FM14: Glasgow Rangers - The teddy bears are on the march!

[Ryknow]

Work permit went through so he'll join in the summer on a free. Accepted to be within my €40k pw wage cap by taking a larger loyalty bonus. Chose to join us instead of Europeans big guns. Added bonus is he can play DM.

[brento]

In my save which uses edited database which puts Rangers in English league 2 and Celtic in English championship

Only 9 games in sitting in 1st place 7 wins and 2 draws. Really enjoying save so far hopefully don't get all english newgens

[Ryknow]

Winter Window Dealings

Ended the Johnny Russell, Kagawa and Danny Wilson loans as they weren't getting any game time. Sold Mesut Özil for the same reason because we used a 4-3-3 for 90% of the season. Plus some others out that weren't getting game time and/or not needed.

Players in were Morra (screenie above), Nathan Long (above) and Davit Shubitidze (newgen), a huge Georgian target man. Needed a big lump up front, this guy does the job that Sean Sutherland (newgen - Club Captain) can't do.

----------------------

SPL

Moved into the newly expanded stadium mid August and turned it into a fortress by winning 19 out of the 20 games, the remaining a draw. That's not the best part we scored 70 goals and only conceded 3 at home in the SPL. So dominant. Went 12 games without conceding a goal at home, and a 100% win record. Away record wasn't that flash though as we drew 4 and lost 3, out of the 18 away games.

That said, we obviously won the league.

Rangers 95pts

Celtic 80pts

Hearts 60pts

Dundee Utd 53pts

----------------------

UEFA Champions League

Once again met FC Porto in the Group Stage, getting friendly with their manager.

Man City 13pts

Rangers 11pts

FC Porto 8

Real Betis 1

Yet again lost to an English side in the 1st Knockout Round. We got Chelsea and my word Hazard is difficult to stop. Finished 4-2agg. Not overly fussed as I'm in it for the money

Should probably aim to win it soon though.

----------------------

Scottish Cup

Cruised to the final and got lowly Hibs. They scored a goal and we had 6 CCC, and not poor ones, but proper CCC. Few good saves by their keeper and we lost 1-0. Fair play.

----------------------

Scottish League Cup

Smashed Aberdeen in the final 4-0. Eh.

----------------------

AT&T All-Star

No idea what this was, but made the MLS playable during last season so I could get more Americans. Couldn't refuse this, but either way I won 2-0 against the MLS All Stars.

----------------------

The usual players performed well, but notable ones were newgens.

Brendan Bahnsen: The Aussie (newgen few posts above) was outstanding scoring 13 goals in the league and 10 assists. Can't remember the exact amount but probably scored 6 direct freekicks. Quickly becoming one of my favourite players and has only been here one season.

Robert Russell: Bahnsen's partner in crime was Russell (HG academy player). His move from AMC to MC worked better than I thought as he finished the season with a higher average rating than last season. He assisted in 14 and scored 8, where as last season he only scored 5 with same amount of assists.

Colm Moran: The Northern Irish fullback was outstanding and took the LB spot for his own. He will be kept for as long as possible. Won the Fans Player of the Year. (HG Nation)

Sean Sutherland: Captain fantastic led the team to glory by scoring 24 goals and assisting in another 7 in 25 appearances in the league. Purely a finisher, he doesn't really fit our style of play (hence why I brought in the Georgian targetman), but seeing as I bought him in my first season and he's Scottish, the club captain and HG at club, I don't think he'll ever leave.

Brian Sheridan: He's developed well and a HG Club player. Paired incredibly well with Veljkovic in defence. Flavio (Brazilian newgen few posts up) might shake the partnership up next season.

Garry Williamson: Lucky last is Rangers and Scotland's new No.1. Stood up and performed like a veteran keeper. His form this season saw him get signed to a new 8 year deal. HG academy player.

- Morra was outstanding, (Italian newgen few posts up). What he lacks in acceleration he makes up for in technique.

[BurghBear]

Looks like a good team, you'll need to start going for sucess in Europe soon! I've started concentrating on Scottish players with a view to improving the chances of the national team (when I eventually get the job). Spent £5M on a centre back from Hibs, a bit excessive I know but he looks like he'll be amazing. I'll post some screen shots if I can figure out how!

[brento]

In January first season 22 points clear, had a consortium takeover in December led by Antonio Oliveira pumped 24 million into the club then without request upgraded training and youth

facilities for 19.5 million also given me extra 5 million for transfers. Probably not needed.

Terminated Moshni contract just wasn't getting picked also may terminate Cabari's.

Ryknow what is your tactic for tough away games setup and team instructions? for when in premiership and UCL. I've taken your advise in approaching players bosmans some great quality

Coming in at end of season

Jake Cassidy-st (free)

Kelvin Mellor-rb (free)

Brice Irie-Bi -dm (free)

Conor Newton-am (free)

Mateusz Taudul-gk (free)

[Ryknow]

Keep an eye out for Adam Smith from Spurs. Can't remember when his deal expires but he can be your RB for years to come and can cover LB too. Spurs shouldn't offer him a new deal as he isn't top EPL quality. And the best free you can get will be Ocampos. The guy is incredible. Keep monitoring him as I had him on loan first. Anyway, check out my transfers for some ideas on frees if you get stuck. One thing I'll say from my experience is don't bother with the older players. I was excited that I could bring an ageing Sneijder, Silva, Kagawa, Özil, etc, but in truth they hardly played and were a waste of space and wages.

Your experience may be far different though if your playing in the English leagues due to much more money and higher league rep.

On that note, did your youth intake come? Are they all English? And, did you add Rangers international competition as English, or something. Saw someone hadn't added that so despite being in top 4 of EPL they could never qualify for UCL.

EDIT: I'll add my UCL tactic later today if I get a chance.

[brento]

Keep an eye out for Adam Smith from Spurs. Can't remember when his deal expires but he can be your RB for years to come and can cover LB too. Spurs shouldn't offer him a new deal as he isn't top EPL quality. And the best free you can get will be Ocampos. The guy is incredible. Keep monitoring him as I had him on loan first. Anyway, check out my transfers for some ideas on frees if you get stuck. One thing I'll say from my experience is don't bother with the older players. I was excited that I could bring an ageing Sneijder, Silva, Kagawa, Özil, etc, but in truth they hardly played and were a waste of space and wages.

Your experience may be far different though if your playing in the English leagues due to much more money and higher league rep.

On that note, did your youth intake come? Are they all English? And, did you add Rangers international competition as English, or something. Saw someone hadn't added that so despite being in top 4 of EPL they could never qualify for UCL.

EDIT: I'll add my UCL tactic later today if I get a chance.

I started the current save with Rangers still playing in Scottish football league one.

[Ryknow]

Ah my bad, I thought you were doing English league one. Easier to relate then.

Just finishing my season so should get a small review done tonight with my tactics.

[Ryknow]

Transfer Ins

€25m worth of newgens, but large chunk on two real players.

Ryan Gauld - €6m - Finally lured him away from Man Utd. Played a bit part role but in SPL: P19(6) G14 A11. Nice tally for his first season. Will hopefully move things around and he'll be the first team starter on the left despite Morra (newgen in previous posts) being rated far better than him in terms of star ratings.

Mark O'Hara - €7.5m - Was valued at €12m and playing a bit part role at Chelsea. Glad I got him but wasn't first name on the sheet due to Flavio (Brazilian CB few posts up)

I'm glad I got these two but they were on deadline day and sort of an impulse. I've followed them for ages, but didn't exactly need them. As a result our wage bill increased and the fees were rather large. I plan on using them next season though due to being Scottish, and rather good.

