FM14: The Sky Bet Football League Thread - Sponsored by William Hill

[smplfc123]

Welcome back 'smp'. Nice strategy, one that makes sense to me. And yeah, good luck

Cheers Jogo!

I'm actually sticking to this one too.

Jan 1st, 2014, currently standing in 7th place, 1 point off 6th place norwich on 35 points.

My aim, as stated before, is to do a complete over haul of Leeds Utd.

I started by getting rid of as much deadwood as possible.

Outs:

Tonge

Diouf

Brown

Warnock

Drury

Pugh

Varney

Norris.

As you can see a lot of these, were over-paid and getting on.

I brought in:

Sam Hutchinson - £450k

Eidur Gudjhonsen - £275k

Lee Wallace - £230k

M Beda - Free

R Sneijder - Free

P Zielinski - Loan

Ok, I know Gudjohnsen is old, but he has some valuable experience that can help the younger players. Beda was just a cover buy for the defence and will be let go in the summer.

17 of my 25 man squad are 26 or under, showing that I am giving youth a chance and that's the way i plan on bringing the club forward and out of it's dark days. 6 of the 8 over 27 year olds will be moved on if i can find replacements for them in the summer.

I've got the 3rd best defensive record in the league, with my team playing a controlling game, retaining possession as i try to get them to play the 'right way'.

If i'm honest, i don't believe top 6 is achievable. I've done well to get this close i think by January, but although i'm only 1 point off 6th, i'm 5 points off 5th and 11 points off 4th.

The rebuilding will be continued and i hope to cement a top half finish.

[JackJCFC]

Sam Hutchinson bit of a risky purchase with his injury record, your gonna have to manage him well!

[Jogo Bonito]

Jack: going well there - two good additions too in Kane/Kakuta. How is Bent doing?

smp: Also going well, and good work shifting most of your oldies. Always music to my ears hearing about a good defensive record too

I'm battling out my first Skrill save at the moment after a comfortable first season with Wolves, hence no actual updates in here for now. I might have to try Coventry again, and want another crack at Leyton Orient on the current update.

[JackJCFC]

Jack: going well there - two good additions too in Kane/Kakuta. How is Bent doing?

smp: Also going well, and good work shifting most of your oldies. Always music to my ears hearing about a good defensive record too

I'm battling out my first Skrill save at the moment after a comfortable first season with Wolves, hence no actual updates in here for now. I might have to try Coventry again, and want another crack at Leyton Orient on the current update.

Bent started well for me, had around 9 goals in 21 games at one point. He picked up an injury in December though and all his stats went down just ever so slightly that it's really affected his game, so much so that Kane is my first choice striker. The downside to that is that Kane went over 1000 minutes without a goal 16 games!!

[Jogo Bonito]

Oops, that's not working too well then!

[smplfc123]

@JackJCFC To be honest, his form has been good enough to give him a decent run in the side, so i haven't encountered too many injury problems with him so far

@Jogo Cheers, another 2 0-0 draws away from home, but still playing 2 upfront, so it's not like i've got everyone behind the ball, i'm just organizing the team well, i think anyway haha.

Can't believe Kane went that long! I'll have to take him off my shortlist!

[JackJCFC]

Gillingham 2015/16

Results

Wow, i can't quite believe it but we've managed to finish 2nd to get automatic promotion to the Premier League!! We started the season well but never did i imagine we'd be finishing the season like this. We were consistent throughout apart from a small blip in during the November/December period. As the season progressed i became more and more sure that we'd be able to snatch a playoff place but our form in the last couple of months was amazing; we won 9 of the last 11 games, including the last 6 matches in a row. The last day of the season was incredibly nerve-wracking as we needed a win at home to Nottingham Forest whilst needing Reading to drop points at home to Millwall. We took an early lead from a John Fleck freekick and dominated the match without adding to the scoreline, we came close to conceding on a couple of occasions but kept ourselves in front and on the final whistle i was delighted to see that Reading had been held to a 0-0 draw, taking us up to 2nd place with what must be one of the worst squads to ever win promotion .

I'll post the first 11 below so you can see how bang average this team is!

