[FM20] Sheffield Wednesday

[Tummyowl]

 

Welcome to the Sheffield Wednesday Football Manager 2020 thread...

 

Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of The Wednesday Cricket Club (itself formed in 1820), they went by the name of the Wednesday Football Club until changing to their current name in 1929.

Wednesday is one of the oldest football clubs in the world of any code, and the third-oldest professional association football club in England. In 1868 its team won the Cromwell Cup, only the second tournament of its kind. They were founding members and inaugural champions of the Football Alliance in 1889, before joining The Football League three years later. In 1992, they became founder members of the Premier League. The team has spent most of its league history in English football's top flight, but they have not played at that level since being relegated in 2000.

The Owls, as they are nicknamed, have won four league titles, three FA Cups, one League Cup and one FA Community Shield. Wednesday have also competed in UEFA cup competitions on four occasions, reaching the quarter-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1963. In 1991, they defeated Manchester United 1-0 in the Football League Cup Final as a tier 2 team. As of 2019 they remain the last team outside the top flight to win one of English football's major trophies.

In the 19th century, they played their matches at several stadiums around central Sheffield, including Olive Grove and Bramall Lane. Since 1899, the club has played all its home matches at Hillsborough stadium, a near-40,000 capacity stadium in the north-west Sheffield suburb of Owlerton.

In January 2015 Dejphon Chansiri took 100% ownership of the club and agreed to write off all debts. Chansiri stated his intention to win promotion back to the club for the 2017–18 season – the football club's 150th anniversary – and came close to achieving that goal a year head of schedule, with new coach Carlos Carvalhal leading the club into the end of season play-offs at the end of the 2015–16 season. Wednesday were beaten in the final by Hull City at Wembley. They made the play-offs again the following season, but lost on penalties to the eventually promoted Huddersfield Town in the semi final.

The club were favorites to be promoted in the 2017/18 season, but injuries and poor results saw them drop to the lower half of the table. Carvalhal left by mutual consent in December 2017, and was replaced by Dutch manager Jos Luhukay (sad face) a month later. The team finished in an uneventful 15th place at the end of the season. Luhukay was sacked in December 2018 after a run of only 1 win in 10, which left the team 18th in the table. He was replaced by former Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce who saw an upturn in form to finish 12th. However, Bruce controversially resigned in July 2019 to manage Newcastle United.

On 6 September 2019, the club appointed former Birmingham City manager Garry Monk as the new manager... That is until you take over.

 

First team squad

In short, the entire first team along with the club need rebuilding over time. However, that does not mean the first team squad is poor when you take over. The squad is surprisingly well balanced and has some real gems... and Rhodes.

 

Goalkeepers

Westwood is the clubs first choice goalkeeper, and the best goalkeeper in the squad, his only point of weakness is his distribution.

Wildsmith (injured), Dawson and (for some reason) Jones are all back ups. Wildsmith has perhaps the most potential, but Dawson has seen an increase in playing time over the last two seasons.

Defence

Right back has become a position of strength for the club since the departure of Hunt to Bristol City. Palmer has been the long term back up to the position, with both Iorfa and Odubajo now ahead of him. Iorfa is a more than capable central defender too. Whichever you prefer is largely down to playing style (Odubajo being better offensively) but Iorfa remains the better defender.

Left back... Honestly, there are left backs at the club. Fox does his best, it is ultimately not at the standard required, however Thorniley is more than capable of playing there (as is Reach or Palmer if you are in a pickle). This is a position that needs attention as soon as possible.

Central defence is an area of strength. Lees is the best central defender at the club and the club captain. Van Aken is the natural choice to partner him (left footed) but is on loan. However, Börner has now become the other first choice alongside Lees. Bates is a central defender in on loan for the season and can act as cover, as can Iorfa and Thorniley (and in extreme circumstances so can Hutchinson, who makes a decent ball playing defender actually). This is the only position with any real youth prospect for the club. Rice has potential to be far superior to all the other central defenders and could be a good option to develop. I would advise looking at bringing in another central defender of better quality than Börner.

Midfield

We'veeee got Bannan...

I like my teams to play with a holding midfielder, and that system suits the Wednesday side well with a choice of players for that position. Hutchinson is a tough tackling all action type with an awful injury record. Pelupessy can play the role in a different style and Luongo can cover there easily. This is not a glamerous position, however there are two good options here (if one of them is fit). In a more central midfield position you have Pelupessy who can operate there no problems, however, Hutchinson is not a natural there. You have a lot of options in this position, a lot. Bannan and Lee, the metronomic pair that earned the club play off dreams... however, they are older and in Lee's case more broken. They remain a good solid pair, Lee as a box to box, and Bannan as the play maker. Luongo can play here naturally and is a younger, slightly better Lee. Finally for the center of midfield there is Reach, who has enoyed varried success there over the last couple of seasons converting from a winger or wide midfielder. However they remain better positions for him.

