[FM20] Irchester Utd. Tier 10. England. Home. Youth Only.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, Pompeyboyz said:

Well, I would never have expected Brighton to be the destination....but what a payday.....and if Valencia took some clauses too, then you might be on for more in the future too

That's what I'm thinking. 

I'm sure that we get 50% of all future clauses too. This is going to be really interesting to keep a track of. 

[Tajerio]

26 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

BOOOOOOM!  Jun 2044. 

    Are you allowed to gloat like this or is it considered rude? 

Balance. 

In all seriousness, I'm surprised that he left Valencia, (EURO Cup Runners Up), for Brighton. who have only finished better than 9th in the Premier League once in the last decade. Maybe Valencia needed to sell him and Brighton were the only club willing to splash the cash. I really expected him to go to Barca or Real at least, but if not then a Champions League English side. While I look at him and think he's amazing, (I'm biased I know), maybe his 5'10 height and 12 jumping is putting the big boys off? I would have thought he would have been amazing at real or Barca who don't have to defend much. 

I wonder if he will move again quite quickly once he starts performing in the Premier League? He surely can't stay at Brighton? 

Is this bloke as good as I think he is or am I blinded by love? 

He certainly is really good. From the POV of an absolutely top club, besides his jumping reach, his decisions, speed, and composure are all a little lower than what they can probably get elsewhere, which might explain why he's headed to Brighton. There's also the fact that you only have the English leagues loaded, which means that all the rest have less activity. And I suppose there's also the possibility that he doesn't have much more potential for growth left. Not that you care about any of that, of course, since you're rolling in it!

[Thebaker]

I was going to say say he can't be worth more than £40 million but for a CB!

Think he has funded you for 10 years, might be higher than James

Edited August 15, 2020 by Thebaker

[-Jef-]

Holy crap what an influx of cash! That is massive for any club especially one like yours! He does look good. Would be amazing next to a tower that cannot make a pass. Hopefully Valencia also put some clauses in there. You can find out if there is anything regarding games played etc but no % of next transfer by hovering over the value in player's history.

 

Tho if they did meet his RC there will be no % of future transfer. But going back they did not meet his 97m RC. So something might be in there for you.

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

I was going to say say he can't be worth more than £40 million but for a CB!

Think he has funded you for 10 years, might be higher than James

I think he might have a really decent PA, but just be one of those frustrating players that has a significant weakness. James is something else. Was his PA 176 or something I can't remember). I doubt JFC's will be that high but who knows. 

There is no way it will last 10 years because I will just keep upgrading at every opportunity now and I just won't accept deals for any of the 50% clauses that are available, (if I think we can make more money by hanging onto them). The money we have missed out on in this save is astonishing. It's about time we got lucky. 

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, rosque said:

Holy crap what an influx of cash! That is massive for any club especially one like yours! He does look good. Would be amazing next to a tower that cannot make a pass. Hopefully Valencia also put some clauses in there. You can find out if there is anything regarding games played etc but no % of next transfer by hovering over the value in player's history.

Tho if they did meet his RC there will be no % of future transfer. But going back they did not meet his 97m RC. So something might be in there for you.

Yeah. If they met the min fee release clause then that would be it, but they were £10M short I think. That £10M has done us a right favour I think, (but we shall see). 

I'm honestly more excited now about how the other players we have sold might come good for us. 

50% on (38c) McCormack (IRL) (Bal) *. 

50% on (39c) Mendoza (COL) (Bal) *.

50% on (40a) Sjoberg (Bal).

40% profit on (42c) Goodridge (WAL) (Driven). 

I know that the fees are all going to be much smaller than we've just seen, but knowing that I don't have to accept the deal, (which I have had to do all the way through so far), could be HUGE. All it takes is for just 1 player we sell on to be big and the whole thing starts again.

[Jimbokav1971]

Brighton update. Jun 2044. 

The post made by @Thebakermade me go and look at Brighton again. 

I've already told you that they haven't done brilliantly in the Premier league this decade, (although they did much better in the 30's and finished as high as 4th). 

I thought I would go back and see if they have had a Tycoon or some sort of big investment. 

They have indeed gone through a few different takeovers, but nothing like that. 

I did notice that their facilities were looking pretty decent, and I wondered where the money was coming from for the upgrades. 

And now it all makes sense. 

