[FM20] Derby County - Why manage the Rams? / How are you getting on?

[Stackalee]

He was on around £30k p/w. Pretty much 3rd pick at CB and second pick at DM, the guys keeping him out of those positions are on £65k, £59k and £50k and my highest earner is Mason Mount on £80k, although he does want this raised.

So in the context of my squad I felt his demands outrageous, but I've not actually done a long term EPL save in FM20 so it occurred to me that I may be a dinosaur and this could be the going rate.

[Impz82]

1 hour ago, Stackalee said:

Nice update. I read a bunch of your blog before I decided on Derby!

I'm not sure I'd call it faith, our current understanding is that if I keep throwing money at him he'll keep scoring goals.

Edit - also a question perhaps for people who have played more FM20 in England than me: Krystian Bielik asked me for £130k a week in his latest contract negotiations so I immediately threw him and his agent out of my office and placed him on the transfer list, am I behind the times here? Is this a reasonable wage demand in this day and age?

Are you that far ahead in your game? I am in my third season and he is still on 25k a week. 130k a week, jesus! I will let him go and find a replacement. We aint Man City. I would throw 130k if he is like the top 10 defenders in the league, but I seriously doubt it as the top teams have so much money to spare. They are likely to pick all the good defenders already. Personally, I am trying to keep my salary of players as low as I can.

Just curious and asking for opinions, if you have two strikers. One is rated 3 stars for current ability and 23 years old and doesn't seem to have much development left. One is rated 2.5 stars for current ability, 18 years old, seems to be developing very well and has higher attributes. Which one will you pick to be your main striker. Currently, Berisha is still my main striker because I ascribe to the notion that Francisco cannot be playing too many games at such a young age. Does that make sense

Edited May 21, 2020 by Impz82

[Stackalee]

5 minutes ago, Impz82 said:

Are you that far ahead in your game? I am in my third season and he is still on 25k a week. 130k a week, jesus! I will let him go and find a replacement. We aint Man City. I would throw 130k if he is like the top 10 defenders in the league, but I seriously doubt it as the top teams have so much money to spare. They are likely to pick all the good defenders already. Personally, I am trying to keep my salary of players as low as I can.

Just curious and asking for opinions, if you have two strikers. One is rated 3 stars for current ability and 23 years old and doesn't seem to have much development left. One is rated 2.5 stars for current ability, 18 years old, seems to be developing very well and has higher attributes. Which one will you pick to be your main striker.

That was in January 2023. I'm glad it's not just me thinking he's asking a lot there.

On your strikers... Well I'd use the younger one but if you've read any of my updates you'll know my policies on youth! Honestly though when I saw you chasing that guy my first thought was "Christ he'd walk in to just about any team I've ever had" heh.

[smplfc123]

Another frustratingly inconsistent month for us, one in which we produced our best performances of the season, yet still managed to lose 3 out of the 7 games. 

We started the month off with a good 3-1 victory at home to Stoke. A header from Curtis Davies and 2 goals from Sibley put us 3-0 up, with old boy Tom Ince pulling one back in injury time. We followed that up with a lacklustre performance away at Swansea, in which we never really threatened at all. We showed more fight away to Bristol and I was pleased that Marriott popped up with a late equaliser to gain us a point.

We then produced our 2 best performances of the season. Yes, Allardyce's Huddersfield are struggling, put we properly put them to the sword, with goals from Clarke, Rooney and Davies. We followed that up with an absolute hammering of 2nd placed Fulham. Huddlestone, Marriott and 2 goals from Davies sent them on their way back to the capital with their tails between their legs. 

Tired legs from the Fulham match, I picked a weakened side for the QPR game who were sitting pretty in 4th. We never really laid a glove on them. We showed more fight against the Owls, but a defensive error in injury time allowed Forestieri to pinch all 3 points.

As there is nothing to play for, i'm experimenting a bit with positions/formations and planning for next season. I've made a list of who is likely to be moved on.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

19 minutes ago, Stackalee said:

He was on around £30k p/w. Pretty much 3rd pick at CB and second pick at DM, the guys keeping him out of those positions are on £65k, £59k and £50k and my highest earner is Mason Mount on £80k, although he does want this raised.

So in the context of my squad I felt his demands outrageous, but I've not actually done a long term EPL save in FM20 so it occurred to me that I may be a dinosaur and this could be the going rate.

I wouldn't pay him half of what he asked for. But i am officially a dinosaur.

17 minutes ago, Impz82 said:

Just curious and asking for opinions, if you have two strikers. One is rated 3 stars for current ability and 23 years old and doesn't seem to have much development left. One is rated 2.5 stars for current ability, 18 years old, seems to be developing very well and has higher attributes. Which one will you pick to be your main striker. Currently, Berisha is still my main striker because I ascribe to the notion that Francisco cannot be playing too many games at such a young age. Does that make sense

I'd rotate them, probably play the youngster more in home games and weaker opposition. But if he starts and scores, keep him in until he doesn't, sub each on for the other after 60-70 minutes. He could be the new, er, Rooney 

11 minutes ago, smplfc123 said:

Another frustratingly inconsistent month for us, one in which we produced our best performances of the season, yet still managed to lose 3 out of the 7 games. 

As there is nothing to play for, i'm experimenting a bit with positions/formations and planning for next season. I've made a list of who is likely to be moved on.

 

A season where you have achieved exactly what you wanted. Comfortable, mid-table, and under no board pressure. Solid stuff.

