you’re interested.
Will keep an eye out for how you get on with The Trotters!
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Bolton Wanderers - Season 6 - Preview
Not a single ball has been kicked since I last wrote an update, but already there have been some interesting developments heading into our first season back in the Premier League:
- Taking advantage of my 100% board confidence status, I persuaded the board to commit to investing in upgrading our youth facilities, youth level and training facilities. I don't want to just spend all the money generated by promotion on players, I am looking for long-term success for the club and that includes continuing to develop our own players.
- I've agreed a new three year contract with the club. This will give me a bit more security if we struggle next season.
- The board set us a target to look to bravely battle against relegation.
- To my surprise and delight Man United have allowed me to take James Garner on loan for the sixth successive season. This is, once again, without us contributing anything to his wages.
- Spurs have no interest in letting me take Hirst on loan again. As you are only allowed to take two players on long-term domestic loans in the Premier League I will look to move away from a heavy reliance on loan players this season.
- I have decided to not renew the contract of club captain Tom Lockyer, meaning he will depart on a free transfer this summer. First choice centre-back the season before, he has barely featured this campaign.
- I've also made the decision to release my young French CM Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe as although when signing he had great potential, a five month injury this season has taken that away from him. I've decided I'll take my chances on a replacement in the transfer window.
- Shortly after the season ended I tried to make an offer for a player and was told I could not make any signings as we were under transfer embargo with the club being in the process of being sold. The media said two different consortiums were battling it out. This has come at an unfortunate time when I was looking to rebuild the squad in advance of the big step up to the Premier League.
- In early June it was announced we had been taken over by Ryan Ryan. This caused me some bemusement at first as my second choice regen 'keeper who is out on loan at AaB is also called Ryan Ryan. My goalkeeper is an Aussie and my new owner is English however, so there fore I'm assuming I don't have a Player/Owner scenario!
- The new owner doesn't appear to be a tycoon type owner. He has modestly increased the standard £38m promoted team transfer budget by £3m up to £41m. I feel no feeling of excitement regarding this takeover as I'd already successfully balanced the books. I could have done with a new owner who would clear the club debt any time during the first four seasons. Feels a bit like shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted 😂
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Thanks @Jogo Bonito!
2 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:Next season will be tough, especially without your star striker - but good luck
You know me, I like a challenge!
1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:Wow he looks incredible. Would be a great Winger too.
Quite often I'd want to get my back-up striker John-Jules on but didn't really want to lose Hirst or Tedic so I'd sub off my right midfielder and switch Hirst there to utilise his pace.
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Thanks @karanhsingh! Here he is:
He's already an England international, scoring on his debut in March of the season just completed, although England manager Dyche hasn't elected to take him to Euro 2024. I think it is virtually impossible for me to get him back next season - Tottenham have just renewed his contract and he is clearly good enough to get in their first team. I wouldn't be able to afford signing him permanently either. So there is quite a void to fill going into the Premier League campaign!
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Bolton Wanderers - Season 5 - Part 4
Our red hot January form continued on in the beginning of February as we put Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Oxford to the sword, without conceding against any of them. Perhaps predictably, our forward in electric form, Hirst, scored in each game, but goals also came from throughout the squad.
On the night we beat Oxford, our closest rivals Burnley slipped up losing 5-3 against a Millwall side who occupied the relegation zone. We had Millwall up next and I mistakenly took their result against Burnley as a fluke and approached our game in the usual manner I would against a team in the bottom half. This mistake cost us as we lost 4-2. This was much more than a fluke for Millwall, in fact it was a resurgence as these wins commenced a run of seven wins in nine which ultimately would see them avoid relegation comfortably. This loss saw us slip to second in the title race and was confounded by draws against Portsmouth and Derby, two matches we could and should have won.
March was magnificent. We begun by thrashing our local rivals Blackburn 4-1 at their own ground. We then traveled to the Molyneux in the FA Cup, having already knocked out, another Premier League side, Bournemouth. We more than held our own, drawing 1-1 but eventually losing on penalties. This gave me promise for if we were to make it to the Premier League. The match was subsequently voted the best FA Cup match of the season. Otherwise it was all victories in the League, including beating Playoff contenders Brentford and Crystal Palace. The win against Palace took us back top of the table as Burnley slipped up with a draw. With only seven games left apiece it was extremely tight at the top.
Then the unthinkable happened as we were beaten by third place Birmingham. This was the first time all season I can recall us being beaten resoundingly, and it couldn't have come at a worse time. I hoped that it was a blip but we lost again, to Stoke, and then again, to Fulham. The loss to Birmingham had given the upper hand in the title race to Burnley, but the following two losses had me looking over my shoulder and fearing we would drop out of the top two for the first time since the first week of October. Our late collapse in form didn't bode well if we were to compete in the Playoffs.
Next up was Sheff Weds and the pre-match press conference did my nerves no good as the reporter informed me we had failed to beat Wednesday in seven previous attempts. I rallied the troops though and they stepped up to the plate with a big win. We won and Burnley lost to Palace, reducing their lead at the top to just three points, but they had superior goal difference. We still could influence the final outcome though, as we had Burnley to play up next, followed by fourth placed West Brom.