GK: Samassa

WBR: Wabara

CB: Duffy

CB: Ibanez

CB: Wiemann

WBL: Farchone

CM: Linganzi

CM: Dack

AMC: Fleck

AMC: Higginbottom / Kakuta

ST: Kane / Bent

Transfers

Gonna need a big overhaul if this team is to compete in the Premier League, although based on the cup games we've had against the top teams, we can definitely give them a run for their money. Not sure whether i should go all out spending wise in order to stay up or whether to consolidate, fight to stay and and if we do go down, be in a much better financial position than we are now with parachute payments and to go at it again.

One transfer that has been pre-agreed is that of Wesley Said from Stade Rennais, he's a 20 year old striker with leading Premier League potential only at a League One standard at the moment, hopefully in a couple of years he'll be a real corker.

[JackJCFC]

Can't believe Kane went that long! I'll have to take him off my shortlist!

I'm not sure why he went that long but he certainly isn't a bad player by any means, maybe i was playing him in the wrong role.

[Jogo Bonito]

Congrats Jack. An unlikely promotion indeed, but a solid team that is well managed and deploying good tactics can certainly over-achieve in this game. Time for your DOF to call James Rodriguez now

[smplfc123]

@JackJCFC Nice promotion

[smplfc123]

Sooooo, end of season time.

After about 33 games, i was sat in 5th position, with only 4 points between us and 10th.

I knew i was pushing my luck with the inexperienced squad i had and it was only going to be a matter of time before we hit a bad run. That run, unfortunately came in the last 10 games, where i only won 1.

This left us finishing as low as 14th!!! However, i was still only 8 points off the play offs.

The poor form ended up with me having a crisis meeting with the board, but i managed to convince them to give me faith.

Now i need to rebuild again, it wont be as big a job as last season, but there are still some deadwood i need to get rid of. Will have to go bargain hunting again.

Wish me luck

Update

Paul Green, Zaliukas and Jamie Ashdown released.

[Jogo Bonito]

Good luck with your revolution 'smp'. 14th was probably about right, but the slide makes it appear worse. Keep going with your vision and hopefully you will improve in season 2, which should allow you to stay safely in your job.

Lord only knows what the LUFC board will expect in FM15!

[Jean0987654321]

Might also have back-to-back-to-back promotion with Fleetwood. The budget is tight, so I have to get these guys up in order to improve them

[smplfc123]

Cheers Jogo!

Sam Byram was sold for an over priced £5m and Noel Hunt left for £500k, giving me some scope in the transfer market. I'm still in pre-season, but i'm confident that's all my transfer business done so i can focus on the tactics.

In:

Lewis Grabban - £500k

Vuckevic - Free

Santacroce - Free

Mudingayi - Free

Stewart - Free

Doherty - Free

A Campbell - Loan

So, to go with some good british youngsters i've got in the squad, i've brought in some players with experience around Europe, that i'm hope will show some class in this league, where my youngsters failed towards the end of the season.

Hopefully i can get in to the play offs this season, but i'll be happy with no less than top 10.

[Jogo Bonito]

Good move grabbing Grabban, I like him. Doherty from Wolves? He's a very decent replacement for Byram.

[smplfc123]

Yeah, Bournemouth went down and i wanted to buy someone different, buy more wiser, so i picked up Grabban.

Yeah Doherty i feel is more than capable enough to compete for the RB/RWB slot so felt it was a good free signing from Wolves.

I'm trying to buy different to how I normally do it, making the game more enjoyable and challenging. Hopefully i can work my way up until I get Leeds or i'm at a team where i'm in position to spend a lot more.

[smplfc123]

Great,

An unlucky 2-1 defeat away to Fulham, followed by an average 1-1 Home draw with Yeovil has no lead the Board in to telling me that if i don't produce the goods away to Wolves in the next match, then i shall be relieved of my duties.

[smplfc123]

Well that was disappointing.

After a 1-1 draw away at Wolves, I was sacked. Gutted they only gave me 3 games with my new signings. Really wanted to have a good go at this challenge, now it's over

[Jogo Bonito]

Leeds have no class. What next?

[smplfc123]

I don't know. I'm looking if there any available jobs that i may get.

If not, any teams you recommend me starting with?

[Jogo Bonito]

I'm sure there are plenty if you're struggling to pick one. What league and size of challenge?