They had 5 big European campaigns in the 30's and I think it would have given them a boost and since then they have been buying, (and selling), really well. They have sold players this season amounting to £208M and splashed out a whopping £257M, but they are buying big and young and selling huge and peak. 

2044. In £257M (19, 21, 22 & 26). Out £208M (22, 26, 27 & 29).
2043. In £176M (21, 26 & 28). Out £194M (20, 29 & 30).
2042. In £119M (19, 20 & 29). Out £133M (24, 26 & 29).
2041. In £106M (20 & 25).  Out £87M (25 & 31). 
2040. In £123M (24, 25 & 27). Out £133M (22, 25 & 29).

It sounds really simple but they have been REALLY progressive with building their squad over the last few years. It doesn't mean that they don't buy older players ever, but if they do it's to start rather than be a squad player and they make sure that they sell him on again before too long. Rarely have in FM an example of the AI squad-building as well as this and even though they have just paid £87M for JFC, I would suggest that they expect to make a considerable profit on him. 

[_Ben_]

3 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

This is the kind of thing that you look back on and consider it a game changer.

Well deserved Jimbo! I don't think anybody pays as much attention to these clauses as you do and you've lucked out here!

[Sonic Youth]

This is such a fun thread to read. It’s almost a shame I’ve caught up!

 

It feels like one of those games that you want to play as much as possible.

 

Thanks for sharing the adventure so far.

Problem is Ben’s is like that as well, and Munch story (forgot the author sorry!).

[Sonic Youth]

Honestly can’t wait to see what you do with this windfall.

[Jimbokav1971]

7 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

This is the kind of thing that you look back on and consider it a game changer.

Well deserved Jimbo! I don't think anybody pays as much attention to these clauses as you do and you've lucked out here!

It honestly is, and as I've mentioned not just because I have £33M in the bank and another £10M or so coming in, but because it allows me to change the way I have been working and stop selling the clauses early. I'm happy to sell players, but even selling players now that we are in League 1 or even the Championship is not the same as the 50% that we might get after we sell them on to a Premier League team who continue to develop them. 

The other thing of course is that it has immediately allowed me to pay for 3 different upgrades and I will try for 3 more as soon as I'm able. This in turn "should" give another little boost to our already pretty decent Intake levels.

The 3rd thing, (and one I haven't mentioned yet), is that it's going to allow me to keep players for longer before selling them, (especially twinned with the fact that I'm able to offer 4+3 deals occasionally and 3+3 deals the whole time. So far in this save all the players I have sold have been sold largely on PA rather than CA. This is going to allow me to hold onto players longer and develop their CA so that I might be selling players that are closer to their CA and will fetch more of a transfer fee. I think it's going to effectively allow me to sell more players, and generate more income to re-invest. 

The last way in which this is going to help us, (and I think this will be key in the save going forward), is that because we will be keeping players for longer before selling them, I think it will automatically mean that we are eligible for "solidarity payments", when they are sold, and then another one every single time they are sold after that. This won't be £40M like this deal, but it will hopefully be lots of little £250k's for players we have completely forgotten about and these things add up. I mentioned recently about the dream of having a regular income stream from player sales that exceeds the cost of our Youth System costs, (which is currently £2.8M). This gets more expensive with each improvement and £5M per season is something that I have in my head from previous games, (but I'm not 100% sure about that). £40M only covers 8 years of £5M Youth System costs so it gets eaten up pretty quickly so I need to ensure that when this money goes, (and it will go pretty quick despite the fact that I'm not spending millions of pounds on players and am trying to keep the cash from other transfers rolling in). In actual fact I think it will probably be gone in 4 years and you have to remember that we are still in League 1, (albeit it that we are knocking on the door of the Championship). 

The "dream" is basically that I can fund the club by loads of little small payments rather than having to rely on huge big fees like this one. It's not something I have ever done in such detail before and obviously a main part of this save is how I have missed out on loads of money in transfers so far, but I think we have battled through the tough times and now things are really starting to look positive. I just need to keep the faith and keep selling players in the manner that I'm doing. (Clauses for 1 International appearance is something that I plan on absolutely hammering as time progresses too). 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

This is such a fun thread to read. It’s almost a shame I’ve caught up!

It feels like one of those games that you want to play as much as possible.

Thanks for sharing the adventure so far.

Problem is Ben’s is like that as well, and Munch story (forgot the author sorry!).

