CFuller

I reckon it's at least partly down to licencing (for the club histories, anyway). With the international histories, I think they're all handled by each nation's head researcher. That would explain why the results are so inconsistent (e.g. different nations refer to the World Cup last 16 stage as the Second Round, the First Knockout Round, the Eighth Round, the Sixteenth Round). The main reason I started this project was because I realised it would be pointless to go to every single researcher and tell them, "Hey, you're missing this result, this round has the wrong name, another nation has it like this, blah blah blah." But I hope SI do have a closer look at this part of the game in future, because even though it's a very minor feature, what they have right now is sloppy and not very professional.

Has anyone actually bothered running any tests to see if the situation has improved since the full update? Or are we just going to assume it hasn't been fixed?

Back for a third season in a row (and much earlier than last season ), ITCH might just be for you if you love managing in international football, or even if you merely like having accurate national team histories. This file gives every national team in FM23 complete histories from various tournaments. Using Wikipedia and RSSSF for reference, I have added data for all the qualifying and final stages of World Cups and continental championships, plus other in-game competitions such as the Confederations Cup. My update is designed to be as CORRECT, COMPLETE, and CONSISTENT as possible. I have completely erased all national team histories from the database and inserted my own data for every country from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. This means that my file will be compatible with the original FM23 database, as well as any future updated databases. I created ITCH after becoming appalled at the standard of national team history data in the original database. While the histories for some countries like England were fairly accurate, the histories for other countries like Spain were badly lacking, while many did not have any history at all. For example, some nations that had previously qualified for World Cups were not shown as having done so. This update rectifies such errors and omissions. My ETCH update adds full continental competition histories to clubs in Europe. My ATCH update adds continental competition histories to teams in North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. ETCH adds data for all the qualifying and final stages of every official UEFA club competition since 1955, including the Champions League, the Europa League and now the Europa Conference League. ATCH adds data for all the qualifying and final stages of every official CONMEBOL and CONCACAF club competition since 1960, including the Copa Libertadores and the CONCACAF Champions League. I hope you enjoy using these files as much as I enjoyed creating them. I would also like to thank @magicmastermind124, without whose help the creations of these databases would have taken much longer than they did. SAMPLE IMAGES ITCH ETCH ATCH QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Q. How many changes have you made to the database? A. Around 50,000 on ITCH, 84,000 on ETCH, and 30,000 on ATCH. Q. Why is there no data for the Olympic Games on ITCH? A. The Olympic Games is an age-group tournament, and I cannot add past tournament data specifically for age-group teams. Only a small number of national teams had histories for such tournaments, so I decided to remove those from the database. Q. Why is there no data for the first seasons of the UEFA Nations League and the CONCACAF Nations League on ITCH? A. When FM23 records new tournament histories for the Nations Leagues, it records the finishing position and the group number, but not the division. I have reported this bug to Sports Interactive for several versions now and they still have not fixed it. Until it is fixed, I will not include any data from the UEFA Nations League or the CONCACAF Nations League in this update. Q. I have started a new save game with your ETCH and ATCH updates and I cannot find continental competition histories for clubs in certain countries. Why? A. When Football Manager creates a new save game, it will only load changes for clubs in the nation(s) that you have loaded. For example, if you load just the English leagues, FM will only load full continental histories for English clubs. It also means that you'll need to install custom leagues to see complete histories for clubs based in nations such as Cyprus and Lithuania, which don't have leagues in the original database. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about this. Q. Will these be compatible with other files? A. ITCH, ETCH and ATCH are all confirmed to be compatible with one another. I am also confident that they won't clash clash with any other files that DO NOT also edit national team or club history data. Q. I've noticed a mistake or a discrepancy in one of your files. What should I do? A. You can either leave a reply in this thread or contact me via PM. If I have made any errors, I will look to rectify them and bring out a new version of the relevant update in due course. DOWNLOAD LINKS ITCH - Steam Workshop (2023.0) / Direct Download (2023.0) ETCH - Steam Workshop (2023.1) / Direct Download (2023.1) ATCH - Steam Workshop (2023.0) / Direct Download (2023.0)

DIVISION 2 TABLE (End of January 2006) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Port Vale 28 9 3 3 32 16 6 3 4 14 13 51 2nd Norwich 28 8 3 2 25 13 7 3 5 24 23 51 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Wrexham 28 8 1 4 28 21 7 4 4 31 22 50 4th Dag & Red 29 7 5 2 32 19 5 7 3 24 21 48 5th Swindon 29 7 3 5 22 20 6 5 3 33 26 47 6th Cardiff 29 5 6 3 27 18 7 3 5 30 28 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Rochdale 29 9 5 0 30 16 4 1 10 15 29 45 8th Shrewsbury 28 9 2 4 29 16 4 2 7 21 24 43 9th Carlisle 28 6 3 4 24 21 5 7 3 29 25 43 10th Peterborough 29 6 6 3 23 18 4 6 4 24 25 42 11th Reading 29 7 5 3 24 16 4 4 6 20 29 42 12th Northampton 29 8 3 3 26 18 4 3 8 24 34 42 13th Cambridge Utd 28 8 3 2 27 14 3 4 8 17 25 40 14th Oxford 29 8 2 5 31 23 4 2 8 24 29 40 15th Huddersfield 28 6 6 3 33 28 4 3 6 20 25 39 16th Portsmouth 29 7 4 3 29 20 3 4 8 22 32 38 17th Watford 29 7 5 3 23 17 1 4 9 15 27 33 18th Bristol City 28 5 3 7 27 31 4 3 6 26 31 33 19th Hull 29 4 4 6 26 34 3 7 5 24 28 32 20th Bournemouth 29 6 5 4 19 16 0 7 7 5 17 30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21st Bristol Rovers 29 3 8 3 28 28 