Transfer Outs

€45mil mainly real players making way for newgens and some newgens. Sold a HG midfielder to Corinthians for a record €18m fee. I didn't need to sell him and probably should have kept him but I needed a big money sale to balance my deadline dealings. The €18m man was sold in January though.

------------------------------

SPL

Rangers 98pts

Celtic 82pts

Hearts 55pts

St Johnstone 52pts

Another easy campaign in the league. Had a 100% win record at home. So that makes it unbeaten at home in the two seasons we've been in the 64k seater Ibrox.

------------------------------

UEFA Champions League

Another season with some familiar faces. Was worried about the Group draw, but in the end was unbeaten.

Rangers 12pts

AC Milan 9pts

Bayern 9pts

Olympiakos 1pt

And yet again met an English club in the Knock Out stage. I got Chelsea this time and they beat us 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, then Mou came out and said we were a small team when he came to Ibrox. So we served him by smashing him 3-1 at home and were so close to getting through. Nevertheless the away goal meant Chelsea progressed. From that match I've learnt to not be cautious against the English teams. They simply couldn't handle us at home as we stifled them to having 8 shots, 2 on target while we had 19 with 10 on target. Courtois was outstanding, so hard to beat. I'd prefer avoid English teams though as that makes it 3 years in a row that we met one in the knock out stage and been knocked out. Spurs, Chelsea, then Chelsea again. At least it's presenting a challenge unlike previous FMs.

------------------------------

Scottish Cup

Hearts won it.

------------------------------

Scottish League Cup

Celtic beat us on penalties.

------------------------------

So despite spending money and having a larger wage bill than last season it really didn't account for anything. I've worked out how big my wage bill can be in comparison to my turnover, so will be a busy summer trying to reduce it and sign new deals. Due to having a self imposed €40k pw wage cap for a player it means there's quite a few on it. I need to reduce this, but make sure my future stars are tied down.

------------------------------

Anyways re tactics

I use 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2.

4-4-2 rarely gets used, only there as backup.

4-2-3-1 was used during a slump in the SPL around Feb/March but still working on it after 6 seasons. Looking at refining it and using for home games next season.

4-3-3 gets used in the majority of the games and all UCL games.

(4-3-3) Hard to give my player roles as they constantly change for the personnel. The flat four uses two CBs on defend, they just defend and lay the ball off. That's all I want. LB/RB are normally given the Wingback role, one with support the other with attack, or one is given fullback support. In front of the CBs is the DM set to Anchorman. He protects them and is vital in the UCL games.

Ahead of him are two CMs, one with AP(a) the other DLP(s). I'm still experimenting with these two and sometimes replace the AP(a) to a CM(a). The wings vary a fair bit as the cross issue annoys the hell out of me. Eg. Seems 85% of crosses hit the fullback. The RW is set to winger(s) and the RB is wingback(a). They overlap and due to PPMs the RW will sometimes cut inside. On the other flank I use an IF(a/s) depending. Due to Gauld and Morra I've used the same as the left, but it means the striker is isolated. To the striker now and that's where I have inconsistent form. Sutherland (Scottish newgen/captain) is a poacher, not much else. He can play the DLF rather well but is inconsistent, my other striker is a target man, so I don't really have players to suit. In the end the ST role is sometimes AF(a) and DLP(a/s).

My biggest problem despite doing rather well is I simply don't have the players to fit the system I want to play. For instance I'd like a BPD but none of my CBs are that great at it. Out of all my CMs not one is a natural DLP, some can play it and very well but have PPMs that counter the role. I don't have a striker that fits what I want and am doubtful I'll find one in my budget. I'm also restricted in fitting my HG players in my system, eg. Sutherland (newgen) While he's a great striker, he really should be playing next to another striker, but I don't want to go down that road of deviating from a 4-3-3 type system.

[rallav]

Great Updates.

What are youre wages by now Ryknow?

Have played the 20/21 to the End but did not achieve the 3rd CL Title. Got shackled out in the first round after knockouts by -evenricherthanme- AS Monaco 2:1, 3:2.

Finished the Season with 1 Loss way ahead. Also won that boring Cups.

The Save is retired (for now. Date 1 June 2021) but i love to read your updates guys.

Also iam interessted in that Takeover, go for the Gold man.

@all: Keep up the Good Work.

[Ryknow]

Thanks rallav. Looks like it'll take me much longer to win the UCL than you did. But at least it will present a challenge for me to aim for.

My wage bill last season was hovering around the €780k pw mark, so bit over €40m (£33m) over the season. I bring in €40m from season tickets alone, and my gate receipts were also €40m. While it was manageable we ended up making a €1m loss for the period, thanks to tax bill and €10mil dividends. Luckily though the chairman is 'Happy to stay at the club', so I'm hoping he'll look to sell soon and we get a more ambitious chairman.

I finished the season with €48m in the bank and going into the next I now have €78m. I don't see much need to have heaps of money though as it just goes to taxman and the shareholders in the end. I'll only start saving money if I want a stadium, which is a while away.

So anyways, I worked out I can easily manage a wage bill of €36m (£30m), around €700k pw. Which meant some players had to leave. Flavio (the Brazilian CB newgen few posts up) was immense last season and won a few awards as well as being voted the fans player of the season. The only draw back was he was on top wages(€40k pw) and had a match highest earner clause. Due to being a Brazilian international he wanted €60k pw to sign a new deal, with two years left I decided to negotiate when bids came in. So after only one season from arriving on free from Shakhtar, I sold him to Dortmund for €18mil. I'd love to have gotten more but as he was only valued at €4.1m (thanks to the league rep) I couldn't get any higher without scaring clubs off. The SPL is now rated 9th in the league rankings so I expect our values to go up. I've noticed recently by just playing my youngsters here and there they end up with large valuations. Got a 17yr old academy player worth €3m, another worth €2m, whereas before they be around €400k for ages.

Rangers are still 3.5 star though, national rating. I want continental rating, that should help with player values. Hearts success last season meant they are also 3.5 star rating, third after Celtic which is good. They have a solid squad now.

[Ryknow]

Knocked back signing this guy for €6m in my first season back in the SPL. It was at a time I didn't want to spend money, but damn! Just signed for PSG for €45m.

Anyways, the players I sold for €18m each. Seems harder to get much more atm unless I accepted bids for Sutherland or Russell.

Flavio was immense in the one season we had him, but we couldn't and didn't want to break the bank to keep him. Not bad return, signing on free and selling for €18m 12 months later.

Signed as a young lad from Ireland (but born in Nigeria) and he became HG with us. Could have kept him but got numerous bids and he wasn't vital to what I'm aiming for. I prefer Aussies, Americans and Scottish players. Of course with a tendency to sign an Asian player to boost merch sales.

[Ryknow]

Latest signing. Signed for only €3.2m from Benfica and on low wages, he'll pay for that in merchandising alone (received a message about it). Merchandising sales already look set to surpass last seasons. That aside he looks a fine player to bolster the midfield with.

[brento]

Ryknow what is the tv revenue like in SPL? doe's it increase or doe's it go by league rep.

[Ryknow]

Horrible. Don't expect over €1m, ever, iirc. Winning it will get around €3m as prize money but TV money is useless. No one watches it and despite increasing the rep it doesn't increase much. I'll have a closer look at my finances when I'm next on but it's rather poor. You make the majority of your money through the fans, that being season ticket sales.

UCL TV rev is much much better, as I'm sure you know. That and the huge prize money will push you onto the next level.

