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

[barrybatsbak]

After the new update with transfers I thought this challenge would be nice to try. Aston Villa is the lucky team that Bas Ferguson takes over.

Manager Profile

With the random face generator FM created a manager that looks quite a bit on the real deal Sir Alex Ferguson. Meet (Sir) Bas Huijsmans.

Competitions

After just one win in 11 games it is quite logic that Aston Villa is placed 19th in the league. Their biggest problem until now is that they only managed to score 4  goals in the league, so that will be the biggest problem to solve. We are already eliminated in the league cup. So the FA Cup is probably the only way to get into Europe for this year. But getting into Europe isn't the goal for this season. We have to survive first!

Wish me luck!

[Mandy42]

good luck Barry!

Made it to the end of my 1st season in charge.

As my transfer embargo rival is Forest, adds a bit of spice to be playing them twice next season!

Have a detailed career update thread Here if anyone is interested in the details of the challenge.

 

Challenge Progress: Year 1

Domestic Titles

0/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

0/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

0/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League 

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

 

 

 

[JaytheGreat]

@Mandy42 Congrats on the FA Cup win right off the bat! Interesting to see what transfers you bring in over the summer, I think you'll be force in the Europa League next season. 

[Mandy42]

My in depth ramblings about the save are here

Though here are just the transfers for my 1st full year

I can sign 11, so I signed 11! Well I was done at 8, but my youth development manager brought in Clinton Mola and Ridel Richards, I have since told him no more! Or I will fail the challenge! Then the perfect storm happened. Ruben Neves was unsettled at Wolves, I was reminded I had a promise to fulfil to strengthen the squad and the money was there to buy him, so yeah I went and got him. Shackleton has gone straight back to Leeds on a season long loan, Richards is nowhere near ready for 1st team action and Jocu is going to be loaned out, the rest might find at least 1 start in the team throughout the course of the year.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Mandy42

[m0nk3y-b0y]

Going to take another crack at this using FM20.

Manager Profile:

League Table:

[Mandy42]

@JaytheGreat:

 

A force in Europe you say? 

[JaytheGreat]

5 hours ago, Mandy42 said:

@JaytheGreat:

 

A force in Europe you say? 

Called it!

[Mandy42]

I postponed the signing of this guy until next season so as not to sign more players than allowed in a single season, that's within the rules right?

[JaytheGreat]

10 hours ago, Mandy42 said:

I postponed the signing of this guy until next season so as not to sign more players than allowed in a single season, that's within the rules right?

Yes that's allowed.

[Mandy42]

2nd season update

transfers and competition results

Challenge Progress: Year 2

Domestic Titles

0/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

0/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

0/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League 

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

 

Good year, but no increase in silverware yet!

[Champfan10]

So I'm starting this challenge as the following (got the age wrong by a year):-

 

The saints are my team:-

 

Looking forward to this, though I'm not expecting the  instant success some people have had.

[Mandy42]

3rd season update

Challenge Progress: Year 3

Domestic Titles

0/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

0/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

0/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League 

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

 

Champions League football 2 years in a row, improved league finish from 4th to 3rd, but no increase in silverware.

 

[That There Phil]

I thought I'd give this a shot to break up the monotony of lock down. My first attempt gave me Sheffield United, but I'm managing them in my main save, so I had a second attempt. And this happened...

The challenge would be realistic at least!! I have no idea if I'll actually take it on going forwards, I much prefer challenges which start with an underdog, but I thought it was amusing at least.

 

[DaveMac]

On 20/04/2020 at 02:53, That There Phil said:

I thought I'd give this a shot to break up the monotony of lock down. My first attempt gave me Sheffield United, but I'm managing them in my main save, so I had a second attempt. And this happened...

The challenge would be realistic at least!! I have no idea if I'll actually take it on going forwards, I much prefer challenges which start with an underdog, but I thought it was amusing at least.

 

That is brilliant! 
 

I ran it this morning and first team that popped up was Arsenal. Not only would they be kinda easy to start at. But as a Spurs fan I have no interest in trying to turn arsenal into the most dominating team, even in a virtual world!

