[FM20] Tequila and Mariachi?

[_Ben_]

Preface:

Tequila and Mariachi music. A city that sits 1500m above sea level and is home to 1.4 million people. That city is Guadalajara, located in the Jalisco state in central Mexico. It appears that Guadalajara has a rich history, but pre 1532, there wasn't much in the valleys of the subtropical country. Modern day Guadalajara seems to be awash with culture, cuisine and architecture and is home to four professional football teams: Chivas, Atlas, C.D Oro and Universidad de Guadalajara. The former is arguably the largest and most well-supported club in the country and the city has produced some of the countries best footballers - Chicarito Hernandez, Andres Guardado, Pavel Pardo and Rafael Marquez, to name a few. 

The name Guadalajara came from Cristóbal de Oñate, who named the city after the conqueror of western Mexico, Nuño de Guzmán, Nuño was originally a bodyguard for Charles V of Spain, and this is where our story begins. My FM save is not in this Guadalajara, but the city where the conqueror was born, of the same name, but in Spain.

The same name - but certainly no other commonalities. A town of just over eighty thousand people located sixty miles north east of Madrid, in the region of Castilla- La Mancha. Originally inhabited by Andalusian's and part of Muslim Iberia, the original name Guadalajara means Valley of Stones but retaken by Christians in the 11th century and important part of the Spanish Revolution, it seems that the Spanish town has considerably more history than it's Mexican counterpart.

Modern day Guadalajara seems to be part of new development plans and growth and, in the past ten years, has apparently grown into one of the most expensive provinces to live in. It also has the pleasure of being twinned with the luxurious Warwickshire town on Nuneaton. There is very little to note about culture and sport, except for one professional football club, C.D Guadalajara, and this is where my story starts.

[_Ben_]

Game Background

Firstly, CD Guadalajara aren't in a playable division from the off, so I've had to holiday a year. Part of my updates this year are going to focus on the development of the game world - so I'll do a pretty comprehensive run down of the 2019/20 season.

Here is my game setup:

A small database gives me about 60,000 players which should run pretty well on my laptop, even if it isn't the best.

----

2019-20

A dominant season for Man City saw them win the league by twelve points over Liverpool, whilst Arsenal came in third followed, surprisingly by Bournemouth in fourth. Southampton, Brighton and Sheffield United went down and Sean Dyche, Dean Smith, Graham Potter, Roy Hodgson, Quique Sanchez Flores, Brendan Rodgers and Mauricio Pochettino all lost their jobs - with Southampton going one better, firing Ralph Hasenhuttl, hiring Marcelo Bielsa and then firing him once their relegation was confirmed. Huddersfield, Middlesbrough and Derby are the three teams to come into the Premier League for the 2020-21 season.

In Spain, Atletico Madrid went unbeaten with 31 wins and finished on 100 points, some thirteen clear of Real Madrid. Valencia came third and Barcelona finished in a lowly fourth, some twenty-four points behind Atleti. Unsurprisingly, Valverde left at the end of the season but he was replaced, somewhat surprisingly, with Malaga manager Carlos Corberan. He'd led Malaga to second, and promotion, in Liga 123 last year, but certainly a surprising choice - hopefully linked to the club vision. He is a 3-5-2 man who likes to control possession but I know little else about him. At the other end of the table, Mallorca, Valladolid, and, surprisingly, Espanyol, were relegated to the second tier.

PSG walked Ligue 1 with 100 points, finishing seventeen clear of Lyon, whilst Bayern finished nine clear of Dortmund, Juve eleven clear of Inter and Porto nine clear of Benfica. Sadly, there seems to be little surprise after the first year of these leagues but that may be down to good assessment of players by SI. I am hoping that there are developments as the save continues - particularly as this is the first time I'm running a setup with this amount of leagues from the start of a game.

Valverde was probably saved from his early sacking thanks to his Barcelona side reaching the semi finals of the Champions League, but it was Real Madrid who triumphed over Liverpool in the final. Arsenal won the Europa League but it was CKSA Moscow who caused the biggest stir, reaching the semi finals.

---

The summer transfer window, to date, has seen some massive moves. Virgil Van Dijk, finally escaping the shadow of Tyrone Mings, moves to PSG for £114m, whilst Dybala moves to Liverpool with £92m of that. Elsewhere, Coutinho makes his move to Bayern permanent, Icardi moves to PSG for £52m, Benfica sell Grimaldo, Ruben Dias, Rafa and Ferro for a combined £200m and, despite their relegation, Saints spend £22m on Santiago Ascacibar.

The game date is now 9th July 2020. My work starts now.

[_Ben_]

The club

Club Deportivo Guadalajara, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Guadalajara, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1947 it currently plays in Segunda División B – Group 2, holding home matches at Estadio Pedro Escartín, with a capacity for 8,000 seats. Football Manager, on the other hand, disagrees. It states that we play in front of just 5,000 seats - of which I imagine most will be empty.

Most of the club's history has been spent in the fourth tier of Spanish football but did reach the third tier in the mid 2000's and even had two years in the second tier between 2011 and 2013, finishing 16th with a 14/7/21 record and then 18th with a 12/14/16 record. Three years in the third tier before financial difficulties saw them relegated, although their finishing position of 17th would have relegated them anyway. Fourth, sixth and then fifteenth placed finishes followed in the fourth tier but, in the unknowns of my holiday season, they have been promoted. It is worth noting that, as of this date, they sit ninth in the Tercera Division Group 18 (Castilla-La Mancha) - which may reflect on the quality of their squad that I will inherit.