3 4 8 22 34 30 22nd Tranmere 29 5 6 3 18 19 2 2 11 10 26 29 23rd Barnsley 29 5 3 7 25 28 1 4 9 7 23 25 24th Wigan 29 4 0 11 18 25 2 2 10 14 30 20 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... As Roma consolidate their place at the top of Serie A, one story dominates the Italian news - Clarence Seedorf's stunning £10million move across the San Siro divide from Inter to Milan! While the Dutch midfielder lends his supports to Milan owner (and Italian PM) Silvio Berlusconi's re-election campaign, the Nerazzurri spend a large chunk of the transfer fee on San Lorenzo's 25-year-old Argentine winger Walter Erviti. After months of speculation, Alan Cork is finally sacked as Tottenham manager after a shock FA Cup defeat to Reading and replaced with Cardiff boss Paul Bracewell. Cork soon finds a new job at Blackburn, who dismiss Graeme Souness a week after he fields an innovative 7-1-2 formation against Charlton. West Brom boss Gary Megson is threatened with a touchline ban by the FA after repeatedly blaming his team's abysmal Premiership form on bad refereeing decisions. The final straw comes after Michael Owen scores a dubious opener for Liverpool in a 2-0 home win over the Baggies. Referee Andy D'Urso swiftly rebuts Megson's allegations of bias... while collecting a tenner from Jamie Carragher in the Anfield tunnel. Former England forward Paul Merson takes his first managerial job in English football. The 37-year-old takes over at Conference side Morecambe after spending two years in the Welsh Premier League with Rhayader, most of which he spent trying to pronounce the name Rhayader. Barcelona are knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Real Madrid, but then beat their arch-rivals 2-0 at the Nou Camp to close in on a fourth successive La Liga title. Swedish attacking midfielder Mattias Jonson scores both goals to gently remind everyone that - yes - Mattias Jonson is still playing for Barcelona. IN OTHER NEWS... Israel’s 77-year-old Prime Minister Ariel Sharon slips into a coma after suffering a haemorrhagic stroke - his second stroke in less than a month. Ehud Olmert takes over as Acting PM while Sharon remains incapacitated. Los Angeles Lakers megastar Kobe Bryant scores 81 points in a 122-104 win over the Toronto Raptors. It is the second-highest individual points total in NBA history, behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in 1962. The fourth series of "Celebrity Big Brother" is won by someone who... er, isn't a celebrity. 22-year-old Essex girl Chantelle Houghton wins the public's affection after pretending to be a singer, and falling in love with the frontman of indie rock band The Ordinary Boys. I bet that relationship's gonna lead to some great music... A northern bottlenose whale becomes stranded in the River Thames in central London. Tragically, she dies from dehydration and kidney failure as rescuers try to take her back into the sea.

JANUARY 2006 We were now into the second half of our first season in Division 2. Things were going well, with us sitting in 5th place, but a disastrous New Year's Eve defeat at Swindon was a reminder that it could yet fall apart. We kicked off the new year by saying farewell to Stephen Melton. The 27-year-old attacking midfielder had been an important player for us during our first couple of seasons in the Football League, but the arrival of Craig Winter had seen him lose his starting place. Melton was sold to non-league Lough United for £10,000. A few days later, we returned to action by hosting fellow play-off challengers Huddersfield at Victoria Road. We had a point to prove, having let a 3-1 lead slip in the final six minutes when we visited the Terriers in West Yorkshire earlier in the season. 4 JANUARY 2006: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Huddersfield Town Hold that thought, as we took a two-goal lead in this match too. Indeed, we were 2-0 up inside the first 15 minutes, thanks to a couple of great moves from Benjani Mwaruwari. After his 10th-minute flick-on was volleyed home by Craig Winter, the Zimbabwean sensation blasted in a superb strike of his own. The next 75 minutes, however, told a very different tale of two goalkeepers. Neil Cutler was almost unbeatable for Huddersfield, doing everything he could to stop Benjani, Julian Alsop or whoever from extending our 2-0 advantage. At the other end, Robert Green looked unsteady between the Daggers posts, not least when Chris Beech's half-volley gave the Terriers a goal back just before half-time. Things continued in that vein throughout the second half. Though Ryan Carter created some great chances from midfield, every shot on target we had was stopped by Cutler, who clearly didn't want a repeat of the 3-3 thriller from back in August. Green did make an excellent save from striker Robert Gill in the 72nd minute to keep us ahead... but he was far less secure in the closing stages. As we tried to shut the door on Huddersfield, the Terriers' teenage left-back Roger Brennan found a way through in the 89th minute. After skipping past both Carter and Damien Lacey, Brennan unleashed a rocket that Green didn't see coming before it found the top corner. Another win had slipped away. Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Winter 10, Mwaruwari 15) Huddersfield Town - 2 (Beech 45, Brennan 89) Division 2, Attendance 5,991 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 5th, Huddersfield 13th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Green; Walsh, Maher, Prior, Mayo (Sharps); Carter, Lacey, Hamilton (McLean); Winter; Devine (Alsop), Mwaruwari. [Sigh] We need to stop making a habit of this, lads. Two days later, young midfielder Alan McLean gave us some good news by signing a new four-and-a-half-year contract. The 20-year-old Scotsman had become a semi-regular in the first-team this season, and he was now eager to impress me even more. Perhaps a little too eager. Later that morning, McLean got carried away in a training match, and a mistimed slide tackle on Junior McDougald sent the striker crashing to the turf. The crunch of bone was almost as audible as Junior's scream. I knew straight away it was not good news. Before long, head physio Richard Harper had confirmed our worst fears. McDougald had broken his leg and would not play again this season. Barely 24 hours after such a horrible setback, we had to recompose ourselves for an FA Cup Round 3 trip to Cardiff. Robert Green's faux pas against Huddersfield meant that veteran Mike Pollitt got another chance in goal. 7 JANUARY 2006: Cardiff City vs Dagenham & Redbridge This was a