The Football Manager Thread [Archive]

DevilFisch

08-22-2006, 12:38 PM

So I've been off-and-on addicted to Worldwide Soccer Manager 06 since January, playing the same game for an aggregate total of 6 days. I'm at work now, so I can't check my game for the full deal, but here's a quick and dirty version of how I've done.

2005-2008: Manager of the NY/NJ MetroStars (yes, it was still MetroStars). Proceeded to win a bunch of MLS Cups, U.S. Open Cups, and even the Copa Sudamerica (no, seriously). Led the mighty Youri Djorkaeff and Tony Meola to retirement, got surprised that-unlike real life-the MetroStars are GOOD in this game, discovered how amazing Quentin Westburg and Norweigan striker Oyvind Hoas is in MLS, and surprisingly kept Eddie Gaven from being bought by many European teams. Fired a week before my contract ended for talking with other clubs. Oops. I never finished first in MLS, but we don't do single table here; we have actual playoffs. In any case, I leave America as the top American coach in their Hall of Fame.

2008-2010 (now): Eventually signed with Real Sociedad of La Liga in the middle of their 2008 season. Saved them from relegation with the backup keeper (a Benoit Costil.) and secured a midtable finish while achieving the quarterfinals (IIRC, I'll check later) in the Spanish Cup. Sold a bunch of their unnecessary reserve strikers and focused on building up where I could. Despite an assistant manager constantly telling me that the team needed more depth in the squad, 2009 was a magical season. Won the Spanish Cup AAAAAND managed third place in La Liga. Champions League for the prior relegation battlers? Even Hugh Betcha would say that's impressive. That meant a lot more money for me to get players, give out deserved contract raises, and took a chance on a Chilean attacking midfielder by the name of Luis Jiminez. 2010 was even better. Jiminez went from being worth $1.5 million to $14 million, he was an ACE. My top striker Nihat led Europe in goals (34) and managed to win the Spanish Cup as well as Champions League (beating Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool was hard...won only by luck). Barely secured 4th in La Liga, so RS is back for more Champions League in 2010/2011. Won the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid for my first win against them ever and beat UEFA Cup Winners Lazio in the EURO Super Cup. Currently, Real Sociedad is fighting for another CL spot in La Liga, fighting in the Champions League Group F, and I've accepted the Turkey national team manager spot.

I hope to win a second Champions League title for Real Sociedad, my third Spanish Cup, and have Turkey qualify for Euro 2012. And then when my contract runs out, take the Fulham job in Championship - molding them into eventual Premiership powerhouses (or at least stomp the crap out of the now-mediocre and recently Mourinho-less Chelsea squad).

ASIDE: What's a FMScout? As far as cheating goes, who cares? It's your game, do what you want. I'll admit I quit games early, but only for rare instances (e.g. two players breaking their legs and an own goal scored from 45 yards out. That's just crap. And infuriating.)

Ironchef Chris Wok*

08-22-2006, 12:44 PM

Remember:

At the beginning of the game:

Buy Messi, Tevez, Sneijder, and Kompany before they become unaffordable.

It'll set you for years.

xalcyx

08-22-2006, 01:07 PM

I hope to win a second Champions League title for Real Sociedad, my third Spanish Cup, and have Turkey qualify for Euro 2012. And then when my contract runs out, take the Fulham job in Championship - molding them into eventual Premiership powerhouses (or at least stomp the crap out of the now-mediocre and recently Mourinho-less Chelsea squad).

ASIDE: What's a FMScout? As far as cheating goes, who cares? It's your game, do what you want. I'll admit I quit games early, but only for rare instances (e.g. two players breaking their legs and an own goal scored from 45 yards out. That's just crap. And infuriating.)
i've been playing this series for around 6 years and this leeds game is the most satisfying i've had, because I essentially built the team MYSELF. When in the championship and at the bottom of the prem you really need to rely on loan deals, and cheap youngsters. It certainly adds an extra element of skill to your scouting.

As for FM scout, essentially it's a program that tells you how good a player is based on what's encoded in the database. so essentially, instead of going to the trouble of scouting players yourself, you use FM scout to search the database for players with a certain level of 'potential ability' instead. IMO, and in the opinion of many FM players I know, it detracts from the game because it essentially eliminates the level of chance that's associated with taking a shot on talented youngsters (as you know how good they can be already). It's a dirty word around some of the forums I frequent.
Remember:

At the beginning of the game:

Buy Messi, Tevez, Sneijder, and Kompany before they become unaffordable.

It'll set you for years.

sure, cause everyone starts with that kind of money :sarcasm: ;)

even at the start of the game, messi will cost you 15mil, tevez about 15, sneijder (who actually isn't as good on the current version) cost me about 25 and kompany will be 12 million (all prices in euro).

you can only really get these players if you are a big, big club. But if you are a big club, I certainly agree.

Steve L*

08-22-2006, 01:13 PM

DevilFisch

08-22-2006, 01:23 PM

If we're talking about players who you should get in the beginning of the game, I suggest Eddie Gaven for a cheap, young talent. He's pretty good at 18 and only gets better and better at the right midfield position. At the start of the game he's only a couple million dollars. Once he gets going in MLS and averages at least a 7.3 or somesuch; he's going to cost a LOT more money.

Also, because this game is a simulation and not realistic, Eddie Johnson is pretty damn good as a substitute striker for a top team or a starter for a lower level team.