Thanks very much. While I would still enjoy updating this even if nobody else was reading, it really does add to it that so many seem to be enjoying it. I know my "detail" and rambling is not to everyone's tastes sometimes, (but maybe that's why people are here rather than watching people on Youtube or Twitch. (We like reading).

I keep popping in and out of the @_Ben_thread, (and it is absolutely brilliant), but it's almost too brilliant and so detailed that you are in there and thinking about the questions be poses and the next thing you realise you haven't pressed continue on your own game for 30 mins and you don't know where the time has gone. I'm about to go away for a few days and with the weather as it is I'm hoping I will get the chance to catch up on a few other threads including @B.W.G's Munster Mash thread which I am way behind on. I'm obviously also a big fan of the @Makoto Nakamurathreads and he seems to be playing this save just slightly slower to give us a chance to keep up. 

The other threads that interest me more than others simply because of their playing style are those of @deez0r, (who seems to be flying through the seasons but hasn't posted in a while. I hope he's continuing it), @OlivierLwho's French thread looks amazing and which I'm desperate to catch up on and @rrozek93who has chosen the lesser travelled route of Poland. 

I think we all know that the game isn't "that" hard when you know the basics, but by giving yourself particular challenges and restrictions there is enormous reward to be had even when achieving moderate success. (The pleasure I had from winning the EURO Cup for Ton Pentre in Wales was huge for example, but really isn't the biggest trophy in the World, but there is just something special about doing it when starting from such a low point and with self-imposed restrictions). Absolutely loving this game at the moment! 

Thanks to everyone for reading and replying. We are a long way from finished yet. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Honestly can’t wait to see what you do with this windfall.

Well you have seen that we have 3 Facility upgrades already lined up and I have hit the transfer market. 

I actually had 3 players lined up to come in, (all products of our Academy obviously), but I pulled the plug on 2 of them because although they improved us, they didn't improve us that much and while the fees being paid were pretty reasonable, the wage demands were not something that I could marry with everything else that is going on in the save. Every player I sign takes the place of a younger player and stunts development in that area. There has to be a real benefit in the player coming back. 

(34c) Guy Bacon (Driven) * is the 1 player that I have re-signed and for a modest fee of £205,000. I also think that I under-paid for him as he is immediately valued at £275,000. He's 26 so there is still time to make a profit on him and I would love to see him smash in the goals that see us promoted before selling him on again. He's got good Det value and although he isn't too aggressive, I did manage to teach him the "dives into tackles" PPM before he left. I think he really suits the club and it goes without saying that he is already in our Overall Best XI, (as a midfielder), after his previous exploits with us. £7,500 is more than I wanted to pay anyone at this stage of the save, (it's £390k per 3 years so it's our 1st million pound contract, but I really wanted him. I'm also hopeful that if he scores 20+ goals this season then we will make money on him. 

He was promoted from League 2 with Bristol Rovers last season, but I think he was playing in midfield more than up front. I will absolutely be playing him up front. 

There were 2 other players that I was close to signing. 

(34b) Sam Siddons (Pro) * is a good right back currently playing for Sheff Wed in this league. They made me pay £200k for him, but he was asking a lot of wages. Although I initially agreed I changed my mind at the last minute and pulled out. 

Right back had been a problem position for us, but I managed to re-train midfielder (38a) Usman (SWE) Bal * to play there when he couldn't get a game as a midfielder and then I managed to re-sign (36d) Rey Thomas (BEL)(F.Det)* on a free last season. Although (38a) Usman (SWE) Bal * will be mainly used in midfield this season, we do have the likes of (43j) Richard Jenkins * and to a lesser extent (44f) Lawton (Cas) coming through. Because of the very nature of this save, it doesn't make sense to pay cash for a player, and then pay exorbitant wages on top of that, and all while restricting the playing time of the next generation of players in that position. It's just not in keeping with the save. Sunderland have been in for (36d) Rey Thomas (BEL)(F.Det)* recently though and if I  can get more for him that I have to pay for (34b) Sam Siddons (Pro) *, then the deal might be back on.

The last player I was in for was (40c) Paul Stovell (F.Amb). He was "stolen" my Notts Co before I was able to sign him to a Pro contract, (and it still rankles). He has a minimum fee release clause of £525k and I put the bid in but bottled it almost immediately not just because of the transfer fee, but also because we have £28,500 in clauses that are due to be paid shortly, (even if we will never get any money for the Int appearance. No, instead I'm going to get him in on loan I think. He's good enough to play for us based on CA rather than PA and then after a season fo playing for us he can go back and play for Notts Co next season. 

