dafuge's FM18 challenge

[Swindon69]

2 minutes ago, blaaklint said:

Hereford, 2018/19:

I've just finished my first season of the challenge and, fair to say, it's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. The team has shown both the sublime and the ridiculous in parts this season and, if they can remove some of the mistakes from their game and I recruit well, I see no reason why we cannot be promoted next season.

Fixtures (pt. 1) | Fixtures (pt. 2) | League | Past positions | Squad | Dynamics | Transfers

Season  | Pos.  | Division          | FAC   | LC    | ECC   | EC    | Top scorer        | Most assists      | Best player
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19 | 13th  | Vanarama North    | 4QR   | N/A   | N/A   | N/A   | Luca Novarra (17) | Pablo Haysham (8) | Scott Shulton (7.11)

 

Nice going - Novarra got 66 goals for me in his time here.

[Swindon69]

Ye gods wages are mind bendingly high in the Prem!

[Swindon69]

Added this guy to boost my forward line.

[Swindon69]

No room at the inn.

[Warhawk]

4 hours ago, Swindon69 said:

Does this mean that wp's aren't required in the Premier Division?

Yes.

Well, technically what it means is that WPs are automatic.  But that's kind of a distinction without a difference.

You needed WPs in Championship?  In my game the top 4 levels all ended up using squad registration, so even League 2 was using the 17-player foreign limit.  Not that I was equipped to be doing much international scouting before I got to the PL, mind you, so I didn't really get to take advantage of it.

[Warhawk]

So I added Edson Alvarez to try to shore up my defense, and I'm bringing in a young right back, goes by Ruben.  Missed out on a couple players I would have liked but I think they're good upgrades.  I cannot, for the life of me, find an upgrade at left back with a reasonable price tag.  Might just have to hope it clicks for Gibson this season unless something materializes.

Did nab a french DLP center midfielder named Jimmy Hours, odd that a guy named Jimmy doesn't speak any English, but whatever.

[Swindon69]

Been a tough opening 3 games - lost the opener 2-0, was 2-0 up in the 2nd then conceded from 2 corners and a dfk, 3rd game conceded 2 pens 2 from corners and had a player sent off.

It might be time to try a new formation

Phew finally got a win after six games.

[Warhawk]

4 hours ago, Warhawk said:

So I added Edson Alvarez to try to shore up my defense, and I'm bringing in a young right back, goes by Ruben.  Missed out on a couple players I would have liked but I think they're good upgrades.  I cannot, for the life of me, find an upgrade at left back with a reasonable price tag.  Might just have to hope it clicks for Gibson this season unless something materializes.

Did nab a french DLP center midfielder named Jimmy Hours, odd that a guy named Jimmy doesn't speak any English, but whatever.

Ended up spending 38 million on an ambitious 19 year old Brazilian wonderkid left back, goes by Fininho.  Very fast, excellent marking and positioning.  Not really a huge immediate upgrade over Gibson but the only guy I found who would have been and was interested and I actually liked I couldn't fit in my budget and this guy looks like he has the potential to be a real long-term success for us.  He's got a release clause of 97 million but hopefully I might be able to get rid of that later in the season if he's as good as he looks.

That's most of my transfer budget gone and I don't have a ton of room in my wage budget either but I definitely think I made my defense better with the moves I made in the offseason.

[Swindon69]

Blimey the Prem is pretty tough.

[dkouv]

King’s Lynn dafuge Challenge
 

Season 6 – 2023/24 – Championship

Transfers: I was really feeling the constraints of the hard Brexit in the pre-season – it was very difficult to find players, and my scouts would sometimes recommend someone who would then fail to get a work permit; although most of the times they were not recommending anyone and I was just searching for players manually. In the end I managed to sign a few players released by bigger teams, got in some loanees, and paid £100k for a reject youngster from Ipswich to fill in a gap at rightback - my first non-free transfer, but nothing too glamorous!

After the difficult transfer window, my first team was little changed from League 1, so I was feeling quite apprehensive about facing the big boys in the league – but it all went much, much better than expected.

