Anthony Kenna

I am currently in February 2020 with Alfreton after getting sacked by Hemel Hempstead (in April 2019) and then Curzon Ashton (in June 2019). Hemel sacked me for underachieving against the board objective of play-off place, even though the media prediction was mid-table. I was shortly back in the game to keep Curzon Ashton up, who were 3 points from safety with with 4 games to go. We managed to get 3 drawers and a win playing ultra defensive, and this kept us up. Then there was a board takeover and I was sacked, as they wanted their own manager to come in. In July 2019, I got the Alfreton job and we are performing above expectations, and we have done well in the FA Trophy. We have just beat Curzon Ashton in the league (they are 9 points from safety now) and we have smashed Hemel Hempstead in the cup 6-0, which I was absolutely delighted about. However, there weren't any press conferences or even mentions of either of them being my former clubs in the build up to the games. Selfishly, and unprofessionally, and would have seriously lauded these victories over them and probably just typed "Ha ha ha, you're going down!" in the free text boxes but I didn't get given the chance. Has anyone else played against a former club and there hasn't been any apparent knowledge of it in the game? Considering the animosity between the clubs and me, I thought there may have been something.

I like it. I have gone straight into the deep end and do it all myself. Don't leave anything to the assistant. I have figured out the best preseason schedules (for my team) and then I have a few of the same sessions every week and alternate the others. Bearing in mind that I am part time in the Vanarama League North so there are only 4 sessions in the week, I have found it really interesting to blend the team training with the individual training. When players want more of something, I add this to the next week's schedule and also to their individuals. At the moment, I am at Alfreton and we have conceded loads from free kicks and crosses, so I have got the Defending Wide and Defending Free Kicks on the weekly schedules, and then add a Possession or Attacking in the other slots. After 2 weeks, there is a definite improvement, so I think it is going well.

After playing for years and years, I don't really get much fun out of going straight to the top. I love starting at the lowest possible English league and try to build my profile up. If that means the same club, then so be it, but I only make moves I would realistically make. I don't give myself any badges, and I am always "realistic" with my attributes. I used to be half decent up front so I use my points on attacking and fitness coaching, whilst I use the Motivator template too. My set-up is generally all major nations to lowest level, and medium database. I am on a fairly new i7 msi so I still get 4*, but previous laptops have struggled. Personally, I don't think there is anything better than a cup run in the lower leagues and doubling your club finances after a couple of games. I was Boston last year and got promoted up to the championship, but it was an away 3rd round tie at Utd (when I was in Vanarama National) which kept the finances afloat to do that!! Luck of the draw...

The only time I have ever received a "world realistic" transfer offer (realistic = extortionate) is for regens with 5* potential. I tend to play in the lower leagues so I am not talking multi-millions, but I once got £1m for a 17 y/o winger when I was in Vanarama National with Boston. He was 2* CA but I played him every other week. He was a full 5* PA (for me) and his value was £100k but a few premier league clubs started bidding and I eventually sold for a million to Burnley. Needless to say, the million I received was the catalyst for a couple of straight promotions up to league 1 so it was huge for me. I would accept bids until a higher bid comes in, then reject the lower ones until there was only one team left.

From my experience, new games are added to the Optimized Games list within a few weeks of release. Although, not everyone is convinced that this will make a difference to the lag or stuttering.

Forgive my naivety, but is the problem in the FM/SI half or the nvidia half? My FM has been stuttering at times, but then other times it is relatively smooth. By no means is it perfect, but not unplayable.

Not sure if this makes a difference (for those with nvidia geforce cards, but FM19 isn't currently in their "Optimised Games" list yet. https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/geforce-experience/games/ I have noticed games lagging before and then as soon as they are "Optimised" then they run much better.

