The English Football League Thread - EFL in FM17

[OrientTillIDie]

Forgot to mention two transfer sagas that rumbled through the summer. Semedo was wanted by Braga and Belenenses and Dalby by a whole host of Championship clubs. Managed to get Dalby to sign a new long contract to ward off the interest but Semedo wasn't pleased and asked for a transfer. I stood firm and rejected bids upwards of £500k and the deadline passed. He's now willing to discuss a new contract so I'm hoping to tie him down long term.

[OrientTillIDie]

It has just occurred to me as well that this will be the last year for a while that I'll be able to post my Orient save updates in this thread as we've now been relegated out of the Football League  

[Armistice]

6 hours ago, OrientTillIDie said:

It has just occurred to me as well that this will be the last year for a while that I'll be able to post my Orient save updates in this thread as we've now been relegated out of the Football League  

That's very unfortunate mate, sad what can happen to a club if the wrong person puts their hands on it. I hope you come back stronger.

[OrientTillIDie]

48 minutes ago, nightwalker22 said:

That's very unfortunate mate, sad what can happen to a club if the wrong person puts their hands on it. I hope you come back stronger.

Thanks mate. I'm hopeful he sells up asap but he's mental so wouldn't surprise me if he hung around. Lots of new grounds to visit though!

[Nottingham Forest]

Just finished my second season at Forest. I shall try to do a more detailed update soon. However, first season the media predicted us to finish 16th whilst the 2 boards wanted a top half finish. We ended up finishing 14th. I managed to scrape another contract out of the board for 2 years somehow. Mid-table expectations for second season and we finished 15th. Wage expenditure has dropped by about £100k so far. The last 5 games of the season and we've managed to win 4 and draw 1. First time we've managed to win 3 on the bounce.

[Armistice]

I'm in with my Hartlepool save, will post updates later.

[inthisspace]

Inspired by this thread to take on Wycombe Wanderers in League 2. It is also due to a particular player in the squad which may help my club+country aspiration. Start with zero budget, little wages and a squad with many new faces.

As alluded by @Jogo Bonito, the defence is, on paper, one of the best in the league. The previous manager has recruited well to play 4-4-2, but the team still lacks in the GK and FB department. Furthermore, he has signed plenty of players at the wrong side of 30, so it is up to the human manager to right the ship. 

For me, I have signed many young midfielders on loan to support my 4-3-3 tactic. Though defensively solid, it lacks the bite and it can be hard coming from behind. Recently switched to a 4-4-2 against weaker teams and it has worked. I have been knocked out of the EFL and likely, the checksdale cup. Will concentrate on gaining automatic promotion.

 

[Armistice]

Looking to win the league, it is well within reach.

 

 

Was lucky with injuries, only a few minor setbacks to my key players, we managed to get through that and now it's the winter transfer window and I'm already looking to improve the squad depth.

 

Edit: Conceding a lot through set pieces, my team is the shortest in the league. I managed to add some new loans to the club in January, unfortunately the club stature gets in the way of loaning better players, for example Sterling from Spurs chose Carlisle over us. 

I had to adapt my tactic a bit more lately because my left back (top assists) and striker (top goalscorer) are both out injured. Currently joint leaders.

[kozmik]

A while ago I got back to the Peterborough save I posted updates on earlier, which I abandoned due to pure frustration with off-form attackers. Struggling to get into a new long term save I ended up coming back with new found determination. Managed to turn our form around to some extent but the top teams were too far ahead for me to catch. Ended up just about scraping the last playoff position, beat Bristol on penalties and faced Sunderland in the final. And promptly went 3-0 down within 15 minutes. Their strike pair of Chuba Akpom and Britt Assombalonga was just impossible to stop on the day. The former ended up as top scorer in the premier league next season, so no wonder I had a hard time with him...

Anyway, a good transfer summer followed, despite the fact we lost a couple of important players thanks to non-promotion release clauses. But replaced them well and, more importantly, on the cheap! Also made my first ridiculous free transfer in this save:

Had to offer him a new deal in January to fend off interest from several top flight clubs.

Also free:

Ended up breaking the clubs assists record.

And I love me a Finnish regen:

I was looking at possible left back targets, noticed a Finnish guy and was immediately attracted to his physicals and determination. Signed him for 650k without even scouting him. His performances have been pretty mixed but will be a great player if his potential is as high as it looks to be at this point.

Here's the full transfer history:

Signed a whole bunch of kids released by other clubs as the youth quality was abysmal.