[GJS93]

started this the other week, got Southampton and finished 10th in the first season, even with the limit on signings ive done a large overhaul on the squad so will see how the second season goes.

on signings, do youth players count towards the max of 11 per season?

[DaveMac]

Looks like James McDonald will be taking on the challenge with Aston Villa.  Which is useful having Grealish as a homegrown player.

Edited May 1, 2020 by DaveMac

[João14]

Let's go!

[Mandy42]

On 30/04/2020 at 09:25, GJS93 said:

started this the other week, got Southampton and finished 10th in the first season, even with the limit on signings ive done a large overhaul on the squad so will see how the second season goes.

on signings, do youth players count towards the max of 11 per season?

do you mean youth intake players? I don't think so, as they are simply signing a contract, and you have produced them. I  think the limit is on transfers you go out and actually buy.

[Mandy42]

 

 

 

Challenge Progress: Year 4

Domestic Titles

0/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

1/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

1/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League 

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

After not winning anything since year one, and being fed up at missing out by 3 points last year, I got a bit salty this year when the title seemed to fading away.

Lets face it, there are 13 of them to win, and the next challenge stage after the FA Cup is the league, then league and cup double.

To go from feeling like that, to securing a double, and a famous debut Champions League win, was pretty awesome!

Which leads me to ask, @JaytheGreat what does a guy got to do to make it onto the leader board? 

[Mandy42]

Challenge Progress: Year 5

Domestic Titles

1/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

1/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

1/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League 

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

One down, 12 more to go! though it took tanking most of the other competitions to sneak the league by a point on the final day, so not sure what magic we will have to conjure up to manage a double!

[NoNonsenseFM]

Decided to give this a go..

[Siepe1990]

In search of a new Challenge after getting bored with my long term save, I stumbled upon this one and really liked the idea of trying to emulate one of the greatest managerial spells ever.

So, let's give this one a go - I'll immediately update upon my first season as well, since I've finished that one already.

Manager Profile:

Standings at November 6th, 2019 (so, Brighton it is!):

So, Brighton... not a team I know much about, but I've read up a little and getting them to the top of the world would be quite something.

They've played only a few season on the top flight of English football and have only ever won one prize: the Community Shield back in 1910, when it was still the Charity Shield.

So, let's see what we've got to work with:

•  Club labelled as 'Rich', with a slightly positive Bank Balance and only a little Transfer Debt and a relatively small Wage Budget of around 1 million p/w
• Resulting in a positive Projection for the following years as it currently stands, which is actually more than I could have hoped for
• A huge (!) player base, lots of players out on loan, but enough to get some money into the bank in both the Winter and the Summer Transfer Window
• Already Superb Training and Superb Youth Facilities, which is pretty awesome
• Home Grown Players: 1 solid CB and 1 replacement CB and 1 'okay-ish' AMR... guess it'll have to do

However, despite all this, they've only collected 8 points in 11 games, which is... well... terrible. Luckily, I'm here to save they day!

Fast-forward to the end of the season:

I managed to outperform the legend by finishing 9th on my first season, with a W/D/L ratio of 14/5/8 (52% / 18% / 30%).

Can't complain at all how things turned out, with one exception: if Man Utd and Liverpool would have won the European Finals they played (UEL / UCL), I would have gotten a European Ticket...

Here are my transfers ; I splashed some cash on a Center Back (Onguene) and a DM (Kana) and managed to get Viktor Fisher for a bargain on Deadline Day - not that I needed an AML, but he's so much better than what I had and for that value... just couldn't pass him up. The two free signings are from my DoF ; disabled him finalizing offers immediately after. Sold some players as well, to generate some cash and to get rid of some players that didn't quite fit in my plans.

So, no need yet for a summary of my prizes, but we'll see what next season will bring...

 

[Siepe1990]

Madness! History has been written! Brighton has won it's first ever prize and it's a big one: the FA Cup is ours!