I don't have anyone else on my radar to sign at the moment, so that's all I'm doing with the money so far. 

[Jimbokav1971]

We got how much for a scout? Jul 2044.

I take absolutely no interest in the signing of Scouts and Physios's and medical staff. Who cares? Well I should it seems if they can earn us this much compensation.

He doesn't even look any good. 

[Pompeyboyz]

For League 1 his stats as a scout are not too bad. 

I always aim for about 10 on JPA, JPP  and Adaptability at League 1 as a minimum

[Jimbokav1971]

Released list. Jul 2044. 

These are players who's contract expired over the Summer and who have now left the club. There are 2 of them in particular who I didn't want to leave, but who just wouldn't sign a new contract. 

(32c) Declan Barry (IRL) * said he had achieved all he could at the club and I think his decision was probably correct looking at his goals to games ration in recent seasons. He was someone I used when I rotated the squad and often played in weakened sides. Having said that, anyone who has scored 27 league goals in a season will always have a place in my heart. My thinking when not battling to re-sign him was that either we would get someone better or we would play a youngster who would become better with the game-time, so either way this was a good move for everyone. Don't ask me why he was able to fill his actual boots in the Conference but not hit a barn door in League 2 never mind about League 1. 

(33a) David Gray (F.Pro). Another decent player who was probably sick of sitting on the bench and was looking for a new challenge. The writing was on the wall when we got promoted from league 2 without him creating even a single assist in 21(4) appearances. Last season he was mainly used from the bench in 9(13) appearances, and obviously wants to start more games. He's not going to do that here and we wish him all the best. I think I need to make decisions like this to create a pathway for the youngsters coming through. The truth is that on CA he is probably our 2nd best right midfielder right now, but his absence will allow me to develop other players in that position. 

(35g) Shaw (SCO) (Bal). 

(35d) Butterfield (Spir). 

Many of the other released players also featured in our 1st team at various times, but not on so regular a basis. 

[mattyjames_]

Mate! I go away for a couple weeks and your save is going from strength to strength. Absolutely amazing!! Congrats on the development and I'm looking forward to keeping up with you more regularly from here!

[Jimbokav1971]

Transfer bid rejected. Jul 2044. 

Championship side Rotherham have come in for a straight cash offer of £250,000 for (43j) Richard Jenkins *. The 18 year old hasn't made his debut for us yet, but I mentioned him over the Summer as a reason why I didn't want to bring in a new right back and he seems to be developing nicely. He has Long Throws of 15 so I am teaching him the PPM and we will see how that works with our set-pieces. This player is (43j) which means he came through, (counts on fingers)..... 10th of 16th in that intake. That's not too shabby at all. I really like the look of this bloke. He's definitely going to play this season. 

[OlivierL]

Thanks for the kind words @Jimbokav1971

After a holiday period I had actually quit my French save but I felt like transforming that save into a Director of Football Challenge. But after the first transfer period I'm tired of it and it's not my way of playing. I still have the original Paris FC save... so after your nice compliments I'm back in doubt to start season 4 with the original transfer policy. My other option is starting my last FM save and do a youth only again . My Paris FC save is/was going to slow because i'm putting to much details into my topic and calculations . 

Love your topic btw, it's going good and fast

Edited August 16, 2020 by OlivierL

[Jimbokav1971]

26 minutes ago, mattyjames_ said:

Mate! I go away for a couple weeks and your save is going from strength to strength. Absolutely amazing!! Congrats on the development and I'm looking forward to keeping up with you more regularly from here!

Thanks very much. 

I'm really enjoying it at the moment, but it also means that I have to do much more "admin" than I would like. Just sorting out loans, contracts, training and PPM's in pre-season is a horrible long job. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Testimonials. Jul 2044. 

I love this feature. I mean I really love this feature. I particularly love it when old players come back to play in the game.  

(28j) James Allen (PNG) (Res) has played 50+ to,es for his Country, and even when that's only Papa New-Guinea, that's still a significant achievement. When he left us in 2029 he was actually a regular player, and he moved up a few leagues to play in League 2 for Northampton before finding his level at Conference North with Hyde. 

(30d) Paul Pemberton is not a name I have any recollection of at all, although in fairness it was a long time ago he played for us. He's gone on to have a phenomenal career at Farnborough where he has been promoted 4 times to rise to Conference South. 