When we visited Turf Moor I took the pressure off the players, telling them nobody expected them to be anywhere near promotion so don't worry if we don't win. Burnley dominated the game in terms of shots and possession but we got the all in important goal to win the game. It was scored by James Garner, a player who poetically has been with me every step of the way over the past five seasons. Next up was another dangerous trip, this time to the Hawthorns. We won again through narrow margins, though this was a much closer game. To my delight I saw post-match that Burnley had drew with Stoke sending us top. All we needed to do was beat Bristol Rovers and we would be champions.
In a surprisingly stress-free final day of the season we beat Rovers with goals from each of my strike partnership, Tedic and Hirst and were crowned winners of the SkyBet Championship.
Promotion to the Premier League seems even sweeter after five seasons at the club, which in the early stages felt like somewhat of a slog. It was a joy to manage this team, all of whom I had recruited except for academy graduates Boon and Browne.
Having a supremely talented forward clearly made a difference. Jimmy Hirst scored 26 goals to pick up the Golden Boot and his average match rating of 7.43 was not only the best in the Championship this season, but the best in Championship history. Hirst was voted man of the match on 14 different occasions, therefore it was not exactly a surprise when he was awarded both the Championship Young Player of the Year and Player of the Year. We were by no means a one man team however, with five of our players making the Championship Team of the Year:
I was surprised not to see Correia also make the league's Team of the Season as he had a stellar campaign, he may have missed out though as he played just under 30 games due to his injury early in the season.
Five seasons in a row I have wrote the same thing; James Garner was absolutely essential to the success of my team. He does not get many goals or assists, but he is the link in the team that starts off the attacks - like Scholes in his later years at Man United. Tedic was a great signing for me, he may have only bagged 11 goals but his partnership with Hirst was invaluable.
When switching to 4-4-2 I made the unorthodox decision to play players who were traditionally inside forwards on the wings in positions they were not natural in, purely so that they could provide crosses with their natural foot. This paid off as we had the best crossing completion in the league (26%) and best heading completion (67%). We set up with a primary focus of looking to get the best out of Hirst and Tedic.
The defence deserve praise too as we conceded fewer goals than anyone else in the league (just 36). Dahlberg looks even more of a bargain at £300k after delivering 21 clean sheets, but of course all of the back four deserve praise. I began the season expecting Lenihan and van den Berg to be my centre backs but I gave 21 year old academy graduate Shaquille Browne (previously fifth choice CB) an opportunity and never looked back. He played and starred in 23 matches. The experience of Lenihan alongside him surely helped his development.
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@karanhsingh Congrats. Just surviving in the Premier League is an achievement, let alone winning the league by 10 points!
I’d be interested in seeing a screenshot of your tactical set-up? It might be useful if I somehow manage to steer Bolton to the promised lands!
Now the big question; where next?
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Bolton Wanderers - Season 5 - Part 3
Our form continued into November, with Hirst once again the star as we defeated Cardiff. The win against Derby marked 13 games in a row without defeat. This would unfortunately end in our next game though, as we lost to Sheff Weds in a game that we dominated. We then lost to Reading and I started to fear that this would be the start of a negative run of form that would see us plummet down the table towards the sort of position we had been expected to finish in.
My fears were allayed though in a busy December in which our form returned to being very satisfying. A win against local rivals Blackburn certainly lifted morale. Avenging their 3-2 win from last season with one of our own. A draw with Brentford saw us drop to 2nd, just behind Burnley in the table. A 2-2 draw with promotion chasing Brentford was by no means a bad result however. We lost to Bristol Rovers who have quickly established themselves as our bogey team, but otherwise won the 4 other matches that followed the Brentford match. The 4-0 destroyal of Nottm Forest was a particular highlight.
The Christmas period was as hectic as ever and meant that our emphatic victory over Forest was followed just two days later by our game against Cardiff. I played a very changed side and unfortunately they could not get the win. The 6-0 win against Luton in the FA Cup 3rd Round was one of the most enjoyable of the season, to date. This was not just because of the scoreline, but because I gave opportunities to a lot of squad players who all stepped up and performed. Third choice striker John-Jules got a brace and utility option Mbenza delivered a hat-trick from left wing.
We had been interchanging positions at the top of the table with Burnley, but our 1-1 draw with Barnsley, coupled with a defeat for The Clarets, saw us take the lead at the top of the table by a point. Two wins apiece since then has meant the margin has stayed the same. Carlo Holse has proven to be a key player over the last three months as the winger has stepped up to score important goals when it has mattered most. We are well placed in the table but this is over a third of the campaign still to go, so I don't intend to start getting complacent.
The month ended with a victory against Bournemouth in the FA Cup 4th Round. It was reassuring to be able to beat Premier League opposition, with promotion potentially on the cards, particularly as it wasn't a 'smash and grab', we were the better team. The next round see's us face Wolves who are 7th in the Prem; an even sterner test.
Transfers
It was an uncharacteristically quiet transfer window by my standards, primarily as things were going so well I didn't see much reason to change things.
Eddie Brown was not seeing many opportunities due to the great form of Hirst, Tedic and John-Jules, therefore I loaned him out to Bristol City to continue his development. There were a couple of sales of youth players, but neither of them had much potential so it was nice just to receive a fee for them. There was only one incoming player; someone who is quite popular on this forum!