Sadly, Wikipedia doesn't even have a section for 'Famous Players' which tells you something about the size of this club, with 63 of their 72 years spent deep in the depths of Spanish football. This club really is a project.

[_Ben_]

The boss

For those who have not followed my saves before - I like to add a memory, as it were, of old games. I normally select a player who has either performed really well for me, my captain or just a notable player and turn them into my new manager. In my Beira-Mar save, I used German Burgos, an Argentine Enganche from a spell I had a Barracas Central. In my San Marino save, I used Teles, a Brazilian/Portuguese winger who came through my academy at Beira-Mar and was sold to Dortmund for just over £30m, allowing us funds to improve our academy and start out push for league titles.

This one is slightly different.

I have chosen against using a youth prospect here. Instead, I have gone for full-back Dario Samaniego. For some context, my San Marino save started as youth only, but I branched out to sign some 'marquee' signings in order to attempt to resolve some issues I had with team personalities. Dario was the first of these to sign - in a £16m deal from Montpellier. He was an absolute legend at the club, spending seven years as first choice at left back before moving on to PSG and then to tycoon-led Dijon on free transfers, where he ended his career. I strongly believe that the signing of Dario was the first step towards really cementing the club as one of the biggest in the world.

There are a few clues into how I plan to run this save - he's a Paraguayan national who was, in FM19, considered to be a M.Pro. He's young and untested in management and has a set tactical style as well a clear strength in his training styles.

[BillHoudini24]

Welcome back Ben! Looking forward to this!

[kidthekid]

Looking forward to this one. I instantly remembered Dario when  saw the name.

[_Ben_]

14 hours ago, BillHoudini24 said:

Welcome back Ben! Looking forward to this!

 

4 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Looking forward to this one. I instantly remembered Dario when  saw the name.

Thanks both! Hopefully this can, at least, emulate the success and enjoyment I've had with recent saves.

[_Ben_]

In game nuances:

Over the past couple of editions, I've grown some different ways of approaching my save which make them a little more immersive for me. I thought that I'd create a short post to outline them now rather than introduce them as the save goes on.

1. Screen Flow

I'm a huge fan of this screen and it gives me a little bit more information as the leagues progress. I don't have any of the other regional divisions nor the Liga 2 at this point in the game, similarly to any of the European competitions but I may add them in the future, along with transfer rumours and player statistics, when my analysis becomes more in depth. I'm hoping that this will assist in the immersive updates around the evolving game world, as that is one thing I tend to forget stuck away in the depths of the third tier.

2. Attribute Bars

Not quite the same as last year - as it seems the coding has changed but, thanks to @Shrewnaldo on Twitter and @wkdsoul (I think!) I have managed to sneak in and grab this download. I spoke with Shrew at the end of FM19 about this way of playing the game moving forward and we both shared a very similar outlook. Each colour represents a group of attributes - white: 0-4, light green: 5-9, dark green: 10-14 and gold 15-20. I really think that this is the most realistic way of playing - look above, Kevin De Bruyne is an outstanding/world class/incredible (insert another adjective here) passer of the ball yet, as you'd expect, is heading is below average/poor/weak. I feel that a real football manager would utilise this information rather than just a 'score' out of 20.

The added difference this year is that, with no attribute bars, and actually just the font colour of the number matching the box behind it - it is even harder to distinguish the value within it. Last year I began to be able to tell the difference between a 5 and a 9, for example. But this time, I cannot.

3. Player position colours

As a huge fan of versatility, I have decided to change the colouring slightly. I have found literally no difference between accomplished and natural on the pitch - so have coloured them the same. It means that, even if just a placebo effect, I feel that I have a more versatile squad. I have also changed competent and unconvincing to the same colour as they both neither show up on the player position indicator but both offer a 'role' for that position, given by the assistant manager.

4. Player CA and PA stars

I have, historically, not been a fan of these, at all. Firstly, I want to use my own judgement about attributes and performances on the pitch and I also dislike how the stars appear when you are a really big team - I feel it's too hard to ignore your 5* prospect over your world class record goalscorer and club captain, valued at £70m+ but, annoyingly, only given 3* and as such, no media attention. It seems that they are a bit more hardcoded this year - with the 'Progress' screen that looks like it tracks their PA star development and the Youth Intake screen (I haven't reached one yet, just seen screenshots) that seems to be stuck and not filterable. 

Therefore I won't be removing them, I just pay little attention to them!

---

I am sure there are more so I may come back to edit this as time goes on.

[_Ben_]

Takeover

We are off!

To put it bluntly, we're not expected to do much. This, of course, differs from my own club vision and club culture, of which I'll be detailing shortly.

[Shrewnaldo]

Hey , are you going to be posting here rather than at FM Now this year?

 

Let me know if you come across any issues with the skin.  I'm constantly bothering @wkdsoul with little bugs or error messages that I find.  I'm sure he'll be absolutely delighted to have someone else hound him about it too

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Hey , are you going to be posting here rather than at FM Now this year?