[Impz82]

It's been two months since the start of the third season. I must say that Derby has been doing very well, even though there are two bad losses.

I started the season off with two excellent wins. One was a very commanding 3-0 win against Everton at home and then an even more impressive 2-1 win against Manchester United away. That match was Mourinho all the way. We defend in packs, counter like lions and scored through 1 lung bursting counter and a set piece. This was followed by a relatively routine win against Servette (which I played my second string team) to qualify for the group stage of Europa cup.

However, the momentum was lost when we lost 2-3 to Burnley where I scratched my head because we are dominating the match. They just somehow scored twice in the last ten minutes. Painful and the players knew it when they entered the dressing room at full time. I was very angry because it was a game I expected to at least draw.

The players clearly heard me because they then beat Arsenal 1-0 and also managed to come down from 1-3 down to draw with Manchester City (I only had 37% possession at home!). My second string team then collapsed to a full first team Manchester United 4-0 in the EFL cup. The fans and board were not impressed but honestly, do you expect me to put my first team? All in all, only 1 loss and a draw against a very impressive Manchester City is a good job well done for the team. Currently 5th in a very young season, I have some wild expectations that we might be able to breach 4th, but the objective me is saying that we need at least another year for our young players to develop more. 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Impz82

[Stackalee]

22/23 season done, I think Marriott may have peaked. 

 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Stackalee

[smplfc123]

So apparently when I said the season is over back in February, the players took it literally and decided not to turn up for the final 10 games or so. Unfortunately we found ourselves in no-mans land so early, that there was nothing to fight for in either direction. I really need to work out over the summer how to be more gritty away from home and how to add more legs and quality in to the squad.

With us finishing 16th, it means we can only really go forward from here. The board have seen enough positives in the first 2/3rds of the season to extend my contract by 2 months.

There is going to be a massive rebuild now and I for one am hugely excited about it.

Please don't take it as a dig as it's an exceptional achievement for those of you that have achieved promotion in the first season, but i'm actually really glad this has happened, it gives me the chance to build gradually.

[Jogo Bonito]

@smplfc123 Not the way to end a season, but I agree it's great to be able to build up gradually. 

[smplfc123]

No it wasn't and I must admit I began to have the feeling of "Get to the summer ASAP" but at least I was still within what the board wanted and now the only way is up (Hopefully )

Really looking forward to this summer rebuild!

[OJ403]

So as in my previous post we've achieved promotion finally. I've identified secured two of three new players for my starting 11 - Sean Longstaff and Emanuel Vignato.

I've got roughly £8 million left and I'm after a new centre back as my current options (Jon Stankovic, Ricardo Ferreira, Matt Clarke and newgen Graeme Gebbie) are only Championship level, ableit top Championship level. As one of my pairing they'd all be suitable, but as both members of the duo I'm not so sure. However, the only interested centre backs aren't vastly better or fall short in at least one if not two/three of the key attributes (marking, tackling, heading; anticipation, positioning; acceleration, agility, jumping reach). Any signing would take up most of my transfer budget too. Any recommendations would be appreciated, but as I'm in S4 this may be tricky.

And I also need a back up DLP-D, however I'd be happy to loan here as they won't play much due to Bielik's excellence in this role. Therefore, they aren't likely to impact my budget this much.

So simply, I'm wondering what people would do in this instance. Would you use most of my remaining budget on a new centre back who's only marginally better than what I have now? Or would you sit tight and trust the players I have to perform slightly above what I view their capabilities as?

Cheers guys

[Stackalee]

Think anybody I could recommend would have moved on since the start of the game or just be me guessing at who has been played or transfer listed by the AI.

Mostly I think I'd just do that though, grub around and see if you can find anybody decent transfer listed, Kumbulla and Branthwaite are probably likely suspects at that point. If not just sit on the cash and try with what you've got.

[OJ403]

21 minutes ago, Stackalee said:

Think anybody I could recommend would have moved on since the start of the game or just be me guessing at who has been played or transfer listed by the AI.

Oh yeah you'd 100% be guessing. This far into the save its nigh on impossible to recommend signings.

21 minutes ago, Stackalee said:

Mostly I think I'd just do that though, grub around and see if you can find anybody decent transfer listed, Kumbulla and Branthwaite are probably likely suspects at that point. If not just sit on the cash and try with what you've got.

I looked at Kumbulla earlier as it goes, I had him on loan in a Catania save that I lost the save for in a laptop issue. Unfortunately he's not developed at all in my save. I've found a few options. The best prospect is Boubacar Kamara, a youngish Frenchman who ticks every box attribute wise, however he doesn't like big matches. Typically I never sign players whose scout reports say this as I simply don't feel I can trust them. So that's where he falls down.

 

I also realised after posting my initial message is that I missed out on John Souttar on a free transfer. I can't begin to tell you how gutted I am. He's a player I've followed since day one of the save, however I made the foolish mistake of letting him slip off my shortlist so I wasn't notified when his contract had 6 months left. So now the player who could've solved all my issues for free is off to Germany. Disappointed doesn't even come close... 

[Stackalee]

2 minutes ago, OJ403 said:

Boubacar Kamara, a youngish Frenchman who ticks every box attribute wise, however he doesn't like big matches. Typically I never sign players whose scout reports say this as I simply don't feel I can trust them. So that's where he falls down.

