FM16 - The Sky Bet Football League thread

[MaxTheManager]

Thanks for the suggestions Jogo

I have made my decision on which team to use

I will take over at Wycombe...

Thanks for the help and I will keep you updated in the near future

[Jogo Bonito]

You're welcome. Good luck with Wycombe and I hope you enjoy it. You're aware they have no youth team, aren't you?

[matty_boy]

Hi guys,

So decided to stray away from my beloved Brighton and give it go with Millwall. Must say it's pretty enjoyable so far!

Decent enough squad projected to be there or there abouts in the playoffs but we can do better than that cant we?!

Here's how things look at the moment

All in all not too bad at all!! got to try and keep this run going and will update in the near future

[Jogo Bonito]

Wow! Nice pick, Millwall - and that's an incredibly good start! I have no idea how so many people get off to these kind of starts though, as it takes me ages to settle in to a new club. At least by the January transfer window you can be signing Championship players

[matty_boy]

Wow! Nice pick, Millwall - and that's an incredibly good start! I have no idea how so many people get off to these kind of starts though, as it takes me ages to settle in to a new club. At least by the January transfer window you can be signing Championship players

Must admit Jogo I'm just as surprised as you! Going well so far Aarons has been a beast 12 games 7 goals 11 assists

[Jogo Bonito]

I remember Aarons being superb for me on loan at Preston in FM14. Onyedinma seems to be doing well too. Millwall always seem to bring some good young players through, and I like their backroom staff too. Keep up the good work.

AFC Wimbledon

Results - December 2015 to February 2016

This batch of results saw us begin with an FA Cup tie that gave League 2 leaders Leyton Orient the chance to avenge the 4-1 league thrashing we gave them at their place in the previous match. The home tie was a cagey affair though, and a replay in East London seemed to hand them the initiative. As it turned out, perhaps buoyed by a convincing home win over Stevenage in between, we again stunned them with a very fine away win to book a home draw with Swindon in Round 3.

Unfortunately the wins over Stevenage and Leyton Orient came with consequences though, as right-midfielder George Francomb got injured on 12th December, and then key playmaker Jake Reeves suffered a similar fate just four days later, with his absence likely to be for the remainder of the season. The loss of arguably my two most influential players within such a short space of time was a big disappointment, but I felt I had a squad that could rise to the challenge.

Another four league games unbeaten followed before we hosted Swindon, and although we remained unbeaten, three of the games were draws. We looked to have seen off our League 1 opponents when the magic of the cup returned, but conceded a late leveller and eventually had to settle for another replay away from home. Two more good home wins in the league took us to Wiltshire in reasonable shape, but nobody including me would have predicted a sound 3-0 thumping of the higher-ranked side.

Yet again, we suffered with an injury blow in this sequence of games, with centre-back Karleigh Osborne the latest to pick up a knock in the Boxing Day home draw with promotion rivals Bristol Rovers. The on-loan defender had been quite solid during the early parts of the season, but it allowed my young pairing of William Nightingale (20) and Ryan Sweeney (18) the chance to continue their burgeoning partnership at the heart of my defence.

Unfortunately, preparations for the visit of Premier League boys Newcastle didn't go smoothly, with a heavy 3-0 loss at Notts County halting our steady league form. And then a capacity crowd saw us outclassed by the same score line as The Geordies made easy progression through to Round 5. With such a small capacity at our current home ground, we didn't really make any cash from the fixture, but a little bit of prize money and the confidence of a good run in the competition were satisfying compromises.

From February onwards, this allowed us to focus fully on the league, and a mixed bag of results in the month saw a couple of wins, a draw and two defeats. By the end of the month, we sat 5th in League 2, but there were encouraging signs from our new on-loan striker Daniel Agyei. The former Dons Academy graduate had moved to Burnley last summer, and he ended my five month pursuit by finally agreeing a loan move back to us on 24th January. After being handed his debut against Newcastle, where I hoped the selection of a wildcard might make an impact, I eased him in from the bench in the following couple of league games. He finished the month with a flourish as goals flowed from him at a steady rate, and he could play an important role until the end of the season.

After surviving January with no more significant player losses, February was again not so kind on that front. Forward Tom Elliott was next to be ruled out after being injured against Barnet on 20th February, and then a week later my main scorer Lyle Taylor was also forced in to an extended break when he was hurt in the disappointing home loss to another promotion rival, Oxford. Luckily for me, Agyei was making his mark by now, and Adebayo Azeez was also a useful performer to call upon. Even better, I'd resisted the temptation to return Ellis Harrison to parent club Bristol Rovers in January, despite him dropping down the pecking order to fifth choice and sometimes being unable to make the bench. With my two regular starting forwards now out, we still had three great options to take the two places in my 442 formation.

Summary of Progress

Here is how things stand at the end of the month, with 33 games played and 13 to go in the regular season. As you can see, most of the names in the best performer categories are those mentioned in the injury round-up above, so I think we are doing well to keep ourselves in contention. Financially, we are doing alright, and I have kept us under the wage budget and with a small amount of transfer cash to carry forward.

In other news, the board have been happy with my start at the club, and I've found it a really enjoyable place to manage. A new contract offer was quickly accepted, and I'm looking forward to the future challenges we face. The winter transfer window was, by choice, quiet. I snapped up former youth team player Dan Sweeney on a free transfer from Maidstone, and put him in to the U21 squad. With the deal being only until the end of the season, I can then decide if there are signs he can make the grade with us at the second attempt.

I've also agreed a pre-contract deal with Crusaders in Northern Ireland, to bring 28 year old goal scoring left-winger Paul Heatley to the club in the summer. The only other move was to bring in Agyei until the end of the season, and that was a very satisfying and significant loan move to help us along. I had planned to sell Sean Rigg in the window, and was happy to also move on back-up left-back Callum Kennedy, plus veterans Paul Robinson and Dannie Bulman, but there have been no takers for any of them so far. One man that I have been trying to tie down to a new contract is central midfielder Connor Smith, but the ex-Watford player rejects any chance to talk as he has his sights on bigger things, it seems.

[OrientTillIDie]

Glad it's all still going pretty well Jogo. A couple of good signings as well.

I'm sitting 3rd with Villa, a point behind Cardiff in 2nd. Orient are struggling in the Prem so if the job becomes available then I'll probably apply. If that doesn't happen then I am tempted to start a new save back in League 2 (but with someone other than Orient).

[matty_boy]

Update on the millwall save

Just broken the club record for which now stands at 20 games. Flying high in the league still, although we did have a mighty scare in the FA cup first round against Gainsborough playing the kids we scraped a 1-1 draw 9 (their keeper did put on a clinic though!)

Here's how things look

Onwards and upwards!!