 

Let me know if you come across any issues with the skin.  I'm constantly bothering @wkdsoul with little bugs or error messages that I find.  I'm sure he'll be absolutely delighted to have someone else hound him about it too

When the last forum went down, I'd lost any kind of place to post about my FM save - so started posting here. I was part way through my Beira-Mar save so I copied everything over but carried on posting on both forums.

I will do. I'm mostly concerned about the waste of space - but I know that this is resolution based and wouldn't have a clue how to fix this myself - maybe @wkdsoul does?!

This is what it currently looks like:

This is what I'd like it to look like:

Close the gaps up so that I can get the radar back in there (no idea why it's gone from last year!). I'd also like a few other things. Firstly, displaying the media handling style instead of their goalkeeper rating (why even show that?!) and moving their preferred foot left but actually showing how good they are with either foot. I'd also like to add a bit more detail about their playing time pathway at the top, remove the CA and PA (just the summary) and add in the pro's and con's symbols.

No idea if any of that is do-able and I realise I've posted a request rather than a bug!

[Shrewnaldo]

You can't select the attribute analysis octagon from the dropdown in the top picture?

 

It looks fine on mine, with octagon showing up nicely so I wonder if you are right that it is a resolution thing.  I have a 1440p 27" monitor, set to full screen, 125% zoom at 2560*1440 resolution.  Shows per below.

 

[Hootieleece]

Interested in any and all youth saves.

Particularly interested in your tactics.

I would love to see your club DNA!

[_Ben_]

On 06/11/2019 at 21:38, Shrewnaldo said:

You can't select the attribute analysis octagon from the dropdown in the top picture?

 

It looks fine on mine, with octagon showing up nicely so I wonder if you are right that it is a resolution thing.  I have a 1440p 27" monitor, set to full screen, 125% zoom at 2560*1440 resolution.  Shows per below.

 

 

Nope - the drop down box only replaces the attributes with the octagon. There isn't enough room for the panel on my screen now, despite there being so last year.

[_Ben_]

On 06/11/2019 at 21:53, Hootieleece said:

Interested in any and all youth saves.

Particularly interested in your tactics.

I would love to see your club DNA!

Thanks!

I will post about them, once I actually get chance to load up FM - been a hectic week!

[_Ben_]

Save Goals

Honour the Past

Guadalajara, as a town, has a lot of history. Going back to it's part of Iberian dynasties and conquests, through to providing people who explored the new world. This save will embody that - my player focus will be on both local players, from Guadalajara, Castille-La Mancha and the nearby Madrid as well as Mexico, where Nuño de Guzmán ventured all of those years ago. The Mexicans also place a huge importance on remembering their dead - Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is an important tradition to this day. I won't, and can't, quite take it that far, but I do want to honour those who are no longer with the club, tracking their career moves as they develop, but also pay special consideration to giving those who won't ever quite make it here a path to remain in professional football. 

- Spanish or Mexican players, where possible. However, this is not completely exclusive.

- Pick up local players who haven't made the cut at larger clubs to develop them.

- Favour of own academy products and bringing back returning players where possible.

- Develop coaching roles for older players at the club, particularly Spanish or Mexican.

- Track the progress of players who are no longer at the club.

- Provide an opportunity for every single player at the club, particularly those who arrive through the youth academy, to develop.

Create the present

As a club, I want CD Guadalajara to be known, nation-wide, continent-wide and world-wide. I want the football to be played to the beat of the Mariachi music that has influenced the namesake city in Mexico. I want the purple wall of fans to create a fortress - home advantage needs to be home advantage for this club. I want to develop a professional, happy squad who are versatile in their positioning and are willing to put their bodies on the lines for each other - friends and comrades.

- High tempo, short pass/move football.

- Develop a playing staff who excel in technical attributes - first touch, passing, technique and mental attributes - positioning, off the ball, work rate.

- Attempt to win a majority of home matches and remain tight on the road.

- Develop a highly professional squad personality through mentoring

- Focus on training players in a wide range of positions and roles

- Develop strong links between the squad, through consistency across seasons and through the academy from a young age.

Prepare for the future

The club will invest within itself to become profitable and have the ability to grow. Money will be invested in staff and these staff will develop through the club, hopefully moving into management positions of their own. A playing pathway will be developed as well as an in depth training plan for each and every youngster at the club. Scouting and transfers will be methodical and strategically planned, two to three windows in advance in order to minimise misspent money and ensure quality players are purchased. Finances, including wages and transfer fees, will be closely monitored in order to ensure that the club is consistently turning a profit. The club will look to create links with other teams so that the Guadalajara brand, through its playing staff, can be spread continent and world-wide.

- Focus on youth development - either strategically signed or through the academy.

- Scouting and analysis focus.

- Track progress for youth squads and develop own training regimes for both squads.

- Enforce a wage cap and attempt to always spend less than we receive.

[_Ben_]

Backroom Staff

Whilst the majority of these staff will not be with me in five years - I still felt that it was important to impart my tactical style and fundamentals of the game and save upon them at this early stage. I had no staff, at all, when I took over so have worked hard to fill them. I will not be using the staff search screen in this save and, as such, all of these players came through adverts or were recommended to me as my backroom team grew and attended meetings. 

