SuperRedditch

I was trying to clean up backups/dead saves and I deleted my Redditch save. It's gone. I don't have the words to express how much of an idiot I am.

This was present in FM22, and I posted a workaround here: Just tested on FM23, and again, editing the Working with Youngsters attribute of chairperson immediately allows Youth Facilities upgrade. Very disappointed to see this issue is still in FM23.

Season 9 - 2031/32 National League - 1st - Champions Superb season. I used a system I'd played in FM22 at Mamelodi Sundowns to amazing effect, a 4-2-4 with high tempo passes into space. We blew the league away with 123 goals. Don't get me wrong, we have a very good team for this level so the 2nd promotion in 3 years came as no surprise. League Two will be a much greater challenge as some of our players are starting to hit their peak. I was gutted to get knocked out of the FA Trophy in the Quarter Final. A 2-3 loss in extra time against Oldham Athletic. Off the pitch, the move to Professional status cost us. We're losing ~£200k a month, due to wages and Youth Setup. the latter of which shot up despite having had no further investment. Of the MacFarlane money, £2.7m is left which will basically be gone next season unless we can increase our income (somehow). Star Players Bekir Twigg 28i - ST - 45 goals in 42 games. Developed into a player that's way too good for this level, and his high loyalty means I reckon we can keep hold of him. Stanley Majafi 30i - AMR - 17 assists. I've still yet to figure out how to get my wingers to contribute actual goals, but he was a creative force. Alieu Jawara 28d - DC - Was the last to sign a pro contract. Crucial in preventing me from conceding more. Youth Intake Awful. Let's move on. Next Season I'd like to think we can finish around mid-table and grow from there. Might look to sell a player if finances continue to deteriorate. We're currently renting Solihull Moors' stadium, but that won't be enough for League Two. I'm curious to see what happens on that front, can see us building a low capacity stadium in the near-future, which will basically just delete all my money.

My first couple of intakes did not develop at all. I thought maybe the game was broken. Turns out, I think they were just kinda rubbish and barely had any PA. As soon as I increased the Youth Recruitment/Junior Coaching up a bit, I started getting players that were improving a lot. These were only the ones actually getting first team football though. I know training is supposed to be more important at a young age, but I think it's a bit weird for part-time players.

Spoilering my schedule incase others don't want to see it. Obviously better facilities and quality of coaching helps. Also, praise players for training at 7.75 or higher, and criticise them for lower than 6.5. I do this every 2-3 weeks. Schedule isn't really mine, btw. It's based on Evidence Based Football Manager on youtube, aswell as comments made by FC Cadoni re: FM23. For part-time, I did have double intensity only at the highest fitness stage. I didn't bother with mentoring as my squad is too young (even the eldest are under 20).

Lmao, look how far offside my player is. He scored. The goal wasn't disallowed.

Season 8 - 2030/31 National League - 6th Lost in Play-off Semi Final A strong first season in the fifth tier of English football. We were up around the play-offs all season, but really were a tier of quality below the top 4 teams. Additionally, our tiny squad size meant that we suffered from horrific fatigue issues and when key players started to lose a bit of form our results suffered. We've made huge investments into training/youth facilities thanks to the MacFarlane windfall, we're turning professional this summer, and we still maintain an exceptionally healthy £6m bank balance. We sold another 50% sell on clause for £300k, which covers running costs and we're in a strong position for the future. I can't complain too much about the Semi-final loss. They were better, had had more rest (having a bye in the first round) and were just a better team really. Star Players Alieu Jawara 28d - DC - Missed a bunch of the season due to AFCON. Absolute rock. Lamine Camara 27d - AMR - Just a creative force on the right wing. When he plays well, we play well. 15 goals/17 assists. Bekir Twigg 28i - ST - Amazes me that he came through the same intake as MacFarlane and was considered second fiddle. 34 goals. Youth Intake 2nd Resolute 5* PA striker in 2 years. I really need some defenders. The DM pick up is great, however, and the personalities for the top prospects are fantastic, too. Next Season Top 3? Our starting XI is almost strong enough, and the weaker areas improve as players train/play more. Also sign as many players as possible to full-time contracts, I think some will want to join bigger clubs and will stay on part-time.

It's 100% his personality. Unambitious is almost the worst you can get (along with Slack, Casual, Low Determination). Fickle is okay, he'll have decently high ambition but low loyalty. Fickle can develop.

Can I see him?

Well.......that's errr.....that's a lot of money. Generational talent, or something. Really interested to see how good he actually is. I guess we're developing our facilities after all.

Try something like this. I don't actually have any scouts so can't see if it works.

