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FM12 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge


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Fantastic to see how some of those players are coming on. Duarte, Sousa, Luis Santos, all look to be great prospects, Santos looks stunning already actually! What impresses me about your squad is how tight a grip you've kept on wages. I've got to admit, my squads wage has spiralled out of control, with players on £70k per week now, like my midfielders, as I was too scared to lose them/too lazy to find a replacement, so I just gave into players wanting their wage doubled! But that's what happens with success I suppose. So well done for keeping it under control! how much do you get in tv revenue for portugese league? and whats the prize money for winning the league?

edit: was just thinking there PRDH, if your struggling with a left winger, I think with the players at your disposal you could easily change to a 41212 and give your full backs "wing back" role, with duty of "attack" thats what I play and it works fine, if you've decent full backs they give you all the width you need.

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aldo - Well, Djokovic is on big wages. But he's off now too. There's not much money around generally - £1.7m for winning the league (all of which goes on the team's bonus!) and £2m for TV money spread over the season.

Edit - True on the formation change. The problem with that is where Rodrigues would fit in. He's one of my best players, and really needs to be in the team. I might just keep hoping I get a vaguely decent left winger. Or, just have to carry a player there for a bit.

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Wow! I'm excited about Rodolfo Marques already.

This is him when he emerged from the youth academy in March and this is him now (July) after a bit of time training and learning under Cardoso.

It shows a remarkable improvement!

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Lanzarote - 2013/14 - Season 2 - jimbowmanuk

Media Prediction: 10th

Actual Finish: 11th

Season Tickets: 958(+107)

Transfers

Due to a bit of a ****-up I forgot to check contracts that were expiring so I lost a big portion of my team including last seasons top scorer. Managed to bring in new faces that looked better but I didn't have enough cover in the squad due to a shrinking wage budget

League - Graph

Predicted to finish 10th and with the board wanting a top half finish I was hoping to carry on the good form from last season. Unfortunately due to a lot of injuries to key players I had to promote a lot of youth players to fill out the subs bench, and with Adam Townsend disappearing on 5 occasions we couldn't get the consisting we wanted. At one point towards the end of the season we sat 2 points above relegation but weaker teams in the last few games meant we were able to climb the table to a more respectable, if not personally disappointing 11th

Fixtures 1

Fixtures 2

Spanish Cup

Knocked out in the 2nd round to non-league opposition so no big money ties to help the finances.

Federation Cup

A cup competition for the lower leagues, and we played really well in the 1st couple of rounds progressing with ease before finally losing the quarter-final to the eventual winners, no mention of money from the cup but that may come right at the end of the season.

The Squad Stats

Finances - Chairman keeps putting money in to help with running costs

Next Seasons goals

I'm looking at anything less than the play-offs as a serious failure, will be hopefully strengthening the key areas of the squad if the board is kind with the budget

Season	| League	| Position	|Spanish Cup	| Federation Cup	| Europe	| Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13	| Secunda B4	| 2nd		| N/A		| N/A			| N/A		| 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14	| Secunda B4	| 11th		| 2nd Round	| Quarter-finals	| N/A		|

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Similar to my first two seasons Jim, nearly winning promotion 1st season, then falling back a bit, but it's a good learning curve for your squad, particularly if as you say plenty of youngsters were involved, so hope you hit the play offs this year. Forum is quiet today where is everyone! Saturdays normally quite good!

My season so far is a disapointment, 4 points off the top after 15 games, got quite a few injuries, Roger hasn't kicked a ball yet due to breaking his foot at Euro 2024, he's back soon though. Threw away so many points from a winning position, don't understand it. Do you ever get a season like this, where for some reason your tactics just don't work aswell despite having the same talented players as the previous year! I know there's plenty games to go, but PSG are in formidable high scoring form, can't see them slipping up too many times, and we've already lost 3 games (last season in total we lost 2). So needing a bit more consistency if we're to make it 3 titles in a row.

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Cruelest result ever...away from home, expected to lose, 4 minutes in we score to take the lead, and at halftime have had 23% of the possession and being completely dominated. After halftime we keep them out, until the 86th minute when Zuccarelli scores an own goal, now a draw would've been a good result, but at 90+3 Zuccarelli puts another ball into our net and its a 2-1 loss...