Do you have any decent tutors? Fairly sure if that's something you can get out of him relatively quickly.

4 minutes ago, OJ403 said:

I also realised after posting my initial message is that I missed out on John Souttar on a free transfer. I can't begin to tell you how gutted I am. He's a player I've followed since day one of the save, however I made the foolish mistake of letting him slip off my shortlist so I wasn't notified when his contract had 6 months left. So now the player who could've solved all my issues for free is off to Germany. Disappointed doesn't even come close... 

Ah that sucks sorry to hear it, really liked him till he betrayed me for big money in China. Was he still at Hearts so late in the save?

[Jogo Bonito]

@Stackalee Fantastic performance levels from Marriott! 

@OJ403 What season are you in, what sort of budget & wages would you have for a new centre-back?

@smplfc123 An exciting summer is something to look forward to. If only real life could be like that this year 

[OJ403]

1 hour ago, Stackalee said:

Ah that sucks sorry to hear it, really liked him till he betrayed me for big money in China. Was he still at Hearts so late in the save?

He was indeed. I only noticed his deal was expiring when I was doing some manual scouting via the national teams. I can only assume no one had tried to sign him on a permanent over the first three seasons, and now he'd refused a new deal to force a move. So off he goes to F.C. Köln. I'm not bitter promise...

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@OJ403 What season are you in, what sort of budget & wages would you have for a new centre-back?

Season four, we've just been promoted to the Premier League finally. I'm working with around £8 million in transfers and £50-60 thousand in wages, without any outgoings

[Impz82]

2 hours ago, OJ403 said:

Oh yeah you'd 100% be guessing. This far into the save its nigh on impossible to recommend signings.

I looked at Kumbulla earlier as it goes, I had him on loan in a Catania save that I lost the save for in a laptop issue. Unfortunately he's not developed at all in my save. I've found a few options. The best prospect is Boubacar Kamara, a youngish Frenchman who ticks every box attribute wise, however he doesn't like big matches. Typically I never sign players whose scout reports say this as I simply don't feel I can trust them. So that's where he falls down.

 

I also realised after posting my initial message is that I missed out on John Souttar on a free transfer. I can't begin to tell you how gutted I am. He's a player I've followed since day one of the save, however I made the foolish mistake of letting him slip off my shortlist so I wasn't notified when his contract had 6 months left. So now the player who could've solved all my issues for free is off to Germany. Disappointed doesn't even come close... 

Would it be possible for you to smuggle 1 of the central defenders out so that you can get another 5-6 million potentially and buy a more premier league proven defender.

I realise in fm20, you can get away with a somewhat poor wingback but you definitely will hurt with a poor central pairing. 

[OJ403]

14 minutes ago, Impz82 said:

Would it be possible for you to smuggle 1 of the central defenders out so that you can get another 5-6 million potentially and buy a more premier league proven defender.

I realise in fm20, you can get away with a somewhat poor wingback but you definitely will hurt with a poor central pairing. 

Thats the concern. I also fear that even if I try and ride it out til January when some better options may be available, should the players I have not perform it may be too late.

Raising funds is an option for sure. However my newgen is likely to be loaned out for regular football regardless, Clarke's a new signing (also as back up to Lowe), Ricardo Ferreira's out with a cruciate injury so may be tricky to sell and therefore I'm not sure selling Stankovic is viable right now. Say Lowe goes down before Ferreira returns and Gebbie's loaned out Ill be left with Lee Buchanan playing left back or centre back.

I'm also struggling to find interested players of sufficient quality, irrespective of affordability

[Impz82]

2 hours ago, OJ403 said:

Thats the concern. I also fear that even if I try and ride it out til January when some better options may be available, should the players I have not perform it may be too late.

Raising funds is an option for sure. However my newgen is likely to be loaned out for regular football regardless, Clarke's a new signing (also as back up to Lowe), Ricardo Ferreira's out with a cruciate injury so may be tricky to sell and therefore I'm not sure selling Stankovic is viable right now. Say Lowe goes down before Ferreira returns and Gebbie's loaned out Ill be left with Lee Buchanan playing left back or centre back.

I'm also struggling to find interested players of sufficient quality, irrespective of affordability

I think searching the italian league and french leagu4, especially the relegated teams, can yield relatively cheap prices. For some reason,  they dont sell their players like how England and Spain do. Good to also try and find those with minimum release fee clauses. You might grab a bargain or two.

[Tee2]

9 hours ago, OJ403 said:

So simply, I'm wondering what people would do in this instance. Would you use most of my remaining budget on a new centre back who's only marginally better than what I have now? Or would you sit tight and trust the players I have to perform slightly above what I view their capabilities as?

 

In my experience you can never go wrong with a decent centre-back, especially as you have just been promoted. Ideally someone young and with the potential to improve to the level you're playing at. That's kind of my management 101, to try to make sure I have defenders and a goalkeeper I can trust completely. It's well worth checking personality types to try and get a player who will fit in quickly. I went for Scott McKenna as he was (i) already an international footballer (ii) level-headed (iii) a bit of an improvement on what we had (iv) only 23, so he will develop (v) expensive for us at £11.5 million, but not bank-breaking, nor did he expect stellar wages. Had we not got promoted I would probably have tried to pay the optional release fee (part of his loan contract with us) for on-loan Perr Schuurs, which was £6 million, but to me he just wasn't Premier-ready. Incidentally McKenna came to my attention after his exploits at the 2020 European Championships - always worth keeping a keen eye on international tournaments!

