FM18: Blackburn Rovers - Arte et Labore

[stevemc]

Welcome to the Blackburn Rovers thread (FM18)

Club Details

Status: Professional

Nickname: Rovers

Founded: 1875

Owner: Venky's London (loves the club)

Current Manager: Tony Mowbray

League: League One (England)

Captain: Charlie Mulgrew

Vice-Captain: Craig Conway

Squad Personality: Highly Professional

Rivals: Burnley, Bolton, Preston, Blackpool, Manchester United

Legends: Alan Shearer, Simon Gamer, Tugay, Bryan Douglas, Ronnie Clayton, Kenny Dalglish, Bob Crompton, Tony Parkes, Jack Walker

Favoured Personnel and Icons: Matt Jansen, David Dunn, Brad Friedel, John WIlliams, Mike Newell, Michel Salgade, Tim Sherwood, Derek Fazackerley, Ryan Nelson, Mike England, Tim Flowers, Scott Sellars, Colin Hendry, Jimmy Forest

Ground: Ewood Park

Capacity: 31,154

Corporate Facilities: Average

Training Facilities: Superb

Youth Facilities: Great

Youth Level: 1

Junior Coaching: Good

Youth Recruitment: Established

Data Analysis Facilities: Average

Finances: Okay

Transfer Policy: None

Transfer Budget: £350k (can be adjusted to £2.7m)

Revenue Made Available From Sales: 10%

Wage Budget: £205,150 p/w

Media Prediction: 1st

[stevemc]

Club History

Early years

The club was founded following a meeting, at the Leger Hotel, Blackburn, on 5 November 1875. The meeting was organised by two young men, namely John Lewis and Arthur Constantine. The purpose of the meeting was "to discuss the possibility of forming a football club to play under Association rules". The first match played by Blackburn Rovers took place in Church, Lancashire on 18 December 1875 and was a 1–1 draw.

On 28 September 1878, Blackburn Rovers became one of 23 clubs to form the Lancashire Football Association. On 1 November 1879 the club played in the F.A. Cup for the first time, beating the Tyne Association Football Club 5–1. Rovers were eventually put out of the competition in the third round after suffering a heavy 6–0 defeat by Nottingham Forest

On 25 March 1882 the club won through to the final of the F.A. Cup against the Old Etonians. Blackburn Rovers was the first provincial team to reach the final,^[9] but the result was a 1–0 defeat by the Old Etonians.

Rovers finally won the F.A. Cup on 29 March 1884 with a 2–1 victory over the Scottish team Queen's Park. The same teams played the F.A. Cup final again the next season, with Blackburn Rovers again emerging victorious, with a 2–0 score.^[11] Rovers repeated this success yet again the next season, winning the final replay 2–0 against West Bromwich Albion. For this three-in-a-row of F.A. Cup victories, the club was awarded a specially commissioned silver shield.

The 1885–86 season was the birth of the legal professional footballer, and Blackburn Rovers spent £615 on player wages for the season.

 

Football league commences

Blackburn Rovers were founder members of the Football League in 1888.

Blackburn Rovers again reached the F.A. Cup final on 29 March 1890 at the Kennington Oval. The club claimed the trophy for the fourth time, by beating Sheffield Wednesday a hefty 6–1 with left forward William Townley scoring three goals and becoming the first player to achieve a hat-trick in the F.A. Cup final.

The 1890–91 season saw Blackburn Rovers win the F.A. Cup for the fifth time against Notts County with a 3–1 victory. During the 1897–98 season the club stayed in the first division only as the result of a decision to increase the number of teams from 16 to 18. The season did, however, mark the beginning of Bob Crompton's 45-year association with the club, both as a player and eventually as an F.A. Cup winning manager.

 

20th century

Blackburn Rovers continued to struggle during the early years of the 20th century, but the results began a gradual improvement. Major renovations were made to Ewood Park: in 1905 the Darwen End was covered at a cost of £1680 and the new Nuttall Stand was opened on New Year's Day 1907. During the first three decades of the 20th century, Blackburn Rovers were still considered a top side in the English league. They were First Division champions in 1911–12 and 1913–14, and F.A Cup winners in 1927–28 with a 3–1 victory against Huddersfield Town, but the F.A Cup win was their last major trophy for nearly 70 years.

Blackburn Rovers maintained a respectable mid-table position in the First Division until they were finally relegated (along with Aston Villa) from the top flight (for the first time since the foundation of the league) in the 1935–36 season.

When the league resumed after the war, Blackburn Rovers were relegated in their second season (1947–48). At this time the tradition of burying a coffin began. The club remained in the second division for the following ten years. After promotion in 1958, they again returned to the mid-table position they had occupied in the earlier part of the century. During this time, they seldom made a serious challenge for a major trophy – although they did reach the 1960 FA Cup final when managed by Scot Dally Duncan. Rovers lost this game 3–0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers after playing most of the game with only 10 men on the field following an injury to Dave Whelan, who broke a leg.

There were brief hopes of a return to glory in the 1963–64 season, when a remarkable 8–2 away win over West Ham United in east London on Boxing Day took them to the top of the league. However, their lead of the league was short lived and they finished the season some way down the table as the title was seized by a Liverpool side who would record a further 12 league titles over the next 26 years, while Blackburn's fortunes took a very different route. They were again relegated from the First Division in 1966 and began a 26-year exile from the top division.

 

70s and 80s

During the 1970s, Blackburn Rovers bounced between the Second and Third Divisions, winning the Third Division title in 1975, but never mounted a challenge for promotion to the First Division despite the efforts of successive managers to put the club back on track, and fell back into the Third Division in 1979. They went up as runners up in the Third Division in 1980 and have remained in the upper two tiers of the English league ever since. A second successive promotion was nearly achieved the following year, but the club missed out on goal difference, and promotion-winning manager Howard Kendall moved to Everton that summer. Kendall's successor, Bobby Saxton only managed mid-table finishes for the next three seasons, then nearly achieved promotion in the 1984–85 season, but a poor finish the following year (just one place above relegation) followed by an abysmal start to the 1986–87 season cost Saxton his job.