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Des Tiny's A.S. Viterbo Calcio

AS_Viterbo_Calcio_logo.png

Serie C2/A 2012/13

Youth Intake Update

March 18th 2013

In Short

Players In: 16

Goalkeepers: 3

Defenders: 7

Midfielders: 4

Strikers: 2

Above 3* = 1

2* - 3* = 0

1* - 1.5* = 2

Below 1* = 13

To be Signed

4* Francesco Saverio Guacci (AML/ST) - He looks to be very quick, and some good flair, Determination is a bit disappointing, but he could become a solid Striker for me, and the best Star rating I am likely to get for a while. Coach Report.

1.5* Ninni Gambella (DM) - Not the best prospect, but he is the second best in the group that has come through, and he fits our formation, I will sign him on just as a bit of cover at DM.

The rest are just terrible, there is a 1* potential centre back, who has a rating of 4 for Marking, and the other 13 are 0.5* potential, I shan't sign a single one of them. In fact other than Guacci, I am likely to dump most of my youth side after this season to try and save on wage budget room.

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Yeah it's a wasted part of your budget until you get up to the bigger leagues, better spending the cash on players in my opinion. I know most people would say you should put more money into youth lower down the leagues, but when finances are tight, your better ignoring that part of the team as your unlikely to get much quality through it. I don't think I signed a single player for the first 5-6 seasons. I usually sign a few now, always look forward to March.

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Ok I am obviously not meant to progress in the Champions League. Been in group stages 3 times, knocked out first 2 times on 9 points, a tad unlucky you might say. Well this year I amassed 10 points, only to still finish in 3rd, on head to head record with Inter. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Plus I'm still falling further behind league leaders, 7 points now behind 1st place. Seasons a write-off already!

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aldo - The Champions' League is a tough nut to crack but with persistence, I'm sure you'll get there. Steady improvement is all you can hope for, and to go out on head to head record is seriously unlucky. Set up for next season nicely though!

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That's what I said last season PRDH!!

Really difficult when your in the 3rd pot, but as someone mentioned further up the thread, I should take Europa League seriously and improve my ranking that way. Got Dynamo Kiev first, who I think I'll beat, then got either Werder Bremen or Bursaspor in last 16, both of whom I've beaten in the Europa League in the past 5 years or so, so who knows I may get a good run in the Europa this year. But I've got to claw back the league, I'm 5 points behind and playing so inconsistently, so again the league will take priority.

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Here's a wee thing to do just to get a look at everyone elses save...which player has the highest value in your save, and who is paid the highest wage?

And of the top 10 valued players and top 10 highest wage, break down their nationality and team, don't need to post pictures of them all as that would take a while! Both lists will prob contain most if not all the same players!

Just a wee thing to do, be good to see how everyones saves have went and which nationalities we see most etc.

My most valuable is Real Madrid's Russian right winger, Dmitry Buznikin. He's worth £34.5m.

My highest paid is Tiago, a Brazilian midfielder playing for Manchester City, raking in £150,000 a week. I know that's a ridiculous amount of money, but I'm actually suprised no-one is earning like £200,000 a week.

Of the top 10 valued players, the break-down is as follows....

4 play for Man United, 2 play for Barcelona, and 1 play for each of Real Madrid, Man City, Valencia, and Juventus. Their nationalities break-down as follows; Argentina (3), Brazil (2), then 1 each for Russia, Denmark, Holland, England, Uruguay.

Of the top 10 wages, 2 play for Man United, Real Madrid, Valencia, 1 plays for Man City, Fenerbache, Inter & Barcelona. The break down of nationalities is Spain & Brazil (3), England, Denmark, Georgia & Russia (1).

I know I said don't bother with screenshots, but I had to post this, this is the guy whose 1 of the top 10 paid footballers in the world, an average 33 year old Dane playing for Fenerbache, his agent has done well for him!

Interesting to note a Dane in both lists, but not the same 1, not a nationality associated with high wages or high transfer fees.

3 Argentinians valued in the top 10 players, but none of them claim a wage in the top 10.

Ok I admit it, I am doing anything to avoid playing my save as it's going not too well at the minute, but just thought it'd be interesting to have a look and compare, particularly if some of you - like PRDH & iacovone (if you still read this forum) have been playing for a couple of decades. Wonder how your universes have progressed!

If anyone else can think of things to look at and compare then post it.