League: Again, after a shaky start we were amazing through the rest of the season. Starting end-September, we went on this great run winning 13 in a row, drawing 1, and then winning 7 more games, that ended up with us being more or less out of sight at the top. Derby and Brighton also had very strong seasons, so we had to keep our composure until the end, finishing top with 109 points, ahead of Derby with 100. Poor Brighton were denied promotion despite amassing 96 points.

FA Cup: A tough draw against Liverpool in the 4^th round saw us fight hard, but ultimately lose in a replay.

Carabao Cup: a nice run to the quarters where we were trounced by Man Utd

Best players: My star player from last season Ashley Pope was at it again, with an incredible season that surely has much to do with the specifics / flaws of this ME. 52 goals and 43 assists in 44(4) games are probably the best stats from a player I’ve experienced in any FM, and his attributes aren’t even that great. A fellow striker Max Edge, on loan with us for the second season running, scored 34 and assisted 16 in 28(11) games. In midfield, Joe Powell was the best performer, and Brandon Williams – a youngster signed as backup – had a surprisingly strong season at left back, with an average rating of 7.4.

Facilities: a training facility upgrade, and new stadium being built. We are moving to Loftus Road for the next season.

After a couple of seasons with a stable first team squad I think I really need to upgrade for the Premiership. Some players have been with me since the Vanarama National and are simply not good enough for this level. I hope I can finally recruit some bargains from abroad, since there are no work permit requirements in the EPL.

But I am also losing patience with this patch and ME – too many shots and far post goals, and football is not nice to watch even though I am doing well. Might play around with different tactics next season, or give this save or FM18 a rest for a while.

Finally, a Merry Christmas to all those celebrating today and tomorrow!

Season  |  League    | Pos.  |  FA Cup  | FA Trophy |  CL      |   EL       |  Top scorer        |  Top assists        |    Top rating        | Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19 |  Van Nth   |  5    |  R3      |  R1       |  n/a     |  n/a       |  Abioye (36)       |  Limb (17)          |    Limb (7.4)        | Lost in play-off final
2019/20 |  Van Nth   |  1    |  R3      |  won      |  n/a     |  n/a       |  Obiero (34)       |  Hmami (18)         |    Doughty (7.8)     | Promoted
2020/21 |  Van Nat   |  1    |  R4      |  R4       |  n/a     |  n/a       |  Keaveny (48)      |  Keaveny (25)       |    Keaveny (7.9)     | Promoted
2021/22 |  League 2  |  1    |  R3      |  n/a      |  n/a     |  n/a       |  Pashen (31)       |  Keaveny (18)       |    McDonagh (7.9)    | Promoted
2022/23 |  League 1  |  1    |  R4      |  n/a      |  n/a     |  n/a       |  Pope (51)         |  Pope (31)          |    Pope (8.1)        | Promoted
2023/24 | Champ-ship |  1    |  R4      |  n/a      |  n/a     |  n/a       |  Pope (52)         |  Pope (43)          |    Pope (8.4)        | Promoted

Season  |  Finances  | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      | Coaching     |   Recruitment  | Stadium
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19 |   £82k     |  Poor          |  Poor           | Adequate     |   Limited      | 8200 
2019/20 |   £392k    |  Basic         |  Poor           | Average      |   Limited      | 8200 
2020/21 |   £447k    |  Below Average |  Basic          | Average      |   Basic        | 5700
2022/23 |   £1.5m    |  Adequate      |  Basic          | Adequate     |   Average      | 5700
2023/24 |   £5.9m    |  Average       |  Below Average  | Adequate     |   Average      | 5700

 

[Swindon69]

Well 2 out of three ain't bad.

 

[Sponis_76]

The start of something beautiful [???]

 

First time trying this challenge, hope it makes an interesting save

[dafuge]

Merry Christmas everyone 

[Swindon69]

33 minutes ago, dafuge said:

Merry Christmas everyone 

And to you too dafuge

 

[Swindon69]

2027/28 Mid season update

It's my first season in the Premier Division and it's fair to say it's been mixed so far - after 26 games I'm sitting in 13th 11 points clear of the relegation zone and 17 points of the European places. I've had a few tonkings and form has been erratic.