Season 7 - 2029/30 National League North - 1st *Champions* MacFarlane WHO? About as comprehensive as domination gets. Best attack. Best defence. Unbeaten since November. I took things a little slower this season - I did all the press conferences, I managed my players better, and I came up with a simpler tactic and everything just worked. Last season was frustration, this season was pure joy. Sometimes it takes me too long to really decide where a player is best, I get there eventually but I wish I'd made these decisions 12 months ago. Off the pitch, we've reinvested the MacFarlane money into Youth and Training facilities and still have around £700k left. Going to sit on that for a while as I'm pretty happy with the infrastructure as it stands and don't want to over-extend. The title-winning team GK - Saul Asplin-Rowley - Brought through to try and look to the future. Kept club record 20 clean sheets. DR - Leighton Allard - Moved from DM to IWB as part of new look line-up. Solid. DCR - Uwe Knoll - Great DC for this level. Former DR. DCL - Alieu Jawara - Moving him from DL to DC has revolutionised my defence. Unbeatable in the air. Gambian international. DL - Franck Kitoko - Was a bit harsh on him last intake. Sometimes you just need a solid lump of mass on the pitch and he's capable. DM - Gareth Lynch - Really just filling in a space. A weak-link. MCR - Lamar Mackey - Good DLP who is leaving on a free. MCL - Alex Dyson - Star, all-action CM(At) who is also leaving on a free and is a devastating loss. 15 goals/12 assists. AMR - Lamine Camara - Getting better every season at IF(At). 16 goals/22 assists. AML - Aday Sanz - Another weak-link just filling a spot. ST - Bekir Twigg - MacFarlane WHO!? 51 goals. FIFTY ONE GOALS. 51. Youth Intake Blah blah bunch of A's blah blah golden generation. It's actually ok. Top two are good pick ups, and then about 5-6 more who will just bulk out my squad. Next Season We've got some really good players, the better ones would be fine for League Two, but losing our two starting CMs is going to hurt us bad. Just being in a new division is going to be fun.

Macclesfield FC are in my league now (National League North) and I'm pretty certain they don't start in the division below us. They first appeared in 2026/27, so it definitely seems possible.

You create a new notepad document in the following directory; C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Football Manager 2023\data\database\db\2300\lnc\all You can call it whatever you want, mine is redditch name change.lnc, but you have to give it the .lnc extension at the end. (That's LNC). Then; #Names: "CHANGE_PLAYER_NAME" 2002173749 "Lindsay" "" "Cassidy 24d" Copy this string, the number is the unique player ID that can found by adding a column to your squad screen. Insert column > General > Unique ID. The first set of "" had the player's first-name in, the middle set are for a nickname (that's why it's empty), the last set is for surname. This is what mine looks like:

@hubwubOut of interest, as the challenge goal is to win the League and Continental Cup, what's the interpretation for Mexico - with the league actually being 2 half leagues. Win both the Apertura and Clausura? I managed in Mexico in FM22 as part of a pentagon save, and loved it - really fun league, imo.

On a similar note. He's gone. It's huge money for us though. Created a bidding war with Brighton in order to get Aston Villa (his preferred club) to pay an extra £500k.

Imo, for a National League side, £1.4m right now is huge. You can immediately pump that into facilities or running your junior coaching/youth recruitment at a massive scale at a loss in order to brute force good intakes. £1.4m right now > a promise of a vague amount of money possibly at some point in the future maybe. What if he ends up retiring there?

Season 6 - 2028/29 National League North - 6th Lost in Play-off First Round Bit of a frustrating season. We scored 94 goals but our defence is an absolute shambles. We lost a starting CB at the start of the season because I couldn't afford his wage demands, and I've ultimately had to put my DR and DL at centre back and my DM at DR. That helped, but we have the slowest team in the league and I think in this match engine pace is the most important factor. Almost every goal is a hoof into space and we get rinsed. My 2 starting CMs are refusing to discuss new contracts and have 1 year left, MacFarlane is gone for sure this summer. Youth Intake We were promised a 5 star golden generation again. Almost all A's. Actually awful. Kitoko has already dropped to 4* PA. Here he is, I actually have to play him that's how bad my defence is. Next Season Not sure really. Feeling a bit down about the save now. We'll lose our best 3 players within the next 12 months and be back at square one. I need consistent good intakes, not one or two star players that leave on a free.

Season 5 - 2027/28 National League North - 8th An excellent season, which saw us rise from mid-table to a chance at the play-offs once we got an influx of players from the intake. A few more games with them and I reckon we'd have snuck in, but next season is very promising. Cups were very disappointing, knocked out of both against National League opposition early on- that's affected our finances as prize money really keeps us afloat. We struggled with goals, evidenced by the fact that my winger was top scorer with 11. This has been a theme for the entire save though, have been desperate for a striker. Star Players Kieran Boucher - GK - One of the few legacy players still hanging on. Captain and player of the season. Lamar Mackey 27a - AMC - Goal contributions are still lacking, but he's developed incredibly well. Leighton Allard 27b - DM - Plays as a BWM(De). Dirty, abrasive and does the unfancy stuff in the middle. Lamine Camara 27d - AMR - Was AWFUL for the first 25 games, but grew into the role. Developed well. Youth Intake We were promised a 5* intake in December. FIVE STAR CA HOLY MOLY. Six of these players went straight into the first team. Graeme MacFarlane is actually GOD TIER. My current striker scored 6 this season, so this guy was immediately retrained as an Advanced Forward. He's already wanted by Burnley. Next Season Make the most of MacFarlane because I can't see him being here for long I did tie him down to a 2 year contract + 2 in my favour, but I KNOW the board will accept a low bid for him. Play-offs is the goal for sure, we're getting a solid team now - the last 2 intakes were of a much higher quality.