A very successful campaign in the Premier League - with a highest finish in club history - has been topped off quite nicely.

Insanely successful season for us, way better than I expected - I hoped for a P7 finish to get in to Europe, but never would have dreamed to finish P3.

On the Transfer-side, some big changes, both at the beginning and at the half-way point.

At the beginning, Reguilon was brought in from Real Madrid for nothing () and some big sales created room for two signings.

I was really surprised both wanted to come, especially with Maffeo there were several other bigger contenders (PSG, Real Madrid), but he picked Playing Time over Reputation.

At the half way point, I had some spare money and decided to bring in the player I want to build my success around: Naci Unuvar.

He's an insane talent from AFC Ajax, one that I will turn into a Trequartista Striker (currently a AML/AMC, but already basic as a ST).

Final signing was Kepa Arrizabalaga... Yeah, I know... Surprising right?

I noticed that Chelsea bought Oblak in the summer, which meant Kepa was not playing anything and was getting restless.

I had to spend way more wages and put some huge clauses in his contract, but I convinced him to come... He's been key in my success in the 2nd half of the season.

 

Challenge Progress: Year 2

 

Domestic Titles

0/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

0/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

0/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

[Siepe1990]

The 3rd season brought a lot of action and twists and turns, which resulted in.. well... actually, nothing, in the end...

I finished 2nd, which is not bad of course, but only 1 point and a few goals separated Brighton from Premier League glory - so it feels like a loss..

On the cup-side it was okay-ish: Quarter Final CL, Semi Final FA Cup and a 4th round in the League Cup -  and a runner-up in the Community Shield

So, over to the Transfers then, a lot has happened once again.

The board gave me a nice budget, so I decided to splash the cash on two of the biggest French talents in the game: Eduardo Camavinga and Dayot Upamecano.

Both cost 60M+, but I can tell you: they're worth it (Camavinga actually won Player of the Year!).

Towards the Winter Window, some players started complaining and offers started coming in.

I decided to sell quite a few discontent players and bring in some fresh blood as replacement (Adarabioyo, Bernat and Alena are all that category, as is Pinnock who came on loan).

One real surprise was the Transfer Listing of The Magician of Amsterdam, Hakim Ziyech, by Chelsea.

I was searching for a very attacking minded CM and he of course fits the bill perfectly - and for only 18.5M he's a real bargain as well.

He managed a stunning 7.83 average in 15 matched, scoring 4 and giving 9 assists... insane numbers.

So, on to the next year, with some pretty amazing transfers lined up and interest in my players reaching previously unheard-of limits...

 

Challenge Progress: Year 3 (no changes)

Domestic Titles

0/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

0/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

0/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

[Siepe1990]

The Golden Boys of '22/'23 - that's how they'll be remembered forever.

The Legend has been started - Brighton has done the double, winning not only their first ever Premier League, but also... the Champions League!

Man Utd has been bested in both - they put up quite a fight in the competition, failing against West Ham who were fighting relegation.

On the Transfers Side, couple of big names joined for unexpected low fees.

Phil Foden - somehow, my scouts found out that City would let him go for 30M, whereas he was worth around 65M at the moment... So a no-brainer there...

Same goes for Tammy Abraham, listed for only 15.5M, a real bargain and worth every penny (17 goals in 16 apps, including 2 in the Final...).

On more to point out: Yuksel Ozer, according to my scouts a 100% signing at his minimum release fee, so we'll see how he develops.

CM at the moment, training him to be DR (Full Back Attack), looks like he's really going to be a good one for that position.

 

Challenge Progress: Year 4

Domestic Titles

1/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

0/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

1/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

[brettney1980]

So has a huge Fergie fan i thought what a challenge to start to celebrate my return to FM Challenges...

So lets holiday.. (3 times because i refuse to play has West Ham)

Table of November 6th...

Manager Profile

So Everton it is, i guess i can live with that. So i can give that same Fergie promise and aim to win more Titles than Liverpool, we are currently on 9 (non since 1987) while Liverpool sit on 18 (Man Utd with the most at 20 means we can possibly overtake them aswell. So we have some interesting side stories going on.