[OrientTillIDie]

Quick question for you guys... I'm contemplating starting a new save because I'm not quite feeling it with Villa. Northampton are tempting but I'm thinking back to the beginning of my Orient save. At the end of my first season, Northampton were deducted 9 points because they went into administration. A friend of mine also had that happen. So my question is, has anyone else had this happen? If loads of you have then I'll probably steer well clear because not much I do would be able to prevent it from happening.

[Jogo Bonito]

Quick question for you guys... I'm contemplating starting a new save because I'm not quite feeling it with Villa. Northampton are tempting but I'm thinking back to the beginning of my Orient save. At the end of my first season, Northampton were deducted 9 points because they went into administration. A friend of mine also had that happen. So my question is, has anyone else had this happen? If loads of you have then I'll probably steer well clear because not much I do would be able to prevent it from happening.

I heard that somewhere, not sure where though. Go for it though, just make sure you win the league by at least nine points or end well clear of the drop zone

[OrientTillIDie]

So, I've gone back to the drawing board after the frustration of my Orient save where I was sacked by the new board before I got a chance to really get into my first season in the Premier League. I have started a new save with Northampton (a gamble considering the possible financial risks and the fact that everyone I have spoken to has said they always go into administration at the end of the first season!). To be honest, even if the administration happened I wouldn't be massively disappointed because I've never been at a team that's happened to before so possibly a new experience for me! I have one friendly left of my preseason so I'll do a quick start up now...

Northampton Town - Season 2015/16

After their huge success this year despite being predicted a modest finish at the start of the season, I have decided to go with the Cobblers. A friend of mine is a die hard fan of theirs as well as a journalist who reports on their games so I have a pretty good knowledge and understanding of their team which should help.

The Squad

It's pretty solid if unspectacular. Some standout players such as Ricky Holmes, Marc Richards, James Collins, Ryan Cresswell and David Buchanan. Other than that it's fairly average. I only have two fit full backs, one for each side but the rest of the squad has decent depth so I shouldn't need too many additions.

The Tactics

By happy coincidence, Northampton has a very similar type of team to Orient. All the wide players are right footed, I have a fairly attacking left back, goal scoring midfielders and good strikers. To begin with then, I have decided to play pretty much the same system that brought me success with Orient (if it ain't broke, don't fix it right?).

Transfers

As mentioned, I didn't really need to do a lot of business and I have no money and start over the wage budget anyway so utilising the loan market is the aim. Three players have come in:

Nana Owusu, RB, Reading (loan) - With Brendan Moloney out for the first few months of the season I needed cover for the right back position.

David Tutonda, LB, Cardiff (loan) - only left back in the squad is Buchanan so cover again.

Jacob Blyth, ST, Leicester (loan) - I didn't necessarily NEED a striker but after playing a couple of friendlies I wasn't convinced with what I had. Richards, Collins and Calvert-Lewin impressed but Sam Hoskins has struggled. I figured I probably needed a target man type player to fit my system and Blyth fits the bill.

Preseason

With one game to go before the season starts, I'm pleased with how things have gone. I beat Chorley 6-0 in my first game before losing 4-1 to Chelsea (I did go 1-0 up but capitulated after that. The game brought in over £100k which is a big bonus). Another 6-0 win over Cogenhoe followed by a 2-0 win against Northampton Sileby Rangers. Then a 1-1 draw against Oldham was the last game I played. I have Wellingborough Town in my last friendly so that should be a comfortable win. All in all, it's looking fairly promising. More updates to follow soon.

[Jogo Bonito]

Good stuff and good luck. The threat of administration gives it a different edge, and your rewards will be even more satisfying if that happens! Northampton as a town is somewhere I have spent a fair bit of time at over the years, but they've never had a team that I wanted to manage myself. That makes me even more interested to read about your stint there though.

Last night I completed season 1 with AFC Wimbledon. So many things were going on, it feels like I have taken about 50 screen shot images. Anyway, I'll do an update on that shortly, it may even be spread over a couple of updates.

[jslip1991]

im thinking of going for a team in the national league mate told me to go with aldershot or altrincham as my fist team so gunna give it go

[Jogo Bonito]

AFC Wimbledon

2015/2016 - Final results, league table, season summary and financial status

AFC Wimbledon started March 2016 in a healthy position, just inside the play-off zone. However the next three results didn't yield a win, and nerves were beginning to appear. A narrow home win over relegation strugglers York eased some of the pressure, and a battling 1-0 win at 3rd place Hartlepool really gave the club a boost.

However, that was followed by three straight defeats, including losses to play-off chasing Wycombe, 2nd place side Portsmouth, and Plymouth - another club trying to break in to the top seven. Luckily our next opponents were Crawley, and a solid home win saw off the side destined to finish bottom of the pile in May. We remained unbeaten in the final four games of the regular season, including a fine 1-0 victory over eventual champions Leyton Orient, and we booked our play-off spot with a couple of games to go. Mathematically, we did have a chance for the 3rd automatic promotion spot on the final day, but we needed to win, and needed Hartlepool and Carlisle to lose. Not only that, we needed to overturn a five goal deficit on Carlisle, so it was never likely - and actually came as no surprise to see that all three of us won our last fixture anyway.

So, a 5th place finish was a satisfying end to an enjoyable season, and our reward was a semi-final against Wycombe. The first leg at Adams Park was a tight affair, and we lost out to a solitary goal - scored by my teenage left-back Ben Harrison through his own net. The lack of an away goal was a concern, but top scorer Lyle Taylor saved the day with a tremendous hat-trick in the return inside 26 minutes. Despite a consolation from the visitors later, the 3-1 home win saw us through on a 3-2 aggregate score.

The play-off final itself was against Hartlepool, in front of 51,762 fans at Wembley. Our boys had a much shorter journey than our Northern opponents, but when they opened the scoring after 75 minutes it looked like our season was over. Amazingly though, on-loan teenage striker Daniel Agyei (a former Dons graduate that I brought back to his home club in January), grabbed an unlikely equaliser after 89 minutes. I say unlikely for two reasons. Firstly, a weakness of me as a manager - and my players too - is that we don't chase games too well, so a late leveller is quite rare for our team. Secondly, young Agyei had been on a goal drought of over 10 hours and was struggling to match his impressive earlier form. Having said all that, I was delighted that a man with a really strong Wimbledon history was the one to make the difference.

After that late drama, neither side could do enough in extra time to earn the win, and so we entered penalties. The writing was on the cards again as 'Pool converted their first kick, and my top scorer (and best penalty taker) Taylor failed to do the same, but our fighting spirit remained in tact and we battled back to an advantageous position with James Shea making a couple of fine saves. That left George Francomb, who had inherited the captaincy a few months earlier, the privilege of smashing home his kick, thus sealing a 4-3 penalty win and promotion to League 1.