In one of my press conferences a journalist asked me for my views on Reading manager Maarten Stekelenberg transfer listing Danny Loader. This was the first I had heard of this. Reading were having a good season (at that time they were 7th in the league) and Loader was in good form with 7 goals from the left wing - I therefore assumed he must be transfer listed by request due to ambitions to play for a club of greater stature. This was not the case however, as I discovered he was listed due to the club's financial status. In fact, the entire team was transfer listed and the club's financial position was listed as 'In Debt'. I don't recall seeing something quite this extreme before. He was transfer listed for £8.75m. I liked the player but I was well stocked on the wings and did not really need to change a winning team. I thought I'd be kind to Reading and see if they would accept a reduced offer but with the big benefit to them of keeping him on loan for the rest of the season. They accepted £6m with the loan and the deal was agreed. When the summer comes Correia will return to Man City and Schurrle will be a year older, so Loader will see opportunities on the wing at Bolton more plentiful. Reading ended up selling 14 players in January, with a few loan incomings to plug the gaps, it will be interesting to see where they finish in the league.
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@Parmie I’m impressed at the rate at which you get through seasons! It’s taken me about 6 months to find the time to get 5 seasons in with Bolton 😂
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@karanhsingh Looks like you are on course for another cracking season! Balancing performing well in Europe and the league is impressive.
Looks like some solid recruitment there @Jogo Bonito with the signing of Abraham certainly a coup. I expect him to be a real threat at that level. Good luck for the upcoming campaign.
@serg__23 I might be biased but Bolton have some quality youth and, for me at least, the academy has continued to produce. Just up to you if you want to start with the challenge of starting on -12points!
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Thanks @karanhsingh. I’m still favouring a more fluid approach, rather than direct as I like to play possession based football. We are set up to counter attack primarily though, playing to the pace of Hirst.
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Bolton Wanderers - Season 5 - Part 2
Pre-season went very well with many of my new signings building momentum by getting on the scoresheet. We also conceded quite a few early doors, but that was mainly before my new centre back signings had arrived at the club. We didn't play any particularly big clubs as I prefer to build morale and fitness over glamour ties, for example against Premier League opposition.
During the course of pre-season I made a tactical change that would stick going into the new season. Last season we had operated with a 4-1-2-2-1 formation with a midfield trio anchored by Garner, an inside forward on the left and a lone central forward. I decided to change things up though after signing Hirst and Tadic. Both strikers seemed too good not to start. This switch was potentially harsh on one of my centre mids Brownhill who will now get less games and perhaps means less goals from the wingers, but these were sacrifices I'm willing to take. You will see from the image I have been playing Holse and Wallem in positions they are uncomfortable in - both are more used to playing further forward and on the opposite flanks, but I decided I wanted the option for more crosses with their natural feet with two capable forwards to feed in the middle.
The fixture list was kind with four seemingly winnable league fixtures to start the season. We won three of these, with the other a frustrating loss against Luton when we'd had 28 shots at their goal. We ended the month with a respectable draw at Sheffield United. A good start to the season, but I expected this to drop off slightly once we took on tougher opposition. I gave my squad players an opportunity in the League Cup. We ended up losing on penalties in the end but the match itself was an exhilarating experience. We took a 2-0 lead and looked comfortable, Blackpool roared back into a surprising 3-2 lead, before we scored a goal in stoppage time to take it to pens.
I was feeling positive about this season, but was has happened next has shocked even me. We have beaten a series of top half Championship sides, embarking on a terrific run of form. In the prior season our top goalscorer got 6 goals all season whereas, as you can see above, Jimmy Hirst delivered 8 goals in 6 games at one point! Hirst has rightly been getting the headlines but his strike partner Tedic has repeatedly put in strong performances, acting as the perfect foil. James Garner has been top class in the centre of the pitch - negating my fear that we may fall short without a third centre midfielder. We have conceded the second fewest amount of goals in the league, with new signings Dahlberg and Lenihan showing their worth.
Our current league position is well above expectation (we were predicted to come 12th), so don't be surprised if we drop off at some point. I am loving this season though thus far. Still a long way to go, but returning Bolton to the Premier League in 5 seasons would be a proud achievement. Fingers crossed.
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20 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:
@Dong21 It must be nice to be a little more liberal in the market. Your two strikers from Serbia & Tottenham look to be exciting, and plenty of others should help take you to the next level. A great update as always.
Thanks. It certainly does @Jogo Bonito! Much more satisfying than starting a fresh save with a club with money I think.
7 hours ago, karanhsingh said:@Dong21 - it looks like you have definitely filled the coffers at Bolton! Maybe invest a bit more in the squad now to make that push? Or was it a conscious decision not to? BTW I had managed Kotchap on my last game and can confirm he turns into a beastly defender!
I decided that I was happy with my squad and recruits so didn’t feel the need to spend more. Hopefully I don’t live to regret that, but so far so good! An update on how the season has gone so far will follow shortly.
You’re doing terrifically with Sunderland, keep up the good work 👏🏼
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Bolton Wanderers - Season 5 - Part 1
As expected it was a summer of much comings and goings at Bolton Wanderers.
Transfers Out
The transfer window had only been open a short while when a £20m bid came in from, now established Premier League side, Huddersfield Town for my centre-back Bella-Kotchap. I didn't particularly want to sell the highly rated Germany under-21 player and I had thought that if he was to go it would be to a top side. I replied to the offer stating I would only accept his contracted minimum release fee of £36.5m and to my surprise they came back and agreed the fee right away. I was quite shocked, but he is a young player with bags of potential and this transfer is indicative of the levels of finance that clubs in the Premier League possess. I had been going into the transfer window full of excitement as for the first time in this career I had a budget, thanks to player sales in previous seasons. This was a complete game changer though as my budget rocketed from £2.5m to £25m. It took me a little while to acclimatise as I have spent my whole time on FM20 to date searching in the bargain basement.
