In Honor of Sir Alex Ferguson -- Reviving the Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge!

[JaytheGreat]

Starting a new season we had 2 chances to win trophys off the bat, and we managed to split them, beating Arsenal in penalties 4-2 in the Community Shield then losing to Tottenham on penalties 4-3 in the Super Cup.

Community Shield: beat Arsenal 4-2 (tied 2-2 after regular time)

Layvin Kurzara had to be subbed off in the 32nd minute due to a neck strain (only ended up missing one game after this one). 5 minutes later Arsenal strikes 1st via Jack Wilshere off a cross from Alexis Sanchez. We managed to tie in the 64th minute as Lukaku buries a PK. We take the 14 minutes later as Ademola Lookman beats the keeper in the box. Arsenal equalize in the 86 min at Alexis Sanchez tapped in a Calum Chambers cross. In PKs we were flawless while Rajkovic stopped Jack Wilshire, and Calum Chambers kicked his attempt wide.

Super Cup: lost to Tottenham 4-3 (tied 4-4 after extra time)

 

It was a back and forth all game but Tottenham struck 1st as Funes Mori shoved Kane down in the box, and he of course converted his penalty. We tie it up less then a minute later as Barkely blasts a free kick just outside the box off of Suso into the net. A minute later Tottenham takes the lead as Kane destroys a cross from LB Flanagan. In the 29th minute Lookman sends a ball over the top that finds Lukaku and he fires a laser from just inside the box past Lloris We take the lead just before half as Lukaku buries a cross from Bolasie. Kane ties it up in the 72nd minute. We head to extra times tied 3-3. We strike 1st in extra time as Lookman gets a pass from Lukaku takes a touch, beats his man and scores. Kane scores once again in the 120th minute as he gets pass deep in the box unmarked, and Rajkovic tries to rush out but it doesn't work. In PK's Lukaku, Kurzawa, Scheiderlin, Rajkovic, and Lookman all get denied by Lloris, while Alli, Dier, Davies, all got stopped by Rajkovic, while Vertonghen just lost all composure and airmailed his kick into the stands.

Obviously I'm disappointed not winning the Super Cup but I can't fault my team's effort as they played their asses off in both games. One random thing is I have yet to sign a summer signing, turns out really good wingers want to be paid but I just don't want to pull the trigger on a 12 mil a contract even though I can afford it. But this is before the transfer deadline and maybe I'll get antsy.    

[jaysdailydose]

Be back later today to update those trophies.  Sorry guys, been getting my FM18 on.

[jaysdailydose]

On 28/07/2018 at 03:30, 3LionsFM said:

How do you holiday to November 6th and be able to take over any team that is second bottom? It's probably really simple but I haven't figured it out yet? 

I apologize for being late in responding to this, @3LionsFM!

What you will want to do is start a new game with the parameters listed, but make a manager called "Holiday Man" or really whatever you like, he will never manage a football club.

Start the game with your Holiday Man, and send him on Holiday.  I actually usually holiday until November 5th and have a save file there, to see if there is a possibility of multiple sides being the 19th-placed club on the 6th.  If so, that makes it easier to reload until you get the result you need, if one of the clubs is a preferred club of yours.  Once I've saved the file on the 5th, I then holiday one more day to November 6.  

Then, you retire Holiday Man and create your manager under the challenge parameters, and take over that 19th placed club.  That's it.  

You're obviously welcome to restart/reload on November 5th until you get a favored club or a situation you'd like to play on November 6.  Not that we could tell anyway, but it is definitely not looked down upon.  I reloaded multiple times on my first attempt before I got Southampton. (I have to now restart on FM18, but it definitely took a few reloads to get a club I wanted to play.)  

We hope you'll join us, and again, I apologize on not being quicker to help you.  Welcome to the thread!
 

[jaysdailydose]

I believe I got all of the updates done.  If you fine folks could, if you win trophies, obviously post your screenshots, but if you could post at the bottom the year and trophy, and how many challenge points you should receive, it would make it a bunch easier.   These updates are fine, I don't want you winners to think I'm busting your balls or anything, it would just be much easier to look at the end of posts and see:

Something like:

Challenge Points: 18/19 Europa League, 18/19 FA Cup - 600 Points

I would be SO appreciative, because it this is at the bottom of the post when I scan, I can instantly add it to the board once verifying the screenshot, and I don't have to look at the screenie and figure out what year your trophy is.  

Again, especially since I am going to congratulate two winners (in the next post) -- I DO NOT WANT ANYONE THINKING THEY DID ANYTHING WRONG.  This is solely to make things easier on me, especially when we get closer to FM19.  

Thank you all so very much.  It is greatly appreciated.

[jaysdailydose]

Today, we'd like to congratulate @Beric Dondarrion for entering the leaderboard in style in winning the 2018/19 Champions League.  Stoke City, Champions of Europe anyone?  I'm going to go ahead and say he literally just did the impossible looking at real life, seeing as how Stoke City will spend 18/19 in the Championship.  Excellent job, and here's 1,000 points for your efforts.