low-quality first half, with each team mustering a couple of shots that flew way wide or over. The first moment of brilliance came in the 43rd minute, when Cardiff striker Keigan Parker headed home a killer cross from the Bluebirds' exciting teenage midfielder Richard Edwards. La tristesse durera. Captain Spencer Prior had to fire us up for the second half, and he played a key role in getting us back level four minutes into the second half. After Prior cleared Cardiff skipper Ian Maxwell's free-kick out of our box, Benjani Mwaruwari ran onto it and dribbled all the way into their penalty area. A ferocious strike followed, and it was 1-1! Unfortunately, Prior's hard work would come undone in the 77th minute. The veteran defender lost track of the Bluebirds' substitute striker Glynn Hurst, who broke free and volleyed in a cross from right-back Mark McGregor. Despite Mike Pollitt's best efforts, there was no keeping that one out. And with that, our FA Cup journey was over, but not before we had another injury setback. Left-back Peter Hawkins gashed his leg in the closing stages, forcing us to see the match out with 10 men. Come full-time, I was congratulating Paul Bracewell in the Cardiff dugout and wishing him the best of luck in Round 4... but unbeknownst to anyone at Ninian Park, Bracewell would soon set his sights even higher. Cardiff City - 2 (Parker 43, Hurst 77) Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Mwaruwari 49) FA Cup Round 3, Attendance 9,814 DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Pollitt; Walsh, Maher (Sharps), Prior, Hawkins; McQuade, Hamilton, Lacey (Weekes), Mayo; Alsop, Devine (Mwaruwari). BOOKED: Prior, Lacey. I was now having serious doubts over whether Spencer Prior was the right man to captain this team. His performances since signing from Gillingham in October had not exactly improved a shaky defensive record - his average rating over 17 games was 6.82 - and at 34, his physical abilities were sharply declining. For our midweek league game at Peterborough, I dropped Prior from the squad completely and gave the armband back to Lee Matthews. Unlike Prior, Matthews had been consistently excellent for us and was showing few signs of slowing down, despite only being a couple of years Spencer's junior. 11 JANUARY 2006: Peterborough United vs Dagenham & Redbridge Barry Fry's Peterborough were an old-school team who favoured a fast-paced long-ball game, so we had to be prepared for an array of attacks in the first half. Fortunately, our returning keeper Robet Green was ready for anything, and he superbly shut Posh out not just for the first 45 minutes - but for the next 45 too. Mind you, this rare Daggers clean sheet didn't come without a scare or two. Paul Miller sent a header inches wide in the 55th minute, while his Peterborough strike partner Leon McKenzie's effort in the 77th minute also missed the target. McKenzie was an aggressive frontman who certainly packed a punch, though he would take his aspirations of a future boxing career a bit too seriously later in the month. 10 days after this match, McKenzie received a six-month ban for punching the referee in another league game at Shrewsbury! As far as this match was concerned, our own prizefighters couldn't land a serious blow on the Peterborough goal. Posh keeper Matthew Gilks saved a 14th-minute effort from winger William McQuade but was otherwise untested in a one-sided contest that somehow finished goalless. Peterborough United - 0 Dagenham & Redbridge - 0 Division 2, Attendance 11,752 - POSITIONS: Peterborough 12th, Dag & Red 6th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Green; Walsh, Maher, Matthews, Mayo; Janney, Hamilton (Carter), McLean, McQuade (Sharps); Winter, Mwaruwari (Weekes). BOOKED: Carter. If you've been following us for some time now, you'll know just how rare 0-0 draws are when it comes to the Daggers. That was actually our first goalless stalemate since we went to Hartlepool in April 2004 - nearly 21 months ago! Naturally, I was hoping for a bit more excitement at Wigan three days later. The Latics were on a rotten 12-match losing run in the league, which had left them marooned at the bottom of Division 2 - and facing a return to the Football League's lowest tier for the first time since 1997. 14 JANUARY 2006: Wigan Athletic vs Dagenham & Redbridge In fairness to Wigan, they could have been even deeper in the mire had it not been for their consistently solid goalkeeper. Gary McGlynn was almost flawless in the first half of this match, when he was beaten just once - by a 29th-minute strike from Sean Devine that was correctly called offside. Rookie centre-half Robbie Gerrard also deserved at least some credit for keeping the deadlock intact at half-time. After surviving our first-half onslaught, Ray Mathias and his Latics gave us an almighty scare five minutes into the second half. Daggers goalie Robert Green was called into action twice within a matter of seconds, saving first from winger John Perkins and then from midfielder Graham Hyde. We'd averted what would have been a painful smash-and-grab, but now we had to kill off our surprisingly resilient opponents. In the 68th minute, Kerry Mayo delivered an incisive free-kick delivery to Craig Winter, whose cheeky lob was met by a sweet header from Benjani Mwaruwari. Benjani's 15th goal of the season gave us a narrow lead, which we preserved after some excellent late defending from 'man of the match' Shaun Maher. Wigan Athletic - 0 Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Mwaruwari 68) Division 2, Attendance 6,691 - POSITIONS: Wigan 24th, Dag & Red 4th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Green; Walsh, Maher, Matthews, Mayo; Carter, Lacey, McLean (Hamilton); Winter; Devine (Griffiths), Mwaruwari. After the Huddersfield debacle, Green had bounced back with consecutive clean sheets. Indeed, I'd been so impressed with Rob's overall form since joining us in November that I wanted to make his loan deal from Millwall permanent. And when I heard that Tranmere had made the Lions an offer to sign him, I knew it was time to act. Within a matter of days, we'd agreed a club-record £300,000 fee with Millwall, and Green had signed a £2,500-per-week contract to join Dagenham until June 2011. It was a very expensive deal for a club of our stature, but I firmly believed that Rob had the potential to be our number 1 for many years to come. Green's first match after becoming a full-time Dagger was in the Football League Trophy against Reading, on the day before his 26th birthday. The Royals were in good form under their Aussie-born manager Craig Johnston, so we faced a real battle to get to the South Quarter Finals. 