The other notable sale was of a 16 year old CM who had literally just arrived in my latest crop of youth recruits. He looks quite the talent, already rated 2 star with 5 star potential. Spurs came in with good money for him and although I'd love to do some player development, I decided not to stand in his way. Luckily I still have a young squad overall to focus on developing.
Transfer In
Having lost first choice stopper Maric to a pre-contract agreement, signing a goalkeeper was a necessity. I signed Pontus Dahlberg from Watford for what I think was a bargain fee of £300k. He is already a very good player for this level and his age means he has plenty of years ahead of him to get even better. I also signed Aussie regen 'keeper Ryan Ryan who I have sent out to AaB for experience. He has a lot of potential, but more importantly has an amazing name.
I signed young Northern Irish regen Mark Donnelly with the view that he would be my first choice right back for the upcoming season. Late in the window I decided that his current ability probably isn't quite there yet and, not wanting to have any weak spots, I decided to once again loan Ethan Laird from Man Utd. Lowton was shipped out to the MLS and Donnelly assumed the roll of deputy. I decided that I was happy with my two left backs from last season, but centre back needed some work after the departure of Bella-Kotchap.
With an abundance of funds that I was somewhat reluctant to spend I decided to make a marquee signing in the form of experienced centre-back Darragh Lenihan for £3.4m from Norwich. The view was that he would add real leadership along with some class. I brought in Sepp van den Berg on loan from Liverpool to partner Lenihan at the back. This is perhaps harsh on club captain Lockyer who has performed well in previous seasons and will likely lose his starting role, but I can't pass up the opportunity to upgrade. I rejected a £3m bid for him on deadline day as I want to keep him for now at least as an option. I also recruited Ezri Konsa which may look like a coup as he'd previously gone to Aston Villa for £12m but injuries have downgraded his stats slightly. At 26 he still is a good squad player.
Centre-midfield was the area I was most happy with last season. Retaining the trio of Garner, Brownhill and Doyle-Hayes would have been good enough business here for me. Right at the end of the prior season Dina Ebimbe got an injury that would rule him out for 6 months but I also had cover from young Assarsson who was returning from loan. Plans changed though when I noticed that a player of the quality of Conor Gallagher was available to loan, and the Chelsea man was brought in swiftly.
Talented wingers are key to my formation, so once again this was an area I looked to enhance. Despite having a large budget, Carlo Holse was one of only three players I paid a fee for. The Dortmunder is a rarity as a left footed wing option in my squad. I also brought in experienced Andre Schurrle who I have a fondness for as I seem to end up managing him or signing him on every iteration of Football Manager. I have always found him to be predictably German in his reliability. Finally I also signed Felix Correia on loan from City, so we are well and truly stocked on the wings.
A lack of goalscorers was definitely my team's downfall last season, so I was determined to add this to my team this time around. I believe I have found a real gem hidden in the Serbian league - I shall share a screenshot below of Slobodan Tedic below (along with a few other key players), and hopefully you all agree. Also joining on a free, Tyreece John-Jules is a young pacey forward who has spent his career at Arsenal prior to release. The final signing to report on is particularly exciting. I spotted that Spurs had a wonderkid forward with electric pace available for loan. They wanted all his wages covered and they are a hefty £44k per week. I pondered raising the wage bill long and hard, as a keen focus of mine in this save has been financial stability. In the end though, I decided that there would still be tonnes of cash left available after I completed the deal and Jimmy Hirst could be a real game changer, so I went for it and completed the signing.
Pontus Dahlberg:
Spoiler
Darragh Lenihan:
Spoiler
James Garner:
Spoiler
Slobodan Tedic:
Spoiler
Jimmy Hirst:
Spoiler
Season 2023-24 Squad:
The transfer window closed with £17m and £100k per week for wages still sitting in the pot unused. This may seem wasteful but I am happy with my squad and excited for the season ahead. Hopefully the years of slogging away with this club pay off with a fun season finally.
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Thanks for the comments @Jogo Bonito, @smplfc123 and @karanhsingh. Loving how interactive this forum is at the moment!
On 29/04/2020 at 16:10, karanhsingh said:By the way how did Darcy Boon and Senior turn out. They all seem to have some good potential on my save.
Boon is my first choice left back, has played 76 league games for Bolton and is progressing well.
I sold Darcy to Watford in January 2021 for £8m and he spent the season after back on loan with us. Last season, however, he didn’t go on loan and he didn’t feature for Watford, so that may have effected his development. Several Championship sides are currently looking to take him on loan for the upcoming season.
Adam Senior never seemed to have much potential on my save. Maybe his attributes are variable or he got upgraded after the patch (I’ve been playing this save a while!). Released him in 2022 and he joined Yeovil who have since been relegated to the National League.
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Bolton Wanderers - Season 4 - Part 4
Positives for March were that we went undefeated and beat a good Brentford side. Negatives were that we didn't score more than one goal in each game and conceding an 89th minute equaliser against Wigan was tough. In April we fell to defeats against Sheff Utd and Fulham, but continued the narrative that ran deep throughout this season, comfortably beating three teams that would go on to finish below us. Rogers got three in three, in these important fixtures. We ended the season with a battling draw against Burnley. I was particularly pleased with this result as our season could be considered over whereas Burnley were fighting for automatic promotion, however we were resilient to the end. The draw meant Burnley finished 3rd and missed out on promotion to the Premier League, as Leeds went on to win the Playoffs.