Then as everyone knows, player sales is the next way of making money. Buy low, sell high. Probably better to do once you get Ibrox expanded to 64k seater. Money in the bank is dead money, so work out how much you need to maintain the wage bill/expenses each month and try and buy investments (young players). I'm only doing this now, but it's difficult to find youngsters that won't cost you heaps. Found two good youngsters at Reading. One, a RB, wants to join me and asked to leave. They are asking €17m for him, *sigh*. I'd pay €6m, so I'll continue to track him but now he won't be HG. At the end of the day, your academy is the best bet. Doesn't cost much to develop them even if 2star PA. Sell on, or keep.

Just got Derby as a feeder, they find themselves in League 2 now. Should get them promoted easily with my youngsters.

[rallav]

Horrible. Don't expect over €1m, ever, iirc. Winning it will get around €3m as prize money but TV money is useless. No one watches it and despite increasing the rep it doesn't increase much. I'll have a closer look at my finances when I'm next on but it's rather poor. You make the majority of your money through the fans, that being season ticket sales.

UCL TV rev is much much better, as I'm sure you know. That and the huge prize money will push you onto the next level.

Then as everyone knows, player sales is the next way of making money. Buy low, sell high. Probably better to do once you get Ibrox expanded to 64k seater. Money in the bank is dead money, so work out how much you need to maintain the wage bill/expenses each month and try and buy investments (young players). I'm only doing this now, but it's difficult to find youngsters that won't cost you heaps. Found two good youngsters at Reading. One, a RB, wants to join me and asked to leave. They are asking €17m for him, *sigh*. I'd pay €6m, so I'll continue to track him but now he won't be HG. At the end of the day, your academy is the best bet. Doesn't cost much to develop them even if 2star PA. Sell on, or keep.

Just got Derby as a feeder, they find themselves in League 2 now. Should get them promoted easily with my youngsters.

Thanks for the answers. Was spending 830k and had 500k left to spend. Had 40millions left to spend on transfers. Mainly because i sell most of the youths which sell clauses and that ridicolous Champions League payment.

The Payday on TV for SPL is terrible as is with the Cups. It would be so cool to make Rangers available for Championship or EPL (later in the game, with an option instead of editing).

Tried the same with Dunfermline as you do with Derby, worked great until they sacked their Coach and hired a bunch of no good traditional english coaches.

On a side note i always found it quite funny that the average english goalkeeper for their national squad was playing in the reservers/2nd goalie for an EPL Team or in the Championship.

Believe its quite realistic (English Goalies suck!) , but did you guys see that too in your saves?

[Ryknow]

Haven't noticed English keepers being reserved just yet, but Spurs did sign a promising Scotland keeper who hasn't made an appearance in 3-4 season, yet continues to extend his contract. I guess he's laughing all the way to the bank as he's on €34k pw.

He was going to be the next Scotland no.1, and could still be in the top 3 if he was playing regularly. Luckily my keeper Williamson is amazing and my last intake I got two keepers rated 4 star PA. I'd love to get a CB through my academy. Seems to be every position but CB.

My wage bill just went up to €730k pw as I upgraded my HG talent Robert Russell's contract to be amoung the highest earners. Was on €18k pw with 2 years left, but I signed him to €40k pw on a 7 year deal. Thoroughly deserves it and hopefully will fend off the big clubs for a while. Had some big bids in for him but I always decline.

On that note, Rallav, what was the highest fee you recieved for a player sale?

I feel I could get more than €18mil, but the bids I've had near that amount (which I would negotiate up) are for my HG talents, and are ones I'm never going to sell.

Also, did Rangers get Continental rep when you won the UCL?

[rallav]

Looked it up. I remember that i sold a Duncan Greenwood in FM12 for around 18,75 millions to Liverpool. What an awesome regen he was.

In Fm14 Rangers indeed are on Continental Reputation, ranking 24th in World Clubs in the Summer of 2020.

The highest received fee was for Cem Sak a turkish Regen (Rightback) i bought from Besiktas for 4,5 Mil. He played one season (50 games in total, 7.09 average rating) and then i sold him to PSG for 14.5 mil. Hes only 23 now and still developing for them.

2nd highest fee received was for young swedish Striker Carl Frederikkson (Regen). Bought him from IF Elfsborg in 16/17 for 2.2mil, he was a rotation option. Sold him for 9mil to Southhampton.

Highest payment was for Gorbkov with 10 Mil.

[Ryknow]

Ok, thanks. That means I'm doing ok with my transfers out. Previous FMs have been fine. I've been able to get fees of £40mil from clubs while at Rangers. My highest was £80mil for my striker to Real Madrid, in either FM09/10.

That is never going to happen on FM14 though. I currently have PSG very interested in my keeper Williamson. I could probably get heaps for him but I can't let him go. I just wish the oil rich clubs would be interested in my non HG talent!

Been tweaking with my 4-3-3 and got to the point where it's playing exactly how I want. The lone striker comes deep (DLF on support) and feeds the on rushing AMR/L inside forwards or the AP from deep with a through ball = 1v1 goal. As a result my striker doesn't score many goals, but gets a tonne of assists. That man is Edison Cavani. Got him on loan to replace the huge lump Georgian target man who broke his foot and was sold as soon as he recovered. Cavani is 34, but it's his unbelievable mental attributes and good technical attributes that makes him so vital in this role. He's perfect for it as he's great at passing and has "Comes deep to get ball" PPM.

It means I need to find a replacement for when he leaves, which I do but the player is too young atm. Currently searching for a AMC that has the perfect attributes for a DLF so I can convert them to ST. Absolutely no DLFs in my price range. Some very good ones, but they want far more than my wage cap would allow. Got a few newgens in my sights.

(Loan wages don't apply to my imposed wage cap)

Now I need to figure out what to do with club captain Sean Sutherland. He can't play that role, so might need to be retrained as a IF. Really can't be sold, as I've already mentioned he's HG, Scottish, club captain and on the legends list at the club, despite only being 25. Not to mention he's lethal for Scotland. 24 caps, 20 goals.

I got Real Madrid in my Group and met them first off. They absolutely destroyed me 3-0 at the Bernabéu, I had 1 shot...not even on target. They have gathered some of the finest newgens in the game to a point where some of them are better than the real players were in their peak.

Anyways, after doing the changes to my system as mentioned above, this happened. 3 goals before their "Xavi" type player was sent off. Ripped them apart and should have had more. As a result we move to the top of the group and qualify with Metalist as our last game.

[BurghBear]

Rant/ I've not been able to play much recently but I'm just about ready to put the game in the bin. I have tried tactics of all shapes and sizes and read all the tactical advice in various threads and even tried copying the tactics of others who have been successful but to no avail. The instructions I give seem to have little or no effect, scoring goals doesn't seem to be a problem and defensively we look sound 90% of the time however every game, almost without fail, the opposition play an innocuous ball through which my defenders don't even look at reacting to and go and score. I've taken the defensive line back using every trick in the book and asked them to close down or stand off or press more or any one of a hundred things. I've had defensive midfielders, half backs, 3 man defence, 4 man defence, 2 defensive mids. I'm literally about to put holes in the wall. In all my years of playing FM I've never had such a problem with getting the team to play anything like I've asked. The players make rediculous mistakes and bad touches every game, run into each other constantly and generally play to about 1/4 of their actual ability at all times. If I don't get how to play soon I doubt I'll ever look at FM again. Same happened with FIFA a few years ago that all the enjoyment went out of if and now I'd rather shave my balls with a rusty, blunt spoon than buy and play FIFA. /rant.