[smplfc123]

I think I'm going to look for a similar challenge.

A championship team that needs a bit of a rebuild

[Jogo Bonito]

I suppose Blackburn would be in a similar position, some big earners you would want to get off the books, plus a few decent players already there.

Or how about a club with little or no expectation, like Huddersfield? Wells, Vaughan and Clayton are useful to start with but defensively they're not looking too sharp. Bolton have dire finances, and it would be a challenge to get them back on a good footing - but you'd have to do it with no money.

There's a case to be made for lots of them, for differing reasons.

[MichaelBrown]

leeds have no class. What next?

YES we DO

[smplfc123]

Haha, I've decided on Boro.

Decent stadium, most of their squad 27 years old or younger but expectations not stupidly high! Hopefully they'll give me longer than Leeds did.

[JackJCFC]

Transfers Out: It's been a busy summer as i try and create a team worthy of the premier league without breaking the bank. The only player sold this summer was Scott Allen to Reading for a very small fee as his contract was up the month before they signed him. A few of the weaker players left such as Higginbottom, Linganzi and Ceballos.

Transfers In

Alessandro Diamanti: 33 year old signed on a free, many of you may be aware that he spent a couple of years at West Ham. Very good technical and mental ability and his physicals aren't bad for his age either. Got told that this signed boosted shirt sales when he joined which amused me!

Jakob Johansson: Solid all round midfielder signed for 700k, at 26 years old theres not gonna be much growth but having dominated the Swedish and Polish leagues i feel he can be a decent player in England.

Andrea Barberis: 22 year old central midfielder who will play as a deep lying playmaker, i think he could prove to be a bargain at 2 million and at the very least can be sold for a profit.

Iain Vigurs: Scottish player of the year last season and signed for 950k, will only be a backup in attacking midfield and isn't quite up to Premiership standard but even if he does poorly i should be able to make a profit.

Quique Rivero: 24 year old deep lying playmaker, some good technical and mental stats and a bargain at just 1 million.

Daniele Rugani: Only on loan but he's a decent ball playing CB who can just about do a job at this level.

Christopher Schindler: 26 year old CB, who can also play the wide defensive positions. A good player for this level and for 2.3 million it'd be harder to find a better defender.

Billy Jones: Signed for 1.9 million from Championship West Brom, what he lacks in physical stats he makes up for in his excellent mental ability with high positioning, workrate and teamwork which is always useful in the wing back position.

Wesley Said: 20 year old signed on a free, only League One standard at the moment so won't be starting often but he has enough about him to become a good player at this level.

Giovanni Marchese: 31 year old LB signed for free, there are no real weaknesses to his game so i'm sure he'll give us some top performances.

Julian Schieber: Striker just released by Dortmund at 27 years old. Has great physical stats as well as a very impressive workrate and teamwork rating which i've been searching for for a while. I think this guy can get some important goals for us this year.

Guelor Kanga: Just released by Rostov but easily good enough for a Premier league side, plays just behind the striker, has pace and very good technical ability.

Elio Capradossi: Like Rugani he's a defender signed on loan of similar ability, certainly has a lot of room for improvement so i hope he managed that for us this year.

Hervin Ongenda: Signed by the DoF from PSG, some may know him from his Arsenal days. Weak in the air but aside from that he's everything you need in a striker so he should be a good 2nd choice to Schieber.

Update: We've had a tough start to the league campaign, facing Man United and Liverpool in our first two matches which we lost 4-1 in both. We then faced Accrington Stanley in the capital one cup which ended 2-2 and 4-3 to us on penalties. Our third league match was against Hull where we were unfortunate to draw 1-1. Certainly looks like it's going to be a challenge!!

[Jean0987654321]

OH MY GOD!! :o

After just three seasons, I brought Fleetwood to the EPL. A lot of money to be made here but the spending will mostly be on the players and our god-awful facilities. (Youth Level is at 4)

[Jogo Bonito]

You've been busy clocking up the airmiles Jack, plenty of new players but without breaking the bank. Hopefully they will be of adequate quality - good luck with your fight for survival.

Good luck with Boro, smp. Not a bad choice - there were some posts on them from Chewy above, which you probably saw.