17 JANUARY 2006: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Reading Reading might have had Belgium international Erwin Lemmens in goal, but it was Holland who made all the difference for them in the first half. More to the point, it was left-winger Chris Holland who broke the deadlock after 21 minutes, from a killer cross by namesake right-back Chris Makin. The Royals couldn't build on their lead before the break, and we punished them six minutes after it. Craig Winter's prolific form in attacking midfield continued when he burst through unchallenged to stab in a low cross from Damien Lacey. Shortly after our equaliser, Reading boss Craig Johnston took a big gamble to try and turn things back in his team's favour. 37-year-old striker Paolo Di Canio saluted the travelling fans as he was subbed off for 21-year-old Gary Mullen, who added some fresh energy to the attack. By the 65th minute, Mullen's strike partner Martin Butler had restored Reading's advantage. By the 88th, the contest was truly over, with Mullen outjumping Shaun Maher to head in their third and final goal. As far as our Football League Trophy was concerned, it was a Royal knockout. Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Winter 51) Reading - 3 (Holland 21, Butler 65, Mullen 88) Football League Trophy South Round 2, Attendance 765 DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Green; Walsh, Maher, Matthews, Mayo; Weekes (McQuade), Hamilton, McLean (Lacey); Winter; Alsop (Devine), Mwaruwari. Reading had four shots on target and scored three of them. That's 300 grand bloody well spent, isn't it? Eh, who cares about that Leyland DAFT Windscreen Vans Trophy anyway? We were all about the league, and our play-off push continued with a visit from Bristol Rovers. With Benjani Mwaruwari in form, we were confident of making hay against one of the worst defences in the league... ...or at least I was until Benjani tore a groin muscle on the eve of the match. Out for three months, apparently. That left us with just Julian Alsop and Sean Devine as our senior strikers. Brilliant. 21 JANUARY 2006: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers were experiencing a worrying downturn in form under their new manager Brian Flynn, who replaced the Dunfermline-bound Pete Mahon in late October. Despite that, it was the Gasheads who broke the deadlock after 14 minutes, courtesy of a clinical low drive from left-winger Lee Hodges. After a couple of unsuccessful equalising attempts, our luck turned on 33 minutes. Des Hamilton rifled in a shot that Rovers goalkeeper Casper Ankergren could only push back towards the midfield maestro, who blasted in the rebound for 1-1! That was a much-needed confidence booster for Hamilton, whose recent form had been - to put it kindly - pretty mediocre. By contrast, this was turning into a memorable season for another Daggers midfielder. Alan McLean's breakthrough campaign continued with an assist three minutes into the second half, as Sean Devine headed his long ball in to give us a 2-1 advantage! Sadly, our lead lasted just 10 minutes before 'Chas' Hodges struck again (I presume Dave was delighted). There weren't no pleasing our fans in the final half-hour, as several wasted attacks ended with us taking another draw from another match we should arguably have won. Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Hamilton 33, Devine 48) Bristol Rovers - 2 (Hodges 14,58) Division 2, Attendance 5,975 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Bristol Rovers 20th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Green; Walsh (McQuade), Maher, Matthews, Mayo; Weekes (Lacey), Hamilton, McLean; Winter (Griffiths); Alsop, Devine. Having wasted so many chances to kill off Bristol Rovers, I felt we needed another experienced centre-forward to fill in for the injured Mwaruwari and McDougald. When I heard that an old foe had come up on the loan market, I knew exactly what to do. If you recognise David Graham's name, it's probably because he scored twice for Torquay when we went to Plainmoor a couple of seasons ago. The free-scoring Scotsman subsequently earned a big move to Bradford, but despite scoring a few Premiership goals for them, he never really settled in Yorkshire. With his pace, power and creativity, the 27-year-old should be a great temporary addition to our squad over the next four months. Graham was named on the bench for our rematch against Reading, who came to Victoria Road for the second time in barely a week. Would this Division 2 match had a different outcome to our Football League Trophy tie? I really hoped so. 25 JANUARY 2006: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Reading The opening half-hour was very frustrating for us. Defenders Kerry Mayo and Shaun Maher each had efforts saved by Reading keeper Erwin Lemmens before striker Sean Devine rattled the top of the crossbar. But as the old saying goes, when life gives you Lemmens, make Lemmenade... or something like that. Another opportunity came our way in the 33rd minute, when captain Lee Matthews booted a long ball up for attacking midfielder Craig Winter, who dribbled at the Royal defences and then unleashed an unstoppable rocket from 20 yards! After that, Reading looked in total disarray, not least because Paolo Di Canio hated being in midfield so much that he often drifted to the right wing (and not for the first time in his life). Craig Johnston ultimately subbed the former West Ham cult icon after 65 minutes, but Reading still couldn't muster even a single shot on target, with or without him. Meanwhile, David Graham came on to make his Daggers debut, but it was another substitute who would be our player of the week. Midfielder Nick Weekes secured the win with two fabulous assists - the first completed Winter's brace in the 76th minute, before his 84th-minute corner was headed in by Maher. Reading's bad day at the office was further compounded when defender Eddie Forrest limped off injured in stoppage time. Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Winter 33,76, Maher 84) Reading - 0 Division 2, Attendance 5,961 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Reading 11th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Green; Walsh, Maher, Matthews, Sharps; McQuade, Winter, Hamilton (Weekes), Mayo (Hawkins); Alsop, Devine (D Graham). All in all, a reasonable start to the new year - and it leaves us just three points off the automatic promotion places! Dare we start dreaming again?

