Coxie84

(FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: Nov ’23, Dec ’23 & Jan ’24 Posted on 27 May 2023 by CoxieFM SAF CHALLENGE Can I emulate one of the greatest managers of all time in this challenge…To take on this challenge in FM23, you’ll need to load the Premier League and then proceed on holiday until November 6th…Once there you take over the club that sits in 19th place in the league. For CoxieFM, that club was Brighton Hove & Albion… Last Episode: (FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: Sept & Oct ’23 NOV ’23, DEC ’23 & JAN ’24 FA CUP We travelled to Craven Cottage in London to face Fulham in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. It was such a boring first half with hardly any chance but soon after the restart Pedro got the Seagulls off with a thunderous strike before Mac Allister double the scoreline minutes after from the spot. The victory was sealed in the 80th minute by Ferguson with the match ending 3-0 to us which sends us into the 4th round to face another London club, Brentford. EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE GROUP A We finish the group stage on top by winning our final three games of the group stage. Firstly beating Aris 4-0, then revenged the previous defeat to FC København by beating them 3-1 this time in face of our fans at the AMEX and the final game was the 4-1 win over Dnipro-1. Mitoma had his scoring boots on and got a brace with Pedro and Torres getting the goals in the Aris match. In the fixture against FC København, a rare Caicedo goal and a brace by Wind and then the Dnipro-1 game, there were four different goalscorers with Wind, Ferguson, Torres & Mac Allister finding the back of the net. PREMIER LEAGUE During this period 15 league games were played. Won: Sunderland 1-0, Leeds United 2-0, Spurs 2-1, Crystal Palace 3-0, Chelsea 3-1, Nottm Forest 3-0, Arsenal 2-1, Wolves 1-0 & Aston Villa 2-0. To be honest there were some of these games that I was shocked with the result. Beating the likes Spurs, Chelsea and the Arsenal, to me that means that the club is defo heading in the right direction of more European football. Draw: West Ham United 2-2, Brentford 2-2 & Aston Villa 2-2. Love a 2 all draw me, lol. Lost: Man City 1-2, Leicester City 1-2 & Liverpool 0-1. LEAGUE TABLE Chasing a Champion League spot as we remain in 3rd place with 12 games to go.. FINAL WORDS In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: Sept & Oct ’23 Posted on 23 May 2023 by CoxieFM SAF CHALLENGE Can I emulate one of the greatest managers of all time in this challenge…To take on this challenge in FM23, you’ll need to load the Premier League and then proceed on holiday until November 6th…Once there you take over the club that sits in 19th place in the league. For CoxieFM, that club was Brighton Hove & Albion… Last Episode: (FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: Preseason & August ’23 SEPT & OCT ’23 CARABAO CUP Hello second round, goodbye second round as we lost on penalties to Forest after a 1-1 draw. I knew we were going to be knocked out of this competition as that we had 28 players from on international duty. I don’t know how many Forest had away but well done for beating us 5-4 in the shoot-out. PREMIER LEAGUE The month of September was an unbeaten run for the Seagulls beating the likes of Newcastle, Southampton, Forest and Chelsea. Old man Zlatan was on target not once but twice in the 3-0 win over the Magpies with March getting the first goal in that match. The south coast Derby against the Saints saw us dominate the game by beating them 3-0 on a summer afternoon. Pavlovic scored his first for the club with Zlatan and Mitoma getting themselves on the scoresheet too, all the goals were scored in the first half. It was goals galore at the County ground when we played Forest with 8 goals being scored and luckily in our favour too, 5-3 victory. Wind got his scoring boots back on with a superb brace and the likes of Pedro, Mac Allister and Torres with the other goals in that fixture. However, the month of October wasn’t as kind to the Seagulls as we lost 3 out of 3 games in the Premier League. Overall, we lost 4 out of the 5 in all competitions to be honest. But, it’s the league section we are in. Lost to Wolves 2-1 narrowly losing to Arsenal 1-0, the standard Gunners score-line and then losing 2-0 to Manchester United. EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE We started our European group stage form, in fine form beating Dnipro-1 6-2 at the AMEX with six different scoring on the night. Ferguson, Scott, Dunk, Mitoma, Pavlovic and Mac Allister who also missed from the spot during this game too. But happy with the starting victory, however the second match didn’t go our away as we slipped to a 1-0 defeat to FC København which I am slightly pissed off with. Should have done better but we made it right against Aris by beating them 2-1. They did take the late early on but Ferguson and Mitoma both scored to seal the win. COMPETITION OVERVIEW In the Premier League, happy with the start and also happy that we are currently in the European places. It would be nice to stay in touch and hopefully push for a Champions League place but as long as we are in some sort of European football next season. Europa Conference League, still have three games to play for but I am confident that we will qualify into the knock out rounds. The domestic cup are FA Cup, still not entered but we are out of the Carabao cup. OFF THE PITCH FUTURE SIGNING… One is inbound to the AMEX in January and that’s Callum Doyle, defender from Man City and the other in the summer is Oumar Solet. FINAL WORDS In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: Preseason & August ’23 Posted on 20 May 2023 by CoxieFM SAF CHALLENGE Can I emulate one of the greatest managers of all time in this challenge…To take on this challenge in FM23, you’ll need to load the Premier League and then proceed on holiday until November 6th…Once there you take over the club that sits in 19th place in the league. For CoxieFM, that club was Brighton Hove & Albion… Last Episode: (FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: May ’23 & “End Of Season Review” PRESEASON Kept in simple and played three Scottish team and they were Hearts, Motherwell & Celtic which the latter became Dunk’s testimonial match as the players been at the club for 15 years. Top effort that Lewis. Hearts 4-1 – Wind x3 & Rouault. Motherwell 5-1 – Ibrahimovic x2, Mac Allister, Kozlowski & Omeragic. Celtic 4-0 – Torres x2, Mitoma & Wind. Three wins out of three. AUGUST ’23 EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE Fourth Qualifying Round 1st & 2nd Leg AaB (H) A great start to our European adventure by beating the Danish side 3-1 at home to give us the advantage heading into the 2nd leg a week later. Mac Allister, Wind & Rouault all scoring on their European debuts for the Seagulls… AaB (A) A first leg win proved a successful foundation for the Seagull, who secured a 7-1 aggregate victory over following the 4-0 win at the Aalborg Portland Park. Mac Allister and Wind scored for the second European game running with Kozlowski and Gilmour converting the other two goals in this fixture. With that we now enter the group stages of the competition and you’ll have to find out who we get drawn against… PREMIER LEAGUE NORWICH CITY (H) First game of the second season, we faced newly promoted Norwich at the AMEX which ended in defeat for the Canaries with debut goals from Torres and Ibrahimovic in the 2-0 victory. A former player Gros was on the losing side following his summer move to the Norfolk club. Normally, I find that former players usually score again me, but not today Pascal. LIVERPOOL (A) We headed up north to side the red half of Merseyside and somehow we came away with a point as Liverpool were the better side. Japanese shadow striker Mitoma was on hand to score in the 1-1 draw. To top it off, Livakovic saved Salah’s penalty too. QUEENS PARK RANGERS (H) Back to back wins over the newly promoted sides this season by beating London based side QPR. Mitoma had a hand in two of the goals with Gilmour missing a penalty in the first half. Who the Jeff, let Billy take a bloody penalty. Oh, me!! Goals from March, Wind, Torres and Ibrahimovic sealed the 4-1 win over the R’s. LEICESTER CITY (A) Just a boring 0-0 game against the Foxes. However, this does mean we are unbeaten in four league games but really it’s six games unbeaten in all competitions. LEAGUE TABLE A good start to the second season in this series and hopefully my first complete season. Normally in FM, I get second season syndrome. Also, found out whilst writing this that the board expectations is to avoid relegation, really. I was more gunning for top 6 this season and improve on our 7th place finish last season. OFF THE PITCH TRANSFERS IN Further five players in the door at the AMEX, making it 11 players in total during the off season and kept within the rules of this challenge. Brought in some experience with the likes of Bellerin and defo in ZLATAN, like Sir Alex would have done back in the day. The big Swede has come in to be an impact sub but has started brightly and is sometimes in the starting XI and chipped in with a couple of goals too. The other three players are more squad rotation players and likely feature in the cup competitions. STAFF OUT If you get the chance somehow of bringing in top staff members then do it and make sure you but them on long term contracts. Made £3.1M alone on two former members that left the AMEX to join City and Arsenal. Wish them luck on their new careers paths and thank you for the monies!! FINAL WORDS In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: May ’23 & “End Of Season Review” Posted on 14 May 2023 by CoxieFM SAF CHALLENGE Can I emulate one of the greatest managers of all time in this challenge…To take on this challenge in FM23, you’ll need to load the Premier League and then proceed on holiday until November 6th…Once there you take over the club that sits in 19th place in the league. For CoxieFM, that club was Brighton Hove & Albion… Last Episode: (FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: March & April ’23 MAY ’23 BOURNEMOUTH (A) – PREMIER LEAGUE Points dropped against a side in the drop zone, losing to the Cherries 1-0. We were very poor and didn’t take our chance and paid the price. They get relegated in the end but still for us chasing that European football it was three points dropped. LEAGUE POSITION: Still in 7th place. LEICESTER CITY (H) – PREMIER LEAGUE Losing out to the Foxes hurt us because they are also chasing European football next season and lost 2-0 at the AMEX. Another poor performance from the boys to be honest and are we letting our European football hopes slip out of our hands?? Especially when we have to face top of the league in the very next game. LEAGUE POSITION: Dropped to 8th place, out of the last European place. ARSENAL (A) – PREMIER LEAGUE We traveled to London to face the league champions Arsenal in a game that I thought we were going to lose our three game in a row, however even though we were batter throughout this game, we managed somehow get a point in a 0-0 draw. Meaning the chance of European football is in our own hands going into the final game of the season. LEAGUE POSITION: Back into 7th place. BRENTFORD (H) – PREMIER LEAGUE In front of a packed AMEX, we battle to win 2-1 against the Bees on a warm afternoon and buzzing with that win because it means we are in the hat for European football next season in the qualifying rounds of the Europa Conference, I believe. Our Danish forward Wind scored a brace in this fixture and with that brace, he has scored 8 goals in 16 games in the league since joining in the January window. LEAGUE POSITION: Staying 7th = Off to Europe lads, get ya passports ready!!! LEAGUE TABLE Slipped into the final European football place on the last day of the season thanks to beating Brentford. If we hadn’t have beaten them then Chelsea would have taken that place instead. Buzzing to say the least, as I took over the Seagulls on the 6th November when the club sat 19th in the table and to finish in 7th to class. The tactic I am using is doing the trick. See you in Europe next season FM Fans… END OF SEASON REVIEW Please scroll and take a look FM Fans… 1 / 8 OFF THE PITCH Board have set the initial transfer budget of over £36M to spend which I will gladly spend in the summer months and might have spent some of it beforehand… OUTGOING Pascal Gross is the third player departing the Seagulls in the summer along with Undav and Veltman. Leaving for Norwich for £5M with £2.5M going into the transfer kitty. That’s a total of £12.55M in three sales from the Seagulls and will be invested during the summer. Also, the following below have departed the club. The only player I regret is letting Carl Rushworth go but I will get £8M for him in total. Also, Danny Welbeck has left to join West Brom on loan for the season. There are a lot of deadwood and young players on massive wages who do not have the potential and trying to shift off the books. INCOMING Investing in youth players and I have three players coming in during the summer in the following positions. (Midfielders) Adam Wharton – £14M from Blackburn Rovers – Another player who had gave up in my scouting reports and he has the potential. (Goalkeeper) Dominik Livakovic – £8.5M from Dinamo Zagreb – Didn’t you buy a goalkeeper in January?? Yes, I did but I realised that Livakovic had a release clause of £8.5M and had to get him in. (Forward) Facundo Torres – £7.5M from Orlando City – Three Uruguayan player to joined our club since taking over as manager. I saw a fellow FM content creator, sign him and I thought why not. It is likely I have finished signing younger players for the future / first team squad now and likely to concentrate bringing in some experience to the club like Sir Alex Ferguson did whilst in charge. I’m thinking of raiding the free transfer market for a couple of defenders if the right ones come available. But, it hasn’t stopped… Hector Bellerin and Becir Omeragic join the Seagulls on free transfers. The latter was wanted by the likes of Spurs, Milan and Ajax, never heard of him but if clubs like that are going for him then why not. Bellerin is a solid back-up to Lamptey or will start if I move Lamptey onto the left side of defence. The cheque book is out again… Spending nearly £40M on two defenders…Strahinja Pavlovic and Anthony Rouault from Red Bull Salzburg and Toulouse respectively. Both defender were being chased by the top clubs around Europe. Rouault comes in as the best defender at the club. Buzzing to have signed a new two year deal with the club… FINAL WORDS In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

I will look into getting in experience in the summer transfer window.

(FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: March & April ’23 Posted on 12 May 2023 by CoxieFM SAF CHALLENGE Can I emulate one of the greatest managers of all time in this challenge…To take on this challenge in FM23, you’ll need to load the Premier League and then proceed on holiday until November 6th…Once there you take over the club that sits in 19th place in the league. For CoxieFM, that club was Brighton Hove & Albion… Last Episode: (FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: February ’23 MARCH ’23 LEEDS UNITED (A) – FA CUP 5TH ROUND Unfortunately Leeds United got the better of us and we crash out of the 5th round of the FA Cup losing 3-1. Wind got our only goal of the game and we were poor but now, I can at least concentrate all of attention on the league. NOTTINGHAM FOREST (A) – PREMIER LEAGUE Dominated the game from start to finish with the most shots, passes completed and better possession against a struggling Forest side and we only won by a goal to nil, thanks to a João Pedro effort in the 79 minute. There might be a danger that we may start getting a nose bleed if we keep going up this league table guys and gals… LEAGUE POSITION: The only way is up baby, into 10th place in the league. WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS (H) – PREMIER LEAGUE Buzzing that we beat the Dingles, Wolverhampton Wanderers, but not by the 6-0 score-line in real life in recently but I will take a 3-0 win over the West Midlands side who travel back with nil points which sees them slipping down the table. A Mitoma brace and Wind with the goals. The Japanese midfielder first goal was a peach as he chipped the out rushing Wolves goalie after 13 minutes. The other two goals were from defensive errors which I will take all day long, thank you very much peeps. LEAGUE POSITION: Move one place up the table to 9th. EVERTON (A) – PREMIER LEAGUE A strike from Ferguson boosted our hopes of qualifying for the Europa League after a 1-0 win over the Toffees on a wet afternoon in Liverpool. The target forward first start in a few games got us off to a flyer after 9 minutes. It went bad for the Toffees as one of their players sees red for a naughty tackle. LEAGUE POSITION: Up to 6th place… LEAGUE TABLE Oi, Oi FM fans…From 19th place on the 6th November 22, to now currently in a spot for European football next season. There are only 9 games remaining however we still need to play some of the big clubs yet. At the moment I will take anything above 11th place as that were Sir Alex finished in his first season in charge of United. APRIL ’22 WEST HAM UNITED (H) – PREMIER LEAGUE Two goals from Argentinian midfielder Mac Allister moved the Seagulls into contention for Europa League qualification following a 3-0 win over the Hammers at the AMEX. Joao Pedro sealed the victory with a well struck effort in the 90th minute but it was the Mac Allister show really his performance was world class to be honest. LEAGUE POSITION: Remain in 6th place. MANCHESTER UNITED (A) – PREMIER LEAGUE Only really thing to say about this game was, we were ***** to be honest and Diaz did give us a glimmer of hope getting a goal back to make it 2-1 but United were to strong and added two more goals meaning we lost the match 4-1. To top it off, Fernandes got a hat-trick… LEAGUE POSITION: Still 6th. NEWCASTLE UNITED (A) – PREMIER LEAGUE We were denied by the Magpies at St James Park, drawing the match 1-1. Old Webster lad scored but it the wrong net, you donut to give Newcastle the lead, but lucky for us Moder, who made his first start for me coming off the bench since I joined the club and coming back from a long term injury leveled it up with a well placed shot. LEAGUE POSITION: Down one place to 7th. CHELSEA (H) – PREMIER LEAGUE Managerless Chelsea, who had sacked Potter a few days…I’m sure this has happened in real life, feel for that Potter lad. Oh well, The Seagulls won the match 1-0, thanks to Wind’s towering header shortly after the restart. We have now made it four wins out of our last five home league games. LEAGUE POSITION: Up to 6th place. LEEDS UNITED (H) – PREMIER LEAGUE Revenge, as we batter that Damned United side of Yorkshire 4-0 with four different goalscorers. Wind, Pedro, Ferguson & March with the goals as we replaced Leeds in the league table too.. The Seagulls are on course to record our highest-ever league finish. Our current record being 9th in the Premier League. LEAGUE POSITION: Leap frogged Leeds to take 5th place. LEAGUE TABLE Europa League qualification is looking likely and with only four games to go, it’s defo in our hands. OFF THE PITCH OUTGOING IN THE SUMMER The first to be leaving the club in the summer window as I looked to reduce the wage bill with players that are over 30. Good servant, and wish Veltman all the best as he joins Ajax for £15.5M which I think it pretty good business for the 31 year old defender. The second player out the door will be Undav. He will be joining German side Union Berlin for £3.9M. Another good bit of business. WONDERKIDS Five of our players have made it on this year’s wonderkid list, with the only one being Dekker who I signed in Jan ’22. The rest were at the club when I took over and used during that time a part from Kozlowski who I might throw into the first team next season. FINAL WORDS In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

Thank you buddy

(FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: February ’23 Posted on 11 May 2023 by CoxieFM SAF CHALLENGE Can I emulate one of the greatest managers of all time in this challenge…To take on this challenge in FM23, you’ll need to load the Premier League and then proceed on holiday until November 6th…Once there you take over the club that sits in 19th place in the league. For CoxieFM, that club was Brighton Hove & Albion… Last Episode: (FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: January ’23 FEBRUARY ’23 SOUTHAMPTON (H) – PREMIER LEAGUE We faced our south coast rivals in a goals galore fixture that saw the Seagulls beat the Saints 5-2 at the AMEX. The highlight of this match was a hat-trick by Mac Allister. Mitoma got us off to a flyer with a header within 2 minutes before Mac Allister got his three goals including one from the penalty spot. The Saints did score in the first half and it ended 4-1. They add another one at the midpoint of the second half before Siri got his first goal for the club, on this debut coming off the bench to seal the 5-2 win. LEAGUE POSITION: In 11th place. MANCHESTER CITY (A) – PREMIER LEAGUE I didn’t expect anything else but defeat to City in this game to be honest. The only highlight was Wind scoring on his debut either side of the City Viking. Lost 3-1, but there were some positives from this game. Maybe, think I a different tactic against the stronger sides maybe. LEAGUE POSITION: Dropped down to 13th place. FULHAM (H) – PREMIER LEAGUE Two points dropped against the bottom side Fulham…and we were left disappointed after being held 1-1. The Cottagers did take the lead, thanks to their Serbian forward but good old Mac Allister was on hand with a thunderous strike to rescue a point. We have been performing above expectations now and find ourselves in 15th place. Remember when I took over we were in 19th place. LEAGUE POSITION: From 13th to 15th place in the league. CRYSTAL PALACE (H) – PREMIER LEAGUE Back to winning ways at the AMEX as the Seagulls were to strong for the Eagles…Them Seagulls are vicious birds…A brace from Mac Allister and then goals from Mitoma and Wind sealed the 4-0 win. Good to see, our £35m signing getting two goals in three games for the club. Let’s hope he can continue on for the remaining fixtures as we look to secure safety this season. LEAGUE POSITION: Moved up one place to 14th. LEAGUE TABLE We now have 32 points from 26 games and only 8 points away from that magical 40 point mark. We are however, now 13 points away from the drop zone and only 5 points off European place. It is tight in that midtable places especially when you have the likes of United, Wolves & Brentford in the mix. FINAL WORDS In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: January ’23 Posted on 10 May 2023 by CoxieFM SAF CHALLENGE Can I emulate one of the greatest managers of all time in this challenge…To take on this challenge in FM23, you’ll need to load the Premier League and then proceed on holiday until November 6th…Once there you take over the club that sits in 19th place in the league. For CoxieFM, that club was Brighton Hove & Albion… Last Episode: (FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: December ’22 JANUARY ’22 FULHAM (A) – PREMIER LEAGUE We make it five games unbeaten in the league with a last minute winner, thanks to a powerful close range effort into the top bins in the 90th minute to give us a 1-0 win over The Cottagers by Undav. There’s nothing like a last minute winner after a game we had dominated in shots, XG and possession, however I did think at one point we would get FM’d. The Seagulls are still one of the most goal-shy teams in the PL, scoring just 19 goals in 19 games. Hopefully I can change that and push up the table. LEAGUE POSITION: Remaining in 15th place. BLACKPOOL (H) – FA CUP 3RD ROUND We enter in the FA Cup in the 3rd round and welcome the Seasiders from up north to the south coast. I made five changes to the starting XI from the league game, so I could work out the better back-ups in the squad as I have been playing our strongest XI since taking over in November. March and Mac Allister were both on the scoresheet in the 3-0 win, but the first goalscorer was Ferguson. A player that I didn’t really know of to be honest and was looking at replacing until a few fellow FMers said he becomes a good player. Only 18 at the moment and I think it will be a good player to come off the bench for the rest of the season and maybe in a season or two will be more a starting target forward. TOTTENHAM (H) – PREMIER LEAGUE That was a bitter taste losing to Spurs 2-1 at the AMEX. Our best performer was Webster who got his first goal of the season with a bullet header from a corner but goals either side of our goal condemned me to my first defeat in charge. That defeat was our three defeat in five league games. LEAGUE POSITION: Dropped to 16th place. LIVERPOOL (A) – PREMIER LEAGUE Goals Galore at Anfield…Captain marvel Dunk got us off to a flying start under a minute with a header, but we were soon behind after 25 minutes. However, a little spoiler next as new signing and making his debut for the Seagulls, João Pedro scored a brace to put us ahead but in the dying minutes of the first half Liverpool scored and both teams went into the break level at 3-3. However, we did succumb to our second defeat in a matter of days in the league as the reds scored two goals in the second half and we lost 5-3. LEAGUE POSITION: Stayed in 16th place. ASTON VILLA (A) – PREMIER LEAGUE We went behind to a soft penalty at Villa Park, that shouldn’t have been given, Mac Allister clearly got his man then the ball, lol. However, our 18 year old target forward Ferguson was on hand to level it up before half-time with a superb volley and then March in the dying moments make sure we went into the break 2-1 up. On loanee Colwill from Chelsea, who I might look at securing permanently near the end of the season sealed the victory with a thumping header to make it 3-1 against the west midlands side. LEAGUE POSITION: Moved to 14th place in the league. BRADFORD CITY (H) – FA CUP 4TH ROUND The Seagulls were empathic victors against the Bantams in a 6-0 win at the AMEX. A brace from that target forward Ferguson got us got to winning ways. Mac Allister scored the first goal of the day before the likes of Gilmour, Gross and captain marvel himself Dunk made sure we were in the hat for the next round of this season’s FA Cup adventure. LEAGUE TABLE Moved into 14th place in the league and now 8 points clear of West Ham and Everton who sit in 18th and 19th places respectively. There are 16 league games remaining and I feel we can at least finish in the top half of the table. We are only 8 points behind Aston Villa who sit in 7th place. Dare to dream of European football in the first season, probably just who knows… OFF THE PITCH I was asked the question my a fellow content creator (@FlatBck4) over in a discord channel “Are you keeping to their transfer philosophy, like signing relative unknowns players and developing them for a profit? Answer to that question is hell yeah!! I like to find hidden gems on FM. Also, someone mention that Sir Alex would bring in older players for experience to help out like when Van Persie joined and they won the league that year etc. Yes, I will look at bringing in experience when needed. So, now the busy January and my first transfer window and take a look who I brought into the club to strengthen the Seagulls. First three players are for XI… GIORGI MAMARDASHVILI – £24.5M FROM VALENCIA I brought in the Georgian International goalkeeper as competition for Sanchez and looking to bring him in slowly and take over the current Seagulls number 1 next season. He did have a horrid debut letting in five goals in the match against Liverpool. Maybe, the worst move so far in this series I have made. But I have high hopes for him. JOAO PEDRO – £30M FROM WATFORD Just like Brighton have done in real life. I decided to splash the cash by signing the Watford player for the same amount £30M. I will be looking to play the player in the Shadow Striker role mainly but will push him up front from time to time. He did score a brace on his debut