Saxton was replaced by Don Mackay, who steered them to a decent finish that season and also victory in the Full Members Cup. In the following three seasons Mackay re-established Rovers as promotion contenders, but they fell just short of promotion each time; the closest they came was in 1988–89 reached the Second Division play-off final in its last-ever season of the home-away two-legged format – but lost to Crystal Palace. A defeat in the 1989–90 Second Division playoff semi-finals brought more frustration to Ewood Park, but the following season saw the club taken over by local steelworks owner and lifelong supporter Jack Walker (1929–2000).

[stevemc]

1990s

Following the Walker takeover Rovers finished 19th in the Second Division at the end of the 1990–91 season, but the new owner had made millions of pounds available to spend on new players and appointed Kenny Dalglish as manager in October 1991. Rovers secured promotion to the new FA Premier League at the end of 1991–92 season as play-off winners, ending 26 years outside the top flight.

Rovers made headlines in the summer of 1992 by paying an English record fee of £3.5million for the 22-year-old Southampton and England centre forward Alan Shearer. After finishing fourth in 1992–93  and runners-up in 1993–94, they went on to win the Premier League title in 1994–95. The title chase went down to the last game of the season, but despite Rovers losing to Liverpool they edged out rivals Manchester United to win the championship.

Kenny Dalglish moved upstairs to the position of Director of Football at the end of the Premier League winning season, and handed over the reins to his assistant Ray Harford. Blackburn Rovers made a poor start to the 1995–96 season, and found themselves in the bottom half for most of the first half of the season. Rovers also struggled in the Champions League and finished bottom of their group with just four points. A terrible start to the 1996–97 Premier League campaign saw Harford resign in late October with the club bottom of the division, having failed to win any of their first ten games. Relegation looked a real possibility, just two seasons after winning the league. After an abortive attempt to bring in Sven-Göran Eriksson as manager, long-serving coach Tony Parkes took over as manager for the rest of the campaign, narrowly steering the side to survival. That summer, the manager's job was taken by Roy Hodgson, who joined the club from Internazionale. UEFA Cup football was secured with a 6th-place finish. However, Rovers made a poor start to the 1998–99 campaign and Hodgson was sacked in December less than an hour after a 2–0 home defeat by bottom side Southampton, a result that locked Rovers in the relegation zone. He was replaced as manager by Brian Kidd. However, he could not save them as the club slipped away, relegation was confirmed with a scoreless draw at home to Manchester United in the penultimate game of the season.

 

2000s

In 1999–2000 Rovers began the season as promotion favourites, but with the club hovering just above the Division One relegation zone Brian Kidd was sacked in October and replaced in March by Graeme Souness. Jack Walker died just after the start of the 2000–01 season, and the club dedicated its promotion challenge in memory of their benefactor. Fittingly, they returned to the Premier League after a much improved season, finishing second behind Fulham.

In 2001–02, record signing Andy Cole was bought in for £8million, and Rovers won their first-ever League Cup by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Cole scoring the winner in the 69th minute. The following season Rovers finished sixth to qualify for the UEFA Cup for the second season running. Souness left just after the start of 2004–05 to take charge at Newcastle, and he was replaced by Welsh national coach Mark Hughes. Hughes secured Rovers' Premier League survival for the 2004–05 season as well as an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, with Rovers finishing 15th once again. He led the team to sixth the following season and Rovers's third European qualification in five years.

Rovers reached the semi-final of the 2006–07 FA Cup, but lost to Chelsea in extra time, and finished that season's league in tenth, qualifying for the Intertoto Cup, which led to a short run in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup. In May 2008, Mark Hughes left Blackburn Rovers for the vacancy at Manchester City. He was replaced by Paul Ince, Ince's first job was to persuade some of the wantaway players to stay. with Archie Knox coming in as his assistant. Ince's time in charge started well, but following a run of eleven games without a win he was sacked in December 2008. Sam Allardyce was appointed as Ince's replacement and in 2009–10 he led the team to a tenth-place finish and a League Cup semi-final.

 

2010 onwards...

In November 2010, the Indian company V H Group bought Blackburn Rovers under the name of Venky's London Limited for £23 million. The new owners immediately sacked manager Sam Allardyce and replaced him with first-team coach Steve Kean, initially on a temporary basis, but by January 2011 he had been awarded a full-time contract until June 2013. Kean's appointment was shrouded in a great deal of controversy since his agent Jerome Anderson had earlier played a major role in advising Venky's during the takeover of the club in the preceding months.

In December 2011, Blackburn Rovers posted an annual pre-tax loss of £18.6m for the year ending 30 June 2011. Despite this, the owners of Blackburn Rovers provided assurances over the continued funding of the club, even if they were relegated.

On 7 May 2012, the club was relegated to the Championship after being defeated at home by Wigan Athletic at home in the penultimate game of the season, ending eleven years in the Premier League.

At the start of the 2012–2013 season, Steve Kean, the manager in charge for the previous relegation season, was given a chance by owners to win promotion and kept his job as the manager. Ultimately though, pressure from the supporters who had been calling for the managers removal for months resulted in his resignation as manager on 29 September 2012.^[

On 7 May 2017, five years to the day after dropping out of the Premier League, the club saw their second relegation since being taken over by their current owners as they descended into League One–the first Premier League champions to sink into the third tier.

[stevemc]

 Players and staff

First team squad

 

U23 team squad

 

U18 team squad

 

Coaching staff

 

Medical staff

 

Scouting staff

[stevemc]

Why manage Blackburn Rovers?

 

Blackburn have a rich history but are currently a club that feels unloved, with life under the Venky's being a mixed bag, the pressure will be on to return these former Premier League champions back to the top tier of English football. 

Can you return to the magical years of Jack Walker?

Can you unearth a new SAS (Sutton & Shearer) partnership? Can you add to their three league titles and 6 FA Cups? 

Some landmarks to surpass:

Longest Serving Manager: Robert Middleton – 22 years

Most Successful Manager: Robert Middleton – 2 league titles

[Lucas_26_7]

Just achieved back-to-back promotions with Rovers and am now right back to the Premier League! First time I have ever done that on FM, usually take at least two seasons in the championship before getting promoted again. Rankin-Costello is an absolute machine, Elliott Bennet is also very good while signings I have made such as Calvert-Lewin and McEachran have really completed the team.

