warlock

Good to see you still going . I'm afraid my interest in FM22 finally drained away completely. Waiting on FM23 now.

Not necessarily, but I've found 13's for key attributes to produce some excellent fullbacks/wingbacks. I usually search on tackling, pace, crossing and anticipation - if you can find a young prospect with 12/13 for those attributes you can usually rely on them for years to come. In addition, I have often modified a tactic to allow a WB-def/sup, in which case I prioritise passing/vision over crossing and those players usually do well also.

You are very very cynical.

Here's one that has puzzled me for a while... I see in lots of downloadable tactics, and in many tactical discussion threads, "prevent short goalkeeper distribution" is ticked in lone-striker formations. Can a front 3-ish (in a 433) or a front 2 (in a 442 or diamond formation) really prevent short GK distribution when the GK has 4 or 5 players available for a short pass? I can only imagine forward players exhausting themselves trying to cut out passes and pressing when they're obviously outnumbered.

Each to their own, but I find it a bit odd that the pitch is considered the most important part of the game. And for myself, I don't have a single issue with the way the pitch is represented in FM22.

Well played! Must have been fun after the trials and tribulations of Willand

Well played, mate

And often does . Watch out for teams battling against relegation; they're often tougher than top-of-the-table sides (ask me how I know!) Good luck with the run-in.

Really unlucky not to get the promotion there! Better luck next time.

Sub the striker then move the new player to DR. Or move the striker to DR and then sub him. Either way will work (as long as you have a sub available, of course).

Indeed, but no-one can say you didn't give it everything. Better luck with your next club

Gateshead, May 2023 With the lovely MrsW away for the week on business, I've had a lot of time for FM . In our last report from the International Stadium at the start of the year we were comfortably on top of the division and on a good run of form. As often seems to be the way, the wintry start to the year is usually accompanied by a drop off in performances and this year was no exception. It wasn't terrible, but there were causes for concern: Suddenly we were dropping points everywhere, culminating in the February defeat to Barnet. Of more concern was the fact that we won only two league games in January, and just the one in February. Our steady progress in the FA Trophy only added to the general fatigue among the squad. Having held a comfortable 14pt lead over nearest rivals Notts County, our advantage was slowly but surely being eaten away. Happily, we turned things around in March: An unbeaten month and just two points dropped in a fantastic run of form. The win against County in the FA Trophy was pleasing; to see them off in what may have been a title decider to close the month was fantastic. As we headed into April, they were the only team that could catch us if we slipped up: Thankfully, the lads got the job done and the win against Maidstone confirmed our second consecutive title. After an early scare against Solihull in the home leg of the FA Trophy semi-final we also produced a brilliant away performance to book ourselves an appearance at Wembley. Could we do the double? We could, but it was a knock'em out, drag'em out slugfest. Despite dominating in terms of possession and shots on target, we just couldn't put them away. Going into extra time it seemed they'd bagged the trophy with a late goal until Robbie Tinkler stepped up with an equaliser five minutes from time. Tinkler stepped up again in the shootout to score the penalty that gave us the win. So thoughts turn to rebuilding the squad for life in League Two, and a big rebuild is required. About half of the squad is on expiring contracts and aren't good enough to make the step up. A couple of our key loan signings - Marschall in goal and Sunderland LB Newall - are also about to run down their contracts but neither appears to be interested in joining us permanently. In better news, our star midfielder Taylor Chartres - who just won National League Player of the Year - has agreed to extend his loan for another year. Otherwise, we have a lot of critical vacancies to fill, and just £25k to get the job done. A long summer awaits...

Good luck I've always thought Stanley to be one of the toughest saves in FM (maybe alongside Morecambe) because the clubs are so small and difficult to grow off the pitch. It will be interesting to see how you get on.

@Ronaldo Beckham Congrats on the promotion. Good stuff! In terms of the save goals, is Iling the first player you've managed to move up to the PL?