against Liverpool, so signs are looking good for this player. JONAS WIND – £35.5M FROM WOLFSBURG The record signing so far, is the Danish International forward Jonas Wind. I won’t lie, I think I am taking a gamble in this forward, as I need depth as I have been informed by another that Evan Ferguson becomes class on FM, but no right away and Welbeck & Undav are in my eyes impact sub players are starters. I did have the likes of Diego Costa (£1M) and Raul Jimenez (£30M) ready to sign for the Seagulls but I thought sod it, love a gamble. Next five players are youth and future/potential first team squad… MAXIM DEKKER – £5M FROM AZ This young Dutch defender was wanted by the likes of PSG and Man City, so I thought why swoop in, lol and sign him. Plus as well he has a four and half star potential. This deal and like the other four below aligns perfectly with the Seagulls objective to sign young plyers, under the age 22. ISSAHAKU ABDUL FATAWU – £3M FROM SPORTING CP Another four and half star potential and already capped 12 times for Ghana. This 18 year Shadow Strikers will fit in nicely with my tactic and hoping he can hit the ground run later on in the season or start of next season in the cup competitions. He was the first of four deadline deals as I went on a spending spree. FABRICIO DIAZ – £2.5M FROM LIVERPOOL FC (URU) The Uruguayan midfielder has already made over 100 appearance for Liverpool FC before sealing a move to the south coast of England. He was rated highly in the scouting report and yet another four and half star potential and still likely to improve as a player too. GONCALO ESTEVES – £1.6M FROM SPORTING CP I didn’t finishing raiding Portuguese club Sporting CP, as I looked to bring right back for Esteves. He will initially be heading into our under 23 squad for the remaining of the season. Four start potential and back up to Lamptey. NICOLAS SIRI – £1M MONTEVIDEO CITY TORQUE The second Uruguayan to hit the shores of the south coast of England on deadline day and another player going into the under 23 squad. But, I can see him moving into the first team squad maybe next season to be back up back up to the likes of Ferguson and Wind as I will look to move the likes of Welbeck and Undav in the summer but don’t tell them yet. IN THE SUMMER ALEX SCOTT This player came up in one of my scouting reports and also I believe two other FM content creators recommended Alex to me. So, I had to sign him. He will be joining the club in the summer and I believe he will be loaned back to them for the season too. FINAL WORDS In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: December ’22 Posted on 7 May 2023 by CoxieFM SAF CHALLENGE Can I emulate one of the greatest managers of all time in this challenge. To take on this challenge in FM23 you’ll need to load the Premier League. Then go holiday until November 6th and once there you take over the football club in 19th position on the table and that club for me is Brighton Hove & Albion. Last Episode: (FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: November ’22 DECEMBER ’22 EVERTON (H) The Toffee’s arrived at the AMEX community stadium outside of the the relegation zone and by the end of the afternoon we had swapped places with them and moved out of the drop zone with a 2-1 victory. Mac Allister was on hand to score our first goal of the afternoon with an accurate finish inside of the area following lovely cross from Mitoma. The lead was short lived with the Toffee’s equalising with a bullet header. However, March was on hand yet again with his scoring boots as we went into half-time 2-1 up and that’s how it finished, a boring second half really but we managed to hang on to take the three points. Three games now unbeaten in the league. LEAGUE POSITION: Moved into 16th place. WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS (A) We meet the black country side on a soaking wet evening at the Molineux and somehow we leave with all three points and that’s three wins and one draw as I remain unbeaten since taking over on the 6th November. Webster scored with his head from a March corner and if he’s not scoring he’s assisting so far. Wolves equaliser came from an amazing solo run and a good finish but Undav had the last say when he came off the bench and chipped the out rushing goalkeeper in the 84th minute to seal the 2-1 win over the old gold side. LEAGUE POSITION: Moved into 15th place. LEAGUE TABLE I have only been in charge for four games, unbeaten and got 10 points out of 12 meaning we are currently 5 points clear of the drop zone. Still over half way of the season to go, however I think realistically I think we can survive the drop for sure and potentially finish in the top half of the season. OFF THE PITCH Just under £60million to spend if I want too in the January transfer window. Wow, that’s a lot of money and never had that much to spend before. I am used to getting in loans and free transfers so far on FM23 saves. I defo need to improve in the Target Forward, Shadow Striker and DLP roles if we want to push on away from the drop zone. I think I will keep with the Brighton philosophy and sign relatively unknown players and develop them for profit but as that we are near the wrong end of the table and like to push away more, I may have to bring in the odd older player to help us beat the drop zone. Pretty much like a Newcastle in signing Chris Wood’s or get some like in Diego Costa from Wolves to bully their defence. This is a new add-on just before I drop this content, but I have been told that Ferguson our forward becomes class, so I have decided to pull out of a deal for signing a premier league forward for £30million. I know Ferguson is young but if I get someone in just to act as an impact player then I could get someone in for a few million imstea. First signing is Bellingham’s, no peeps not Jude, but Jobe. He joins us on loan for the season with an option to buy, if I want too. I think he will be as good as Jude one day possibly and with the right setup in place for him I feel he will be a good addition. He will be in both our youth setup’s for the second half of the season, let’s hope he turns up. He may play the odd match in the cup or PL in the latter part of the season. FINAL WORDS In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge: November ’22 Posted on 5 May 2023 by CoxieFM SAF CHALLENGE Can I emulate one of the greatest managers of all time in this challenge. To take on this challenge in FM23 you’ll need to load the Premier League. Then go holiday until November 6th and once there you take over the football club in 19th position on the table and that club for me is Brighton Hove & Albion. Last Episode: (FM23) – Sir Alex Ferguson (SAF) Challenge – Prologue NOVEMBER ’22 MANCHESTER UNITED (H) The ink on my contract wasn’t even dry as I took on Manchester United in the 3pm kick off on the 6th November. It was a nervy first half from both sides and it seemed that United had the upper edge. However, in the second half, I decided to move Mac Allister into the shadow striker role from DM to play alongside Mitoma and March and jackpot happened within minutes of the restart as two quick goals from March on the 51st and 54th minute put us two nil up against the Red Devils with Mitoma and Mac Allister with the assists. Ferguson came off the bench and had an impact within minutes to make it three up to the Seagulls and seal all three points which came me a winning start in this series. League position: Remain in 19th place. WEST HAM UNITED (A) We travelled to the London Stadium and faced 18th placed West Ham and it didn’t start well for us and a corner came in which saw the Hammers take the lead in the 11th minute via a Soucek header. On the 58th minute Mac Allister who was brought down in the box by Cresswell had the opportunity to bring us back level, missed from the spot and I thought I was going to lose by second game in charge, however 19 year Moran who came off the bench levelled and rescued a point with virtually the last kick of the game to make it 1-1 and meant I retain an unbeaten start on the south coast. League position: Still in 19th place. LEAGUE TABLE Only two games in and taken four points but remain in the relegation zone. However, we are only a point from escaping the drop zone with Everton being our next game and win that and surely be out of it. OFF THE PITCH One of my first staff member signing was an assistant manager and that was Brian Kidd, who has 37 year years experience in the game as manager, assistant manager as well as youth teams. Kidd was also the assistant manager to Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson from 1991 to 1998. In this role he was pivotal in the development of a group of young footballers known as Fergie’s Fledglings. Lets hope he can work his magic again for the us. Also, signed two former Brighton members to come into my backroom staff at the club. Steve Gritt, who managed them back in the 90s and managed to avoid relegation to the conference on the last day of the 1996-97 season and Dean Wilkins who played for the Seagulls roughly 340 times and later managed them between 2006 – 2008, winning 30 games out of 85, he was in charge for. FINAL WORDS In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) – Sir Alex Ferguson (SAF) Challenge – Prologue Posted on 4 Dec 2022 by CoxieFM Can you emulate one of the greatest managers of all time in this challenge… STARTING THE SAF CHALLENGE ON FM23 Involves you simulating the game on FM23 until the 6th November and take over the club that sit in 19th in the Premier League on that day, pretty much what Sir Alex did did back in 1986 when he took over the reins as Manchester United manager. Also, I’d like to say I am not a Man U, however I have massive respect for Sir Alex – a true legend and one of the greatest managers in the English game. Also I am not a fan of any Premier League clubs so I am not fussed which club I get but you’ll already be aware of the club via the thumbnail for the FM23 series anyway… On 6th November 2023… The Premier League table looks like this… Brighton in 19th place, which I am surprised to see them so far down the league table to be fair as I thought they would have been much stronger and higher up than this. I was thinking it would have been more like Forest, Southampton or Fulham. Which it was so nearly was the latter of the three clubs mentioned but it was a single point separating them both in the table. The Seagulls record so far in the league is that they have only won twice in the 14 matches played and they have lost nine of them which leaves them five points adrift of safety. Can I rescue the Seagulls or will I get sacked, only time will tell… Breaking News CoxieFM takes over the reins as the new Seagulls manager on a two years deal and reading the information below only to find out that Roberto De Zebri got sacked 8 days prior to me taking over as manager and the ink isn’t even dry on the contract as I face Manchester United on 6th November, how ironic… The tactic I will be using is below for the first game in charge against the red devils and this is my starting/strongest XI as well for this tactic. The tactic below can be found in this link. In this tactic we look strong in defence and okay-ish in attack, so if I can make it through the season and we survive then I believe I will only need to strengthen the forward line and bring in a top class TF. RULES TO THE SAF CHALLENGE The rules of this challenge is below. You need to… Stay at one club – The Scotsman managed Man United for 26 years. Aim to bring Youth Players through – “Class of 92“. Persuade long term players to become part of your backroom staff. Goals of the Challenge… Win a Domestic Cup/Trophy within 4 seasons – Ferguson won his first Cup vs Crystal Palace in 89/90. Win a League title within 7 seasons – Ferguson won his first title in 92/93. Win a League and Cup double within 8 seasons – Ferguson won his first double with United in 93/94. Win a League, Cup and the Champions League within 13 seasons – Ferguson won the infamous treble in 98/99. Total number of trophies that the Scotsman won during his managerial career at Old Trafford… Premier League (13) FA Cup (5) League Cup (4) Community Shield (10) UEFA Champions League (2) UEFA Europa League (1) (Replaces the Cup Winners Cup) UEFA Super Cup (1) FIFA Club World Cup (2) (One Replaces Intercontinental Cup) A few rules to follow when taking this Football Manager Challenge on… No usage of the in-game editor – Which I never have on anyway. No buying or selling from/to your direct rival. – This depends on the club I get really. Plus it’s difficult if one of the so called top six club come in and offer you £100m + for a player, I don’t think anyone would reject it in this day and age. No more than 11 signings per season, of which only 8 can play in the first team that season. Depends on the club this rule, If I need a complete rebuild. Spending restrictions. I will have no spending restriction on due to the transfer market is in a different world than the mid 80s through to the 2013 during Sir Alex’s time. Promote as many youth players as you can and have a minimum of 1 player promoted from the youth academy in every single matchday squad. (The likes of Beckham, Giggs, Scholes & others were all part of the youth system and went on to become legends at the club) Promote at least 1 new player to the youth academy to the senior team every single season. I would say the last two are really joint in some ways and I would have to see what club I get first to see if it’s achievable, well definitely the one with a youth player in the matchday squad. Sacked or Relegation. Don’t know – maybe let the readers decide or I just add myself back as the manager and just carry on the save and add the information onto the style of graphic above which is titled “The Impossible Dream” and complete it within 26-27 seasons with the one club. My SAF Challenges on previous FMs I am no stranger to this challenge… On FM22 I took over as the Wolves manager, which being a Walsall fan, this was interesting as that I was going to managing one of our Black Country rivals. However, I tried my best to win silverware, but the save was cut short due other reasons. The series can be found under the FM22 tab. On FM21, there was something different… I used the same rules but The Twist To The Save Was Not In England… I will be adventured into Europe somewhere for this series and used the “Goals of the challenge” as the baseline for the series and ended up in Italy.. As the Fiorentina manager, but unfortunately I was sacked after three seasons…The series can be found under the FM21 tab. Final Words Let me know if you enjoyed this blog. If you do this challenge yourself, then please feel free to tagged me in it so I can see how you get on. In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