6 hours ago, OJ403 said:

Say Lowe goes down before Ferreira returns and Gebbie's loaned out Ill be left with Lee Buchanan playing left back or centre back.

Personally I've always found Lee to be worth the effort. Unfortunately in my game he forced through a move to Leicester, because the prospect of festering in their reserved was far more appealing than playing in my first team...

 

[Stackalee]

Just made my favourite signing of the save, how the mighty have fallen.

[OJ403]

6 hours ago, Impz82 said:

I think searching the italian league and french leagu4, especially the relegated teams, can yield relatively cheap prices. For some reason,  they dont sell their players like how England and Spain do. Good to also try and find those with minimum release fee clauses. You might grab a bargain or two.

Yeah thats worth a go. I did all the national teams and their under 21s, but then that was the end of the session. Hopefully I'll get one in this afternoon some time and I'll do the leagues

2 hours ago, Tee2 said:

I went for Scott McKenna as he was (i) already an international footballer (ii) level-headed (iii) a bit of an improvement on what we had (iv) only 23, so he will develop (v) expensive for us at £11.5 million, but not bank-breaking, nor did he expect stellar wages. Had we not got promoted I would probably have tried to pay the optional release fee (part of his loan contract with us) for on-loan Perr Schuurs, which was £6 million, but to me he just wasn't Premier-ready. Incidentally McKenna came to my attention after his exploits at the 2020 European Championships - always worth keeping a keen eye on international tournaments!

To be fair I do have 4 decent centre backs, but none of them are really good, whereas in every other position I've got one decent and one really good option (e.g. Bogle/Lowe at full back and Vignato/Holmes on the right).

I'm a fan of Scott McKenna, but hes at Spurs so could be costly. He's the sort of player who I'd expect to be more available midseason, after he's inevitably complained about game time or something. Schuurs is one I'll add to my scout list though, by S4 he might be good enough

[Impz82]

There's always this kind of horrendous performance every season. I was so pissed at the team that I let rip with an aggressive "you all suck" team talk, which I avoid in general. Theb est part is Max Lowe being substituted in, and within 2 minutes, gets injured and brings me down to 10 men. He's out for 7 weeks too btw. One of the few games where it's so tempting to save scum. T_T

The only saving grace is Francisco Martinez continuing to score well despite the team.  His strong bravery and aggression is winning us scrappy goals.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Impz82

[Stackalee]

Your worst performer there is quite damning. 

[Impz82]

9 minutes ago, Stackalee said:

Your worst performer there is quite damning. 

told you he isn't that great,  I gave him a warning too, was close to giving him a 1 day fine wages.

Holy crap, I was randomly checking and Francisco Martinez should have been a basketball player. And a quick google check shows that he's the height of Peter Crouch. I didn't even notice when I bought him :D. He clearly is way faster than Crouch though.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Impz82

[Stackalee]

Does it reflect poorly on me that it was literally the first thing I noticed about him?

Stick him on "attack near post" with Tonali hitting corners there!

Does he have room to develop? Would be great if he can get strength/heading and some of those mentals up.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Stackalee

[Impz82]

15 minutes ago, Stackalee said:

Does it reflect poorly on me that it was literally the first thing I noticed about him?

Stick him on "attack near post" with Tonali hitting corners there!

Does he have room to develop? Would be great if he can get strength/heading and some of those mentals up.

Are you a height-ist? Or a tall supremist? GASP!

He still has significant room to grow into. He's just 18 years old after all. I am currently training his aerial as extra individual focus, especially since his aggression and bravery are crazily insane. If he can get his heading to 14-15, it's time to play Sam Allardyce football. It's already done by the way, but more Bird to him (as it is an easy match in Europa League). He just scored another 2 goals, 1 from a corner and another from a scrappy 6 yard melee. Next year, I might have an English international

I am just thankful he was not in a top team, because there is no chance in hell I would have been able to steal him at such a cheap price if he was not in Charlton, a league one side.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Impz82

[Stackalee]

3 minutes ago, Impz82 said:

Or a tall supremist? GASP!

This, I find big strikers extremely easy to get results from in FM20.

I don't normally bother with regens but he seems like he could be great fun to develop, you've definitely done well to get him.

[Impz82]

Is it just me, but whether I listen to the advice of my assistant manager, I always lose. When I ignore his advice, I win. X_X

[SkeltonTom]

Hey guys,

I'm a big United fan (ST Holder) but have great family connections with Derby County, since the majority of my family are from there and most still live there, with both my cousin and uncle being ST holders. I've always had Derby as a team I keep close to my interests, and especially now with the addition of Rooney.

On FM I've got a great United save going (Currently in 2025) and on the verge of domination. So as lockdown continues I thought it would be good to start a new challenging save to keep alongside my United save, and what better way than to start a career with Derby.

Therefore, today I will start a new save with Derby.... So before I start, and tips / recommendations?

[smplfc123]

Hi @SkeltonTom,

If you're ever bored enough to read through my season updates, you'll see I'm not the best Derby manager to be giving advice. However, my biggest mistake was not buying a GK, so I would highly recommend making that a priority.

Good luck!