I changed a few roles in my main tactic to try something different. Didn't start the season too well as we only got W5 D1 L4 from our first ten games, and it definitely looked like we'd continue where we left off with our dismal scoring record. Then did a final few adjustments, things fell into place and off we went:

Highest goals scored in the league, lowest conceded (albeit just barely) and even had my main striker finish the season as (joint) top scorer for the first time in this year's FM. In the top ten of highest average ratings in the league were four of our defenders. Casasola (obviously), Kingsley (obviously, joint 2nd most assists in the league), Kevin Mbabu and Ryan Bennett.

As for next season, I'm fairly comfortable with our GK, DR, CB's, DM and AML. Possibly DL as well, although I'm a bit wary of Kingsley's pace. DL will be an attacking full back and we'll obviously be facing a truckload of super fast right wingers so it could be a problem. We definitely need a new starter for both CM positions, right wing and striker. I do fortunately have enough backups (for now) so I only need the starters. Did get a decent kitty of 17 million, available wage budget for now is 280k per week but promotion wage rises haven't kicked in yet.

Also I got a brexit I haven't seen before. Basically work permits have been removed from the premier league, instead there's a limit of 17 foreign players in a full 25 man squad, in addition to the usual 8 HG players. Sign all the cheap Argentinian wonderkids!

[Cesc_cil]

Got a good little save going with Oxford Utd. Took over end of first and currently in Jan 2018 sitting first in league one, 2 points ahead of Blackburn and MK Dons and 6 ahead of Fleetwood in fourth. No budget and hardly any wages. 

Got Chelsea as a feeder club.

[Armistice]

So we've promoted to League 1! Great achievement considering that this is my first lower league save and Hartlepool were tipped to finish bottom of the league at the start of the season.

 

 

We may aswell try and win the league, that's what I aim, we had a pretty poor run of three or four games before the winning run that secured the promotion. Anyway, the board already set the budget for the next season (72k for transfers, 2m for wage  ).

[smplfc123]

Hey @Joga Bonito and fellow followers / posters on this thread.

Unfortunately due to movements in work and personal life, I've had hardly any time to get a good save going on this years FM.

I've recently found a bit of time and had a few shots at lower Prem clubs such as Sunderland, Hull and Watford, but now I have the bug to get back to where my most enjoyable FM saves have come from, The Football League.

I've decided that I'm going to start in League 1. I want a club who is preferably expected to finish between automatic promotion and relegation certainties. I want to be given room to grow and try new tactics and ideas without the pressure of instant success, whilst building the club. I want to focus on all aspects of the club and not just the performance on the pitch. 

Does anyone have any good suggestions from experience in League 1?

I have a couple in mind, but will look to confirm my club at some point tonight. I want this to be a proper and big save and I'm actually excited about it!

[Cesc_cil]

go Oxford or MK Dons

[Armistice]

 

Quite disappointed to finish third, considering that I had two opportunities to overtake the two teams above me and blew them both against lesser opponents.

 

Got to rebuild the squad, most of the players at the club are good League Two players at best so we've got a long list of players we've been scouting, just hope that they will sign for us (most of them are not reportedly not interested).

 

Won Manager of the Year and my two star players, Walker and Kavanagh were selected in the Team of the Year.

[Cesc_cil]

won league 1 with oxford, 4 points ahead of MK Dons. On to the Championship

[Jogo Bonito]

Hello to all. Apologies that I have not posted any updates or comments recently, but good to see a few of you still enjoying the EFL.

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Good to see this thread is active once again. I tend to manage in the lower-leagues, usually in the Conference North/South however have mixed my year up with a few different saves across League One and Two this FM. I've decided I'm going to do another save in League Two to most likely round off the rest of this years game, who with I'm not quite sure yet... Decision will be made soon, I look forward to posting here.

[smplfc123]

@DefinitelyTaylor Good luck for whoever you decide to go.

@Cesc_cil Thanks for the advice, but I have decided that Swindon are the club I'm going to go with. From looking at the club, everything seems to be 'ok' or 'average' with the media predicting a mid table finish and the board wanting a minimum of just avoiding relegation. 

This gives me a bit of room to work and build the club and figure out a way in which I want to play.

[Jogo Bonito]

2 hours ago, smplfc123 said:

@DefinitelyTaylor Good luck for whoever you decide to go.

@Cesc_cil Thanks for the advice, but I have decided that Swindon are the club I'm going to go with. From looking at the club, everything seems to be 'ok' or 'average' with the media predicting a mid table finish and the board wanting a minimum of just avoiding relegation. 

This gives me a bit of room to work and build the club and figure out a way in which I want to play.

Best of luck in Wiltshire, it's good to have you around again.

[Armistice]

My biggest problem has always been lack of motivation to continue a long term save. I quickly got bored of Hartlepool save, even though it became interesting, I struggled exactly at the job I like the most - rebuilding.

