laurentius82
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Posts posted by laurentius82
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We also had a takeover by an investor called, would you believe it, Steve Churcher. Perfect!
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First season in top flight ends. The Steves survive!
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One thing I really like about this playing style is that it forces me to be loyal to a core group of players (because there just aren't too many alternatives out there). For example, Steve Webster joined us 10 seasons ago in the Vanarama National as a 16-year-old, and has just now played his first matches in the Premier League.
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We have done it! The Steves are promoted to the Premier League! No playoffs needed as we finish 2nd after Leeds (who btw spent 170 million this season on transfers IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP). We had a horrible finish to the season with 5 straight defeats but thanks to our good form earlier in the season it didn't cost us the promotion.
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4 hours ago, ollieshrews said:
When am I likely to be invited into the EPL U23 league?
Most likely never, unfortunately. Unless you get very lucky. But like XaW said, make sure you get youth level 1, it helps but doesn't guarantee anything.
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On 16/07/2021 at 21:52, Platinum said:
Here is an article published by Football Manager talking about why we should keep older players
https://www.footballmanager.com/the-byline/why-your-squad-needs-older-players-wednesday-wisdom
These would be great if they actually had significance in the game. Currently they really don't, which is a big issue that I hope is addressed in future iterations. The wonderkid dominance needs to end! 😉
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16 hours ago, Crispypaul said:
That was the explanation in FM21 but I took a team from the VNS in FM20 and it was fine
Me too, but I never got my U23 team in the league. In FM19 or 18 I think I did get them in the league after a few seasons in the Prem, so I guess it's just down to luck whether it happens or not.
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57 minutes ago, Crispypaul said:
I think was in a bug in FM21, as I am sure in FM20 my U23 team went from Central League -> PDL -> Premier League 2 according to the youth level
Yes I think this works also in FM21 if you already have your U23s in a lower u23 league. The problem is that when your U23 team is not in any competitive league at the start of the game (or you don't have an U23 team to begin with), as is the case usually when starting in non-league, it is almost impossible to get your U23 in any of the leagues, regardless of how much your club has progressed. And this has been the case for many FMs now.
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It's really, really hard unfortunately. Teams just don't drop out of the U23 league very often. I have had two saves on FM21, both over 10 seasons, and haven't gotten my U23 team in the league in either of them. Iirc it was the same in FM20 and 19 too. Having perfect facilities, being the best team in the world, and winning the premier league 5 times in a row also doesn't help.
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It's another end-of-season heartbreak. We just can't win these play off finals. 3d final in the save, 3rd narrow defeat. Looks like we're just going to have to win the league.
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We were so close to being promoted to the Premier league, lost the playoff final 3-2 against West Brom. 😣 All in all a fine season for the Steves nonetheless. I believe we're a really solid central defender short of a promotion-winning side. Yari Stevens and Steven Page are not PL quality unfortunately, but there just aren't many options for us.
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7 hours ago, phd_angel said:
Instead of a ludicrous challenge (like only Charlies or only that), how about playing all matches on Key highlights only (so it's more difficult to diagnose in-match developments)?
Do it if it works for you of course but I doubt it would increase the level of challenge for very long once you tune your tactic and bring in the army of cheap Colombian wonderkids. Diagnosis of in-match developments and tactical tinkering in response is also one of my favourite parts of the game, which is why I seldom play even on extended.
7 hours ago, phd_angel said:What's the secret of back to back promotions, over 5 seasons?!... I sincerely find it a bit hard to believe unless one has applied or downloaded some cheat-sheets or formulas learnt from some hackers, or reload saves if scores go the wrong way, etc.
Unfortunately there's nothing special about it, happens routinely on FM and countless people on these forums do it every year. No cheating or exploit-tactics are needed, it would be really silly to make the game even easier. Honestly, I handicap myself by only signing Steves in my team to make the game harder, why on Earth would I then cheat to make it easier?
All you need to do is compose a decent tactic that suits your players, first in lower leagues concentrate on free transfers of players released especially from premier league clubs. Don't mind going slightly negative with the finances (I know some people would disagree about this) to constantly improve your team, it will balance itself out later when you're promoted or sell your signings on. As a non-professional team concentrate your scarce training sessions on team cohesion and match preparation. Perhaps in League one or so you will have some actual transfer budget to spend and can scout also abroad, send your scouts to places known to produce good talent on the cheap, such as many eastern European countries. There are often also some affordable gems in Ireland and Scotland. Always sign youth only, experience has zero value in the game, and you want to see your players develop to either stay in the team in higher divisions or to be sold for profit. As soon as you can scout South America, raid the Colombian wonderkid factory. Also places like Uruguay and Argentina and Brazil of course, although players tend to be a bit more expensive there.
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This year's exhibit...