I didn't get the game until April - halfway through the release cycle - and I only noticed it when I was running some holiday saves like I always do before starting a new career. I'm sure a few reports about youth development were raised before I put mine in, but I'm surprised that nobody else had taken a long, hard look at it. Which is why it's very important that @Mcfc1894has brought this to light so early in FM23's cycle.

I don't mind the repetitive questions. As you say, real-life interviews and press conferences are boring. It's the repetitive irrelevant questions that annoy me. I'm currently managing Betis in La Liga. Ask me about the upcoming match. Ask me about our opponents' strengths and weaknesses. Don't ask me about Elche's manager putting a backup striker on the transfer list - yes, Elche are also in La Liga, but I don't need to have an opinion on everything that happens in our league! And I really don't need to be asked about my loanees before every single game. Yes, I know Diego Lainez is having a good season at Braga, you don't need to keep reminding me! And how is that relevant to our big derby match against Sevilla? My 'favourite' questions right now are those new questions you get about playing players in "new positions", even if you've played them there all season. And again when you change their role slightly (e.g. from a wing-back to a full-back). I've also noticed that some of the questions and answers have been reworded. They now seem to be a lot more verbose and full of corporate jargon, which I suppose is more realistic, but I'm sure the same things could be said more effectively in plain English. I'll look out for some examples when I'm next on the game.

I've already posted about this here, and have already said how much I hate that manually drawing the teams one-by-one takes TWO clicks per team instead of one. Again, these are great ideas but poorly executed. I also play the game at a similar pace to you and find these draws waste far too much time. I'm very much a "don't bore us, get to the chorus" kind of person when it comes to this.

I really don't fancy England's chances. Reckon we narrowly beat Iran, lose to the USA, then contrive to draw with Wales and somehow get ourselves knocked out on goals scored.

DIVISION 2 TABLE (End of December 2005) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Wrexham 25 7 1 3 23 15 7 4 3 30 20 47 2nd Norwich 24 7 2 2 20 11 7 2 4 22 20 46 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Port Vale 24 7 3 3 27 13 5 3 3 10 9 42 4th Rochdale 25 8 4 0 26 13 4 0 9 13 26 40 5th Dag & Red 24 6 3 2 25 15 4 6 3 23 21 39 6th Swindon 24 6 2 5 20 19 5 4 2 28 21 39 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Shrewsbury 24 8 1 4 26 14 4 1 6 18 19 38 8th Cardiff 24 4 4 3 24 16 6 3 4 27 25 37 9th Northampton 24 7 2 2 20 13 4 2 7 21 30 37 10th Cambridge Utd 24 7 2 2 23 12 3 3 7 14 20 35 11th Carlisle 24 4 3 4 18 20 5 5 3 27 23 35 12th Huddersfield 24 5 6 2 31 26 4 2 5 16 20 35 13th Portsmouth 24 6 3 2 24 16 3 3 7 19 28 33 14th Reading 24 5 5 3 19 14 3 4 4 18 24 33 15th Peterborough 24 5 5 3 19 18 3 4 4 17 20 33 16th Oxford 24 7 1 5 27 21 3 0 8 19 25 31 17th Bristol City 24 5 1 6 25 26 4 3 5 26 30 31 18th Watford 24 6 4 3 19 15 1 3 7 13 21 28 19th Bristol Rovers 24 3 7 2 25 24 3 2 7 18 28 27 20th Hull 24 4 2 5 21 27 2 7 4 22 26 27 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21st Bournemouth 24 4 5 4 16 15 0 6 5 4 12 23 22nd Barnsley 25 5 2 6 23 25 1 3 8 7 19 23 23rd Tranmere 25 3 6 3 14 18 2 2 9 8 21 23 24th Wigan 24 4 0 9 18 23 0 2 9 9 25 14 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Arsenal crash out of the UEFA Cup with a 5-1 defeat at Saint-Etienne, lose six matches, and plummet to 11th in the Premiership. Oh, and their maniac German goalie Hans-Jörg Butt receives his THIRD red card of the season against Charlton. Gunners boss Arsène Wenger didn't see the incident because he was trying to zip his coat. While Bolton and Crystal Palace emerge as unlikely top-four contenders, Liverpool's campaign stutters after playmaker Pavel Nedved is sold to Barcelona for £2.8million. The Reds also lose defender André Ooijer to Valencia for £10.75million, but boss Eric Gerets swiftly replaces him with... Paul Ritchie from Manchester City. Ooijer is not the only big name to join Valencia's quest for La Liga glory. Rafa Benítez also signs up Zé Roberto from Inter for £10.75million, just five-and-a-half months after the Brazilian wing-back moved to the San Siro from Leverkusen. Meanwhile, Bayern München right-back Willy Sagnol makes a controversial £5.25million transfer to their Bundesliga title rivals 1.FC Köln. As Lille extend their Ligue 1 advantage to seven points, Paris Saint-Germain plummet into the relegation zone after five straight defeats. In unrelated news, everybody hates Nicolas Anelka. Andriy Shevchenko scores 16 goals in his first 16 league games for Ajax, who go top of the Eredivisie with 45 points and are still unbeaten. Unluckily for them, defending champions PSV - and their returning manager Dick Advocaat - also have 45 points and are also still unbeaten. Feyenoord fans can't believe it. IN OTHER NEWS... Gay and lesbian couples in the United Kingdom can now enter civil partnerships, granting them similar legal rights to married heterosexuals. One of the first British celebrities to take advantage of this is pop megastar Elton John, who marries his film producer partner David Furnish. Tony Blair has a new rival, as 39-year-old David Cameron is elected as leader of the Conservative Party. The old Etonian immediately tries to appeal to common folk by enthusiastically expressing his love for Aston Villa, the Arctic Monkeys, and West Ham. Thatcher wins a popular vote for the first time since 1987. Journalist Carol Thatcher - daughter of former Prime Minister Margaret - wins the fifth series of ITV reality show “I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!”. Nine plucky Brits are trained as space cadets at a Russian military base, and then blast off in a Shuttle for a five-day orbit of the Earth. Of course, it’s all an elaborate hoax by Channel 4; the contestants are never actually sent into space, and the whole series is filmed at a disused airbase near Ipswich.