Can't say I felt too motivated to go on, so I am putting this on hold for now. Will probably take over Oxford United.

[Jogo Bonito]

No reason not to enjoy short spells of 1-2 seasons with lots of different clubs.

[kozmik]

I intended to post a start of season update but forgot, so will post a mid-season one now.

Had a busy summer, once again:

In terms of fees we broke pretty much even but in terms of wages our spending has probably doubled since last season.  BTW, who knew that once a non-promotion release clause activates it doesn't deactivate if you get promoted later? Lost Boschilia this way, thankfully he wasn't a first choice player so I just replaced him by loaning Marcus Edwards from Spurs.

We had a terrible start to the season, losing our first five games, and after having sat at the bottom of the table with 4 points from first 8 games I was starting to fear the worst. My underdog possession tactic wasn't producing any goals and trying to play more aggressive led us to concede so many that scoring didn't make a difference. I did a few adjustments with the possession system, and started picking up results, ending with a table like this in early January:

Have gotten some very decent results. Beat Arsenal twice in a row, first in the league cup with a second string team and then in the league, drew with Spurs and United and just managed to beat City 2-1. Beat both Sunderland and Newcastle 5-1.

This guy has been the signing of the season so far:

5 million from Nantes. Joint highest average rating in the league with Christian Eriksen (7,51) and most PoM awards with 4. Lowish fee and ridiculously low wage too, absolute bargain. I expect I'll have to give him a new contract to ward off interest before January is over, although he isn't currently wanted by anyone. I've been given more money to spend and wage budget has been bumped as well, but I'm not sure there are too many affordable players that would improve the team AND be interested in joining so probably won't sign anyone unless there are major outgoings. A few first choice players are wanted by other clubs though, so it wouldn't surprise me if one or two end up leaving.

[kozmik]

So, our second premier league season is well on the way. In terms of player quality we've drastically improved, but in terms of results our start to the new season has been almost as bad as the first season. The fixture list hasn't been too kind, but we've had some truly woeful displays against sides we should be beating. But that's probably down, at least partly, to the huge player turnover we had. Tactical familiarity is at a better level than I'd probably expect at this point, but squad harmony isn't. In our latest game we demolished Watford 6-1 though, so hopefully that's a turning point and we're starting to click. We drew with Liverpool and Spurs away and beat Arsenal away in the league cup so the potential is there.

Immediately after the previous season I got some news:

I would've hoped they'd have waited a couple of years, by which point we'll hopefully be in Europe, so we'd have built an even bigger stadium. We sold 12k season tickets for this season, so I don't expect getting that 28k in on a weekly basis to be much of a problem. Hopefully there will be room to expand.

Here's the summer transfer history (not all released and loaned out players are visible because the list was so long...)

Newcastle has been an absolute thorn in my side the whole summer. They've had a board takeover at some point, have ridiculous amounts of money but a mid table level squad, so they're keeping track of everyone and the moment a player found out he was wanted by them, he'd be knocking on my door demanding to move. Although funnily enough, those three players unsettled by them I did end up selling all went to other clubs (That's Casasola, Sissako and Kessie) Managed to keep hold of both Gino Peruzzi and Borthwick-Jackson who were demanding to move.

Here's the three major regen signings we made:

Has been an absolute rock so far.

Has had limited game time as I'm trying to retrain him as a right winger, he's also the second choice striker behind this guy:

...who has been so good that I haven't really had reasons to sub him off. Six goals in eight games so far. I scouted him for ages, went to see him several times myself and he scored in almost every game I watched. Great personality and all the qualities of a future captain - if I can keep hold of him. Actually, given the lack of leaders in the team he'll probably be the captain next season, if he stays and learns English before that

And last, and probably least, the Finnish left back, who's coming along nicely but will likely never be the left back I really need because of his weak crossing:

Plenty of bang for the buck though (signed for 650k) and will be home grown starting next season so he'll probably be here a while yet, if I can keep him happy with his game time.

Edit: That's them pics fixed. Shame about all the older stuff, can't be arsed to started uploading and fixing them...

[Armistice]

For some reason the pictures do not work.

[kozmik]

2 hours ago, nightwalker22 said:

For some reason the pictures do not work.

Yeah, apparently Photobucket has changed their policy so that free accounts no longer support third party hosting. They worked fine when I posted them, now it seems all the pics I've posted previously show that same image. Will have to find another service, I guess...

[RickH]

Recently got myself a new laptop so I've fired up a new save with my local team Colchester United in league 2.

I'll put together a proper post this evening!

[kozmik]

Welcome, @RickH, good luck with Colchester!