Anthony Vanden Borre is also a fairly inexpensive and young center back who rounds out into a commanding or strong central defender.

i've been playing this series for around 6 years and this leeds game is the most satisfying i've had, because I essentially built the team MYSELF. When in the championship and at the bottom of the prem you really need to rely on loan deals, and cheap youngsters. It certainly adds an extra element of skill to your scouting.

Oh, I (sort of) know what you mean. Even when you do well in MLS, you don't exactly have a lot of money to throw around. Plus, you also have a salary cap of $1.7 million (in real life "exceptions" are made, but in real life MLS is quite convoluted) and have a limited amount of international spots. As a result, I spent a lot of time in those 3 years looking at other MLS teams for trades, looking at lower level US teams for players, and scouting lesser major clubs in South America and Scandanavia for a player who could serve me well. And when I did, I was very pleased.

As for FM scout, essentially it's a program that tells you how good a player is based on what's encoded in the database. so essentially, instead of going to the trouble of scouting players yourself, you use FM scout to search the database for players with a certain level of 'potential ability' instead. IMO, and in the opinion of many FM players I know, it detracts from the game because it essentially eliminates the level of chance that's associated with taking a shot on talented youngsters (as you know how good they can be already). It's a dirty word around some of the forums I frequent.

Wow. I can certainly see why that's frowned upon. It basically takes all of the fun and frustration out of finding players. I'll try to remember not to remember it. :)

xalcyx

08-22-2006, 01:28 PM

I'm nearly on for the perfect season. Ive just won Serie A, the Italian cup, the Super Cup and the champions league with AC Milan (No, I didn't use the secret bribe option ;) ) and now I have a WC coming up with Brazil.

I'm on the verge of my 1st ever perfect season, its no wonder I've never done one before as I always start out as QPR manager. :biglaugh:

Aye it's a lot of fun sometimes to be the massive teams, buying everyone and trying to win everything that exists. I think I won all four trophies as an english side in 01/02 (still the best version ever), but it's next to impossible now. There are sooooo many good teams in england that you sort of have to hope for one trophy per year and a euro run. Italy and spain are certainly easier to do the treble at though, because their cups are two-legged ties, therefore if your reserves screw up the first time you can put your starters in the return leg. No such luck in Ingerlund

LiquidClown

08-22-2006, 01:59 PM

This game is more addicting than heroine, caffine, nicotine and cocaine rolled into one.

Currently I've logged 42 DAYS and roughly 17hours on this game. I play with ManU (yeah I know) and I think I'm in 2016 or 17 can't remember.

looking forward to the new version should be fun :)

sammy87

08-22-2006, 02:05 PM

For my current game i wanted to experiment and see if i could make the US a perenial power.(Win the World Cup and also have a US player win a major award(World Player of the Year, etc..).

I didn't want to just up the abilities of current American's, so my goal was to get great young prospects to gain US nationality and then call them up to the National team. I used the pregame editor to set the years to gain Nationality for the US to 1 year(although in the game the earliest they gain seems to be 2). I also set the New England Revolution to have nearly unlimited funds. I control two teams in the game, New England and the US National Team.

My patern has been to fill up the Revolution with the 7 internationals they can carry, and then once they gain nationality call them up and cap tie them. Then i sell them off to European clubs. I end up having to control another MLS club as well to speed up the process(i could get 14 players switching to the US every 2 years, rather than only 7)

I currenlty in 2014 and have yet to win the World Cup or have a player win an award. Though this World Cup, i will be one of the favorites.

Of the 22 players that will be named to the Squad for the World Cup, only 4 will be US players who are available at the start of the game. Oneywu, Adu, Josmer Altidore, and Quavas Kirk.

The Vengabus

08-22-2006, 02:19 PM

I recently reverted back to CM01/02 from the latest FM, nostalgic feeligns abounded... actually, it was orgasmic how fast the game went with so many leagues running.

Anyways, took over PSV (possibly the most overpowered team at the start, with Bouma the best left fullback in the game, Kezman among the best strikers, and Robben joining in season 2)

3 league titles, 3 dutch cups, and a champions league in the third of three seasons with the club. After winning the champions league i finally had a transfer bid for Ronaldinho accepted, only to have my tightass board limit my wages to 25k a week. This was a CL winning club, and i could barely resign my own players, let alone sign the necessary players to improve. I started issuing ultimatums, and lo and behold, was forced to resign. Took Sweden job to kill time, and ended up finally getting a job with Newcastle (sitting near the relegation zone in early february), but took em up into CL qualifaction (its amazing how tight the EPL is).

Chelsea missed relegation by one point in that season.

Belgian Fan

08-22-2006, 02:32 PM

I've been playing Since CM'94 back in the Domark days.

I haven't played a lot lately and I'm not really in the middle of a game but from FM06 I'll always remember taking Anderlecht to the CL semifinal after beating the Arse @ Highbury 0-3 (3-2 on aggregate) :D

sehnsucht

08-22-2006, 02:37 PM

I'm still playing 05. I never got around to 06, I figure I'll switch when 07 comes out. I just like knowing who all the secret gem players are (Lebohang Mokoena for the win). Working my way through the Eredivisie after getting sick of work permits in the English leagues

12# Peter Bondra

08-22-2006, 02:49 PM

I never played FM cause its just too addictive. I tried the demo though.