Season 4 - 2026/27 National League North - 15th More of the same, really; runs of good and bad results but ultimately overachieving for our squad with a very comfortable mid-table finish. It might only be one place higher than last year, but we were never threatened with relegation. The most interesting part of the season was the FA Cup run. Which saw us grace the giddy heights of the 3rd round proper: A very fortuitous set of draws, although National League side Bath City in the 2nd Round was quite the scalp to take. We even got the luck of an away draw against a much larger side, Bournemouth - netting us a solid £70k in gate receipts. The prize money from this run, gave us the £160k needed to upgrade the training facilities from Poor -> Basic. A huge step. Further upgrades were made to Junior Coaching/Youth Recruitment and it's paying dividends with better intakes. Our key players are still legacy players, and they're all getting older. Youth Intake This is more like it! A 2 star player basically gets into my first-team at the moment. Lamar Mackey 27a - Best player to come through so far, I think. That aggression though... Leighton Allard 27b - Definitely a DM or CM rather than a winger. Also has crazy high aggression and already sent off for us with a 2-footed tackle. Next Season I'm in a similar position to FM22 where I'm not getting great wide-players come through. So going to look at swapping to a narrow tactic and try and see some development in these young players.

Season 3 - 2025/26 National League North - 16th Although we finished 6 points clear of relegation, we won both of our last 2 games and in actuality it was insanely close. 50 points is supposed to be the "safe amount". A great season though, and our goal difference shows that we're actually competitive in most games. Financially, we're improving. I realised that I'd been spending £7k a month on a scouting package, which was crazy. We're still losing a few thousand every month, but it's more manageable - especially if we can get a few rounds into the cups. That said, until we're turning a profit, this is our level. The awful training facilities mean the players barely improve. I don't know how much the first upgrade costs - maybe £100k? Youth Intake Crazy preview. Those 2x upgrades to Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment doing work. Not quite as good as promised. He's really not that incredible, but I've been desperate for a striker. Shame he's not faster. Next Season Well, I came close to quitting this save a couple of times in season 2. I'm happy to just slowly develop at this level though, try and get a training facilities upgrade asap.

@CardiffDragon Resized it for you, if you'd rather use a smaller logo.

What a difference a month makes. Immediately at the end of the season, a new board takes over and writes off the club's debt - putting us £69k in the black. I waste no time in asking for a coaching badge and improvements to both the junior coaching and youth recruitment. All accepted. Actually feeling somewhat positive about things now. If we can keep our heads above water, there is the potential for growth.

Redditch United Season 2 - 2024/25 National League North - 19th Very similar season to last year; just outside the play-offs after 20 games, then a collapse for the next 20 leaving us fighting relegation. We're now -£200k in the red, because apparently in this game lower league clubs can't manage their finances. Our income keeps dropping and our reputation actually decreased meaning our pittance of a sponsorship also went down. Our players don't improve at all, so even 5*PA youngsters aren't developing. This is really hard, and I'm not enjoying it. Mainly because I genuinely don't see a way out. Unless I accept a period of massive austerity and cut ALL staff expenditure to try and turn a minor profit. Has anyone else ever had any success at this level with a club with the worst facilities you can get? I don't know how we're ever going to build a team capable of getting promotion. Youth Intake He's alright. Need a DM so happy with it.

Redditch United Season 1 - 2023/24 Vanarama National League North - 19th Managed to survive relegation on the final day, despite losing our last 2 games other results went our way. Job done. Our mid-season form was very poor, and if not for a run of 3 wins on the bounce near the end we'd have got relegated for sure. The team is really bad, there's very few shining lights and our best player is leaving at the end of the season. We haemorrhage money every month and have the worst facilities you can imagine. I knew all this was the case though, this is a slow build - I don't expect to get out this division for a decade. I also had to promise my GK that we'd upgrade the training facilities in order for him to sign a new contract. I will not be able to keep this and he'll kick off when he finds out. In better news, I managed to wrangle a coaching course out of the board before the finances went into the red. The Intake The youth setup at this club is awful, so I wasn't expecting too much. That said, there's some good personalities in there especially near the top. Jones and Tchuda have gone straight into the first XI no questions asked. Adam Jones 23a - Good personality, 5* PA and solid attributes for this level. Really happy with this. Mussa Tchuda 23b - Weird player. Does nothing other than "work hard". Might play him as a Pressing Forward. Next Season Put Gloria Gaynor on repeat because "I will survive!".