 

[Swindon69]

Some major building work being undertaken - facilities being upgraded and stadium expansion in the pipeline

 

[Dons]

Burgess Hill Town
Season Update 2026/27

Premier League
Final Position 10th

Squad - Table - Transfers - Dynamics - Board - Conf. Review - Board Review - Injuries - Profile - Financial Summary - Season Awards - Scouting knowledge - Fincances

First season in the PRM proved to be quite a challenge. Overall the main issue was lack of consistency. The tactic i have previously used all through the progress, didn't seem to be as effective in the PRM. Been using 1 attacker, but also struggled to score goals. I was happy with my attackers, but with the acquisition of an amazing prospect Guastavo Gerhard, it was too hard to choose between him and Rhodri Bridgman. Therefore, it seemed natural to change to a 4-4-2 variation and use the previous 4-3-2-1 as defensive and a 4-2-3-1 as counter. We managed to get our hands on a brilliant young spanish keeper. Alberto Ochoa from Barcelona was rotting in their reserves, as obviously he isn't near the standars of Marc-André ter Stegen. 

Our weakest area on the team right now is the defensive line. Besides having one of the best talents in the league Rasmus Mouritsen and getting Nolan Roux in center and Pierre Abadie as FBR, they either are too inexperienced or weak compared to the opposition. I am sure however, they will improve, and with a few new signings on the way we can build a power defense for the future.

The final position of 10 was fair all, everything considered. We could have gone higher, had it been for better defensive performances, as the goal scoring wasn't the issue.

Cups: In the FA i had high hopes of getting a good run, but Tottenham knocked us out in 5th round replay. We did get a good result of 0-0 at Tottenham, but lost 2-1 at home in the replay. Carabao where last year we went to the finals to have our arses handed by Man City, proved to be a similar run this year. We had revenge on Arsenal whom we beat luckily 5-4 in the 4th round with 2 goals in the last 2 minutes. Quarter final we beat Bournemouth 2-1, Semi Final we outplayed CH team Derby 2-0 home and 2-1 away. In the final we were to play Not. Forest, whom we just a few matches before had beat heavily and the final was no different. We beat them 4-0 to lift our first major trophy. Both Bournemouth and Not. Fores were relegated from the PRM. 

Board was in good spirits this season and pretty much agreed to everything requested. We had both faciliites upgraded, as well as Data Center. The youth recruitment and junior coaching were improved, seeing us attaining level 2. Finally the stadium will also get an upgrade which will take a year, and will hold 19.221 upon completion.

Our biggest sale so far came from selling Shaun Thurtell to West Ham for a potential 34.5kk. The money from that sale made it possible to purchase previously mentioned players, as well as Hugo Cifuentes from PSV. He is a class players and in my opinion a lot better than Thurtell could ever become.

This years youth intake was decent with Bryan Cattell and Will Thompson being the most interesting ones.

Had a couple of interesting job offers this year. England and Man City were the top ones. Our u18 also got one of the personal "must have" signings, with Lionel Messi as their new Manger.  Now I just have to see, if I can get rid of his release clause in the future.

In other news: Neymar is currently playing for Southampton. Would be fun to see I he can be poached for next season. For some unknown reason, I was named Manager of the Year.

For next season I hope for a good run in EURO and being able to improve the defense and maintain a somewhat steady consistency.

Other players of the season:

Miquel IFR - Great prospect from Barcalonas B team. Looks like he could become a great player for us.
Jason Beazeley AF - Still impresses me when he is on a good run. He had a few this season.

