FM20: The English Football League thread

[Gunner 101]

Wow, wow, wow, hold on. Since when did you sign Jarrad Branthwaite!? @Jogo Bonito

Leicester seem too good so that only leaves you 1 promotion place plus one more. Promotion will be tough to achieve but I'm sure you'll give it your best shot. 

[Jogo Bonito]

30 minutes ago, Gunner 101 said:

Wow, wow, wow, hold on. Since when did you sign Jarrad Branthwaite!? @Jogo Bonito

Leicester seem too good so that only leaves you 1 promotion place plus one more. Promotion will be tough to achieve but I'm sure you'll give it your best shot. 

I've had Branthwaite since the start (24th June 2019) but have been building him up in the U23 side where he has been really impressive. I've got Dunkley, Dunne, Brockbank (HGC) and Zouma ahead of him - just - but when I was down in numbers I knew he was ready for his debut. I presume you are playing him every week down in L2?

You're right, Leicester are streets ahead of everyone else. A top six finish would be beyond my wildest expectations.

[karanhsingh]

How did Leicester even go down in your game!? Clearly FM Brendan is nothing like his real life counterpart. 

Some great work with Bolton though! 

[karanhsingh]

It's a cruel game sometimes... we hit the woodwork thrice, including twice in the opening 10 minutes. And then we had the most ludicrous sending off I have seen in all my years of playing FM, en route a completely undeserved defeat in our first ever Wembley appearance. 

The good news is we are still top of the league, hopefully the players can bounce back from this disappointment.

[Gunner 101]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I've had Branthwaite since the start (24th June 2019) but have been building him up in the U23 side where he has been really impressive. I've got Dunkley, Dunne, Brockbank (HGC) and Zouma ahead of him - just - but when I was down in numbers I knew he was ready for his debut. I presume you are playing him every week down in L2?

You're right, Leicester are streets ahead of everyone else. A top six finish would be beyond my wildest expectations.

Yeah, he’s a regular for me at Carlisle and progressing nicely. He’s brilliant in the air. I’m going through a phase of trying to find my identity during the first half of the season, not sure where it’s taking me really but I’ll hopefully be able to update soon! 

[karanhsingh]

What a way to clinch the title! 

I also gave this young lad his debut off the bench, and he actually scored, becoming the club's youngest ever scorer in the process!

Budgets for next season as we take a crack at the Championship:

[Bergbatov]

@10Sammo10 Great work on Forest Green, unlucky with the playoff. You'll get it next year.

@karanhsingh Looking good. Congrats on promotion! Looking forward to see how you use that transfer window.

@Jogo Bonito I was close to starting with Bolton before I started with Coventry, great to see you build them up again. Got some bright young prospects and Eddie Brown looks like a valuable asset already 

 

Transfer window is now closed. Pretty amazing window. We added Mandzukic, Thompson and Shea on the last day because we lacked some depth. Mario Mandzukic will probably get some playtime since Gelhardt is still young and Mario still got some football in him. I just hope we don't get injuries on our center backs, we only got Sam Hughes and Louis Thompson as backups. The only reason I loaned Dalot is because Dabo got injured, 3 months 

We also secured another wonderkid for a pretty decent price. He is perfect to our style of play and will be a great asset for the team over the years to come.

This is how our team looks like in our first season in Premier League. I'm pretty confident that we will avoid relegation. We are dead last salary spendings and our highest earner is Jay Dasilva on £38k a week. So I would say we have a bright future ahead here in Coventry City.  