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Thanks for the kind words @Jimbokav1971

After a holiday period I had actually quit my French save but I felt like transforming that save into a Director of Football Challenge. But after the first transfer period I'm tired of it and it's not my way of playing. I still have the original Paris FC save... so after your nice compliments I'm back in doubt to start season 4 with the original transfer policy. My other option is starting my last FM save and do a youth only again . My Paris FC save is/was going to slow because i'm putting to much details into my topic and calculations . 

Love your topic btw, it's going good and fast

Thanks. If you get bored with buying players and it becomes a real chore, that's the huge attraction and bonus of a Youth Only save. You don't have to worry about scouting and you never have to search for players. 

Youth Intake day tends to increase in importance though. 

[OlivierL]

6 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thanks. If you get bored with buying players and it becomes a real chore, that's the huge attraction and bonus of a Youth Only save. You don't have to worry about scouting and you never have to search for players. 

Youth Intake day tends to increase in importance though. 

Idd i know. i did it with IR (Iceland) for 7/8 seasons but the competition in Iceland was getting boring. My biggest problem is that i want to play all my games because i don't trust instant result. But if you don't use instant result and put a lot of details in your save/topic u aren't playing many seasons. So i have two options. Restart my Paris FC topic before i started with the DOF challenge and update my topic again (slow - but i'm playing Champions league in my 4th season , so excited). Or i do a Youth only save WITH instant result in a very low and obscure (like u did with Irchester , very low tier). I know u told it already hunderd times (99 times it was I, asking the question) but u are doing Instant result for every match or only the less important games ? do u watch the goals after you used instant results ?

 

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by OlivierL

[Jimbokav1971]

15 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Idd i know. i did it with IR (Iceland) for 7/8 seasons but the competition in Iceland was getting boring. My biggest problem is that i want to play all my games because i don't trust instant result. But if you don't use instant result and put a lot of details in your save/topic u aren't playing many seasons. So i have two options. Restart my Paris FC topic before i started with the DOF challenge and update my topic again (slow - but i'm playing Champions league in my 4th season , so excited). Or i do a Youth only save WITH instant result in a very low and obscure (like u did with Irchester , very low tier).

The most important thing is that you play a style of save that will keep you engaged and motivated and wanting to play it again. It doesn't matter what I or anyone else says. How do YOU want to play. 

If that's Youth Only then great. 

If that IR Button then great. 

If it's neither, then great. 

Honestly, all that matter is that you enjoy it. If you don't like the IR button but it slows you down then you just accept it. Just decide what you want and go with it.

[Jimbokav1971]

17 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

 I know u told it already hunderd times (99 times it was I, asking the question) but u are doing Instant result for every match or only the less important games ? do u watch the goals after you used instant results ?

Most seasons I have played 0 games properly and used IR for all games. 

Last season I lost the button stops you starting the game by accident and I couldn't find how to get it back and in the end someone told me how to revert the settings in here. I think I must have played about 6-7 games properly last season which is the most in ages. 

Before that I think I had played 2 games in the whole save I think. 

I used to watch all the goals even when I used the IR button. Now it depends how I'm feeling. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Another Transfer bid rejected. Jul 2044. 

Although we have received bigger fees in add-ons, this would have been a club record transfer, (initial fee), and we would have had to accept it, (or more likely negotiate it for add-ons). Because of the financial situation, we don't have to accept it now.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Ex Academy watch. Jul 2044. 

I will just give you a brief glimpse at some of the better players we have produced and how their careers have developed. 

(30a) James (DMA) *. God only knows what he won at PSG but I think it's 6 French League titles, 5 French Cups & 6 French Charity Shields according to their history.

(37b) Júnior (POR) F.Det *. I've had a look at Juve and it appears that he was won 2 Serie A, was Runner Up in the Champions League, 2 Coppa Italia, 1 Supercoppa Italia, 2 Coppa Italia Primavera, (no idea what that is), 2 Supercoppa Italia Primavera, (but 1 of them is for 2045 and we are in Jul 2044 so......), yeah, he's basically winning everything in Italy. 

 (37c) Komba (TAN) *. The best thing about his career so far is that Portsmouth paid Palace £1.7M for a season long loan, but they will have considered it a bargain as he scored 20 league goals although they still didn't get promoted. 

 (34a) Nieminen (FIN) (Driven)*. He's never been particularly prolific, but he pretty decent at languages. 