We finished 14th, which I was very pleased with as at the beginning of the season I genuinely thought we would be involved in a relegation battle that would likely see me sacked. We were only four points off 9th place in the end, which tells me if we had an in-form marksman we could have finished even higher. We got 52 goals, spread across the team, which isn't too bad - but when you consider the joint top goalscorers with 6 goals were Wallem, Mbenza and Rogers, it's clear that we were lacking up top. Perhaps if Rogers was with us all season that might have made a difference.
Garner was once again our standout player, shining in his new role as a defensive deep lying playmaker. Brownhill was our most creative player with 7 assists and 4 goals. Right back Laird was only with us for 16 games, therefore I was very impressed he also provided 7 assists. Bella-Kotchap and Lockyer formed a strong partnership at the back, but the German Bella-Kotchap was the star of the pair. Boon and Doyle-Hayes developed well over the season, helped by an increase in playing time. Conversely Brown really under-performed, only delivering 3 goals despite being involved all season. As he is an academy graduate who continues to have potential, I intend to persevere with him, in the hope he comes good.
Season 5 Preview
I have signed a new two year contract, so the Bolton adventure seems to be rolling on.
Due to the club's troublesome financial position, caused primarily by the large directors loan that drains the club on a monthly basis, I have been fixing the squad with many short term solutions. This has included bringing in some players of advancing years on short term contracts. These signings have added valuable experience but just briefly cover over gaps in the squad. Due to my net player sells totaling £39m over the past four seasons and our relative success on the pitch, the club is in a much healthier financial position, setting me up for a summer where I can look to build on my squad.
Karim Benzema, Jamie Vardy and Joe Hart are all retiring and I plan to release squad players Remi Streete and Matty Palmer. Goalkeeper Marko Maric had a stellar season, including 17 league clean sheets, but he refused to entertain signing a new contract in his final year and agreed a deal to join German side Wiesbaden at the end of his contract. I won't be looking to renew the loans of Stuparevic, Burke and Ajayi, plus Borges, who did well, is joining Bordeaux on a free and therefore won't be available.
With all these departures there is lots of scope to bring in new faces, and finally we have a transfer budget (£2m) with which I am positive I can use economically to improve the side. I have an early piece of good news on the transfer front; Man United have allowed me to take Garner on loan for the fifth season in a row. I really thought this would be the year they finally said no to me. He has a new £27.5k per week contract (of which we continue to pay 0%) and is valued at £17.75m.
I would consider looking to bring Laird and Rogers back on loan to the club, but I intend to look for permanent recruits in the first instance. The likes of Bella-Kotchap, Boon, Brownhill, Garner, Wallem, Brown and Doyle-Hayes are a talented and youthful core group. If I can add some touches of class, and primarily a goalscorer, hopefully we can push on for a top half finish next season.
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19 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:
@Dong21 That's solid stuff, good to see! An amazing coup with the new striker (and Benzema isn't bad either). Seriously though, I thought I had done will to get Kolbeinn Sigþórsson in for me at Bolton, you have certainly trumped that! Good to see Morgan Rogers grab a few goals too, hopefully you don't have to pay much of his £25,000 per week wages!
Thanks @Jogo Bonito. Only paying £15k of his £25k wages so not too bad! Luckily we had a bit of room in the wage budget after all the player sales.
Interesting development; got offered the Crystal Palace job. They are 18th in the Premier League but only one point off their nearest rival, so survival is very achievable. If this was real life any manager would jump at the opportunity but I’m going to carry on with the Bolton adventure (actually, challenge may be the more accurate descriptor 😂).
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Bolton Wanders - Season 4 - Part 3
"Beat the teams around you. Those are the important games."
The 2022 World Cup concluded in Qatar with France the victors, meaning that the English domestic leagues could once again resume. England had surprisingly failed to qualify, finishing behind Poland in their qualifying group, making the calendar disruption slightly less palatable for the English FA.
We'd had a good mid-season mini pre-season so confidence was high going back into competitive fixtures. Our match against Sunderland, however, could have so nearly been one of the most frustrating matches I've ever been involved in. We absolutely dominated the Black Cats, they got players sent off in the 47th and 69th minutes and Wallem scored an amazing goal from 30 yards out that was ruled out due to another one of my players, who was not in their 'keepers line of site, being adjudged offside. It was looking like we weren't going to capitalise on all of these factors, but eventually Brownhill rose to the occasion and scored the late winner. We then beat Rotherham with an even later winner, a 97th minute penalty scored by the man you would always want on penalties in these scenarios, Jamie Vardy. I almost felt sorry for Rotherham, but that quickly passed. We continued our run of form with a victory against Middlesborough. This trio of home wins against teams around us in the table are exactly the sorts of results we needed to be securing.