[Ryknow]

That sucks you feel that way and I've seen many with similar opinions. I think if the last patch doesn't fix many of the issues then SI could see their customer base diminish in the next iteration.

Having said that I haven't encountered any of the problems you state and by reading some people's rants I sometimes get the feeling I'm playing a different game. At the same time looking in other teams threads I see some tactics that should definitely be failing (each all the front 4 on attack), yet they post about their success.

You mention that you've tried everything and that might be the problem. Sometimes you need to stick with one formation/style and work from there. Also, you say you score and are pretty good at the back so are you being too critical? I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I've had to question my annoyance when we concede a goal. Teams concede goals, it's just what happens. Hell, I conceded 3 goals in the first 15mins against Inverness, but with changes turned it around to get a draw. I slate my team only to sit back and realise I have a win percentage of 76%, just me being overly critical. I think the days of selecting a team and a basic tactic are all over. You need to make changes during the game.

I'd say pick what style you want to play and the formation. This is important as you need to start buying/training players for those roles. For instance I've used 4-2-3-1 for the past few FMs but after a few seasons I had to abandon it and revert to a more stable 4-3-3 (aka 4-1-2-2-1). So with that in mind I knew no matter what I'd need a complete forward/deep lying forward and some inside forwards with some who can play as wingers, etc, etc. As a result I had to retrain my AMCs to play MC, and bring in anchormen.

Watching games on comprehensive I saw areas that were going wrong and changed them. As well as changing the players that didn't work. If I gave you my current tactic then it might not work well for you as you don't have the players. Tbh, I don't even have the players for my tactic and I'm in 2022, mainly due to my loyalty to HG talent.

In the end my style comes across as a fast paced counter attacking side who rely on the wide men being fed through balls. Of course breaking down the parked bus is difficult, as Rangers so you need to be able to work the opposition.

In post #159 I explain my 4-3-3 a bit, but whenever I get around to doing an update I could post a screenie of my formation. I also only use 4 team shouts and rarely have player instructions. I never understand why people have over 12-15 shouts. It's over complicating things and harder to see what is effecting what.

[BurghBear]

Yeah I know exactly what you mean I knew I was ranting when I wrote that soi doubt I'll give in. I've played about with tactics and made subtle changes over long periods to try to get something working. Usually I try a tactic for a couple of months at a time so I give it a good time period to settle and fine tune it. My results are not awful in that I finished 4th on the final day of my first season back in the SPL and would have been 3rd if I had won that game. It's the goals conceded which really does my head in. The odd mistake I can live with but it's beyond a joke. I've looked at the ppm's and things to check if there are problems and generally there is no reason for the results. I lost more than 10 goals to corners purely from a defender clearing the ball into another of my players resulting in a simple shot for the opposition. That's the sort of thing that happens all the time, 2 or 3 would be expected and you just deal with it but not the quantity I'm getting. That's just one example, they are many. I dominate games quite often for two or three of these types of mistakes to leave me losing 3 - 2 or draw 3 - 3 against weak teams. I sometimes get played off the park but I can accept that ?

[Ryknow]

That corner issue has been noted as a bug. Many people are conceding bucket loads from corners. I haven't really, so I'll check my corner setup and get back to you.

EDIT:

After 25 games in the league I've only conceded 3 from corners. 1 in League Cup and zero in UCL and Scottish Cup. Conceded a total of 19 goals in 36 games (All comps), zero in the UCL Group Stage, with a group that included the mighty PSG. Previous seasons are similar. Rarely concede from corners and fairly tight at the back.

I set players to:

DR: Mark Far Post

DC: Mark Tall Player

DC: Mark Tall Player

DL: Mark Near Post

DM: Mark Tall Player

MCx2 + AMR: Go Back

AML: Edge of Area

ST: Stay Forward

[davehibb]

I usually have a Rangers save on each version of FM. I've been struggling to have a save so far on FM14 though that keeps me interested past season 1, so hopefully a Rangers save will do that considering there's multiple promotions required and a big challenge to regain the position of Scotland's top dogs.

My aim is to get back into the top flight as quickly as possible and to not spend too much money doing so. To bring through lots of Scottish talent and to challenge for the title year in year out, become a force in Europe and ultimately, if I fall in love with this save, win 10 in a row.

Season 1 went even better than expected.

Ran away with the league and posted a record points total of 95, securing the title in early March. I released poor youth players and tried to ship out what reserves I could to trim the wage bill. Amazingly I made it to all 3 domestic cup finals. Beating Celtic 3-2 aet at Ibrox in the League Cup on the way. Disappointingly we lost the Challenge Cup Final 2-1 aet to Dundee but managed to secure the League Cup on penalties against Motherwell and the SFA Cup comfortable 2-0 against Greenock Morton. No europe in season 2 though due to the sanctions against the club.

My team lined up like this mostly:

GK - Bell

RB - Hegarty

CB - Gasparotto/Faure

CB - Perry

LB - Wallace

DM - Black

MC - MacLeod

MC - Law, McAird, Hutton, McCulloch - never really settled on anyone but that changed season 2.

AML - Templeton

AMR - MacKay

ST McCulloch/Daly

I'm in December of season 2 now. Top of the Championship by 2pts from Hearts. Disappointingly knocked out of the League Cup on pens by Kilmarnock but we won the one that got away last year by beating Hearts 2-0 in the Challenge cup final... That result I think saved my job... As after about a year of constant speculation the club was finally taken over by a consortium who wanted to replace me but thankfully they're giving me a chance. The transfer kitty has been boosted from 1.5m to 15m, huge increase in wage budget and training and youth facilities have been upgraded too, which should be a real boost to my targets for ther save.

I got rid of some high earners like Law, Faure and Cribari, plus more dross from the reserve and youth teams. I signed Tom Hateley for 500k to fill the RB role and free up Hegarty to cover the CB rotation. Also coming into the club on free transfers were Scott Allan, who has made the other CM spot his own and is doing really well, getting forward and feeding off knockdowns from McCulloch. Being a Liverpool fan, it's a lot like watching Stevie G bursting forward in his pomp! . Also coming in on frees were former Chelsea keeper Blackman and Millwall striker Marquis.

I'm going to resist the urge I think to splash our new found wealth in the January window unless there's some real gems available, as I'm hopeful the current group can get us promoted.

I'm afraid I don't have time for fancy screenshots and such but I wanted to share my progress so far.

My team in season 2 is mostly:

GK - Bell

RB - Hateley

CB - Gasparotto

CB - Perry

LB - Wallace

DM - Black

MC - MacLeod

MC - Allan

AML - Templeton

AMR - MacKay

ST - McCulloch/Walsh

[Ryknow]

Great post and welcome to the thread. That's a huge transfer kitty for a Scottish Championship side. Took me a season in the SPL before the board offered me near that amount. You seem to be sorted though and have solid aims. Definitely try to give youngsters as much game time so they are at a better level when you are in the SPL. Also, of you've read through the thread then you'll figure that bosmans are your friend. I hardly spent money until a few seasons in the SPL. Even after constantly reaching the UCL knockout round every season have I started spending the big bucks. In 2023 and just arranged a €16m signing for next season, and had a €17m signing at the start of this season. They both are English so that's why they cost more, but are quality.

I'm aiming to have a huge percentage being from UK+Ireland, so grabbing some of the top English newgens. Also, as a note always scout the intake at Linfield (same day as Scotland). I've seen a lot of top youngsters come out of there even with the league not loaded. Very cheap aswell and ask for small wages.

[davehibb]

Great post and welcome to the thread...

Thanks mate.

Just completed season 2.

