Are less rich leagues easier to win?

[CaptCanuck]

After a promising 2nd in season 5, 3rd in season 6, the mighty Seagulls of Brighton and Hove Albion were able to lift the Premier League Trophy in season 7!

Leaving aside the no way IRL of that - it got me wondering are leagues with less money floating around in them easier to win with mid, lower table/promoted sides? As TBH with all the Premier league clubs splashing cash non-stop I was worried I'd never close that final gap and be more than a Top 4 side. When Southampton and Norwich think nothing of 40mil signings it is a vicious circle.

I've been last (ie. best) in the turnover to wages table for at least 5 seasons now, as I like to buy kids and keep them on decent wages and our Prem winning average age was 22. So that got me thinking if I apply my way of playing in Portugal or Switzerland - with fewer big resource clubs around - could I climb the table quicker? To say nothing of leagues further down the coefficient list.

[Mattias333]

Personally I’d say yes. I personally love starting journey man saves that tend to last me at least half the life span of the current edition of FM. 
 

I usually through tradition always pick a league I’ve never managed in to start a save. Iceland might be on my agenda next! I’ve always found those leagues a breeze to achieve success quickly. Even lower English leagues. I’m talking conference, league 2 etc I usually find it quite easy to breeze those even with mid to lower mid table teams. 
 

I run into problems when I hit the premier league an the money you mention. Don’t get me wrong I can usually mix it with bottom to mid teams in the prem first few years. It’s just those elite teams I struggle with until years of building the side an club up on an off the pitch. 

[CaptCanuck]

9 hours ago, Mattias333 said:

Personally I’d say yes. I personally love starting journey man saves that tend to last me at least half the life span of the current edition of FM. 
 

I usually through tradition always pick a league I’ve never managed in to start a save. Iceland might be on my agenda next! I’ve always found those leagues a breeze to achieve success quickly. Even lower English leagues. I’m talking conference, league 2 etc I usually find it quite easy to breeze those even with mid to lower mid table teams. 
 

I run into problems when I hit the premier league an the money you mention. Don’t get me wrong I can usually mix it with bottom to mid teams in the prem first few years. It’s just those elite teams I struggle with until years of building the side an club up on an off the pitch. 

That's it, once clear of relegation concerns, being a midtable club it seemed like making a title push would never happen. I like the idea of the small league, by it's definition Iceland would be small :-)

Reckon I need to give one a go to run in parallel with my main one, defo going to look into it! I have a Swiss mate who's an YB supporter, so it got me looking at Switzerland, but maybe I start in their 3rd tier and go from there.

Edited September 23, 2020 by CaptCanuck

[john1]

Russian leagues? I think they are tad easier to win?

Edited September 23, 2020 by john1

[karanhsingh]

Of course yes, the Premier league is among the hardest to win because of the money floating around, the sheer number of good teams, and how OP Liverpool are (although that may be true IRL too).

For me the 3 hardest leagues to win in FM20 are England, France & Spain. From the big 5, Germany & Italy seem to be easier. In most saves I have seen Bayern & Juve are unable to sustain their dominance, even against the AI.

I have had fun saves over FM19 & 20 in Greece, Turkey, Russia, Portugal, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Belgium & Holland - obviously the real challenge in those leagues though is making a dent in Europe. My only success so far being the Europa league for Olympiakos.

[bendixkunert2]

3 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Of course yes, the Premier league is among the hardest to win because of the money floating around, the sheer number of good teams, and how OP Liverpool are (although that may be true IRL too).

For me the 3 hardest leagues to win in FM20 are England, France & Spain. From the big 5, Germany & Italy seem to be easier. In most saves I have seen Bayern & Juve are unable to sustain their dominance, even against the AI.

I have had fun saves over FM19 & 20 in Greece, Turkey, Russia, Portugal, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Belgium & Holland - obviously the real challenge in those leagues though is making a dent in Europe. My only success so far being the Europa league for Olympiakos.

France is easy to me, won in 1st year with Rennes and Lille. Italy also looks fairly easy. Haven't tried Spain. Germany can't really say, I have only played with RB Leipzig and won in 2nd season but it's probably not the best indicator. England is really, really hard though. I won with West Brom in year 7, Ipswich year 8, Norwich year 7. Takes a long time.

[karanhsingh]

10 minutes ago, bendixkunert2 said:

France is easy to me, won in 1st year with Rennes and Lille. Italy also looks fairly easy. Haven't tried Spain. Germany can't really say, I have only played with RB Leipzig and won in 2nd season but it's probably not the best indicator. England is really, really hard though. I won with West Brom in year 7, Ipswich year 8, Norwich year 7. Takes a long time.

Yes indeed England takes a long time.

How many points was enough for you in France? PSG regularly get 100+ in my saves. 

[bendixkunert2]

2 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Yes indeed England takes a long time.

How many points was enough for you in France? PSG regularly get 100+ in my saves. 

think the first one was with 97 and the 2nd one with 92 or so. 

And to be honest, in a couple of those saves in England I used knap tactics so might have taken over 10 years or not at all with own tactics. So from my own experience the PL is the by far toughest league and I would say more difficult than winning the Champions League. 

[karanhsingh]

27 minutes ago, bendixkunert2 said:

think the first one was with 97 and the 2nd one with 92 or so. 

And to be honest, in a couple of those saves in England I used knap tactics so might have taken over 10 years or not at all with own tactics. So from my own experience the PL is the by far toughest league and I would say more difficult than winning the Champions League. 

I would agree with that. I just made it to the finals of the CL (lost to Liverpool of course) while being a full 20 points off the pace in the premiership. 

[CaptCanuck]

On 24/09/2020 at 04:26, karanhsingh said:

I would agree with that. I just made it to the finals of the CL (lost to Liverpool of course) while being a full 20 points off the pace in the premiership. 

Ya see I had this a couple seasons ago. I finished 3rd maybe 15 points behind Liverpool, but did well in the CL but lost the CL final 1-0 to PSG.

All my largest positive goal differences (home & away matches against a specific team) of the season come in the CL group stages or round of 16, even over whichever Prem clubs are in the bottom 5.

Edited September 25, 2020 by CaptCanuck