Defeats against Leicester and away at Burnley were expected and therefore not particularly troubling. Particularly as we didn't allow this to then effect us when playing Bristol Rovers, picking up the win in an end-to-end clash against the relegation candidates. If the game against Sunderland was nearly the most frustrating match I've managed, then the defeat in the derby to Blackburn may just take the title. We were 2-0 up and seemingly cruising to victory, when they scored in the 85th, 89th and 92nd minutes. I was speechless. We followed this up by labouring to a victory over Port Vale in the FA Cup which required penalties. Because the team played 120 minutes only a few days earlier, I had to play a second string side against Oxford. A scoreless draw felt like an okay result after left back Marlon get sent off early in the second half. We ended the month with a great victory at Pride Park against Derby.
Transfers Out
The sale of José Rodriguez is, in my opinion, a delightful piece of business. Signed on a free in the summer, made four substitute appearances and then sold on for £2.3m. This is one of the reasons I value the free transfer market so highly. The other notable sale caught me somewhat by surprise. West Ham bid £1.5m for 17 year old forward Nathan Ashby, who I must admit I hadn't taken much notice of in my reserves, but after closer inspection he had great potential. I offered him out for £2m and suddenly five Premier League sides put bids in for him. This created a bidding war that I negotiated up and up until I could get the best price possible for him. Ashby chose Bournemouth who at that point were having a terrific season, sitting 3rd in the Premier League. I would love to be in a position to develop the youth that my academy is producing, but in our financial position I always have to think of the greater good. Net sales for the season now totaled £24m.
Transfers In:
You may recall in the summer I asked the board to negotiate the loan signing of winger Lemperle; well it turns out they only bothered to do this for half the season as on Jan 1st I was informed he had departed. This left me with a gap on the wings. Wide play is essential to my formation so I decided to replace him with two signings. Goncalo Borges on loan from Porto and Oli Burke on loan from West Brom. Finances continue to be tight and I had space for more loanees, so the short term market seemed attractive. I wanted some athleticism at right back so I looked to the United academy that has served me so well in this career to date, bringing in Ethan Laird. Finally, to combat our lack of goals, I brought in Morgan Rogers. Hopefully he can shine where others have failed before.
There was, however, one more signing made just after the transfer window closed. Global superstar Karim Benzema was lured to the University of Bolton Stadium. Benzema had been available since the summer when his PSG contract expired but it had taken seven months out in the cold for him to even consider a club like Bolton. I only have him for six months until he retires but his physical and mental stats are phenomenal so I couldn't not bring him in for the final chapter of his playing career.
Rogers made an instant impression, scoring in a draw against Reading. It was the next game though, that drew big intrigue as we faced top-of-the-table Swansea in what was to be Benzema's debut. The game lived up to it's hype. It was 0-0 at 65 minutes so I decided that this was the right time to bring on my star signing. Benzema instantly made an impact scoring to take the lead. Swansea equalised, but the presence of the veteran striker clearly inspired the team as they went on to bag three late goals that sealed a resounding win.
Defeats against Forest, West Brom and Leeds were expected, but of course disappointing. What was pleasing though was our wins against Barnsley and Sunderland. Wallem was returning from injury after a four week lay off and returned with a superb hat-trick against Barnsley. Doyle-Hayes was the star of the show against Sunderland. We exited the FA Cup in a close game against Birmingham in which Benzema got his third of the season.
We sit 15th with 10 games of the season to go. I'd have snapped your hand off for that at the beginning of the season. Mathematically it looks like we will finish somewhere close to where we are, although hopefully we can end on a positive run after a slight recent dip in form. Victories against our nearest rivals have been the key to success this season.
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Great start to the season @Jogo Bonito, although I wouldn't expect anything less. Particularly impressive considering how frugal you were with your large budget.
I'm actually considering taking Morgan Rogers on loan, to try and tackle my goal scoring issue.
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Lots of interesting updates on here recently, clearly lock-down combined with the Easter Bank Holiday weekend is a recipe for good FM career progress!
So a brief update from The University of Bolton Stadium (well... brief for my standards!)
Bolton Wanderers - Season 4 - Part 2
When I last reported on our progress we were in the relegation zone and things weren't looking all that positive for The Trotters. I did, however, have some hope as we had switched to a 4-1-2-2-1 (wide) formation in the final game of my last update and we had played very well in a drawing effort against Fulham.
We began the month with a trip to the King Power Stadium, a fixture I had identified before the season started as likely our toughest fixture of the campaign. They still have Youri Tielemans! We lost the game, but played pretty well and I even went away feeling a little hard done by that we didn't get a draw, as their goal was a soft set piece. The rest of the fixtures in September were against teams also in the bottom half of the table, so I knew this would be make or break for us.
We began against QPR and put in a shift to get a well deserved victory. The winner was scored by MOTM Doyle-Hayes who is operating in a box-to-box midfielder role alongside Brownhill. With Garner sitting behind them as a deep lying playmaker with defensive duties, the team was looking well balanced. I was feeling fairly confident of securing a win leading up to our next game against Hull, but could not predict our margin of victory. 5-0 is my biggest result in four seasons as Bolton manager, in a competitive fixture. Lemperle was the star of this result, playing on the right wing and cutting in to score a hat-trick on his left. Stuparevic ended a barren spell to score, and even now-squad player Streete got on the scoresheet, coming on late in the game to cover at right back, a position not even familiar to him. Next up were Middlesborough. We looked comfortable at 1-0 until an 82nd minute red card for Brownhill made things nervy. We hung on and secured the three points. Finally, Bristol Rovers. This fixture had banana skin written all over it, but thanks to an own goal (the ball was going in anyway) we secured a victory here too.
What a difference a month makes. I'd gone from contemplating starting a new save to falling back in love with my squad again.
