[FM20] - Cap'n Sparrow back to LLM

[JackSparrow]

Hi folks, firstly a bit of background...I'm a long time player of CM/FM games going all the way back to my early teens, saving up 20 quid to buy CM 92/93 for the Atari ST after playing it at a mate's house.  I always buy the physical copy of the game and love adding to the collection every year. I'm also long time lurker here (June 2007!) and thought I'd share some of my stories for a change.

Since the FM series started I've always had a few go-to clubs that I'll play in every version.  Rangers, Sampdoria, Clyde and River Plate.  I admit I'm a traditionalist and fairly set in my ways but it never gets boring, for me at least.  I always try to develop my own tactics, only going to forums/downloads for inspiration. It is always much more satisfying building that team/scouting the players/tinkering to make your system work.  Occasionally I'll try the EPL/La Liga/Bundesliga/MLS for variation and to see if good tactics work in those leagues.  Very occasionally I'll dip into LLM but usually without success and I give up after 1-2 seasons.

My best effort in LLM was in FM2011.  A lot of memories come from this version - The Gers going from 3IAR under Walter Smith to the lows of entering administration and being shafted by everyone. At the same time as this life was going well, just married, first kid, new car, etc... then FM threw up a massive favourite save game for me - Getting Stafford Rangers from the Blue Square North into the PL and Champions League.

Here is a summary of the league finishes/notable cup runs over the years:

2010/11 - 3rd in Blue Square North
2011/12 - 1st in Blue Square North
2012/13 - 4th in Blue Square Premier
2013/14 - 1st in Blue Square Premier
2014/15 - 9th in nPower League 2
2015/16 - 1st in nPower League 2
2016/17 - 5th in nPower League 1
2017/18 - 2nd in nPower League 1
2018/19 - 3rd in nPower Championship
2019/20 - 7th in nPower Championship
2020/21 - 6th in nPower Championship
2021/22 - 16th in Premier Division
2022/23 - 16th in Premier Division
2023/24 - 11th in Premier Division
2024/25 - 17th in Premier Division - League Cup Runner Up
2025/26 - 6th in Premier Division - FA Cup Winner
2026/27 - 9th in Premier Division - UEFA Cup QF
2027/28 - 2nd in Premier Division  - League Cup Winner
2028/29 - 6th in Premier Division - 2nd in CL group (Lyon/Roma/Red Star), k/o in s/f by AC Milan after beating Sporting and Real Madrid
2029/30 - 7th in Premier Division - 2nd in EL group (Leverkusen/Rapid Buch/Belenenses), k/o in q/f by Porto after beating Zenit & Benfica. Also won League Cup / FA Cup

I had to bring in guys like Ibrahim Sissoko and Michael Abnett in the very early stages of the game helping me to the first couple of promotions. The 2 stalwarts I had through my rise in the leagues were Ben Sayer (Newcastle) and Josh Rees (Arsenal) who were my midfield pairing all the way from the BSP to the PL, both performed really consistently and improved as time went on. Rees retired and is now a coach for me while Sayer left in 2024/5 for Swansea Elton Monteiro (DC/L) also stayed on the journey as did one of the original squad, Fabrice Kasiama who was more of a squad player for my 3 seasons in the CH and 1 in the PL.

One of my best signings was Sam Farrell, M/AM/S C, who was a regen at Everton in 2013. He had moved to Spurs for £2m and I loaned him for my 2 seasons in League 1 when he banged in 47 goals in 96 games. After a season at Hearts and 2 years in limbo at Tottenham I was promoted to the PL and signed him for free. He was always dependable peaking in 2025/26 with 11g 16a / 7.23 av, currently 33 years old with 389/121 league goals to his name, 71 assists, av 7.01.

The DB does seem a bit corrupt as I go back through the seasons... apparently I signed Renato Bilobirk from Dynamo Kiev in 21/22 for £403m... the PL money was good but not that good! Jonathon Dos Santos at £8.5m was my star man that season.

In 2022/23 I took Wayne Rooney on a free and he's now my AssMan. Jack Wilshere at £9.5m from Forest was a good investment, sold next season for £19m to Chelsea.

I still found it difficult to recruit, not always getting the quality in with the board keeping budgets tight and reputation of the club being low, but in 2023/24 I signed my talisman who eventually led the club to new levels - "Da Silva" (Fabiano Da Silva), £21.5m from Flamengo. 43 goals in 42(1) appearances in his first season set the bar high. He suffered a lot of injuries the following season but in 2025/26 he banged in 62 goals in 41(2) apps - 48 in 34(2) league games.  He has been close to a goal a game every season since then.  Of all the years playing this great game, Da Silva has been my greatest ever signing.

I parked that save in July 2012 to finally get into FM12, but I couldn't - the journey with Stafford was like a drug and nothing could hit the highs and satisfactions of leading that team from obscurity to FA Cup / League Cup winners, CL semi finalists and oh so close to winning the PL.  I will return to finish the job there.....one day!

Is it the best anyone will ever do with a LLM save? Nowhere near it but it will live long with me.