There isn't really a lot of note here, except for ex-Liverpool and Villareal physio Ruben Pons agreeing to join us. I need to focus on a strong medical squad as I know I'll be running with a very small squad that needs to remain injury free, or, at least, return from injury as quick as possible.

This sets us up pretty well when compared to the rest of the league:

 

[_Ben_]

Season One Preview

As I finally get chance to sit down and play some FM this evening, I head into the first season (2020/21) with some optimism.

Last month, we turned a near £400k profit, but we did make £450k from season ticket sales. Obviously, we'e had no fixtures for gate receipts so it's hard for me to accurately predict any kind of financial figures that may allow me to strengthen my squad. However, strengthen I must as the squad had a mere ten or so senior players. It is my intent to intensively scout and analyse players before I sign them, but, with no ability to plan transfer windows ahead, not a single player in the youth side and no historical staff at the club to make accurate recommendations, I have had to buck that trend somewhat and rely solely on trials and quick scouting missions - all with the worry that this may cause us to complete haemorrhage money.

The above players were the only players at the club I deemed good enough and, after placing them in roles and positions where I feel they can best fulfil my tactically style of high tempo short passing, I was left with some areas to scout for. My threadbare team of scouts, joined with a strange appointment of a Player/DoF, Bruno Herrero, who was initially alerted to my advert but has since turned out to be a really solid midfielder, even if he goes against the boards want to sign youngsters. Below is the full run down of signings:

Antonio Sola joins after his release from Barcelona B, although he spent last season in their U18 squad with 3 assists from 18 games with an AR or 7.07. He brings typical Barcelona attributes, good technique, first touch, passing and mental attributes. Bare in mind that the dark green signifies what I would say is good for La Liga (10-14) - I think that he is an absolute steal, even if he's very one footed. Tiago Rodriquez was known to my backroom team as one of them was poached from UD Ourense and, despite also being very one footed, looks a very well rounded player who hopefully has potential left to grow into. Javi Sanchez and Javi Hernandez both move down the road from the Real Madrid Castilla side and, sadly, both are far too good to be here so I don't really know how I managed to get them so cheap. They will form my centre-back pairing as both are really comfortable on the ball but also good enough, even if the latter is on the short side. Lastly, some experience was needed and Sergio Arenas came to fill that void.

We are very early into this save, in fact, I haven't even played the first friendly yet, but I have a good idea of the first XI. We lack depth but I am loathed to spend too much as we cannot become unsustainable financially. 

The rest of the first team are as follows:

- Miguel Garcia

- Fernando Domenech

- Cabo

- Jony

- Guillermo Atance

- Edgar

---

Goals for the season:

- Stay up.

- Develop the younger players, particularly Tiago Rodriguez and Antonio Sola.

- Finish the season with a positive bank balance (currently at +£500k)

[BillHoudini24]

Love this! Even though I play FM since 2006, your FM19 career taught me about scouting extensively, not in quantity, but in quality. I'm in the Prem with Basingstoke Town (Dafuge Challenge) and with our financies being rather bad for a Prem team, this enabled me to create a healthy team financially and start building from there the whole club.

This happened because my transfers were really thought out, so they ended up fitting great with the rest of the squad, helping us to stay up and sell a few of them for major profits.

I like what you did with the staff members as well.

[Mbasnett6]

Echoing BillHoudini24 really love this and even though I still play FM12 (FM12!?!?!?) can still take tips for my own game.

Brilliant work, and beautifully explained. Mostly silent, yet avid follower here.

[_Ben_]

9 hours ago, BillHoudini24 said:

Love this! Even though I play FM since 2006, your FM19 career taught me about scouting extensively, not in quantity, but in quality. I'm in the Prem with Basingstoke Town (Dafuge Challenge) and with our financies being rather bad for a Prem team, this enabled me to create a healthy team financially and start building from there the whole club.

This happened because my transfers were really thought out, so they ended up fitting great with the rest of the squad, helping us to stay up and sell a few of them for major profits.

I like what you did with the staff members as well.

 

8 hours ago, Mbasnett6 said:

Echoing BillHoudini24 really love this and even though I still play FM12 (FM12!?!?!?) can still take tips for my own game.

Brilliant work, and beautifully explained. Mostly silent, yet avid follower here.

Thank you to both of you for the kind words!

Not done a lot of scouting as of yet on this save as I needed to fill out my squad but I'm hoping to put plans in place, once I actually have a scouting team, that can find the right player for the right time. Focusing, like I did last year, on that 'marquee signing' means that I want to know that everything is right before I sign a player. I'm glad you have managed to begin the buildings of a sustainable and quality squad and I wish you, and Basingstoke, all the successes you can get!

[_Ben_]

Pre-season Review

This could have gone slightly better, if I'm honest. However, with six new faces trying to bed themselves into the first team and me being quite blissfully unaware of the quality of other teams - I can't complain too much. We are all in good shape for the season ahead even if our morale isn't fantastic. I have settled on quite a basic 4-4-1-1 shape with a few instructions. The tactical ideology is in its primitive phases right now and I can only continue to build upon that if we can stay competitive, so adjustments need to be made to create a winning style rather than a 'going down with good football' style!

 

[deltablue]

Awwww, I thought this would be in Mexico

[Sysiphus]

Following, of course.