Secured the Championship with 4 games to go and set a new points record of 91, 17 ahead of 2nd placed Hearts. We only lost 2 games all year, 1-0 away to Hearts, early in the season and 2-1 away to Motherwell in the Scottish Cup. We did go out of the League Cup on pens after a 1-1 draw away to Killie too.

I resisted the urge to spend in the january window. No-one who wanted to join us who I thought could be a difference maker in the Premiership next year. Although I am keeping tabs on Sheff Weds' Scotland midfielder, Rhys McCabe. I did have to bring a couple of loanees in though as we got bitten by the injury bug, Darren Fletcher from Utd and Barca's Affellay. Fletcher's contract is up at the end of the season and I would love to sign him permanently but unless he halves his £45k a week wage demands, I can't see it happening.

I think I'd like to make a signing before the new window opens but just no-one available that interests me at this point, other than McCabe perhaps. Not sure how well being touted as the next Paul McStay would go down with the fans though.

So, two seasons, two titles, 3 cups. I think that realistically we'll need 4 or 5 top signings to push for Europe/the title next year. A top keeper, centre half and striker being the priorities I think.

[Ryknow]

Congrats. Your biggest task is finding a solid keeper. I found Schmeichel as a cheap and reliable option until my HG prospect was of sufficent talent.

In regards to Fletcher, wait until he gets released then approach him on trial. I did this and he reduced his demands to €12k pw. Was a good leader for a few seasons.

[davehibb]

Congrats. Your biggest task is finding a solid keeper. I found Schmeichel as a cheap and reliable option until my HG prospect was of sufficent talent.

In regards to Fletcher, wait until he gets released then approach him on trial. I did this and he reduced his demands to €12k pw. Was a good leader for a few seasons.

Thanks.

I'm leaning more towards Fletcher than McCabe to be honest as he can cover the DMC position too and is a Model Professional for tutoring purposes and McCabe wouldn't really be an upgrade over MacLeod or Allan and would probably cost £4-5m. Hopefully I can get Fletch' on the type of money you did.

I'm hoping I can pry Souttar and Gauld away from Dundee Utd and Balanta is still at River Plate and hasn't been snapped up yet so hopefully, once we're confirmed in the SPL he might be interested. I doubt it though.

[Ryknow]

Definitely get Gauld, Souttar and O'Hara if possible. I decided I wanted them far too late as they all went to EPL sides. In the end I bought Gauld from Man Utd for €6m and O'Hara for €7.5m. Souttar is a regular at Spurs so would cost too much in transfer and wages. If you can get McCabe I'd recommend it too. He should be HG for you and in my games he's one of the best MC for Scotland. I was quoted fees of over €10m for him though and he eventually left for Sevilla. Even if I could sign him at the time his wage demands (scouts report) were far too high for my €40k pw wage cap.

Having said that, all four players could have random PA. But in my experience all developed to UCL standard ability.

Gauld is an assist king for me, and got 27 assists in his second season and 23 in the season I've just finished (all comps).

Don't think you'll be able to get Balanta. I can't sign any players from Brazil or Argentina despite all my success. Just how like people are having problems managing in Germany and attracting interest. Hopefully it gets fixed and save game compatible.

[Ryknow]

2021/22 SEASON

Transfers In €13m worth of newgens, youngsters and some first teamers

Transfers Out €37m of players no longer needed. Included was the €18m fee for Flavio to Dortmund.

-----------------------------

SPL

Rangers 97pts

Celtic 84pts

Inverness 64pts

Hearts 61pts

Relatively easy as Celtic have the worst squad building policy unfortunately.

-----------------------------

League Cup

Hearts 0-1 Rangers

Eh.

-----------------------------

Scottish Cup

Rangers 4-0 Patrick Thistle

-----------------------------

UCL

Wasn't expecting to do so well against Real Madrid as posted previously in this thread beating them 4-0.

Rangers 15pts

Real Madrid 15pts

Sampdoria 4pts

Metalist 1pt

Knockout round: Finally avoided an English side only to get Bayern Munich. Went out 3-2 on agg.

-----------------------------

2022/23 SEASON

Transfers In €42m. Spent big with highest fee being €17m for a 20 year old English fullback both LB/RB, massive talent and first material.

Transfers Out €42m Just heaps of newgens, highest out was my Irish fullback for €8m to Liverpool.

-----------------------------

SPL

Rangers 99pts

Inverness 75pts

Celtic 68 pts

Hearts 61pts

Easily coasted the league as Celtic were dreadful. They still can turn it on against us but failed to beat the average teams. No UCL for them, even though they never reach the Group Stage. Hopefully I can sell/loan players to Inverness in the off season to boost their chances, but it's doubtful.

-----------------------------

League Cup

Rangers 0-1 Celtic

Eh. Was 2 days before my Knockout UCL game. Hate this competition for this reason.

-----------------------------

Scottish Cup

Rangers 2-1 Celtic

-----------------------------

UCL

Rangers 14pts (Unbeaten W4, D2 and didn't concede).

PSG 8pts

Sporting Lisbon 6pts

BATE 3pts

Knockout Round: Unfortunately met Chelsea again. Lost 2-0 away, but somehow thrashed them at Ibrox 3-0 to go through!

Quarter Finals: Only reached this stage once, my very first UCL attempt in 2017/18 season. I met AC Milan then aswell as this season. I'll tell you one thing, AC Milan are amazing. They have the best newgens including a HG left back that is out of this world. Lost 3-1 on agg.

-----------------------------

Goals for this season coming are keep certain HG talents at the club now that they have developed out on loan. Help Derby get into the Prem (I have them as an affiliate and they achieved back to back promotion from League 2 into the Championship thanks to my loaned players.) Keep a UK+Irish core, mainly Scottish though. And, get further in the Champions League. Every season since I first went in we have achieved at least the knockout stage, so I need to do better. However, the clubs at that stage are so good and have the best newgens. My wage cap holds me back a fair bit as it rules out many players.

[Limmy]

Decided to load up my Gers save after a few months and forgot how good a side we had. Currently 10 clear of Celtic in Feb 2017 with two games in hand. Signed Alberto Cerri for £11m who had been unreal on loan from Juventus, scoring 25 goals before the window. Scored 10 in 8 so far since joining permanently too so looks to be money well spent. Adam Campbell has also done well alongside him, scoring 20 goals so far and Will Hughes, Tonny Trindade De Vilhena and Edgar Le are all on double figures too. Hoping to sign Pierre-Emile Hojberg on a permanent deal from Bayern as he's been quality on loan so far with his stats improving rapidly. That would leave the squad with an average age of just 21 so the master plan is to keep the squad together and go on to become a real force in Europe!

[davehibb]

Definitely get Gauld, Souttar and O'Hara if possible. I decided I wanted them far too late as they all went to EPL sides. In the end I bought Gauld from Man Utd for €6m and O'Hara for €7.5m. Souttar is a regular at Spurs so would cost too much in transfer and wages. If you can get McCabe I'd recommend it too. He should be HG for you and in my games he's one of the best MC for Scotland. I was quoted fees of over €10m for him though and he eventually left for Sevilla. Even if I could sign him at the time his wage demands (scouts report) were far too high for my €40k pw wage cap.

Having said that, all four players could have random PA. But in my experience all developed to UCL standard ability.

Gauld is an assist king for me, and got 27 assists in his second season and 23 in the season I've just finished (all comps).

Don't think you'll be able to get Balanta. I can't sign any players from Brazil or Argentina despite all my success. Just how like people are having problems managing in Germany and attracting interest. Hopefully it gets fixed and save game compatible.