Sampe

08-22-2006, 02:50 PM

Remember:

At the beginning of the game:

Buy Messi, Tevez, Sneijder, and Kompany before they become unaffordable.

It'll set you for years.

Hear, hear.

Bought Kompany for €7.5M back in 2006 and 16 years later, he's still a first team regular and actually had the best average rating of my entire world class defense in 2021/22.

I also got Messi on a free transfer...in 2008! :amazed:

1865

08-22-2006, 08:02 PM

If you're in it for the long haul try these youngsters, they will blossom in 3/4 years time and become some of the best on the planet:

Didier Digard
Helder Barbosa
Emrah Ekin
Tallison Da Costa
Giovanni Scorza

If you're big enough, they will cost about £200k combined. Oh, and always sign Michael Dawson if you can.

Steve L*

08-22-2006, 08:45 PM

Whoohooo, I won the WC with my top 3 strikers injured, the quarters, semis and final were all won 1-0 so I was very lucky.

Roke

08-22-2006, 08:47 PM

Ahh, I thought of starting a thread about FM when I saw the "other sports" break into branches, with soccer being one of them but I figured I'd wait and create a FM2007 thread but why wait when someone else starts one up?

I've had FM06 since Christmas and i've been addictively playing it as of late. I haven't really racked up all that much time on one specific game and I currently have 2 going. One is a little-league like game froma challenge on the SI boards where i've currently taken Billericay Town from obscurity up to League Two at the moment (I believe I'm in 2011 in that game). I decided I needed a break from that since it was getting very, very frustrating and I took over Newcastle. I've done pretty well and I have spent over 58 million euros in transfers in my latest (3rd) season. I was lucky enough to somehow finish 2nd in the Premiership in my first season and thus in my 2nd season I raked in the cash from the Champions League. I'm proud of the squad I've built, so I figure i may as well post it (from memory, since that file is not on this computer)...

-----------------------Michael Owen--Mike(?)Hanke-----------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------Moutinho--------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------Emre---------------Wright-Phillips--------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------Parker----------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------Barbayaro------Taylor---------Kompany-------Carr-------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------Given----------------------------------

Subs: 1) Steve Harper GK
2) Cacau ST
3) Benschneider D LC
4) Gasboronni AM RLC
5) Candenaras AMC (spelling is wrong).

I have an awesome moment of mine to add but that will have to wait until later.

Gwyddbwyll

08-23-2006, 03:06 AM

Whoohooo, I won the WC with my top 3 strikers injured, the quarters, semis and final were all won 1-0 so I was very lucky.

Were you lucky enough to have taken Walcott as 4th striker? :sarcasm:

Steve L*

08-23-2006, 07:20 AM

Were you lucky enough to have taken Walcott as 4th striker? :sarcasm:
Yup, I kept him on the bench and played both my full backs up front. :sarcasm:

Ironchef Chris Wok*

08-23-2006, 10:23 PM

Eddie Gaven is very good. I get him on a free transfer. As a backup he's very capable.

The key to winning this game is to have a "tempo-controlling" passing DM. You gotta have one. If you're a big club, hand over the money for Andrea Pirlo.

Ironchef Chris Wok*

08-23-2006, 10:36 PM

Also...
supposedly on the internet there's this "hack" Training file where you can crank up the training to full but the fatigue to zero... haveno idea how that works

I've never had Steven Gerrard in the game. His player profile lets him play like every position or something. It's awesome.

les Habs

08-23-2006, 11:06 PM

Is this game available in the US? I've heard a lot about it, but never seen it in stores.

You can find it online. It's VERY addictive though. You should concentrate more on house parties and save the game for the daytime. Wait until it comes out in October to buy it.

vitogor

08-24-2006, 02:26 AM

My first experience with this game was back when it was called CM3. I took a mediocre Swedish team Helsingborg and led them all the way to the CL final in a few seasons. I had an awesome DM by the name Dennis Olson, I found him as a 17-year old in one of the non-league Swedish teams. His attributes were kinda rocky, but he had both passing and creativity=19, so I decided to take the poor kid under my wing and give him a chance... In his first full season, as an 18-year-old, he led the league in assists, was second in average rating, and was a runner-up for Swedish midfielder of the year (although he should've won it). Three years later (after being named Swedish player of the year twice, leading the CL in average rating, and being named to the World Cup All-Star team, among other things that I'm probably forgetting), I sold him to ManU for 20 mil. After that deal, things went sour, and after playing two more seasons or so, I got canned. Didn't really want to start all over with another team, so I just stopped playing. I had three more long games after that, with different versions of the game. AC Milan, where I won a couple of league titles. A couple of mediocre Russian teams, Rotor Volgograd and Sokol Saratov. I took both of those teams deep into the CL several times, all the way to the semifinal once with Sokol. Incredibly, other than my 2 or 3 Serie A titles with Milan, I haven't won a single tournament. Always finished second to Gothenburg in Sweden, and to Lokomotiv in Russia, yet I was a lot more successful in Europe than those teams. Never won a Cup either. I was on the verge of finally winning the Russian title in my last season with Sokol, but my computer crashed during game save, the save file got corrupted and I couldn't continue :madfire: I never really recovered from that, haven't played a serious long-term game for about three years now... Although I do have FM06 on the shelf somewhere. Maybe I should give it another try.