Gateshead, January 2023 Last update came at the end of our first month in the National League - somehow we have arrived at New Year's Day, and a little past the halfway point of the season. And what a season it's been... September and October saw us lose just once, a disappointing away defeat at King's Lynn. We also dropped two points to visitors Yeovil but otherwise we enjoyed a run of sparkling form. If there was a cloud on my horizon it was the radical drop-off in form of the stellar Jamie Soule up front. Having opened his account with an average of a goal a game, he then succumbed to the law of averages and bagged just one goal in his next 10 games. Fortunately, our AMs were able to shoulder the burden as Scott, Langstaff, Charters, Georgiou and Hardy kept us on a winning track. Having relegated Paul Blackett to the role of backup to Soule, I saw the error of my ways when the former scored a cracking first-half hat-trick against Harrogate. From that point, Blackett established himself as first-choice striker. With that run, Blackett took his tally to 15 league goals in 12(7) appearances, while Soule added just one more goal to his tally. And that presents me with a dilemma: do I keep him on loan in the hope he can recapture something like his best form, or send him home and save nearly £1k a week on his wages? December also saw the emergence of a new lethal weapon - young CB Tom Sams: The former Leicester youngster now has 5 goals in his last 8 starts and his average rating of 7.86 in all competitions makes him our best performer. His 19 jumping reach and 12 heading make him an absolute menace from corners. Our spectacular form leaves us comfortably on top of the league as our closest rivals of failed to keep up: Plenty of time for things to go wrong, but can't complain at this stage.

Congrats on the promotion! Good work with the Baggies

Probably the transfer is put on hold to give you a chance to raise the money, but if you can't the transfer will be cancelled.

Good find. He's been added to my shortlist

That's a fantastic run of results, and some impressive performances, too! I can see the attendances would be an issue - for what it's worth in October '22 my Gateshead side (also top of the league) are drawing an average 1,874. It might be a relegation thing - fans losing faith. Also in my save, recently relegated Harrogate, after two seasons in L2, have the National League's lowest attendance at 1,032. Just a guess... FM moves in mysterious ways

Don't worry about it - they only train the position/role/duty set in the training and development screen, or by actually playing matches.

It's a limitation of the game - you can't specify who moves where when you change formations; you have to keep making the changes manually.

An excellent illustration of what's wrong with AI recruitment in FM at the moment, I think. But I have no doubt that you're the right man to turn things around

Gateshead, September 2022 Following our unexpected title win last time out, I set about trying to improve the squad for life in the National League. Not that we needed much, but there were a couple of holes to fill, and some late outbound transfers opened up a couple more. Before the summer break I'd already made moves and brought in CB Geraldo Bairami from Kidderminster. A graduate of the academy at Championship side Birmingham, he looks a player and my coaches rate him as easily our best defender. Sadly, he isn't showing it on the pitch and I'm not sure why. Hopefully, he'll settle into the side sooner rather than later. We also needed recruitment at LB and my first move was to bring back Sunderland prospect Nathan Newall, who had declined a loan renewal back in January. No doubt our promotion helped change his mind and he agreed to a season-long loan. To provide cover and competition for Newall, I paid my second transfer fee of the save - a massive £7.5k for Stockport's Mark Kitching. Although technically not as good as the lad from Sunderland, he brings a bit more experience to our backline. I also wanted better options for the DLP role in central midfield and found a good prospect in Jack Young, originally from neighbouring Newcastle but he joins after a season each at Tranmere and Wycombe Wanderers. He joined on a free transfer and has immediately become one of our most important players. Another hole to plug was backup goalkeeper. I'd already renewed the loan of the excellent Filip Marschall but last season we relied on another loan backup and I wanted a good prospect on our books. 20-year-old Roco Rees joined on a free from Brentford, with scouts and coaches rating him at 5-star potential. With plenty of spare wage budget available, I took the opportunity to add a couple of long-term prospects. 18-year-old CB Ben Beales joined from Middlesborough and looks to be a nailed-on starter in a season or two, while Sunderland's 21-year-old Stephen Wearne looks less likely but provides good cover all across the forward line. At that point I though we were done but as we got into competitive games I had a bad feeling about our striker options. Cedwyn Scott and Macauley Langstaff had done well last time out, but both seemed to be more effective at AMR and AML. That left us with just one out-and-out striker in Paul Blackett who had also done well but lacked a bit of consistency. When our scouts brought to my attention West Brom's Jamie Soule I knew we had our man, if only on loan. Happily, both club and player agreed to the move and he has immediately transformed our front line: As the season got underway the board played a dirty trick - initial expectations were to avoid relegation and that's what I put to the squad. No sooner had that been agreed than the board announced they were expecting a mid-table finish. I was confident of the former, less so the latter, particularly after our opening game, a 2-1 away defeat at Grimsby. However, things looked better through the opening month: Since York were undefeated when we played, an away draw is a creditable result. But Torquay were 2nd and Stockport 1st so we ended August with two fantastic performances. It's also easy to see the impact Soule has had for us, but this will make it clearer: If we can keep him fit, who knows how far we can go.

I'd say a good season. Disappointing in the European final but a fantastic run to get there. Better luck next season