 

Season              League              Position             FA Cup               Carabao Cup   EURO                 Checkatrade   FAT
2026/27             PRM League          10th                 5th round            Winner        NA                   NA            NA
2025/26             Ch. Ship            1st                  3rd round            Final         NA                   NA            NA
2024/25             Ch. Ship            6th                  6th round            Q.Final       NA                   NA            NA
2023/24             League One          1st                  3rd round            3rd round     NA                   Winner        NA
2022/23             League One          12th                 Semi Final           1st round     NA                   Semi Final    NA
2021/22             League Two          1st                  3rd round            2nd round     NA                   3rd round     NA
2020/21             Van. Nat.           1st                  4th round            NA            NA                   NA            Final
2019/20             Van. South          1st                  3rd round            NA            NA                   NA            2nd
2018/19             Van. South          2nd                  2nd round            NA            NA                   NA            Winner

[Swindon69]

Interesting review @Dons - just out of interest how did you find 4-4-2?

[Dons]

@Swindon69 Found the 4-4-2 to use the wingers more than the others, which tends to use midfield more. Also the 4-4-2 made it possible to score more goals, as well as being leakier in the defense. With 1 attacker the goals were just too few, compared to the better teams scoring potential. 

[13-gigi]

Second season over and back to back promotion to L2 but I have some doubts who was the best player.

Callum Hatton:

Before transfer 23 matches, 22 goals, 5 assists, 7POM, 7.69 average.

After transfer (loan) 15 matches, 21 goals, 4 assist, 8POM, 8.04 average.

[Antwebb]

Lowerstoft Town 2021/22 VNLN - 17th

Ugh.

League Table - Tactics & 1st eleven - Transfers

Started the season poorly, tried to change the formation to fix thing. Continued to play poorly. Changed back to original formation and just about stabilised. Main man Adarkwa was injured most of the season, and everyone in the team was fed up with me. Let's just move on quickly.

Season		League				Position	Notes
2018/19		Vanarama National League Nth	21st		Sacked from Warrington, Hired at Lowestoft
2019/20		VNLN				17th		Not relegated!
2020/21		VNLN				5th		Playoff Semi-Finalists
2021/22		VNLN				17th		Suuuuuuuuuucks

 

 

[Antwebb]

Well.

I played a few games into the next season, and things have been going a lot better. Goals galore.

I'm actually hopeful again.

 

[Kaiserwatman]

2033-34 (UK & IRE Players Only)

League - Squad - Dynamics - Transfers - Finances  - Commercials

A season which started out so brightly and Robins fans were right to have hopes of a possible promotion before an early January slump saw them drop off the pace and eventually take up the spot allocated for "best of the rest".  The average age of the squad is now a little on the high side and its where the games come thick and fast that levels of recovery are not quite what they should be .  Players like club captain Neil McManus who has amassed 417 appearances for the club will now have to start taking a more peripheral role at the club even though he is only 15 games behind former midfielder Jake Moult in the record appearances list.

The club achieved their best ever cup run this season in the Carabao Cup reaching the quarter finals for the first time , with wins over Mansfield  , Everton (penalties) , Notts Co and Hull before drawing Manchester City. A defensively resolute Altrincham side despite been under the cosh all the time were two mins from pulling off a famous win before city got their equaliser. The Citizens went  on to complete the victory in extra time. Premier League Southampton knocked me out in the middle of the bad patch in Round Three of the FA Cup.

 

[Juan Yenkins]

On 10/27/2017 at 09:32, XaW said:

Also got a Farsley Celtic save if someone wants it.

Please! 

[Swindon69]

2027/28

Hereford FC - Premier Division Pos 13th

We were just far too inconsistent and finished where we deserved - sadly it became apparent that a lot of the guys who'd been with me since the VN days weren't up to the task so the high turnover probably didn't help.

My front pair got 43 goals between them the 3rd highest was on 6 which shows part of the problem.

The only pluses really were the training and youth facilities got upgraded and are being upgraded again and the board have agreed to expand the stadium from 12,940 to around 20k.

We're sharing with Wolves!

New sponsers - like the additional detail regarding the new big sponsor.

[Warhawk]

So Manchester United, who I mentioned only lost 3 matches all last season including league, cup, and friendly matches, were on a 12 match winning streak, 15 including friendlies, dating back to the end of least season.