CUBErt

08-24-2006, 11:03 AM

sure, cause everyone starts with that kind of money :sarcasm: ;)
..or wants to make the challenge nonexistent by buying as many sure fire superstars as possible..

Right now I'm waiting for the transfer window to close so I can start up a new game with the latest moves. Still deciding what team to play with though.. A few Chelsea seasons with the additions of Sheva, Kalou etc. would be tempting for starters, but I'd like more of a challenge, and a longer project. Perhaps Leeds (my favorite) again, but even that gets too "easy" once the cash starts flowing following a few good seasons. I'd like to be forced to find bargains even after playing my way into the European competitions.. How's Reading's financial situation? Or West Ham's?

I'd also be interested in playing Ligue 1, Rennes being a likely option (too bad they've lost so much talent though).

xalcyx

08-24-2006, 11:13 AM

Also...
supposedly on the internet there's this "hack" Training file where you can crank up the training to full but the fatigue to zero... haveno idea how that works
its out there, but if you run the .03 patch it won't work. training is MUCH more simplified in this version though, and i find it pretty easy. the most important part is to have your choaches as top quality.

I've never had Steven Gerrard in the game. His player profile lets him play like every position or something. It's awesome.
he is versatile, but if you want versatility get Sindre Loe Bing from norway. starts very young in the game and plays literally everywhere.

helicecopter

08-24-2006, 11:27 AM

I never played FM cause its just too addictive.HF boards are not? :)
:help:

les Habs

08-24-2006, 11:38 AM

I'm currently playing with Celtic. My name is Pep Guardiola and I'm managing as a partnership with Sir Bobby Robson. Wait 'til I whip this story out!

les Habs

08-25-2006, 12:18 AM

I'm managing Celtic as Pep Guardiola

Early June 2005:

Pep Guardiola is resting comfortably at his Barcelona home. The weather in the condal city is much more tolerable than the heat of Qatar. After having played a full season with Al Ahli he is pondering retirement. His stint in Asia proved a bit more competitive than he expected, though it still isn't European football. However the pay was a nice touch just before retirement.

The phone rings and it's a number that he doesn't recognize. It's a call from the UK. Sir Bobby Robson is on the other end of the phone. Pep hasn't spoken with Sir Bobby in almost two years. Sir Bobby enquires about Pep's plans for next season. Pep says he's mulling it over. Robson asks him if he's still interested management some day. Pep says he supposes so, but he's not sure what Robson has in mind. Robson then goes on to explain that he's in talks with Celtic chairman Brian Quinn about a management role at the club. Quinn is close to bringing on former Barcelona Vice President Sandro Rosell as Chief Executive so that he can focus on other areas of the club. Rosell was Robson's recommendation. Now Quinn is looking to fill the void left by Martin O' Neill. Robson doesn't feel up to the job, but he told Quinn he thought Pep Guardiola would be a great addition.

Pep tells Robson he needs a few days to think it over. Robson says that's fine, but encourages Guardiola to take a trip up to Glasgow to meet with Quinn and visit the club.

A week later Pep agrees to fly to Glasgow. In the meantime, Quinn has already brought on Sandro Rosell. Rosell was brought on due to the work that he contributed to Laporta regime at Barcelona as well as the work he did with Nike in the past. Pep is familiar with Rosell, but not with the rest of the club. Pep was impressed with everything he saw on the visit. The club had a really good set up and Rosell's plan for the future looked very promising. It appears that the Celtic brass were impressed with Guardiola as well and he now has a week to decide whether or not he'll accept their job offer of Co-Manager with Robson. Pep would get the final say on all decisions with Robson being there more as a guide. Guardiola would earn his coaching credentials while he acts as player/manager.

Guardiola takes less than a week to decide and after discussing the move with his family, he phones Rosell and accepts the position. Rosell and Quinn would like him to get to Glasgow ASAP so that he, Robson and Rosell can put togther next season's squad.

Ironchef Chris Wok*

08-25-2006, 12:40 AM

Hey does that "tall striker" thing actually work? I'm thinking about getting Trezeguet for FM 07 once it comes out.

No, not going to go with the Crouchinho.

les Habs

08-25-2006, 01:13 AM

Guardiola has only 5.5 million euros to spend. That's about double what's normally available though as Rosell has already restructured the club's large debt as well as brought in new sponsorship deals (with lucrative future deals possible based on the club's success, especially in the CL).

After assessing the squad with some preseason training sessions and a few friendlies, Guardiola knows who he wants to keep and who he wants to sell. Unfortuntely the player that Guardiola is impressed the most with, Stilian Petrov, wants a move away from Celtic Park. It seems that he's looking for a bigger challenge. Guardiola doesn't want anyone who doesn't want to stay to be in the team, but he also wants to make sure they get fair money for the player.

Guardiola's been busy on the other side of the squad game as well. He's been watching numerous friendlies with Robson and in addition to those that only Robson has seen. Robson is proving a huge resource in evaluating players that Guardiola isn't familiar with. While they've identified some realistic targets, it seems that others are a bit more unrealistic.

Guardiola knows exactly the sort of team he wants to put together. He wants to bring in players who are skilled and who can really pass the ball. He wants to keep the lion's share of possession in matches and really win through attractive attacking football. He also wants to use a good portion of Scottish players, players who came up through the youth ranks and players who grew up as supporters. He also wants to inject more youth and quality into the side. He feels as though he's got a very solid young base to work with that will be bolstered with some promising youngsters in the future as Celtic players make up a good portion of the promising Scotland U 19 side.