[smplfc123]

So whilst I take hours scouting and re-scouting potential incomings, here's who has been going through the exit door at Pride Park:

Bennett - Toronto - £3.5m 
Wisdom - Cardiff - £2m
Evans - Milwall - £1.2m
Carson - Huddersfield - £1.1m
Waghorn - Sunderland - £1m
Forsyth - Atlanta Utd - £975k
Roos - Vancouver - £575k
Malone - Swansea - £450k
Anya - Released
Huddlestone - Released
Martin - Released

Jozefzoon is the only one left that I'm looking to get rid off in this summer clearout. Whittaker seems to have lost his Premier League interest, so he'll be in and around the firs team squad next season. Still working on quite a few more signings coming in to the club, having only got 2 over the line so far.

[Jogo Bonito]

Derby County 2020/2021 - League 1 

A fine pre-season delivered just one defeat courtesy of an early penalty converted by FC Utrecht. More significantly, there were smashing wins over three decent European sides and a credible draw with PSV. Playing a flat 433 system, there were goals galore, particularly for lone striker Jack Marriott. New signings te Wierik and Klauss weren't available, but would be expected to improve our chances even more when they could be picked.

The League 1 campaign opener was a testing one, welcoming Ipswich to Pride Park. A solid win saw us off to a good start, but it took two late goals to deliver a win next time out at Coventry. We battered Lincoln with the goal attempts 20-0 and possession of 72%, but that counted for nothing as they came away with a 0-0 draw to end our 100% record. Goals were plentiful in the 5-2 win at Rotherham, but we couldn't back that up at Wycombe. By then we were 4th, and leaders West Brom pitched up confident of taking a point or more from us. However, a fine 2-1 win took us above them and to the summit, and things looked to be good. Unfortunately the month of August still had two more games to come, and neither of them went well. League 1 rivals Shrewsbury easily dumped us out of the Carabao Cup, and then a home fixture against Bristol Rovers saw a second frustrating 0-0 home draw. In this one, we had a shots on goal recorded as 30-3 in our favour and possession of 65%, but it counts for nothing if you can't put the ball in the net.

The curious thing about the season so far is that none of my three strikers has scored a single goal yet. Marriott has made 7+1 appearances, Klauss  2+5, and Delap 2+2 but what looked great in friendlies has simply not worked in competitive fixtures. In contrast, Lawrence has been electric on the left, Whittaker has looked sharp at times, and Sibley has performed splendidly as the left of my central midfield three. Some alternative systems might have to be considered, because the strikers are definitely capable of scoring if used correctly. Being third in the league is fine for now, but this has to be a bit of a concern. Meanwhile, ex-Derby man Will Hughes has earned himself a great move to Wolves, and a nice slice of the fee comes our way as the already healthy finances were strengthened even further. 

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

27 minutes ago, smplfc123 said:

So whilst I take hours scouting and re-scouting potential incomings, here's who has been going through the exit door at Pride Park:

Bennett - Toronto - £3.5m 
Wisdom - Cardiff - £2m
Evans - Milwall - £1.2m
Carson - Huddersfield - £1.1m
Waghorn - Sunderland - £1m
Forsyth - Atlanta Utd - £975k
Roos - Vancouver - £575k
Malone - Swansea - £450k
Anya - Released
Huddlestone - Released
Martin - Released

Jozefzoon is the only one left that I'm looking to get rid off in this summer clearout. Whittaker seems to have lost his Premier League interest, so he'll be in and around the firs team squad next season. Still working on quite a few more signings coming in to the club, having only got 2 over the line so far.

Sound moves on all of them, I would say. You're effectively at the same time as me, but a league higher. An exciting summer for you with a great chance to rebuild your squad.

[smplfc123]

Thanks @Jogo Bonito I probably could have got more for a few of them had I tried a little harder, but I was more concerned about getting the wages out more than anything as quite a few big hitters have gone there!

You'll be joining me in the Championship the following season no doubt! How's your save going?

[Jogo Bonito]

 

Just now, smplfc123 said:

Thanks @Jogo Bonito I probably could have got more for a few of them had I tried a little harder, but I was more concerned about getting the wages out more than anything as quite a few big hitters have gone there!

You'll be joining me in the Championship the following season no doubt! How's your save going?

I have offered Carson, Davies, Malone, Huddlestone and Rooney for loan or for free, and not had one single taker. Very disappointing, and you have had more success for sure.

My early season form is posted above, OK but not without issues.

[smplfc123]

Oh apologies as it directed me to your reply to my previous quote I hadn't noticed you'd posted an update above!

Good start in the league, shame about the cup defeat. You say Lawerence has been on fire from the left, are you using him as an inside forward or inverted winger? (Assuming it's one of them of course)

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, smplfc123 said:

Oh apologies as it directed me to your reply to my previous quote I hadn't noticed you'd posted an update above!

Good start in the league, shame about the cup defeat. You say Lawerence has been on fire from the left, are you using him as an inside forward or inverted winger? (Assuming it's one of them of course)

Inside forward on the left, with Waghorn or Whittaker doing the same on the right. But whichever striker I pick (different roles for each) the front man just isn't delivering yet.

The trouble is, any other system will require two strikers (unless I go 4231) and will mean I can't use my two wide attackers who are doing well (unless I go for broke with 424).

[Impz82]

I am really sick of playing Liverpool now. They have once again demolished my team 3-0 in the last game before the turn of the year, and honestly my team had no chance. It did not help that Bielik decided to handball and get himself sent off during an offensive set piece. That was horrendous behaviour. I don't think it is a good idea to fine him though, he might get pissed and ruined my dressing room atmosphere.