October was a tougher month, but I still have maintained a lot of the positivity from the month before. We lost away at Sheffield United, a victory firmly in the category of 'games we expect to lose'. We got back to winning ways though with a victory over Birmingham. 1-0 has quickly become our favourite scoreline and Mbenza had developed into a key player after a slow start. These narrow victories highlight that we are playing well but struggling to score goals. We create tonnes of chances each game but my forwards aren't putting them away.
We didn't win in our last five games before the pre-World Cup winter break, which sounds bad on paper but we actually secured some good results. Score draws away at Elland Road and Hillsborough are good results in anyone's books. Barnsley were 5th and Wigan were 3rd when I took them on, so both were having great seasons and performing well above expectations. These were extremely frustrating fixtures as we were much the better side in both games but only came away with 0-0 draws. We had far more shots and possession, for instance in the Wigan game we had 22 shots and 60% possession.
At the half-way point of the season we sit 16th in the league, not too far off the board's expected finish of mid-table and surpassing the medias expectation of a relegation dog fight. We play good football and on the whole have decent players, the big issue though is a lack of goal scoring. Stuparevic bagged 17 league goals last season but has only mustered two this season. Brown has been presented more chances to play this season than the one prior, but has only repaid my faith with one goal. Our top scorer at this point is Mbenza, who only has four. If one of my forwards can kick into gear and start scoring then we could see ourselves in a secure league position.
Star performers have been my midfield trio of Garner, Brownhill and Doyle-Hayes. I wish I had moved Garner into his deeper position in my prior three seasons managing him, as this appears to be where he is most effective, with space to spray the ball around the pitch.
I constructed a mini pre-season prior to the league restarting on Boxing Day after the 2022 World Cup to keep the players match fit and build up some form. I was worried that I had picked too strong an opposition when we were pumped 4-0 by Southampton, but my faith was restored when we beat another Premier League side, Watford, 3-1 a few days later. Next up was a set of Ligue 1 opposition; Guingamp and Montpellier. I thought these were going to be tough games but they turned out to both be very comfortable victories. We finished the period with two morale boosting wins over non-league opposition. I feel like we are raring to go, so fingers crossed for a strong second half of the Championship season.
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On 07/04/2020 at 09:46, Jogo Bonito said:
As you can see from the final table, we had an incredibly satisfying season, with 112 points and exactly 100 goals bagged.
Great season that Jogo, finished it off in style!
I have had a bad experience with Brewster, he underperformed whilst on loan in my first season. But his stats and potential are undeniable. In my save he is established in the first team for Liverpool... When you are used to lower league management it always seems a tough decision whether to spend large sums of money!
Whatever you decide, I look forward to hearing about your summer business in your next update.
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Bolton Wanderers - Season 4 - Part 1
Asset Stripping for Survival
As I alluded to in my last post, the financial situation at Bolton was pretty dire going into the fourth season, our second in the Championship. This wasn't down to any mismanagement on my part, it was due to large debts sitting on the club's balance sheet. In fact I have done a lot to keep the club in the black, cashing in on large sell-on clauses in season one and selling Darcy for £8m in season two. Although we made player sales in season three and only brought in free transfers and loan players, there was no significant incoming of cash which I believe is why my budget was dashed so drastically. Our wage budget was decreased from £185k per week to £155k, when we were spending £185k per week, and the amount of funds I would retain from player sales was decreased to just 5%. I was placed in a very difficult position and I must admit I was very tempted to quit and start again with a new team. I do like a challenge, and a long-term save, so I thought I would at least give it a try.
This season is the year of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar which means the season is paused for the whole month of November and the majority of December. The impact on me is that the season starts earlier and as such the transfer window finished early on the 21st July, meaning I didn't have much time to try and raise funds and enhance the squad.
I began by reviewing the squad and considering who I could dispose of. Atsu under performed last season, Clauss had been a liability for me at times, Burton had potential but in a position I was stocked in and Wright had come back half the player he was before his injury - as such I deemed all surplus to requirements and selling them raised me just over £4m. I only received a minuscule fraction of these funds, but the sales freed up some of the wage bill to make two signings. I was absolutely delighted, and quite frankly shocked, to be able to recruit Germany under-21s international Armel Bella-Kotchap. Lots of other teams were interested, but for some reason he chose Bolton. To put things into perspective as to how much of a coup this was, his transfer value was set to £13.75m on arrival. Bella-Kotchap's signing was important as Streete had also come back a poorer player after being ruled out for the entire second half of last season. My second signing was striker Ben Brereton from local rivals Blackburn. His goalscoring record for them has been poor but he has good attributes and is young, so I am hoping I can mould him into a player.
Not shown on the transfer page (I have never understood why this is the case on FM) are the loan renewals of James Garner and Filip Stuparevic, two of my key players last season. I chose not to renew the loans of Brandon Williams, Boubacar Fofana and Ronan Darcy. Williams was the hardest decision as, like Garner, I have had him for three seasons already, but with Boon and Marlon at the club I couldn't really justify a third left back. Darcy is a local lad with talent but I thought it was time I gave Harrop a chance in the team, plus his wages were expensive. I thought I would bulk up my squad with loanees with 0% wages covered, but basically no clubs would allow me this. Very disappointing in our quest for success on a budget. The only player I was able to secure on these terms was QPR centre-back Semi Ajayi. The benefit of his signing is this gives me the flexibility to play 5-2-1-2 with Ajayi, Bella-Kotchap and Lockyer at the back.