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On 28/08/2021 at 17:45, phd_angel said:
Have you ever taken a club from the Sixth division to the Premier League, and even European leagues?… How many seasons did it take? And how did you do it? Any screenshots…
VNS/VNN to prem on FM takes most often 5 seasons (standard game without added restrictions). You sometimes have to spend 2 seasons in the Championship, so maybe 6. Never more than that. In order to have a more challenging game with just the right level of difficulty, may I recommend the "Many Steves Challenge", where you also start in the VNS/VNN but are only allowed to have peole named Steve at your club 😉
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Yeah the youth academy challenge is great too, but the problem there is that you have to give up a key element of the game entirely (transfers, whereas with this one you still get the thrill of new signings - I'd say even more so as good transfers are very hard to come by and doubly satisfying when they do.
I wonder if anyone else is playing the challenge? Would be great to hear some stories!
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1 hour ago, Brother Ben said:
I love the logo by the way and coupled with your signing criteria is it a case of "Jobs for the boys?"
I'll get my coat
😂
Thanks mate, I spent a long while making a proper logo (and kits too) only to discover I can't put it in my save anymore because you can't change logos/kits for teams created with the "create a club" feature. 🤦♂️ So we're stuck with the logo I made in 10 seconds when starting the save (then as a joke) and generic kits...
I can honestly this has become the most enjoyable FM save I've ever had, restricting transfers this way provides exactly the right amount of challenge so that we progress over the years but it's far from being too easy like it is in a normal save.
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It is a sad day as club legend and fan favourite Tommy Stevens has left the club after 10 years of service. He wasn't getting game time anymore in the Championship, he's contract ran out and he wanted a new challenge. It was not before we got to honour him in a testimonial match which was also the first match played at our brand new stadium (which I'll rename the Tommy Stevens Stadium) with an almost full crowd of 14000 fans giving him a farewell and thanks for the impressive 386 league appearances and a club record of 268 league goals. What a man! Hope somebody still signs him for a couple of years...
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Second season in the Championship ends with a solid top-half finish at 10th. We could have potentially pushed for the playoffs but our problem was losing way too many points after conceding several goals at the late stages of matches. Need to try and bolster our defense for next season. Attacking-wise we were good and Stiven Sanchez was top-scorer with Tommy Stevens-esque 41 league goals. Steven Ardnt, a German winger who we've had on loan for the past 3 seasons from Mainz, was also excellent chipping in 14 goals and 17 assists.
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We'll finally get a new stadium too! Would have been nice to get a slightly bigger one as we can't build another one for 20 years but at least it's improvement over our current 5000-seater
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Our signing of the season has to be Stephen Bukari from Asante Kotoko in Ghana for 250K, really solid all-round midfielder.
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First season in the Championship ends with a solid mid-table finish. No danger of relegation but we didn't really have the firepower to challenge for the playoffs either. Top scorer Stiven Sanchez with 22 goals. Steven Arndt (winger on loan from Mainz) finished at the top the assists chart in the league with 16. Luckily he'll be back next season again! Hopefully we can improve the side for next season, but it's getting hard now as there really aren't that many options for us... But we relish the challenge! =)
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It's back-to-back promotion time baby! The Steves manage to do the "standard FM thing" of going from top of league 2 to top of league 1 as we just about sneak into winning the title on the last matchday again. For the first time, the top scorer was not Tommy Stevens, who finally found his match in League 1 and only managed 4 goals. His place was more than adequately taking by a new signing, colombian striker Stiven Sanchez (yes I know there is an "i" instead of "e" in his name by I say it's close enough and within the rules of the save) with 47 goals in the league and 51 in all competitions. Generally it feels it's much easier this year than before to get your strikers firing amazing numbers...
This is Stiven Sanchez, who we signed on a free from Boyaca Chico in Coloimbia. I really struggle to see why he wasn't getting game time in Colombia, the man is a baller. He's almost 2 meters tall too!
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Tommy Stevens is a great example of why you shouldn't look at the star ratings too much.
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Our second season in the football league ends in triumphant success, as the Steves are promoted as Champions of League 2!
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The Many Steves Challenge
in Challenges, Sign-Ups & Experiments
Posted
Wonderful scenes at the Tommy Stevens Stadium (or to be exact, the MK Dons stadium that we are renting while our stadium is being expanded) as the Steves finish 3rd in the Premier league and qualify for the Champions League! From the start of this seasons, we did expand our recruitment rules a bit, as we started allowing more foreign equivalents of Steves at the club, in order to make it possible to progress. That means we were able to acquire players called Stephane, Stefan, Esteban, or Stefano. Stephane Ako from Angers is our record signing and star player. Next season will likely be the last one before I switch over to FM22...but no worries, as this has surely been the most enjoyable save I've ever done in FM, there will surely be another incarnation of the Many Steves Challenge in FM22. That is, of course, unless SI actually have made FM22 a more challenging game where it is possible to do an enjoyable "normal" save. But I'm not holding my breath for that to be honest...