 

Right i better check who has come through our Academy...

 

Anthony Gordon

Beni Bangingime

Tom Davies

I can see Tom Davies being the one i call upon the most, although the other two do have great potential (Beni especially so if i end up using a DM).

Right lets go save the season and aim for a top half finish... Maybe even Europe.

Edited September 5, 2020 by brettney1980

[brettney1980]

Season 1 - 2019/20;

My first 10 games in charge we went an incredible 7-1-2 taking us up into the European places (on the brink of top 4), just incase it looked like we had all the luck Scott McKenna (CB signed from Aberdeen) broke his leg in his 5th appearance for the club (our January signing). A blip in April that saw us win just 1 of 5 games, including losing in the FA Cup semi finals (2-1 to Wolves) almost saw us out of the running for a Champions League place... But Chelsea and Man Utd also had bad runs and 2 wins and a Draw in our final 3 matches saw us finish level on points with Man Utd but ahead on goal difference (with 28 to their 18, thanks 4-0 over Villa, 3-0 and 4-0 over Bournemouth, 3-0 and 3-1 over Newcastle and an excellent 5-0 over Palace!!).

League Table

FA Cup

Squad

 

On the staff front Baines and Stekelenberg retired and joined the Coaching team and i bought in Gareth Barry has HOYD.

Aims for next Season;

No trophys but a Champions League run should be fun. One of the English cups should be a target for now, the League is probably just out of range (with Man City and Liverpool a little out of reach). We could probably do with a CB, CF, CM and backups for LB, RB and GK is my target. The board are trusting me with a little over £50m and id love to grab David Silva and James Rodriguez on frees but both refuse to enter talks soooo...... I will have a look around.

[Mark_w]

Decided to give this another go, ended up getting Sheffield United which I'm fairly happy with (I don't think I've ever had a Sheffield United game on FM - I much prefer Wednesday - but do like this United team and have been wanting to have a play with a 3 at the back formation for a little while). Jagielka and Sharp are the two candidates trained at club who can be in my squad, which feels like it defeats the point a bit but I'll make sure I always have one of them in there - or an academy option. They've also made a ton of signings so going to go through January without adding anyone new.

[Mark_w]

Thank God Man City & Tottenham decided to play their kids. Don't think I've ever had a luckier game than this, didn't deserve to survive at all.

[Mark_w]

Season two was a fair bit smoother, relatively shakey start - though nothing too worrying - changed formation ahead of the second half of the season and everything started to click, with Traore & Silva working nicely together and the full/wing backs providing a fair few assists. Not been able to grab the FA Cup yet, so need to start taking that very seriously if I'm going to win it in time.

S2 Transfers

Results

Table

[brettney1980]

Season 2 - 2020/21:

 

After trying a few times we finally managed to persuade James Rodriguez to sign, and alongside David Silva (another Free) and Rob Holding and Calum Chambers (from Arsenal) i felt very happy with the squad and our target of a top 4 finish.

Going into April we were top of the League, already won the Carabao cup, into the Semi Final of the FA Cup and into the Quarters of the Champions league. Challenging on 4 fronts when i would of benn happy with one of these runs at the start of the season. We lost in the Semi Finals of both the FA Cup and Champions leagues (vs Chelsea and PSG). We won the League on Goal Difference, helped hugely by the 42 combined goals from Calvert-Lewin and Moise Kean.

 

Transfers

Carabao Cup

Premier League Table

Final Matches of the Season

The Squad

 

 

Challenge Progress;

Domestic Titles

1/13 Premier League Titles

0/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

1/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

0/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

 

We still need a Left Back and that is the major target for the pre Season.....

[Mark_w]

Season 3 was another trophyless one for me. Particularly disappointing because I was in and around top spot for most of the season until the wheels came off towards the end. The sale of Fabio Silva was down to a release clause (and Chelsea barely used him which is quite annoying). I need the FA Cup next season which feels plausible but quite unlikely. Targets in the transfer window are a new LB, CB, DM and if there's anything left over GK. Have Alena arriving on a free as a backup CM. Don't think I need to go too crazy this time.