Players

Part of my mission statement was to give chances to our younger players, as the club have an effective youth system. That allowed me to keep my own expectations low, and there would be a sense of pride if this approach got us anywhere. The regular central defence pairing of William Nightingale and Ryan Sweeney was the youngest in League 2, and a whole host of younger players were given licence to make their mark in my team. The older players we did have were used quite sparingly, and generally when forced during an injury crisis.

For me, the stand out player was Lyle Taylor, and he gets the managerial vote for best player of 2015/2016. It seems his impressive scoring record wasn't viewed in quite the same way by most of the fans though - as an overwhelming majority of 76% voted for Jake Reeves as our Player of the Season. There's no doubt that my midfield playmaker was a crucial part of the team, and he posted an outstanding average rating. A glance at the assists and goal columns showed just how impressive his other general play must have been though, and I was quite surprised he was given the fans award! Taylor, oddly, wasn't even in the top three - but his contribution shouldn't be overlooked. His goals to games ratio in the League 2 were particularly good, with 24 goals in 30(7) league appearances.

I'd bemoaned our injury situation in earlier posts, but even in this run-in period we saw Barry Fuller (over four weeks from 30th March), Jon Meades (eight weeks from 10th April), Tom Beere (seven weeks from 26th April), Reeves (another six weeks from 6th May), Sweeney (two weeks from 16th May) and Callum Kennedy (seven weeks from 16th May) all missing vital end of season matches, and many of them the play-off games too.

The one negative on the playing front was Connor Smith. The ex-Watford central midfielder was an automatic pick in central midfield and played 49(9) matches over the course of the season, missing only two. For some reason he refused to even enter talks about a new contract from the opening months, and when I eventually warned him of the transfer list if he didn't sign a new deal towards the end of the season, he stated his dislike for me as a new reason not to discuss terms. I'm not quite sure why he took this stance, but it means the weakest part of my team (depth of quality in the position) was going to be much weaker when he walks away in the summer. Well, your loss Connor, you won't be playing in League 1 next season son.

[OrientTillIDie]

Great work Jogo! They say that the playoffs is the most satisfying way to go up and that's a great effort to get the Dons up at the first time of asking.

[Jogo Bonito]

Thanks OTID. Promotion in Season 1 wasn't on my agenda when I started this up, and hopefully it's not too far too soon. I felt the squad was quite strong, but knowing that the youngsters were going to be given their heads, I felt we wouldn't finish so high.

AFC Wimbledon

Off-Season Update

As I mentioned earlier, there was plenty going on at AFC Wimbledon towards the end of the season. Here are a few of the stories...

Chairman Erik Samuelson and Director Dickie Guy both announced that they would be retiring from hands-on roles in football, and would only pursue part-time roles in the future. Erik has been Chairman of the club since 2002, and Dickie (a club legend) has been a Director since 2014 and made over 600 appearances for the club as a player between 1967 and 1978. For anybody interested, here is some history on Guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickie_Guy.

The loss of both of these popular figures was not something I was expecting, and is disappointing for me. As a result, we are now in 'takeover talks' although a fan-owned club with a retiring Chairman should really just be looking for a replacement in the seat. According to reports, existing Dons Director Jonathan Green is tipped to be named new Chairman.

More disappointing news came when I learned that we have had our Category Three youth rating dropped after a review of our set-up by the authorities. I immediately discussed this with the board though, and the following day Erik agreed that they would improve the youth facilities, with a view to upgrading our youth status. The upgrade is expected to cost £140,000 which is a significant sum for a club of this size, but work will begin on 31st July 2016 and is set for completion by 14th September 2016. It's worth pointing out that the club has a thriving Academy, and I am keen to keep that going by promoting U21 and U18 players already on the books when I arrived. This is probably a good thing, because the new youth intake was so poor that none of the group were worth taking on.

Erik has also been busy in other areas, and has taken it upon himself to set up an affiliate link with Fulham. I'm not unhappy with that, as it's a partner in the London area, but I won't take any of their players on loan just for the sake of it as it would slow down the progress of our own assets. The financial benefits of a pre-season friendly might provide some useful extra income, along with the increased sponsorship deals already in place.

Another change underway at the club is a stadium expansion. I'd originally been attracted to the club by the belief that we will be moving back to Plough Lane in the near future, with a new all-seater stadium being planned. However, as a result of our promotion and to comply with league regulations, our current base is going to have another 2,000 seats installed in some parts of the standing areas. The work is estimated to cost £249,000 and will take seven months to complete - but hopefully this won't change the desire to get back to Plough Lane.

Player & Staff changes

The board set our initial transfer budget for Season 2 at £165,000 and the wage budget at £40,500 per week. I'm sure this can be tweaked a bit, but all of the players I want can easily be recruited within these parameters - and I want the club to make another profit. The media prediction for the new season is 24th in League 1, so clearly it is only us that think we can survive. It's just like the old days though - little Wimbledon, with the chance of making waves as the underdog!

On the playing side of things, I'm satisfied with the early moves made ahead of our first friendly against Dulwich Hamlet. The first recruit to join the squad, on 9th June 2016, were Exeter winger David Wheeler (for an outlay of £14,000), and then my year-long wait for Matty Taylor was rewarded when the Bristol Rovers striker was grabbed for an initial fee of £20,000. Both of these players were due to be out of contract in the summer, but with other clubs showing interest, I wasn't willing to lose out. With this in mind, I made sensible offers to ensure we got our men - and these deals signalled our first transfer expenditure since my appointment. It's fair to say that the arrival of Taylor is extremely pleasing, as I feel his work-rate will fit our team ethic perfectly, and he should also provide another serious goal threat.

Two more new men arrived on 1st July. Our pre-contract deal for goal-grabbing Crusaders left-winger Paul Heatley was finally completed, and was followed up with the free transfer signing of centre-back Karleigh Osborne, who had been on loan with us last year but was released by Bristol City in the summer. More good news came in the form of loan extensions for London-born Scunthorpe winger Hakeeb Adelakun and Burnley's former Wimbledon graduate Daniel Agyei, after the pair played important roles in last season's promotion campaign.

Heading out of the club on free transfers were a number of veterans, in the shape of defender Paul Robinson and midfielder Dannie Bulman. The latter was willing to stay on in a non-playing role, but I didn't have the space to complete the deal so might re-visit that option at some point in the future. In my last update I mentioned that another central midfielder Connor Smith would also be leaving, as he was not willing to even talk about a new deal. His departure shows an obvious weakness in central midfield ahead of the new term, and it's essential that I add some extra quality to this part of the squad. One of our three left-backs Callum Kennedy was rather unluckily released, but I had enough cover for that role, and young winger Egil Kaja didn't look likely to make the grade so followed suit. Dan Sweeney was also allowed to go, as the former graduate that I brought back in the winter didn't show that he was any better than the player that had originally been released from the club a couple of years earlier.