Wide midfield was something that really did not exist for Wednesday until very recently. The midfield for a long time has lacked genuine pace and flair, until Harris arrived (and Murphy on loan). These two even from midfield make excellent wide options along with Reach though the pair are better suited as attacking midfielders.

Attacking midfielders! Like mentioned, there is finally a way to use the wings with Harris, Murphy, Reach and Forestieri as good options. Forestieri is perhaps the squads best forward, and his natural position has changed this year to being an out and out forward unlike previous years.

Forwards

Forwards by the bucket load! Wednesday had a phase of buying forwards because the forwards did not score enough goals, now the club has lots of forwards who do not score enough goals, logic. As mentioned as far as forwards go you have two options, a creative advanced forward in Forestieri, or a deep lying more complete forward in Fletcher. Nuhiu offers a target man option, and is a real presence up top with better technique than he is given credit for, and Winnall offers a poacher / pressing option. Ultimately Fletcher and Forestieri are the only forwards with any real quality. Oh, and there is Rhdoes, who like Fox, is ultimately just not good enough but unlike Fox is not on a mere £8,000 a week... oh no... Rhodes is on £35,000.

Looking good?

There are a couple of big problems with the squad, and some positives. We can start with the negatives. The first being linked to the clubs financial situation, the club has massively over spent on players since Chansiri has owned the club and as a result has little to no money for either wages or actual transfers. This means that in order to have any ability to develop the squad you will have to sell players. This is linked to another problem with the squad, the players are not getting any younger. Almost the entire squad is 25+, with the majority of the quality players being at least 29+; Westwood, Fletcher, Lee, Hutchinson, Bannan, Forestieri. Realistically they are your first choice forwards, and potentially first choice midfield with a lack of money to bring through replacements.

So... just sell players and generate money I hear you say, well who in their right mind wants to buy Rhodes comes my reply. I'm not just being mean to Rhodes, but his wages and total lack of footballing ability are negatives for the club.

Rhodes is on £35,000 a week, Winnall £16,000, Fox £8,000, Nuhiu £13,000... These are all players who probably will not feature and yet may prove difficult to move on, but the wages and money generated from them gives you money. The problem is selling them, reinvest this money though and the balance and quality in the rest of the squad should easily be enough for a top half, or promotion push.

Anything else?

Well, just the staff... who are really... not actually very good, bar a couple. The staff is open to change, this will only help the squad. There are some excellent members of staff such as Strudwick (Head of Sports Science), however, the club needs a total rebuild and that includes staff.

So... why would I manage them?

The challenge duh!
Wednesday are a 'sleeping giant', a great club that needs help getting back to the top of English football. It might take a while, and require a lot of clever transfers but it can be done. The team is likeable and full of genuinly quality players in each department, Westwood, Lees, Bannan, Forestieri and Fletcher.

Advice?

Westwood - Iorfa, Lees, Börner, Thorniley - Pelupessy/Hutchinson - Lee/Luongo, Bannan - Reach, Harris/Murphy - Forestieri/Fletcher is a fun, enjoyable and good first eleven.

 

I hope you have as much fun as I do managing Sheffield Wednesday... honestly, it is fun.

I will try and keep this up to date with my save too, up the Owls!

 

[Tummyowl]

Great success!

It looks like there are clubs willing to pay actual money for Rhodes, Winnall, Fox and Nuhiu (not sure how I feel about selling Nuhiu).

This could generate ~£2,000,000~ in transfer budget (though you only get a % of money from sales), and free up ~£70,000~ a week in wages too which allows for some flexibilty.

I want a long term left back, ideally a central defender but that depends on Rice, a young midfielder (and ideally a holding player), and a young forward or winger... not too much to ask for?

Oh and singing to Vic Bettinelli will not make him leave Fulham .

[Tummyowl]

So...

In exciting update news; that I have totally not spent hours and hours doing research for, I have a plan.

Fox goes, freeing up £8,000 and for a fee of ~£750,000~, which means I can attempt to buy  a replacement/upgrade/long term left back... Levi Colwill is available from Chelsea for ~£500,000~, hopefully less, and will be on considerably lower wages and is an English/home grown player. It does mean that for the next couple of years Thorniley is first choice there while Colwill develops, so hopefully can keep hold of Palmer.

Winnall goes, freeing up £16,000 and for a fee of ~£750,000~, which means I can try and find a young forward, maybe look for a wide man too? Abou Es Sahhal is available literally for free and only a couple of hundred per week on wages with good potential, which means I can look to spend actual money on someone like Pelayo Perez (Determination is super high) for £275,000 (got to love a buyout). Mohamed Bouzidi is available on a free too, and with Sahhal with no cost I can make tidy money on them in the future potentially.

Gonzalo Villar is listed for £500,00 too, and along with Perez would give me much needed long term players for midfield and players who can come on in games to save legs too.

Rhodes goes, and there is a lot of money free because of his wages, and a free in the region of ~£250,000~ for a player... Now this is where I had a crazy idea. I would really like to try and sign a quality player for the long term. If I can find someone willing to take Dawson (GK) off my hand I think I could persuade Gasparini to join if I pay a lot over 3 years (and giggling around with my budget V wages).

