Ghost Into Space

Apologies - I've actually just seen that there is another issue raised regarding this so feel free to close this particular post down

Thanks! It’s fairly ambitious but I wanted a save that was going to be long-term and therefore, needed something to keep working towards. I mean it will take 3 seasons alone to get into the Premier League and that’s if we get back-to-back promotions (unlikely) so it’ll be a long journey! The starting squad is very helpful to kick things off - That much is true. The youth recruitment and academy need a lot of work though so I need to get the groundwork in now to benefit further down the save

For those that are interested, here is the game setup for this save: Continents; 𝟒 Countries; 𝟐𝟏 Leagues; 𝟓𝟏 Player Count; 𝟏𝟐𝟐,𝟎𝟏𝟎 Game Mode; 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 First Transfer Window; 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝

Football Manager 2024 has been fully released for a few weeks now so I think it's time to kick off my one of my main saves for this year: Now on the face of it, this might not seem the most entertaining save to read about but I have set some goals along with some rules to follow to make this save a little more interesting. Here is the aim of the save: ▪️ 𝐖𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐞; ▫️ Premier League ▫️ Emirates FA Cup ▫️ UEFA Champions League However, I will be aiming to do the above whilst having over half of the squad (13/25 players) coming from the Notts County academy with at least five of these academy graduates in the regular starting line-up. So just getting to the Premier League isn't enough. Winning the Premier League title isn't enough. Not even winning the Champions League is going to be enough. We want to do this with our own home-grown talent. Let's see how we get on...

I have managed to pull out another handful of PKM files where this occurs: Arsenal v Everton.pkm Arsenal v Dinamo Zagreb.pkm Arsenal v West Ham.pkm All of these matches happened in the first 10 games of the season so with these three match, the three matches shown in the post above, another game against Tottenham (in the cup) and then the Bournemouth match mentioned in the original post, it means that in 80% of the games so far in this save, the AI opposition have used these roles.

Hi @Zachary Whyte - I had uploaded the PKM files for the first three matches that are mentioned above but I don't have the file for the match at the bottom of the list shown - I'm assuming this should be enough though. Arsenal v Man City.pkm Tottenham v Arsenal.pkm Chelsea v Arsenal.pkm

Thanks for the reply @Zachary Whyte - I did notice this note on the side but I was just curious as to why this was the case (essentially, what am I missing out on if I choose the 'Original' game mode?). I also noticed that if you start the game mode in 'Real World', obtain the player count from that setup and then change the mode on the right hand side back to 'Original', the play count stays the same as it was in the 'Real World' setup.

And that was that. In the end, it was a brilliant season from a team who were really struggling when I first took over. Corinthians ended up winning the league by just 1 point and we snuck into the Copa Libertadores qualifying spaces also by just 1 point (although we had a much greater goal difference). Two wins to end our season (after that lengthy spell without a game) and no surprise as to where the loss came from. I think it shows how good of a result that 1-1 draw was when we played Flamengo at home a few weeks earlier. And confirmation of our qualification into the Copa Libertadores for next season - Well above what the board wanted us to achieve this season (which was to avoid relegation. It's safe to say we certainly did that) What a journey and thoroughly enjoyable.

The final game of the season and it was at home to struggling Ceará who needed to win to stay in the division. We needed to win to qualify for the Copa Libertadores. It wasn't going to be an easy match but I was quietly confident given our home form. We got off to the perfect possible start and soon went 2-0 up just before the 15 minute mark. We very much dominated the entire match and should have added to our total on a couple of occasions including a disallowed goal. However, it wasn't to be but we ended up winning 2-0 and qualification for the Copa Libertadores in the bag.

Next up was Flamengo, away, who still had a really good chance at winning the league with their stacked squad. It wasn't going to be an easy match and the scoreline really showed that. They were 2-0 up after 15 minutes and despite us managing to make it 2-1, they absolutely battered us and ended up winning 5-1. A truly humbling defeat against one of the big boys but luckily Atlético Mineiro also lost which meant they were 1 point behind us heading into the last game of the season. It was still in our own hands.

To begin the end of season run, we faced Cuiabá at home. Just before we played this match, Atlético Mineiro played their game in hand (against Red Bull Bragantino - They were handy for something) and drew which meant finishing in the top six places was in our own hands. Against Cuiabá, we went 2-0 up just after the 30 minute mark before they pulled one back but we snatched a third goal halfway through the second half to run out 3-1 winners. A fairly straight forward win and exactly what we needed.

Interestingly enough, Deivid Washington won the Player of the Month award for October showing the brilliant cover he gave us whilst Marcos Leonardo was out injured. 6 goals in 6 games - Not bad for our 17 year old striker!