Does O'Hara play for Dundee Utd too? My SPL knowledge isn't what it was 5 or 6 years ago. >_>

It's only the day after the final game of the season and I have declared my interest in McCabe to try and unsettle him. Hopefully Gauld and Souttar will be interested when we're officially back in the SPL. Any more youngsters worth looking at for season 3? Johnstone from Kilmarnock?

[Salad Daze]

In season 5 now... just looking at the regens you guys get and I've had nothing like what you are getting. None of my regens are first team regulars yet and I'm struggling to find any who are actually going to make it.

Had a good season - got to the CL group stages and beat Bayern 3-0 at home. Draws away to Anderlecht and at home to 9 man Atletico Madrid (bad goalkeeping performance) meant I didn't make the knockout stages. Got to the 2nd round of EL but knocked out on away goals to Fiorentina. Lost the Prem title this year by 1 point to Celtic... as drew 2-2 away to St Mirren in the final league game of the season. Frustrating.

[Ryknow]

Does O'Hara play for Dundee Utd too? My SPL knowledge isn't what it was 5 or 6 years ago. >_>

It's only the day after the final game of the season and I have declared my interest in McCabe to try and unsettle him. Hopefully Gauld and Souttar will be interested when we're officially back in the SPL. Any more youngsters worth looking at for season 3? Johnstone from Kilmarnock?

You mean Chris Johnston? The winger. He was recommended to me by the scouts but on my save he never made it into anything other than a League 1 standard player. Never averaged over 6.8 and never got capped by Scotland.

Mark O'Hara. Starts at Kilmarnock but won't last long as he's normally picked up by a top EPL club early on.

Disclaimer:All screenies at June 2023 and mainly AI developed. Only had the two for 3 seasons.

Mark is handy as he naturally plays DC, but can play DM, MC and RB.

Doesn't look a world beater here, as I've seen him develop better on other peoples saves. However, he rips up the SPL. As a LW assists galore, as RW(IF) goals galore.

Developed pretty well by the AI.

These should be your main targets if you want to go down the Scotland route. I'd also suggest keeping an eye on Adam Smith from Spurs, plays RB and can play LB. Very handy player and usually has his contract run down as he isn't Spurs quality. I got him in the 2014/15 season and he's still at the club, as a club icon.

[davehibb]

@Ryknow.

Thanks for the screenies mate and yeah, they have all developed great, even under the Ai's tuition.

I recognise O'Hara's face pic so I have definitely scouted him and have him on my shortlist, it's just a case of him hopefully being interested once we officially get into the SPL, as I'm sure he's still at Kilmarnock.

If the board keep my £15m transfer kitty intact for next season I can hopefully bring those 3 in along with McCabe & Fletcher and hopefully an upgrade at goalkeeper too.

Congrats on your latest seasons too. How many times have you won the league in a row now?

[davehibb]

Soooo...

With the SPL looming I went on a little spending spree...

With my season 2 budget still in place I signed Rhys McCabe for £4m and another £1m in add ons & Mark O'Hara for £600k.

With my season 3 budget in place and the team moved to the SPL I have added John Souttar for £3.5m & Ryan Gauld for £4m.

Ross Perry, now worth £2m is being sacrificed to help balance the books as is Dean Shiels if I can find takers.

I'm weighing up a bid for Jordan Rhodes who's valued at £8m and would still like to bring in a real top notch keeper. Alan McGregor is listed by Hull and would cost £750k but he's 33 and only half a star better than Cammy Bell according to my scouts.

[Ryknow]

7 in a row for me.

Nice signings but just watch out for that wage bill. Luckily season tickets will get you a fair amount of cash, and you are now set for the present and future with those signings.

To reduce spending anymore try and get a keeper on loan. Means half wages and McGregor isn't that good. He goes downhill quickly, but if he's listed you should be able to approach him, unless he's listed by request. Loans and bosmans will save your hide. Luckily you have your CB pairing set for 10 seasons, unless you use ones as a DM.

My advice would be to ditch Bell as his kicking sucks, and he's fairly average. The either find a stop gap who would be cheaper until you find a long term fill in. Took me two seasons in the SPL before I started moulding my side and getting rid of mercenaries (random bosmans).

[davehibb]

7 in a row for me.

Nice signings but just watch out for that wage bill. Luckily season tickets will get you a fair amount of cash, and you are now set for the present and future with those signings.

To reduce spending anymore try and get a keeper on loan. Means half wages and McGregor isn't that good. He goes downhill quickly, but if he's listed you should be able to approach him, unless he's listed by request. Loans and bosmans will save your hide. Luckily you have your CB pairing set for 10 seasons, unless you use ones as a DM.

My advice would be to ditch Bell as his kicking sucks, and he's fairly average. The either find a stop gap who would be cheaper until you find a long term fill in. Took me two seasons in the SPL before I started moulding my side and getting rid of mercenaries (random bosmans).

Just 3 more to go then,... And hopefully more.

Wage bill is under control, or well within budget at least, with £75k a week still available and £9m kitty left.

Ross Perry has joined Derby for £1.8m. Two good seasons out of him but I feared for him at this level with 5 concentration and 10 decisions, especially as he got caught under high balls quite often and let people run in behind him in the Championship.

I've offered trials to Darren Fletcher and also Tomas Necid as we're looking a little light up front and if I can get Fletcher to sign for low wages, I'll have 5 starting quality midfielders to cover 3 spots. Jordan Rhodes signed for West Brom. Couldn't match the £50k a week wages and whilst Victor Valdes will talk to us over a Bosman he wants £50k too. Might see if he'll accept a trial and reduce his demands if that worked for you guys with Fletcher.

Excited about the season ahead and I feel we can push for the title straight away, especially as we have no European committments. Need to find some short term cover at left back and long term upgrades at GK and ST if Walsh doesnt develop, McCulloch declines rapidly and Necid doesnt work out.

Enjoying the save so far though.

[Ryknow]

Haha Valdes! Geez big spender. Try offering 50% of next transfer fee clause and a relegation clause of 0 and he might accept lower terms. Aiming high with your signings.

Walsh developed well on my save but he basically is an advanced forward and I use a deep lying forward as a lone striker. So I need a more creative forward in my system, something he didn't fit. Admittedly he spent 4 seasons on loan at Hearts, so I probably could have moulded him into something better.

For cover I just signed players on loan. Keep a close eye on AS Monaco and PSG reserves. If possible Lucas Ocampos. He's still a starter at my club and absolute legend. Signed on loan then they never offer him a new deal and I got him on a Bosman. Tears teams apart.

Also, Milos Veljkovic from Spurs. Goes out on loan a fair bit then eventually got released. I took a punt on him not knowing anything about him and he only wanted €3k pw. He's now my best CB and going into his 6th season.

Those two and Adam Smith are prob the ones I'd recommend mainly because they are still with me. I've gone through a lot of bosmans.

P.S Even now I'm not spending £50k pw on a player. Highest is €40k pw (£33k pw), but my wage bill hovers around €750k pw (£620k pw), easily manageable thanks to a 64k seater stadium.

[davehibb]

Haha Valdes! Geez big spender. Try offering 50% of next transfer fee clause and a relegation clause of 0 and he might accept lower terms. Aiming high with your signings.

Walsh developed well on my save but he basically is an advanced forward and I use a deep lying forward as a lone striker. So I need a more creative forward in my system, something he didn't fit. Admittedly he spent 4 seasons on loan at Hearts, so I probably could have moulded him into something better.