Edited September 19, 2020 by Mark_w

[brettney1980]

Season 3 - 2021/22;

 

The big news of the Season was the sales of Mina (£53m to PSG) and Pickford (£52m to Arsenal) it were going to be impossible to keep them as much as id of liked, both demanding to leave. With second choice Keeper injured at the time it meant putting in 3rd choice (not even close to Premier league class) GK Joao Virginia for a few matches. We were never really in a place to challenge for the title this season with Spurs pretty much running away with the League under Joachim Low. We lost the Community Shield on Pens (vs Chelsea whom we are building up quite the rivalry with), the Carabao Cup also on pens this time vs big enemies Liverpool in the 4th rd, the FA cup saw us lose 2-1 in the QFinal to Man City while in the Champions league we also made the QFinal before losing on Away goals to Barcelona (gutting after hammering them 3-1 in the first leg).

So no Trophys this season but we did grab a great LB in Ben Chilwell (for £42.5M) so there were that...

 

Table

Transfers

Squad

 

Challenge Progress;

Domestic Titles

1/13 Premier League Titles

0/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

1/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

0/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

[JLAB]

So... I have been doing this challenge based on the Neoseeker version of the challenge before seeing this version available. I have done 9 seasons but with more leagues, different manager profile and the like. Should I consider my save to be null and void as a result of this seeing as I was using the Neoseeker version of the challenge instead of the SI version of the challenge?

[brettney1980]

Season 4- 2022/23;

 

We didnt start the season looking like being in contention for a second title ... again! Then with Chilwell and Ake going to Spurs for a combined £83.5m the LB position once again became an headache. I tried to get someone in on loan but it didn't happen, settled instead on throwing everything on attackers bringing in Daniel James and Takefusa Kubo (AMC) from Man Utd and Real Madrid respectively for the season (options to buy £37.5m and £80m). Has the season progressed German CF Fiete Arp came into his own becoming club top scorer for the season and firing us into title contention (much needed with Moise Kean Calvert-Lewin failing to live up to last seasons goal tallys). We finished 2nd however, it just wasnt to be, Chelsea ran out Champions of course. Arsenal beat us in the Carabao Cup Quarters, with Villa putting us out of the FA Cup at the 4th rd stage. The Champions league saw us once again lose to Spanish opposition, this time it were Real Madrid to overturn a first leg defeat (we won 2-1) beating us 4-1 in the 2nd leg.

 

Kubo were excellent but i dont think i can get the £80m to sign him, James... isnt much better than what we have.. And Man City have put Foden on the transfer list for £43m soooo..... Thats tempting... But i also do need a LB who will stay... Unless i just stick with young Eddie Lewis!?

 

League Table

Transfers

Squad

 

 

Challenge Progress;

Domestic Titles

1/13 Premier League Titles

0/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

1/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

0/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

[brettney1980]

Season 5 - 2023/24;

 

So i brought Daley Blind in to play LB, Tah on a free at CB and paid £90m for Foden and Mount aaaaand managed to persuade Man Utd to lower their £43m asking price for Daniel James to a much more acceptable £32m and we had a Title challenging team!!! And a big enough/good enough squad to challenge for cups... By challenge i mean we won the Carabao Cup FA Cup and even the Champions League the team just really came together with these additions. Huge shout out to the Midfield trio of Foden, Mount and Camavinga. The league Title evades us again this time we feel the pain of losing out on goal difference (we won on goal difference 3 seasons ago over Chelsea) to Arsenal. Interesting Fact: In the 5 seasons iv been in charge at Everton 5 different Clubs have won the Premier League (Liverpool, Everton, Tottenham, Chelsea and now Arsenal for those keeping score).

 

League Table

Transfers

Squad

 

 

Challenge Progress;

Domestic Titles

1/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

2/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

 

European Titles

1/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

[JLAB]

So I've decided I'm going to show my progress, even if I don't have a screenshot of my manager profile and have a blurry screenshot of the team I got given with.