 

FM2020.....So fast forward 10 years IRL and bored of my Rangers/Real Madrid save (trying to oust Rangers as the no1 team on the planet with the no2 team, it's actually not that easy!) and I need a new challenge in FM.  I've had few failed attempts at recreating this success, and I've now found Gateshead.  Estimated to finish 20th in Vanarama North, but with potential to build (stadium capacity) and a loan partnership with Sunderland and I reckon this could be a good one to try. Why not?!

First season and I start with just Eng/Scot playable but loads of other leagues in the DB view only.  I check out the squad and we have 6 loans in. Some of them are really good  - Dom Tear (Huddersfield), Liam Agnew & Toby Lees (Harrogate), Bradley James/Mitchell Curry (Middlesbrough), Jake Cooper (Rotherham), but it also means I can't sign any other loans.  I look in the expired contracts market and bring in Febian Brandy (ex Man Utd), Mamadou Koné (ex Benfica/Brighton), Robbert Te Loekke (Dutch experienced GK), Kai Sanders (ex Watford) and Jay McEveley (ex Blackburn) to bulk the squad up.

We started the season with as many trialists as I could find, hoping to sign some of them and to fill the squad so I could organise friendlies. We played 15, giving the bank balance a boost, although none of it came to my transfer budget.  I got Glen Johnson in as a coach for some experience.

After a good start to the season using my trusted 4231 Wide which already brought me great success in FM20 with Rangers, we were sitting with 1 defeat in 7.  Our form dipped a bit going 3 games without scoring and losing for the 4th time in the season.

At this point it was 21st Sept, we needed a change and I feared this save was going the same way as so many other LLM attempts. I freshened up the tactics, making a couple of new formations - a 424 Wide, 541 WB Wide and 4141 DM Wide. Although we won with 424, drew and then won 2 games with the 541 neither gave me confidence that they would work, so I went with the DM option and decided to play it a bit more conservative.  

In the first game using it we beat Blyth Spartans 2-0 in the local derby, but I lost my AM R/C and one of the team leaders Greg Olley to a broken leg after 5 minutes.

With no replacement for AMC in the squad and nobody worth buying, I stuck to the 4141DM Wide, bringing in David Vaughan (ex Forest) as DM for experience and leadership.  3 games played and on a big contract, he gets a spinal injury, out for 12 months but opting to retire, ending his career.  Fortunately I had a decent option in Connor Oliver for DM.

We started playing well again despite the losses to the squad, 16 games undefeated into the middle of December, losing on penalties in the FA Cup 2nd Round Replay against Bristol Rovers on Dec 11th. 

We bounced back knocking Guisely out the FA Trophy 2-0 but then dipped again P4 D2 L2 over the festive period but still well in contention for a playoff spot (Kidderminster were running away with it).  It was then another 15 games undefeated (7 wins, 8 draws) including FA Trophy replays in the 3rd and 4th rounds.

It was now the middle of March and fatigue was setting in. Things started to work against us and although we had made it back up to 2nd, we started slowly dropping places. We won only 1 of the next 8, out the FA Trophy in the S/F to Aldershot and 2 draws in the last 3 games to finish the season in 6th place  P42 W17 D16 L9 F61 A38 Pt67.

In the playoffs we dispatched Spennymoor (who had finished above us in 5th) 2-1 in ET.  I feared for the squad as they were tired. We took on Boston Utd and beat them 3-2 with a goal from Alex Addai in 90+6 mins. Thankfully the players got a week's rest before the final vs Darlington (2nd place) and we had just enough to edge them out on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

In the close season I've not made many changes - a few out to save ££ and replaced with better quality.  So far my signings, all free/loans are:

GK Harrison Davison-Hale (Huddersfield)
DC Mustapha Olagunju (Huddersfield)
DC Oliver Denham (Man Utd)
DC Matthew Platt (Blackburn)
DC Max Taylor (Man Utd)
DL Armand Traore (Cardiff - ex Arsenal/QPR)
DM/M/AM C Jonathan Russell (Chelsea)
MC Tavio d'Almeida (Cardiff - loan)
MC Bobby Kamwa (Leeds)
AM R Ryan Alebiosu (Arsenal)
AM L Jack Stretton (Derby - loan)
SC Alex Jakubiak (Watford)

The board forced playing pressing football and had also criticised me for using wide play as it wasn't exciting enough(!?). So I started from scratch with new tactics. I also took the opportunity to make the pitch as small as possible and only arranged 11 friendlies this season to try and avoid excessive tiredness come the end of the season.  Again I got lots of trialists in to play and hopefully sign (all trialists from PL/CH clubs, released and out of contract). 

Although we drew with Newcastle 0-0, beat Middlesbrough and Swansea and suffered a few defeats to bigger clubs like Sheff Utd, Rangers and Celtic, I switched from 4411 to 4141 which I used beating Barnsley and Bolton in a cup and 1 other lower team.  

I started the season with that 4141 beating Aldershot, drawing with Fylde and losing to Torquay.  I never like using wide mids MR / ML and it doesn't seem to work in the short/narrow pitch, so again I have tinkered and now playing a 4321.  That formation seems to be familiar to the players and we've won 3/3 with it so far.  That's me now at 31 August and sitting 3rd in the Vanarama National League.

Onwards and upwards!  I'll probably just do season review posts as we go. 

Well done if you made it to  the end of this novel!!