[_Ben_]

On 09/11/2019 at 12:22, deltablue said:

Awwww, I thought this would be in Mexico

Have you tried to follow the Mexican league?! There'll hopefully be a good link between the club and that country though, just for you!

On 09/11/2019 at 13:53, Sysiphus said:

Following, of course.

Thank you - looking forward to seeing what your main FM20 save is, too (unless you're keeping the Arsenal one long term?)

[_Ben_]

August/September 2020

I must say that I am completely shocked at this period of time and the results that we have achieved, as we simply haven't been very good! Sociedad's B side parked the bus against us and Edgar, our only striker with any real quality, was able to pounce on a couple of chances. Whilst we have at least looked promising going forward, we've also looked very vulnerable at the back and Izarra and UE Olot were able to pounce on that, simply playing through us. We'll also take time to adjust to our more intensive pressing and, as a result, we are look tired and inviting pressure later in the games. I certainly don't expect this league position to last!

There are, as expected, some early worries - such as the lack of positive personalities impacting player development; with only Sola and Rodrigues, both brought in by me actually doing anything positive off the game pitch. There are then issues with my lack of respect within the squad, as any new manager would face. This is evident when I'm trying to come down harder on the players for their poor performances and bad attitudes - but hopefully this will change as my tenure extends. However - despite these worries, the board and fans are pretty happy:

 

[Sysiphus]

31 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Thank you - looking forward to seeing what your main FM20 save is, too (unless you're keeping the Arsenal one long term?)

Only doing Arsenal for the beta - maybe a season or two on top depending on how it's playing out. Then I'm thinking Eastern Europe or Scotland for a long term one!

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, Sysiphus said:

Only doing Arsenal for the beta - maybe a season or two on top depending on how it's playing out. Then I'm thinking Eastern Europe or Scotland for a long term one!

I tend to browse this forum mostly on my phone and often miss who started the thread - will keep an eye out, definitely!

[_Ben_]

Mentoring?

But there is nobody in a mentoring group...

Or anybody with this trait at the club...

And Jony is a winger so this is a useless trait...

[_Ben_]

October/November 2020

More like what I was expecting at the start of the season! The past two months haven't been the most fun on the touchline and I'm sitting twiddling my thumbs through games, both through a lack of ability within my squad to change a game and a lack of players within my squad to change the game. Never the less - we are actually unbeaten at home, picking up six points from a possible twelve. Our home record this season actually sees us in 7th place, whereas on the road, we are slightly lower, in 13th. 

Scoring goals is a clear issue here - with Edgar averaging a goal every 446 minutes, nearly five games. Teams at this level are generally quite defensive and we are lacking that cutting edge - possibly down to our style of play and the gap between the midfield in the 4141 and 4411 that we play but also due to the lack of ability for our strikers, who are more natural poachers rather than runners or creators, which is the end goal.

---

The board are still happy overall and I'm currently on a B rating - whatever that means! I'm looking forward to having some depth with, hopefully, some decent youth prospects coming through. My scouting, at this point, isn't really coming up with anything that I am truly interested in - but I guess that I have to make allowances with personalities, determination and 'rounded-ness' at this level.

[BillHoudini24]

Similar start to the San Marino save. It's quite often to start like this, especially if you're trying to play football "the proper way". Things will be a lot better once the club starts producing players that can follow your possesion based plan.

I hate the term Tiki Taka, even though I loved Pep's Barca.

I'm doing a Youth Challenge on FM18 and I had to re-adjust my playing style in order to survive in the second division of Dutch football with Katwijk, because the quality of the squad is terrible compared to the rest of the teams. Having the ball in our feet didn't benefit us at all. It's interesting that you're trying to keep up with the league and apply a difficult club DNA from early on.

Edited November 10, 2019 by BillHoudini24

[_Ben_]

On 10/11/2019 at 23:22, BillHoudini24 said:

Similar start to the San Marino save. It's quite often to start like this, especially if you're trying to play football "the proper way". Things will be a lot better once the club starts producing players that can follow your possesion based plan.

I hate the term Tiki Taka, even though I loved Pep's Barca.

I'm doing a Youth Challenge on FM18 and I had to re-adjust my playing style in order to survive in the second division of Dutch football with Katwijk, because the quality of the squad is terrible compared to the rest of the teams. Having the ball in our feet didn't benefit us at all. It's interesting that you're trying to keep up with the league and apply a difficult club DNA from early on.

Definitely - the San Marino save had a few years where we scraped by in the division before making some progress. I'd expect this save to progress a little faster as I've loosened the restrictions on signing players, mainly so I could fill out a team this year. Once my youth candidates are in - signings, as previously mentioned, will be very much on a need basis rather than a want. 

I've always been a style over substance kind of FM player - particularly since I got a to a point whereby I could actually see the DNA influencing our on-field play. I'm quite happy to struggle away for a few years, hopefully staying in the division long enough to build the base.

[_Ben_]

Youth Intake Preview

I really like this new feature, and it'll give me a good chance to strengthen for the future and plan ahead of time. Below is the early depth chart and it shows the full squad, including development players - proof that we need a bit of depth!

[_Ben_]

Brexit

[BillHoudini24]

This feature alone is tempting me to buy FM20, I always focus quite a lot on Youth Development and this adds a new level of realism to that aspect of the game.