@JaytheGreat continued his charge with Everton, adding his second FA Cup and also winning the Europa League in fine style.  Following that up with a second Community Shield win, and Jay has jumped up the challenge table, as he now sits in fifth position with 1,400 points!  He slid just ahead of @theonets who is now in sixth place on 1,350 points... close times near the top of the table behind the great @smp20!

Congratulations to our winning challengers for the week, and keep up the great progress!

-----

I apologize for the tardy challenge update this week.  As most of you know, I have family health issues we're dealing with, but this was more that I've just recently moved to FM18 and have been having some fun with it.   I'll always be back to keep the leaderboard flowing, and we as a challenge community will have to discuss if we want to do a new "permanent thread" for FM19 and forward that I can write out a little better, and be more prepared for with the leaderboard and such things.  It honestly isn't *that* hard to keep it updated, but I never honestly expected the challenge to catch fire as it did, as this challenge was more "forgotten" so to speak over the years behind the obviously awesome challenges like Dafuge's, the old Gundo, Big Euro, Ultimate Manager Challenge, San Marino, the Youth Challenges... it had been dormant for a while, but look at it now?  We are now over 600 posts and nearing 8,500 views since I posted the thread on May 8th.  I was certainly not expecting it to catch FIRE as it did, so we'll see what you think about either keeping this thread, or planning it better for the future.

[Beric Dondarrion]

@jaysdailydose Thank you, for all that you do. This challenge revived my interest in the game.

p.s. You probably did not notice. We won the Premier League. And this is another 200 points in our piggy bank.

[jaysdailydose]

I did miss it.  I'll go back and find it and add it to the thread for this week's update.  Sorry about that and congratulations!

I am very glad to hear that I've helped you find some fun in this game again, but I can't take credit for the challenge itself... it was created by other people.  I am strictly a caretaker and a helper.  Very kind of you to say though, so thank you very much.  

Going to fix that immediately!

[jaysdailydose]

@Beric Dondarrion that is fixed,and you actually got 700 more points, as there was a 500 point milestone for your first Premier League.  That has moved you into fifth place over @JaytheGreat!

Congratulations, and again, sorry that I missed that.   Now you see why I am asking people to put that bolded line at the bottom of a trophy post.  LOL 

[Haiku]

Why it has to be England to Championship only with small database? Thanks.

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Haiku said:

Why it has to be England to Championship only with small database? Thanks.

You didn't read the thread, did you?

It's England, because SAF took over Man Utd. That would be in England.

It has to be up to Championship with small database because it makes for a level playing field for everyone with crap laptops who can't load large databases with umpty-thousand players. ie, it's as equal as it can be.

[Almighty Thermos]

I'm in! 

Lucked out I guess with Leicester...

 

[3LionsFM]

17 hours ago, jaysdailydose said:

I apologize for being late in responding to this, @3LionsFM!

What you will want to do is start a new game with the parameters listed, but make a manager called "Holiday Man" or really whatever you like, he will never manage a football club.

Start the game with your Holiday Man, and send him on Holiday.  I actually usually holiday until November 5th and have a save file there, to see if there is a possibility of multiple sides being the 19th-placed club on the 6th.  If so, that makes it easier to reload until you get the result you need, if one of the clubs is a preferred club of yours.  Once I've saved the file on the 5th, I then holiday one more day to November 6.  

Then, you retire Holiday Man and create your manager under the challenge parameters, and take over that 19th placed club.  That's it.  

You're obviously welcome to restart/reload on November 5th until you get a favored club or a situation you'd like to play on November 6.  Not that we could tell anyway, but it is definitely not looked down upon.  I reloaded multiple times on my first attempt before I got Southampton. (I have to now restart on FM18, but it definitely took a few reloads to get a club I wanted to play.)  

We hope you'll join us, and again, I apologize on not being quicker to help you.  Welcome to the thread!
 

Thanks @jaysdailydose looking forward to getting stuck in to this challenge! 

[jaysdailydose]

16 hours ago, warlock said:

You didn't read the thread, did you?

It's England, because SAF took over Man Utd. That would be in England.

It has to be up to Championship with small database because it makes for a level playing field for everyone with crap laptops who can't load large databases with umpty-thousand players. ie, it's as equal as it can be.

Thanks for the help, @warlock.

He is absolutely correct.  The database size and only Championship and Premier League loaded is for multiple reasons.  It is mainly so that those with crap laptops, as stated, can participate and get decent performance and ability to compete.

Since we are doing the challenge as a competitive challenge, it is vital to have everyone play under the same conditions.  Obviously, your team may be different -- but your environment is not.

It is strictly for competitive balance, and so those with poor computers feel welcome and able to compete in the challenge.  