DECEMBER 2005 We were approaching the halfway point of the Division 2 season, and it was still anyone’s guess where we would end up. A chastening 2-1 loss at home to Shrewsbury had just ended a nine-game unbeaten and left us in 10th place - three points off the play-off places, and yet only five clear of relegation. I was rather more concerned with our defensive record. By the time we arrived in South Yorkshire for the first game of a busy December schedule, it had been exactly three months since we last kept a clean sheet. A 2-0 shutout win over Wigan had been followed by 16 consecutive matches in which we shipped at least one goal. But if our leaky streak was to end any time soon, perhaps it would end at Oakwell against Barnsley. The Tykes were second-from-bottom and were still trying to find consistency under their new player-manager - the smiley and cuddly Roy Keane. 3 DECEMBER 2005: Barnsley vs Dagenham & Redbridge Benjani Mwaruwari was our greatest threat to the Barnsley defence in the first half. After firing Craig Winter's lobbed pass against the crossbar in the opening minute, our Zimbabwean marksman had better luck much later on. Six minutes before the break, Ryan Carter played Benjani through on goal, and a tidy finish saw us take the lead! Winter also hit the bar on the stroke of half-time, though he did double our lead six minutes after the restart. The midfielder's volley from Julian Alsop's flick-on brought him a 10th goal this season and made it 2-0! Unfortunately, Alsop then ruined his good work three minutes later with an unprovoked headbutt on Barnsley midfielder Dave Brammer - and a straight red card! We could have collapsed after going down to 10 men, but Roy Keane's Tykes were not playing well enough to threaten a comeback. Keane himself had two shots easily saved by Robert Green before his handball midway through the second half effectively killed the game off. Damien Lacey scored direct from the free-kick, and we were 3-0 ahead! The Tykes did have one last chance to get on the scoresheet, six minutes from full-time. Greek right-back Giorgos Kiriazis flicked the ball ahead of experienced frontman Bruce Dyer, who blazed it over the bar. Green had held onto his first Dagenham clean sheet - and our first in 91 days! Barnsley - 0 Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Mwaruwari 39, Winter 51, Lacey 67) Division 2, Attendance 6,207 - POSITIONS: Barnsley 3rd, Dag & Red 9th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Green; Hawkins (McQuade), Matthews, Prior (Maher), Mayo; Carter, Lacey, Weekes; Winter; Alsop, Mwaruwari (Griffiths). SENT OFF: Alsop. A well-deserved win put us back to within one point of the play-off spots... but we would now face a lengthy run of matches without Julian Alsop. That stupid red card earned him a three-match ban and a one-week fine. Right-back Lee Gledhill's absence from the Daggers team would be more permanent. After two years at Victoria Road, he was released to Rushden on a free transfer. I then made a move for a new right-back, signing 28-year-old Michael Walsh from Port Vale for £55,000. Walsh is quick, strong and selfless - and his excellent positional awareness will no doubt bolster a Daggers defence that has often looked disorganised this season. Also joining us was Declan Brady - an 18-year-old Irish defender who is determined to fulfil his potential as either a right-back or a centre-half. I'll be tracking his progress in the reserve team closely. Walsh pulled on the Daggers jersey for the first time when we went to Yeovil for Round 2 of the FA Cup. Could we avoid a cup upset against the Conference mid-tablers - and set up a potential money-spiller in Round 3? 10 DECEMBER 2005: Yeovil Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge At first, it didn't look good. When Norwegian forward Petter Halvorsen headed Yeovil into a shock lead after just three minutes, some travelling Dagenhamites were probably fearing this would be Dulwich Hamlet 2002 all over again. However, this simply set up a redemption story for Sean Devine, who was making his first Daggers appearance in over two months. After 17 minutes, a killer cross from loanee winger William McQuade was driven in by Devine, whose equaliser put him straight back into my good books! That goal also spurred us on to power through the rest of the first half. 20-year-old midfielder Alan McLean fired us ahead after 24 minutes, with just his second ever competitive goal. That was followed 11 minutes later by a second assist for his fellow Scotsman McQuade, who set up Benjani Mwaruwari's 12th goal of the season. 3-1 to the Daggers at half-time! Yeovil started the second half strongly and almost pulled a goal back on 55 minutes, but Mike Pollitt got a glove to Glovers striker Micky Moore's shot. Five minutes later, Town midfielder Richard Walker saw his header intercepted by Devine, who powered home his second goal and effectively killed the tie off at 4-1! Though the hosts did get a second goal through a stunning Sean Hankin free-kick in the 71st minute, it looked like it was too late to mount a comeback. Four minutes later, our teenage substitute Chris Griffiths opened his account for the season, and closed the book on an impressive 5-2 away win. For the second time in three seasons, we had made it through to Round 3 of the FA Cup! Yeovil Town - 2 (Halvorsen 3, Hankin 71) Dagenham & Redbridge - 5 (Devine 17,60, McLean 24, Mwaruwari 35, Griffiths 75) FA Cup Round 2, Attendance 7,963 DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Pollitt; Walsh, Matthews, Maher (Prior), Sharps; McQuade, Carter, McLean (M Jones), Mayo; Devine, Mwaruwari (Griffiths). BOOKED: McLean, Maher. So... Manchester United? Arsenal? Liverpool? Leeds? Which big-name team would we get in the Round 3 draw? Cardiff, away. Darn it. The cup action continued in midweek, when we faced Oxford at the Kassam Stadium for Round 1 of the Football League Trophy. Our last trip there a couple of months ago ended in a crushing 3-1 defeat, so vengeance was very much on our minds. 