[stevemc]

Seems like a good save to start, they have a solid foundation, decent sized stadium, superb training facilities and a great youth set up. The transfer budget isn't too shabby either.

[Tullekunstner]

This looks actually really interested. Was pondering on starting a La Liga save after I'm done with my LFC save, but I might just go for Blackburn instead. Some good youth in here and the squad seems to fit my plans for a wingerless formation.

[John Joe O'toole]

Tullekunster definitely try a blackburn save! i did one on fm17 and it was brilliant, ive just started one on fm18 and im hoping to get promoted to the championship at the first time of asking.

[Lucas_26_7]

20 hours ago, Tullekunstner said:

This looks actually really interested. Was pondering on starting a La Liga save after I'm done with my LFC save, but I might just go for Blackburn instead. Some good youth in here and the squad seems to fit my plans for a wingerless formation.

I dunno about that Elliot Bennett is pretty good!

[Tullekunstner]

Currently in the middle of October, and I'd say we're doing fairly well now. My initial plan was to start out with this (https://community.sigames.com/topic/415676-curry-for-2-the-4132/) 4-1-3-2 tactic as I felt like it fit our team better than my planned 4-3-2-1, then groom and mould our team to start our second season with my preferred tactic. However, after experimenting in the cups, I quickly realised that my 4-3-2-1 just performed better either way, so it's now my main tactic with the 5-2-2-1 being my backup plan. After a 5 game winning streak, we're currently second in the league.

 

 

[Tullekunstner]

Transfers:

I terminated all the loans except Antonsson and Downing. Brought in some strength in the midfield area (training Svendsen into a mezzala), as well as Chuma up front and a CB (Pleguezuelo) on loan w/ option to buy as I struggled quite a lot with with injuries. Haven't sold anyone, but trying my best to get rid of Conway as he just doesn't fit my tactics. Training him as a cm in case I get stuck with him, but hopefully he'll be sold long before he'll be of any use there. Bennett is getting his fair share of games at RB and are doing well. My oldest incomings are Chuma/Pluege at 20, so at worst I'll most likely make a decent profit on everyone. Hoping to forge a future midfield of Rankin-Costello, Svendsen and Silva-Lopes. Still looking for a future DLP. My long term goals are creating a scandinavian super-duo up top with Dolberg and Isak. Would be cool to get Ødegaard as an AP as well, but at least I have Svendsen.

[Urotsukidoji]

in 2025 in my Blackburn save. Won the last 3 premier leagues. Star player apart from regens is Moise Kean.

[Tullekunstner]

On 5.12.2017 at 17:57, Urotsukidoji said:

in 2025 in my Blackburn save. Won the last 3 premier leagues. Star player apart from regens is Moise Kean.

Do you still have any of the original Blackburn players? Any players you kept who did well once you first got into the prem?

 

35 games into my first season now, sitting at first 4 points ahead of Fleetwood and 11 points ahead of Shrewsbury in third. Signed Giuseppe Rossi on a free in the end of November and Andre Almeida for £50k in january. Things are looking good, but my finances are kinda **** so I got some decisions to do once we're promoted as to what players I want to keep.

[Lucas_26_7]

Thought I might do a mega update of how my time with Blackburn has gone so far, I don't have screenshots for the first and second seasons so bear with me.

 

2017/18 season

In the first season my goal was pretty simple, promotion. And I did it with flying colours. We dominated the league from start to finish, never really even having a rough patch until once the title was won and I started to play youth players and won the league by 10 points. We played a free flowing, possession based game that looked to play out from the back and move it to our wingers to whip balls in. This is after my initial plan to play a narrow 4-1-3-1-1 formation clearly wasn't working in pre-season. The star of the show was Elliott Bennett, who got 13 goals and 23 assists in 53 appearances. Elsewhere on the pitch, Ben Gladwin and Marcus Antonsson were sensational until they were hit with long-term injuries around Christmas, never really regaining their form. Charlie Mulgrew was sensational, weather playing as a midfielder or defender and Josh McEachran was worth every penny in midfield. Free transfers of Diego Forlan and Diomansy Kamara brought in much  needed experience during the title run-in, and while Forlan floundered, Kamara excelled in the absence of Ben Gladwin. Harry Chapman was also great in his lone spell, contributing 10 goals in 8 assists in just 24 league starts. This season also saw Joe Rankin-Costello breakthrough around February after some good FA Cup performances, and became an integral part of the team by the end of the season as an 18 year old. The clear highlight of the season was the period from September when we lost just one out of 32 league games. David Raya, Paul Caddis, Charlie Mulgrew, Josh McEachran and Elliott Bennett were all in the Team of the Year, with Bennett winning the Player of the Season. 

Preferred line up

Raya

Caddis-Downing-Mulgrew-Williams

Smallwood

Dack-McEachran

Bennett------------------------Gladwin/Campbell

Antonsson

 

 

Transfers

Ins

Diomansy Kamara (Free) 

Josh McEachran (1.7m) 

Diego Forlan (Free)

Outs

Dominic Samuel (300k)

Craig Conway (220k)

Lewis Khoury (86k)

Joe Nuttall (79k)

Peter Whittingham (75k)

Matthew Platt (25k)

Matthew Campbell (6k)

Tyler Magliore (Loan

 