 

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Bergbatov

[Jogo Bonito]

Congratulations @karanhsingh you  must now have the freedom of Rochdale! Not convinced that's anything to brag about, but then I once achieved that at Grimsby which is far worse 

That's a busy transfer window @Bergbatov hopefully it will work out for you. I appreciate your low wage bill in comparison to others, but Jay Dasilva is on £38k p/w 

[Bergbatov]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

That's a busy transfer window @Bergbatov hopefully it will work out for you. I appreciate your low wage bill in comparison to others, but Jay Dasilva is on £38k p/w 

Yeah it was quite busy, but it had to be done. I had a very thin squad and some old guys in Michael Rose, Kyle McFadzean, Liam Kelly, Mriko Boland had to go. They were so far away from Premier League standard and started to regress. Yeah pretty crazy that Dasilva is the top earner, but he was the most perfect fit for our style of play. The fact that he was English as well was a big plus as I try to get UK players if it's possible and they suits our philosophy. Our wages are still very low and to be fair, Dasilva is a beast of an wing back . We are currently playing 5 players that played for us last year and Hiwula is now worth £17m and doing great. 

Edited January 11, 2020 by Bergbatov

[Rollin93]

So I’m in the off season with black urn building my team nyambe release clause of 8.5 million was actives by West Ham a long with leniham to Aston Villa do building a team to go up has been difficult Bradley Dack started causing problems because he wanted out I managed to get 16 million for him 

I was buzzing thought I’d get Atleast something to put back into building a team and they game me 2 million!! 
starting to think this rebuilding isn’t going to be as easy!

managed to pick some good league 1 players up cheap will update on who they are at a later time 

but 1 signing I did get who looks like could be a brilliant long term replacement for Dack is bogusz from Leeds he cost me around 3 million 

I’m really hoping I don’t loose anyone else

[warlock]

49 minutes ago, Rollin93 said:

starting to think this rebuilding isn’t going to be as easy!

£2m is a bit harsh, hopefully it will be enough!

[karanhsingh]

Great transferred @Bergbatov Gelhardt looks really good in my game too excellent prospect

Does anyone have experience with Ashley Hunter? Good enough for championship? I have an offer pending for him but will make him the highest paid player in the club. He does seem to have the attributes in the right areas for my formation though- pace acceleration flair finishing and determination. 

[karanhsingh]

6 hours ago, Rollin93 said:

So I’m in the off season with black urn building my team nyambe release clause of 8.5 million was actives by West Ham a long with leniham to Aston Villa do building a team to go up has been difficult Bradley Dack started causing problems because he wanted out I managed to get 16 million for him 

I was buzzing thought I’d get Atleast something to put back into building a team and they game me 2 million!! 
starting to think this rebuilding isn’t going to be as easy!

managed to pick some good league 1 players up cheap will update on who they are at a later time 

but 1 signing I did get who looks like could be a brilliant long term replacement for Dack is bogusz from Leeds he cost me around 3 million 

I’m really hoping I don’t loose anyone else

That's strange! What% of transfer revenue are they allowing you to keep? Anyway get in a couple of loan signings and it should be enough. There should be good players willing to join due to the clubs reputation

[karanhsingh]

7 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Congratulations @karanhsingh you  must now have the freedom of Rochdale! Not convinced that's anything to brag about, but then I once achieved that at Grimsby which is far worse 

That's a busy transfer window @Bergbatov hopefully it will work out for you. I appreciate your low wage bill in comparison to others, but Jay Dasilva is on £38k p/w 

Haha very true. I am hoping our attendance go up a bit this season. Averaged just 5k in league one. 

[Rollin93]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

That's strange! What% of transfer revenue are they allowing you to keep? Anyway get in a couple of loan signings and it should be enough. There should be good players willing to join due to the clubs reputation

Now I’ve looked there only giving me 10% due to the Massive debts 

I’ve targeted a lot of league 1 players on the hope they turn into stars could be a bad idea long term but we shall see

[10Sammo10]

3 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Great transferred @Bergbatov Gelhardt looks really good in my game too excellent prospect

Does anyone have experience with Ashley Hunter? Good enough for championship? I have an offer pending for him but will make him the highest paid player in the club. He does seem to have the attributes in the right areas for my formation though- pace acceleration flair finishing and determination. 