(31a) Liam Watts (FIN) *. Even less prolific than his Finnish mate, but possibly more fluent. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1st fine of the season. Aug 2044. 

We lost. It wasn't so much the 8 yellows that was the problem, but getting a red before the hour mark tends to be costly.

[Jimbokav1971]

Solidarity payments. Aug 2044. 

This is really starting to bug me. 

Crawley get 1% of the fee. 

Sevilla get 0.5% of the fee. 

It really doesn't matter how much they get. What's important is that they get something. 

What's interesting here is that UD Almeira also don't get anything. They should do. We should both get something. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2044. 

League 1. We've already had 26 yellow cards and 2 red cards. 1 of the red cards was in the 1st half and the other was before 60 mins. All things considered.... it could have been worse. 

Cup games. I thought the Watford game was a league game and selected a full-strength side. We beat the Championship side which is brilliant. I made no such mistake against Premier League Bournemouth and our 1st visit to Eddie Howe Park will be remembered for all the wrong reasons as our kids shipped 7 goals. 

I went with a weakened side against Gills in the Abomination Trophy, and we squeezed by on pens. Chelsea U23's have surprisingly already lost, so hopefully we can east through the Group Stage. 

Bid rejected. 

There is no way (39a) Harri (Pro) * would be here at the end of this window without our new-found wealth. Considering he's averaging 20 goals a season over 5 seasons, (and only made 22(2) appearances in his 1st season), that's pretty damn fine going if you ask me. He's contracted for 2 more years and I think I'm going to try and extend that over the next month or so. 

[B.W.G]

This has been an absolutely fantastic read!

Well done on everything you have achieved so far and really nice use of the sell on clauses as well.

Seeing this,I can't wait to go into England in my save to do the youth only  

[deez0r]

8 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thanks very much. While I would still enjoy updating this even if nobody else was reading, it really does add to it that so many seem to be enjoying it. I know my "detail" and rambling is not to everyone's tastes sometimes, (but maybe that's why people are here rather than watching people on Youtube or Twitch. (We like reading).

I keep popping in and out of the @_Ben_thread, (and it is absolutely brilliant), but it's almost too brilliant and so detailed that you are in there and thinking about the questions be poses and the next thing you realise you haven't pressed continue on your own game for 30 mins and you don't know where the time has gone. I'm about to go away for a few days and with the weather as it is I'm hoping I will get the chance to catch up on a few other threads including @B.W.G's Munster Mash thread which I am way behind on. I'm obviously also a big fan of the @Makoto Nakamurathreads and he seems to be playing this save just slightly slower to give us a chance to keep up. 

The other threads that interest me more than others simply because of their playing style are those of @deez0r, (who seems to be flying through the seasons but hasn't posted in a while. I hope he's continuing it), @OlivierLwho's French thread looks amazing and which I'm desperate to catch up on and @rrozek93who has chosen the lesser travelled route of Poland. 

I think we all know that the game isn't "that" hard when you know the basics, but by giving yourself particular challenges and restrictions there is enormous reward to be had even when achieving moderate success. (The pleasure I had from winning the EURO Cup for Ton Pentre in Wales was huge for example, but really isn't the biggest trophy in the World, but there is just something special about doing it when starting from such a low point and with self-imposed restrictions). Absolutely loving this game at the moment! 

Thanks to everyone for reading and replying. We are a long way from finished yet. 

I am still playing. Birthday weekend so took some down time! 

[deez0r]

On 15/08/2020 at 11:11, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake day. Mar 2043. 

It was suggested as a Golden Generation, but that appears to not actually be the case. 

Despite that, and for a few different reason, I quite like this intake. 

• 2x 5.0 PA players is good. I'm always happy with 1. 
• (44b) Don (JAM) (Bal) 6'5" looks rather special even if I'm not quite sure where to play or how to use him. (Please note I had nicknamed him in error and he is actually 6'5" rather than 6'4".
• We get a new Nationality and (LIB) is pretty rare I think.
• After 2 players from (JAM) last season, we get another 2 through this season. 
• There are a couple of decent(ish) strikers in the intake. 

There are some negatives though. 

• We have not 1, not 2, but 3 players with a Casual personality.  That's quite serious. (It's like a Low Det Unambitious player to me). We often get messages telling us that a players has been impacted by the squads positive qualities, and I generally believe this to be Pro rather than Amb, (it's not Det), so maybe that's something that will resolve itself without too much work on my part. I tend to group Casual and Slack together, (hate them), but I can't really afford to just bin these players off, so if I don't have the players to mentor them, I will have to send them out on loan in the hope that other Managers can resolve these issues. On the plus side, 2 of the Casual players are quite low down the ranking in terms of PPA. 