Another Academy player that I think can make a career for himself at the club, David Fitzpatrick, was the only other departure - but this was only to keep him sweet when he asked for a loan move. He's not one that I want to lose or make unhappy, so I reluctantly agreed to give him a season of regular first-team football on loan with Hayes & Yeading.

Will there be much more going on? There might be one or two senior pros heading out if offers are received, as we are particularly well-stocked in the attacking areas now and can afford to be quite choosy on which of these players we keep. I'm definitely keeping an eye on some shortlisted targets for central midfield, but have again been turned down on my first choice. Last season, Reading didn't feel we were playing at a good enough level for Aaron Tshibola to join on loan, but this time they agreed - only for the player himself to reject the offer. I'll keep trying on that one, but do have a couple of alternatives in mind if nothing has worked by the end of August. I might also sign another centre-back with a bit more experience, as it would be nice to have a fourth option available over the course of a long second season.

On the training ground, I decided that I needed to try and improve on our poor injury record of last season, and also wanted to bring in better quality in some other areas. On this basis, I have terminated the contracts of physio Rhiannon Luke, U18 physio Jenna Walters-Richards, and goalkeeping coach Ashley Bayes. The latter has been replaced by Jim Stannard who looks to be much more capable, and I've also hired Glen Driscoll as a new physio. Jim served a number of decent clubs in this capacity after ending a long-playing career that was best remembered at Fulham and Gillingham. Glen, meanwhile, is a good quality physio and a close associate of Brendan Rodgers, having previously followed him from Reading to Chelsea, Swansea and Liverpool.

My staff recruitment is specifically restricted to former Dons players (Chris Perry returned last season) and people born in London, so turnover is likely to be limited. One man that I do need to make a decision on now is our U21 Assistant Manager, James Oliver-Pearce. I'd planned to replace him with Warren Barton, who agreed to join after leaving his role in America. Unfortunately, the board have told me we don't need somebody in that role, so now I'm stuck - unable to convert Barton's offer, and unable to benefit from the departure of Oliver-Pearce, who is currently on a month-to-month deal whilst I decide his future.

[MichaelBrown]

Great update Jogo, I'd love to see you take AFC to the prem or something with this scouting/low-cost signings way of playing. as I know you like to start as new teams but it'd be interesting to see how you move up the leagues.

[Jogo Bonito]

Cheers MB. It's an enjoyable club to be managing and if the Plough Lane move comes off, I hope to get them back to the top flight. Disappointing to be losing Samuelson and Guy already as they are a big part of the history. If I can strengthen my central midfield, I'm confident of beating the media prediction of 24th in League 1!

[OrientTillIDie]

Looking good Jogo. Some excellent additions there but a pity about your board leaving so soon.

I had a bit of a disaster with my Northampton save whereby my laptop decided to crash while it was saving and corrupted the file. I checked the crash reports and it wasn't the game's fault but my laptop so that was a bit annoying. Having said that, I was doing badly so it's not much of a loss!

As I have had to delete the Northampton file, I needed a replacement save and decided to go unemployed. It's been ages since I've tried one so I gave it a go, starting with Sunday League experience and Continental B or C licence (I can't remember off the top of my head). I figured that if I was really a coach then I'd probably be at about that stage at this point on my life. I've not done an unemployed save with the new manager attribute system though so I hoped I would be considered for League jobs.

A couple of jobs came up in October/November time in League 1 (Blackpool and Bury) which I applied for but didn't even make their shortlist. This worried me because I didn't want to drop to the Conference. In early to mid December a flurry of sackings in League 2 gave me some hope with Hartlepool, Crawley, Newport and Bristol Rovers parting company with their managers within 2 weeks of each other. At the time those teams occupied the bottom four. I applied for all of them (a bit risky because I know one of the questions is about how many jobs you have applied for) and got interviews with Hartlepool and Crawley. Crawley came back to me first with a job offer despite moving from 23rd to 17th under their caretaker manager. I accepted because they're a huge challenge with very little money and no U21 or U18 squad at the moment (I plan on changing that). I was officially appointed on 31st December until the end of the season. They wanted to offer me an 18 month contract but I insisted on a 6 month deal just in case things don't pan out.

Crawley Town - 2015/2016 Season

The Squad

It's not pretty. Numerous injuries and not a lot of quality. The best keeper I have is rated as 1.5 stars by my assistant. I have 4 fit defenders, 5 fit midfielders and 3 fit strikers with 6 players currently out injured. There is no money to spend at all so I'm going to have to utilise the loan market. Lee Barnard is currently top scorer with 11 but he's very inconsistent. One bright spark might be Welsh winger Gwion Edwards who is by far my most exciting player. Lots to worry about!

Tactics

Without actually meaning to, I ended up at a team that can fit my Orient tactic. They have one left footed winger but he's the worst in my squad by a considerable margin so I'm not going to set a tactic up specifically for him. I'm using my Orient tactic with a couple of tweaks, mainly in the Player Instructions to suit my new players abilities. Seeing as Crawley are much worse than Orient, I've set up a very defensive system as well because I imagine there will be a few games where I'm trying to grind a result out.

Transfers

I've already managed to make a few loan moves with Colchester midfielder Sammie Szmodics coming in as well as Swansea youth keeper Lewis Thomas. I've also made loan offers for Noe Baba from Birmingham, Luke Conlan from Burnley and Joe Williams from Everton. Depth is my biggest worry with my squad so these will add nicely to it.

Matches so far

I've played one game since taking over which came the day after I was appointed. It was away to Portsmouth who were sitting 2nd and unbeaten in 12 so not the easiest first game in charge. However my players applied themselves well and we came away with a battling 0-0 draw. My 1.5 star keeper made some decent saves and I could have nicked it at the end through Gavin Tomlin. Next up, at home to top of the table Cambridge.

[Dean Gripton]

Hi guys. Sorry to butt in here, but we have research vacancies for Morecambe, Oldham, Port Vale and Sheffield United at the moment. Please email me (dean at sigames dot com) if you are interested.

[lewis999]

Following the best result of our season yesterday and subsequently losing my voice in Wigan it's took longer than usual to start my winter patch Barnsley save but I am currently playing a journeyman save which is going well. Hope you guys can cheer us on, on Saturday and next Thursday on sky sports.

[Jogo Bonito]

@lewis: I'll give you 25% of my support! Seriously though, it's been a great second half of the season for you guys, and for that alone it would be nice to see you succeed. I do admit that I quite like the Walsall team too, and admire how they are run as a club. I may raise my support to 26% as long as you promise to back AFC Wimbledon when their turn comes

@OTID: Shame about your Northampton effort going wrong, but good luck at Crawley. I can't say that I hold too much enthusiasm for them, but it will be a good challenge. They got relegated at the end of my first season, which indicates the struggle you'll have. For the record, Northampton did go in to admin and had a 12-point penalty applied in my game too.