Our primary tactic was still to be 4-2-3-1 however and with the departures of Atsu, Fofana and King-Harmes (on loan) I quickly realised we were very short on wingers. I asked the board to intervene and negotiate the loan signing of Koln inverted winger Tim Lemperle and was surprised when they actually complied and covered his wages.
When identifying players who were surplus to requirements at the beginning of the window I also identified Conor Hourihane. Hourihane is a very good player who had had a good season for me but with his questionable injury record his high transfer value caught my eye. I was also aware I had some good young centre-mids who could benefit from an opportunity. I offered Hourihane out for his value and was pleased when lots of bids came in. Throughout the window, however, I agreed fees with clubs multiple times only for him to reject his personal terms. A stressful experience. In the end I had to accept bids from English sides, something I had been resisting doing throughout the window, which meant he finally left on deadline day.
As usual I had a large number of trialists at the club throughout pre-season with the hope that I would be able to offer some of them contracts when some money was raised. On the eve of the season commencing I hadn't been able to raise enough funds and we were looking likely to go into the new season with gaping holes in my squad. For example we had no right backs at the club after the sale of Clauss and the release of George Williams. I decided to assess my squad again and see if there was anyone else I could sell. Throughout the window I had bids for the young Barca-bred forward Fernandez, the highest being £4.5m from WBA. I had been rejecting these offers due to his high potential, but with the interest of the 'greater good' I decided to contemplate selling him. I offered him out for the release fee he had in his contract £11.75m. Southampton came in with a bid of £9.75m and the board accepted it - I was tempted to be annoyed about their meddling, but I would definitely have accepted it anyway. The one saving grace was that the deal included Gerard Fernandez coming back on loan for the season, increasing my options.
This large amount of funds meant I finally had some leg-room to sign up some of the trialists I had been hoping to sign. Experienced right-back Matt Lowton, box-to-box midfielder Josh Brownhill and inside forward Isaac Mbenza all joined the club on deadline day. After the transfer window had closed I noticed that relegated Leicester had released Jamie Vardy, who had already declared he would be retiring at the end of the season. His pace had depleted but his mental and technical stats are still exemplary. I entered into negotiations and was delighted to find he was interested in an 'impact sub' role and only wanted minimal wages, so I snapped him up. His experience should help my otherwise youthful squad. The final signing was utility midfield option Jose Rodriguez, a player with pedigree as he had passed through the Real Madrid academy.
Pre-season started extremely early and went well, primarily due to the legion of trialists at the club that I was running my eye over. We started the season well, beating Oxford with both of my strikers getting on the scoresheet. The start to the season went downhill from there however, as we fell to defeats against Blackburn, Reading and Derby. I could tell this season was going to be a real struggle.
August begun with three more league defeats. They were all close games in which we applied our new 5-2-1-2 formation, although it didn't stop us from conceding as hoped. Swansea and Brentford had been relegated from the Premier League and Forest pushed for promotion the prior season so these were always going to be tough fixtures. We picked up an important win against fellow strugglers Portsmouth - a win that gave me slight hope we could turn this season into something. It was a shame to go out of the EFL Cup but survival in the Championship is the clear number one priority, and we followed that game up with a 1-1 draw against Fulham, a game in which we were the better team.
After the opening two months of the season we find ourselves in the relegation zone. The board have inexplicably demanded a mid-table finish, despite crippling us financially, so questions will soon be asked of me if I don't start to steer us up the table soon. I feel like the game recently has been Administrator 2020 rather than Football Manager 2020 as the focus has purely been on asset stripping. Now that is out of the way, the focus turns to trying to find a tactic that will see our team of underdogs succeed this season. We switched to a 4-1-2-2-1 against Fulham and played well, so maybe that will be the solution. Our main issue is a complete lack of goals with Wallem and Mbenza the only players to make it to two goals so far.
I may get sacked as this continues but I can hold my head high that I have transformed the clubs balance sheet over the last two months. We are now £18m in the black and club debts stand at £22.5m, which appears manageable at current. Hopefully results improve and I can stay in the role, to make the efforts worth it.
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Congrats on your promotion @Jogo Bonito - sounds like a cracking season! Must admit I can’t help but feel jealous when I see your transfer budget for your return to the Championship! 😂
Back-to-back promotions has to be the aim? Any interesting sides in line to be relegated from the Premier League, that might challenge you?
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18 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:
Good luck for the summer and beyond!
The board have dropped the wage budget from £185k per week to £155k per week. They’ve also dropped the percentage I retain from transfers down to 5%. I tried to protest but they’ve said that is non-negotiable. So I’m not sure at this point if I’m going to be able to rebuild...
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24 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:
I have a feeling there will be quite a bit of player movement in the summer, good luck with that.
I think you might be right! Regroup, rebuild and let’s go.
Congrats on your start at the Hawthorns, looks like you’re flying. Hope you can keep it up.
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FM20 - Travelling slowly on Lorient Express
in FM Career Updates
Posted
Just stumbled across this thread @Jogo Bonito and enjoyed reading about how you’ve been doing. I can tell by the pace you are going at you are liking this save!
Although a long-term visitor of the forum I’ve never really ventured much into the Career Updates section. Your thread has made me think I might like to give it a go, I think I’d enjoy posting more detailed updates.