2018/19 season

As we moved into the second season we had a monstrous task upon us, I felt we were well suited to the Championship, but with a media prediction of 19th I was never expecting the success we had as we won the league by 8 points. Just as was the case with the first season, I spent my entire budget on one player, this time Lucas Piazon from Chelsea as a natural predecessor to the duo of Gladwin and Chapman. When signing him, I fully expected him to battle it out with Calvert-Lewin for that spot and thought he would win. How wrong was I, Calvert-Lewin was incredible, 25 goals and 12 assists from 45 games, picking up the Golden Boot and Player of the Season awards, not bad considering he played as a left winger. Lys Mousset was another loanee from Bournemouth, he had spent last season on loan at Peterborough and was the top scorer in League 1 and tore me to shreds, I liked what I saw from when we played the Posh and he perfectly fitted my tactic. Despite injuries, he collected 18 goals in 36 league games which I was happy with. Juan Foyth was the final loanee, and was pretty incredible no matter if his defensive partner was Mulgrew or Wharton (who had come on leaps and bounds). Ashley Young was signed as an alternative to Paul Caddis, and was alright at the start before his attributes quickly deteriorated, bringing his average ratings down with it. Rankin-Costello quickly became our best player this season, attracting interest from Arsenal and Everton amongst others with his stellar performances in midfield. Unbelievably we roared to our second consecutive league title and promotion, again our form over the winter months proving pivotal. Our annual end of season collapse not enough to rip the title from us. It felt even better that we pipped Burnley to promotion, as the ran out of gas despite being our main contender for large parts, our late victory over them at Turf Moor was probably our best moment of the season. We also had a sensational cup run, beating shocking Chelsea with a 1-0 win and earning wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland to set up a FA Cup 6th Round tie with Arsenal at Ewood Park, we put up a good fight and went ahead through a Rankin-Costello goal, but ultimately a Lacazette double gave the gunners a 2-1 win and they went off to Wembley. Foyth, Rankin-Costello, Bennett and Mousset were all in the team in the year (Calvert-Lewin absent for some reason despite winning the Player of the Season and Golden Boot awards). Rankin-Costello won Young Player of the Year, and I won the manager of the year award for the first time.

Preferred line up

Raya

Young-Foyth-Mulgrew/Wharton-Williams

Evans

Dack-Rankin-Costello

Bennett------------------------Calvert-Lewin

Mousset

 

 

Transfers

Ins

Lys Mousset (Loan)

Lucas Piazon (1.9m)

Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Loan)

Juan Foyth (Loan)

Ashley Young (Free)

Outs

Tyler Magliore (Loan)

Jason Leutwiler (33k)

Elliot Bodkin (Loan)

 

I am now in December of my first Premier League season (2019/20) I will post a full update with screenshots once the season is over, currently in 17th.

[Tullekunstner]

Won League One comfortably at 105 points in the end, 12 points ahead of Fleetwood who gave me good competition for a while. 8 games into my championship season, we're currently sitting at 15th with 10 points. I'd be fairly happy with a mid-table position this season, so I'm okay with this. Our form is on the up as well, started the season with three league losses and a carabao win against Notts, but are now undefeated in the last three games (two wins, one draw).

Summer transfers:

Didn't want to send Nyambe on loan, but our finances have been a bit unstable, so I figured ~£750k for a loan was too good to refuse. I couldn't get a work permit for Carneiro so off to loan he goes; I realised too late that Rennes are in ligue 2 though, so will probably recall him in january and loan him out again. Woodburn are looking very promising and will probably be a key player this season. Jack O'Connell seems really solid all around and are probably my best central defender right now. Doesn't hurt that he's a Blackburn man either. Diarra is simply decent backup on a free.

 

Steven Ramos and Jimmy Ure are both regens. Ure will probably lock down a first XI spot rather quickly, while I can see Ramos taking over for Rossi once his physicals become too weak (which I fear might be sooner than I hoped). Both looking like absolute steals.

 

This guy I bought last season are looking more and more ready for the first team as well

 

And the last of the great regens, Andy Forrest, who started out in Blackburn last season.

 

[Cal585]

Started a multiplayer game with Blackburn last night. Not far into it but have struggled deciding on a tactic due to key players starting injured and a lack of depth out wide (RB, LM/LW). Currently going with a 5-3-2 but also considering 4-4-2, 4-3-1-2 or 4-2-3-1.

[Raffen]

"Accidentally" did a double promotion the first 2 seasons. Wanted to go slower and develop youth players for a season or two in the championship, but guess I have to do it as a struggling premiership club now :D. Also tried to limit the money spent, and number of first team players bought, so still got a lot of the original players at the club. Most of them are decent championship players, but def not Premier League material

[brfcboy]

What sort of transfer budget did you guys get for the championship, 

I am just coming to the end of the season in league one, six points in the clear with 3 games left so trying to plan for next season 

[Raffen]

4 hours ago, brfcboy said:

What sort of transfer budget did you guys get for the championship, 

I am just coming to the end of the season in league one, six points in the clear with 3 games left so trying to plan for next season 

I got basically nothing I think. A few hundred k for transfers I think

[Cal585]

What formation did you go with? Any key players?

[Raffen]

5-3-2, in large parts based on Cleons tactic in Forged in Steel. Not at home at, so basing this on memory, but most used line-up:

                                    Raya

              Downing    Wharton    Mulgrew

Caddis                                                         Williams

             Smallwood      Dack       Evans

                         Samuel         Graham

 

Dominic Samuel was my top scorer. Graham was average, and swapped alot with Antonsson. Lenihan got into the team when his injury was over. Blooded Rankin-Costello, Tomlinson and Nuttall quite a lot. Don't think I brought in anyone except some free transfer regens I found when going through national U21/19 teams (Germany, France, Italy and Spain in particular I think).

[Cal585]

Nice, I've been doing something quite similar to that Forged in Steel tactic except with a CM (D) instead of CM (S) and WB instead of CWB. Brought in Craig Forsyth for 950k who is great but may have been unneeded with Williams and Hart... Rotating Bennett with Caddis at RWB, though I would have preferred Bennett further forward and not sure how Conway fits in on his return. Trying to retrain Chapman as a CM (A). He doesn't really fit in to the formation but his wages aren't too high.

I am slightly nervous of the fact that the majority of the team has been listed as First Team players. Means I've got a quality bench I suppose but they all want game time!

[Raffen]

10 hours ago, Cal585 said:

Nice, I've been doing something quite similar to that Forged in Steel tactic except with a CM (D) instead of CM (S) and WB instead of CWB. Brought in Craig Forsyth for 950k who is great but may have been unneeded with Williams and Hart... Rotating Bennett with Caddis at RWB, though I would have preferred Bennett further forward and not sure how Conway fits in on his return. Trying to retrain Chapman as a CM (A). He doesn't really fit in to the formation but his wages aren't too high.