Squad by PPA. 

Nations already represented by previous intakes.

New Nations represented in this intake.  Libya is quite a cool Nationality to get because I think it's pretty rare. I don't think I have ever had a Libyan player on FM before. 

(44a) Greg Gray (SCO) (Real). I'm not really sure what to make of him. He looks poor physically, (although I'm a big fan of the balance attribute in attacking players so I like that). Maybe I could squeeze him in as a WM or even a WPM? I don't particularly like him if I'm honest, but let's see what I can do with him over the next few seasons. 

(44b) Don (JAM) (Bal) 6'5". Well quite frankly he looks amazing. Someone else had a "Big" player through recently and there was a discussion about him playing left back or WTM. My initial reaction here was WTM, (because we are lacking a little on the left), but the more I look at him the more I think I should play him up front. If he plays wide then it will be in the ML slot rather than the AML slot, although for a player like this I might be willing to make manual adjustments to the tactic. He could even do a job at DLP, but I think that's a waste. He could basically play anywhere. at the moment I think between ML and SCL is most likely. He could play for us today. 

It was me with my 6 foot 6 left winger 😂

[Jimbokav1971]

2nd fine of the season. Sep 2044. 

Lost. 7 players on International duty, 3 red injuries, 2 red injuries, played a team of kids. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3rd fine of the season. Sep 2044. 

We won. That's a mighty impressive 3 fines from 8 league games. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Clauses. Sep 2044.

We've just had this little windfall. 

We don't have any deals available for clauses at the moment. 

[iamnobody]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Clauses. Sep 2044.

We've just had this little windfall. 

 

That might cover all your fines for this season

[rodesire]

On 15/08/2020 at 20:37, Jimbokav1971 said:

Is this bloke as good as I think he is or am I blinded by love? 

told ya he'd have 50 caps by age 25

[Jimbokav1971]

57 minutes ago, rodesire said:

told ya he'd have 50 caps by age 25

Who are we talking about? The Spanish centre-half? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Suspensions. Oct 2044. 

I think I've mentioned that I like rotating players probably more than most because I am adamant that small condition "wins", have significant benefits. I would much rather play a poorer player with better condition than a good player with poor condition. 

We've played 16 league games so far this season and 1st choice left winger (35c) Craig Barnett (Unamb) * has started 10 of them and come on as sub in 3 more. In those 10(3) league appearances he has collected no less than 10 yellow cards,  (no, this is not a joke), and he has also been booked in the Carabao Cup. 

While I'm a big fan of the PPM "dives into tackles", and I'm encouraged that "marks opponents tightly" might be decent for bookings too, (35c) Craig Barnett (Unamb) * has neither of them. He also isn't very brave or very aggressive. I'm playing him as a W(s) in the ML slot and he has no additional individual instructions, (although I have just added "tackle harder"), and for the record his pressing is set to "less urgent". For the Team instructions I obviously have "get stuck in" active and also "use tighter marking" and "extremely urgent pressing". All of these Team instructions are in there by design, but it's this particular player that is making me think. He shouldn't be this good at collecting cards but he is showing Cattermole'esque ability in this area. It's phenomenal! 

When I look at the tracker there are a few different positions on show for which individual had the worst disciplinary record each season. 

• I can't remember Freeman.
• I can't remember Gibson.
• (20h) Craig Martin was a MC. 
• (20c) Aaron Harker (ML) was a ML. 
• (20l) Keiran Harvey (SCO) was a ML.
• (21k) Winsnes (NOR) was a DL.
• (20l) Keiran Harvey (SCO) was a ML.
• (25f) Fabio Luis (POR) was a DL.
• (25f) Fabio Luis (POR) was a DL.
• (26k) George Anderson (NIR) was a DR.
• (25j) Jack Williams was a MC. 
• (25j) Jack Williams was a MC. 
• (29e) Neil Morrow (NIR) was a DC.
• (26b) Leiweke (USA) was a ML.
• (28i) Milos Jirasek (CZE) was a DL.
• (33b) Dean Cooke (Pro) is a DC.
• (34b) Sam Siddons (Pro) is a DR.
• (29i) Jordan Barron is a DR. 
• (28i) Milos Jirasek (CZE) was a DL.
• (35c) Craig Barnett (Unamb) * is a ML and the man himself. 
• (36d) Rey (BEL) is a DL. 
• (35d) Luke Butterfield is a DR.
• (35c) Craig Barnett (Unamb) * is a ML and the man himself. 
• (38e) Hall (WAL) is a DC. 
• (36b) Dixon (IRL) is a MR.