Congrats on promotion. Great job. I’ve just signed Ashley Hunter on a free as he didn’t agree a new deal with Fleetwood. (Start of 3rd season in L1. He’s a key man for me and if I went up I wouldn’t be looking at replacing him unless anything I couldn’t refuse came up, if that helps at all. 
 

@Bergbatov good business, that’s a window Coventry fans could only dream of! 
 

@Jogo Bonito Decent start to life in the championship. Nice run of results there and very good start to the season @CityAndColour with Tonbridge. 

Edited January 11, 2020 by 10Sammo10

[CityAndColour]

I just drew Hashtag United in the FA Cup qualifying rounds!

[warlock]

The new laptop has arrived, and I've spent... oh, the best part of four hours getting it setup, downloading installing Windows updates, and finally installing Steam and FM. Facepacks etc will have to wait. Interested to see what the performance will be like from a faster CPU and much better GPU but first there'll be cooking of dinner and familial TV watching. Look for an update around midnight 

[karanhsingh]

Enjoy @warlock - it's usually the same routine here as well dinner then TV then FM when the mrs is asleep 

[Gunner 101]

Seems like you guys have it all figured out. 

My girlfriend on the other hand = 

[warlock]

New laptop is great - capable of playing faster with a bigger database, and higher-quality graphics in 3D match displays (and much quieter fan noise throughout). I'm happy 

Got the Plymouth save underway, and just completed pre-season friendlies. A good series of results, although mostly against non-league opposition - but we nicked a goalless draw against Championship Derby, so I'm taking that as a good omen. Despite the lack of cash I've managed some business in the market, and hope to complete at least one more loan signing before the big kickoff. With a bit of luck I'll have the first season update tomorrow night.

6 hours ago, Gunner 101 said:

Seems like you guys have it all figured out. 

25 years of marriage teaches you the art of compromise 

[Gunner 101]

Best of luck at Argyle, @warlock. 

[Jogo Bonito]

10 hours ago, warlock said:

New laptop is great - capable of playing faster with a bigger database, and higher-quality graphics in 3D match displays (and much quieter fan noise throughout). I'm happy 

Got the Plymouth save underway, and just completed pre-season friendlies. A good series of results, although mostly against non-league opposition - but we nicked a goalless draw against Championship Derby, so I'm taking that as a good omen. Despite the lack of cash I've managed some business in the market, and hope to complete at least one more loan signing before the big kickoff. With a bit of luck I'll have the first season update tomorrow night.

25 years of marriage teaches you the art of compromise 

You must be the only football manager in history that wants lower fan noise 

Welcome back and good luck with Plymouth. A few weeks late for the Ho Ho Ho challenge but enjoy your new laptop!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Hi guys, I am going to start a new save with Brentford but I want to make it as realistic to real life as possible with how they recruit, the stats they use etc, I have read a few articles so I got a vague idea but I was wondering if there was any Brentford fans in here who could help me make a blueprint on how to manage Brentford in the game please.

Maybe @Welshace might know as he seems to be knowledgable on stuff like this.

[Gunner 101]

35 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Hi guys, I am going to start a new save with Brentford but I want to make it as realistic to real life as possible with how they recruit, the stats they use etc, I have read a few articles so I got a vague idea but I was wondering if there was any Brentford fans in here who could help me make a blueprint on how to manage Brentford in the game please.

Maybe @Welshace might know as he seems to be knowledgable on stuff like this.

Pretty sure Brentford use the "moneyball" approach. 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

how to manage Brentford

There is quite a bit online - when I took on the Bees I found this article useful:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2718752-brentfords-moneyball-way-to-beat-football-teams-with-huge-budgets

Several FM players have used the moneyball approach in saves, but this is a decent introduction:

https://thetacticalannals.wordpress.com/2019/02/10/moneyball-in-football-manager-2019-i/

Edit to add: One of the things I didn't fully realise when I started and that came back to haunt me: you have to play your signings, even if it costs you results on the pitch. The only way to drive their value is by on-pitch performances, but it can take foreign talent a year or more to settle. I won on the football side - we achieved automatic promotion - but I failed at the moneyball side, ending up with an unhappy player who demanded a transfer, but who the board wouldn't sell because there wasn't enough profit.