[lewis999]

@lewis: I'll give you 25% of my support! Seriously though, it's been a great second half of the season for you guys, and for that alone it would be nice to see you succeed. I do admit that I quite like the Walsall team too, and admire how they are run as a club. I may raise my support to 26% as long as you promise to back AFC Wimbledon when their turn comes

Thanks Joga, you have my word. I like Walsall too and we have both beat each other away from home this season so it should be interesting. I would of preferred to play Burton as we haven't conceded against them this season but Doncaster couldn't help us out with that one.

[OrientTillIDie]

@OTID: Shame about your Northampton effort going wrong, but good luck at Crawley. I can't say that I hold too much enthusiasm for them, but it will be a good challenge. They got relegated at the end of my first season, which indicates the struggle you'll have. For the record, Northampton did go in to admin and had a 12-point penalty applied in my game too.

I'm not a big fan of Crawley either and I think it stems back to when Steve Evans was in charge. I held out for a 6 month contract purely because I have no urge to stay with them for the long term. Thinking back to the unemployed saves I did on previous versions of the game, I always ended up being hired by a team that I could use as a stepping stone to better things. I'd maybe have preferred Hartlepool or Bristol Rovers but I couldn't risk delaying or rejecting the contract offer from Crawley only to have the others fall through. My aim is to avoid relegation and then see what jobs are about in the summer. If there's nothing then I'll sign on for another year and see how it goes.

[Jogo Bonito]

That makes sense OTID, and I totally get the Steve Evans factor.

I've finished pre-season, but again there was quite a lot going on as AFC Wimbledon prepare for their debut season in League 1. Hopefully my success will spur the boys on tonight in their League 2 play-off against Stanley

[Jogo Bonito]

Off-Season Update continued

The opening story of this little update is bit odd, but ultimately doesn't change anything. On 10th July 2016, Jamaica decided I was the man they wanted to take over National Team duties, even though I have no connection to them and hadn't been showing any interest in other jobs. I quickly refused the chance to talk, but it did come as a surprise that a League 2 play-off winner was sought out for such a job. Perhaps Marcus Gayle had been involved, as I'd approached him a few times about a coaching job - and he said he was reluctant to move away from the area he currently lived in! If I'd been thinking straight, I should probably have asked for a fully-expensed trip to discuss it, having never visited the island before!

Two days later, it was announced that the planned takeover by existing Director Jonathan Green looks to be over, at least for now. I'm very pleased with this because it means Erik Samuelson will continue to control the club, although I imagine club legend and Director Dickie Guy will still follow through on his planned retirement.

After the signings made earlier, I was close to finalising my squad for the new season. All that remained was to try and find a 4th central defender, preferably experienced and left-footed, but not somebody I would feel compelled to play above my youngsters. And then the player that would hopefully fill the void of the departed Connor Smith in central midfield. The Irishman, who remains unattached after he decided to walk out on the club, apparently dislikes me too much to talk, for reasons that make no sense at all.

The first of these tasks was easily completed when I snapped up free agent Darius Charles to provide the defensive cover. He's not the greatest player on the market, but is known to the club having had an actual loan this season, and will be ideal for this type of role in the squad.

The second task proved to be much harder. My first choice for the vacant midfield starting slot was still Aaron Tshibola, still on the loan list. Reading refused to let him drop down to League 2 level before, but this time they agreed that League 1 was a decent enough level. Unfortunately, the player feels differently, and after several months of chasing he refused to consider the loan. My second choice was Eunan O'Kane, who hasn't been able to establish himself at Bournemouth. A loan was agreed with the club, with us paying 20% of his wages, but again I couldn't convince him to drop down to our level.

A variety of other names were considered, including Michael O'Connor and Danny Rose after their release by Port Vale and Oxford respectively. George Evans (another Reading man), Matt Crooks, George Saville, James Maddison and Hiram Boateng also turned down the chance for regular League 1 starts, whilst parent clubs stopped similar approaches for John Swift, Jordan Houghton and Jack Powell. The rated pair of George Moncur and Ryan Leonard were out of our price range, and I'd even tried to convince Steve Sidwell to join as a player/coach, but he was having none of it. In the end, my choice was from a clutch of free agents - with Emmanuel Oyeleke, James Dunne, David Syers the ones that could be signed - or a loan move for young Charlton player Oliver Muldoon. After much deliberation, I decided that Dunne was the least worst of the available group, and a deal was indeed 'done' to bring him to the club on a free transfer.

In addition to the handful of players released, there are a couple of others who I would be prepared to move on if deals could be struck. I'm not falling over myself to make it happen, but I could probably sacrifice Tom Elliott or Adebayo Azeez before their contracts run out - and likewise Andy Barcham. With quite a few wide midfielders now on the books, I did accept an offer of £22,000 from Blackpool for Sean Rigg. He probably didn't get a fair crack of the whip under me, but I felt that new recruits Hakeeb Adekalun (on loan), Paul Heatley and David Wheeler offered a little more quality in those positions. I've also got some youngsters behind these options, so Rigg was unlucky really.

The fans seem happy to see their club at the higher level, and perhaps think that the media prediction of 24th is harsh. Season ticket sales have increased quite considerably, and they seem to be on board with what I am trying to do at their club. I know the numbers sold are small, but in percentage terms it's a healthy rise on last year anyway.

The board, meanwhile, are supportive - and expectations are set at a very realistic level. Anything above the relegation zone will be considered a successful season, and I'm quietly confident we can manage that. You'll see that the transfer budget has been altered, which always happens when I choose the lowest bonus option. Although there is still time in the August transfer window, I don't expect to be dipping in to that at all though. I'm aware of all the other expenses the board have taken on for work improvements, and I want to help them build up the bank balance. If I do make sales, the club have generously increased the transfer revenue to 60% of sales from 35%, due to good wage management.

Pre-season results have been quite incredible really. Taking aside the draw against Bromley, where we lost concentration and conceded a late equaliser, every other result has been encouraging. The famous FM Cup fixture against Watford was our only loss - but even that was incredibly tough on us. I was looking forward to pairing Lyle Taylor and new boy Matty Taylor together in attack this season, but both suffered head injuries inside the opening 15 minutes of this 'friendly' and had to be substituted. If that wasn't bad enough, new defender Charles then managed to put through his own net after 71 minutes to give the Premier League side the advantage. Substitute Daniel Agyei (more of him later) grabbed a deserved equaliser five minutes later, and we were comfortably holding out for a commendable draw, before the Hornets sting in the tail saw Matej Vydra hit a 90th minute winner against our brave battlers.

The only other blip in pre-season was against Charlton, who remain a Championship side. Another goal from teenager Agyei just before the interval saw us well in control at The Valley, and we weren't looking troubled. That was until just before the end - when my 'keeper James Shea decided to literally roll the ball out to one of their attackers, stood in the penalty area. Needless to say, the recipient gratefully accepted the gift and levelled the scores! In amongst the victories, even I was stunned to see us roll over Fulham, Liverpool and Crystal Palace - I don't think I ever had a pre-season like that from a club like this!