Beat them 3-0!  At home and it was a bit lucky since it was otherwise pretty evenly played, but still.

Annoyingly we got Arsenal in our first League Cup match and our Europa draw included Valencia and Sampdoria, but we've gotten off to a pretty decent start all things considered.

Oh, and Gillespie has the most goals in UEFA World Cup Qualifying, which is neat.

And in a complete turnaround from last season we've only allowed 2 goals in 4 matches and the highest rated players on our team are our center backs, and our full backs are both over 7.1 too.

[clguinane]

Finally doing one of these challenges officially after many years of lurking in threads.

Loaded up this afternoon and scored the job at....

https://imgur.com/mrEmk2z

Bishops Stortford (i was swayed by the proximity to the airport)

and here is my profile screen!

https://imgur.com/CVefrZg

[Swindon69]

5 hours ago, Warhawk said:

So Manchester United, who I mentioned only lost 3 matches all last season including league, cup, and friendly matches, were on a 12 match winning streak, 15 including friendlies, dating back to the end of least season.

Beat them 3-0!  At home and it was a bit lucky since it was otherwise pretty evenly played, but still.

Annoyingly we got Arsenal in our first League Cup match and our Europa draw included Valencia and Sampdoria, but we've gotten off to a pretty decent start all things considered.

Oh, and Gillespie has the most goals in UEFA World Cup Qualifying, which is neat.

And in a complete turnaround from last season we've only allowed 2 goals in 4 matches and the highest rated players on our team are our center backs, and our full backs are both over 7.1 too.

I need to tighten up 70 goals conceded last season!

[Juan Yenkins]

At the risk of sounding very silly, I have a question I'm sure someone would be able to help with.

So there is a particular club I'm wanting to use for this challenge, so I've gone on holiday until 24th June 2018, saved the game, then gone on holiday for 1 further day (until the new teams are promoted). If the one team in particular I'm looking for isn't promoted, I load the game back to 24th June, holiday for 1 day again, check the newly promoted teams, rinse and repeat, etc.

My question is, am I just recycling the same teams over and over again by doing this? Do I need to start fresh from the start of the season, go to 24th June, save, try to get the team I'm after a few times and if it doesn't work after, say, 10 attempts, start again fresh from the start of the season?

Hope I've explained that clearly enough!

[Swindon69]

5 minutes ago, Juan Yenkins said:

At the risk of sounding very silly, I have a question I'm sure someone would be able to help with.

So there is a particular club I'm wanting to use for this challenge, so I've gone on holiday until 24th June 2018, saved the game, then gone on holiday for 1 further day (until the new teams are promoted). If the one team in particular I'm looking for isn't promoted, I load the game back to 24th June, holiday for 1 day again, check the newly promoted teams, rinse and repeat, etc.

My question is, am I just recycling the same teams over and over again by doing this? Do I need to start fresh from the start of the season, go to 24th June, save, try to get the team I'm after a few times and if it doesn't work after, say, 10 attempts, start again fresh from the start of the season?

Hope I've explained that clearly enough!

Go on holiday until 25th June. This is the day that the new clubs appear, so saving on 24th June gives you a chance to reload in the hope of getting a particular club.

[Swindon69]

Hopefully this guy won't squander quite so many chances.

 

And hopefully this guy might keep a few more out

 

[Juan Yenkins]

1 hour ago, Swindon69 said:

Go on holiday until 25th June. This is the day that the new clubs appear, so saving on 24th June gives you a chance to reload in the hope of getting a particular club.

So every time I holiday for one day from 24th June to 25th June (on the same save), there's a chance of getting any combination of the teams from the 3 leagues below Conference North/South? I just have to keep going and going until I find the club that I'm after...

[Swindon69]

1 minute ago, Juan Yenkins said:

So every time I holiday for one day from 24th June to 25th June (on the same save), there's a chance of getting any combination of the teams from the 3 leagues below Conference North/South? I just have to keep going and going until I find the club that I'm after...