I'll probably have another crack at Brentford this year; it's certainly an interesting challenge.

Edited January 12, 2020 by warlock

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Cheers for the advice and links guys, much appreciated.

I didn't spend much, just signed a few players from my affiliate in Denmark and signed a couple of Prem young players.

I will do some analyzing and scouting and see what the winter window brings me.

 

[yann]

Just gained promotion and championship title with Stoke, started to build a team with some great signings (Camavinga, bellingham), and then new owner of the club and i get fired in less than a week .....

Really happy ...

[Fubz]

Brentford use the moneyball approach in their own way, and it's the way I've been approaching things in my Notts County save to some very good success.

As with Brentford, I decided very early on to not really bother with our youth teams (very poor facilities at the start and no U23's). Gradually through the save we've been investing in this part of the club so that one day we can produce, and sell (no doubt) players for a tidy profit. 

Mainly I stuck to scouting the likes of N. Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (due to restrictions) and picked up any promising young talent they brought my way.  Also, giving trials and signing players released from bigger clubs is a sure fire way of getting players in to not only improve your team, but, make your club a profit in the long run (obvious, right?).

Few Examples of the approach in action...

Jimmy Mas - Profit 5m

 

Abdoulaye Paye - Profit 2m (could rise to 3.4m)

 

Tyler Blackman - Profit 11.75m (pretty much)

 

Mark Johnstone - Profit 3.4m (could rise to 7.4m)

 

Demeaco Duhaney - Profit 20m

 

Stuart Doherty - Profit 7.2m (could rise to 15.4m)

 

Jonas Hammerhei - Profit 8.1m

 

All this was done whilst rising from the National League to the Prem in 5 years (granted, getting to the Prem raised a few of these prices up). Still, our scouting network was setup in such a way that they found me talent that was young, and most importantly, good enough potential wise to start and improve the 1st team. In turn, the game time these youngsters got propelled us up the leagues, improved them both on the pitch (attribute wise) and off the pitch (financially). 

Now, this approach has it's draw backs (there are a fair few failed signings let me tell you) but overall we've made some insane profit (which was pumped into improving the youth structure and facilities). My advice is this, focus on a certain region to scout and scout it well. Get the best scouts you can, and send them out with instructions to find players to suit your system and 1st team ready (there or there abouts). As Warlock said, you have to play these players in order to reap the benefits, so no point in signing players you won't really use, no matter the temptation. Honestly though, it's one of the most fun ways to play FM if you have the patience to set it up right. Once you have it up and running it becomes second nature and it can really make a huge difference to any save you play (more so for those of us that like/prefer LLM). 

I know this is a tad long winded, but I hoped it helps out any one who's interested in this way of doing things on FM. If not, apologises for the long post that means nothing! 

[Gunner 101]

Brilliant post @Fubz 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, yann said:

new owner of the club and i get fired

Commiserations! New owners completely screwed up my promotion-winning save with Stoke, too. Chin up, and find the next challenge 

[warlock]

44 minutes ago, Fubz said:

I know this is a tad long winded

Not at all, and very helpful 

[10Sammo10]

22 minutes ago, Gunner 101 said:

Brilliant post @Fubz 

Agreed 

[Welshace]

5 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Hi guys, I am going to start a new save with Brentford but I want to make it as realistic to real life as possible with how they recruit, the stats they use etc, I have read a few articles so I got a vague idea but I was wondering if there was any Brentford fans in here who could help me make a blueprint on how to manage Brentford in the game please.

Maybe @Welshace might know as he seems to be knowledgable on stuff like this.