For cover I just signed players on loan. Keep a close eye on AS Monaco and PSG reserves. If possible Lucas Ocampos. He's still a starter at my club and absolute legend. Signed on loan then they never offer him a new deal and I got him on a Bosman. Tears teams apart.

Also, Milos Veljkovic from Spurs. Goes out on loan a fair bit then eventually got released. I took a punt on him not knowing anything about him and he only wanted €3k pw. He's now my best CB and going into his 6th season.

Those two and Adam Smith are prob the ones I'd recommend mainly because they are still with me. I've gone through a lot of bosmans.

P.S Even now I'm not spending £50k pw on a player. Highest is €40k pw (£33k pw), but my wage bill hovers around €750k pw (£620k pw), easily manageable thanks to a 64k seater stadium.

Well Cammy Bell let in 3 goals direct from corners last year so I do need an upgrade.

Gauld and Souttar are my top earners on £20k per week, no add-ons and McCabe is on about £15k I think. I'll have 7 or 8 guys on £10-15k and another 7 or 8 guys on £5k-10K. I think I'm currently spending about £185k a week on wages.

I use a TM up front so Walsh will hopefully do okay for me. 2.5/4.5 stars and will get lots of game time this year. His finishing, heading, off the ball and composure are only a couple of points below Jordan Rhodes, so hoping he works out.

I keep trawling over the EPL and top euro clubs to see who gets released and who's languishing in the reserves.

Looking forward to having a few hours of game time tonight.

[Limmy]

Haha Valdes! Geez big spender. Try offering 50% of next transfer fee clause and a relegation clause of 0 and he might accept lower terms. Aiming high with your signings.

Walsh developed well on my save but he basically is an advanced forward and I use a deep lying forward as a lone striker. So I need a more creative forward in my system, something he didn't fit. Admittedly he spent 4 seasons on loan at Hearts, so I probably could have moulded him into something better.

For cover I just signed players on loan. Keep a close eye on AS Monaco and PSG reserves. If possible Lucas Ocampos. He's still a starter at my club and absolute legend. Signed on loan then they never offer him a new deal and I got him on a Bosman. Tears teams apart.

Also, Milos Veljkovic from Spurs. Goes out on loan a fair bit then eventually got released. I took a punt on him not knowing anything about him and he only wanted €3k pw. He's now my best CB and going into his 6th season.

Those two and Adam Smith are prob the ones I'd recommend mainly because they are still with me. I've gone through a lot of bosmans.

P.S Even now I'm not spending £50k pw on a player. Highest is €40k pw (£33k pw), but my wage bill hovers around €750k pw (£620k pw), easily manageable thanks to a 64k seater stadium.

Walsh developed well on my save, a quality back up to Cerri and Adam Campbell who are unreal together as a Target Man (s) and Poacher, scoring 76 goals between them in their debut season for me!! Cerri getting 46 and Campbell 30.

Walsh:

Campbell:

Cerri: - His stats reset after making his loan permanent in January for £11m which was quite annoying (best £11m I've ever spent!). Scored 20 before they reset.

EDIT - Isn't even end of the season yet, got 1 league game left and the Scottish Cup final against Hearts to hopefully complete the double treble! Just lost to Hamburg in the Europa League final to deny the quad Will post in next update.

[Ryknow]

Very nice! Yeah that history reset is annoying as hell, but his stats stay normal in the league stats, iirc. I sold a striker to Inverness, with him spending 6 months on loan. He scored around 10-15 goals in those 6 months but still made it into the top scorers list as he had 20 whereas his history says 4. God damn bugs.

----------------

After 2 earlier attempts (PLC and consortium) from different people I finally was taken over the third time (consortium). Unfortunately no investment, but my rep took a jump and we are finally Continental rep. He says he wants to take the club onto the next level so I'll wait and see what goes on. Probably nothing tbh, but I was sick of the old chairman. Kind of tempted to ask for a new stadium but not sure as I like Ibrox. However we consistently sell out the 64k seater.

[Limmy]

Season 2016/17

After a perfect first season back in the top flight securing the treble, our young squad certainly had alot to live up to in the new campaign which would also include our first venture back into Europe for the first time since 2011, entering the Champions League at the second qualifying phase.

Transfers In:

Transfers Out:

Was a very busy window, from the moment it opened till the moment it shut in January. Was hard to move on the likes of Wallace, Hateley, Faure, Macheda, Macleod and McKay, who had all played their part in taking us up the leagues but I felt if we were to really reach the next level they would have to move aside for younger/better stars to take their place. So with most of the bosmans tied up before the previous season ended, I could focus on what we really needed and decided to spend the bulk of my £7m budget on two of Englands brightest prospects bringing in Sam Byram and Jack Butland from Leeds and Stoke respectively. Loan wise, I decided to go for youth talent again, bringing in Pierre-Emile Hojberg from Bayern and renewing Koray Gunters loan from Dortmund (doesn't show on pic). Alberto Cerri also arrived on loan from Juventus and what a season he was to be in for, doing so well I ended up going against my rule of not spending more than £5m on a player, making his loan from Juve permanent for £11m after the board extended the budget before the winter window...

Domestic Season:

SPFL:

In the league it all went according to plan, eventually winning our 2nd title in a row finishing a comfortable 16 points ahead of our friends from the east. Neil Lennon looks to be leaving after this season too so will be glad I don't have to see his horrible coupon pop up again every time we play them

In the cups it was pretty much the same routine, with Campbell and Cerri running riot against Aberdeen in the League Cup (both finishing joint top scorers) and just having enough in the tank to see off Hearts 2-1 in the Scottish Cup final with Cerri grabbing the winner with his 50th of the season and securing the 10th trophy of my reign as manager.

European Campaign:

Our season began earlier than most, mid-way through July lining up against BATE Borisov in the Champions League qualifier, our first venture into Europe under my management. After a tight game at Ibrox winning 2-1, we destroyed them 6-0 in the return leg securing an 8-1 aggregate win and setting us up for the next round of qualifiers against Brondby. A 3-0 win at Ibrox was enough to see us through, drawing 0-0 in Denmark. Next up was Zeljeznicar in the play-offs which, a very decent draw. Once again the first leg was at Ibrox and we recorded yet another massive win, more or less sealing qualification to the group stage with an 8-0 win with Alberto Cerri grabbing his first hat-trick for the club and it wouldn't be his last...

After a 2-1 win away, we had reached the promised land and our bank account sky rocketed. The group stage draw could have been alot harder and I was fairly pleased to be lined up against CSKA Moscow, Valencia and Lyon. After two draws in our first two games, we headed into the double header against Lyon still very much in with a shout of topping the group. Unfortunately we were unable to match Rangers previous game against Lyon (3-0 win in 2007), losing 2-0 in France although we restored some pride with a 1-0 win at Ibrox. Our last two games again seen us draw at home to CSKA Moscow and away to Valencia, with them scoring an injury time goal to deny us a place in the knockouts at our first attempt.

Elimination would prove to be a blessing in disguise as we headed into the Europa League, drawn against Sparta Prague in the last 32...

It was a superb win as we made our claim to be one to watch in the competition, with that man gain Cerri grabbing 6 goals over the two legs. Next up was Schalke at Ibrox and thanks to an Adam Campbell double, we went to Germany with a 3-2 lead. Even if we went out at this stage, I would have been proud of my young team but we were far from done in this competition, drawing 2-2 to send us into the quarter finals and a tie against Luciano Spalleti's Arsenal.