Won my first "major" trophy:

Too bad we've been woeful in the league. I've been away from the game for about a week on holiday, and since coming back our already shaky form went from bad to worse, including going eight games without a win in the league. Somewhere in the middle of that run we managed to somehow beat Southampton 5-0 on aggregate in the league cup, but in the league we've been crap. Now we've got four back to back wins, two of them in the league. Have to keep this form going as we're definitely not safe from relegation, currently 16th with 33 points, four above Everton in 18th and two above Palace in 17th. We've got a game in hand, though. 10 games left to play.

[kozmik]

Domestic cup double! Managed to win even without my star striker Marzierli, who got a torn hamstring in our penultimate league game. Hopefully his injury means no one will be looking to buy him in the summer. In the final we took an early lead through Mahrez, who's been underwhelming all season. We kept reasonably well in control of the game, hit the post once and had a couple of good chances but couldn't score more. Origi missed a sitter for Arsenal, apart from that they didn't really threaten that much. My favorite game of the season, though, was the semi final against United:

Well in control of the game, but just couldn't score, until out of nowhere Reinhardt skips past a couple of defenders and curls one into the top corner from the edge of the box.

The league season was a travesty, though.

Should've been comfortably 6th at the very least. Starting with a 2-0 home defeat against City on October 31st and ending in a 2-2 draw at Brighton on February 12th we played 16 league games, W3 D4 L9. Abysmal. After that we only lost two and drew two, and one of the defeats was away at Palace on the last day of the season, where they secured premier league survival.

We'll be playing in the Europa next season, so I'll be needing to add numbers to the squad. I've already agreed deals for three young Brazilians (striker, midfielder and winger) and will need to add at least one decent center back in the summer. But again a lot will depend on who we can keep over the summer. Five of our regular starters are currently wanted by either Newcastle or the bigger clubs, so we might be in for a struggle.

[kozmik]

Seems it's pretty safe to say this thread is completely dead... Nevertheless, I'll keep posting updates as long as I keep the save going.

After the double cup win last season the main aim was to improve our league performance, which we did:

Arguably should have done better too, basically our home form cost us a top 4 spot. In the home table we were 9th, W7, D5, L7, while in the away table we were 2nd with W11, D4, L4.

Despite the league being the main focus, we didn't finish the season trophyless:

So we'll be playing in the champions league next season! And it's great news in more than one way, as it means we actually have a chance to keep this guy:

Obviously hit the jackpot with him. Early on in the season his potential went from 4 gold + 1 black and potential to be one of the best players at the club to solid 5 gold and potential to be world class. In January I had to reject a number of offers for him from United, PSG and Dortmund, which obviously didn't please him. He was unhappy for a few months but kept banging them in. Now apparently I'm one of his favored personnel and Peterborough is a favored club, so as we now have champions league football on offer I think he won't mind staying. And I have to say that I don't think I've gotten a better season from any striker on any save in any FM since Vincent Aboubakar in FM15:

Absolutely brilliant. A hat trick in the Europa final, an early brace before going off injured in the semi final second leg, remarkable performances from a guy who's supposedly average in big games.

Here's our transfers for this season:

Robertson, Toure and Correa came in as starters, D'Alessandro, Luis Gustavo, Ademilton and Real Pacheco as rotation players, rest of the summer transfers are youngsters. Amiri and Grealish came in January as replacements for Harit and Lanzini. The biggest success of the summer transfers would probably be Ademilton, who turned out to be very good:

Started the season as a rotation player, but after Correa broke his ankle around March I moved Amiri to Correa's position and Ademilton took Amiri's position in the first XI. Did very well, apart from picking up our only red card of the season in the Europa final, which was thankfully all but over despite half an hour left to play, as we were already leading 5-1 at that point.

This guy looks very promising too:

And he was only 18 when he joined so he'll be home grown eventually.

Oh yeah, this also happened:

Decided to give it a go as well. Lost a friendly at home against Cyprus, and didn't just lose, they outplayed us.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

I've just completed season 1 with Reading (original database). I decided not to sign any players in season 1, so that I can try and bring some of the younger players through. I finished 12th, which is poor really, but I've got a few of the youngsters involved including 16 year old striker Danny Loader.

Ahead of season 2, I allowed Ali Al-Habsi to leave (as he has done IRL) and signed Lovre Kalinic on a free transfer from Hajduk Split (now at Gent IRL) to take the starting spot in goal. The impressive Croat is valued at £8m already, so I may see if I can sell him on and replace him with Mannone in order to keep it more realistic. I know he isn't anywhere near as good, but the ex-Sunderland man is available for under £1m so I'll also be able to boost the coffers if this works out.