İzmir, the Pearl of the Aegean is the home of Altinordu FK, a storied football club infamous for having never won the Süper Lig title in their 100 year history. Can they finally defy all odds and dethrone the big three (Beşiktaş J.K., Fenerbahçe S.K. and Galatasaray S.K.) as we start my ‘The Talent Factory‘ series adventure! A new story, a new philosophy to govern football is needed, and that is where Altınordu FK steps in… These words belong to Altınordu FK, chairperson Seyit Mehmet Özkan, a club that have raised thousands of players like Leicester City’s central defender Çağlar Söyüncü and Marseille’s winger Cengiz Ünder with both of them playing for the Turkish national team. Through investing in football schools and talent development aka ‘The Talent Factory’, Altınordu FK has created a new pathway for Turkish football, when Turkish football needed it the most. Shaken by corruption, financial revenue degradation, and match-fixing scandals, Turkish football has been going through a dismal period. Just the total debt of the four powerhouses of Turkish football; Beşiktaş, Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, and Trabzonspor, has reached near 1.5 billion Euros in January 2021, representing a 579 percent increase in the last eight years. Still, the clubs continue to overspend and evade domestic financial fair play regulations. However, it is getting more and more clear for the silent majority in the football industry that this way of football administration has reached its end. Altınordu FK… Founded in 1923, Altınordu FK are definitely not a new club, but it was not known for its innovations until 2012. When Seyit Mehmet Özkan bought the club and incorporated it in 2012, he made it very clear that his aims differ from the majority of macho football executives, whose aim usually do not go any further than winning the next game. “Our motto has always been ‘Good Person, Good Citizen, Good Player’. Our players should be at peace with themselves, be at peace with the society and be successful athletes.” says Özkan in an interview, explaining his and Altınordu FK’s philosophy. Accordingly, Altınordu FK is not only a football club, but also an educational institution. They have roughly over 10,000 youth players that take basic football education in over 150 football schools located in 40 different cities in Turkey. Youth players are accepted to the football schools starting from the age of six years old and receive football education until they reach the age of 13 years old. The development and progress of these 10,000 youth players are continuously tracked and the most successful ones join the Altınordu Football Academy (ALFA) starting from 13 years old. Having this strong foundation, Altınordu’s internal rule is that the club must have at least 34 percent homegrown players in its first-team squad. This makes Altınordu FK, one of the best teams in Europe with regards to giving its club-trained players a chance. According to the club’s own research, The Status of Club-Trained Players in Europe, the club is racing head-to-head with clubs like Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad, whom Altınordu considers as role models. Just like its role models, Altınordu FK does not allow non-Turkish players to play in its teams. “It has nothing to do with racism. The only aim of this policy is to give a chance to the children of this land” argues Özkan. Indeed, Altınordu FK has without a doubt the best contribution to Turkish youth national teams. In another research done by the club, New data shows Altınordu FK is a talent factory for Turkish National Teams, it is shown that between 2017 and 2021, one of every five players in youth national teams were Altınordu FK players. Thus, focusing on talent development, Altınordu has not sacrificed anything for the short-term success of its first team. Still, the team managed to stay in the second-best league in Turkish football for years, TFF 1. Lig. After missing the play-off spots for promotion in the second division, the club finally reached the Play-Off Finals this season. Although they were beaten by Altay, another İzmir club, in the final, they showed everyone that they could play for the top. Their potential promotion in the future will also be proof for other teams in Turkey, drowning in debt, to turn their attention to talent development and investments in youth. However, it is not only Turkey who should follow Altınordu’s example. In an era where football’s rulers drift away from the fans farther every day and launch projects like the European Super League purely out of greed, Altınordu offers a new philosophy. Football does not have to be based on expensive transfers which only benefit a minority of player agents and executives. Investing in education and development brings much larger benefits for the industry and society. TAKING THE REINS AT ALTINORDU… 38 year old CoxieFM is hired as the new manager of Altinordu FK. In a statement I am proud to take over the reins at this wonderful club, in what I hope will be a long term career with the side from İzmir and hoping one day we can lift the TFF 1. Lig title and then mix it with the big clubs of Turkey and win the Süper Lig and then hear the sweet sounds of the Champions League music echoing around the Alsancak Mustafa Denizli Stadyumu. Not much history in the club’s 100th year in Turkish football, but lets see if I can change this… Both board and fans are wanting me to avoid relegation this season, so there is some weight off my shoulders for a change in a save. Gives me time to work out the best players at the club and mash up tactics as well during the first season. However, I do need to impress as I am on a one year deal. I am going to use a 4-2-3-1 style tactic for Altinordu FK as I think the squad/best XI is well suited for this at the club, at the start of this series. Let’s see if I am right or will be wrong as the season/series goes on. FINAL WORDS Thank you all, for reading, RTing or liking this blog, any support means a lot!! In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Back In The Saddle – #4 Posted on 24 Mar 2023 by CoxieFM I’m “Back In The Saddle” and hoping to take Walsall to “The Promise Land” of the Premier League as they have never been in the top flight of English football. Also, they were only 90 minutes away from Europe back in the 1983/84 season, so I am hoping that one day, the sounds of the Champions League music will echo around the Poundland Bescot Stadium… Last episode: ON THE PITCH MARCH – MAY In the final 12 games of the season was all LEAGUE TWO action and saw you only lose once and that was in the 3-0 defeat to Crawley Town in the last but one game of the season with a much rotated squad as that I knew we would win the league in that game, no matter the result. Thinking back now, I should have just gone for it in that match but needed to see what fringe players I was going to sell or keep in the upcoming summer window. Wins against Barrow 2-0 (Khayon Edwards & Douglas James-Taylor), Gillingham 3-1 (Jamile Matt, Jacob Maddox & Douglas James-Taylor), Grimsby Town 1-0 (Matty Stevens), Sutton United 1-0 (Alex Robertson), Carlisle United 4-1 (Douglas James-Taylor x2, Matty Stevens & Yann Songo’o) & Crewe 2-1 (Jack Lankester & Alex Robertson) We only drew twice in this run in and they were against Rochdale 0-0 & Stevenage 1-1. On loan Villa player Khayon Edwards in his last appearance for the Saddlers bagged a hat-trick in the 3-1 win over Doncaster Rovers in the last game of the season. LEAGUE TWO TABLE Champions of LEAGUE TWO for the third time in our history. SEASON REVIEW 1 / 10 OFF THE PITCH Another sell on clause, why not… This time it’s Elijah Adebayo who plays for Luton Town and we get a cool £1.5million, not the £3.5million we got for Rico Henry earlier on in the season, if you missed it. This will help us out for League One and now have a budget of around the £3million mark, as I have put some of this money into our scouting pot as it was really poor. Parent club, I’ll take the blue half of Manchester please. At this stage, I think I will try not to rely on loan players for League One, but it might be an option if we are hit with injuries throughout the season. Veterans Andy Williams and Peter Clarke, who the latter spent last season out on loan have now both retired football the professional game. Having seen both player’s play this season, I do believe if they are not with the Saddlers in real life next season, I still see both players playing on as they still can do the job. It was always nice to get recognition for our good season with myself winning manager of the year and our forward Jamile Matt winning the player of the year award. FINAL WORDS Really happy with how the season panned out and I know we will have to rebuild the squad slightly for League One and with the money that has came in over the season from buyout clauses, I think we will be in a very strong position for the season ahead. Also, dropping over the weekend will be this… In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Back In The Saddle – #3 Posted on 22 Mar 2023 by CoxieFM I’m “Back In The Saddle” and hoping to take Walsall to “The Promise Land” of the Premier League as they have never been in the top flight of English football. Also, they were only 90 minutes away from Europe back in the 1983/84 season, so I am hoping that one day, the sounds of the Champions League music will echo around the Poundland Bescot Stadium… Last episode: (FM23) Back In The Saddle – #2 ON THE PITCH JANUARY We go back to the top of LEAGUE TWO, following a 2-0 win over Mansfield Town. Connor Wilkinson is back amongst the goals for the Saddlers following is long absence from the first team due to injury scoring first in this game before Douglas James-Taylor sealing the win in the 92nd minute. The FA CUP third round action takes place at the Poundland Bescot Stadium as we face Premiership side Chelsea. The Blues take an early lead, however, Jack Earing played his part in the match acting as a super sub for Walsall to come from behind to claim a draw against them and force a reply after the game ended 1-1. League Two saw us travel to play Tranmere Rovers away and this match ended in a 1-1 draw. Both sides could and should have won it, if either team knew the offside rule, which I think cancelled three goals out if I am right. Ex-Walsall player scored for The Superwhites before Jamile Matt seized on a mistake to level the match and we move into 2nd place in the league. FA CUP third replay at Stamford Bridge went in the way of the Premier League side Chelsea. I knew this was going to happen as we lost 4-2 on the night. They were too strong for us in this tie but still managed to score two goals against them, thanks to Jamile Matt and Isaac Hutchinson finding the net the shed end. A strong and powerful performance in LEAGUE TWO as we brush aside Swindon Town 3-1. Matty Stevens scoring his first league goal for the club following his long absence due to injury as on-loanee Alex Robinson also got his first goal for the Saddlers before veteran Andy Williams finished off the scoring. In the next game, we travel to The County Ground to face Swindon Town, hold on back to back games against the Robins? Yes, you read right, I think this was arrangement from earlier in the season and yes we won 3-2, this time. Matty Stevens got his second and third goal for the club before Douglas James-Taylor sealed the win. Ex-Walsall on-loanee Tyrese Shade scored for the Robins. Connor Wilkinson brace helped us move back to the top of the league in the 2-1 win at home against Bradford City. FEBRUARY We face the Cobblers in the next match and in real life I actually took my boy to his first awayday and it was this fixture and it finished in a 0-0 draw which we slighty boring but the atmosphere was class and he loved. Back to FM and this match finished 1-1 with new signing in the January window from Cambridge Jack Lankester getting this first goal for the Saddlers. As soon as we are top, we lose it…Defeated by Leyton Orient 1-0 and ended our 9 game undefeated run. Also, super Tommy Knowles is out of action for the next god knows when due to an ACL. What is it with Walsall players and ACL injuries. Joss Labadie been out all