Yes

[Warhawk]

3 hours ago, Swindon69 said:

I need to tighten up 70 goals conceded last season!

Same as us, hopefully it continues.  I think Edson Alvarez has 2 PoMs already.

[Warhawk]

-

[Swindon69]

The bookies think I'm doomed.

[Swindon69]

Uh oh - the owner is open to offers for the club!

[Swindon69]

5 games in 9 conceded all bar 2 from dead balls with at least 3 from attacking throw-ins.

[Kaiserwatman]

Maybe this is the year we finally get to the Prem  -  Fast approaching 900 games in charge

[Swindon69]

@Kaiserwatman good luck and hope you make it 

[Swindon69]

My board have paid off the remaining debt regarding building the stadium

[Warhawk]

Managed to win my first Europa game (against Steaua Bucharest) 5-0 while starting almost entirely backups, which is nice because my schedule is packed for the next few weeks.  That despite only having 38% possession.  Also set our team record for youngest player with Kevaughn Smith who just came through our youth system in the spring.  Kid's talented, could be our first truly home-grown prospect to make the first team (I actually had him on the first team in the preseason).

Now I have two games in 4 days against Arsenal... woo hoo...

[tajj7]

Will do my season update shortly as we have made it into the Championship, but I have just lost my best youth prospect produced in 4 years. After multiple investments in coaching, facilities, network etc. I finally last season got a 5 star potential player through the academy and he even had a professional personality, sadly I have just spent the summer fending of bids from PL clubs, like basically everyone outside the top 4 has made bids before Newcastle came in with a bid of £4.7 million and the board decided to accept (I had protested two previous bids around £3.8 million). The money is very useful as it has allowed me to increase my wage budget, but clearly if that many AI clubs were interested the guy must have potential to be a top quality player. 

I also need to show the two loanees I have managed to pick up because they are fantastic for this level -

This guy is on loan from Spurs, I have had to pay £700k to get him here but it's worth it and hopefully we might be able to pick him up permanently 

This guy I have been tracking since basically the third season, he is a first season regen for Bournemouth but they have loaned him out every year and every year I have tried to get him but he rejected me each time and finally got him this year.

No idea why Bournemouth don't play him, he didn't even make their first team squad when they had a year in the Championship. 

Again hopefully I can win him over and sign him permanently. 

 

[tajj7]

Sigh.....

Of course it was a 0-1 loss. 

[jlawlor91]

Got promoted to League Two as King's Lynn in the 2020/21 season. Absolutely struggling to assemble a half decent side now, the team I had in the Conference National was so good due to 2 loanee strikers who were arguably at League One level and don't want to rejoin on loan. Plus no other players seem to want to join us - and that's not taking into account us being 200k in the red which is likely going to worsen :|

[Swindon69]

Should I be worried - takeover lined up!

[Swindon69]

1 hour ago, Lawly Boi said:

Got promoted to League Two as King's Lynn in the 2020/21 season. Absolutely struggling to assemble a half decent side now, the team I had in the Conference National was so good due to 2 loanee strikers who were arguably at League One level and don't want to rejoin on loan. Plus no other players seem to want to join us - and that's not taking into account us being 200k in the red which is likely going to worsen :|

I trawled released players quite a bit and looked for loanees.

[Swindon69]

Hmm

[Swindon69]

The takeover has started!

[Bruce Drundrige]

It might be the teams I'm managing, or something I'm doing wrong, but this has been the hardest thing I've ever done on CM/FM. When I was younger I wouldn't have had the patience for this kind of challenge, but I've now started Season 3 in charge of my third team...this time the mighty Salisbury FC, founded in 2015!

I lasted 31 games in my first season, 32 in my second and didn't win a game all season. It felt like the game wouldn't let me win...anytime we took the lead late on in a match I would concede a penalty - it was almost guaranteed.

I do tend to rip up tactics and start again quite a lot which probably hasn't helped, but I suspect I've not invested in a solid keeper or defence as much as I should have. I'm usually confident I can take any old squad and at least get it organised better and more consistent but this has been a struggle like no other.