You can obviously set your game however you wish, but your save will not be eligible for our competitive leaderboard.  That's all.

[jaysdailydose]

7 hours ago, Almighty Thermos said:

I'm in! 

Lucked out I guess with Leicester...

Welcome to the challenge, @Almighty Thermos!  Best of luck with Leicester City!

[Almighty Thermos]

Cheers dude. Should be fun!

[JaytheGreat]

Just a quick update, we won the League Cup against Man Utd who were not using all of their A team, but still started Pogba, Kevin Volland, and Felipe Anderson. 

So that would be +100 for the winning the 19/20 League Cup

Random notes: Striker Lucas Alario and I couldn't come to a contract agreement so he's leaving on a free to Real Madrid at the end of the year. Really mad at myself for letting that happen but I didn't notice until December and refused to go into negotiations with us. We got out of our Champions League Group but got paired up with Real Madrid in the knockout round, the 1st game was played at home were we drew 1-1, I'm not expecting any miracles on the return leg. Better news we are in race for the Premier League, it's between us, Man Utd, and Tottenham. We are currently in 1st place by a point, but we have a game in hand over Tottenham. I play Man Utd at home, and Tottenham away down the stretch so it should be interesting. As for my youth intake it was pretty average, the best player is a 3 star potential striker which means he's the 4th best striker prospect we have and will probably never make a difference at the senior level for us.  

Edited August 7, 2018 by JaytheGreat

[JaytheGreat]

We cap our 4th season with a Premier League title! We tied Tottenham on points with 89 but won it on goal difference. the season basically came down to the 2nd to last game were we beat Tottenham at their place 3-2 to go up 3 points with one game remaining. 

 

Once again we were led by Lukaku who English Player of the Year, Player of the Year, and lead the Premier League in goals with 30. Alisson broke his own Everton shutout record, and Barkley broke the Everton assist with 17. As I mentioned above our 2nd leg in the Champions League was at Real Madrid, we played bravely but fell 3-2 on a brace from Ronaldo. At the summer deadline I ended up picking up Andrija Zivkovic from SLB for $40 mil he finished with 10 goals and 10 assists in 26 starts including a goal on his debut, We had another new player wonderkind CAM Luis Hererra who was on loan last year at Schalke due to work permit problems, he had 2 goals and 4 assists in 16 starts. We sold DM Idrissa Gueye for $30 mil to some team in China. Going into the offseason we need another striker, RB, and depth at CB and AML. I know the striker I want but he's not going to come cheap. 

 

 

Here's a small tribute to Lucas Alario who's leaving to ride the bench at Real Madrid behind Benzema and Morata. We bought Alario for $6.5 mil from River Plate, over his 3 years here Alario scored 58 league goals and 91 goals overall.

Personal Milestones this season

100th win against Red Bull Salzburg 

Manager of the Year 

125 W - 28 D - 44 L  63% winning percentage 

+700 points = 200 for winning the Premier League, and 500 for the Milestone bonus 

[JaytheGreat]

A much busier offseason then last season. First we upgraded our junior coaching budget, and youth intake range, hopefully this will yield better youth intake player's but I have had some decent ones already. Next I hired my 1st former player to the coaching staff, former CB Phil Jagielka who spent 10 years at Everton before we sold him to Sunderland, he took over U18 Assistant Coach role. I signed another former player, this one never played for Everton but played under the original Alex Ferguson, Michael Carrick. Carrick was brought in to take over the U23 Assistant Coach position as the I had before left for a role at Man Utd. Speaking of Man Utd they fired Jose Mourinho and hired Barcelona manager Luis Enrique. We only had one transfer out was Predrag Rajkovic, who we sold to Monaco for 28 mil upfront and another possible 7 mil down the road. Monaco was after both GKs but even though Alisson is a few years older I still think he was the better player so we kept him instead. To replace Rajkovic we signed 21 year Alban Lafont on a free, he's not godlike but he's still young and definitely improve. Next we had the tall order of replacing Alario at striker. My 1st choice was Isak from Dortmund but I miss read his release clause which was 71 mil, I didn't want to spend my whole transfer budget on one player so I went with plan B. 26 year old Torinio striker Andrea Belotti for 25.5 mil up front and another 7.5 mil down the road. Next was CB, I lost my backup CB Ramiro Funes Mori on a free because I couldn't get a work permit for him because he didn't have enough recent National Team games even though he started 30 games for me this year.  So I bought Kurt Zouma from Chelsea for 15 mil, I was shocked to get him for so low because he wasn't transfer listed, but he also wasn't getting much time behind VvD, and Romagnoli. 

 

Another year another Community Shield trophy, this one however did not require PKs as we smashed Man City 4-1.

Not a bad 1st game for your new club Belotti, not bad at all. He'll get his chance to shine at his new club as Lukaku is out for 3-4 months due to getting hurt on international duty during the start of the preseason. 