Congrats on your promotion Jean. I guess your stadium is still only holding a few thousand spectators? That's not going to help.

[smplfc123]

Jack and Jean, great work on promotion with your respective clubs

I've got business wrapped up early, just after the 2nd friendly, with no players leaving, bar Given's loan being terminated.

Incoming i've got:

C Christie - Coventry - Could rise to £500k

J Galan - Levante - £94k

M Briggs - Free

Update

Ah that feeling has come back, that feeling of hmmm, who do i want to go. I think i may have to dip in to league 1 to give me more of a challenge!

[Jogo Bonito]

I admire you for ditching it if it's not working for you.

What kind of League 1 challenge are you after? I normally start there so have a fairly good grasp on the teams.

[lewis999]

That's a horrible feeling. I've had it for the past month or so at least so what i've done is take over a struggling team in a top division and try to make them great again, possibly win a champions league and then move to a different nation and repeat.After i've been around a few nations (Spain,Germany, etc.) then take charge of one of my two favourite teams (In England) and make them both great too. At the minute my first team is AC Milan (So not really struggling but you get my drift) in my second season. I won Serie A in season 1 but got knocked out of the champions league by Real Madrid on away goals so having another crack at it this season. Think i'm going to give myself 3 seasons at each club and see what I can do. It's something different and takes a while.

[smplfc123]

@Lewiss999 I like the idea mate, but i get board with top teams too quickly. I want a long challenge where i can create my own team over seasons and watch them build. I felt i could have done that at Leeds had they not sacked me which was annoying.

@Jogo I'm not sure to be honest mate, i'll try anything apart from Wolves as i've taken them to the premiership previously. I'm leaning towards Sheff Utd.

[Jean0987654321]

You've been busy clocking up the airmiles Jack, plenty of new players but without breaking the bank. Hopefully they will be of adequate quality - good luck with your fight for survival.

Good luck with Boro, smp. Not a bad choice - there were some posts on them from Chewy above, which you probably saw.

Congrats on your promotion Jean. I guess your stadium is still only holding a few thousand spectators? That's not going to help.

Yep, had to expand that POS of a ground TWICE. Will be doing all our games at Preston's ground this season. That's ok, I guess

[Jogo Bonito]

@ smp

Sheff Utd may be a bit easy, even though their squad isn't brilliant? Obviously it's a proper club with great potential - the fanbase, stadium and 'new money', so might be right for you. I did a year with Wolves and found it too easy, so didn't even continue after May 2014 as Championship is too high up the pyramid for me most of the time.

Toughest L1 challenges would be Coventry/Shrewsbury. After my epic CCFC save on FM13, I expect to try them again soon. Shrewsbury also have a really small squad, devoid of any quality so you can grow it with your own signings. Leyton Orient have a small squad but great quality - I had two great years with them on 14.2 and will have another spell there on 14.3.

Of the others, I like the good squads and finances of both Brentford and Rotherham (except I think their squad is a bit under-rated in the game, and they have stacks of loan players so you're quite limited bringing other loanees in). Bradford obviously have the stadium/fanbase but aren't a great team. Preston have a slightly better team, plus history, stadium and fanbase - but financial issues. They're probably halfway between Sheff Utd and Bradford in terms of a challenge. Bristol City are probably equal to Bradford, whilst Swindon have that curious link with Spurs - it looks like they only pay 1% of the wage on their loanees.

If Sheff Utd is not quite right, perhaps have a look in to L2 and take the likes of Portsmouth/Plymouth back to better days?

Good luck mate, hope you find the right one.

[MichaelBrown]

Somebody like Colchester would be a decent challenge as well, crap squad and I imagine the finances are horribly tight.

Coventry aren't that bad due to the fact that they have a decent squad. I played with them for a bit on the old patch but obviously they've lost Clarke now. Still got Wilson though I think? People like Blair Adams, John Fleck, Jordan Clarke and Carl Baker are top-end performers at L1 level.

[smplfc123]

Cheers @Jogo great post that! I didn't see it until now and i'm nearly at the start of the season with Sheff Utd so i'm going to stick with them for now!

@michaelbrown I'll put Colchester on the maybe list as well!

No, i've changed my mind again. i'm going to have another look at some of the teams you mentioned Jogo and pick a good challenge for myself.