Those two central midfielders might be the key to early survival.

[_Ben_]

December 2020/January 2021

We are keeping up our solid home for with just the solitary league defeat at our patch as well as a hard-fought tie against high-flying second tier Gijon. We finally, well, I say we but I mean winger Domenech, found some scoring form at the end of January and an important four points move us further away from the drop zone.

Following the report about our upcoming youth intake, combined with the scouting that has been happening - young, good personality, versatile, and, at this stage probably Spanish, I have spent some money to strengthen the current squad and bring someone in with an eye on the future.

Iosu joins for £3.5k from Hercules, with me opting to try and sign him before his contract became unprotected and other clubs would join in. He made 14 appearances at the same level that we currently play at and I am impressed with what I can see for a youngster. Good marking and passing, combined with decisions and work rate and an incredibly physical player for his age. He's a little short for a centre back so I'm thinking of a more defensive minded full back - which is good as there is little to note in that area. He's incredibly determined and professional, versatile and my staff believe he can improve a lot in the future. I am offering him some game time as a 'breakthrough prospect' this year but I think he could be a fully-fledged member by the age of 17.

Despite having a striker who is potentially pretty good coming through the academy - I stumped up the massive £1.6k to sign Felix Rangel from Merida. He's a little more raw than Fernandez but is a good finisher, has a good first touch and technique and works hard. His aggression, combined with his good stamina means that he can be the first line of defence for us. Lacking in concentration and a bit poor balance wise, he's got some developing to do so but great determination and a Driven personality, with no other markers, means I'm excited with what I see. I think his average passing will be a focus in order to turn him into more of a creative force, maybe a False 9 kind of player, given his good flair and decent vision.

---

The board are happy and obviously a little concerned with the performances of some of my attacking players - a given considering our form in front of goal!

[_Ben_]

Board Takeover

Surprising board takeover in which I was a little concerned, especially with the 'consortium' and how they normally pump funds in to the club. This one has not done that! They are wanting a little more ambition than the last board, wanting us to be top half in five years rather than just in the division. I most like their focus on signing younger players and also keeping those first team players at the club for a long time - certainly an aim of mine.

[_Ben_]

February/March 2021

A rough couple of months with my biggest defeat as manager - although I'll take that in a few years if and when we are facing the might of Barca and Real. In fairness, the game was largely even and they were surprisingly efficient and lethal for a team of their stature, within the game and league. Our home form is still much stronger and we actually sit 5th when judging our form at the Pedro Escartin but we have struggled away from home once again. 

We should be safe from relegation with six games left and hopefully we can secure our place over the next few games so I can begin to look ahead.

[_Ben_]

2021 Youth Intake

As of now, we have average training facilities with basic youth facilities but good junior coaching and excellent youth recruitment. With that, here's my first intake:

After seeing screenshots of other people's intakes - I got the impression that I couldn't remove the ability and potential stars from this screen, which led me to change my thoughts on the development of this save somewhat. It turns out I can and, at this level anyway, I'm not paying a huge amount of interest in them - using them as a tool to sort them at present.

---

I'm really happy with this intake, to be fair. We've got three standout players and then several others who may well be suitable for some first team depth as time goes on. Firstly, there is Gregorio Martin - a well rounded, if not amazing, central midfielder. He's got a good personality and, in particular, a good footballing brain for his age. He's a little on the small side and is one-footed, which I'll look to develop but good first touch and passing bodes well for my style of play. As of now, he's going to be trained as a CM(s) because it hits a good amount of his attributes that I want developing. He'll get a bit of football, from the bench, in the next year or so, too. Julian Munoz is a promising goalkeeper who could usurp my number one, and continual poor trainer, Sergio Arenas, quite soon. Good reflexes and handling may offset his poor anticipation but his technical ability doesn't fill me with delight for our tactical style of being able to play out from the back. Lastly, and probably my favourite, is Nicolas. He's a tall targetman, not something which fits my plans, but he's surprisingly good on the ball. I want him to work a little (a lot) harder and to be able to press a bit more but his aggression and bravery will stand him in good stead if he ever is bothered to chase down a ball for the team.

---

I've kept everyone and I've also started taking over individual training, too. I won't start the attribute development monitoring this year as there is still much, much more to do with the club, but here is our starting point, and it's not a bad one.

[_Ben_]

2020/21 End of Season

We coughed and spluttered our way over the line and some fine end of season form from Gernika has made this whole table look a lot closer than I was expecting. Our record of 9-17-12 was relatively solid but our home form saw us 'finish' 8th, whereas our away had us down in 18th. There was little difference from the first round of fixtures to the second. Overall, as first season's go - this is absolutely fine as we retain our place in this league and we are in a position whereby we can strengthen and push on, considering the relative tightness around the middle of the table.

---

Looking at our end of season stats, something that I'm looking to really develop as the save goes on - I must say that I am really worried about our creativity. We can be cautious at times in our approach, with me favouring the 'they can't score when we have the ball' but the poor amount of shots, goals and chances created means I really need to have a look at both our personnel and our style of play over the pre-season period. Some notes of pleasure though are the pass completion and the part in our offensive play that my defenders had.

---

Over the summer, the board have agreed to expand the stadium and I have made the brave decision to turn down a B-Team at this point - mainly for financial reasons.