Edit: just saw my last sentence and I know it may seem like I'm a pervert, but that was an innocent suggestion so no filth thank you!

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Yeah, good plan to target the Europa League to improve your seeding aldo. You've got the league in the bag now so you can target Europe with all your resources.

I know but I'm worried if I neglect the league too much I'll get fired. The board want top 3 finish now, which it's not impossible I could miss out on the way I'm playing, so I need to balance still competing in the league with trying to progress in Europe.

I'm struggling with finance, averaging between 8-10k per home game dependant upon opposition, I can't get the cash through the gates to go out and seriously invest. The board have given me a huge wage/transfer budget, but if I spend it we'll be bankrupt! Won the league with mainly bosmans and the odd marquee signing, but to crack the Champions League I reckon I'm still a few players off.

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jombowmanuk - tough season there with the contracts etc so i guess the step back was inevitable. i have no doubt though you'll be back there in the next couple of years though.

LLR - i agree that the youth system is pointless pretty much until you start to climb. even now i only sign homegrown players that have minimum 2.5* potential. don't waste my time with the rest.

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Yeah, it's intriguing aldo.

Most valuable - Real Madrid's Spanish striker Enol, who spent a season on loan with me a few years back, who is valued at £34m. It's a tie though as Chelsea defender Gabin Labrousse, is also valued at that.

Enol is also the highest paid in the world on £140,000/week.

In terms of top-10s - in value 5 play for Real Madrid, 3 for Inter, 1 for Chelsea and 1 for Liverpool and they include 2 Spaniards, 3 Italians, 1 Frenchman, 1 Argentinian, 2 Brazilians and a Nigerian. The other interesting thing to notice is that 4 of them have played for me at some stage in their career. Enol had a season on loan with me, and then we also have Italian full back Silvio Nicastro, Argentinian winger Martin Salto and Brazilian right-back Claudio who were permanent members of the Lusitania Acores squad earlier in their career. I obviously have a decent eye for talent!

For the highest earners, of the top 10 a staggering five play for Inter (wouldn't want their wage bill!), 2 for Real Madrid, and one each for Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool.And that list includes 2 Frenchmen, 2 Italians, 2 Argentinians, 1 German, 1 Spaniard, 1 Brazilian and a Slovenian. Of this list only two have played for me (Enol and Salto).

Only four players appear on both lists.

Edit - I was intrigued by Inter's wage bill so went over and added it all together, they spend £1,523,215/week in total on wages, or in other words 3.2x what I do.

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You can only start in National Marty. I can't remember the full name but are you the Marty from youth academy thread? If so, why are not still doing that, you had an awesome save man! Good to have you though, think you'll do well given you got success with only youth players and no signings!

PRDH that is awesome, 4 out of top 10 players playing for you at some point, superb! Nobody on both lists has been anywhere near me!

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Hi guys. If I was start this in the French leagues do I have to load CFA or just National and should I be starting in CFA or National?

I think you load all the leagues, down to CFA, but then you start in the National because CFA teams are unplayable. Good luck!

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You can only start in National Marty. I can't remember the full name but are you the Marty from youth academy thread? If so, why are not still doing that, you had an awesome save man! Good to have you though, think you'll do well given you got success with only youth players and no signings!

Yes thats me with Kingstonian. I haven't signed any players for 22 seasons and am missing scouting and wheeling and dealing. I am certainly not giving that save up and I work from home so FM runs for 10+ hours (on my laptop) most days whilst I work and I think I can run two saves quicker than most will run one. I may have a break from that save for a week first though.

I think you load all the leagues, down to CFA, but then you start in the National because CFA teams are unplayable. Good luck!

Thanks France is a bit confusing.

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aldo - Yeah, not a bad hit rate with the top players. Most of them joined me fairly cheaply too. Claudio - 5.75m, Salto £2m and Nicastro was £10m, but still cheap compared to him now!

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Hows that young midfielder coming on Marty

Can't remember his name but it was long and unusual I'm sure? He looked awesome at 16!

Ah yes, the Kingstonian legend that is Solomon Izuchukwu. An England regular and is now 24 years and at his peak pretty much. Arguably the best youth player I have ever had through my own ranks in any save. Obviously he is also my club captain.