I am slightly nervous of the fact that the majority of the team has been listed as First Team players. Means I've got a quality bench I suppose but they all want game time!

Forgot about Bennet. Yeah, rotated him with Caddis as well. Sold him 2nd season. Need to take the money you can with those finances

[stevemc]

I've decided that Blackburn Rovers will be my first save this year, now the update is out, I'll be starting it this weekend.

[Tullekunstner]

How is George Wilson doing for you guys? Starting to look like a beast on my save, and having adjusted my tactics a bit he now fits in how I want to play. Still ways to go on his technical skills, but as the sole ball-winner in a midfield three, I'm not overly worried about that.

 

 

edit - a word

[John Joe O'toole]

What did the update change Stevemc?

 

i love that Blackburn have so many decent youngsters, it means you have a solid core of players for the years ahead.

[Urotsukidoji]

Just started an online game as BBurn manager. My injuries.

[Urotsukidoji]

my signings 

[flipward]

awesome

[stevemc]

On 16/12/2017 at 13:17, John Joe O'toole said:

What did the update change Stevemc?

 

i love that Blackburn have so many decent youngsters, it means you have a solid core of players for the years ahead.

Sorry, I've not had chance to start it! Will defo get round to it this week and feed back 

[stevemc]

Setting up my save, just got a few questions;

• Did anyone terminate the original loans?

• Did anyone cash in Phil Jones's sell on clause?

• Did you employ any new staff?

• Did you meet the "sign high profile players" target?

• Any free's worth looking at?

• What scouting budgets did you go for?

[John Joe O'toole]

14 hours ago, stevemc said:

Setting up my save, just got a few questions;

• Did anyone terminate the original loans?

• Did anyone cash in Phil Jones's sell on clause?

• Did you employ any new staff?

• Did you meet the "sign high profile players" target?

• Any free's worth looking at?

• What scouting budgets did you go for?

I terminated all the loan signings apart from antonsson. I felt the team were good enough with them and wanted to bring in my own players. I employed a few new coaches to help out the squad and a physio. 

 

I might cash cash in on Phil jones clause when I’m in the championship.

 

i signed Giuseppe Rossi on a free, basto for 200k and Julio pigzueleo on loan even though Blackburn has an abundance of decent cbs! 

 

Im going to try and offload some of the deadwood in jan

whittingham

conway

gladwin

[stevemc]

Yeah Rossi looks good, but fails his medical straight away, so I'll have to try again closer to his return.

[Lucas_26_7]

2019/20

 

Finished my first season in the Premier League, completing a miraculous escape to finish in 17th. I was pretty much in the relegation zone all season, until a late run of form kept me up.

Pre-Season was a consistent struggle to convince players to join me, my repuation was clearly still that of a Championship side considering how quickly I had been promoted. I started off by signing a right full back to replace Paul Caddis, with Gino Peruzzi coming in for a fee of 3.6m. In July I secured the free transfer of Lys Mousset, who I had on loan the year before, as well as extending the loan deals of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Juan Foyth. I desperately needed to strengthen my midfield, so I brought in Mohamed Besic (4.1m) and Mikel Merino for a club record fee (16.5m). As I needed a winger on deadline day, I made a major panic buy and bought the now old and fragile Ibrahim Afellay (650k), who even despite his low price was a huge waste of money.

 

The seasons started off poorly, with a tough run of fixtures (First six games against Man United, Tottenham, Liverpool, Southampton, Chelsea and Arsenal) we were always going to struggle. With us picking up one point from these games (a draw with Tottenham) and being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Nottingham Forest, our morale had already dropped. During this period I brought in James Wilson on a free shortly after the Spurs game, and he scored in the losses to Forest and Arsenal. We were leaking goals and not scoring many, having conceded 15 goals in the opening six games and scored five. One positive was that Lys Mousset had adapted brilliantly to the Premier League, scoring over half our goals.

 

Our next five games had a lot more winnable fixtures, as we faced Palace (A), Wolves (H), Stoke (A), Leicester (H), Man City (A). I still felt our squad was weak, and I brought in Theo Walcott on a free, who had still not found a club after leaving Arsenal in the summer. We were unlucky to draw against Palace after a late Jack Grealish equaliser, and the 1-0 loss to Wolves left a bitter taste in the mouth. When we drew 0-0 with Stoke despite being down to 10 for a long time, I felt we were beginning to turn things around. However we were 2-0 down at HT to Leicester in our next game, and things were looking bleak again. I brought on Walcott for his debut and he made an instant impact, setting up a goal as we lost 2-1. We then put in a spirited performance away at Man City, losing 3-2 and Walcott once again assisted a goal after coming off the bench. We were still losing and had just three points after 11 games, but we were beginning to show a bit more fight.

 

The next five games were once again winnable, we faced Swansea (H), Everton (A), Watford (H), Bournemouth (A) and Brentford (H). We started the period fantastically, as we thrashed Swansea 4-1 for our first win of the season. Mousset was once again the star of the show, scoring a hat-trick as Walcott was again pivotal before being subbed off due to injury. We then faced an in form Everton side who sat in 2nd at the time, and beat them 2-1 on their own patch. Merino scored his first Blackburn goal, before Joe Rankin-Costello popped up with a goal against the team who's interest in him had hampered his form earlier this season. A draw against Watford kept us ticking along, and a loss against Bournemouth was frustrating but we bounced back with a 3-0 victory over Brentford. Mousset scored 7 in 5 in this period, and we were scoring freely. Our defence was shaky and Wharton's form had dipped massively but we were fighting again.

 

And just as morale was picking up, we reached the Christmas period and everything went pear shaped. Losses to Brighton (4-2), West Ham (3-2), West Brom (2-0) and Man United (3-0) before the end of the year really dented our confidence. We were becoming a one man team with Mousset, and Rankin-Costello was desperate for a move and his form showed it as his desire dropped greatly. We then had a dismal 1-1 draw with Gillingham in the FA Cup 3rd Round, before things picked up with another draw with Tottenham.