[_Ben_]

Finances?!

Mid way through the second pre-season and this is what I'm dealing with, which is a worry. There is little money in this division and I need to ensure that, whilst we are working within 'our budgets,' I know what our actual budgets are.

A very basic look at my finances, focused on our outgoings last season. Firstly - I have taken out our player wages so I can see what I am working with and I have also removed the £1.7m for ground maintenance and the near £800k grant that helped pay for that - but have only included one month of the loan (by accident more than anything - even though this only raises to just over £84k per year). I have also taken out the transfer expenditure as, right now, I need to be aware that I must work on free transfers and loans, only, if needed.

So - presuming I spend every single penny of the money that we get this year, and, again, presuming that we get the exact same amount of money and spend the exact same amount, I can afford just about £19k p/w on wages, for my whole squad.

This is the current picture:

I think we're doing ok...

[_Ben_]

2021/22 Recruitment

With some creativity issues and little of note coming through my academy, especially that of players who are reading for the first team means I need to delve into the transfer market for some strength and depth this summer. I want to ensure that, particularly now when I could go overboard and sign a new squad each summer, that my signings are only made where entirely necessary and are well thought out.

Below was the squad heading into the summer break:

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My recruitment is also hinging around a change in the way that I play - as I am going to take a risk and move to a strikerless formation as I have struggled getting my lone striker to work enough for the team, so instead will move to a more fluid formation somewhat mirroring the more well-known Spanish sides of the last decade. To be the focal point of that attack, I have added Brian Pena to the side, on a free transfer after his release from Barcelona.

Brian is another of those classical Barca forwards, full of flair and good technique. He originally caught my eye as an inverted winger but actually I see him as a Trequartista, in the middle of my attacking triumvirate. Good dribbler, finisher, good from distance and can also turn creator with his passing and vision - I have high hopes for this lad. Also, a great personality and very versatile. A definite star player for me.

Next up is Christian Albert - who has spent time on the books of Levante. I too love his personality and versatility with very few weaknesses across the board. He'll mainly play on the wing, either one but can fill in at full back when I want to get some more aggression and if I revert to a striker who I can feed crosses too.

Julio came in following a spell at Real Betis, mainly in their B side. He's combative and, despite his small stature (mirrored across the team, to be fair) he's solid all around. He's quite similar to my signing of Tiago Rodriguez last year and I think that the pair will be able to form a very strong partnership and he even may partner Christian Alberto in a dynamic duo with a sitting player if I need that.

I rarely check agent offers but when the agent of an 18 year old Colombian/American, playing in the PDL South Altantic Division for Virginia Beach United, I am interested. I paid the £3.6k to get a better scout report than his completely 'white' profile and was impressed with the minimal data I saw. His wages were tiny so I took a chance - very much against my intended protocol but I have, somehow, got myself an incredible player here. Two footed, professional, good in the tackle and on the ball, works hard, cna pick the right moment and his very physical for an 18 year old as well as being recognised at international youth level. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep him.

---

I feel very much like this is becoming more of my squad - with Arenas, Sola, Sanchez, Hernandez, Rodriguez, Julio and Pena all being signed by me - as well as some of the other younger backup players. The beauty of allowing myself some, limited, recruitment is that I already feel that my squad is starting to be able to play the slick mariachi style football that I want from them. #

We are predicted 9th this season and I see that as a realistic target, even if we are ahead of our targets.

[_Ben_]

Stadium Expansion

£1.7m seems a lot for just over one thousand seats...

[_Ben_]

August/September 2021

A really solid set of friendlies arranged against clubs of a similar stature as ours - in order for me to have a look, in depth, at the new tactical shape and, hopefully, increase in creativity in front of goal as well as get the players fit and happy. We dominated both games against Portuguese third tier side Uniao and Spanish third tier side Alcoyano - and I think I have settled on a IW(s) - T(a) - W(s) front line. 

We started the league season off in fantastic form - with Brian Pena causing absolute mayhem in both games and us being unlucky not to have a hatful against both sides. The Treq in the AM role means that he's a little deeper, in front of the back four, and this clever movement, combined with slick, one touch pass and move football is allowing him to lay the ball off and get behind two or three defenders, leading to a simple one-on-one. I'm teaching Pena to go round the keeper in order to make the most of these situations. Sadly, our great start was undone with a terrible performance against Andorra - where I chose not to rotate the squad after the midweek run out. They were fitter, better and way more up for it than we ever were and I was worried at one point about the scoreline turning to sixes or sevens. Since then, we have found our feet quite well, picking up good points against some the weaker sides before a poor home loss to Real Union, where we gave away two goals in the last ten minutes.

---

It is worth noting that there are six new teams in this league, with them all being promoted (as a regional league, there is a shuffle around and none of the relegated clubs are from this division) so I feel that, should they all perform as expected, 14th should be the worst that we can do.

----

These are a little conflicting, if I'm honest. We have had two defeats in the league and sit above our prediction and the board's aims - yet they are disappointed with our results? We've also had two 0-0 draws and have not kept possession quite as well as last year - with an average of 57% of the ball, which is second in the league and down on last year.

Overall, I'm happy!