Other than that though, we actually played well through Oct - Dec and find ourselves still in 5th place, 2 points away from 4th. Liverpool is the runaway leader at this point, and I am not even bothered to catch up because the last match showed the huge gulf between the top teams and us. We lack a clinical striker despite our defense sorted out.

The best match we played during this stretch is ironically the match before Liverpool. Leicester in real life is flying high but the Leicester here is struggling against relegation. We piled up the pressure with a very impressive 4-0 win, with my loanee Amiri Gouidi scoring 2 goals. If you see the match stats, we were raining shot after shot at the goal, and 4-0 was the just result of some really exciting football the team is playing well. 

He is now making it extremely hard for me NOT to bid for him. He is good as an inside forward and can hold himself in striker too. I still wonder why Lyon decided to list him because it is clearly not a requested move. He's so good! That said, his contract is ending (maybe that's why). I will run the risk of going for him at the end of his contract, and hopefully he will choose my team. That is not true, his contract is until end of 2025, so I will have to spend 6.5 million on him anyway.

Dean Henderson is also now listed. Wuilker Farinez is obviously still going to be my first choice but I was thinking to have more home grown talent. 1.6 million pounds won't hurt anyone and having more English players is a good thing. I put an offer his way and hopefully things go ok. Ivan Villar might either be sold or sent on loan since Dean will be my second choice.

Separately, teams are also making extremely bone headed decisions about their youth players. Francisco Conceicao has been listed at the measly sum of 1.4 million. I mean, look at those stats for an inverted winger. It's absolutely nuts. I can imagine him going for 14 million just at this point, 1.4 million is just daylight robbery! He's only 18 years old too and has room to develop. Even if he does not end up anywhere in the first 11, he can potentially be sold for a high profit. Bought and will likely loan him out for experience immediately.

 

Last point, bye bye Tom Lawrence, I love your 5.75 million and good riddance to your 37.5k wages every week. Love ya~

Edit: Derby is raining money! The chairman just deposited another 20 million into the transfer kitty!

Edited May 23, 2020 by Impz82

[JaytheGreat]

Beginning of February as the winter transfer window just closed. We are currently 2nd, 4 points behind Leeds and 3 points in front of 3rd place Fulham. Jack Marriott leads the team with 5 goals, Lawrence leads the team with 12 assists. We have been struggling to score lately relying entirely on Marriott and whatever we can come up with from set pieces.  Our next game is against Stoke in the FA Cup were the lucky winner gets to play Liverpool.

Speaking of Liverpool and the winter transfer window, we signed DM Pedro Chirivella for 1.5 mil with a release clause of 17.75 mil that goes away if we get promoted, my scouts absolutely loved him telling me to sign at any cost and gave him a suggestion percentage of 92. The 22 year old Spaniard will be playing behind Rooney at the DLP role, I'm very interest to see how he adjusts to the Championship.  

Eventually we'll need more sustained offense from someone other then Marriott but so far our luck is holding and hopefully we within striking distance of 1st when the season winds down. 

[Tee2]

11 hours ago, smplfc123 said:

Jozefzoon is the only one left that I'm looking to get rid off in this summer clearout. Whittaker seems to have lost his Premier League interest, so he'll be in and around the firs team squad next season. Still working on quite a few more signings coming in to the club, having only got 2 over the line so far.

For some reason I struggled to get rid of many of my unwanted players but Jozefzoon was a must-have and went for £5m. Perhaps it's the novelty of owning your own Surinamese footballer...

10 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Meanwhile, ex-Derby man Will Hughes has earned himself a great move to Wolves, and a nice slice of the fee comes our way as the already healthy finances were strengthened even further. 

In my game we re-signed Will, and it was an additional treat to recoup some of our own transfer fee because of that clause. Good luck in League One, I expect you to stroll it, hopefully not a Derby edition of Sunderland 'Til I Die for you!

2 hours ago, JaytheGreat said:

Speaking of Liverpool and the winter transfer window, we signed DM Pedro Chirivella for 1.5 mil with a release clause of 17.75 mil that goes away if we get promoted, my scouts absolutely loved him telling me to sign at any cost and gave him a suggestion percentage of 92. The 22 year old Spaniard will be playing behind Rooney at the DLP role, I'm very interest to see how he adjusts to the Championship.  

I love Chirivella. He improves very quickly and once he's in your side ahead of Rooney - who declines as quickly as Pedro develops - you won't look back, I'm sure. 

[Jogo Bonito]

30 minutes ago, Tee2 said:

In my game we re-signed Will, and it was an additional treat to recoup some of our own transfer fee because of that clause. Good luck in League One, I expect you to stroll it, hopefully not a Derby edition of Sunderland 'Til I Die for you!

Thanks for the confidence, but West Brom were also relegated (and have spent big), so I'd say they are promotion favourites!

[OJ403]

So the transfer deadline has passed, thanks for the advice guys it was really useful.

I found a couple of centre back targets in France, Germany and Italy. We either failed in negotiations (I second what was said the other day about wages being extortionate), they went elsewhere or I decided that they weren't worth it. In the end I had good deals in place for Jan Bednarek of Southampton and an Icelandic newgen from Austria Wien Victor (just Victor as I can neither spell nor pronounce his last name). However, neither of these were as good as the player I opted to sign, nor as cost effective. In the end I went for Chris Smalling on a free two year deal with quite reasonable wages of £35-40,000 a week (I'm not at my laptop right now so I can't say exactly - I think £37,000). He's roughly the same level as what I had generally attribute wise, but the 4 key stats for me of marking, tackling, anticipation and positioning are all above 15. Plus he's got a winning mentality and Premier League experience. 