+50 Community Shield 20/21

[Jamie Cortez]

Late to the party but while waiting on some FM19 news might as well do something productive!

Unfortunately i ended up with Swansea City, Spent 0 on transfers and only have a budget of 2.5M 

And an absolutely horrific goal difference.

Edited August 13, 2018 by Jamie Cortez

[JaytheGreat]

@Jamie Cortez Good luck with Swansea, the good news is there's several teams within striking distance to get out of the relegation zone. 

[Jamie Cortez]

Finally got some time to finish the season. Managed to drag Swansea to 10th. 

My only transfers in Jan were getting in Pontus Jansson and Ross Barkley. Hoping for some decent funds for the new season as the current squad needs major work.

[jaysdailydose]

Noticed there's some updates, just haven't been able to be on much this week.

Will get the new challengers loaded and those trophies for you @JaytheGreat. 

I'll have the updates up likely by tomorrow!

[JaytheGreat]

Another season over means more trophies for Everton, as we finish with another Premier League title and FA Cup. This year we win the league by 4 points, with Man Utd coming in 2nd and chasing us the whole season. Unlike last year were we overtook Man Utd, and Tottenham late in the season, this year we were in 1st place for most of the year. We lead the Premier League in goals in no small part due to our world class strikers Lukaku and Belotti. Else where we lost to Tottrnham 1-0 in the League Cup final, and got knocked out in the Champions League Semi Final which included a crazy 5-4 loss at Goodison Park. But we finished the season on another high note as we beat Watford in the FA Cup 2-1 for our 3rd FA Cup and 1st Premier League/Fa Cup double. We were dominating for most of the year until we played Arsenal at the Emirates in the 1st game of May 6-1. It was a bad showing from the whole team but after that our entire defense just collapsed. It effected all members but no one was more effected then our CB leader Michael Keane. After that defeat Keane was borderline unplayable. All in all I can't complain about this year considering we won 3 trophies but it's frustrating knowing we could have won them all.

    

 

We had a very easy FA Cup run; beating Blackburn 4-0 at home, Bournemouth 7-2 at home, Crystal Palace 4-0 at Crystal Palace, Stoke 3-1 at home, Nottingham Forest at Wembley 2-0, and Watford again at Wembley 2-1. We set a new FA Cup record scoring 22 goals in the competition, and finshed 22 goals scored to 4 allowed. Players of the competition are Belotti, and LaFont.

 

We finished the season 3 points lower then last year, and I think the League as a whole was more competitive then last year. With Dybala going to PSG this summer Maurio Icardi scored the most goals this year. We started with key players Lukaku, Barkley, and Schniderlin missing months of time due to injury. Normal that would sink me but Belotti and Zivkovic went on a path of goal scoring destruction. When Lukaku came back in mid October, he picked up his form from last year and joined in on the goal scoring fun. Injuries in the midfield gave big time minutes to Luis Herrera, Hojbjerg, and Davies, and they delivered beautifully. Davies had 47 starts with 8 goals and 9 assists mainly playing the box to box role. Hojbjerg also had 47 starts and finished with 7 goals and 9 assists. Herrera had 24 starts and had 8 goals and 7 assists mainly playing at CAM while Barkley was hurt. The players of the season for me were Andrea Belotti (scored 42 goals and 14 assists in 52 games), Andrija Zivkovic (17 goals and 17 assists in 37 starts), and Kurt Zouma. We don't win the League or make a League Cup run without Belotti, and Zivkovic picking up the offensive slack in the 1st 3 months. Barkley, and Lukaku came back from their injuries and played like they didn't miss a beat. 

I have $109 mil to use for the summer market. I don't have any glaring weaknesses outside of depth. We played a ton of games as I want to win everything, and the injuries mounted up which really stressed us. So we will see were the market takes us, I'm still looking for a RB, and maybe a BWM DM.

Personal Milestones

20/21 Manager of the Year 

170 W - 36 D - 54 L  Winning Percentage: 65%   

+ 200 20/21 Premier League Win

+ 200 20/21 FA Cup Win

+ 500 milestone Win Premier League/FA Cup double within 8 seasons

= 900 points

[JaytheGreat]

Not going to lie it's fun having top tier monopoly money.  

[fabreth]

I have some carreers in this edition, never able to progress too much in any of them, keep jumping from one to another, always starting from the bottom or, apart for my youth challenge attempt in Germany, in leagues outside the usual top 5. Sooo... this should be an interesting change of perspective!

Let's roll!

 

 

West Ham it is!

[Beric Dondarrion]

Season 19/20

Transfers

 

UEFA Super Cup

 

Premier League

 

Champions League

 

First 11

 

Man of the season.  37(5) games, 40+16, av r 7,76.