[MichaelBrown]

Brentford would be a really good game, especially with my favourite player Adam Forshaw. Signed him for a couple of million on my old save and he played about 320 games for me, brilliant winger.

[smplfc123]

I'll have a look around mate, I've currently chosen Preston, but I do have a tendency to try a few clubs before i settle down so Brentford could be an option. Preston aren't certs to go up, but i should be in an around the play-offs with them, but they do have some finanacial problems so it's going to be a good challenge i feel.

[Jogo Bonito]

I'll have a look around mate, I've currently chosen Preston, but I do have a tendency to try a few clubs before i settle down so Brentford could be an option. Preston aren't certs to go up, but i should be in an around the play-offs with them, but they do have some finanacial problems so it's going to be a good challenge i feel.

I'm not sure I can be bothered to wish you luck with PNE just yet, maybe after you really get in to it I will

Decent L1 squad there, good stadium, fanbase, history, but pretty sure they have no transfer budget and big debts? And about 100 strikers! Garner should be a useful asset, plus you have Wright and Gallagher (I think?), who aren't great but are good enough for L1. Also there are a few younger players with a little bit of potential.

P.S. You're reminding me of Gunner101 from last year. I wonder if his absence is due to the fact that he tried all 72 clubs in the previous version

[JackJCFC]

Well i've reached the end of January once more, our season certainly isn't going as badly as it first seemed it might. We struggled for the first 7 games or so, unable to find a win but after that the team just suddenly clicked and went 9 games unbeaten, sending us up to 7th. We've stayed in that sort of position ever since and currently sit in 7th, leading a pack of 'best of the rest' teams as it were.

Transfers

We've had some small transfer activity during January; first in is Alexander Larsson, a young Finnish midfielder signed for pennies who could one day be a first teamer. Mason Springthorpe was brought in one loan by my DoF as a backup keeper but ability wise he is really poor. Michael Nardi was our most expensive signing at 2 million, he's a very promising 20 year old CB from Australia, he's both strong in the air and with the ball at his feet so i think he could be a great Ball Playing CB. Finally, Michael Madec was brought in on loan for cover in the right back position.

On top of these signings i've been trying to bring in some of the best young talent in Europe, frustratingly they've all gone to bigger teams than us so far. The one except is this guy, i stared a bidding war on him in January with the likes of Man City and Barcelona going in for him. He eventually chose Barca but an injury meant he failed his medical so the move broke down. A few weeks later i go in for him again and this time face no competition so i was able to snap him up for a small fee, he'll be coming in the summer.

The signing of Nardi has allowed me to offload Wieman for 300k, Wieman really isn't up to playing at this level so i was happy to ship him out to lower the wage bill. Like wise, Marco Soares left for Doncaster on a free transfer, this was just a matter of reducing the wage bill. Recent signing Wesley Said has also gone out on loan for the rest of the season to Championship QPR, he wasn't really getting the gametime needed for his development so hopefully he can kick on a bit and come back better next year.

[Jogo Bonito]

Good progress there Jack, you couldn't have expected to stay that high up the table.

[MichaelBrown]

Jack, how good is your first choice RB? Madec is potentially very, very good and he has pretty good stats in all of the right places..

Scrap that, I saw that he's on loan. Maybe try to sign him in the summer?

[CityAndColour]

A shame you don't still have Jack Baldwin.

[MichaelBrown]

I haven't finished yet haha, takes me a while to do this stuff. Just looked at him second season though, he's a pretty good player but still at Peterborough.

[JackJCFC]

Jack, how good is your first choice RB? Madec is potentially very, very good and he has pretty good stats in all of the right places..

Scrap that, I saw that he's on loan. Maybe try to sign him in the summer?

My first choice RB is Billy Jones who is 30 now so he's nothing special but does a job. I might look to sign Madec permanently if the fee is low enough, will have to see what happens as i've not really used him that much so far.

[smplfc123]

I'm not sure I can be bothered to wish you luck with PNE just yet, maybe after you really get in to it I will

Decent L1 squad there, good stadium, fanbase, history, but pretty sure they have no transfer budget and big debts? And about 100 strikers! Garner should be a useful asset, plus you have Wright and Gallagher (I think?), who aren't great but are good enough for L1. Also there are a few younger players with a little bit of potential.