I've also taken Tammy Abraham on loan for a season from Chelsea as I have released Yann Kermorgant and knew a new striker or two would be joining IRL. Finally, as I wasn't able to sign Ilori from Liverpool (they gave him an extended contracted which pushed him out of my price range), I bought ex-player Michael Hector back for the season on loan.

 

 

 

[inthisspace]

@kozmik,

No, it is not dead, I am just too slow!

Currently more than 1/3 through my second season with Wycombe. I really did not expect to be leading the league one table after just gaining promotion. Best player is Pierre, my captain and best centre back. Will Packwood (free transfer in first season) has also been a rock at the back. I hardly concede when both of them are paired in the centre of defence. (Knowing FM, I will proceed to lose the next few games after this post...)

Wycombe is a challenging club to begin with as they do not have a youth academy. Yep, you read it right! The club which produced Jordan Ibe has no youth academy in the game to start with! The finances are also tight as the club is servicing a loan. So one cannot afford to overspend on wages and transfer fees. As @Jogo Bonito alluded to earlier in the thread, the best part of the team is the defence, which will easily last you till league one. So building from the back is a good choice!

[ernemann]

Im planning a new safe in England  thinking Blackburn or Leeds but Maybe you have other teams i should try? 

I like teams that have won something before socalled "Sleeping Giants". Let me hear your choices  

[Nottingham Forest]

Nottingham Forest wouldn't be a bad shout.

Positives

• Have a lot of good youngsters.
• Have good potential youngsters.
• Club that had a good past that comes under your 'sleeping giants' theory kind of.
• Possibility of a takeover.

Negatives

• Mad chairman.
• Large squad.
• Little money.
• Not the greatest of squads.

[ernemann]

1 minute ago, Nottingham Forest said:

Nottingham Forest wouldn't be a bad shout.

Positives

• Have a lot of good youngsters.
• Have good potential youngsters.
• Club that had a good past that comes under your 'sleeping giants' theory kind of.
• Possibility of a takeover.

Negatives

• Mad chairman.
• Large squad.
• Little money.
• Not the greatest of squads.

Normally i Would choose Forest cause i like Them but alleeady had a safe with Them and also tried Newcastle and Coventry  

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Bolton would be an interesting choice, I am thinking of doing a long term save with them soon.

[Cal585]

Been playing a Villa game as a secondary save on my laptop. Won the Championship smoothly but now I'm expected to finish top half of the Premier League with only 2 players rated 'decent' for the level by my ass. man. I've been given 15 mill and hopefully I can offload some extra deadwood but still...

2 transfers I brought in were great for me. Tim Sparv (850k) was solid in DM rotating with Jedinak. Can also play CB as well which is handy, though just be aware of his terrible acceleration. The other was Richie Towell (700k) from Brighton, who though recommended as a DLP, was great for me as a CM(a) rotating with Lansbury meaning I had 2 good ball players attacking from deep.

Other observations about Villa: 

Kodjia was more effective for me up top than Hogan, despite Hogan being a 'key player'. It might be worth looking at his squad status to prevent unhappiness if you're using him on the bench.

Hourihane, Bjarnson and Lansbury are all great CMs for the championship.

Agbhonlahor, Hutton and Richards are all on massive wages and are unlikely to be first team players. Unfortunately they are hard to shift and I ended up resorting to wage-paying loans to free up my wage budget.

You will need a goalkeeper plan. Sam Johnstone is only on loan for a season, while Gollini is out for 2 seasons. Jed Steer is ok but not high enough quality for the PL.

 

[kozmik]

Nice to see loads of posts here!

@ernemann Derby could be a good choice, too. Had a fun time with them in last year's game.

@Cal585 Great to see people use Finnish players to good effect - Sparv is one of the few decent players we have IRL.

I'm well underway with the next season, doing pretty well. I'll be posting a full update once I get the season finished. But have to post this now, the huge transfer saga of the previous summer:

The bids:

The conclusion:

And the inevitable consequence:

I have to say that I've never had bids that high for any player in any save. Not sure how much higher they would've gone after negotiating as I just flat out rejected them. Current world record in my save is 108 mill paid by PSG to City for De Bruyne back in 2018, so it would've been a new record.

[BallyC]

Have to admit I've been struggling with motivation to play Football Manager 17 for the first time.....well actually for the first time in playing the Football Manager series over about the past 5 years. However, I've come across this post this evening and have to say it's inspired me to kick off a new game and keep you guys posted with my progress! So I like to start near the bottom and I thought I'd give a new team that I have never managed before on any game....so I've gone with Cheltenham Town in League Two.