Yeah, Matthew Benham who owns Brentford is a statistical analyst really and likes to run his club using really in depth statistical models.. ( he was using models like xG , which everyone has heard of now, years and years before it was the norm here),  it's a lot like moneyball, but Benham hates that term as his model has taken it a lot futher.. 

 

For the sake of Fm though, just look into moneyball as an approach of how to run the club.. it's fairly easy in fm and can ruin a save as it's super powerful.. you already know it though R.B ... 

 

it's the basics of buying low and selling high, while sticking to a very set in stone plan i.e no-one over a certain age, always selling players on when they reach the age limit, always stick to players you need in the position you need and not buying for the same of buying..

 

Brentford in particular have a strong link with Denmark and have looked there first for players before moving to other places..

 

If you have the time, read up on it as Brentford have had 4 top ten finishes and have always makde profit while doing so (60 odd million in fact).

[Welshace]

1 hour ago, Fubz said:

Brentford use the moneyball approach in their own way, and it's the way I've been approaching things in my Notts County save to some very good success.

As with Brentford, I decided very early on to not really bother with our youth teams (very poor facilities at the start and no U23's). Gradually through the save we've been investing in this part of the club so that one day we can produce, and sell (no doubt) players for a tidy profit. 

Mainly I stuck to scouting the likes of N. Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (due to restrictions) and picked up any promising young talent they brought my way.  Also, giving trials and signing players released from bigger clubs is a sure fire way of getting players in to not only improve your team, but, make your club a profit in the long run (obvious, right?).

Few Examples of the approach in action...

Jimmy Mas - Profit 5m

 

Abdoulaye Paye - Profit 2m (could rise to 3.4m)

 

Tyler Blackman - Profit 11.75m (pretty much)

 

Mark Johnstone - Profit 3.4m (could rise to 7.4m)

 

Demeaco Duhaney - Profit 20m

 

Stuart Doherty - Profit 7.2m (could rise to 15.4m)

 

Jonas Hammerhei - Profit 8.1m

 

All this was done whilst rising from the National League to the Prem in 5 years (granted, getting to the Prem raised a few of these prices up). Still, our scouting network was setup in such a way that they found me talent that was young, and most importantly, good enough potential wise to start and improve the 1st team. In turn, the game time these youngsters got propelled us up the leagues, improved them both on the pitch (attribute wise) and off the pitch (financially). 

Now, this approach has it's draw backs (there are a fair few failed signings let me tell you) but overall we've made some insane profit (which was pumped into improving the youth structure and facilities). My advice is this, focus on a certain region to scout and scout it well. Get the best scouts you can, and send them out with instructions to find players to suit your system and 1st team ready (there or there abouts). As Warlock said, you have to play these players in order to reap the benefits, so no point in signing players you won't really use, no matter the temptation. Honestly though, it's one of the most fun ways to play FM if you have the patience to set it up right. Once you have it up and running it becomes second nature and it can really make a huge difference to any save you play (more so for those of us that like/prefer LLM). 

I know this is a tad long winded, but I hoped it helps out any one who's interested in this way of doing things on FM. If not, apologises for the long post that means nothing! 

Just seen this post after posting mine.. great stuff here fubz ...  I think this method is basically the norm in Fm these days.. when i've taken the Brentford approach i've always tried to stay clear of buying too many very young cheap players just to sell on, but then again, i've never done it with a team as small as notts county and built them up that way, might have to give it another go.

[Fubz]

46 minutes ago, Welshace said:

Just seen this post after posting mine.. great stuff here fubz ...  I think this method is basically the norm in Fm these days.. when i've taken the Brentford approach i've always tried to stay clear of buying too many very young cheap players just to sell on, but then again, i've never done it with a team as small as notts county and built them up that way, might have to give it another go.

Yeah, it's how I pretty much play FM these days. The introduction of the club vision this year has further amplified it for me as well in this save. I'm forced into buying players under 23 & not over 30 and buying to sell for a profit. 