P.S. You're reminding me of Gunner101 from last year. I wonder if his absence is due to the fact that he tried all 72 clubs in the previous version

And you'd be right not too! After 7 games and on the verge of getting sacked already, i've realised i've gone about this one all wrong, which i'm disappointed at. I clicked through pre-season too quickly. I may venture back in to the championship for now.

[JackJCFC]

Gillingham 2016/17

Results

So a strong first season in the Premier League, finishing up in 9th place. We never quite had the consistency to challenge the European places, not helped by a lack of squad depth and several injuries/bans throughout the season. It was nice not to be in a relegation scrap at all, unless of course you include the awful start we had . We were poor in the cups, losing to Stoke in the FA Cup 3rd Round and Watford in the Capital One Cup 3rd round. Next season i'd like to see us to get to the latter stages of both of those and hopefully push on to a European place.

Finances wise we've never been better, we made a huge profit this season and currently have 30 million in the bank with our stadium sponsor and kit sponsor due to be renewed this summer for the first time since League One so we can expect some big increases there i hope! One thing that did amuse me was that our wage bill (15.5mil) is 2.5x smaller than any other team in the division, helped by the fact that no-one was earning more than 20k per year. I expect that'll increase by the time the new season starts so hopefully we can get a new stadium or expand the current one!

Transfers

I've already talked a lot about transfers this season but for the summer i'm planning another summer of spending. I need to get rid of some of the poorer players from the squad who aren't quite good enough for this level such as Wabara, Vigurs, Diamanti and possibly one or two others. The area's i want to strengthen are GK, LB, RB with maybe a new backup CM, CAM and ST. I'll let you know how i get one at the end of the transfer window!

[Milky]

Hi guys, I am starting a save with Peterborough,what i want to do is follow the Peterborough tradition of signing lower league players. In real life The Posh have just signed Erhun Oztumer from Dulwich Hamlet and in the past signed the likes of Connor Washington from Newport and Aaron McLean from Grays. This seems to be harder than it sounds,so far i have only come up with Pelly Ruddock from Luton,Yado Mambo and Michael West both from Ebbsfleet but i'm not sure they will all cut it in the current side!

What i am looking for may not be possible but i want someone who can hold their own in league 1 and maybe the Championship if i get promoted.

[JackJCFC]

Just got beaten to the signing of a decent young player by Bastia. Why on earth would he go to them over me!?

[Jogo Bonito]

Hi guys, I am starting a save with Peterborough,what i want to do is follow the Peterborough tradition of signing lower league players. In real life The Posh have just signed Erhun Oztumer from Dulwich Hamlet and in the past signed the likes of Connor Washington from Newport and Aaron McLean from Grays. This seems to be harder than it sounds,so far i have only come up with Pelly Ruddock from Luton,Yado Mambo and Michael West both from Ebbsfleet but i'm not sure they will all cut it in the current side!

What i am looking for may not be possible but i want someone who can hold their own in league 1 and maybe the Championship if i get promoted.

Hi Milky, great idea.

It won't be easy, but there are a handful of players you can look at (you could also have a look at the Skrill thread for names too). I often look at players like this - the safest bet would be looking at strikers and the main man should be Dan Holman of Braintree (just signed for Colchester IRL). Liam Hearn of Grimsby (just signed for Mansfield IRL) was also good up to the second tier on FM13 and looks reasonably strong still on FM14 (but he is a few years older). You could try Lee Gregory of FC Halifax, recently signed by Millwall, he did OK in the first patch for me at Shrewsbury.

I had West at Crewe on the previous version and he was good at L1 level, so may be alright. Oztumer and Vassell (also of Posh) are a little under-rated in the current game, also true of Andre Gray (Luton). A wildcard would be Vences Bola, who I have good results with, or Elliott Durrell. Defenders and midfielders tend to be a little lacking in technical quality and/or pace from the lower leagues, but Barnet have one or two decent players to look at (and you have the Barry Fry connection with them too, for added realism).

Good luck and I hope you will share your progress in here.

Edit: That's excellent stuff Jack, a very respectable finish and hopefully you can build on that next season. I enjoy your updates.