 

Reinforcements were needed in midfield in particular, so I brought in James Ward Prowse for a fee of 7.5m. His first game was a dramatic extra time win over Gillingham in the FA Cup, before we had a few dissapointing results in a row by losing 3-0 to Liverpool and 4-0 to Southampton. Before the Southampton game I brought in a back up striker in the form of young German Niklas Kuhn, but he injured his ankle ligaments just 9 minutes into his debut. We looked on our way for relegation as we hit rock bottom, but a late comeback 3-3 draw with Chelsea after being 2-0 and 3-1 down lifted our spirits. We took this momentum into our FA Cup tie with Burton, and snatched a late 3-2 win in the 91st minute thanks to a Lys Mousset hat-trick. We then went to the Emirates, and found ourselves 2-0 up after an hour thanks to a Mousset brace, we were flying. However in the 89th minute, thinking the game was one I brought off Lys Mousset for Corry Evans. Evans came on, and in the 91st minute gave away a penalty which Giovanni Simeone hit home, then they went forward again and made it 2-2 in the 93rd minute. We had squandered a huge opportunity for a victory. Up next was Crystal Palace at home, which we drew 2-2, at least we didn't lose I thought. We then faced Birmingham in the FA Cup 5th Round had a dissapointing defeat when Wembley was close.

 

This is when our season began to turn around, during March we faced Wolves (A), Stoke (H), Leicester (A), and Man City (H). A tough fixture list when you need to start picking up points fast. We went up against Wolves and had a scratchy 1-0 win, who else but Lys Mousset scoring the goal with 20 minutes to go. This was followed up by a devastating 2-1 loss to Stoke, where we let a 1-0 lead slip with ten minutes left. Back to square one. We face Leicester next, at half time the score is Leicester 3-0 Blackburn. Relegation looms. But after the break we are a different team, and with 66 minutes on the clock Lys Mousset makes it 3-1. Then with 10 minutes left, Besic comes forward and scores a corker to make it 3-2 and finally in the 88th minute off the bench and back from injury, 19 year old Niklas Kuhn comes off the bench and scores a crucial goal to make it 3-3 and give us a vital 3 points.

 

It was time to throw caution to the wind, we ditched our normal 4-3-3 and went 4-4-2 for the next few games and it worked wonders. Mousset scored a hat-trick in a huge 4-2 win over Man City, we then went to Swansea and won 3-2, beat Watford 4-3 (despite being 4-0 up), came back from 2-0 down to beat Bournemouth, Kuhn scoring late again. We were playing thrilling football, lots of goals at both ends. We then faced Everton, drawing 2-2 and we dipped our heads above water for the first time and got up out of the relegation zone for the first time this season.

 

We had four games to save ourselves, Brentford (A), West Brom (H), West Ham (A) and Brighton (H). Our defence cost us again against Brentford, coming from 3-0 down back to 3-2, only for them to eventually win it 4-3. Up next was West Brom, and we went 1-0 up thanks to Mousset, and we looked on our way to a huge victory before the ironically named Lucas scored two goals, one being a late penalty with 5 left on the clock, to win them the game. We went to West Ham knowing what we had to do seeing as we played on the Monday, we currently sat in 17th with equal points to 18th (Watford) but our goal difference was just one better than that of the hornets. If we lost, it would no longer be in our hands on the final day, even a draw would be okay to at least make sure it is in our hands. However in the 75th minute, West Ham scored thanks to a goal from Leigh Griffiths, and it looked like we were going to be in trouble. But in the 91st minute, after coming on as a sub, Niklas Kuhn was sent through by Mousset and SCORED to give us a huge point, leaving us one point above Watford going into the final day. Kuhn had now scored three goals for Blackburn, all late winners or equalisers.

 

On the final day we were at home to Brighton, as Watford were away at Crystal Palace. We just needed to better Watford's result and we would stay up. I made the controversial decision to switch back to the 4-3-3 to make us more defensively stable. And after 14 minutes, who else Lys Mousset gave us the lead, before we were pegged back almost immediately by Brighton and Steve Mounie. In the second half, we finally got the news, Palace had scored and unless Watford got one back and we conceded we are staying up. And then in the 86th minute, Lys Mousset breaks away and puts it beyond all doubt, giving himself the golden boot (28 goals) and more importantly keeping us up.

 

A breathtaking first season, hopefully now we can kick on and get away from relegation scraps.

[Lucas_26_7]

2020/21 Season

 

For this season, I have decided to do smaller updates rather than season ones. Usually be done bi-monthly.

 

Pre-Season

As soon as I was in a relegation scrap last season, I knew I was losing Rankin-Costello in the off season due to a promise I made, his attitude throughout the season wasn't great so with a heavy heart I let him transfer to Tottenham. With the 56m budget I had been given, plus the 40m I knew I was getting for Rankin-Costello, I had a lot of money to play with to improve my squad. The defence was the main issue, so I signed young Frenchman Thomas Basila, noticed him after I was rumoured to be signing him by the press, I clicked on him and was impressed by his stats and his reports were great. With Mulgrew's age becoming a factor, another centre back was needed, so I brought in Foyth on loan for a 3rd consecutive season. I could have signed him on the cheap but his work permit wouldn't allow it so I just loaned him again. Calvert-Lewin's never ending loan was made into a permanent transfer, but mainly as a back up. While Vrabec is an 18 year old Czech striker, 6 ft 5 and decent pace I am excited about him. Very high potential, will be a back up for now. Then we have another regen, the 19 year old Egyptian full back Salah Gomaa, who will be my starting left back. Already got great stats (as seen in the photo) and a definite improvement on Williams, who will replace Hart as the back up. Richardson was signed as my 'marquee' signing to replace Rankin-Costello. Fantastic stats all round and still only 23, and with Watford now in the championship I got a decent fee. With so much youth being signed and a gap in midfield left by Rankin-Costello, I brought in Sebastian Rudy on a free, a pretty big coup for a club like Blackburn despite his age and the fact he is coming back from an ACL tear. He is valued on the transfer market at 39m, so was really happy to get him for nothing. I also needed some competition for Peruzzi at right back, so I brought in the very well rounded Klaiber. In terms of departures, besides JRC, we let go of Dack with a heavy heart, been with us since League 1 and really answered everything I have thrown at him without fail, but it was time to move on.