07/01/05-07/07/05

Just one week into the transfer season for Celtic sees some big changes.

Player out:

Didier Agathe
Due Wei
Stilian Petrov
Stephen Pearson
Mo Camara
Gary Irvine
Shunsuke Nakamura

3-4 of the club's best players gone in the first week along with a portion of the lucrative Japanese market with Nakamura.

Players in:

Mark Wilson
Liam Miller
John O' Shea
Gary Caldwell

Wilson is a defender that's really impressed Guardiola was a bargain E750,000. Liam Miller was a Robson recommendation and the player took a wage cut to return to the club from Man Utd. John O' Shea was another Robson recommendation, but he impressed Guardiola as well. He should prove to be a versatile player who adds some experience.

Rest of July

Players out:

John Hartson
Tony McPharland
Artur Boruc
Kjarton Finnbogason
Stanislav Varga
Chris Sutton
Bobo Balde
Teddy Bjarnasson
Maciej Zurawski
Alan Thompson
Paul Telfer

Players in:

Valeri Bojinov
Robbie Keane
Simao Sabrosa
Damien Duff
Shay Given
Raul Garcia
Khalid Boulahrouz

This latest round of transfers has really injected some quality into the side and entire management team is thrilled with the new additions. Sandro Rosell and Sir Bobby Robson really proved integrel in attracting some of the names to the club while Guardiola played a role in a couple of the deals. Bojinov reminds Guardiola of Stoichkov with his temperment and to an extent with his playing stule. Robbie Keane having been pushed to the sidelines at White Hart Lane was happy to join Celtic. Simao was Guardiola's choice as he remembered the player from their time together at the Camp Nou. Damien Duff's signature thrilled Robson and the cut-price deal Chelsea accepted helped. Shay Given was expensive, but is a top class keeper. Robson proved vital in drawing him to Celtic Park. Raul Garcia was Guardiola's choice. The former Osasuna youngster is just the sort of CM he's looking for, a player who can play on both sides of the ball and who has the potential to carry the team for year's to come. Boulahrouz will add some steel with his tough tackling style. All the players were drawn to the club with the prospect of perennial Champion's League football.

Final Squad:

GK Shay Given
GK David Marshall - Guardiola is very impressed by him, so much so that he let Boruc go instead.
D RC Mark Wilson
D RC, DM Gary Caldwell
D RC, ST Adam Virgo
D LC Stephen McManus - Captain.
D LC, DM John O' Shea
D C John Kennedy
D RC, DM Khalid Boulahrouz
WB L, AM L Ross Wallace - Important player from the bench.
CM, DM Pep Guardiola - Starting CM.
CM, DM, AM Raul Garcia
DM Neil Lennon
CM, RM Liam Miller
CM Paul Lawson
AM RLC Aiden McGeady - Guardiola is expecting big things from him.
AM RL Simao
AM L Damien Duff
AM RLC, F Shaun Maloney - Best player left from last season according to Guardiola.
AM R, ST Craig Beattie
AM R, ST Valeri Bojinov
ST Robbie Keane

Reserves:

GK Michael McGovern - Transfer Listed
AM Ross Harris - Transfer Listed

U 19 Players who should get a shot this season:

GK Scott Fox
D RC Scott Cuthbert
D LC Darren O' Dea
D LC, DM Charlie Mulgrew
WB L, AM L Ryan Conroy - Loaned out to West Brom
DM Simon Ferry
DM Charlie Grant
AM RLC Michael McGlinchey - Should see the most first team action.

Formation will be a 3-4-1-2 with an emphasis on attack, subs in ():

---------------Maloney-----------Keane-----------------

-----------------------McGeady------------------------

Duff-----------Garcia------------Gaurdiola---------Simao

----------McManus-----O' Shea-----Wilson-------------

------------------------Given--------------------------

For the CL Guardiola expects a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. Bojinov will be the primary striker sub with Beattie also available. McGlinchey should get some time to rest McGeady. Maloney can step in too. Wallace can replace Duff. Lawson and Miller will be CM subs with Lennon's role diminished compared to in the past. Boulahrouz will have to unseat the impressive Wilson. Kennedy is out with a long term injury. Caldwell and Virgo will compete for minutes.

xalcyx

08-25-2006, 09:39 AM

CUBErt

08-25-2006, 10:42 AM

for now though I am sticking with leeds, I am favourite to win the title this season and have my eyes firmly set on a treble.
What kind of squad do you have? Or is the game so far along that all the names would be unrecognizable?

xalcyx

08-25-2006, 11:10 AM

What kind of squad do you have? Or is the game so far along that all the names would be unrecognizable?

you would still recognise some players. My key players on my march up the ranks have been Karl Svensson, Isaakson, Kapo and Sinama-Pongolle. I know have a bunch of foreigners in who are the business. The thing I've really enjoyed about this is that my transfer budget is now in the 40 million GBP range, and when I started at the club we were at 150K. It's all from being fiscally responsible on my part. Best bit of business I did was buy stewart downing for 7 million and ship him along to liverpool for about 30. That set me up to bring in akinfeev in the coming year.