Maybe Laurenzi a young Italian central defender for ~£400,000~ as Bates is on loan and it allows me to have Iorfa/ Odubajo as dedicated right backs going forward? I should make a tidy saving on wages and have some young reinforcements.

Just need to look at staff next; I am feeling Neville in as fitness coach, Hunter as coach, Barker as Assistant manager (do not currently have one), Hitchcock as goalkeeping coach... Gillet and Doyle in for Physio's... Stockdale as coach too? 

[shakey.bridge]

Good thread mate   Just getting started with my Wednesday save this weekend, agree with you about it being a well balanced squad for the short term, needs a lot of planning for the future though as a lot of the players are getting on a bit. I'm playing with 1st window transfer budgets switched off so got the current bunch until January, which will give me ample time to assess and plan long term, will let you know how I get on.

[Tummyowl]

Fantastic stuff!

I'm still tinkering and figuring things out, and have changed trasnfer tragets already

[Georgex]

Won’t be getting the game for another few weeks but let’s hope this thread is more active than the last few years 👍

Great opening and will be reading until I have something to actually post 

P.S. don’t sell Nuhiu!

[leesmith90]

Great to see someone taking the challenge of my beloved Wednesday. Eager to see how you get on. Good luck! 

[jonathan44]

My club, currently playing with Bari but will play with us probably in the new year. On beta, I started a game and managed to sell Winnall and a few others but the game corrupted so I've lost it.

I'd love to see if anyone can get Nando playing like it was 2016 again!

[Tummyowl]

The end is in sight for Wednesday who are currently top of the league with only a handful of games left.

Sooooo... What have I learnt this season? Scoring goals is difficult, for the first time on Football Manager (played since '97) I have struggled to get any of my strikers to have a consistent run of goals. Bannan is really, really good. My signings have worked well.

I sold; Fox, Rhodes, Winnall, Nuhiu, Reach, Borner, Pelupessy and Dawson (plus Joao) raising over £21,000,000.
I signed; Colombo, Quintana, Gasparini, Perez, Laurenzi, Vibora, Tormey, Warren, Garner (loan) and Williams (loan). Spending a little under £18,000,000.

They have all developed well, moving an unhappy Borner out, and bringing in Warren on a free is proving to be a good move. Garner and Williams have been excellent on loan, and I will try as hard as possible to sign them full time if I get promotion. Tormey has been excellent too and covered both wide attacking positions.

It looks like I have an excellent wide attacker coming through this years intake. However, I desperately need to sign some quality for the Premier League if Wednesday are to survive. I doubt I will have a lot of cash (~£40-50,000,000~) but will need another wide attacker (Murphy is only a loan), a forward (Fletcher is out of contract, Forestieri has been poor and Colombo is too raw), a center back to partner Rice (Lees is good but has stagnated), and hopefully an upgrade to the central midfield pair (Lee could leave, Luongo has been poor), which is in addition to praying Garner and Williams will join. I am praying there are some good players avilable on a free.

Brexit makes this game very difficult, developing young players is going to be important.

[Tummyowl]

James Rodriguez (Yes, that one) is out of contract!... but won't join .

[Tummyowl]

Great news! I was asked about signing Garner, and said I would love to and that I am sure Ole would be open to the move... only for Ole to say he is open to the move!

[silentwars]

Good club to manage, low expectations for a club of this size and a decent base to start with. Amazing that they've put so much money into players like Rhodes without improving the infrastructure but a fascinating club none the less. 

[Tummyowl]

Save game corrupted over Christmas .

However, opportunity to start again!.. (and do things slightly differently)

[jonathan44]

I've just started, the squad is ok, bit short on a LW'er and too heavy in goal (4 professional GK's!) and upfront especially with the squad not set up to play 2 upfront. I didn't really know what to go for, needed to shed some strikers and remove some deadwood.

Rhodes and Winnall both received bids and to be fair, the wage gap allowed me to recruit some much needed reinforcement in some CM's who are not injury prone (after playing the second match of the season; Bannan, Hutchinson, Reach and Lee are all injured...) I didn't try to sell Nuhui (last weekends match vs Leeds shows how good he can be) but on FM the researchers just see him as a tall lump/target man so out he went, bringing in Brewster on loan as 3rd choice. In pre season Bates did his cruciate so I cancelled his loan and brought in Velazquez for £500k upfront.

 

I've got big hopes for Alena and Kishna if I can keep them fit. Tactics wise, I'm going with a 4231 or a 41221, I really hope that the tactics set up Forestieri to be my main man, as in the last few years his injuries/the stupid FA have derailed his chances to play week in week out.

[rlipscombe]

after struggling to get into a Big Euro Nation save, time for a dabble with my club. Going to be a challenge to sort out the squad and wage structure.  Who to (try and) sell and who to keep...

[Gazmondo]

Safe to say fellow swfc managers on FM20 are about as scarce as our transfer budget, so it's nice to have found this thread.