]

Pre-Season we went on tours of the USA and Spain, winning 7 out of 8 and conceding just two goals.

 

August

Our fixture list was a lot better than last year, and we started the season with a trip to Leicester with us as heavy underdogs. We started in a 4-3-3 formation, giving debuts to Gomaa, Klaiber and Richarlison from the off. With played okay without being fantastic, and with twenty minutes left I made the bold decision to sub off Mousset for the youngster Petr Vrabec, and Vrabec returned my faith by scoring on his debut in the 81st minute. This looked like it would be the winner, before Leicester equalised in the 93rd minute to share the spoils, not the worst start but still dissapointing to let a lead slip.

Up next was Middlesbrough at home, we made two changes bringing in Basila for his debut and Vrabec up front. We dominated the game, having 19 shots, and Basila won it for us with a  perfect debut in the 32nd minute from a corner. James Ward-Prowse was the star of the show, showing he has what it takes to fill in for Rankin-Costello in midfield.

We drew Forest for the second consecutive year in the Carabao Cup, and were keen on getting revenge. I switched to a 4-4-2 to accommodate Vrabec and Mousset and Mousset repaid my faith by scoring a brace. I also gave Joel Jenkinson, a highly rated regen from my academy, his starting debut in midfield and he held his own, picking up a passable 6.8 rating for an 18 year old.

Our final game of the month was away to Bournemouth and I have to admit I was dissapointed here as we drew 2-2 despite Bournemouth being down to ten for an hour. Mousset made it 1-0 shortly after the red, but we got cocky and they made it 2-1 after half time, before a late Richardson penalty made it a 2-2 draw.

Five points from our first three games, already an improvement on last season and I feel confident we can be mid table.

 

[adammc]

Finished my first season with Blackburn finishing first with 27 points ahead of second placed MK Dons.

How I did in all comps:

My signings:

Overall just happy with my first season and I hope to get back to back promotion and get to the prem.

[Gungner]

I'm tempted to, for the first time ever in FM, to play a wingerless formation with wingbacks, and I think Blackburn fits that bill... Any of you Blackburn managers have any experience with the wingerless/wingback formation?

[reptile]

I have just done back to back promotions mostly using loan signings . In the PL now going to be a battle to stay up.  Hoping attendance's increasing, too increase funds. Now restricted with amount of Loan signings.  Had a transfer budget of 30 million.  Will need CM  in Jan window

Transfers In

Ro Shawn Williams (loan) for 3rd season

Moise Kean (loan)

Rankin-Costello (loan) board accepted 5 million in season 1

Calvert Lewin  5 m

Ryan Sessegnon  6 m

Kyle Walker-Peters 3m

Ante Coric  10m

Andreas Pereiria free

Current line up : 4-2-3-1

                                      Raya

Walker-peters    Ro Shawn W Lenihan -Williams

 

                      Pereira Rankin-Costello

Calvert-Lewin             Coric                      Sessegnon

                                     Kean

 

Subs : G Rossi Gladwin Dack Wharton

 

[Gungner]

Finally got around to start with Blackburn, about to play my first friendly. I'm lining up with a 4-3-2-1 DM formation. Transfers so far:

Zan Benedicic, Free

Curtis Good, Newcastle, Loan

Connor Ronan, Wolves, Loan

I need a box-to-box midfielder and a left winger. Got £1 mil i the transfer kitty and £45k available in wages. Any suggestions? Can be both transfer, freebies or loans. Anything is welcome.

[Tullekunstner]

Since my last update, I've finished third in my first championship season and won the playoffs, then finished at an incredible second place in my first PL season. In my january window in my championship run, I sold off Corry Evans for 850k and loaned in Joe Williams as well as signing two u21 regens I'll probably sell on for a profit somewhere down the line. This is my transfer seasons since then:

 

Ramos has come a long way since I first bought him, and was the driving force in my promotion season:

 

In my 2nd place PL season he was joined by Coman and the two almost single (double?)-handedly carried my team with 55 goals and 30 assists between them:

 

With my third season well underway, our feet are back on the ground. Despite some decent transfers, we're currently sitting at 9th, though a major factor in that was my absolutely brutal fixture list. A 4-0 thrashing of Liverpool was my only bright point in the start of the season and with a CL group consisting of Juventus, Barcelona and Leverkusen, it's unrealistic to expect anything but a 4th place. However, we're starting to get our **** together, so I'm still hoping we can at least qualify for the europa league. CL might be too optimistic, but still not an impossibility.

 

 

Current line-ups:

 

                        Raya

            Boly Uduokhai Gibson

Dodo                                          Robertson

               TAA Tousart Ure

                 Coman Ramos

Main rotation players:

Due to Raya being out injured twice already, R. Ferreira gets quite a lot of games in goal.

Costello, Almeida and Svendsen rotate a lot with Ure and TAA as well as G. Wilson with Tousart.

Lenihan and Diarra gets a lot of games at CB. Forrest and Williams gets a decent amount on the wingbacks.

Arias and Carneiro (and at times Timis) mostly get cup games, but have been called upon a couple of times in the league as well as a result of injuries.

Arias probably has a bright future and George Wilson is continuing his pretty impressive (and surprising) development, I'd advise everyone to try to utilize him when possible:

[jimbobBRFC]

How has Joe Nuttal developed for everybody? Debating whether it's a worthwhile experiment to give him game time.

[adammc]

Second season done with back to back promotion.

My main focus was to get promotion any way possible but I feel that I did well in the FA Cup.

Got in so many loans to help with depth throughout the season.

Happy to be in the prem and I got a decent budget of 32 million to spend.

[adammc]

On 13/01/2018 at 09:27, jimbobBRFC said:

How has Joe Nuttal developed for everybody? Debating whether it's a worthwhile experiment to give him game time.

it depends how well you think you will do in your save. I rotated him in my first season in league 1 and he didn't do that well for me(playing 17 league games with 9 starts scoring 4 and getting an average rating of 6.89).I am in the premier league after getting back to back promotion and I'm in my second season in the prem and he just isn't good enough for me but he is a good player for league 1 and has potential to be a leading championship striker. Since my first season I have just loaned him out and he is in league 1 and has averaged 6.96 in the season so far with 16 goals in 39 games(the season still isn't over yet).