season with one and is out of contract this season, however I have a lot of respect for Joss so I will be giving him a new contract. We beat Colchester United 3-1 with goals from Jack Lankester, Yann Songo’o and Douglas James-Taylor meaning we have won three out of the five away games in the league. We welcome Welsh side Newport County to the Poundland Bescot Stadium and send them back to Wales with no points as we beat them 2-1 as Jamile Matt and outgoing in the summer midfielder Jacob Maddox both finding the back of the net. Top of the league, even after being begged back from three one up to draw 3-3 against Hartlepool United. I swear, FM peeps must have written this in the coding as it happened in real life too. In that game, we were winning and then they scored two very late goals to rescue a point. In this match it happened much earlier but still, freaking as that this game and the Northampton game finished by the same score-line. Jamile Matt hat-trick for the Saddlers in this game on FM. LEAGUE TWO TABLE So, after two updates previously in this season, we were in second place and now in top spot. However with only 12 games to go can we win the league? I would still be happy if we finish in 2nd or 3rd place but it would be sweet to win this league title for the third time in our history. OFF THE PITCH Summer Outgoing And Recalled So, in the summer we will be losing Ex-Chelsea youth player Jacob Maddox after only one season as he decided to join a non-league Portuguese side who in fact as offered him mental wages. But still luck in the future and he will still play him until the summer. I also decided to let Jackson Smith (GK) and Robbie Willmott (MID) rejoin their parent clubs Wolves and Newport respectively to free up some wages as Smith played once but Willmott did play 19 times but only as a sub. New Signings, Three Of Them Firstly, went back to Cambridge and brought in winger Jack Lankester for £300K. He has decent potential to be a Championship player. Also, brought in the following players in on loan for the rest of the season Alex Robertson (Man City), as someone over in a discord recommended him and then on deadline day, I thought I would strengthen the forward line by getting on (Arsenal) forward Khayon Edwards, who in fact is costing me nothing which is a bonus. Lankester, has already performed and got a couple of goals already so hoping Robertson and Edwards and play key parts in the final run in of the season. FINAL WORDS Still strong and finally in top spot at a blog write up. Let’s hope we can finish the season strong and hoping we take one of them automatic places and get back into League One. In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Back In The Saddle – #2 Posted on 20 Mar 2023 by CoxieFM I’m “Back In The Saddle” and hoping to take Walsall to “The Promise Land” of the Premier League as they have never been in the top flight of English football. Also, they were only 90 minutes away from Europe back in the 1983/84 season, so I am hoping that one day, the sounds of the Champions League music will echo around the Poundland Bescot Stadium… Last episode: (FM23) Back In The Saddle – #1 ON THE PITCH NOVEMBER In the FA CUP first round, we traveled to the Woodside Road to face National League South side Worthing FC. In this game I decided to give debuts to the following Smith (on loan – Wolves), Baldwin, Robinson, Mukuna & Onabirekhanlen who were in the starting XI and it was the youngsters who stole the show. As Baldwin, Onabirekhanlen & Robinson with assists in the 4-0 win with Jack Earing, super Tommy Knowles but it was Jonas Mukuna who bagged himself a brace but it so could have been a hat-trick but his third was ruled offside. We return to LEAGUE TWO action and come up against one of the league’s best defences and had to share the spoils with Crawley Town in the 1-1 draw. We fell behind after a minute but lucky for us, in-form forward Jamile Matt was on target to rescue a point for the Saddlers meaning we are currently on a 16 match unbeaten run and remain 2nd place in the league. Out of the PAPA JOHNS TROPHY after Forest Green beat us 4-1 in the second round of this competition. Our heaviest defeat of the season of far and to rub salt in the wound’s, an ex-Walsall player scored a hat-trick against us, Amadou Bakayoko. Our goalscorer was Douglas James-Taylor but by then the tie was over. Our veteran in-form forward Andy Williams grabs a brace in the 2-1 win at Brunton Park against Carlisle United and we remain in one of them automatic places in 2nd in LEAGUE TWO. We again on our travels in another away match in the FA CUP as we play Woking FC, National League side in the second round. Super Tommy Knowles scores but it was a return of Connor Wilkinson in his first start of the season following a long injury. Buzzing to have Wilko back and scoring again even though he only played 30 minutes in the 2-0 win to set up a third round tie against a Premiership and it’s going to be in front of the Saddlers fans too. DECEMBER Another returning player from injury, As Matty Stevens scoring on his first start in LEAGUE TWO for the Saddlers as a super-sub to rescue a point against Doncaster Rovers in the 1-1 draw. It is nice to see playing returning and making an impact but like Wilkinson I won’t be pushing it on to them just yet to play week in, week out. Oh, by the way it’s now 17 games unbeaten in the league. That unbeaten run comes to an end losing at the Peninsula Stadium 1-0. We still remain in 2nd place following the defeat to Salford City. We are also the top goalscorers with 37 goals in 21 matches. Back to winning ways, beating AFC Wimbledon on an away day in the capital. Jamile Matt and Douglas James-Taylor on target for the Poundland reds in the 2-0 win. Two goals from Jamile Matt sends the mighty Saddlers to the top of the league after a 2-1 win over Crewe at the Poundland Bescot Stadium. That’s 10 league games unbeaten now at home and you gotta make our home ground a fortress if you want to get promoted. Also, in this match, our in-form GK Owen Evans got injured and will likely be out for 4-5 weeks. Walsall lose top spot in the very next game, drawing to Stockport County 1-1 at home. Jacob Maddox was on hand to rescue the Saddlers from defeat with his powerful strike late on in this match. LEAGUE TWO TABLE Still a point behind Leyton Orient in the race to win the league but I’d be happy if the league finished now because it would mean automatic promotion. But I want that title… OFF THE PITCH TRANSFER NEWS I will start off with this news first. We received £3.51m from Brentford to buy out an outstanding clause that was part of the Rico Henry transfer deal and yes, all of that money has gone into our transfer budget. I could believe it really, well I can because I think on FM22, this happened in the beta and I spent it. Before, the Rico money came in, I brought in former Saddlers defender Paul Downing in on a free transfer following his release from Portsmouth. After, the Rico money had cleared I wasted no time in brining in a former loanee Liam Bennett from Cambridge United, splashing out £325K which is a record transfer for the Saddlers. Liam was on loan at the start of this season in real life before getting recalled to the U’s. I thought he was a class act for us and he slots in well at right back. If any Walsall fans are reading this, I am toying with bringing in Danny Johnson… FINAL WORDS We are keeping up the pace for that race for promotion but there is still half the season to go but with that Rico Henry money could well happy us to secure a promotion place if I spend it wisely. In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Back In The Saddle – #1 Posted on 18 Mar 2023 by CoxieFM I’m “Back In The Saddle” and hoping to take Walsall to “The Promise Land” of the Premier League as they have never been in the top flight of English football. Also, they were only 90 minutes away from Europe back in the 1983/84 season, so I am hoping that one day, the sounds of the Champions League music will echo around the Poundland Bescot Stadium… Last episode: (FM23) Back In The Saddle – Introduction #0 ON THE PITCH AUGUST I head into my first competitive match in front of our fans at the Poundland Bescot Stadium in the LEAGUE TWO clash against Hartlepool United and in that squad was former Saddlers player Brendan Kiernan who had a game to forget as that Jamile Matt and Taylor Allen both scoring on their debuts are the club in the 2-0 win over the Pools. There could have been another debut goal for Andy Williams too, but he was denied my 12 yards by the Pools keeper. We traveled to Rodney Parade to face Newport County in my first awayday in charge and super Tommy Knowles scored his first hat-trick for the Saddlers in the 5-0 win over the Welsh team. Jamile Matt made in two goals in two goals getting on the scoresheet and finally veteran forward Andy Williams got his first goal of the campaign too. The back to back wins saw us go top of the table on goal difference. We take a brief pause from league action as we enter the first round of the CARABAO CUP and traveled to The Memorial Stadium to face League One side Bristol Rovers. Both sides struggled throughout the game to carve any real chances until the 80th when a corner got delivered in and met by the head of on-loanee Douglas James-Taylor to get his first goal for the Saddlers and send us through into the second round in the 1-0 win over The Gas. Back to LEAGUE TWO, as we welcome Stevenage to the Poundland Bescot Stadium. We are made to rue missed chances in a hard-fought battle as The Boro grab a late winner in the 1-0 game which condemned us to our first league defeat of the season. Jacob Maddox was forced off with an injury in the first half, however it looks like he will only be out for 2-3 weeks. On the road again, on a mild summers evening to face Barrow. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, with Isaac Hutchinson grabbing his first goal for the club before we were pegged back within minutes as Hayden White’s mistake was seized by one of their forwards. We move into 5th place in the league following a goal-fest at Priestfield Stadium, home of Gillingham, as the Saddlers came out on top beating them 4-3. A cracking brace from Douglas James-Taylor saw us take an early lead on in this match but The Gills responded and we were level the before the break. Jamile Matt and Andy Williams both scored before they pulled one back in the 95th minute with the last kick of the game. We get knocked out of the CARABAO CUP second round, losing at Carrow Road to The Canaries. We did take the lead early, thanks to super Tommy Knowles close range finish but the Championship side Norwich were to strong and beat us 2-1. They dominated for most of the game and we were just unlucky at the end of the day. The Saddlers steal a narrow win over Grimsby Town as we return to LEAGUE TWO action following defeat in the cup. Jamile Matt and Andy Williams were again both on the scoresheet before Jack Earing who has returned from his injury got his first goal of the league campaign to help beat The Mariners 3-2, to send us into 3rd in the league. Anyone for pizza…I mean, it’s the first game of three in the PAPA JOHNS TROPHY and we met the u21s of Southampton at the Poundland Bescot Stadium. The old boy Andy Williams scoring again, but it was Douglas James-Taylor who stole the show by getting his first hat-trick for the Saddlers in the 4-0 win. SEPTEMBER Jamile Matt was on target not once but twice in the LEAGUE ONE match against Bradford City and it was our third straight league win meaning we move up to 2nd place in the table. From three to four straight wins in the league by Northampton Town at the Poundland Bescot Stadium. It was two second half goals from Jacob Maddox and Andy Williams as we brushed aside the Cobblers in the 2-0 victory in front of over 7K fans. I think the most we have had in real life this season is roughly six half thousand fans in the league. The winning run is ended but the unbeaten run continues with Colchester United holding us to a 1-1 draw which saw us drop from 2nd to 3rd place in the league. Jamile Matt powerful header rescued a point as we trailed most of this game. However, we do still remind in the automatic promotion places so I am happy. Top of the league the mighty Saddlers will go with an impressive 2-0 win over one of our promotion chasing rivals Leyton Orient. Stoke on loanee Douglas James-Taylor grabbing a brace for us in this win and it’s seven games now unbeaten in the league too. That’s four out of five aways games we have won. The second game of the group stages of the PAPA JOHNS TROPHY sees us travel down to the south coast to play league one side Portsmouth. On a wet evening at Fratton Park, which I have been to that stadium a few times over the years when I lived now there, saw Pompey get a 1-0 win over us. They were a little to strong for us, meaning we have to win the final group game to get into the knockout rounds. Still in 1st place, remain unbeaten and making it eight games without losing in LEAGUE TWO, correct. Andy Williams and Jamile Matt again, both on target in the 2-0 win over Tranmere Rovers. Saddlers fans are probably like me wishing these two were banging the goals in week in, week out, lol. OCTOBER In LEAGUE TWO, we travel to Edgeley Park, to face Stockport County and it was better late than never for the Saddlers and there were scenes of wild celebrations when Jamile Matt Struck to late goals to secure a point in a 2-2 fixture we should have really lost. Then