13 DECEMBER 2005: Oxford United vs Dagenham & Redbridge After being dropped for our FA Cup tie, Julian Alsop returned to the fold for one more game before he was forced to sit out the next three. Big Jules made the most of his opportunity, heading in William McQuade's right-wing cross to open the scoring after 17 minutes. We had scored from our first shot on target, but Oxford would do the same six minutes later. Homegrown midfielder Dean Whitehead had recently reached 200 club appearances for the U's at the age of just 23, and he underlined his status as a Kassam Stadium favourite with a fantastic equalising long shot. At 1-1, it was anyone's guess which way this cup tie would turn. In the 54th minute, it was Alsop who made the decisive move for Dagenham. His second goal of the night was another header, this time provided by a surprise assist from Oxford defender Wayne Brown. The U's slipped again in the 70th minute, as goalkeeping captain Alan Fettis was caught out by a vicious Sean Devine strike, which booked our place in the next round! Oxford United - 1 (Whitehead 23) Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Alsop 17,54, Devine 70) Football League Trophy South Round 1, Attendance 3,734 DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Green; Walsh (Hawkins), Matthews, Prior, Sharps; McQuade, Weekes, Lacey, Mayo; Alsop (Griffiths), Devine (McLean). Tim and Helen on Soccer AM gave us a relatively kind draw for Round 2, where we were pitted at home to a struggling Reading side. Perhaps this would be the year we went on a long Football League Trophy run? While that draw was going on, we were heading to Staffordshire to face 5th-placed Port Vale in the league. Alsop began his three-match ban, but midfielder Des Hamilton was back from an ankle injury. 17 DECEMBER 2005: Port Vale vs Dagenham & Redbridge The first half was basically the Robert Green show. Port Vale mounted their first attack in the 15th minute, but Green sprung into action to save a header from midfielder Matthew Spring. He then made another critical save just before half-time from Valiants captain Stephen McPhee, who had unluckily struck the crossbar earlier on. We'd barely threatened the hosts at all in the first period, so I fired the players up to attack them early in the second. We got our reward after 51 minutes, when a rejuvenated Sean Devine broke the deadlock with a lethal volley from Benjani Mwaruwari's lob. However, Port Vale responded just two minutes later, with McPhee's third attempt on goal being the lucky one that finally beat Green. The Valiants had their tails up, and with McPhee's pace proving too hot for our veteran captain Spencer Prior to handle, Scottish striker would get three more shots on target over the final half-hour. Once again, though, Green was in fine fettle, routinely frustrating McPhee with some blinding saves. We were now having to defend very deep, and then hope that a counter-attacking opportunity would arise. In stoppage time, with the scoreline still at 1-1, opportunity knocked. William McQuade picked up the ball on the right wing and spurred us forward against a tiring Vale team. We quickly moved the ball from one flank to the other until Benjani's lay-off found left-winger Kerry Mayo, whose last-gasp winner silenced Vale Park - apart from the few hundred travelling Daggers fans who roared with delight! Port Vale - 1 (McPhee 53) Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Devine 51, Mayo 90) Division 2, Attendance 7,896 - POSITIONS: Port Vale 6th, Dag & Red 5th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Green; Walsh (McLean), Matthews, Prior, Sharps (Maher); McQuade, Hamilton (Winter), Lacey, Mayo; Devine, Mwaruwari. What a way to propel yourselves back into the top six! Another Dagger said his goodbyes, as Victor Renner headed to Spanish third-tier club Ejido on a free transfer. Big things were expected of the powerful striker when he signed from Peterborough in January 2004, but he never really lived up to the billing, scoring 12 goals in 40 games. The last match of our pre-Christmas five-game road trip was at Dean Court, against a Bournemouth team who were just above the relegation zone. 21 DECEMBER 2005: AFC Bournemouth vs Dagenham & Redbridge A miserable first half saw very little attacking action from either team. The one big moment came after 26 minutes, when Damien Lacey's corner was headed home by his midfield team-mate Ryan Carter to give Dagenham the lead! And 1-0 was how the game finished. Frankly, Bournemouth's attacking threat was pitifully weak. Strikers Warren Feeney and Jason Sherlock had a shot apiece at the end of either half, but neither effort came close to threatening Robert Green in the Dagenham goal. We basically had no need to get too far out of our half, and we ground out a boring 1-0 win with the utmost ease! AFC Bournemouth - 0 Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Carter 26) Division 2, Attendance 3,847 - POSITIONS: Bournemouth 21st, Dag & Red 4th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Green; Walsh (Sharps), Matthews, Maher, Hawkins; McQuade (Hamilton), Carter, Lacey, Mayo (McLean); Devine, Mwaruwari. Five away games, five wins! We'd cured our away-day blues - and that augured well for our return to Victoria Road! Christmas Day might have been a no-go, but Boxing Day was alright for fighting when Watford came to town. We would do well to keep their in-form striker Heidar Helguson quiet, especially as our star defender Lee Matthews was sidelined with a shoulder injury. 