 

On the face of it, looks like we are going to be up against it with a predicted finish of 22nd!! 

 

First job on my hands is to take a look at the squad and see where I need to improve.... And it seems that squad depth is the main issue at the club. Looking at my team report, my Assistant Manager seems to rate one player at 3-4 stars in each position but after that one player, everyone else is rated 2 1/2 stars or less. So if I can't keep my first 11 fit I'm pretty much buggered, and keeping 11 men fit and playing every game throughout a long season in League Two is for a word....impossible! So I'm going to get delving into the transfer and loan market and I'll let you know who I manage to pick up.

 

 

 

[kozmik]

Season finished. Ultimately the European super cup turned out to be our only silverware of the season, as we were knocked out of the league cup semi final by Leeds (they got a deserved 2-1 win at our place, we completely and utterly battered them at their place but only scored 2, they got a late goal and then won on pens after about 8-9 takers each), in the champions league quarters by Benfica 4-3 on aggregate (we won 3-1 at home, then conceded 3 set piece goals away) and lost the FA cup final to Chelsea 4-1 that probably flattered us more than Chelsea.

But we'll be playing Champions league football again next year! On the final day we were playing United away and City were playing Newcastle away, was nervous about finishing fourth as wins against United have been few and far between and away we've never even managed a draw. In the end City got beaten 3-0 so our 2-0 defeat didn't make a difference.

Also got manager of the season:

Here are the transfers:

Sold Reinhardt as I couldn't really justify turning that amount down when he was an obvious second choice behind Marzierli. Betinho I didn't want to sell, but he had a release clause in his contract which I didn't realize until Newcastle had already made their bid (all other release clauses in my players contracts were for champions league teams, so had become obsolete in the summer). Tried to offer him a new contract but he demanded 300k per week and max I could offer was around 150k so couldn't help it. Signed Farid from Arsenal as a replacement, not as much a physical beast as Betinho but better mentals across the board. In the end the only thing I missed about Betinho was his passing ability.  Selling Correa and signing Horta was a no-brainer, younger player of similar ability available for cheaper. Got about similar level of performance out of Horta, main difference was he was never injured. Record signing Iglesias is a striker who can also play right wing, played him as a right winger almost exclusively. He took a while to get going but ended the season with 13 goals, a decent return for a winger.

Like I posted earlier, I managed to keep Marzierli for at least one more season. He's angling for a move again, this time to PSG, we'll see if I can manage to keep him this time around. Here's his profile:

Amazing player. Not quite as good as the previous season, but still 32 goals and 17 assists in 45(9) appearances is a very good return.

Here's the Finnish left back signed for 650k back in 2019:

Not great, but bang-for-the-buck factor is amazing. Home grown, vice captain.

Not really sure where to go with the squad now. Three positions are in need of improvement, both full backs and supporting midfielder. I have a world class midfielder scouted that I can afford and should be willing to sign, but the full back positions are a problem, especially left back. All quality attacking left backs are on insane wages and high potential younger players are not good enough attacking wise, and in my experience full backs don't really improve their crossing/dribbling/off the ball that much, no matter how you train them. The fact I need at least one full back on the pitch to be good in the air for set piece purposes doesn't help, neither does the fact that 3/4 of my current full backs have a UK nationality (and the 4th will too by next season) which is an additional problem, as I don't have UK nationals in abundance.

I suppose the question of can we keep Marzierli or not will determine the direction I'll have to go in.

[Mushtaq]

Decided to fire up FM17 for one last save before the new version.

Have downloaded a new season transfer update and started as the lower league team I keep an eye on - Yeovil Town. Let's see if I can take them one step further than their Championship appearance a few years ago!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just started a new save with Sheff Utd, any tips, also anyone got a download of a good 3-5-2 tactic to replicate how Sheff United play in real life please.

[kozmik]

Holy crap what a nerve wrecking end to the season. Up to early March we were flying for a good while, regularly scoring 4-5 goals per game. Then star striker Marzierli gets torn knee ligaments in what was effectively a dead rubber second leg against OM in the champions league (we won the first leg 4-0) and suddenly every game becomes an absolute battle. Among the games left - United at home, Chelsea away, Liverpool away. Somehow manage to win them all, only dropping points in a 1-1 draw at Swansea. Penultimate game of the season, at home against Arsenal, we're 4 points ahead - draw and the title is ours, lose and we surely have to win the last match away at Palace as Arsenal play already relegated Fulham at home.