That being said though, I've only signed player that fit into my current system and that improve us (reason why this save has been so successful). The only down side to it is this, I'm the Prem with a bunch of kids that are inconsistent. We win 5, lose 7, then win another 4 before the wheels fall off! 

I'm having a blast though, even if it's the most frustrating save I've done in years.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

3 hours ago, Fubz said:

Brentford use the moneyball approach in their own way, and it's the way I've been approaching things in my Notts County save to some very good success.

As with Brentford, I decided very early on to not really bother with our youth teams (very poor facilities at the start and no U23's). Gradually through the save we've been investing in this part of the club so that one day we can produce, and sell (no doubt) players for a tidy profit. 

Mainly I stuck to scouting the likes of N. Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (due to restrictions) and picked up any promising young talent they brought my way.  Also, giving trials and signing players released from bigger clubs is a sure fire way of getting players in to not only improve your team, but, make your club a profit in the long run (obvious, right?).

Few Examples of the approach in action...

Jimmy Mas - Profit 5m

 

Abdoulaye Paye - Profit 2m (could rise to 3.4m)

 

Tyler Blackman - Profit 11.75m (pretty much)

 

Mark Johnstone - Profit 3.4m (could rise to 7.4m)

 

Demeaco Duhaney - Profit 20m

 

Stuart Doherty - Profit 7.2m (could rise to 15.4m)

 

Jonas Hammerhei - Profit 8.1m

 

All this was done whilst rising from the National League to the Prem in 5 years (granted, getting to the Prem raised a few of these prices up). Still, our scouting network was setup in such a way that they found me talent that was young, and most importantly, good enough potential wise to start and improve the 1st team. In turn, the game time these youngsters got propelled us up the leagues, improved them both on the pitch (attribute wise) and off the pitch (financially). 

Now, this approach has it's draw backs (there are a fair few failed signings let me tell you) but overall we've made some insane profit (which was pumped into improving the youth structure and facilities). My advice is this, focus on a certain region to scout and scout it well. Get the best scouts you can, and send them out with instructions to find players to suit your system and 1st team ready (there or there abouts). As Warlock said, you have to play these players in order to reap the benefits, so no point in signing players you won't really use, no matter the temptation. Honestly though, it's one of the most fun ways to play FM if you have the patience to set it up right. Once you have it up and running it becomes second nature and it can really make a huge difference to any save you play (more so for those of us that like/prefer LLM). 

I know this is a tad long winded, but I hoped it helps out any one who's interested in this way of doing things on FM. If not, apologises for the long post that means nothing! 

Thank you @Fubz interesting post.

1 hour ago, Welshace said:

Yeah, Matthew Benham who owns Brentford is a statistical analyst really and likes to run his club using really in depth statistical models.. ( he was using models like xG , which everyone has heard of now, years and years before it was the norm here),  it's a lot like moneyball, but Benham hates that term as his model has taken it a lot futher.. 

 

For the sake of Fm though, just look into moneyball as an approach of how to run the club.. it's fairly easy in fm and can ruin a save as it's super powerful.. you already know it though R.B ... 

 

it's the basics of buying low and selling high, while sticking to a very set in stone plan i.e no-one over a certain age, always selling players on when they reach the age limit, always stick to players you need in the position you need and not buying for the same of buying..

 

Brentford in particular have a strong link with Denmark and have looked there first for players before moving to other places..

 

If you have the time, read up on it as Brentford have had 4 top ten finishes and have always makde profit while doing so (60 odd million in fact).

Thanks again @Welshace

I am currently top of the Championship league table with 23 points from 9 games and currently unbeaten in the league.

Bryan Mbeumo is a beast of a striker scoring 10 goals in 9 games.

Here is how I am set up as well.