However my attempts to loan out Graeme Gebbie were a failure, as "no clubs were interested due to concerns over a lack of interest in him joining them". So thats an inconvenience as we now have 5 centre backs when Ricardo Ferreira returns from his ACL injury and Gebbie really needs first team football to develop, so things could change in January.

Oliver Batista Meier also asked to leave over wage issues (no I'm not giving him a pay rise from £11,000 to £55,000) however despite my best efforts no one will pay the £20-25 million I want, so for now he's here to stay. Hopefully he'll cheer up or move on - either is fine by me as he's replaceable.

So in summary this is my transfer business:

Ins:

• Sean Longstaff, Newcastle, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, £13 million, first choice BBM-S

• Emmanuel Vignato, West Brom, 🇮🇹, £18.5 million, first choice W-S

• Chris Smalling, Manchester United, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, free, first choice CB-D

• Jacob Rinne, AaB, 🇩🇰, free, back up GK-S

• Matt Clarke, Brighton, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, £5 million, back up CB-D/FB-S

• Ben Pearson, Watford, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, loan (£2 million option), back up DLP-D

Outs:

• Cameron Dawson, Watford, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, £525,000

• Various youngsters out on loan deals for the season to further their development

 

The only signing I'm not overly pleased with on reflection is Matt Clarke. As much as I like him, with the amount of centre backs we have and a lack of a back up right back it might have been more useful to sign someone who can cover both sided full backs. Hindsights a wonderful thing, however I'm sure he'll play a key role for us this season. I am delighted with Longstaff, Vignato and Smalling though. All three are improvements and high quality players. Longstaff and Vignato both have plenty of room to grow and Smalling should cover the gap until Gebbie's of the level and I've signed the Icelandic newgen Victor.

As for the season, all I'm targeting is survival. Mid table would be nice but 16th-12th is my target and one I am confident we can achieve.

[Impz82]

2 hours ago, OJ403 said:

So the transfer deadline has passed, thanks for the advice guys it was really useful.

I found a couple of centre back targets in France, Germany and Italy. We either failed in negotiations (I second what was said the other day about wages being extortionate), they went elsewhere or I decided that they weren't worth it. In the end I had good deals in place for Jan Bednarek of Southampton and an Icelandic newgen from Austria Wien Victor (just Victor as I can neither spell nor pronounce his last name). However, neither of these were as good as the player I opted to sign, nor as cost effective. In the end I went for Chris Smalling on a free two year deal with quite reasonable wages of £35-40,000 a week (I'm not at my laptop right now so I can't say exactly - I think £37,000). He's roughly the same level as what I had generally attribute wise, but the 4 key stats for me of marking, tackling, anticipation and positioning are all above 15. Plus he's got a winning mentality and Premier League experience. 

However my attempts to loan out Graeme Gebbie were a failure, as "no clubs were interested due to concerns over a lack of interest in him joining them". So thats an inconvenience as we now have 5 centre backs when Ricardo Ferreira returns from his ACL injury and Gebbie really needs first team football to develop, so things could change in January.

Oliver Batista Meier also asked to leave over wage issues (no I'm not giving him a pay rise from £11,000 to £55,000) however despite my best efforts no one will pay the £20-25 million I want, so for now he's here to stay. Hopefully he'll cheer up or move on - either is fine by me as he's replaceable.

So in summary this is my transfer business:

Ins:

• Sean Longstaff, Newcastle, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, £13 million, first choice BBM-S

• Emmanuel Vignato, West Brom, 🇮🇹, £18.5 million, first choice W-S

• Chris Smalling, Manchester United, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, free, first choice CB-D

• Jacob Rinne, AaB, 🇩🇰, free, back up GK-S

• Matt Clarke, Brighton, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, £5 million, back up CB-D/FB-S

• Ben Pearson, Watford, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, loan (£2 million option), back up DLP-D

Outs:

• Cameron Dawson, Watford, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, £525,000

• Various youngsters out on loan deals for the season to further their development

 

The only signing I'm not overly pleased with on reflection is Matt Clarke. As much as I like him, with the amount of centre backs we have and a lack of a back up right back it might have been more useful to sign someone who can cover both sided full backs. Hindsights a wonderful thing, however I'm sure he'll play a key role for us this season. I am delighted with Longstaff, Vignato and Smalling though. All three are improvements and high quality players. Longstaff and Vignato both have plenty of room to grow and Smalling should cover the gap until Gebbie's of the level and I've signed the Icelandic newgen Victor.

As for the season, all I'm targeting is survival. Mid table would be nice but 16th-12th is my target and one I am confident we can achieve.

Wah, Chris Smalling on a free should solidfy your defense, even if it's not the most sexy purchase.