I've offloaded similar to you guys, 250k for Rhodes (Just wanted his wage gone), 2.4m for Lee, 2.3m for Fox, 1.7m for Odubajo, 1.4m for Winnall, 85k for Jones and 220k for Baker.  Trying to shift Nuhiu and Fletcher (though that brought up a stink), as I hate aged injury prone half arsed players.

Brought in Brewster from Liverpool, Cobbaut from Anderlecht & Ofosu Ayeh from Wolves on season long loans.  Aaron Niguez on a free who is really good, despite his age and Max Kilman from Wolves for 245k.

Using Westwood between the sticks, a back four of Thorniley, Lees, Borner, Iorfa which is sufficient for now, looking at Cooper from Millwall but can't afford him yet. Hutchinson in DMC as a ball winning midfielder, Luongo and Bannan in CM as a BBM & DLP respectively, Niguez & a combination of Murphy / Harris / Reach out wide with a lone striker of Brewster / Forrestieri depending on my mood.

Goals don't come in easy unless it's in my own net but looking like a mid-table finish with an overhaul at the end of the season to free up wages and get rid of dead wood.  I've changed most of my backroom staff as they're pretty dire, and Chansiri usually lets me increase the coaching staff to enable me to get 4* on training workloads.

Oh, tactic wise is just a standard wing-play 4123 setup, playing with AMR/AML and a lone striker.

[Tummyowl]

Half term is around, and I have finally got time (now work is finished for a few days) to properly sit down and restart after my save corrupting.

I want to completely gut this club.

Jones is free to leave and Westwood (depending on offer) is free to a good home, his wages would be better spent elsewhere. I would ideally like to bring in a third choice (and Wildsmith is injured), might be able to once again tempt Gasparini (£££). Dawson + Wildsmith + ???.

Fox, Baker, Thorniley, Odubajo, are all free too a good home and if a good enough offer comes in the same applies to Lees (though I do like him). Which gives me... Palmer as cover for either full back. Iorfa, (Lees), Borner and a promoted Rice. Ideally another centre back, and a new left and right back (Williams from Manchester United on loan, hopefully get an option to buy? and same with Laird?) Ideally would like to sign a left back, Rico Henry has been a long time target however his injury record is not great. Bellanova? Williams? Laird? Henry? with options to buy those on loan would be nice.

Midfield... more a question of who I want to keep. Bannan? The rest are free to go, I will keep Harris and Murphy for the wide positions. However, Reach can bring in some much needed £££, Hutchinson and Pelupessy are not good enough but would be happy to keep on for the defensive midfielder role. Ideally signing a couple of young midfielders for central midfield roles and a defensive midfield role (Garner from Manchester United on loan, with an option to buy?) Cortinvois? Garner? Carroll? Ricci? Might see if I can sign Bellingham (though I guess he would not sign).

Up top, everyone bar Fessi and maybe Fletcher. Winnall, Nuhiu, Rhodes are free to go and should mean massive savings on wages. Couple that with bringing in Merola and maybe Esposito?

I do want an expeirenced midfielder and ideally one of the full backs to have some serious game time.

[jonathan44]

I've posted mainly in the EFL 2020 thread, but here were my transfers for the first and second season:

 

Personally, I think the vast changes @Tummyowl suggests are slight overkill, especially as Thorniley & Odubajo are good enough and cheap enough for the top 6 in the championship. My major issue first season was identifying a formation that didn't leak goals whilst actually scoring some along the way, Bannan is great if he keeps injury free, if he gets injured his stats drop like crazy and no-one else brings what he does to the team. Biggest issue you face is getting rid of the deadwood, all the forward line, Lees, Hutch, Westwood and Bannan are on stupid money for the ability they possess. Unfortunately, it's borderline impossible to move a number of them on.

 

I lost in the playoff semi's first season, but won promotion in the second with Nketiah and Gomes playing like world beaters. Be careful with the loans, can only play 5 in the squad.

Edited February 22, 2020 by jonathan44

[Tummyowl]

I usually kept Thorniley, but fancied getting rid of him this time. The new update has just dropped so I'm going to have a look at that this week.

[rlipscombe]

time to come back to this game with the new update.  Safe to say that the squad is very top heavy so trimming that down will be one of the first challenges, in order to generate some sort of funds / wage budget.  My first attempt wasn't that successful (i blame it on getting used to the new game)  so hoping for more joy this time now a bit more used to this version.  Dawson seems to have had a stats boost and is as good as Westwood now in terms of rating so may try and sell Westwood (though i do love him) and MAYBE Reach in order t ogenerate funds.  Do like Reach a lot but appears to be the only one with potential to raise decent funds.  

Squad appears good on paper so unlikely to be major changes - maybe more of a youthful adjustment maybe.  With the striking talent i'd like to go with two up top but not sure that will work.  we wil lsee.

[Tummyowl]

Did you manage to off load Westwood?

[rlipscombe]

9 hours ago, Tummyowl said:

Did you manage to off load Westwood?