Admittedly, this is before I discovered this version of the challenge, therefore I didn't make my character Scottish, or make him 44. I'll provide info as much as I can though.

Southampton - Season 1 - 2019-2020 Review

So this was the table I got given when I started, meaning I would be starting with Southampton. I literally had the to steal the table from my YouTube video where I was originally doing the challenge from.

In the end, we managed to do pretty well and get ourselves in 14th place for our first season, we were comfortably in mid-table by the end of the season.

As for our transfers, I only made the bottom 2 signings, and they made a hell of a difference. We didn't win any trophies though, but given that my aim was to survive this season, I really wasn't too fussed about how the season had gone.

[brettney1980]

Season 6 - 2024/25;

 

Quite the season, we werent really in with a real challenge for the League title, but we got through to the Champions league final with ease (and all after adding the Community Shield and Euro Super Cup to our growing Trophy cabinet). We won the Champions league beating Real Madrid 1-0. We wont even talk about the Club World Championship... Lets just say i didnt look at how it worked (thought it were the old pretty easy tournament) we were out after one game...

 

League Table

Squad

Euro Super Cup

Community Shield

We are the second biggest club in Europe right now... Well kinda'

Euro Club Rankings

Champions League

 

 Challenge Progress;

Domestic Titles

1/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

2/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

1/10 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

Edited October 23, 2020 by brettney1980

[budiko]

I've decided to take on this challenge.  When Sir Alex Ferguson took over Manchester United they were viewed as a glamour club who had failed to live up to the standards of their predecessors from the 1950's and 60's. Manchester United went on the odd cup run but failed to compete against their rivals in Merseyside. Big Ron departed has United slumped into the bottom 4 where the only thing that was on the rise was the senior players drinking culture. The thought of a league title was a distant memory fathers told sons.

 

It was with great surprise that when I holidayed up to the 06 November 2020 I found myself staring incredulously at the league table. Half expecting a difficult challenge with a newly promoted club or a perennially relegation fighter I didn't expect Tottenham Hotspur to be the second from bottom side (I thought Man Utd were fourth from bottom, albeit in a 22 team league). This is possibly the game repeating history. A glamour club with huge expectations, their best days a distant memory, a talismanic player in Harry Kane (ala Bryan Robson) and a departing manager with a big ego (Jose Mourinho), but not taking the team in the right direction. Clearly the board have had enough and a fiery Scot has been hired to win titles

 

 

 

To paraphrase Alex Ferguson's first home game in charge  "Taking over a club of the magnitude of Tottenham Hotspur is an awesome prospect. But ultimately a football club is a football club and I shall simply try to run things in what I believe to be the right way.

"I am not really interested in what has happened here in the past. I don't mean any disrespect to the great achievements of Tottenham Hotspur over the years. It's simply that now there is only one way to go, and that is forward. The aim at this club must clearly be to win the championship."

With that ringing in the players and fans ears let's see how far I can take this club in 27 years.

 

Edited February 16, 2021 by budiko

[Emerion]

Starting the challenge here on November 6th. Crystal Palace are currently 19th, with 5 points from 7 games, but a favorable first 4 matches in charge with Newcastle (A) (12th), West Ham (A) (20th), Southampton (H) (11th), and Leeds (A) (18th) up for the new manager. If we can somehow pull 6-9 points from these 4 matches we'll be in a great position after the first quarter or so of the season.

[kkfootball]

Starting this challenge with Leeds. 

Wish Charlie Adam some luck in job.

League table:

upset because we could've landed the Leicester job

[kkfootball]

With that first January transfer window are we limited to 11 including the transfers made in the summer by the previous manager or does the 11 only count if we are the ones who made the transfers? Apologies if this has been asked before, I've yet to read the whole thread.