If we ignore the 1st 2 years because I can't remember what positions they played in, we have had 23 seasons. 

ML won 6 times. 
DL won 6 times. 
MC won 3 times. 
DR won 4 times.
DC won 3 times. 
MR won 1 time. 

I have no idea what I'm getting here. I'm just looking and thinking and typing. Why are we getting booked so much on our left hand side? (That's the side the DPL plays on......)

[Jimbokav1971]

International Appearances. Nov 2044. 

We have a landmark that needs to be recognised. 

The reason for this post is because (30a) James (DMA) * becomes the 1st product of our Academy to be awarded 100 International Caps by any Nation. When you consider that he was also capped 10 times by Dominica, (before opting for England), then it's even more remarkable. He is the only player to be capped by England that we have produced. 

TAA finished on 174 Caps so he is never going to beat that, but he does have Harry Kane's record of 84 England goals in his sights. 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2044. 

League 1. We're slowly starting to work our way up the table after a poor start. 

Cup games. We're in a strong position with 1 game left to play, but if we lose and FGR win then we still don't qualify so there is still work to be done. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, iamnobody said:

 

That might cover all your fines for this season

Just about I think. 

[Mr_Demus]

You're making me nostalgic. I had a fantastic Dafuge save with Hereford on FM16 or 17 I think, and this thread makes me want to relive the magic of the best save I ever had.

I have downloaded the England to level 11 DB (which I assume is the one you use) and looked at teams in the 7th or 8th tier. Still haven't pulled the trigger though...

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, Mr_Demus said:

You're making me nostalgic. I had a fantastic Dafuge save with Hereford on FM16 or 17 I think, and this thread makes me want to relive the magic of the best save I ever had.

I have downloaded the England to level 11 DB (which I assume is the one you use) and looked at teams in the 7th or 8th tier. Still haven't pulled the trigger though...

I was a regular in both the @dafugeand @Gundosaves back in the day. I never managed to complete either but absolutely loved it. 

I didn't use the Level 11 database though. Mine is only level 10. 

I'm pretty sure this is it. 

https://fminside.net/football-manager-downloads/football-manager-2020-downloads/data-updates-fm20/england-lvl-10-by-thefmeditor/

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2044. 

League 1. We're still a little hit and miss. We're only 4 points off the playoffs, which was my target at the beginning of the season even though the players are happy with battling bravely. 

Cup games. Not sure what happened here but we smash FGR. 

[-Jef-]

What was the media prediction for your team for the season? From your palce to the top it is congested in the league. Also just seen that you've conceded the most goals in the league. Should be the culprit of relatively low position compared to goals scored.

Also, have to say you've changed the way I play and deal with transfers, especially after the latest big sale you've made with the spaniard! Thanks for the free lesson

[Jimbokav1971]

9 minutes ago, rosque said:

What was the media prediction for your team for the season? From your palce to the top it is congested in the league. Also just seen that you've conceded the most goals in the league. Should be the culprit of relatively low position compared to goals scored.

Also, have to say you've changed the way I play and deal with transfers, especially after the latest big sale you've made with the spaniard! Thanks for the free lesson

Season preview was 20th of 23. 

Last season we agreed with the players pre-season that we would fight bravely against relegation. 

This season I stepped it up and told them I wanted to avoid relegation and they didn't like it at all. I think that's partly linked to why we started so poorly. Getting something as trivial as that wrong can have a big impact. After a slow start I'm happy with how things are going now and I expect to be close to the Playoffs come the end of the season. Whether or not we make it will probably be largely down to injuries to key players. 

[-Jef-]

For the season opening team talk I always go with what the board expects of me and they always agree with me. Even though I do not agree with the expectations I do say that to them so they do not get pissed off

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, rosque said:

For the season opening team talk I always go with what the board expects of me and they always agree with me. Even though I do not agree with the expectations I do say that to them so they do not get pissed off

The board expectation was to avoid relegation though. Not to attempt to avoid it as it was last season. That's why i stepped things up a little. 

The players obviously had other ideas.