again, we count ourselves somewhat lucky to have escaped with a 1-1 draw against AFC Wimbledon at the Poundland Bescot Stadium. Yet again, Jamile Matt with another powerful header in the 51st minute to equalize and give us a point. That’s ten matches unbeaten league run now and remain in 1st place. We are Walsall, more like Drawsall…We were cruising to all points following thanks to two goals from attacking midfielder Jack Earing, however two late goals from Mansfield Town meaning we share the points but we remain in 1st place after the game finished 2-2. That’s 11 games now in the league unbeaten. In the final game of the group phase of the PAPA JOHNS TROPHY, Robbie Willmott hobbled off and looks like he maybe out for two months, but lets get back into the action and we secured our place in the knock out rounds by beating Gillingham 2-0 to finish in 2nd place in the group behind Portsmouth. Taylor Allen and Douglas James-Taylor with the goals for the Saddlers. Walsall dropped of the top of LEAGUE TWO after recording a 1-1 draw against Sutton United with veteran forward Andy Williams scoring with a fluky goal. All goals count, fluky or not. Owen Evans was definitely earn player of the match award in this game as he was the most busiest out the two, however it was the Saddlers who managed to put the ball into the net to win us and vital 1-0 win over Harrogate Town as Jamile Matt scored from 12 yards following a reckless tackle from one of The Sulphurites defenders. The Dale lost ground in their race for promotion after losing 2-0 to the Saddlers on a breezy afternoon at the Poundland Bescot Stadium. Of course, veteran forward Andy Williams scored before super Tommy Knowles sealed the three points in the 92nd minutes with a well timed close range finish which leaves Rochdale outside of the playoffs. LEAGUE TWO TABLE At the start of the season we were predicted to be around mid-table and we are performing above expectations and currently sitting 2nd place in the league and only a point off top spot after 17 games and only losing once. Can this good run of form continue… FINAL WORDS Buzzing to have started off well in this series as Walsall. I normally only play as the club I’ve supported in the BETA versions of this game, but this game, I thought why not and at least we are at the right end of the table, lol… In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) Back In The Saddle – Introduction #0 Posted on 14 Mar 2023 by CoxieFM Introduction I’m “Back In The Saddle” with a brand new series with the club I support Walsall FC and see if I can take them to “The Promise Land” as that they have never been in the top tier of English football. I have been going down the Wednesbury Road to see the Walsall aces since the mid-90s and watched them many times over the years. In the last couple of season’s, I’ve had a season ticket for free to watch Walsall due to being a serving member of the Armed Forces (Royal Navy) and yes I have renewed it for the 2023/24 campaign for free too. Cheers Walsall… I’ve seen the up’s, the downs which included our first Wembley appearance in our 135-year history, way back in 2015 in the Johnstones Paint Trophy, but unfortunately on that day we lost to Bristol City 2-0 (Me at Wembley in picture below, Jesus I look fat there, lol). In 2016, we missed out on promotion to the Championship by a single point, and then lost in the playoff semi-final against Barnsley and more recently our relegation that ended our 11 year stay in League One at the end of the 2018/19 season, luckily for me, I was away in Bahrain with my job for most of that season for feel for all that had to watch it. Another challenge whilst doing this series is to get the mighty Saddlers into Europe because back in the season of 1983/84, in the League Cup, The Saddlers advanced to the Semi-Finals and played the reigning First Division champions, Liverpool. An incredible 2–2 draw at Anfield in the first leg had Walsall dreaming of an unlikely Cup Final and a place in Europe, however, a 2-0 second leg defeat in front of 19,591 fans at Fellows Park saw Walsall lose the tie 4–2 on aggregate and the dream was over. An appearance in the semi-final of the League Cup coincided with the re-opening of Birmingham International Airport and British Airways took creative advantage by launching an advertising campaign featuring a photo of the Walsall team with the catch line: “They’re only 90 minutes from Europe!” If anyone doesn’t know about the mighty saddlers they are a professional football club based in the town of Walsall, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club’s nickname, “The Saddlers”, reflects Walsall’s status as a traditional centre for saddle manufacture. Walsall moved into their Bescot Stadium in 1990, having previously played at nearby Fellows Park for almost a century. The team play in a red and white kit and their club crest features a swift. We hold rivalries with nearby Wolverhampton Wanderers (The Dingles) and West Bromwich Albion (The Baggies). So The Story Begins… The 38 year old local lad CoxieFM is hired as the new manager of Walsall FC. In a statement I am proud to take over the reins of the West Midlands club, in what I hope will be a long term career taking them up through the English pyramid with the aim to eventually reach the promised land of the Premier League. The club has been established for 135 years, but only have TWO trophies to our name in our entire history. Our fiercest rivals are Wolverhampton Wanderers which is dubbed as the Black Country Derby, due to the close proximity of the two clubs. With regards to the club’s facilities, they’re not the greatest which is to be expected down at this level. I’ll be looking to upgrade these as we progress the club throughout the years ahead. Luckily, expectations of the board are reasonable, record a top-half finish expected this season and be competitive in the three cup competition and as long as I stay within the wage budget, I should keep the chair people happy. The season review predicts us to finish in 10th place in the league this season. We currently the highest net transfer spenders in the league and brought in 12 players, which will likely increased during the season as we have roughly £150K in transfer budget but only £1.5K in wages. Also, during the season in real life, Walsall brought the ground back off former chairman Jeff Bonser and on the game at the start of the FM23 cycle we were paying roughly £500k per year in rent, so I was straight on the DM’s to Football Manager lot on Twitter demanding them, well asking them politely to change it for the winter update and of course they had to confirm with the club and media this was true. So, Walsall fans you can thank me for this update, lol. But I hope I wasn’t the only one messaging them about it because that money was a killer in previous FM iterations. Meet The Squad We start the series off with the winter update on FM23 and we have a 25-man squad and to be honest for the first time in a few seasons, I think we have a good squad but I think a couple of addition later on down the line in the first season and I think we have a good chance of that top-half finish that the board want from me. Also, the injury list at the start of the campaign sees me with seven players first team players out with a different range of durations they are out for and to be honest I could have done with some of them from the start. At the start of the season with three out of five first team players currently out on loan for the season. They are the likes of Peter Clarke and Timmy Abraham, yes brother of Tammy both joined Oldham on loan and Rollin Menayese to Hartlepool. The other two players are youth players who could both benefit from first team football. Transfer News The only signing so far, sees me bringing in Lewis Ward, GK on a free transfer and he comes in as back up for Owen Evans. Still have over £100K in the transfer budget so I might keep this and wait until January if I need to strengthen the squad. Friendlies I wasn’t in charge for the Bishop Stortford fixture but we won anyone. I rearranged the remaining fixtures to face Scottish teams from Celtic & Rangers B teams in preparation in facing Scottish league one side and then finishing off against a Scottish Premiership side. In all, I was impressed with all the games we played and even the 4-2 defeat to Kilmarnock which I had a feeling about. Dunfermline was a tough side but the games against Celtic & Rangers B sides were easy. Final Words Firstly, a shout-out to @AnderzbazGaming for doing the thumbnail for this series which I love, thank you bud and what makes it extra special is that it is my boy who was waving the flag when we saw Walsall play Barrow this season and I won’t tell you the result, lol…. AnderzBaz is FM23 content creator, so please go check out his work out over on his YouTube channel. Please click the link… In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) This Is Berlin: Preseason ’22 Posted on 4 Mar 2023 by CoxieFM Berlin, the capital of Germany. Home of FC Union Berlin a storied football club infamous for having never won the Bundesliga title in their 57 year history. Can they finally defy all odds and dethrone reigning champions FC Bayern München establishing Berlin as the home of German football as we start our “This is Berlin” series adventure! Last episode: (FM23) This Is Berlin: Introduction Preseason Mixed results in preseason as we played three games with the outcome of one win, one draw and one defeat as that I look to use a tactic that may work well with this current squad. You see below the tactic below but if you want to see if properly then I can put it into the next blog and it’s something different to what I have used in the past on FM23. Let’s hope it works for when the season starts… The first game was against Czech side FC Viktoria Plzeň and ended in a boring 0-0, cough how can I write this match up when we didn’t hit the target but the Czech side did three times but at least Rennow was alert the save us from defeat. Dutch side PEC Zwolle (who in real life won 13-0 against Den Bosch yesterday), anyway back to the real world of FM and I got my first win in charge beating them 4-1 before ending preseason in defeat against Turkish side Hatayspor 2-0. DFB-Pokal 1st Round Hello 1st round, goodbye 1st round… This season’s DFB-Pokal only lasted 120 minutes plus a shoot-out as we crash out of the competition at the first hurdle against TSV 1860 Munich on penalties. We had taken the lead thanks to a Becker strike from outside of the box and then we thought we were two nil up but Michel’s didn’t time his run and was caught offside. They pulled one back after the break and the match ended 1-1 after extra time. It was Siebatcheu who missed our penalty in the shoot-out. Well, I know one person who will be happy with this result THE FM ACADEMY, who’s currently doing a series with the German side and is in season 6 with them, so go check it out… Oh, well there’s always next season for this competition and revenge too. Transfer News We start the season off with just under a million pound in the transfer budget and roughly £16K per week in the wage budget. That is poor for a Bundesliga side and I believe they maybe ranked 17th in the table in transfer/wages, if I am right. However, work with what you got CoxieFM and it’s one in and one out the door at Union. We welcome soon to be golfer and Welsh International Gareth Bale to the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. He is only here on a 6 month contract as that he has already announced that he is going to retire in Jan 2023. To be honest, I didn’t even think I’d get him. But let’s see what he can do for the iron ones during his time at the club. The first out the door is Niko Gießelmann. I was not going to sell anyone this season and see what we could do with the whole squad. However my hands were tied as Niko made it clear literally a week into this series that he wanted to explore his options, so I thought I would test the waters to see if anyone wanted him because well he was in his last year of his contract. Sold to Bayer Leverkusen for £3.5m, I think I got around £2.4m/£2.6m into the transfer budget out of the deal… Final Words I will be trying something new during this series, and doing monthly blogs instead of a season review or 2-4 blogs per season as that I don’t want to put any pressure on myself in blogging etc. It will probably take me one of two blogs to know what I want to read so bear with me but if you read down to hear then I would appreicated any feedback etc… In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) This Is Berlin: Introduction Posted on 1 Mar 2023 by CoxieFM “This Is Berlin” Introduction Berlin, the capital of Germany. Home of FC Union Berlin a storied football club infamous for having never won the Bundesliga title in their 57 year history. Can they finally defy all odds and dethrone reigning champions FC Bayern München establishing Berlin as the home of German football as we start our “This is Berlin” series adventure! History Of FC Union Berlin FC Union Berlin were founded in 1966, but its pre-history goes way back to 1906 when its forerunner FC Olympia Oberschöneweide were founded – that is one of many clubs that Union Berlin has its root in. FC Olympia Oberschöneweide become SG Oberschöneweide after World War II. In 50’s, this forerunner of FC Union Berlin was split into two clubs since the players were not allowed to travel to West Germany to play in the German football championship after being