[kkfootball]

First season done with Leeds. We got off to a flyer, winning our first six games in charge (against weak opponents admittedly). Rodrigo lead the league in goal scoring with 27 and the club looks to have loads of young talent coming through the ranks. I also brought in a few youngsters that I was fond of in a previous save that I could still get cheap. With regard to the youth academy graduate rule, we are looking good. Kalvin Phillips is poised to take on the captaincy in the coming season at the age of 25 and is our best player. I hope to be able to keep him around going forward. In addition, we also have Tyler Roberts who had a strong season. We also have a couple players who were on the u-23-first team bubble, some of whom got some games and some of whom went on loan, but I expect them to come into the first team next season.  The future looks bright on that front. Some of the squad is aging so we will have to work things out in those positions. I don't expect next season to be as breezy as this one, but I hope to build a foundation for future success, and a quick cup!

Here's the league table:

[kkfootball]

Season Two is now complete. After a solid 5th place finish last season, I was eager to finish top four the following season as well as try our hand in the Europa League. The main focus, however, was the FA Cup. 

Before the season we sold our (and the league's) top goal scorer, the 30 year old Rodrigo to Tottenham for $70 million which really gave us money to play with. We also sold Patrick Bamford for an irresistible $30 million along with a few other players who were aging and not realistically a part of our starting 11. To replace them I brought in Rhian Brewster, Kelechi Iheanacho and a couple other players. We also brought in Max Aarons from the Championship for $40 million and he was our highest average rating player as well as the Premier League's second leading assister with 14. 

This season I believe our best player was our keeper, Illan Meslier. With an average rating of 7.2, I don't think I've ever had a better goalkeeper in that regard. Early in the season he helped us keep draws against the bigger teams when we were being pummeled. In addition, in both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup finals he lead us to shootout victories. The Carabao Cup was the most amazing performance as I had an incredibly weakened team (down to ten men due to an injury until extra time) and he managed to hold a strong Liverpool side to 0-0 in addition to winning the shootout. 

During the January window we sold Robin Koch to Arsenal for $40 million and brought in the towering Tosin Adarabioyo to replace him. I also saw that Emile Hojbjerg had been transfer listed by Tottenham so we picked him up cheap. It should be said that Tottenham were around 17th for half the season which is a shame because I could've landed them for this challenge. Then picked up the form a bit and finished 13th. It should also be said that Leicester, who I almost managed to land the previous season on November 6th got relegated this season, continuing their struggles.

We have a few players who are just about able to crack into the first team from the youth academy, and we had two who did so for this season. Charlie Cresswell, who had a few games last year, is looking like a center back who will be in the rotation next year, taking over for the aging captain Liam Cooper. My only concern is his upside as my coaches seem to think he is just about done growing. His attributes also seemed to have slowed their growth so he may be a player who is stuck as a strong Championship/decent Prem center back. The other player to come through this season is the Polish youngster Mateusz Bogusz who was first choice until Hojbjerg came in January. We had a few players on loan, particularly at Rotherham in the Championship who look like they could be joining the side next year. We have two strikers there (one who was leading the Championship in scoring for half the season), a midfielder, and a center back (he can also play in the midfield) who looks like a genuine baller with a ton of upside and ability. The academy is looking strong throughout and after a poor first intake and what didn't look like a promising intake based on the preview, I took up the advice of some of the earlier posters in this thread and brought in Kristjaan Speakman from Birmingham. After doing so, we actually had a very promising intake with many of the players having Speakman as a favored personnel as well as his saying he influenced them. Because of this, I don't know whether to attribute this good intake (once again, despite a bad preview) to our previous HOYD or Speakman. In any event, the decision has been made and I'm happy with it. 

I should add we have two 18 year old strikers in our u23s who fielded a constant stream of offers from Premier League sides throughout the windows and have been absolutely tearing it up at the level. One of them actually scored 50 goals in the various youth competitions. While they both look a bit raw (and FM totally failing on their scouting of one of them and making him a midget with his weak foot wrong) I will try to incorporate them into the side next year, if only in the cups now that we aren't as pressed for time.