It's been a while since I've screamed at the game so loudly. First and only missed penalty of the season. Iglesias is a great penalty taker, too. After the game I couldn't help but remember my Carlisle save in FM16, where in the last season I played I needed a win at Everton on the last day to win the title, only got a draw and City took the title. Thankfully my players weren't as nervous as I was and we took a comfortable win in the end. 2-0 after first half, they switch to a more attacking tactic so I adjust, they score after a couple of minutes at which point I was on the verge of a heart attack. Thankfully Iglesias got a third at around the hour mark, after which it was pretty smooth sailing. Although I still switched to contain near the end.

Here's the table:

Also worthy of mention that this was the first time since the 2017-18 season that United didn't win the title - they won 6 on the trot.

Newcastle is an interesting team. They were flying early on in the season, spending a few months in top 4, then suddenly turned completely crap and tumbled down the table to around 10th, only to find their form again and surge back up the table. They lost their last UCL group game 8-1 to Sporting, lost 4-0 away to Juve in the first knockout round only to maul them 8-0 at home, beat United 5-2 on aggregate in the QF, then lost 4-1 away to Barca but won 3-0 at home, so made it to the final on away goals. They'll be playing against Bayern, whom I beat comfortably twice in the group stages, so they could certainly win the whole thing. I just hope they don't come after my players, already had to give two players a raise to keep them happy during the season as Newcastle was eyeing them.

Anyway, Marzierli. Guy's so good it feels like cheating.

After he came back from his injury he was pretty bad for the last few games. His average rating was above 8 before the injury. At the rate he was scoring goals, had he stayed fit I'm pretty sure he'd have broken Andy Cole's scoring record (which hasn't been broken yet). He was wanting away in January again, I refused to sell him and gave him a new contract when he calmed down. No interest in him as of yet, hopefully stays that way. Getting a bit boring to deal with the same stuff every summer.

In terms of transfers, I had a couple of high profile exits, so ended up with a couple of high profile incomings as well. The strategy I ended up with was "push for the top". I felt we needed to capitalize on our top four finish and get in the players that could really take us to the top.

Mane (DL), Centeno (CM), Alli and Gursoy (AMR) were signed for the first XI, Faaborg (GK), Paz (DR) and Garth (CB) forced themselves in. The signing of Faaborg was pretty hilarious. He was United's backup keeper. I wanted a better 2nd choice in Woodman's place as Butland is approaching his sell by date. Managed to sign Faaborg on the cheap, and when I transfer list previous backup Woodman United sign him. Madness.

Anyway, highest profile signings alongside Alli were Gursoy and Centeno, both of whom were on record fees at the time.

Had a very good season. If he was just a tiny bit faster, he'd be perfect, but pretty damn close as it is. All the red arrows are because I recently retrained him to be accomplished at ST.

Pretty difficult to assess his season if I'm honest. I don't think he ever had a bad game, so I guess he had a good season. Was hoping for a few more goals and assists (got 4+12 in all competitions), although he's mainly playing as a box-to-box so maybe I was expecting too much.

Alli was fairly inconsistent. Fantastic at his best, but his finishing was poor too often. Hopefully he'll improve next season.

And last, but not least: a 4-star academy graduate!

His list of cons is pretty grim reading (consistency, determination, competitive streak all orange, yellow one-footedness) so I don't think he'll make it here, but nice to see that level of PA. Maybe some day we get a serious potential first-teamer.

Plans for next season:

1: sell senior players and give squad roles to prospects. I have a DR, CB and AMR that look very promising but need to be playing proper first team football next season. Can't loan them out as I want them to be home grown, so I need to play them myself.

2: sign a real top class CB.

3: do better in the champions league.

[kozmik]

You know you've made it big when this happens:

Already did the same to a Liverpool CB, got him to request a transfer and signed him for 59 million despite them initially asking for well over 100 million.

[kroshot]

going to give fm17 one last blast till fm18 comes out playing with my team Birmingham city which after the deadline day we had should be intresting.going to be using an updated database

[inthisspace]

Short update guys... I am in the English Championship with Wycombe, third season. Like many on here, finding in hard to attract players due to the rapid rise through the leagues. Looks like may have to stay for a season or two at the Championship before I can establish the club's reputation. Quite disappointing, as I found a couple of good regens. 

[smplfc123]

Hey guys!

So the impossible has happened, I finally managed to get enough spare time from work and other things to have one final crack at the lower leagues! 

I started unemployed with a pro licence but only a semi-pro background, meaning that Conference and the lower teams of League 2 were my targets for when jobs become available.Nothing really caught my eye until early December, where I applied for the vacant job at Crawley. 

Struggling in 23rd place coming up to the new year, with just 17 points from 19 games and relegation a real prospect, I was offered the task to beat the battle for the drop.I decided that I was going to employ a 'break us down' mentality and make us hard to beat.