I did go a bit overboard signing a few young players 

[Welshace]

@Ronaldo Beckham

 

That's cool, i've messed around with pre season with Brentford, but i think i need to give them another go.. such a good young team, and benrahma is pretty special irl in the championship... i dont know if theres a brentford team thread but there should be one.. I'd be interested to see how you get on with them.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

11 minutes ago, Welshace said:

@Ronaldo Beckham

 

That's cool, i've messed around with pre season with Brentford, but i think i need to give them another go.. such a good young team, and benrahma is pretty special irl in the championship... i dont know if theres a brentford team thread but there should be one.. I'd be interested to see how you get on with them.

@Welshace if you create one I will post in there to help build the thread up.

Its a really interesting club and how they do things, I have even started searching for players with a good shot on target % which I never done before.

Benrahma, Mbeuno, Reya, Watkins, Pinnock, Jenson etc they have such a good young team, I don't even think I need to add much if I get promoted to the Prem as I am confident in the players I have.

[Jogo Bonito]

Interesting all this Brentford talk. I actually set up a Brentford game a week ago just because I like their players and style of play rather than their approach to transfers. As rewarding as it is for them,, the transfer policy doesn't really suit my style - but then I probably wouldn't manage them for more than  one season unless I didn't get  promoted first time around, so it probably wouldn't matter much.

I cancelled all the affiliate links as I didn't want to be constantly linked to Danish players or reliant on other clubs (and I had enough Danish connections in my Bolton game). However, I have kept the formation and tactical style the same as Thomas Frank is using so effectively. Transfer wise I recalled a few of the loan players, and moved out just a handful of players (some on loan). Incoming were just three, all fairly young and from England.  

I can see why their good young team and different approach to transfers would be really attractive to many of you so will follow with interest. 

 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I don't even think I need to add much if I get promoted

Probably not, but be aware that the board will probably accept high offers for your best players. If you're still doing well at Christmas you can expect the likes of Watkins and Benrahma to attract a lot of interest from PL clubs.

[warlock]

There's been a delay on the update to my Plymouth save, because I restarted. The club is more or less penniless at the start, and I missed out on several free transfers and loans because there simply wasn't enough money for wages. And then, in the last couple of days of the transfer window, I noticed that I could cash in a clause from Jack Stephens' transfer to Southampton - £700k! In our current parlous state that kind of money is transformative. The board only makes around £400k available, but putting nearly all of it into the wage budget gave me around £10k a week, which allowed me to sign three players to fill the gaps in the squad, one free signing and two loans.

Inevitably, the free signing just broke his foot before the end of July and will be missing until November/December 

[Jogo Bonito]

27 minutes ago, warlock said:

Probably not, but be aware that the board will probably accept high offers for your best players. If you're still doing well at Christmas you can expect the likes of Watkins and Benrahma to attract a lot of interest from PL clubs.

@Ronaldo Beckham Also be careful about the HGC status. Only Josh Clarke from the first team squad starts with it, and he is out of contract at the end of season 1 and probably not good enough to be extended if you're doing well or promoted. You should find that Rico Henry gets HGC status before the start of the first season, so I would recommend hanging on to him at all costs.

16 minutes ago, warlock said:

There's been a delay on the update to my Plymouth save, because I restarted. The club is more or less penniless at the start, and I missed out on several free transfers and loans because there simply wasn't enough money for wages. And then, in the last couple of days of the transfer window, I noticed that I could cash in a clause from Jack Stephens' transfer to Southampton - £700k! In our current parlous state that kind of money is transformative. The board only makes around £400k available, but putting nearly all of it into the wage budget gave me around £10k a week, which allowed me to sign three players to fill the gaps in the squad, one free signing and two loans.

Inevitably, the free signing just broke his foot before the end of July and will be missing until November/December 

£400k at a club like Plymouth would give you the biggest transfer budget in League 2. Enjoy that, but sensibly!

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Enjoy that, but sensibly!

Well, I'd like to think so . Time will tell!