 

We still have one season to win the FA Cup. Otherwise, we will fail the challenge

 

Challenge Progress

Domestic Titles

2/13 Premier League Titles

0/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

0/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

European Titles

2/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League 

1/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

 

+200 19/20 Premier League Win

+200 19/20  UEFA Super Cup

+1000 19/20 UEFA Champions League

= 1400 points

 

 

• Жа
•  

 

 

[JaytheGreat]

@Beric Dondarrion That's still a hell of a season FA Cup or not, back to back Premier League and Champions League titles is crazy. I'm still looking for my 1st Champions League title. 

[Beric Dondarrion]

@JaytheGreat Yes. But no matter how good my career is, if I do not win the FA Cup this season, I will fail the challenge

[JaytheGreat]

@Beric Dondarrion Technically you wouldn't fail it, it's just labeled incomplete but I know what you mean. I hope you win the FA Cup next season because we are so close in points, which motivates me to keep winning everything I can.   

[Beric Dondarrion]

@JaytheGreat Thank you buddy. I will try very hard. I'm glad that my results motivate you.

[JaytheGreat]

Quick update as the Summer Transfer Window has ended. 

Our most expensive signing is Timothy Fosu - Mensah from Man Utd. The 23 year old will be starting at the box to box CM role when we play in our attacking formation, and as a Ball Winning Midfielder at DM in our defensive formation. We can play CM, DM, CB, and RB his talent and versatility I think justifies the price tag. Going into the offseason I wasn't planing to sell Kurzawa but Arsenal made a good offer and I knew Theo Hernandez was transfer listed. It pains me to sell Kurzawa as he's played so well since coming over from PSG but he's 28 and Hernandez is 5 years younger and just as good. Got Yarmolenko on loan to rotate with Lookman at AML but Lookman got hurt late in the preseason for 2-3 months so Yarmolenko got thrusted into the starting lineup and in his 1st 2 games has a goal and 2 assists. Those 2 assists came in his 1st game here in a 2-1 away win vs Chelsea. Craig Hendrite and Christopher Baines are my 1st 2 players from my youth intakes to be sold.

This is our Champions League group, we beat Dortmund twice in groups last year and their our biggest challenge again this year, so I expect to win the group again this year. 

Other offseason news, Goodison Park is being expand by an extra 8,000 seats to put the stadium over 42,000 seats.

[fabreth]

My first season with the Hammers started so and so.. with 2 victories and 2 defeats. The end of december was good, with 3 consecutive wins and a draw which made us escape the danger zone. Some great victories, some wrong matches, in the end only a 14th place. FA Cup was a delusion, as I feel we should have done much better against Aston Villa.

 

 

I started immediately to enjoy managing a team with money in january... as I decided to play this carreer with a 3 man defence, and because I have some old ones, I bought Vestergaard. And in beginning of thinking about the future, Lautaro Martinez was the second buy, and he delivered well until two subsequent injuries. Correa was loaned by the former manager. With this team is not even a problem fielding one academy player, from the start we already have Noble and Rice, and next year will return from loan Oxford(which I like) and Burke.

 

 

About the future and the money, I planned some upgrades, and also had the junior coaching and youth recruitment improved. And, because it wasn't enough, I took two affiliates, for merchandising and youth intakes (guess who's who?). About the intake, my first one see the arrival of a potentially very good defender in Robertson.

 

 

 

 

[jaysdailydose]

Guys, I haven't forgotten about you -- the thread isn't going anywhere so I will tabulate the scores soon.  I've been playing very heavily and just haven't taken the time to come and post the new scores.  I'm lazy, I truly am.  

But I *WILL* tabulate the scores soon, so don't think your achievements aren't going to be counted.  

I'm not that far behind and would rather just get many at once.  If you want to yell at me, that's fine.      

[JaytheGreat]

@jaysdailydose How dare you play a lot of FM and enjoy it!!! 

@fabreth Your 1st season sounds a lot like my 1st season, I ended up finishing 15th and got knocked out early in the FA Cup against a team I should have beat. That 16 year old CB looks amazing, he's going to be a great defender. 

[Beric Dondarrion]

Season 20/21

It was a wonderful season. We won almost everything. 6 titles from 7.

 

Transfers

 

UEFA Super Cup and Community Shield

 

Premier League

 

FIFA Club World Championship

 

Champions League

 

Finally, we won FA Cup

 

First 11

 

Man of the season. 44(6) games, 22+46, av r 7,95

 

 

Challenge Progress

Domestic Titles

3/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

0/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

1/10 English Community Shield

European Titles

3/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League 

2/1 UEFA Super Cup

1/2 FIFA Club World Championship

 

+200 20/21 Premier League Win

+200 20/21  UEFA Super Cup

+50   20/21 Community Shields win 

+200 20/21 FIFA Club World Cup Win

+200 20/21 FA Cup Win

+1000 20/21 UEFA Champions League

+500 milestone Win the FA Cup within 4 seasons

+500 milestone  Win a Premier League/FA Cup double within 8 seasons 

+500 milestone  Win the Premier League/FA Cup/Champions League Treble within 13 seasons

= 3350 points

 

 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Beric Dondarrion

[JaytheGreat]

@Beric Dondarrion Holy crap what a season! Congrats on a hell of a season and that FA Cup win. 