Nope. Didn't manage to sell anyone so carrying the bloated squad into the season.  The only incoming was James Gardner on loan from Manchester United.  Was willing to sell someone for financial reasons to try and improve the squad a little but no interest.

Edited March 5, 2020 by rlipscombe

[Tummyowl]

I've never had a problem selling off a few members of the squad; Rhodes, Nuhiu, Winnall, Reach, Fox... I found it hard to sell Westwood. I can often find someone who wants Hutchinson/Lee/Pelupessy but found them all handy squad players.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Tummyowl

[TheWednesday]

I sent Westwood and Rhodes to Birmingham on season long loans, they offered to pay the entire wages of both players.

[rlipscombe]

ended up keeping them all as no offers decent enough.  hopefully the strength in depth will see us have success this season before having a clear out.

[Tummyowl]

Trying to convince Burnley to give me £10,000,000 for Reach ...

[rlipscombe]

into November and finances are predictably on the slide...  as are the results a little.  Made a good start but losing form.  Apart from Fletcher the goals aren't coming really - really disappointed with Forestieri.  Rhodes and Winnall not doing anything really when given a chance.  Need to get a hold on the slide quick

[Tummyowl]

Right. Big update.

Finished my first season, winning the League and (some how) the FA Cup.

The league was really good fun, the top three were all promoted. Sheffield Wednesday - 105, Fulham 100, and Brentford 99.

League season analysis; we did not score nearly as many goals as Fulham or Brentford. Defence was incredible, highest clean sheets and lowest goals conceded by a long way.

Quick breakdown of players/squad...

Westwood spent the season out on loan, which was good for wages, he played well but retired. Gasparini had an excellent season, Dawson was reliable and Wildsmith is at least fit going in to the new season.

Urhoghide improved and played well, Iorfa was excellent (however wants a new contract and I had the chance to sign bogle). Lees was good when fit, however Borner and Pirola were excellent. Rice progressed well. Vibora and Palmer did well at left back, as the season progressed it was Vibora playing slightly more often. Palmer I might hand on to, as he can play both left and right back well.

Pelupessy did well as a defensive midfielder and pretty much meant I could sell an unhappy Hutchinson at Christmas. Lee and Bannan were good, but had injuries for long periods. Longstaff and Brescianini were excellent as a centre pairing. Carroll did ok, but played little and developed a little.

Up top... Fletcher had an almost identical season to the previous season, 40 appearances, 11 goals. Did ok, remained fit which was helpful. Wickham was good but picked up injuries.

Now the wingers! Maldini was immense (16 goals and 10 assists), which was really good because Forestieri was shocking (28 app, 1 goal). Harris did well when needed, da Cruz did well (and scored a brace against Arsenal from the bench). Murphy was ok. Chong joined in January (after becoming majorly unhappy at Manchester United, cost under 10 million, and almost all of it over three years), and was excellent. 15 apps, 8 goals, 5 assists.

Young players I signed did very well. Which was good, because if they did not and Wednesday failed with promotion... well the financial implosion would have been amazing.

FA Cup... was hugely fortunate to only play one Premier League side until the final, and cruised past them (Newcastle). Played Arsenal in the final, winning 2-1.

Have signed all my staff up for new contracts and organised new staff for the season.

Have all my signings agreed (only one coming in after the window opens 1/7/2020) a young Italian centre back. I did spend a lot more than I intended, but I found that I could do ok with paying over three seasons; I just have to stay in the league. My wages had been reduced so much I could move money around to help too. I know I should be able to raise good money from selling players too, the problem is a lot of senior players wanted new contracts (on high wages) and I was not (am not) willing to do that. Those players will be shipped out.

I will have an almost entirely new squad by Christmas in the Premier League.

Have five senior players leaving, and will try and sell anyone else.

Signins;

Bettella, Bogle, Longstaff (season long loan with a low price to buy), Luis, Garner, Williams, Gnonto, Stengs = ~£160 million~

I expect to raise ~£60 million~ in player sales, and will save on wages too.

I still have ~£5 million~ to spend + ~£250,000~ wages to use too. Not in a rush to spend anything more.

First choice team is looking like; Gasparini; Bogle, Pirola, Borner/Bettela, Williams/Vibora; Luis; Longstaff, Brescianini; Stengs, Maldini/Chong; Gnonto.

I lack a massive amount of expeirence however, I'm confident I can pick up someone to help out ideally a midfielder and a forward. Fletcher and Westwood both retired.

[rlipscombe]

well done @Tummyowl - great stuff.  encouraging to see you do so well in the first season - feeling a bit of pressure with my save now...  just starting the season myself.

[Tummyowl]

So far...

Sold Iorfa for £20 million, Penny and Van Aken for a combined £5 million.
Bannan is looking likely to go for ~£15-20 million~ and ~£17.5 million~ for Borner (though I am debating this).

Silva (Manchester City) is available on a free, as is Yoshida. Tempted to see if there is anyone else on a free.

Had a bid of £10 million for Harris too.