CUBErt

08-25-2006, 11:22 AM

Best bit of business I did was buy stewart downing for 7 million and ship him along to liverpool for about 30. That set me up to bring in akinfeev in the coming year.
:confused: How on earth did you manage that steal? Were Boro relegated or something? I've thrown 15 million pounds at them for Downing in some league and still came away empty handed.

xalcyx

08-25-2006, 12:11 PM

:confused: How on earth did you manage that steal? Were Boro relegated or something? I've thrown 15 million pounds at them for Downing in some league and still came away empty handed.

yes they were relegated. i threw as much as i could at them right after it happened (maybe 5 million) and couldnt get him. i tried again the next offseason (after they failed to get promoted) and threw my whole budget at them, finally got him.

Shameus

08-25-2006, 04:43 PM

Aye it's a lot of fun sometimes to be the massive teams, buying everyone and trying to win everything that exists. I think I won all four trophies as an english side in 01/02 (still the best version ever), but it's next to impossible now. There are sooooo many good teams in england that you sort of have to hope for one trophy per year and a euro run. Italy and spain are certainly easier to do the treble at though, because their cups are two-legged ties, therefore if your reserves screw up the first time you can put your starters in the return leg. No such luck in Ingerlund

Playing the 06 version. Playing as Newcastle. Going on my 4th season and I have only been able to win the League once, but have been top 4 each season. I have won 3 consecutive FA Cups and all 4 Carling Cups. Chelski and Man U have gotten knocked out before I have faced them in any cup. Pulling the Treble is really hard for the EPL. I concentrate more on the cups than EPL regular season. Did a big clearout during my first season. Only guys I kept, Given, Owen, Luque, Taylor, N'Zgobia, and Milner.

Couple of guys that I have found are good buys are:

Ujafalsui (D)-Fiorentina, solidfied my back line.
Alex (M)-Fenerbahce, can get for around 9 million, and will instantly improve your entire midfield.
Bojinov (S,M)-Fiorentina, solid young prospect
Lucho Gonzalez (M)-Porto, pricey but worth it
Lucas Biglia (DM)- Independiente, got for 2 million, now rated at 10-11
Craig Gordon (G)-Hearts, Scottish International keeper is my back up and a good one.
Oliver Schoder (D,M)-Hertha BSC/loaned to Nurnberg at start of game, can play RM, RWB, and RD. Great right side utility guy off of the bench.
Javier Chevanton (S)-Monaco, got him for 10 million and he is my 3rd striker behind Luque and Owen and he has still averaged 20+ goals and 10+assists for 2 seasons.

xalcyx

08-28-2006, 02:46 PM

after winning the prem with leeds, i also took control of the ivory coast and won the african cup of nations. ive decided to give that game a rest for now, as i just cant bear the frustration that my team is giving me right now.

I am starting as rangers. yes, yes indeed.

les Habs

08-28-2006, 06:21 PM

funny you mention that, i had been considering starting a game with rangers. I think scotland would be fun because they have some AMAZING young talent in the game, you could build an amazing squad for peanuts. for now though I am sticking with leeds, I am favourite to win the title this season and have my eyes firmly set on a treble. I also just took up the challenge of taking the ivory coast to world cup glory. amazing squad, except the keeper.

anyway, as for pep, how did he get all those players for his measly 5 million euro? did your game include riordan at celtic (as IRL)?

Yes, there are plenty of players in Scotland who can be had for less than a million at the beginning of the game. I of course was only interested in certain players. Celtic have plenty of good players and plenty of youngsters, well in real life. You see...

To answer your question, I cheat. Well, not badly. I am pretty fair about it actually. For starters, I like to keep things as real as possible. For example, when I play with Barça I make the debt bigger (via the editor, though the game won't shorten the years I have to pay it off in) than they have it because it's more in real life. Then of course I edit players. Take Messi for example. IMO he's just not good enough in that game. So I edited him. I also edit players on other teams though. I make Casillas better. Cannavaro, RVN, Diarra, etc will all be joining Madrid in the summer of 06. I also double Ronaldo's weight. :D Anyway, I edit players for a bunch of teams, sometimes making them better other times making them worse.

Back to Celtic though. I did double the transfer budget from the game. Of course I explain this in my storyline (or will explain more over time). Also, I made some of the players better. Maloney was POY last year, yet IMO he wasn't good enough. I also edited some of the youngsters who played for Scotland in the U-19's. That's the side that made it to the final. They're still not great, but they have better potential and I did make them all a bit better. Still I sold Stilian Petrov, but I got 25% less than what Celtic will get in real life. Now here's another sort of cheat, but it's not really cheating. I buy a lot of the Scottish talent and then resell them all right away for about double what I paid to Premiership clubs. I kept guys like Caldwell and especially Wilson, who are with Celtic in real life. But a guy like Riordan I sold once I bought him (don't need him with my squad). I also bought Huntelaar for 2.5 million and then sold him right away for about 9-10 million. I also edited some guys. I gave Duff a minimum fee release clause so that you can get him for the price Newcastle paid in real life. Still I paid a fortune for Given. 24 million euros. IMO it all evened out in the end. Oh, before I forget though I did raise the profile of the club. Not a ton, but some. I also raised the profile of the SPL a bit. My justification for the club is that Celtic pretty much get CL qualification at minimum every year which IMO would make it more attractive to players than it otherwise would be. To be fair though I also had to raise the profile of the league so that a club like Rangers could benefit. Still some players will continue to reject you and I had to shell out a ton in wages for the guys I got. Raul Garcia (who I edited before I started just so he'd be good enough when I play against him with Barça) asked for a ton in wages.