the runners-up in Oberliga Berlin. The players responded by going to the West Germany anyway and set up a new club, which became Sport-Club Union 06 Berlin. What remained from the old club would continue to play in the regional competitions and during the next decade change it’s name several times before finally setting with FC Union Berlin. In the 60s, FC Union Berlin was a member of the DDR-Oberliga, the highest league in the East German football. The fall of the wall In 1989 which divided the east and west sides of Berlin was once again one city. In the time of the political changes, FC Union Berlin were in financial struggle and because of that they were not allowed to play in 2. Bundesliga despite winning the division twice below in the 90s. Finally, in 2001 after winning the third division once again, they were granted a place in 2. Bundesliga. The same year they reach their first final in the DFB-pokal, but lost to Schalke 04. Almost twenty years later, FC Union Berlin managed to get promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in its history. THE KITS LOOK AWESOME… The Series Begins 38 year old CoxieFM is hired as the new manager of FC Union Berlin. In a statement I am proud to take over the reins at this wonderful club, in what I hope will be a long term career with the side from the German capital and hoping one day we can lift the Bundesliga title and hear the sweet sounds of the Champions League music echoing around the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. The season preview has us down to finish 16th in the league and to battle bravely against relegation and a massive 150-1 odds on to win the Bundesliga, I am sure I got a quid knocking about somewhere to put that on down the bookies, you never know, look when the foxes nearly got relegated that one season and then won the PL, I am sure the odds were like 5000-1, I think? It also looks like I am one of five new managers to grace this league this season and I look forward to facing an ex-Norwich manager and especially the legendary midfielder Xabi Alonso. I think the boards vision’s for this season are achievable. Also, I do like the idea of signing players from our domestic rivals which I will defo be raiding the likes of Bayern, Dortmund and RBL and the fans want us to sign German players which I will look at to keep them on my side. I have only loaded six nations for this series and have used the latest transfer updates from Football Manager Transfer Update which I am a member of. But, will having the first transfer window disabled come to bite me??? Only time will tell… Meet The Squad At first glance of the 27 first team players, I have to work with at the start of the series is not bad to be honest, with a few that stand out players like Knoche, Baumgartl, Trimmel, Khedira and Becker. Let’s hope, we don’t get any bad injuries and I regret having the first transfer window closed, which will likely happen… Final Words After a month away from blogging, socials etc..I thought I’d drop this introduction to a save that I have recently started offline and enjoying so far… I don’t yet, if I will be returning to blogging full-time like how I used to blog 3-4 times a week, It might only be 1 or 2 blogs per week. I’d also like to thank all the peeps that DM me whilst I had my time away, much appreciated… In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) From Prussia With Love #1 Posted on 26 Jan 2023 by CoxieFM SC Preußen Münster – Season 1 – July 22 – December 22 In the former German state of Prussia, we find one of the founding members of the Bundesliga that have not lifted the prestigious league title in the series called “From Prussia With Love”. Last Episode: From Prussia With Love – Introduction Off The Pitch Transfers It was identified in the previous blog that we were a little short in the RB/LB positions in the first team squad, so I reacted quickly by bringing in not just one or two players but three players in, all on free transfers and managing to stay within the wage budget as that we didn’t have a euro’s to spend in the transfer budget. The first two players through the door were players that have experience of playing their trade in the German leagues. Hassan Amin, a 30 year old Afghan international with 28 caps comes in as back up cover in the LB position who had been released SV Meppen in the previous summer before signing and taking a chance on Eric Voufack, who was recommended by my DoF and signed on a free transfer from Lok Leipzig. The 21 year old Cameroonian, capped at u23 level will also act as a back up RB and later gets a call up by the u23 manager in November. But then…. I made my third and final signing of this transfer window by picking up a former Chelsea youth player and one of the three footballing brothers, twin to Rio and younger brother to Jay. We welcome Cole Dasilva to the club following his release by Oxford City, who was on trial with Wrexham at the time when I offered him the deal. To be honest, if I knew I could have got him in before signing the other two above then I probably would have just got Dasilva in. However, the former Welsh youth player will likely be in the starting XI as he can play both positions RB & LB. Staff Incomings I bring in my good mate, (Well, it sounded good) and FC Barcelona Icon Carles Puyol in as Chief Scout, so hopefully he can work his magic and search that famous Farmhouse and bring in the next best thing at the Preußenstadion… Media No pressure then from the start from board expectations and now from the media…Title favourite’s..I best hit the ground running otherwise this is going to be a very short series, lol. On The Pitch July 22 – August 22 I could not have asked for a better start to life as the Die Adler (The Eagles) manager at the Preußenstadion as we taught SV Straelen a lesson by beating them 3-2 on a Saturday afternoon, well it wasn’t really a lesson that came in our away match against one of many reserve teams we have in the Regionalliga West as we beat Schalke 04 II 5-1 as Andrew Wooten bags a brace and his third goal in two matches. We take a quick pause from league action as we enter the first round of the Westfalenpokal, the cup competition that the board and fans would like us to win along with the league this season, no pressure. We put YEG Hassel to the sword, no actually, I will use my favour word for FM23…We BULLIED them!! We were already 7-0 up before they were reduced to nine players and the highlight was six goals from Andrew Wooten who in my eyes should have got PoM award but hat-trick Gerrit Wegkamp got it instead. Not fussed who gets it to be fair but the final score was 11-0 in our favour as we head into the second round. Our excellent form continued as we went on the win the following three league games making July and August unbeaten in six games in all competitions. I believe Andrew Wooten got another three goals in these games making it like 11 goals in six games. We beat Lippstadt and Kaan-Marienborn easily enough but the toughest test so far was against another reserve team BMG II were it took until the 84th minute to score our winning as we were reduced to 10-men with captain Marc Lorenz going for an early bath in the 63rd minute. September 22 – October 22 The month of September we started off against two more reserve teams, comfortably beating Fortuna Düsseldorf II 6-2 before beating FC Köln II by two goals to nil and making it seven straight wins in a row in the league. We make it nine wins in a row in all competition after beating Lotte 2-1 at the Preußenstadion in the second round of the Westfalenpokal as we go into the final eight against Holzwickede, who exactly you ask. We then proceed to make it eleven games wins in a row in the league making it a new Regionalliga West record beating the likes of 1.FC Bocholt, Oberhausen, Wattenscheid and 1.FC Düren. Gerrit Wegkamp got his second hat-trick of the season in the 4-1 win over Wuppertal. Our second toughest match so far was in the 1-0 win over Aachen and that only came by a mistake by their defender who let in Andrew Wooten to add to his growing tally of goals this season before we ended August with a 3-1 win over Ahlen making it four mouths unbeaten in all competition and what some would say unlucky 13 straight league wins in a row. How long is this unbeaten going to last… November 22 – December 22 Well, in the very next match as we faced our match against a strong on the day performance against SC Fortuna Köln who beat us 3-1 as at the time it was 1st and 2nd place in the table. Shocked and not shocked by the result to be honest, I knew it was going to happen eventually as we recorded our first defeat in Regionalliga West for 14 games. We next to the halfway point of the season with victories over SV Rödinghausen and SC Wiedenbrück by the same 3-1 score-line with Shaibou Oubeyapwa getting his first hat-trick in the SV Rödinghausen game. We head into the second of the season in the last game of November and going into December and making it back to back victories over the likes of Straelen, Schalke 04 II and Lippstadt in the league to make it 19 wins in 20 league games. Table What a start to this series, top of the league after 20 games by winning 19 of them and losing once. We are 21 points ahead of second placed BMG II, who themselves have lost six games this season, mental. At the start of the season with all the expectation and weight placed on me to perform this first season, I can relax a little but not to much as that they still want us to win the league and also do the double by winning the cup too which we are still. Final Words In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) From Prussia With Love – Introduction Posted on 22 Jan 2023 by CoxieFM SC Preußen Münster Introduction Welcome FM fans to a brand new blog series on titled “From Prussia With Love”. Before we get started I’d like to say “Thank You” for taking the time out of your day to read this new blog series and if you are new to my blog page then “Welcome” and please feel free to go check out my previous FM contents on here and if you are a regularly reader then “Hi” and welcome back and hope you enjoy my Non-League German/Road To Glory series with SC Preußen Münster. The main reason I chose this club was that I was born in Münster, West Germany in the early 80s. The other reasons, I like playing FM in Germany, always fun and If you have followed my contents of late, I do actually prefer a non-league sort of save/series instead of big clubs even though I did do a season with RBL & PSV in this years beta. Also, I have followed this club for a number of years now and since their relegation out of 3.Liga, few seasons ago, I’ve had to wait for a custom database to play as them (FM21, last time) but hopefully in real life this season they might win promotion back to 3.Liga so I won’t have to wait for that database. SC Preußen Münster 38 year old CoxieFM is hired as the new manager of SC Preußen Münster. In a statement I am proud to take over the reins at this wonderful club, in what I hope will be a long term career taking them up through the German pyramid with the aim to eventually reach the promised land of the Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1906 (117 years old), SC Preußen Münster are a professional German club who currently playing in the Regionalliga West in the fourth tier of German football league pyramid. The club play their home games at Preußenstadion and we posses average training facilities and average youth facilities. As a club which enjoyed it’s best spell of success during the 2010s and their competition win coming as recently as 2014. They finished runners-up in the German top division for the only time in 1951, won the German 4th tier for the only time in 2011, won the German 5th tier on five occasions and finished runners-up on two occasions, have Westfalenpokal wins to their name and finished second best three further times. They were also one of the founding members of the Bundesliga back in 1963, but they were relegated after one season. In 2017, Preußen Münster celebrated the club’s 111th anniversary. In celebration, the club used a special anniversary logo in 2017. The logo contained the text “111 Jahre” (111 years) on top and “1906–2017” on the bottom, along with the club’s usual Prussian eagle surrounded by a wreath. The club also gave away 111 litres of free beer to fans at the stadium Münster unfortunately suffered relegation from the 3. Liga finishing in 18th place in the 2019-20 season after a nine year stay and in the last two season’s in the Regionalliga West finished 3rd and 2nd respectively. Luckily, expectations of the board are not high, lol… They want me to gain automatic promotion to 3.Liga in my first season and win the Westfalenpokal in my first season. I reckon, it’s doable but it’s going to be a tough ask, or if not it will be the first time on FM23 I’ll get sacked in. Otherwise, Ill have to see what other clubs were in the Prussia region of old and change the thumbnail. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Even in the season review they predict us to finish in first place. Let’s hope I don’t disappoint the board, fans and the media and smash this league up!! This season’s kits are cool but for me, that third kit, wow!!! Defo, on my wanted list!! The leagues I have active at the start of the series which I will likely chop and change as the series goes on especially once I start getting into the top tiers of German football. Also, you can see the prevent in-game editor is ticked, so when I eventually smash up Bayern in season’s to come, I ain’t got anyone saying your cheating CoxieFM, lol… Squad At first glance of the 23 first team players with have in at the start of the series, not bad to be honest. However, we are light in the RB and LB positions so I will need to bring in reinforcements for sure. I will unlikely for the first window bring in more than 3-4 players as that I want to use this current squad and we don’t we have much to spare in the wages too. The club hasn’t got an affiliated parent club yet, so I might see if we can get on, you never know, we might drop lucky and get a Bundesliga club. Key Players The two key players are both early 30’s which will need to be addressed later on in the series as that I do prefer to bring in younger players and I have check that the board do want me to sign players under 23 for the first team. Both Wooten and Lorenz will be in the starting XI for the time being. Best Potential Two youth players who are both in the first team with huge potential and they could be key this season in our bid for promotion and with such a small squad they will get game time. If they are that good then I might have to offer them new deals with big clauses just incase Bayern, Dortmund or RBL come sniffing. Tactic Final Words Thank you for reading my 300th blog since I started out blogging my FM content back in May 2020. In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) – The Kings of København (29) – BK FREM Posted on 12 Jan 2023 by CoxieFM Season Review of the 2030-31 In the greater metropolitan area of Copenhagen is home to the capital of Denmark and to major football clubs like FC København and Brøndby IF. However, can BK FREM become “The Kings of København”. Last episode: The Kings of København (28) On The Pitch Sydbank Pokalen Yet again, our dreams of getting our hands on this trophy disappeared in the quarter final stages having been bullied over the two legs by none other than FC København losing 9-2 on aggregate. We did some bully ourselves in the third round of this competition beating Sundby 7-0 with four goals coming from Moise Sahi Dion before meeting old good old friend @TractionFM beloved Aarhus Fremad and of course we are a better side than them now, a few seasons ago it was a different story, however we won that match 2-1. Sorry bud!!! UECL This season we entered the UECL qualifying stages a round early, don’t know why because our last three season league finishes were the same but anyway we made it through beating sides from Ireland, Switzerland & Bulgaria with us only drawing once and winning the other five games in qualifying. However, our journey started against a French side and end against a French, the same side we met in the league phase knocked us out in the Playoff phase due to us not able to finish in the top eight in the league. We started the league phase off really fecking strongly and I did think hold that door guys we are getting out of the league but a shock draw against a Hungarian side that we beat in last season’s competition before Nordic rivals Helsingborgs IF beat us in matchday six leaving us out side of the top eight. The draw was made and I was rubbing my little hands when we got the French side FC Metz and they were no pushovers beating us 2-1 in both ties (4-2 overall on aggregate) to send us out of the competition. 3F Superliga The preliminary phase we started off very well and remained in and around the top three/four positions throughout this period, which I was very surprised by and if you have been following our last couple of seasons in this league then you know we normally start off very poorly and then kick start the league when it’s to late to challenge for it. But, this season I knew something special could be on the cards as that we only and I say only lost six times but we won 15 out of the other 16 games which meant we finished in the preliminary phase in second place and one point behind FC Nordsjælland. Then came in the Championship group phase of the season and we went on an amazing journey going an eight game unbeaten run, but looking back at run was actually 12 game unbeaten run with four wins in the preliminary phase which in turn, turned us into league title challengers for the first time in this series. We headed into the final two league games knowing that if we win one of them, we won have been crowned champions with two to go but good old FM fashion we lose both games, but if fact….. WE WIN THE LEAGUE…. With one game as that second and third placed sides dropped points meaning our last game of the season against FC København which we lost 1-0 was a nothing game after all. Table We only go and fecking won the league in season nine by one point and that team was FC København as well. WE ARE THE NEW “KINGS OF KOBENHAVN” Off The Pitch CoxieFM history over the past nine seasons… I was offered the opportunity after say three or four games into the season to manage our rivals, which I ran a poll over on twitter but to be honest I’d turned it down, I just want to know what the people of FM thought!! A world cup winning manager in Gareth Southgate took the reins…Haha, we won the league!!! End of Season Review 1 / 8 Final Words Season nine sees us win the league title for the first time since 1944 and I am buzzing about… However, if you have got to this point then in the blog then I have a little announcement to make in that I will be putting this save on pause for the first being as one I am starting a new save but the main reason is a need a break from this one as that is it tough one to crack and other fellow FM players have noticed the Danish league is tough. With players getting pinched by other clubs, release clauses which you can’t get out/off contracts but for me, the lack of money due to the fact that the sponsorship is poor. For example the last few season we get roughly £245k where FC København let rack in about £15million. Maybe its a game thing, I don’t know…But I do know that being in Europe as helped massively. This is not the end, but for now a pause. In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) – The Kings of København (28) – BK FREM Posted on 10 Jan 2023 by CoxieFM Season 2029-30 In the greater metropolitan area of Copenhagen is home to the capital of Denmark and to major football clubs like FC København and Brøndby IF. However, can BK FREM become “The Kings of København”. Last episode: The Kings of København (27) On The Pitch March – June 2030 UECL Knock Out Rounds Having not finished in the top eight in the league, we had to go into the play off round to earn a chance in the knock our phase of the UECL and faced the Hungarian side Puskás Akadémia FC in a two legged tie which we won 5-1 on aggregate. However, we bowed out of the UECL again in the quarter final stages like we did last season. The team to knock us out where French side Caen 4-2 on aggregate. The home tie at the Valby Stadion ended in 1-1 draw, but the Normandy city of Caen we were put to the sword losing out 3-1 on the night to end the European dream for another season. The round of 16 tie before the QF was against Austrian side Sturm Graz who we beat home and away by the same score line 3-2 and 6-4 on aggregate. 3F Superliga Preliminary Phase Before the final game of the season, we had to play four games before that which saw us lose once and winning the other three to keep our dreams alive. All four of them were tough fixtures against teams who were playing for survival and also their own chance of European football. My 300th game in charge of BK Frem was probably the most important game of our season as we needed a win to keep our dreams of European football alive and the lads delivered by coming back from behind not once but twice to win the match 3-2. Championship Group Our only defeat in the ten games in the Championship Group phase against this season champions of the 3F Superliga FC Nordsjælland by three goals to two. We had been ahead twice in this game, however we were reduced to 10 men and lost our heads and lost the fixture itself in the process. We had back-to-back draws against Viborg FF with both games ending two a piece in and the third and final draw was the 1-1 draw against FC København. So with four games been covered then meaning yes the other six games were all victory that including a 4-0 triumph over FC København, the biggest victory over our Copenhagen rivals so far this series. We also defeat this seasons champions too and also back-to-back victories over AaB and FC Midtjylland. After a poor start to the season losing 10 times in the first 22 league games, we end the season pretty strong in my eyes losing once in the 10 games and finishing the league campaign with 17 wins and some key wins over the three teams above us in the table too and yet again finishing in 4th place. The League Table We finished the season in four place for the third season in a row, however this season we had to play in a European places playoff fixture against Brondby IF and thanks to a Don-Angelo Konadu brace means we have the chance of European football for the third season running FMers. The Results Off The Pitch We have a healthy transfer budget and wage for next season which we will need as that I will be rebuilding the squad and have plans for using a new tactic for season nine. End of Season Review 1 / 8 New Tactic UNDISPUTED FM23 TACTIC – 4-1-2-1-2 DIAMOND is going to be next season… Final Words Another season done in the series, that’s eight season’s in total and our third season in the top flight. We end into our nineth season and fourth in 3F Superliga but can next season where we break our curse of 4th place and go on to finish higher in the league. In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…

(FM23) – The Kings of København (27) – BK FREM Posted on 7 Jan 2023 by CoxieFM Season 2029-30 In the greater metropolitan area of Copenhagen is home to the capital of Denmark and to major football clubs like FC København and Brøndby IF. However, can BK FREM become “The Kings of København”. Last episode: The Kings of København (26) On The Pitch October – December 2029 3F Superliga Preliminary Phase Only covering six league games, but boy oh boy did we manage to take some points of the top three clubs. You bet we did!!! Four points out of the possible nine beating FC København 3-2 with Moise Sahi Dion bagging a hat-trick against them, as in recent times it’s normally Myron Boadu scoring a hat-trick against me. The 2-2 draw was against FC Midtjylland before losing out to top of the league FC Nordsjælland 3-2 away from home. In the other three fixtures, we beat OB and Randers FC 2-0 and 4-0 respectively but then it’s games against bottom of the league at the time Silkeborg IF who we go to lose against and in a game we clearly were the better side but again you hit the barn door, you score!! That defeat was our eighth defeat of the season and something has to change if we want to start challenging for the title in the next couple of seasons otherwise… The League Table Yet again we remain outside of the Championship group phase as we head into the winter break. Can we in the remaining five games push into that phase and have a chance of European football again or is it a bridge to far this season?? Sydbank Pokalen Our dreams of getting our hands on this cup are over for another season after being beaten in the fourth round of the competition against the current holders and the side we faced in the final last season by three goals to nil FC København and I’ll put money on them winning it again this season too. All that sponsorship money they get each season, roughly £15m compared to our £275K I think I last saw. Not bitter are you, CoxieFM… Anyway, but before that game, we had won the third round match 6-2. It was a much rotated squad and I played youth players too. The key highlight was ex-BK Frem player Nicholai Leding scoring twice against us. I think this was the first former player to do so. UECL League Phase Well, we didn’t get off to the greatest of starts in matchday one out of the six games played in this league phase and we lost to West Ham United by four goals to two. (RIP David Gold, co-owner of WHU, who passed away this week). Back to FM and traveled to Northern Ireland to face Linfield and we trumped them 5-0 with new signing Ike Ugbo getting his first hat-trick for the club and most likely his first in European football. Our first home game was in matchday three and another hat-trick was scored but this time by Moise Sahi Dion, who looked to be on his way out of the club during the summer but I managed to keep hold of the advance forward as we beat Belarusian side FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk 5-1. Then, traveled to Croatia, a new destination for us and faced HNK Hajduk Split won we beat 2-0. However, we suffered our second defeat in matchday five against Turkish side Galatasaray SK, 4-2 and in fact we eventually lost to the teams that finished in 1st and 2nd place in this league phase before ending with a win in matchday six against Bosnian side HŠK Zrinjski Mostar 2-1. The League Table (UECL) We end this phase outside of the top eight places and I thought It was the end of European football for us but how wrong was I…We go into a playoff game…The European dream continues in the next blog!!! The Results Final Words In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment with any feedback and questions and don’t forget to check out all the other blogs on here and you can follow me on Twitter here. See you next time and thank you for reading…