I tend to play in the bottom end of national leagues so the few staff I have don't always have good enough stats to base ratings off. I like my Asst Mgr to have Judging Current of 10+ and Tactical Knowledge of 7+ so I can rely on their input, but I make my own mind up. I have found the stars can be very useful but last season at Boston, I signed Deidrick-roberts as a winger but ended up using him as a poacher because he just banged goals in. He was a 2* striker but my main striker Tshimanga (4*) couldn't buy a goal! I thought it was just good form at first but he fired me up to the Championship from National North, over many years, although he was never above 2* rating as a striker. Sometimes, I just do what works, and not be too reliant on having a first 11 with 3+ stars etc. I like my players to be above 90% to be starting, but I don't always have that luxury with the amount of games, especially if you have a decent cup run! I have always done a lot of fitness training, but with the new training set up, sometimes I only get 2 sessions per week with the part time clubs, if there is a midweek game. Average Rating or Last 5 rating is nice, but I don't always agree with the match rating so I don't tend to rely on it too much. I look at the actual stats on the form screen, and see if they are going well. I like my defenders to have have good heading stats and my strikers to have a good number of shots on target. Now, I take the the training rating into account a lot too. I think the differences in how everyone plays the game is what makes this the best in the world.

Yeah, it is just so frustrating. I wanted to try and get a good fee for him in either Jan or Summer transfer window from a league club, but then he goes and pulls the rug from underneath me. Even if I had got his value (£12.5k), that would have sorted my budget out for the next couple of seasons. Anyway, it is all water under the bridge because I resigned (got sacked) in Feb anyway :-/

After posting this, I have won another 3 on the bounce. I am not sure what triggered it but I started doing quickness training at least once per week, and alternate the tactical/technical attacking sessions in the other slot(s). Although it has projected me up to the lofty heights of 12th, my board confidence is still only 30% and I am still getting the "under fire" description on every pre match email. Can't see me lasting the season unless I carry this on. Board still expect play-off place but I am 13 points behind 8th, and I have got some tough games coming up. What are people's experiences when they haven't met their league expectations? If I finish mid-table, would I be likely to get another contract?

I had a similar issue, but in the National League South. I was in December 2018 with Hemel Hempstead and my left winger was my best player (can't remember his name), and although we were crap, his average rating was very good. He was valued at £12.5k and was a high earner. He was unhappy because he wanted to move to a bigger club, so I said that it was pointless discussing because they were no interested parties. He subsequently seen his backside and put in a transfer request. Now that he is transfer listed, the biggest offer I received was £3.5k. I managed to get £6k in January from Boston but he was still valued at £12.5k, and went up to £20k after he'd moved!! Granted, £6k was more than my starting budget, but I was hoping to get about £15k at the least.

This year seems really tough in the lower leagues, especially with part time teams. I have started with Hemel Hempstead, and the board want play-off, media prediction was 7th... so I am in 16th (in Jan 2019) and have been in/out relegation zone pretty much all season. Luckily I have recently had 2 back to back wins, otherwise I would be firmly in the mix for the drop. I have found it hard to get the training right when you have only got 2 or 4 sessions per week, and the players are all unhappy with it. Not complaining though because I love a challenge, but it seems to be the toughest FM that I can remember.

I agree with a few of these comments about getting direct emails to the inbox with the scout reports that the manager has requested. I also like the thought of the scouting meeting being a long list of players rather than 1 per page, because I never read the actual page, I just see the recommendation and expand if it's above 60. The list could contain key info e.g. Name, Position, C.A., P.A., Recommendation Score and Value (or could the manager choose these columns?). Not sure if there is already a way to do this, but is there a way to see (from the scout report) who has suggested the player in the first place? Whether it was the manager, or whether it was just a scout following instructions?

Just ordered this. Seems like a cracking laptop, perfect for what I need. Thanks for the heads up :-) How you finding it?

Hi guys, looking at a new laptop (mainly for FM). Saw this on John Lewis, but don't know the comparison between AMD and Intel tbh. Seems quite cheap really. https://m.johnlewis.com/hp-15-bw089na-laptop-amd-a12-8gb-ram-256gb-amd-radeon-530-2gb-graphics-15-6-full-hd-natural-silver/p3357997?sku=237166721&tmad=c&tmcampid=50&s_dscid=DSMG__DPA_FB__Electrical_Retargeting_p12