Edited March 24, 2020 by Tummyowl

[rlipscombe]

you're getting some great offers for those players.  did they have a good season for you then?

 

[Tummyowl]

Penny and Van Aken were away on loan, but seemed to have decent offers (I was not expecting much).

Iorfa had a storming season, I am sad to see him go, but I am not turning down £20 million, when his 'replacement' Bogle cost £17.5 million.

Borner was excellent, but ultimately is not good enough for a top division, I do not want to be in a relegation fight.

[Tummyowl]

Debating to offer a contract to Silva (Manchester City) or Matuidi (Juventus), as they are both of free's. I can probably do the wage demands. I am just not sure they would get much game time, but the expeirence would be good.

[bluejonny94]

12 hours ago, Tummyowl said:

Right. Big update.

Finished my first season, winning the League and (some how) the FA Cup.

The league was really good fun, the top three were all promoted. Sheffield Wednesday - 105, Fulham 100, and Brentford 99.

League season analysis; we did not score nearly as many goals as Fulham or Brentford. Defence was incredible, highest clean sheets and lowest goals conceded by a long way.

Quick breakdown of players/squad...

Westwood spent the season out on loan, which was good for wages, he played well but retired. Gasparini had an excellent season, Dawson was reliable and Wildsmith is at least fit going in to the new season.

Urhoghide improved and played well, Iorfa was excellent (however wants a new contract and I had the chance to sign bogle). Lees was good when fit, however Borner and Pirola were excellent. Rice progressed well. Vibora and Palmer did well at left back, as the season progressed it was Vibora playing slightly more often. Palmer I might hand on to, as he can play both left and right back well.

Pelupessy did well as a defensive midfielder and pretty much meant I could sell an unhappy Hutchinson at Christmas. Lee and Bannan were good, but had injuries for long periods. Longstaff and Brescianini were excellent as a centre pairing. Carroll did ok, but played little and developed a little.

Up top... Fletcher had an almost identical season to the previous season, 40 appearances, 11 goals. Did ok, remained fit which was helpful. Wickham was good but picked up injuries.

Now the wingers! Maldini was immense (16 goals and 10 assists), which was really good because Forestieri was shocking (28 app, 1 goal). Harris did well when needed, da Cruz did well (and scored a brace against Arsenal from the bench). Murphy was ok. Chong joined in January (after becoming majorly unhappy at Manchester United, cost under 10 million, and almost all of it over three years), and was excellent. 15 apps, 8 goals, 5 assists.

Young players I signed did very well. Which was good, because if they did not and Wednesday failed with promotion... well the financial implosion would have been amazing.

FA Cup... was hugely fortunate to only play one Premier League side until the final, and cruised past them (Newcastle). Played Arsenal in the final, winning 2-1.

Have signed all my staff up for new contracts and organised new staff for the season.

Have all my signings agreed (only one coming in after the window opens 1/7/2020) a young Italian centre back. I did spend a lot more than I intended, but I found that I could do ok with paying over three seasons; I just have to stay in the league. My wages had been reduced so much I could move money around to help too. I know I should be able to raise good money from selling players too, the problem is a lot of senior players wanted new contracts (on high wages) and I was not (am not) willing to do that. Those players will be shipped out.

I will have an almost entirely new squad by Christmas in the Premier League.

Have five senior players leaving, and will try and sell anyone else.

Signins;

Bettella, Bogle, Longstaff (season long loan with a low price to buy), Luis, Garner, Williams, Gnonto, Stengs = ~£160 million~

I expect to raise ~£60 million~ in player sales, and will save on wages too.

I still have ~£5 million~ to spend + ~£250,000~ wages to use too. Not in a rush to spend anything more.

First choice team is looking like; Gasparini; Bogle, Pirola, Borner/Bettela, Williams/Vibora; Luis; Longstaff, Brescianini; Stengs, Maldini/Chong; Gnonto.

I lack a massive amount of expeirence however, I'm confident I can pick up someone to help out ideally a midfielder and a forward. Fletcher and Westwood both retired.

Hey Tummy,

I’ve just started a network game with my pals to entertain ourselves during the lockup and I’ve selected Wednesday. Do you have any hints for tactics? What did you use in your season?

Cheers.

Edited March 25, 2020 by bluejonny94

[Tummyowl]

Tummy*

Hey, give me a few minutes and I'll post some screen shots.

[bluejonny94]

7 hours ago, Tummyowl said:

Tummy*

Hey, give me a few minutes and I'll post some screen shots.

Apologies! It was late. Edited now 

Cheers mate.

[Tummyowl]

League Table

FA Cup

Tactics

Transfers (currently June 1st 2020)

[rlipscombe]

great season there @Tummyowl - putting my efforts to shame.  reached January 1st and currently 8th in the league.  Lost WAY too many games - my attacking formation and style of play leaving us a little open at the back.  All of our strikers are letting us down badly with the exception of Big Dave (Nuhiu) who is leading the way as top goalscorer (13), highest average rating, highest MOTM awards and best pass completion.  Whilst he is performing, too many aren't.  no money for January additions as well so will need to see if i can work some kind of magic.