They weren't the side they once were and were struggling in the league, but they still possessed a strong team with the likes of Ozil, Wilshere, Ayew and Kadlec. No matter how the tie went, I was delighted to even have reached the quarters - Then this happened:

This was the result that really announced us on the European stage, battering them from start to finish with no reply. Another superb away performance at the Emirates followed, winning 1-0 thanks to a late Gunter header setting us up for a semi-final against Bordeaux, who had seen off Spurs.

The first leg was a tight affair and we managed to scrape a 1-0 win thanks to a Cerri penalty, giving us a foothold in the tie. The second leg was a bit more eventful...

So the stage was set. Our young squad had the potential to go on and become legends in our second Europa League final, 9 years after the loss in Manchester.

Our German friends Hamburg awaited us in the final and unfortunately it was to be a bridge too far for the youngsters - losing 1-0. The goal is a pretty hard one to take mind you, FM at it's best:

It starts from a Butland free-kick, haven't got a clue why he's taking it from there - NEVER have any of my keepers ever took a FK from that far out their box.

He then passes it short to Gunter, who then plays it to Will Hughes (far left in next pic)...

My best player then decides to play a through ball to the HSV striker Zoua, who then squars it to the other striker for a tap in.

So that error has denied us probably my best season in any FM and an unprecedented quadruple. Our squad is a strong one though and with an average age of just 21, I'm confident that won't be our last appearance in a European final...

Now for the treble treble!

[Limmy]

Very nice! Yeah that history reset is annoying as hell, but his stats stay normal in the league stats, iirc. I sold a striker to Inverness, with him spending 6 months on loan. He scored around 10-15 goals in those 6 months but still made it into the top scorers list as he had 20 whereas his history says 4. God damn bugs.

----------------

After 2 earlier attempts (PLC and consortium) from different people I finally was taken over the third time (consortium). Unfortunately no investment, but my rep took a jump and we are finally Continental rep. He says he wants to take the club onto the next level so I'll wait and see what goes on. Probably nothing tbh, but I was sick of the old chairman. Kind of tempted to ask for a new stadium but not sure as I like Ibrox. However we consistently sell out the 64k seater.

Nice one mate! Craig Moore the ex defender took us over back when we were in the Championship and has been quality so far. If it were only the same in real life

[Ryknow]

Wow Limmy! Huge update, nice work and congrats on the treble. So close to the quadruple, and lost it on a know ME error. Must have been gutted. Great timing that the patch is out today

Now you can aim for UCL success, which basically means money. So much of it. I love the UCL for that reason and I'm glad I'm finding it tough to get to the semis. Should mean this save will last longer.

Has the SPL got a straight into group spot yet? It's nice not worry about it and being guaranteed €8m.

Oh and Craig Moore. Lucky you. Apparently I'm related to him, one of those distant relations (married a relative). Never checked it out though, haha.

That aside, now the real task is getting used to the new ME and I have UCL holders Inter in my next match. Luckily it's only a group game.

[davehibb]

Great write up Limmy and congrats on the the treble treble.

The euro final is a choker though mate. You don't mind losing if you are second best tbut to lose like that is heart wrenching.

I'm tracking Butland, hoping I can prise him away from Stoke or unearth a regen GK but my first two youth intakes have been shocking. Getting my scouting system up to scratch and upgrading my coaches is high on the agenda this season too. Hopefully there'll be a decent HoYD that will be available too.

[Limmy]

Cheers lads, normally I would have been a computer down with the loss but because the squad is so young I feel we can become a real force so here's hoping!!

@ Ryknow - Not yet mate, just an extra team in the qualifiers which is a pain. Just got an extra team in the Europa League too now. Also moved up 365 places in the Euro ranks although still behind Celtic as the biggest club in Scotland Haha nice one, loved the big man when he was here always gave 110% and him and big Amo were a quality partnership at the back! Good luck in your game against Inter

@ davehibb - Cheers and it was a killer but as Ryknow said hopefully the new update has sorted errors like that! I'd definitely recommend Butland mate, think I got lucky as Stoke were relegated and he wanted away. For my first season back I had Wayne Henessey who done well but Butland was always going to be no1 as soon as he signed. Can't shift Henessey at all now too probably because of his 25k a week wages which is a pain!! For my Head of youth I managed to get Phil Cannon from Blackburn and there's a few coming through who look decent enough only thing is they're all strikers and there will be no chance of Cerri and Campbell making way

[davehibb]

First game back in the big time results in a 4-2 away win over Morton.

Ryan Gauld scored after 19 seconds on his debut (a Rangers record apparently), Darren Fletcher added a second from the penalty spot after Gauld was fouled on 17 minutes and Gauld got his second and the Gers 3rd after 19 minutes. It was 4-0 at half time after Tom Hateley got in on the act too. However a lethargic second half performance after Tom Walsh and Scott Allan were both forced off with injuries, meant Morton got a couple of consolation goals, which is concerning.

But we're back in the big time!

[davehibb]

So, a bit of an update.

We added Joe Mattock and Peter Crouch to the squad on loan before the end of the summer window to add depth at left back and up front. Our match day squad looks pretty strong but beyond that we are very threadbare indeed as we really don't have much to shout about in the youth team after two crappy intakes so far or in the reserves either.

I was hoping to mount a title challenge and at the very least qualify for Europe. Hoping we could do a bit of a 'Liverpool' and take advantage of having no European football to distract us or tire the squad. However with 27 games gone, just 1 defeat and a 13pt lead over second placed Celtic, we've far exceeded expectations so far.

Our first Old Firm game ended in a 3-3 draw. We should have been 2-0 inside the first 2 minutes and ended up 2-0 down after 20 but we battled back to 2-2 before falling behind again only to salvage a point late on. The second meeting ended in a 1-0 away win for us as we scored on a breakaway after being pecked back most of the game and the second home game against 'The Bhoys' ended in a 3-1 win for us.

So 13 points clear with 11 games to go. Even with Cammy Bell and Scott Allan out injured for the remainder of the season we should be able to hang on.

The squad looks like this:

GK - Bell, Blackman, Smith

DR - Hateley, O'Hara, Hegarty

DL - Wallace, Mattock

DC - Souttar, O'Hara, Hegarty

DC - Gasparotto, O'Hara, Hegarty

DM - MacLeod, Fletcher, Black, McCulloch

MC - Allan, Fletcher, Black, McCulloch

MC - McCabe, Fletcher, Black, McCullock

AMR - MacKay, Templeton, Aird

AML - Gauld, Templeton, Aird

ST - Walsh, Crouch, McCulloch

Kasper Schmeichel is joining on a free at the end of the season and club captain Lee McCulloch has decided now is the time to hang up his boots. Hoping for a good youth intake and generous funds to add to the squad in the summer if we can hang on and win the title and qualify for the champions league.

[Ryknow]

Nice work and that's a solid team full of Scottish talent. I think you need to be wise and address the lack of depth asap, mainly through bosmans and loan signings. The way I saw it in my early seasons was why spend millions on a player when I could use that money to fund a few players contracts (bosmans), then also have a saleable asset. The demands of European football will destroy your squad. I don't like using players under 93% unless I really have to, so competing in the UCL means I need a second lineup capable of competing in the SPL. Luckily the majority of SPL clubs aren't very good due to lack of funds, so young backups are great to use and blood in to the side.

Having said that I've benefited from my academy greatly. I've probably only had 3-4 shocking intakes in my save and been blessed with a few top class ones. Remember to scout every Scottish club on creation day to see if you can poach any, plus Linfield. I do this, but seriously I'm the only club with any talent. Bar one player, the level of Scottish newgens seems poor from the other clubs, even Celtic. Try to develop even 2 star guys, they come in handy as cheap backup. Sign contract early on, 5 years plus 3 year optional extension.