On the other hand, Sean Longstaff will be mainstay in your squad for a while, and getting him at 13 million is a bargain. Good job on the buys

[Impz82]

January 31, 2022 has passed, and I am the first one to state that I am surprised I made a sale as well as a purchase in the last day of the transfer window. I am generally the type of manager that does my transfers very early in the window, but there was a bargain (and for huge Derby fans, what I did was quite the sacrilege). Let's go with the ins and outs for this January window

Ins

• Rayan Cherki, PSG, loan, no fee, 10k per week wages, fringe player for cover
• Dean Henderson, Manchester United, 1.6 mil, 20k per week wages, backup goalkeeper
• Francisco Conceicao, FC Porto, 1.4 mil, 14.5k per week wages, backup left/right winger
• Harvey Barnes, Leicester, 10.75 million, 43k per week wages, second choice left winger

Being rather unfamiiar with Derby, I didn't realise that Leicester and Derby had a strong rivalry, though I also noted that there are many players who played for both clubs. However, when deadline day approached, Harvey Barnes was transfer listed for 10.75 million. I needed a specialist left inverted winger/forward (I have been using makeshift players such as Almeda and Amiri Gouiri as cover) and his stats look excellent. He is English, 24 years old, have some room to grow and has good Premier League experience. He will definitely be given all the chances to do well.

Outs

• Max Bird, Birmingham, 9.75 mil
• Tom Lawrence, Deportivo La Coruna, 5.75 mil
• Jack Marriot, QPR, 1.8 mil
• Jonathan Mitchell, Manchester United, 250k

On the outs, I never rated Jack Marriot at the Premier League level. He wasn't getting any game time, so he was sold off on cheap price to be fair to him. Tom Lawrence as well, he was never going to get much time when I have young players such as Rober, Jude Bellingham and Amiri Gouiri vying for game time. 5.75 mil is a decent deal and I took it. The last one was the sad sale of Max Bird. He was never going to be a first team for me when I have Marco Kana, Bielisk and Tonali in the defensive midfielder position. He played only 2 games the whole season. When the deal came in first at 6 mil (rejected), 8 mil (rejected) and eventually 9.75 mil, at 4 hours before deadline, I grabbed the chance to let him go. I feel bad because I have hopes that he will develop, but he never really did.

With all that sales, I have changed my team to a very young squad with lots of room to improve. The oldest player is 24 years old, and most of my first team players are between 20 to 23.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Impz82

[OJ403]

4 hours ago, Impz82 said:

Wah, Chris Smalling on a free should solidfy your defense, even if it's not the most sexy purchase.

On the other hand, Sean Longstaff will be mainstay in your squad for a while, and getting him at 13 million is a bargain. Good job on the buys

I know right. I think the Smalling deal sums up where we are as club. We're not quite good enough to attract really high talent, but players who may be unwanted by other clubs and still have the talent seem to want to come. Hopefully by the time his 2 year deals up we should be of that level. Yeah I'm really excited about Longstaff. He's a really complete player and can play all of the roles in our midfield competently at least.

All your signings look good too!

3 hours ago, Impz82 said:

Harvey Barnes, Leicester, 10.75 million, 43k per week wages, second choice left winger

This is a really good signing particularly. And honestly I think FM overplays the rivalry, I think it bothers Leicester fans more than Derby fans, at least it does me. I'm far more concerned about the Forest and Leeds rivalries to the extent I don't really feel much towards Leicester at all. Whereas Leicester don't have any major rivals to my knowledge.

[Impz82]

It's the end of the season in the 3rd season, and sadly Derby totally bottled it when it mattered. A heavy loss against 4th place Arsenal and a draw against Birmingham (it was one of those games where I had a BILLION goal attempts, and only scored 1, while they only need 1 chance) meant that there is no Champions League football through the league. A 4 points gap, as well as games against Tottenham and Manchester City, meant that I needed a few more victories that did not happen. T_T

That makes the game against Borussia Monchengladbach even more important. We are already in the Europa semi finals, and if we do well enough, we have a good chance of qualifying through that instead.

And clearly the game does not want me to win. Tonali, Wilson and my customised character just got injured for more than 1 month, 2 days before the 1st semi final. -.- Wow, I am this close to gamer rage.

Edit: Barely got through with a 2-2 draw on aggregate, win by away goals rule. Lost 2-1 away and 1-0 at home. Final will be against Celtic.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Impz82

[Impz82]

My first piece of silverware in the third season of Derby County . I eventually did get 5th despite winning my last 2 matches, as Everton was thrashed by Arsenal. I still qualified for C.League though  Sadly, not much expectations for C.League at this point, but I hope to solidify my top 6 credentials next year!

The man of the match is the Spanish Geoff Hurst, aka Francisco Martinez, who scored a hat trick!

The next season will be an interesting one because I am hitting the limits for some of the older players like Rick von Dronghelen and Harry Wilson (who is falling behind Rober in development). This is a bit troubling but I need to sell so that I can buy improvements.

And on that note...can you imagine that much money in real life for Derby?

Edited May 24, 2020 by Impz82

[Stackalee]

On 23/05/2020 at 16:36, Impz82 said:

I never rated Jack Marriot at the Premier League level.

I mean, I don't like to throw out phrases like "English Ronaldo" lightly, but...

The fans agree! 

I jest but in honesty I've loved getting the most out of him this save and he's not at all somebody I expected to still be using in the 5th season.

[OJ403]

I've got to be honest with you those numbers are obscene! But the most ridiculous thing is this...

19 minutes ago, Stackalee said:

The fans agree! 

Based off the frustrations of real life Marriott this is pure madness! 😂😂 Although it is good to see unexpected stars of people saves long term, especially when its a redemption story of sorts.

In all honesty he's probably better suited to bottom end Premier League than top end Championship due to his style of play.