It's easy to get carried away, and there is always a doubt that such an impressive off-season might be leading me towards a heavy fall. However, I feel that our attacking options are quite exciting, with a number of decent strikers and wide players likely to create and convert chances. My only concern might come in the lack of options and real quality in central midfield, but everything else looks in fairly good shape.

I said I would talk more about Agyei, and you can see why. The teenage striker forced his way in to the team when the 'Taylor brothers' got injured, and then went on to score in seven straight matches. This is so satisfying as Agyei was a prolific striker at the club's Academy before joining Burnley, and so he's still very much 'one of our own'. What better way to finish than with this, a little reminder of the importance the club places on it's youth system.

[OrientTillIDie]

Good stuff Jogo. I reckon you've got a great chance of avoiding relegation although it'll be a big ask. Glad to see Agyei doing well. I've had him on a few saves in the lower levels and he does a good job so I'm glad he's producing for you as well.

[MichaelBrown]

GL Jogo, looking forward to the next one

[Lucas_26_7]

I hadn't played FM for ages after it infuriating me too much a couple months back but a couple days ago I came back to my Sheffield United save. We were in season 2018/19, our first in the prem and after 19 games we were sitting in 19th 9 points off safety. Then out of nowhere, we pull a late win against Palace on the road and our form takes a U-turn. Just 3 losses for the rest of the season means we finish in 15th and send West Ham down to pay them back for the Tevez/Mascherano saga! I am now piecing together a team capable of growing into something wonderful. I have brought in Walker, Bazoer, Sane, Fischer, Bauer and Lallana for a total spend of 37.75m (39m budget) so my team now looks like this:

Butland

Walker-Bazoer-Jones-Rose

Ouchene (Beast regen)

Delph-Reed

Sane-Rooney-Fischer

In backup we have

Delac

Bacuna-Corluka-Bauer-Brad Smith

Stambouli

Luongo-De Guzman

Adams-Stabb(regen)/Manaj-Lallana

Main worry is up front as Rooney is getting on a bit, scored 12 last season but stats are deteriorating heaps now at 33. Also we have a lot of quality wingers which could leave players unhappy.

Not sure now how to push on, go from avoiding relegation to fighting for Champions League. My personal aim this season is top half.

[Jogo Bonito]

Ahead of the big play-off matches this weekend, I'm hoping there are still a few of us managing in the Sky Bet leagues. I've progressed a few months with AFC Wimbledon and will get an update loaded soon. Good luck to all who have teams to follow this weekend too!

[lewis999]

Ahead of the big play-off matches this weekend, I'm hoping there are still a few of us managing in the Sky Bet leagues. I've progressed a few months with AFC Wimbledon and will get an update loaded soon. Good luck to all who have teams to follow this weekend too!

Thanks Joga, fair to say i'm a bit nervous haha!

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2 (August - October 2016)

So far I think we have adapted to life in League 1 quite well. Naturally we have struggled in some games, and went through a sticky patch where goals were hard to come by. Lyle Taylor has a decent scoring ratio but has been injured for much of the early period, and also goes away to represent Montserrat quite frequently, which is a bit of a pain. Daniel Agyei has continued to look decent, although Matty Taylor is taking some time to settle.

We've had a few injuries, one of which was to new signing James Dunne. That forced me to sign another experienced central midfielder, and Michael O'Connor arrived on 31st August after leaving Port Vale on a free transfer. Connor Smith is still a free agent but refuses to entertain talks about coming back to the club. I also lost goalkeeper James Shea to injury at the end of September, and after seeing debutant Joe McDonnell concede four at Bradford, I decided to loan young Brighton 'keeper Christian Walton for a month on 2nd October. He's just departed now, and luckily Shea will be back for our next fixture, which is a tricky FA Cup tie at Newport.

There haven't been any other takeover stories, which is good and means that the board stays in place - for now. One other positive is the news on our youth facilities, as this plays a vital part of my plans at this club.

*** Good luck to the Dons today at Wombley!!!! ***

[kencomanbee]

just started a game with Blackpool

10 games in and i'm 4th with only one defeat,

I didnt really sign anyone player permanenty and that was a guy called allessandro Cannataro formerly of Bournemouth, a young play maker who my scouts reckon would be a useful signing with some good prospects, he has made a few appearances and in a DPL role has notched up a few assists already. I reckon he will force his way as a regular starter.

2 loan signings, jack Barmby who just scored his first goal and Josamir Quintero from Chelsea, yet to start but has some good attributes that can be utilised.

The stand out player for me is Jack Redshaw, the striker has already got 13 goals and bagged a hatrick in a good win against top of the table Barsnely,

Long way to go though,

[MichaelBrown]

Great update as always Jogo and I want to see more - hopefully you stay with them in the long term.

[Jogo Bonito]

just started a game with Blackpool

10 games in and i'm 4th with only one defeat,

I didnt really sign anyone player permanenty and that was a guy called allessandro Cannataro formerly of Bournemouth, a young play maker who my scouts reckon would be a useful signing with some good prospects, he has made a few appearances and in a DPL role has notched up a few assists already. I reckon he will force his way as a regular starter.

2 loan signings, jack Barmby who just scored his first goal and Josamir Quintero from Chelsea, yet to start but has some good attributes that can be utilised.

The stand out player for me is Jack Redshaw, the striker has already got 13 goals and bagged a hatrick in a good win against top of the table Barsnely,

Long way to go though,

Welcome and good luck with Blackpool.

Thanks MB, I'm still plugging away and hope it continues to be an enjoyable club to manage

[PleasedToMichu]

Holy smokes it's been a while guys. Just had no time to play FM recently but i didn't realise HOW far back "recently" went! Steam says i last played the game on the 6th January!

I signed back in yesterday to refresh my memory of my Sheff Utd save (which i was having an absolute blast playing) in light of hopefully returning late this week to crack on.

Only in season 1 (), 34 games played, 9 points clear at the top. Cummings has 27 goals, despite being injured for the last 2 months (he's 5 days away from returning) and has been a tank all year. Christian Pander is tearing it up at left wing back, and my star centre back freebie signing Ondrej Mazuch is looking really solid, will still be absolutely immense for me in the Championship (fingers crossed i haven't just jixned it! ).

Yeah, really looking forward to diving back in and completing the season. All going well i'll have a good challenge next up in trying to mount a challenge in the Championship.

[PleasedToMichu]

Right, the season is done and Sheffield United are Champions! We end the season on 95 points, 8 points clear of Barnsley.