[Beric Dondarrion]

@JaytheGreat Thanks dude. In the FA Cup, the most difficult confrontation, oddly enough, was with Preston from Championships))

[BanOly]

nvm

Edited September 3, 2018 by BanOly

[fabreth]

Preparing my second season at West Ham, here are the transfers. With Joao Mario and Correa returning to their teams after the loans, and with the idea of rejuvenate the squad, we bought van de Beek, more offensive, and Ajer, more defensive. Flanagan is a wing-back, as also here we have Zabaleta which has a certain age.. but I admit it was a second choice, as Zappacosta choose Watford instead. Relegated Swansea gave us Bony at an average cost, will be a good alternative, better than Hugill i think. Transfers out, the wingers, as they don't fit my tactic, so Antonio, Snodgrass, and the loan of Arnautovic (which plays also as a striker but did not convince me past season).

IN:                                              OUT:

 

 

All is good, and I'm confident, but then the season starts like this:  well almost all the big teams are gone, now it's time to improve...

[fabreth]

Not bad as improvement. Several lost matches, some good consecutive wins, Lautaro Martinez who began to bags one goal after another. Then the second round came, but this time was different: great wins against Liverpool and Arsenal and a draw agains United. Two easy (but not so much easy on the field) rounds in the FA Cup allow us to move forward. Transfer wise, i received an offer for our 31yo keeper Adrian, so I sold him and changed the keeper: Everton was relegated and I had already shortlisted Pickford in the summer, so now was a perfect time: 19M brought him here.

 

[fabreth]

...and the season ended. A fantastic streak from January onwards, with only one defeat. But in the most important match, the FA Cup Semifinal... Man Utd beats us (only to lose in the final to Bournemouth )

 

So...season review... a great 5th place, above Liverpool and only behind the big boys. So it will be Europa League next season!

 

  

 

Two forwards who bags in the goals, two good keepers. And that's very important. Then, a good left side of the pitch with Cresswell and Masuaku, while  the right can be improved. The midfield changed compared to last year. This year is a bit more muscular and solid, and Ajer had a good first season as a BWM/defensive midfielder. Also re-posting the complete transfers table for rule adherence as you can imagine, the "low fee" transfers in are two young english talents. I forgot a screen, but now the junior coaching and youth recruitments are maxed out!

 

 

 

And then came endseason, with plenty of news. Bye-bye Gold, and welcome to our new chairman. In fact, the training facilities were later scrapped, but in time I will re-ask them. They gave me a 63M budget with over 200M for wage... this could be fun! But then there's the other news: the brexit, and it's a hard one It means, for start, no cheap young talents from abroad, and the prices and demands of english players will increase I think. So, "The Academy" must help us. But I was lucky in picking West Ham 19th, so I think it's fair.. and a good challenge!

 

 

[JaytheGreat]

@fabreth nice job on the 5th place finish and good luck in the Europa League.

[Jamie Cortez]

After placing 10th in the first season,  we sold 53M worth of players and brought in 96M worth so a budget of 43M.

First full season i managed to place sixth with a carabao cup to my name and entry into the Europa League.

 

We invested again mostly in a top quality Left back that i had missed out on the previous January due to not enough funds left...however i have always been a massive fan of this player hence i overspent!

PLayer i do miss is Tammy Abraham who was on loan the first two seasons, his second season he was 33 goals in 34 apps and walked away with the Golden Boot but unfortunately that season saw chelsea hike his price way into the stratosphere.

[fabreth]

West Ham 2019-20 season

 

Transfers: More or less one player per role, tryng to improve the team and prepare us for europe while remaining competitive at home, plus some low cost leftovers from big teams.

 

League: the confirmation of the 5th place. The difference between us and the big teams were our losses against lower level teams, but this was also for the many matches we had, because...

 

FA CUP: WON! Hard victory in two legs against Leicester, the shootouts against Crystal Palace, Manchester United again, this time with Martinez in one of his brilliant days, and the great "remuntada" in the final, from 0-2 to 2-2 and then the final blow by Bony!

 

Europa League: WON! Second place in the group, and then the draw gave us Lyon again. We beated some very good teams along the road, with Bony on fire in the quarter and semifinal. Then the final, when i was ready for extra-time, it was Hernandez, who was in a period of crisis in that time, who scored the decisive goal!