[dothestrand]

All this Brentford chat is great! I didn't really get very far with my save, so I should start it again. Certainly in most saves they tend to get promoted or be in the play off positions, so it's definitely achievable with the squad. The club vision is very ambitious, with promotion by the second season, so whilst you might get a degree of a pass in the first season, you have to move quickly.

By the end of the first season I'd look to find a replacement for Dalsgaard (who's 29), a young CB partner for Jansson (and probably move on Jeanvier), move on Mokotjo and have another option up front as I don't think Karelis is good enough.

I'd definitely make sure the Scottish league is running as Lewis Ferguson of Aberdeen could walk straight into your CM, and the likes of Campbell and Turnbull (Motherwell), Porteous (Hibernian) and Robertson (Dundee) are great value. McKenna and Souttar are pricier CBs, you probably can't afford those too early on. The Scottish league tends to get great regens too. 

[karanhsingh]

17 hours ago, warlock said:

There is quite a bit online - when I took on the Bees I found this article useful:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2718752-brentfords-moneyball-way-to-beat-football-teams-with-huge-budgets

Thanks, this is actually a great read

[karanhsingh]

Quick update on my save, and touching on some of the themes from the posts above about club finances. 

On the transfers front, here is what we did:

The big transfers are Woodman, Mavididi & Hunter. So we spent around half of the 3m allotted by the board. The only loans were the renewals of Magliore, Idah and Norrington-Davies, while Clark was a last minute loan signing due to Matheson getting a bad injury. 

I had the option to get Brewster in on loan too who I know from a previous save can be lethal, but I didn't want both my main strikers to not be owned by the club. 

In the league, things could not have been going better so far. We have had a couple of blips recently, and it will be interesting to see if we can maintain this level of performance going forward.

The 3-5-2 formation continues to work well, and we have had strong all-round performances across the team but with Adam Idah being the stand-out so far averaging a goal a game. 

The only drawback is the club's finances, as we are now at 80k per week on wages as opposed to 50k from last season. While this is just within budget, we are now losing a substantial amount of money every month and have gone into the red. This even though average attendance has moved up from approx 5k to 9k on every home game. Thanks to this, also unable to improve any of the facilities. 

If we don't go up (and obviously we were never expected to), we will also probably have to go into the zone of selling one or two players every year to balance the books. Right now the most marketable ones in the squad are probably Matheson and Camps, but I would be loathe to lose one of our academy products.

[Catley94]

After struggling to get into any save this year (and last), I read this post from first page to last, and finally found my file. After all the reading I’ve felt like I might give some posting of the file a go, mainly to give me some accountability to keep it going! Will post the end of my first season later one, once I figure out how to make a readable post with pictures 😂

[Ronaldo Beckham]

10 hours ago, warlock said:

Probably not, but be aware that the board will probably accept high offers for your best players. If you're still doing well at Christmas you can expect the likes of Watkins and Benrahma to attract a lot of interest from PL clubs.

Yeah a few Prem teams are after Benrahma and its only November, I encourage them to buy my players as I will just replace them and make profit. This is the reason why I wanted to be Brentford was the fact I could buy low and sell high.

I think we should get a few of us to do a Brentford save and start a thread on it, there hasn't been a big time thread in here for a few years now. I remember a lot of people managing this Bulgarian team and also there was a big Leeds thread a few years a go.

Cos of the fact that Brentford is so unique I think it would be a good team guide thread on here and gather interest.

[Fubz]

@karanhsingh Really nice to start to life in the Championship with Rochdale, intrigued as to how the season pans out for you. That's problem most of us have as well with finances at smaller clubs, gate revenue just doesn't cover wages 9 times out of 10 and you're forced to sell to balance the books.

All this talk of Brentford is making me want to start a new save with them tbh. Watched them destroy us at the Hawthorns last month and we were very lucky to get a point out of that game. Best team I've seen against us apart from Leeds this season.