But crikey the last 12 games of the season weren't a cakewalk like i was expecting when i returned to the game. Those 12 games saw 5 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats. Now that doesn't sound MASSIVELY bad when i put it in writing, but trust me, it was worse than it sounds. We had only lost 3 times in 34 games until then, but suddenly the team just couldn't do anything. Couldn't stop them losing, all my tactics just suddenly seemed to stop working.

Luckily i had built such a gap to 3rd place (20 points when i started playing again) that i was never in danger of not getting promoted, but the title got FAR tighter than it sounded. With 3 games to go i was only 3 points clear of Barnsley, who had far better goal difference. But the 3rd to last game of the season was against just that opposition, and we proceeded to completely forget we were playing awfully and walk all over them in a 3-0 win. 6 points clear with 2 games to go, proceeded to suddenly remember we were playing poo again and got smashed away to Coventry, but Barnsley only drew so dah dah! Title was ours. We then proceeded to wrap the season up with a 3-0 home win (Cummings hat trick to polish his season off) and they got smashed 4-0 by Wigan, so, 8 point title win.

Cummings ended the season with 33 goals, and that included a 2 month absence with an injury. Guy is a goalscoring machine.

I sense a very long time will be spent it this off season. I imagine more times than not my Girlfriend will find my head buried in the tactics section as i begin to dissect what went wrong in the last 12 games! Hoping to make really solid additions to the team too, so that will involve plenty of time scrolling through the market.

But for now, we celebrate promotion!

EDIT: Cummings wins League 1 top scorer with 29 league goals. 3 Sheff Utd players make it into the League 1 team of the year, Cummings, Che Adams and my man Christian Pander.

[SirManager]

I'm back tonight to continue my blackpool save. Work has been chaotic. Nice to see the updates here.

[PleasedToMichu]

Well damn, i'm not the quickest of FM players at the best of times but crikey, buying a house can really slow you down even more!

Haven't even started season 2 (which will be in the Championship after winning League 1. Feel like i have to remind myself more than anyone else, it's been that long) with my Sheffield United yet, but i have finished the off season, so thought i would share my signings:

Jesse Lingard from Manchester United, £250k up front, £2 million after 48 months - Going to cost us a big chunk of money down the line but i think it's pretty safe business. Was out looking for a new left winger and United wanted to sell, worked out perfectly. Hoping he provides a real bit of quality in the Championship

David Edgar from Birmingham City, £30k - was a real solid performer at centre back while on loan season and was an ever present. When Birmingham listed him for peanuts as soon as he returned from our loan, i had no problems bringing him back for some defensive cover.

Ben Gladwin from QPR, £450K - as a Swindon Town fan i've seen a lot of this player and he was a real touch of class for us, was gutted to see him leave for QPR alongside Luongo. QPR listed him and i wanted to take him, but also wanted to wait and see what other players popped up. 3 different teams plonking bids on him straight away ended that hope, but no drama, looks like he will be a real solid player in the midfield. With Wallace, Reed, Marco Da Silva and Gladwin all vying for the 2 CM positions available, the midfield is looking well stocked.

Frazier Campbell from Crystal Palace, £190k - I'll be looking for Cummings to continue banging the goals in, but i came into the summer market looking for a bit of back up for him. Although it seems like he's been around forever, Campbell is still only 28 so has some years ahead of him, and i'm hoping he could make a good impact coming off the bench. Will face his old club this season after Palace were relegated from the Premiership.

Sebastian Coates from Sunderland, £100k - Another player who will face his old club this season after Sunderland plummeted out the Premiership. As we entered the last week before the first game of the season i decided the defence needed one more addition. Coates was listed, and due to the relegation he was listed for peanuts. Worked them down even further to 100k and brought him in. Hoping him and Mazuch will form up nicely in the centre of the defence.

All in all i'm happy with the transfers. I would have ideally liked to have bring in a LB to back up Pander, but i couldn't get any deals done, so i think that will be have to be priority number 1 in January (if i ever get there. Really don't this whole "being a grown up" thing affecting my already limited FM time )

[kozmik]

This thread looks pretty dead but thought I'd post anyway...

I recently went back to my old save which I've posted updates on earlier - started with Carlisle and then moved to Derby. I kept a save at the point when the Carlisle board wanted talks about staying there, so I loaded it up and cancelled the Derby move. This time around I'll be looking to take Carlisle as far as I can.

Got off to a decent start as we managed to get promoted!

Our late season form was awful and saw us miss out on automatic promotion. We were 2nd after the Doncaster game.

Because of that form I was pessimistic going into the playoffs. I'd been using mainly my counter and defensive systems in the league games, for the playoffs I took a risk and went with control, which paid off rather nicely, with promotion being decided in appropriately dramatic fashion:

Then came the summer and we proceeded to lose all our key players

Not too disappointed, though, as we got good money for most of them and replaced them with roughly similar (or better) quality on the cheap. The only one I definitely didn't want to sell was Lawrence, but he only had one year on his contract and when I tried to offer him a new one it had a non-negotiable release clause of 1,2 million, so I figured it was better to sell now for more money. I doubt anybody remembers but originally when I moved to Derby Carlisle still managed to get promoted, signed a bunch of average players and were then relegated twice in a row and were in a bad shape financially, so I'm trying to make sure that doesn't happen this time around. Transfer-wise my main gripe is that we have two key players on loan - Lee Evans and Max Clayton, who we'll then need to replace next year, but if they help us stay up this season then that's good enough, I suppose. Hopefully that'll raise our rep enough that we'll actually be able to sign some good players instead of just decent ones. Garbutt was my most expensive signing, and is our highest paid player by quite some distance, but his crosses and set pieces will produce plenty of goals, I think.

This is the main system and first 11 I'll be playing this season:

Against teams with quick strikers I will be dropping the line a little bit deeper and disable the offside trap. I have a fairly fast CB pair, especially Colley who's got pace 14 and acceleration a whopping 18, the best in my whole team, so they can hold their own against pacey attackers.

All in all I'm fairly confident that we can and will stay up, but the big question of course is will we be able to take the next step and get promoted again, and if we can, how long will that take? So far the absolute key decision in this save has been to take a punt in a young freebie in Sergio Garufi, who we sold a year later for over five million which enabled me to build a squad capable of promotion from league one. I think something similar but bigger has to happen again, as I can't see where else the money would come from for us to build a squad that's able to compete at the top end of the table. Of course I have no idea how our attendances will develop this season, but last season they were disappointing, with the average at only 6,7k with a 16k capacity. If we can attract close to capacity crowds week in, week out it will help massively, but whether that happens remains to be seen.

[kozmik]

Dead thread or not, there's no way I'm not showing off my new star signing!

Popped up as transfer listed on my scouting screen, immediately went and offered the asking price and got him signed. 2,8 million, most over 48 months. He has a 10 million release clause and unless he gets a bad injury or something else goes badly wrong (or we manage to get promoted...) I'm expecting him to leave for that amount in a year or two. He's already premier league quality. So far has scored two goals in two games, the second a brilliant injury time winner in an FA cup replay.