Overall, I am happy to have completed the time sensitive FA Cup win, FA Cup/League double, and League title milestones so now I can crack on with building the club without being too results oriented. I am disappointed that we didn't win Europa League as I don't foresee us being in that competition again, so we will just have to win an additional Champions League. The good news is that I think I'm about to complete a deal for Camavinga which will go a long way towards us completing that goal (Jude Bellingham next, fingers crossed). We also managed to make the loan deal of Romario Baro permanent, so I look forward to his continued appearance at the club.

 

Challenge Progress

Domestic Titles

1/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

1/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

0/10 English Community Shield

European Titles

0/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League 

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

[kkfootball]

Just doing a quick update after the Community Shield to discuss the goals for this season. 

We managed to beat Man U in the Shield on penalties with Meslier once again showing brilliantly. He saved two of United's first three penalties and put us in a position where we only had to avoid missing two straight penalties to win. We missed both (de Gea was also on fire finishing with an 8.7 rating) but after a few more back and forth, with us making a save and de Gea following it up with a save, we eventually got the decisive one. 

In the summer window we managed to bring in a young French center back from Monaco Badiashile to replace Diego Llorente who we sold to Arsenal for $64 million to pair alongside Robin Koch, another of our former center backs. After a few more sales we also managed to bring in Camavinga after not having sufficient finds to do so originally (I thought we only needed $40 million up front but the budget impact turned out to be $100 million). We  brought in Carles Alena in on a free after Barcelona released him because he was too good to pass up on even though I'm not sure how he will fit into my team. A good candidate to sell next season at least. Because of Leicester's relegation I am looking at poaching at least one out of Wesley Fofana, Tielemans, or Ndidi, preferably Fofana.

I'm hoping to make it in the top 4 this year as well as winning an FA Cup. I'm not confident about the league as I don't think Meslier will be able to maintain his heroics and it looks like Man City and Man U really revamped their rosters (Man City brought in Dybala to pair with Lautaro Martinez as well as bringing in Alaba on a free and Man U brought in Harry Kane to pair with Rashford (last years top goalscorer with a goal a game) and Greenwood).

 

Challenge Progress

Domestic Titles

1/13 Premier League Titles

1/5 The Emirates FA Cup Titles

1/4 Carabao Cup (League Cup) Titles

1/10 English Community Shield

European Titles

0/2 UEFA Champions League

0/1 UEFA Europa League 

0/1 UEFA Super Cup

0/2 FIFA Club World Championship

 

Well I guess I was wrong (about everything) about our challengers this season

Edited February 22, 2021 by kkfootball
Fact check

[kkfootball]

Was looking for my Ronaldo and found this odd player from Benfica. A striker with 16 tackling... out of curiosity I asked my board to negotiate for him and they decided he was worth $52 million. Not sure he's worth it, but we're doing well in the finances so as long as it doesn't take from my transfer budget I will take him in and try to develop him into our replacement for Ndidi and Phillips . 

[kkfootball]

Scouted this guy just for the name and now I'm having a heart attack 

[kkfootball]

And Liverpool have finally lost... here's to hoping their form drops off and they allow us to win the title 

[kkfootball]

Well I'm happy we're able to have such a dominating performance against City despite the result. I just hope they don't bring in Mbappe despite being linked with him. In my save in FM20 the front three for City under Guardiola was Sancho-Mbappe-Garbuio (the best striker in the save)

[kkfootball]

I was feeling on top of the world. We are going to win the league (we got knocked out of the FA Cup) and were in great form. We have figured out what our three tactics will be going forward. After a 3-3 draw in the first leg of the Champions League semi I was confident I would be able to go through in the second leg given out strong performance in the first. I was wrong.

 

I haven't seen this before lmao

Surprised at the budget the board threw our way. The budget minimum that was given earlier in the season was 0! which wasn't terribly surprising given my extremely aggressive use of installment fees in transfers as well as many of the early "we pay you after x league matches" clauses coming into play this season. So I'm happy we were given the largest budget to date. 

 

Season update coming later tonight

Edited February 23, 2021 by kkfootball