26 DECEMBER 2005: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Watford Frankly, this was almost as bad as our last match - but while our trip to Dean Court was lacking in quantity of shots, this game was lacking in quality. Both sides were dreadful in front of goal throughout the first half, when Dagenham's Sean Devine and Watford's Heidar Helguson in particular looked nothing like the efficient machines they had been in earlier fixtures. The main issue was that both us and Watford were trying to play through the midfield, and then resorting to low-quality shots either from too far out or - more often - when there was not enough space. As the match wore on, it seemed like it would come down to which team would up the ante first - and I wanted that team to be us. In the 76th minute, Peter Hawkins came into play on the left wing, and then chipped the ball into space for Ryan Carter. After a quick one-two with Damien Lacey, Carter then sought out substitute striker Chris Griffiths, whose low shot slipped underneath Hornets keeper Noel Mooney to extend our winning run to six games! Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Griffiths 76) Watford - 0 Division 2, Attendance 5,977 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Watford 18th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Green; Walsh, Maher, Prior, Hawkins; Carter, Lacey, Weekes (Sharps); Winter (McQuade); Devine (Griffiths), Mwaruwari. Back-to-back 1-0 wins were nice... but I couldn't blame some Daggers fans from wanting a return to our usual free-scoring way. Thankfully, we now had Alsop and his regular strike partner Junior McDougald back from suspension and injury respectively for our final match of 2005. On New Year's Eve, we faced a play-off six-pointer against Swindon at the County Ground. In our 2-2 home draw with the Robins back in August, we were up against a 39-year-old Nigel Martyn enjoying a late-career renaissance. Martyn had since hung up his gloves and joined Bristol Rovers as a coach, so perhaps we would have better luck against his successor? 31 DECEMBER 2005: Swindon Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge Before we could put Stephen Robertson's shotstopping abilities to the test, though, we had to try and stave off a couple of early Swindon attacks. Right-back Paul Connolly's header in the 5th minute was parried by Robert Green, but a similar effort from striker James Hogg 10 minutes later did beat the keeper. First blood to the Robins. James continued to Hogg the headlines at the County Ground by doubling Swindon's advantage just before half-time. The 21-year-old's quick turn of pace caught out our left-back Peter Hawkins, who clumsily brought him down for a penalty that was easily converted. If we were to come back from 2-0 down and win a seventh game on the bounce, we would need to do something pretty special in the second half. My solution was to go for broke, make all three subs at once, and switch to a 4-3-3. My biggest change saw the fit-again Junior McDouglad joined Julian Alsop and Benjani Mwaruwari up front. All three men combined beautifully in the 65th minute. Benjani swung the ball towards Alsop, whose flick-on to McDougald was taken past the last defender before being blasted home! That was the first shot on target Robertson faced, and it had pulled us back to 2-1! 14 minutes later, the game saw its decisive fourth goal. Unfortunately, it came at our end, where the brilliant Swindon playmaker John Newton skinned Des Hamilton - another of our half-time subs - and set up a third Robins goal for his midfield partner Paul McAreavey. A fantastic year for the Daggers had ended on a rather disappointing note. Swindon Town - 3 (Hogg 15,pen45, McAreavey 79) Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (McDougald 65) Division 2, Attendance 7,201 - POSITIONS: Swindon 6th, Dag & Red 5th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Green; Walsh, Maher, Prior, Hawkins (Hamilton); McQuade (Winter), Carter, Lacey (McDougald), Mayo; Alsop, Mwaruwari. BOOKED: Lacey. That was awful - possibly our worst performance this season. It also arguably cost me the Manager of the Month award, which went to David Kemp at Port Vale instead. I’m sure Martin and Gary are proud of him.

After doing some more research and collecting some more data from my English holiday save, I've now submitted a bug report. It's a pretty long post, but there still seem to be major issues with player reputations that I hope SI will look closer at.

Yes, that might actually be another part of the problem. On my Arsenal save on FM22 (where I focussed heavily on developing youth players), I had no problem loaning out PL/Championship-level players for reasonable fees - but those League One/League Two quality players who needed gametime were much more difficult to loan out. I wasn't expecting lower-league clubs to stump up full wages for a loanee, but I struggled to get anyone to pay 50% wages - even for someone who was on £1k a week - and those who were willing to pay that much would typically use them as Squad Players. Even negotiating a small increase in the wage contribution would go something like this: "We'd like to take Player X on loan, and we'll pay 10% of his wages." "Sure, but only if you pay 20%." "No, 10%. Take it or leave it." "Come on, it's only an extra hundred quid a week..." "Ah, forget it." As far as I can tell, these negotiations are a little better on FM23, but I've only a very small sample size to go on.