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He's brilliant Marty, what a player.

aldo - Yeah, not a bad hit rate with the top players. Most of them joined me fairly cheaply too. Claudio - 5.75m, Salto £2m and Nicastro was £10m, but still cheap compared to him now!

If you were a scout in FM I'd sign you PRDH!!

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Just found this on a website, Parma's strip this year featuring the name of every season ticket holder. How cool an idea is that!

Thats pretty cool. Kit looks nice as it is anyway but thats a nice added touch.

Just simmed France and because the CFA is loaded I can't get a choice of teams on the reset date. Gone back to an auto-save in March to see if someone else comes up.

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Thats pretty cool. Kit looks nice as it is anyway but thats a nice added touch.

Just simmed France and because the CFA is loaded I can't get a choice of teams on the reset date. Gone back to an auto-save in March to see if someone else comes up.

There are a few save games on the first page with different French teams available I think. I seem to remember LLR going through holidaying to get some.

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I've just noticed that I can't offer one of my players, Ricardo Aleixo, a new contract. The reason is he is 'currently considering a new contract'. I can state he isn't, I've certainly not offered him one. I remember seeing it for a while, but I just assumed it was because he was young and it counted because he was waiting to sign a professional deal. That's obviously not the case, he's 19 now and has been professional all the time. If this doesn't change it presumably means he'll just leave on a free at the end of his current deal. If that happens I fear it might spell the end of this save for me.

Have any of you seen this before? Is it a recognised bug, or just one of those things that corrupt in an individual save occasionally? Any suggestions on how to change it?

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I've never seen it before PRDH. Got a different but similarly annoying issue with my game. My best striker this season, and "model professional" Tony Champion has not been able to tutor anyone for like 2 years. I've been trying to link him up with Ilan Roger as I think he'd bring him on tremendously, being a model professional and having a determination of 18. But I haven't been able to ask him about tutoring anyone for a couple of seasons now, ever since I was given Roger, I've went to Champion every month or so and the option is always greyed out.

Your bug/issue sounds infuriating though and would be the sort of thing that would make me chuck it. How long he got left to run?

Only thing I can think of to get round it, is a bit naughty, but maybe start a new manager, take charge of a big club abroad, even on a continent that you don't play in so as not to affect the European game, offer a ton of money for him, reject it, and his agent may come to you looking for new deal?

I can't remember, even then I think you only get to promise a new deal it doesn't take you straight to the negotiation does it?

Only other thing would be to sell him but with a buy back clause?

But that sucks mate, and would be a sad way to end your save when your just getting into your new routine.

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Cheers, aldo. I had a similar, slightly naughty idea. I wanted to get it sorted quickly so I added a manager and took over Porto (the manager was under pressure any way because they've been under performing) I bid for him, offered him a contract and that seemed to trigger him to 'accept' the contract offer I had in theory offered to him. It seems to have solved the problem, although I do feel bad for interfering with Porto, I may have actually done them a favour as they can go out and hire a new manager, who may start to turn them around.

I hope no one is too offended by what I've done, I wasn't in charge of Porto for any games and they were in 7th at the time, so would have probably (considering their board's previous actions) got rid of him soon anyway. I felt slightly better about it because I've already completed.

Sorry everyone!

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I'm glad you've done it mate, didn't want you to leave the thread!

My next suggestion was going to be using a save game editor or somethin, dunno if u can do that? But like you say, you've completed, you can do what you like! Even if you hadn't I think everyone would make an exception for this sort of situation.

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150px-AS_Cannes_New_Logo.jpg

I have shamelessly picked one of the easier teams to start with and despite being newly promoted the board expect another promotion straight away. Fair enough as there is wage budget left for improving an already solid, if unspectacular, squad. As I'm a promotion contender (apparently) I'll be trying to play good football as much as is possible. As I've just joined I'm unsure of the squad but I will adjust things slightly as I get to know strengths and weaknesses a bit better.

I usually like to play 4-4-2 as a preferred tactic and am trying to start immediately with a couple of variations of this and will perhaps later add a third 4-5-1 tactic as a back-up. The first is a standard 4-4-2 which if we are a promotion candidate will be in use at home and against underdogs and, along with shouts, will look to try to be patient and probe for chances. I have not completely decided on roles etc and may have to alter slightly depending on how the friendlies go. The second is a 4-2-2-2 and is more for the harder away matches and will look to punish teams that consistently push forward against us. Again there may be some tweaks but that is my starting point.