That brought a busy October to an end and to be honest, we are very well positioned in the league table for the last 3 games of the season. We are currently in the Copa Libertadores places but Atlético Mineiro do have a game in hand over us whilst being only 2 points behind. We had some excellent results in the month and we played some brilliant football. I great point against Flamengo but disappointing to lose to our rivals at home. We were really thin on numbers at various points in the month and that really didn't help us. Younger players did step up at times but we really did miss that star quality. The last 3 games of the season are a bit odd - I guess because of the World Cup - but we have quite a lengthy break before our next match. Thankfully, between each match we have a full 7 days of recovery which is something we've not had too much of this season. Certainly two winnable games but the game against Flamengo is going to be very difficult.

That win secured us qualification for the Copa Sudamericana next season at the very least. We also managed to complete our club objective of 'remaining in the Brasileirão Assaí' and it's safe to say that this really pleased the supporters - Was it ever in doubt though?

The last two games of the month were both against Red Bull Bragantino - Away to start with and then the following at home. It was a great opportunity to get revenge on them after they had knocked us out of the Copa Sudamericana plus they weren't too far behind us in the league so to drop points in both games against them would be a devastating blow. We had started to get some players back from injuries and suspension but we weren't quite at 100%. We started the first half really well but without our clinical top goalscorer up top, we couldn't take our chances. In the second half, two incredibly quick goals put them 2-0 up and they stayed on the front foot for the remainder of the game. Another loss to Red Bull Bragantino with one more game to come... The second match against them was the home tie and we really did now need to get a result against them as they were breathing down our neck. This game was the polar opposite to the game before and we were 2-0 up at half time this time around thanks to two goals from Deivid Washington yet again. We went down to 10 men very early on in the second half and it felt like it was about to collapse yet again but this time we managed to hang on and for a lot of the second half, looked the better team. Finally we managed to get a win over Red Bull Bragantino at the fourth time of asking - It was only a matter of time

After this game, The Copa Sudamericana had come to an end and Marcos Leonardo was named Best Player after getting 7 goals and 2 assists in 10 games. He also managed to come second in the Golden Boot race actually finishing level on goals with the winner but by having one less assist, it meant he came second overall. Finally, we had 5 players named in the Best XI for the competition (more than anyone else) which really showed how well we played (and what a missed opportunity this was as well)

Following that thriller, we had another tough game against Flamengo - A team who were absolutely stacked with talent (albeit some of that talent was certainly ageing) and were challenging for the title. It wasn't going to be an easy game. They absolutely dominated the first half but we defended incredibly well and managed to get into the half level. We flew out the blocks in the second half and went 1-0 up. We were playing so much better. However, the recent run of games, the injuries and suspensions were really starting to catch up with us and we were really hanging on at the end of the match. They did equalise but it was chalked off via VAR but they then found the breakthrough and equalised for real this time. It was a kick in the teeth as we had played so well but in hindsight, it is a fantastic result against such a strong team. We have to play them again before the end of the season - at their place - and that is certainly not going to be an easy game.

Luan's free kick from the match against Botafogo - in off the underside of the bar: fm23_santos_luan_freekick02.mp4

With some good form behind us, Athlético Paranaense came to town. They were hovering around us in the table and it was a great opportunity to create a gap between us and the chasing pack behind us. Our left back, of all people, popped up with a goal just 2 minutes gone and put us in control. Just before half time, they went down to 10 men (ex Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho...) and we grabbed a second (Deivid Washington - Shock). Just after half time though, we also went down to 10 men but that didn't seem to set us back too much as we grabbed a third goal not long after and ran out 3-0 winners. That was actually our first red card of the season. We had a tough match against Botafogo up next and it turns out to be an absolute classic. For the first 44 minutes, nothing really happened and then just before half time, we got a penalty and converted it. We scored again 15 minutes into the second half and then decided to give them a penalty but it was saved and pushed round the post. However, from the resulting corner, they smashed in a header and went on the attack. They equalised not long after before Luan scored another stunning free kick to put us back in the lead. With 5 minutes to go, they equalised again and neither team could find the winner. We actually went down to 10 men in injury time but luckily, with it happening so late on in the game, it didn't affect anything too much. 2 red cards in 2 games though... A decent result against a team who were high up the table but considering we were ahead in the match not once, but twice (and one of those was a two goal lead), you can't help but be a little annoyed that we couldn't hand on for maximum points.

We had to bounce back and luckily we had a kind run of fixtures coming up. First up was Avai who were bottom of the league. As with a lot of games recently, we started the match really well and were 1-0 up within the first 10 minutes. Then, in the space of 5 minutes, Deivid Washington his first and second goals for Santos and were 3-0 at half time. We cruised to a comfortable win to get us back on track. Deivid Washington's goals also broke a record that had been very briefly held by Ângelo - He became the youngest ever goalscorer for Santos beating Ângelo by just over 100 days. Following on from Avai, we had a game against Atlético Goianiense who were fighting against relegation. We started this match even better than the one before and were 2-0 after just 4 minutes - Deivid Washington scoring again and making it 3 goals in his first ever 2 starts for the club.