Anyway, I always use the editor before I play. I won't even buy NHL Eastside Manager again until they start including an editor.

The Rage

08-28-2006, 06:31 PM

xalcyx

08-28-2006, 08:36 PM

I've been playing the series on and off since '99. I guess my claim to fame was buying Ronaldinho when he still played for Gremio. The game makers certainly realized how great a player he was far before casual (and many hardcore) football fans. I actually don't play it much anymore because, like people have said, it's highly addictive. CM 05 was the last one I played and I have to say that the 2D game display is the best feature they ever added.

they are amazing about that. it's so frequent that they have amazing youngsters on the game and then we see them explode a few seasons later IRL. After Ronnie (who i was all about as well) the next most prominent one I recall is robben. their scouts are really, really good.

the 2d display was great but it also made the game sooooo much more frustrating when things wouldn't go your way. obviously the game makes you concede 'silly' goals to keep some 'realism' in the results, but you wanna punch the screen when your left back back passes right into his goal :madfire: you wouldnt have seen that on the old versions

Jeffrey

08-28-2006, 10:09 PM

does any of you know when sports interactive are gonna update the rosters for worldwide soccer manager 2006 of this summer transfers? I can't wait.

DevilFisch

08-28-2006, 10:45 PM

does any of you know when sports interactive are gonna update the rosters for worldwide soccer manager 2006 of this summer transfers? I can't wait.

I think they're going to do that for Worldwide Soccer Manager 2007 when it comes out later this year.

Cloned

08-28-2006, 11:45 PM

Lately I've been playing Winning Eleven 9 (in NA, Pro Evolution 5 worldwide)

I hear PES6 is gonna be even better.

WE10 is also already out.

Cloned

08-28-2006, 11:54 PM

Anyway, I always use the editor before I play. I won't even buy NHL Eastside Manager again until they start including an editor.

There is an editor available. Unfortunately, the intricacies of the saved game structure and some of the database structure haven't been discovered yet and thus the capabilities of said editor are still a bit limited.

les Habs

08-29-2006, 12:26 AM

There is an editor available. Unfortunately, the intricacies of the saved game structure and some of the database structure haven't been discovered yet and thus the capabilities of said editor are still a bit limited.

Well the editor I had must have been for the European version. It had guys that weren't even on the Habs anymore still on the team.

Cloned

08-29-2006, 12:39 AM

Well the editor I had must have been for the European version. It had guys that weren't even on the Habs anymore still on the team.

Was it the one from Eastside UK?

les Habs

08-29-2006, 12:51 AM

Was it the one from Eastside UK?

I think so. I have Eastide North America, but the editor that I got didn't have matching rosters. It still had Perreault with the Habs for example.

Cloned

08-29-2006, 12:53 AM

I think so. I have Eastide North America, but the editor that I got didn't have matching rosters. It still had Perreault with the Habs for example.

I thought the editor just loaded up whatever database you have? So it wouldn't matter if you had the NA or European version? :dunno:

les Habs

08-29-2006, 01:12 AM

I thought the editor just loaded up whatever database you have? So it wouldn't matter if you had the NA or European version? :dunno:

Not the one I had. Well at least the rosters didn't match.

Cloned

08-29-2006, 01:30 AM

Not the one I had. Well at least the rosters didn't match.

Did you get it from here?

http://www.eastside-uk.co.uk/downloads.php?id=8&version=2

les Habs

08-29-2006, 01:32 AM

Did you get it from here?

http://www.eastside-uk.co.uk/downloads.php?id=8&version=2

I don't recall. All I know is that the rosters didn't match up.

Cloned

08-29-2006, 01:36 AM

I don't recall. All I know is that the rosters didn't match up.

If you still have the game, try those editors (pre-game, saved game). They work like a charm once you get the hang of it. And it shouldn't matter what roster you have AFAIK, but I could be wrong.

xalcyx

08-29-2006, 09:11 AM

FM Formation's (http://www.fmformation.net/showthread.php?t=8632) is widely regarded as being very accurate. I installed it and it's quite good. It's just a self-extracting .exe file and it will update your database with all the changed title winners/euro places/player movements etc.

make sure you are patched up to version 6.03 though.

CUBErt

09-01-2006, 05:47 AM

So, any word on where one could find some transfer updates? :D

Probably not any very good ones available quite yet, but spread the word once something worth downloading comes up!

Jeffrey

09-01-2006, 05:50 AM

So, any word on where one could find some transfer updates? :D

Probably not any very good ones available quite yet, but spread the word once something worth downloading comes up!

yep I expect something in the next few days ! :clap:

xalcyx

09-01-2006, 02:08 PM

I'll keep an eye out. that FM Formation one is by far the best. I'll post a link when they get it up there again.

I came across one the other day that condenses every team in the world into the english leagues, sorted based on reputation. looks absolutely quality. Basically the prem is chelsea, barca, madrid, milan etc etc, the championship consists of your mid-tier sides and so on so that a team like tottenham starts in the 2nd division.

PM me if you wanna link to more info.

CUBErt

09-01-2006, 05:13 PM

I'll keep an eye out. that FM Formation one is by far the best. I'll post a link when they get it up there again.
I thought I saw a mention of them releasing an update around the 10th this morning, but now it seems they'll have one up tomorrow. Sounds good. Do these guys update player abilities as well?