Martyn James manager information and manager profile. Also game status.

AS Cannes:

Overview profile

General information

Facilities

Finances

The initial squad definately needs some work straight away with two loanees and a few of my own players out of contract in a month or so. That means quick decisions on who to keep and who to let go and sure there will be plenty of activity before the window shuts.

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@PRDH - I know one way to cause the "curently considering a contract" problem is if when you get your intake you offer a pro contract to a candidate and then before he signs you take your assistants recommended signings (which automatically signs them all immediately). I done it myself when I offered a youngster a full time contract and then pressed that button. I offered the player out and then accepted bids as I didn't want to lose him for nothing and then when he was negotiating with other teams I was able to offer a contract and cancelled all the offers. Maybe that is what happened to you.

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marty - Yeah, I had an inkling that might have been the reason. It sounds very plausible. That's one thing to remember for next time! Good luck with Cannes, may you bring a festival of European football to add to the films!

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marty - Yeah, I had an inkling that might have been the reason. It sounds very plausible. That's one thing to remember for next time! Good luck with Cannes, may you bring a festival of European football to add to the films!

Hehe yeah lets hope so.

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Marty- Good luck with AS Cannes mate! I managed to get them promoted first season so hopefully you can do the same!

Sorry for my inactivity here, I will get back into it now. Was a bit put off by my start to life in Ligue 2 tbh :D

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Houston we have a problem!

Ruud Jacobs, arguably our best player last season, looks to have engineered himself a move away from the club. It all started last season, when he was given a few periods of leave for homesickness. Despite this he requested to be transfer listed as he couldnt settle, a request which i granted (ive had it happen before but then players changing their minds/settling/asking to be removed from transfer list). Now his status states he is determined to prove his worth to the club, and i cant reverse his transfer status. Another twist in the tale is he now only has 6 months left on his contract, and while he has been offered a new deal by the club, he also has 19! other clubs chasing his signature. Long story short, i should have offered him a longer deal to begin with, gonna kick myself if he agrees to go elsewhere for free :(

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LaVitrennelogo.png

Aventure française de Berty Bassett

La Vitréenne FC - update (French Ligue 1)

I'm just going to get up to scratch on how I've fared so far in this challenge.

After taking 4 seasons to get out of both the National and Ligue 2, it's been slow progress. Also very disappointing to have dropped into the Europa League for the last season after finishing 4th in 2024/25. We're struggling to catch Monaco who somehow are one of the biggest teams in Europe here, with mega money to spend, an excellent team and a 55k+ stadium they sell out every week.

In the 2025/26 season we finished 2nd again to qualify for the CL after last seasons absence.

League table.

We also won the Euro cup, our first European competition win, unfortunately the wrong one.

Results.

Season  |  League   | Position |    Cup     |Coupe de la Ligue|      Europe       | Achievements            |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13 | National  |   10th   | 7th Round  |                 |                   | Overachievers           |
2013/14 | National  |   6th    | 6th Round  |                 |                   |                         |
2014/15 | National  |   6th    | 7th Round  |                 |                   |                         |
2015/16 | National  |   3rd    | 8th Round  |                 |                   | Promotion               |
2016/17 | Ligue 2   |   14th   | 10th round |   1st round     |                   | Survived                |
2017/18 | Ligue 2   |   7th    | 11th round |   3rd round     |                   | Overachievers           |
2018/19 | Ligue 2   |   9th    | 7th round  |   1st round     |                   |                         |
2019/20 | Ligue 2   |   2nd    | 11th round |   3rd round     |                   | Promotion               |
2020/21 | Ligue 1   |   9th    | Semi-Final |   Semi-Final    |                   |                         |
2021/22 | Ligue 1   |   5th    | 10th round |   4th round     |                   |                         |
2022/23 | Ligue 1   |   2nd    | 10th round |   Quarters      |                   | Qualified for CL groups |
2023/24 | Ligue 1   |   3rd    | 11th round |   Winners       | CL Quarter-finals |                         |
2024/25 | Ligue 1   |   4th    | Semis      |   Semis         | CL Semi-finals    |                         |
2025/26 | Ligue 1   |   2nd    | 10th round |   4th round     | Euro Cup winners  | First continental win   |

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