I am delighted to say that we finished 19th on 53 points, 8 clear of the relegation zone. In my 27 games in charge I won 10, drew 6 and lost 11, with 7 of those defeats coming in the last 10 games. The team was pretty much safe and the players took their foot off the gas.

James Collins finished with 21 goals in 45 appearances, second in the league standings. Josh Yowerth won player of the year at the club awards, with noteable mentions to Jordan Roberts, Enzio Boldewijn and Adam Phillips (on loan from Liverpool).

Now the summer begins. I've been entrusted with a £19k transfer budget and a wage budget of £23,900, of which the club is already spending £24,500 on wages.

I'm going to let a few players go on a free, but I'm trying to keep a lot of players, even if i don't feel they are quite good enough, as I quite simply don't have the funds for a big rebuilding job. I may have to call on a few loans to help me out this season. I may cash in on 29 year old Dean Cox, who is attracting interest from Sheff Utd.

My aim next season is to avoid the drop without ever being in a scrap. I don't think I'll have the squad to make the top half, so anywhere from 12th to 18th I'll be happy with.

Wish me luck!

[Jogo Bonito]

Well done to all of you still going! Welcome to our new managers at Cheltenham and Yeovil in particular, and to an old new friend at Crawley. Good to see you back @smplfc123 and well done on avoiding the drop!

I've not been able to commit much time to playing FM17 and only completed one season at Exeter and Reading (and Hereford) on original database, and a season at Toulouse and Doncaster on 17.3, plus half a season at Gent in Belgium!

As usual, I have lots of plans for EFL clubs in FM18 but in the meantime I am trying pass time with another L1/L2 side.

To make it different, I loaded Ireland so I could start in England but at a different point - had never tried that before. Ended up taking charge of 9th placed AFC Wimbledon on 2nd January 2017 in League 1, with 25 games played.

On this set up none of the clubs had made any transfers so the squads were original 17.3 listings. I also had the luxury of a nearly full transfer window, and players I didn't want to keep were much closer to contract expiry.

I generated a little bit of cash selling Chris Robertson and Tyrone Barnett, but only brought in some loans (I was happy we had no loans before I arrived). Loan recruits in the winter window were Burnley striker Daniel Agyei, QPR midfielder Ryan Manning, NYC winger Jack Harrison and Reading full back Tennai Watson.

The latter played one game and is out for 2 months, ironic as I only signed him because George Francomb also suffered a long-term injury after I took over (he was my first choice right midfielder and back up right back, so left me short in both positions). That also explains why Harrison flew over from MLS to take the vacant wing slot.

So far I've played five games in charge, winning all three away and drawing my two home games. That puts us 5th after 30 games, but it's still very tight.

I'd like to ask the early question, would anybody like doing the EFL thread in FM18 when the time comes?

All the best...

 

 

 

[Chewy2006]

 

Hey All,

            Decided to give fm17 one last big save before the new game comes out on the recent transfer update and after a while deciding I've decided to try my hand with Barnet, good little club and try and take them up through the leagues where they have never been before.

[Jogo Bonito]

Good luck at Barnet. You must have some great striking options with Akinde, Coulthirst & Tarpey there because of your transfer update. That's about as good as it gets in L2.

[smplfc123]

Hey @Jogo Bonito. How's the Wimbledon save going?

After taking over half way through the season and guiding Crawley to safety in League 2, I knew a big summer was coming up in order to put my stamp on the squad. I like to have 2 players for each position and knew I was going to have to do some scouting to make sure I brought in the right players for my squad. I wanted to make sure that I was bringing in improvements and not just players for the sake of it.

Dean Cox was sold to Hearts for £350k which was a massive boost to the finances and gave me some space to work with in the wage budget.

The following players were released to free up some more room in the squad - Young, Payne, Tzanev, Blackman, Banton, Clifford, Henderson, Arzamendi and Tajbahksh.

This left me needing at least 7 players in to fill the squad how I wanted. I signed the following players:

Zak Whitbread - CB - Free
Scott Tanser - LB - Free
Craig Eastmond - CM - Free
Charlee Adams - CM - Free
Chris Dawson - CM - Free
Adam Phillips - CM - Loan
Zavon Hines - AMR - Free
Ali Sowe - ST - Free
Reise Allassani - ST - £5K

I'm happy with my transfer dealings. I now have a 24 man squad that I feel is definitely better than last seasons. Adams and Dawson have both signed for me from championship teams and will have the quality to control games in this league I feel. Phillips is my only loan which I'm extremely happy with. I don't want to rely on loans.

My aim this season is to finish higher than last season's 19th place finish.

Wish me luck.