[Tummyowl]

Cheers bud.

I am finding the balance between attacking / defending much more of a challenge this year. However, I spent money to improve Wednesday (and gambled that I would get promoted).

[rlipscombe]

yes, it does feel like success is needed first season for promotion otherwise might take a few years to sort out finances.  I think i am currently heading down the latter route unless the last twenty games improve significantly (and assuming i keep my job...)

[rlipscombe]

season finished with a slightly disappointing 10th place finish.  board were ok with it but i wasn't.  problem was two-fold - conceded too many goals at the back and couldn't find a consistent striker.  Surprisingly we gained a new chairman in the New Year - cleared the debts but no rich sugar daddy.  Quite a few players leaving this summer so will be looking to freshen the squad up this summer

[rlipscombe]

through the summer transfer window - once more a number of premier league loanees, including notably Gomes from Man United, Jones and Kane from Liverpool, Skipp from Spurs and Anjorin and Sterling from Chelsea.  Also loaned in Gouiri and Thomas from Lyon.  Will be a challenge to balance the match day squads with only 5 loanees allowed but they offer flexibility.  Also signed Chust and Zidane from Real Madrid on free transfers.  Key outgoings included Palmer and Lee, both off to Sunderland for £750k each.  Loaned Westwood to Sligo Rovers for the season with them covering all of his wages.

 

Also having a change in tactics this season to more refined 4-1-2-2-1 or 4-2-2-2 depending on the opposition, both designed to try and improve our potency in attack as we struggled a little at times last season.

Edited May 4, 2020 by rlipscombe

[Driver1175]

Hi all, decided to start an unemployed save, thought I'd end up at some obscure second division team in The Netherlands or Portugal.

Imagine my surprise when Gary Monk was given the boot towards the end of November 2019, with the team rooted to the bottom of the Championship table, only 2 wins from 20 games. I was invited for an interview, and was ultimately offered the job at Hillsborough. 

 

I accepted without hesitation, due to having a soft spot for the Owls, ever since watching them lose 2 cup finals to Arsenal in the same season a long time ago. What a brilliant team they were to watch, Waddle, Hirst etc.

 

But.......

 

To cut a long story short, the club now is a total disaster from top to bottom!! 12 million in debt (losing between 1 and 2 million a month) , zero transfer budget, well over wage budget, and a squad pretty much full of 29-35 year olds who I can't even sell on, as most of them are out of contact at the end of the season.

 

Got one hell of a rebuild on my hands here. And to tell the truth, I'm really not very good at this game. This could end badly 😂

 

[rlipscombe]

@Driver1175 - welcome to the Owls!  Finances are certainly a major issue - too many players on too high wages.  Some are good but not worth it.  I am currently in the second season as the Owls, who are 'my team'.  My advice - get to the end of the season.  cut those that you can on contract expiry.  start again as much as you can.  There is the nucleus of a decent squad - Dawson in goal, the defence isn't bad in general.  Reach and Bannan in midfield.  not sure what the team is like for you there - pretty standard i would suspect.

 

I am currently in season 2 - into January and in a three way fight at the top.  We finished mid-table first season and had a takeover (no sugar daddy but reset the debt).

 

Good luck...!!

[Tummyowl]

I'm just about to start again with Wednesday , I got a bit fed up with my save.

The club needs to almost start again, good luck!

I've managed to look like being able to raise ~£20,000,000~ from sales, and save ~£100,000~ a week in wages too. The loan players are a point of contention.

Looking to bring in young players (mainly an Italian crop + a couple of English players on loan). Wanting to keep my spend low so it can be reinvested (so far looking at spending ~£5,000,000-£7,000,000 and all spread over three years).

Edited May 18, 2020 by Tummyowl

[Tummyowl]

Moving the 'usual' lot out;

Winnall, Fletcher, Rhodes (trying to), Nuhiu (trying to), Reach, Harris, Pelupessy, Luongo, Fox, Jones (GK). Which should bring in ~£20,000,000~ and save ~£100,000~ a week on wages.

Looking to bring in; Colombo, Maldini, Longstaff (loan), Brescianini, De le Vibora, Lo Curto, Pirola, Gasparini.

[rlipscombe]

good luck @Tummyowl - definitely tricky clearing some of those out...  

[Tummyowl]

The only players I struggle too 'move on' are Rhodes and Westwood.

Nuhiu can be tricky because clubs would rather have him on loan.

[Rumple43]

I wanted to jump into this thread, signed up to do so after reading for a while. I found this and enjoyed it when I was pondering taking the plunge and going from FM19 to FM20. I was in about 2040 on my FM19 save and was very attached, but the chance to manage Wednesday (who I follow IRL) seemed something I wanted to do. I probably haven't been Wednesday on FM in years, and this thread gave a good outline of what I was in store for so I fancied giving it a go.