[_Ben_]

October/November 2021

With one game away from the half-way point, we find ourselves in an incredibly good league position and are currently on a ten-game unbeaten streak. The board are still not too happy about the lack of 'exciting' football but clearly they are clueless to the wonderful off-the-ball movement and short, slick passing that we are currently employing. I envisage that we'll struggle at some point this season - we have already matched the amount of wins that we had in the entirety of last season and we have been very lucky with injuries to date.

We started the October off with a hard fought draw against Osasuna's B side - who attempted to kick us off the park. All 25 of our away attendance watched an incredibly dull match that saw a share of just two shots on target in the match. It's these kind of performances where I need to have that extra bit of tactical nous to 'find' us that goal from somewhere. Consecutive wins over Tudelano, where we had 73% of possession, Llieda, where we restricted them to just one shot that was off-target and Cornelia, who were top at the time - saw us climb to these heady heights. Another one of those 'what-if?' performances followed where we clearly were the better side against Tafalla and they were happy to attempt to contain us but we were poor in front of goal and Pena, in particular, squandered a lot of chances.

Despite a missed penalty against Getxo, we saved a point late in the game, which was probably undeserved due to our rather average performance. A big win away at Olot shows the difference from this season to last - we'd have rolled over against bigger teams away from home in the past - but we deserved at least a point fro this one. Another five points from the next three sees us hot on the tail of Andorra, although they did demolish us 3-0 earlier in the season and we do need to go to them.

---

Things are ticking over very nicely - a few first team players have now developed traits that I wanted - in particular, I now have none that are classed as 'Left Only' or 'Right Only' through developing their weaker foot - a particularly positive step when I want to be able to control possession and have technically skilled players. Julio, the central midfielder I signed in the summer, has added the 'Plays One-Twos' to his game, which I hope will work in connection with his more aggressive running game, leaving Tiago Rodriguez as the 'passer' from the central midfield role. Felix Rangel is also progressing well as I look to turn him into an Inside Forward from the left flank.

---

Lastly, I signed a one-year contract extension:

[_Ben_]

Brian Pena - the missing link?

I've had a slight change in formation this year, dropping the ST back to the AM role and using, arguably, a role that is still a 'striking' one - the Trequartista. I say that because the Treq offers nothing defensively, is only available on an attacking duty and still plays quite far forward. Aside from that though - there has been little movement with roles. I fully admit that there has been some key personnel changes - Julio, Restrepo and Albert have all added quality to the side, particularly in the creative area. However, the comparison between Pena, my other new signing this year and Edgar, my out and out striker, once rated as the best player at the club, from last year, is particularly showing.

Edgar often played as a DLF(a), a role in which FM anyway, said he wasn't particularly suited too - yet he has a decent ability to pass the ball as well as the ability to finish. The attacking duty meant that I expected him to pick the ball up a little deeper but then still be in the box to finish the move.

Regardless of differences in players, formations and styles, it is clear to see that Pena has been a fantastic addition to the club and the move to incorporate him as the Treq has paid off very well, being head and shoulders ahead of Edgar in all areas except for a similar passing and no assists this season.

[_Ben_]

Youth Intake Preview

Doesn't look like a good one...

This news comes after I complete a deal for a new goalkeeper - giving me, essentially, a spine of a squad that I intend to keep together and accompany with my own youth products. Looks like that plan is going back to the drawing board.

[_Ben_]

Creating a balanced midfield

I really enjoyed looking at the data produced on the radar and I'm desperately interested in trying to make my analysis a) more useful for me and b) nicer to look at, so I've decided to make another one. This time, I'm looking at my midfield duo of Tiago Rodriguez and Julio. With Restrepo settling in as a DM at present, I have settled with these two as my CM duo, in a CM(s) and BBM(s) pairing. I've used support duties on both to encourage the fluidity throughout the team (3 defender, 7 support and 1 attack).

Normally - I want to set my midfield duo up as opposites - I like a tackler and I like a creator. However, with the focus on both a shorter, slicker passing game and a clever footballing approach whereby making a tackle means that someone, somewhere has not done their job properly (as I type - I realise I've forgotten the interceptions on the radar), I actually want both players to do a similar job but in different parts of the field. Julio needs to be slightly more direct but I want him running without the ball rather than with the ball - even if I expect to see an increase in dribbling numbers.

Here is the comparison - Tiago Rodriguez is in purple and Julio in yellow:

Both players are very similar actually! As I'd want - Julio creates a little more (0.05 assists per/90 to Tiago's 0) but I like that Rodriguez also is making key passes, but from deeper, as these tend to be forgotten about. Julio is a bit more 'up and down' so I'd expect him to be tackling more (interestingly, Tiago has 1.47 interceptions/90 compared to Julio's 1.4, which does back this theory up). I like how similar these are despite the different roles, which tells me that they are suited to the style of play and the game that I want to play. Both players average over 7 (7.05 and 7.04 - fourth and fifth highest in the team) and are important players for me.

---

I think, going forward, I'd like to swap dribbles with interceptions and also add assists as well as maybe distance covered - which will help me look at how much pressing they are doing for the team.

[BillHoudini24]

Last year's intake looks promising... The new analytical points you make give a great insight into tactical thinking.

The recruitement has been very efficient as well, we can already see a very specific club DNA. 

[tyler16]

I would pay for this content.