Here's the league table after 27 games.

We're in a very good position, but it's incredibly tight. Six points above relegation zone, five below playoff spots. Could go either way yet.

[PleasedToMichu]

Going really well kozmik, and that's a cracking new signing! Might have to keep an eye out for him as my Championship season progresses! I looked at that table and thought "10th place, great first season, looking good for safety and maybe pushing for more". Then i saw only 6 points to the relegation zone! Unreal how tight that league is.

Turns out buying a house is stressful as **** and takes up a hulluva lot of your free time, who would have thought it?  So as a result i'm only two games into my Championship season.

First game was at home to Hull, the triumphant return to the Champ after years in League 1. A packed Bramall Lane was bouncing, filled with anticipation and excitement. We lost 5-0. I'll admit i probably went attacking a bit too soon in the game and conceded late goals but still, a real bring back down to the earth kind of game. BUT i would fancy Hull to go up this year so not going to totally get downhearted about it. Bounced back in the second game with a 3-1 win away to Doncaster in the cup, Lingard netting his first goal for the club and Cummings bagging his first (of many hopefully) for the season.

We also made one more signing. I just sat looking at my squad and wasn't happy at all about my lack of depth at LB. Had literally £0 in the bank so had to be a free transfer, and was happy enough to get Keiran Richardson in. It's his level and he's been there and done that, so should add a good level of experience to go with my already experienced Pander at LB.

[kozmik]

41 minutes ago, PleasedToMichu said:

Going really well kozmik, and that's a cracking new signing! Might have to keep an eye out for him as my Championship season progresses! I looked at that table and thought "10th place, great first season, looking good for safety and maybe pushing for more". Then i saw only 6 points to the relegation zone! Unreal how tight that league is.

Turns out buying a house is stressful as **** and takes up a hulluva lot of your free time, who would have thought it?  So as a result i'm only two games into my Championship season.

First game was at home to Hull, the triumphant return to the Champ after years in League 1. A packed Bramall Lane was bouncing, filled with anticipation and excitement. We lost 5-0. I'll admit i probably went attacking a bit too soon in the game and conceded late goals but still, a real bring back down to the earth kind of game. BUT i would fancy Hull to go up this year so not going to totally get downhearted about it. Bounced back in the second game with a 3-1 win away to Doncaster in the cup, Lingard netting his first goal for the club and Cummings bagging his first (of many hopefully) for the season.

We also made one more signing. I just sat looking at my squad and wasn't happy at all about my lack of depth at LB. Had literally £0 in the bank so had to be a free transfer, and was happy enough to get Keiran Richardson in. It's his level and he's been there and done that, so should add a good level of experience to go with my already experienced Pander at LB.

I actually signed Mbappe as a 16-year old in a United save a while ago. Wasn't obviously planning to give him first team action apart from league cup maybe, but because of injuries he ended up playing 10+ games and scored or assisted about a goal a game, including scoring an extra time winner in the FA cup semi. I'm really excited about him, even though the release clause thing dampens things a bit. He's now scored four goals in three league games, the latest being an 89th minute equalizer away at Bristol City, so a very impressive start. Made a bit more transfer business as well, sold Dani Aquino as I realized that his contract extension clause was kicking in in a few games and I definitely didn't want that to happen. Flogged him to Gillingham for 60k, ended up paying 3k of his wages till the end of the season. As a replacement (that is, a winger/striker backup) brought in Joe Lolley on a free, 2k per week until the end of the season with option for a further year, which is unlikely to happen. But I needed a cheap, or preferably free, backup player on a low wage and he fits the bill, and is not completely rubbish. Signed also an Italian left back/winger on a free loan to provide cover as Garbutt's injured for a few weeks.

Buying a house is indeed stressful, did that a few years ago. But whatever happens, there's always time for FM. In a United save I sold Lingard to Leverkusen so he should be a great player at championship level.

[kozmik]

Didn't even realize this, no wonder he spent half a season without a club...

Those 39 games were over 3 seasons as well (technically four, since he played in a couple of games for us before scoring), he last scored for Huddersfield in the 15/16 season. That's a pretty ridiculous streak for an inside forward/striker.

[PleasedToMichu]

25 minutes ago, kozmik said:

Didn't even realize this, no wonder he spent half a season without a club...

Those 39 games were over 3 seasons as well (technically four, since he played in a couple of games for us before scoring), he last scored for Huddersfield in the 15/16 season. That's a pretty ridiculous streak for an inside forward/striker.

39 games is mental for a guy in his position! Hopefully you'll be able to coax a few more goals out of him!

Got such a big craving to play, might have to have a big session tonight. And by big session i mean a big session sat on the tactics page trying to stopus getting pasted 5-0 again. Cool.  

[kozmik]

1 hour ago, PleasedToMichu said:

39 games is mental for a guy in his position! Hopefully you'll be able to coax a few more goals out of him!

Got such a big craving to play, might have to have a big session tonight. And by big session i mean a big session sat on the tactics page trying to stopus getting pasted 5-0 again. Cool.  

Love me some tactical planning sessions! Although I do most of my planning in bed while waiting for sleep.

Starting to get matches like this... So infuriating. Not even down to their goalkeeper playing a blinder, just my attackers doing their best schoolyard football impressions.

[kozmik]

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[kozmik]

You know you've had a good first season in a new league when the season finishes and you're looking up the table and feeling disappointed, rather than looking down and feeling good.

That being said, a fantastic season considering our squad is one of the worst in the league. Still, can't look at our final games of the season and not feel disappointed, if we'd managed to change a few draws to wins and a few defeats to draws then we'd be in the playoffs.

For the next season we'll definitely need to improve both in defense and especially in attack. 62 goals scored and 60 conceded is not good enough. We did keep 15 clean sheets in the league which was the second highest in the league, so it's not all bad.

[PleasedToMichu]

A brilliant first season fella! I know you look at it now and think what if, but you are now an established Championship team, plenty of time to kick on, sometimes it's just a matter of getting the first season out the way. Get a good summer in and who knows what will happen. Got much money to spend?

Poured some major time into the training and tactics screens last night. Totally stripped back my tactics, right back to basics and looking to play a much tighter game. Also worked hard on making sure each player was working on something i wanted them to in training so hopefully when i actually get around to playing some matches i might see some results.

It's probably the first time i've ever booted up FM just to have a massive tactics session, and it felt pretty good to see the tactics at the end, very happy with how they have come out.

[Jogo Bonito]

Firstly, apologies to all. Due to work commitments and various other issues in UK & Africa, I have not had any time to post or visit the site for ages (let alone open up or play FM). I even see we have a new layout, which I need to get accustomed to, blimey.

Good to see a few of you still going along, I hope you continue to enjoy your games.