 

Review: all is good! We had a great Bony supporting Hernandez and Martinez, good season overall.. it's only Lanzini who was subpar, I expected more, and I have to think about finding someone better if i can. Yes particular highlight that crazy 9-0! I thought I had broken FM

 

          

 

So, let me see if I can do this correctly, that means:

Milestone: FA Cup in the first 4 seasons: 500 pt

FA Cup Win: 200 pt

Europa League Win: 400 pt

 

Total: 1100 pt

 

For those curious enough, this is my setup for "the future". Facilities almost maxed out, my new HOYD and this year's intake, with some good prospects:

Spoiler

  

 

[JaytheGreat]

@fabreth nice job on the 5th place finish and congrats on the FA Cup, and Europa League run. I'm a little jealous of your HOD.

@Jamie Cortez Nice season, and congrats on your 1st trophy.

 

Welcome to the leader board guys (whenever @jaysdailydose decides to update it ).

[Jamie Cortez]

Season 2 over

We were sitting pretty inside the top six until Feb when we had a devastating crash of form losing multiple games on the six (ish) bounce before a rally in March. The board sent me a nice little threat that if results don't improve i am up for the chop despite significant progress in the Euro Cup!

We ended the season in 8th so definitely not as good as season 1..bur rather than walking away with the Carabao Cup we became Euro Cup Champions!! 

Time to play the Season 3 campaign and Champions League!

 

And i had to turn down the France post!

 

So at the moment i believe my scoring is 500 pts

UEFA Europa League Win - 400 points**
League Cup Win - 100 points

Edited September 13, 2018 by Jamie Cortez

[JaytheGreat]

Oh boy this was my best season yet, after losing in the Community Shield to Man Utd we went on to win every other trophy available.

League Cup: Won  

We stormed through the League Cup until we beat Man Utd on penalties. Man Utd took the early lead when their young 18 year old striker found the back of the net, it stayed that way until former Man Utd youth academy product Timothy Fosu-Mensah who we bought for a Everton record breaking $72 mil. I don't remember how the penalties went but I believe I won them by a large margin. My journey to wining the Cup included a 5-2 home win against Tottenham, a 5-1 away win vs West Ham, a 5-0 home win vs Arsenal, a 6-1 overall victory vs Brentford in the semi's. Everton also sent the League Cup goal record with 22 goals over the competition. 

FA Cup: Won 

We beat Crystal Palace 3-0 in a game that was never in doubt. My top 3 attacking players all scored goals to bring the trophy home. The road to the final was pretty much gifted to us as the 1st 3 games were all at home. We beat Swansea 5-1, Bournemouth 4-1, the always annoying Watford 2-0, and in the semi's Nottingham Forest 2-0.

Champions League: Won

WE FINALLY WON OUR 1ST CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!! We beat Inter Milan in the Final 2-1. We started it off with a goal by Ben Davies which was a great moment for him and the club as he's one of our youth academy players and has become one of the best English players in the world. It started by our CAM Luis Herrera finding a header into the box and passing to Davies in space who beat the GK. Inter tied it as their AML Carrillo crossed it into the box and their CAM Franco Vazquez buried it. We won it for good in the 68th minute as Belotti fired cross from a crazy angle on the right hand side all the to the left side that met our top summer signing LB Theo Hernandez. It was a great game with an unlikely hero at the end. Our Journey included winning every game in the group stage, losing to Atletico Madrid, then coming home and winning 1-0 to advance on away goals, our Quaterfinal opponent was Shakhtar winning the home leg 4-0 and losing the away leg 1-0, in the Semi's came desa vu as we played Bayern who we beat win the Semi's in our 3rd year to go on and win the Europa League. And just like last time we beat the crap out of them at home winning 6-1 and losing 2-1 away. 

Premier League: Won   

It was a three team battle most of the way between us, Tottenham, and Arsenal. Tottenham was in the lead until February, including buying 4 senior team players with a combine worth of $113.5 mil, but it is Tottenham after all and they choked their lead away to finish 8 points behind us. Our 3 summer signings all played very well; LB Theo Hernandez obliterated the Everton assist record by assisting in 23 goals, he also scored 3 goals with 2 of them coming in the Champions League after the Group stages and had a rating of 7.51. Timothy  Fosu-Mensah's versatility was a blessing as he regularly played as a Box to Box CM and a Ball Winning DM, and even got some game as a Ball Winning CB. He scored 7 goals and added 2 assists and had a rating of 7.28. As for the rest of the team it's the same Lukaku, and Belotti are the best striker duo in the world, Barkley, and Herrera are big time playmakers at the CAM role but they excel at different things. Zivkovic is a monster on the wing. The midfield is deep and dominating, my CB's are rock solid but Zouma seems to be the best one defensively overall, Keane has an uncanny ability to score off set pieces, and Rieldewield is just all around solid but nothing amazing. My fullbacks are good but has little depth. At GK Alisson and Lafont are a great 1-2 combo, but Alsson seems like he's starting to slip up some times.

In random news We are crazy good at scoring directly off free kicks, Barkley, Zivkovic, and Emile-Hojbjerg all scored multiple direct free kicks. Harry Kane had an amazing year with 39 League goals, but it still comes close to Dybala's record setting year of 55 League goals. My U-18 team won the U-18 Champions League against AC Milan. Where's picture of my team in the spoiler. I won my 200th game 4-0 at home against Sunderland, and I won Manager of the Year again.