[jimbobBRFC]

15 hours ago, adammc said:

Second season done with back to back promotion.

My main focus was to get promotion any way possible but I feel that I did well in the FA Cup.

Got in so many loans to help with depth throughout the season.

Happy to be in the prem and I got a decent budget of 32 million to spend.

Interesting that you let Raya go, offer to good to refuse?

 

 

[adammc]

52 minutes ago, jimbobBRFC said:

Interesting that you let Raya go, offer to good to refuse?

 

 

It was his release clause and he wouldn't negotiate a new contract due to them being in the premier league otherwise I wouldn't have let him go. Luckily he left in January rather than the start of the season.

[Lucas_26_7]

Just finished the 2020/21 season, was going to do montly updates but changed my mind.

Finished the season in 13th, not quite what I hoped and we really tailed off in the second half of the season after being 9th for a lot of the time. Still though, we were predicted for 20th position so it is a decent achievement. Richarlison was my star signing, great signing and really made a difference - stepped in for Rankin-Costello as our main man. Lys Mousset scored goals galore again - banging in 18 in the league. We were very leaky at the back though, new signings Basila, Klaiber and Salah Gomaa (regen) flattering to deceive. In January, we saw Josh McEachran, who was my first signing at the club, leave for Preston North End which signalled the changes that were coming at the club. We also brought in two new faces in January, Mahmoud Dahoud for 9m after he was transfer listed at Dortmund and the FM legend himself, Gabriel Barbosa from Inter Milan for a very decent fee of 7.75m. Barbosa has been really good, with him on one side and Richarlison on the other our attack is very exciting to watch. Dahoud has been okay, but not really constituted his massive wage so far.

 

We've seen a bit of a changing of the guard in this window, with Corry Evans, Elliott Bennett and Charlie Mulgrew being released from the club after their contracts ended. A combined 548 Blackburn games and three real team leaders who were with us since League one so they will be hard to replace (in terms of leadership, they were bit part players this season). Our only originals left now are Raya, Wharton, Williams, and Fisher. Williams probably doesn't have long left either. This season I hope to get mid table, and have a better run in the cups after Birmingham eliminated us from the FA Cup for the second year running. 

Not really sure who to bring in to be honest, a centre back or two is likely, maybe a left back as well. Was trying to bring in this young American regen keeper who is already one of the best in the world (he was still playing at the galaxy though) but PSG got him instead even though my offer was better.

[Tullekunstner]

Just finished the 20/21 season as well, in 13th. Major disappointment from last years second place, but after securing 3rd spot in my CL group, we went on and won the EURO cup, so all in all I'd consider the season a major success. Hopefully we can try to combine a good CL run (hoping for at least a slightly easier group this year) and prem campaign. Hoping to keep hold of Ramos and Coman (though it will be difficult), as they once again carried us pretty heavily. Ramos had 26 goals and 11 assists, Coman had 22 goals and 20 assists. Arias has gotten a fair amount of games as an advanced forward as well (usually Ramos is my AF and Coman plays as a CF (s)) and has 19 goals and 8 assists to his name, so even if I lose Ramos, I'd probably be OK.

 

Looking to sign a GK to replace Raya as he's quite injury prone and probably the weakest link in my team to boot. Looking at Bernd Leno as he has a £15,75m release clause. Top class goalkeeper and a good tutor. I have two 5* potential that will be fighting to replace him once his age catches up with him, so his personality is a huge plus for me.

 

On 20.1.2018 at 06:55, Lucas_26_7 said:

 

Not really sure who to bring in to be honest, a centre back or two is likely, maybe a left back as well. Was trying to bring in this young American regen keeper who is already one of the best in the world (he was still playing at the galaxy though) but PSG got him instead even though my offer was better.

 

Moreno and Robertson have both been transfer listed a couple of times on my save, great left backs if you have the possibility of snatching them up for cheap. Went with Robertson myself and he's done brilliantly.

[Lucas_26_7]

5 hours ago, Tullekunstner said:

Just finished the 20/21 season as well, in 13th. Major disappointment from last years second place, but after securing 3rd spot in my CL group, we went on and won the EURO cup, so all in all I'd consider the season a major success. Hopefully we can try to combine a good CL run (hoping for at least a slightly easier group this year) and prem campaign. Hoping to keep hold of Ramos and Coman (though it will be difficult), as they once again carried us pretty heavily. Ramos had 26 goals and 11 assists, Coman had 22 goals and 20 assists. Arias has gotten a fair amount of games as an advanced forward as well (usually Ramos is my AF and Coman plays as a CF (s)) and has 19 goals and 8 assists to his name, so even if I lose Ramos, I'd probably be OK.

 

Looking to sign a GK to replace Raya as he's quite injury prone and probably the weakest link in my team to boot. Looking at Bernd Leno as he has a £15,75m release clause. Top class goalkeeper and a good tutor. I have two 5* potential that will be fighting to replace him once his age catches up with him, so his personality is a huge plus for me.

 

Moreno and Robertson have both been transfer listed a couple of times on my save, great left backs if you have the possibility of snatching them up for cheap. Went with Robertson myself and he's done brilliantly.

Wow, 2nd place in your first season in the Prem is very impressive. Any of the originals still knocking about (besides Raya)? I didn't have enough time or money to bring in a left back in the end, decided a right back was more integral and I had to buy a keeper after Raya broke his leg just before deadline day, few late transfers didn't go through.

 

 

That Serifoglu I bought is an 18 year old regen at right back, already pretty close to being good enough to start regularly and high potential 24m release clause was a great get. Merino forced a move so I had to strengthen in the middle with Winks. Think that is three windows in a row now that Derrick Williams has avoided being sold and replaced by crazy circumstances.

 

Hoping to get European football this season, although my expectations are mid-table. Managed to get a huge contract extension until 2025 after I had an interview with Tottenham as well, time to start kicking on now.

[Lucas_26_7]

Just had a cracker of a game against Arsenal, every time I play them it's a belter and always late goals. Goes against me a lot though!