I thought I'd stick my experiences so far in here so others might stumble across them, hopefully tip them towards getting FM20/starting a game at Hillsborough. Or the opposite haha

I am pretty sure I have an updated datebase, though can't remember which one, and as such some players mentioned previously are on loan/been sold already, or I've got loan players in that may not be there in base DB that ships with the game.

So in late January I'm currently in 4th. Not quite sure how as the team is very patchwork and as the intro post says, the team needs somewhat of an overhaul. The club are top 6 in the Championship for salary per year, but when you look across the squad it really is hard to justify a lot of it (looking at you Jordan Rhodes....)

That's what I've managed to do transfer wise, which is to say, not really very much at all. Some players have gone out on loan for development, with the two main sales being cut price deals for Winnall and Nuhiu. 

Coming in, it's been nothing but loans really. I do have some cash but my scouts as of yet haven't really found me anyone that is a) of sufficient quality to improve me and also b) still fits into my relatively meagre transfer budget. If I do get promoted somehow in the next few years, I don't want a squad full of Championship players, but Prem potential players are gonna cost money I don't have.

Landsbury hasn't done much, pretty mediocre but has been good for depth. Simpson has been really solid as a ball playing defender (I play with on CD on the left and one BPD on the right). Baker has been very handy, his 15 free kick taking and 17 pen taking has already paid off in goals and assists. Diskerud and Gomes have both just come in so time will tell.

Fox I elected to keep as I didn't want to be thin at LB. He's also pretty good personality wise if you want to go down the mentoring route, but really he's a 3* stop gap that dreads big games, so he won't be around too long.

Couldn't sell Westwood, nobody wanted him as he's just signed a new deal on my game through to June 2021, and nobody wanted Rhodes, even for free. Best I got was a few loan offers where I still paid 100% of his wages. I figure if I'm going to do that I may as well keep him!

I did make some moves to cancel loan players that I had when the game started, but mainly due to injury. Connor Wickham was out for about 3 months from December so January 1st he was sent back to Palace (freeing up another £30k a week). Jacob Murphy came down with shin splints in August before the window shut and was out for 6-8 weeks. Couldn't really afford him sat on the sidelines so he went back to Newcastle. With Simpson in, David Bates wasn't seeing much action at CD, so he complained in January and was duly sent back to Germany. Josh Windass was never going to fit into my team and went back to Wigan as soon as I could send him.

The other major factor in my game so far is very realistic for Wednesday......injuries. Oh my word the injuries. Get a load of this.

86 injuries expected this season, I'm already at 64 and it's only January. To be fair, I do train a lot, and add in extra technical sessions each week. Still, I do this with an eye on overall load, and make sure the amount each day isn't too high. Even so, players were dropping like flies and it times it's been a real job to paper over the cracks. It means that some of the youngsters, Isaac Rice, Manuel Hidalgo, Osaze Urhoghide, Preslav Borukov have all had a look in on the 1st team, so that's a positive at least.

One thing I did when I started the game was to completely gut the staff. I think I canned 27 of 29 staff, or something like that, kept two U18 physios. A lot of the guys I brought in were far superior, and with the non-existent budget a lot of them were on a free as well. I've got 4 star coaches for everything but Defending - Technical, which is 3.5 One of my fitness categories is 4.5. Money from Nuhiu and Winnall helped with any staff I wanted that needed compensation, but I generally kept that reasonable as well.

Just playing a 4-1-2-2-1, high intensity, lots of pressing (also a factor in the injury count I'd imagine). Team so far has been a solid core of Reach (27 games, 6.88 rating, top scorer with 7), Baker (27, 7.22), Palmer (at both RB and LB, 24, 7.05), Borner (24, 7.01) Dawson (24, 6.81) Simpson (23, 7.08). Fletcher has also done well when fit, 6 goals from 10 games and a 7.02 average rating, but like most players he's spent too long injured.

Disappointments are Foresieri, (19 games, 6 sub appearances, 5 goals, 3 assists and 6.83 rating). Not really cutting it and at present he's gone 10 games without a goal or an assist. Bannan has been alright, but as one of the squads best rated players, he hasn't really shone (20 games, 1 goal, 6 assists, 6.98). Luongo is also well rated and has been tame (8 games, 6 subs, 1 goal, 6.69) and he also got the hump on mid season and went on leave to Australia for a month. Was happy to see him go tbh! Kadeem Harris has also been off the boil, (17 games, 8 subs, 3 goals, 1 assist, 6.69). To say my formation suits him as a player with IF/IW on both flanks, he just hasn't got going at all.

I'll check back in here a bit later to find out how @Tummyowl is getting on, and to update as I get towards the end of my first season. I'm 5 points off Leeds in 2nd, but only 3 points off Reading in 7th. Tight as ever in the Championship!

If anyone has any questions, fire away. Happy to help! 

[Rumple43]

So this is a development I wasn't expecting......

Not really much I could have done I don't think, I've always managed to stay at least 20k under the proposed wage amount, and took active steps to bin off high earners.

5 games to go, still in 4th, but only 3 points off falling out of the playoffs. Automatic places are out of reach. Premiership or bust.....literally!! :-D