 

Spoiler

Brown will be on the Senior team next and will rotate in, while Byrne will probably get some Cup starts.

+100 21/22 League Cup

+200 21/22 FA Cup

+200 21/22 Premier League 

+ 1000 21/22 Champions League

+ 500 Milestone Win the Premier League/FA Cup/Champions League Treble within 13 years

+ 2000 points overall

Edited September 14, 2018 by JaytheGreat
More Info added

[Jamie Cortez]

Absolutely outstanding season there @JaytheGreat

Sadly for me my team got picked apart in the transfer window by the likes of man City and Chelsea unsettling barkley and pickford. 

My choice of replacements haven't yet got up to speed and I'm struggling in the bottom half of the table early on. 

[fabreth]

@JaytheGreatamazing season! keep it up!

@Jamie Cortez I had Arsenal unsettling Pickford, fortunately enough all got resolved approaching the end of the transfer window.

 

Intereseting to see that some of us bought the same players.. but in fact is not that much of a surprise, given the small database

[Jamie Cortez]

Swansea wise we just had an absolute stormer of a season after a really rocky start ...Challenge wise...it was poor!

We begun the season really poorly after a good pre season, losing six of the first 8 games sitting in the relegation zone, a Team meeting and change of tactic saw us turn it around only losing 3 more league games for the rest of the season! placing 3rd above a number of the big Premier League teams.

Mid way through the season the board decided to sell the club which initially seemed like a good thing, the finances were restrictive and i couldn't get them top upgrade the training or youth facilities to where they need to be. Then..a press release the consortium planning the takeover plan to replace me with Jorge Jesus!

Owing to a good atmosphere and backing of the players the new board decided to give me some time to prove my worth, in the mean time after takeover they upgraded the training and youth facilities as part of the package, i managed to get them to upgrade the data analysis centre and purchase the stadium too! 

 

Our first season in the champions league saw us placed in a group of death, my initial prospects were bleak, very bleak Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Sporting Lisbon. We started out with a loss to Bayern before demolishing Sporting, our next game was probably the most memorable a 3-0 victory at home to Real Madrid! leaving us in 2nd spot of the group table!

We lost the return leg against Madrid but then beat Bayern at home before beating Sporting away! We not only qualified from the group of death we did so in 1st Place sending Bayern out!!!      

We negotiated the knockout round beating Lazio home and Away, and then took our Leverkusen in the quarters to reach the semi finals. But that..is where out journey ended with much sadness Liverpool dumped us out 2-4  

 

Palombi and Sane were both incredible throughout the League season

` 

 

And finally my tactic and current team going into the close of season.

 

Where to go from here...

GK- Abad- 2.5 stars- His name says it all really.....he's ok was brought in on a free the end of last season to serve as backup to Pickford unfortunately Pickford moved on out to City so Abad was drafted in to the No1 Slot! 

GK- Aronsson - 4 star - This young lad has been chilling in the U23's for a season, he is a regen my scouts found out at Malmo, he's looking good at 18 years old i just don't think he's ready for prime spot.

Action- Target a keeper of advancing years to replace Abad while Aronsson develops on Cup games

 

LB - Shaw 3 stars - More than happy with the first choice LB, consistent a threat going forward

CB - Mawson 3.5 stars - Home Grown, capable and consistent

CB- Martinez Quarta 3 stars- Been here a few seasons, capable but hasn't developed as i hoped he would

RB - Conti 3.5 stars - Great player has been an absolute bargain 

Backups -  none that stand out, capable players who are happy to sit on the bench, no real competition, do have 2 under 18's at 4 star+ potential.

Action -This area has me torn, while shaw and conti are only rated at 3/3.5 stars they are consistent and in my opinion better than the potential the game is displaying. Mawson is solid. I feel the need for another top quality CB if we are to progress in Europe.

MEZ - Mesa - 3.5 stars - One of the original squad has been a great performer but now the wrong side of 30 for me.

DLP - Loftus Cheek - 4 Stars - Cheap buy from Chelsea after being transfer listed. Relatively new but av rating of 7.44 

CM - Herrera - 4 stars - Again consistent solid and a personal favourite but now 31 years old

Backups- I still have Tom Carroll and 2 regens  and also Rodolfo Pizzaro who can play here. Don't see the need for further additions as the regens are 3.5/4 star potential so they could do with development time.

 

IFL- Martial 4 Stars - Recent addition after being listed - Simply AMAZING

IFR - Sane - 4 Stars - was listed at MCY and again as per the stats been brilliant.

S - Palombi - 4 Stars - Been great as the lone front man no concerns here.

Backups - I have Enzo Cabrera who is likely to move on, Munir has been good and have the ability to play Pizarro, Martial here if needed.