Found another one already though: http://www.sortitoutsi.net/index.php?page=downloads&area=file&fileid=1771

Not the best, but a pretty solid effort considering they rushed it out. There are some transfers missing, but nothing major and nothing that couldn't easily be fixed with the editor. However, I think I might still wait until tomorrow morning before starting a league just to see if anything else comes out. I also read somewhere about an official SI update coming out in a matter of weeks.. Any info on this?

I guess the big question regarding these transfers is: What to do with the Tevez-Mascherano situation? I was thinking of slapping a 80-90% of next sell to Corinthians clause on them and a minimun relause clause of 20-35 million pounds per player or something.. I'm might start a game with West Ham and don't want to make too much money on them because it kind of takes away the point of playing with a club like WHU and - even worse - it probably isn't very realistic, because I doubt West Ham are going end up seeing tens of millions coming in their direction once Tevez&Masche end up moving on.

EDIT: Wow, this thread now has 666 views and 69 replies :eek: Sorry, I've had a few this evening :blush:

CUBErt

09-02-2006, 07:22 AM

Yes! It is time my friends. FMFormation has released the new update.

Ironchef Chris Wok*

09-10-2006, 09:44 AM

I just used the editor to put myself in the game :biglaugh:

les Habs

12-01-2006, 05:34 PM

Celtic's preseason saw them travel to the United States as they have been working on adding to their existing supporter base while strengthening ties with existing supporters. Matches in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York helped to increase the club's exposure. The match in New York as they faced Man Utd was the first of what will be an annual match against English Premiership opposition. The club signed a 3 year deal where they will tour the States (including Toronto in the future) every summer travelling to MLS cities where one match will be against a Premiership side. They also agreed in principle to a future match against the MLS All Stars as the MLS has changed it's All Star match format.

July 2005

CL Qualifier

Celtic 3 Rabotnicki 0

McManus 51, Maloney 53, Lawson 66
MOM: Maloney (1g)

SPL

Dundee Utd 1 Celtic 4

Fernandez 24

Simao 2, McGeady 40, 87 (pen), Bojinov 82
MOM: McGeady (2g/1a)

August 2005

CL Qualifier

Rabotnicki 1 Celtic 5

Kostovski 90

McGeady 10, Bojinov 28,37, Maloney 40, Mokoena 65
MOM: Bojinov (2g/1a)

SPL

Celtic 3 Hibernian 0

Guardiola 30, Maloney 61, McGeady 80 (pen)
MOM: O' Shea

CL Qualifier

Celtic 2 Basel 0

Robbie Keane 27, Maloney 36
MOM: Maloney (1g/1a)

SPL

Celtic 3 Motherwell 1

Maloney 3, Robbie Keane 11, Lawson 42
MOM: Duff

SPL

Aberdeen 0 Celtic 4

Maloney 38, Bojinov 43, Robbie Keane 54, 88
MOM: Maloney (1g/1a)

CL Qualifier

Basel 1 Celtic 1

Robbie Keane 69
MOM: Robbie Keane (1g)

SPL

Celtic 2 Inverness CT 0

Raul Garcia 62, McGeady 19
MOM: Raul Garcia (1g)

Pep Guardiola wins SPL Manager of the Month award for August. Damien Duff wins SPL Player of the Month award for August.

les Habs

12-01-2006, 05:35 PM

September 2005

Celtic have been drawn into a tough CL group. Defending Champion's Liverpool should provide the toughest contest. Being dubbed the battle of Britain, Celtic open their campaign at Anfield. Shahktar Donetsk of the Ukraine and Partizan Belgrade are both tough sides and their draw means that Guardiola's Bhoys will rack up their frequent flyer miles.

SPL

Kilmarnock 0 Celtic 4

Maloney 8, McGeady 21, 86 (pen), Robbie Keane 43
MOM: Maloney (1g/2a)

CL Group Stage Matchday 1

Liverpool 1 Celtic 3

Morientes 69

Raul Garcia 40, Maloney 43, 85
MOM: Duff

In the latest installment of the "Battle of Britain", this time at Anfield with Liverpool hosting SPL challengers Celtic, Glasgow club Celtic shocked the defending CL champions with a huge 3-1 away win. With his side focusing on possession and attacking play, player and co-manager Pep Guardiola's side put on an impressive display that signals their intent in Europe this season. Khalid Boulahrouz put in a world class performance as Celtics rearguard was rock solid. They were bolstered by the central midfield pairing of Guardiola and Raul Garcia who both helped defend. Damien Duff was a terror down the left flank and by the second half was receiving a dose of two markers. Duff was subbed off early in the second half only for utility man Ross Wallace to come on and pick up where Duff left off.

Raul Garcia opened the scoring after some nice one touch passing with a 35 yard blast that he took first time from the center of midfield. The Liverpool keeper didn't seem to expect the blast and even if he had it seemed destined for the upper right corner of the left as the ball bent back towards goal. Shaun Maloney added to Celtic's surprise lead with a fine free kick from just outside the area. Maloney curled a perfectly struck ball that just went over the wall and curled into the upper left corner leaving the keeper with no chance. After a Fernando Morientes header equalized for Liverpool Maloney got his second after some nice touch play with McGeady making a deft pass in the box for Maloney to bury.

The performance left Anfield shocked while the away supporters, boisterous throughout the match, were jubilant with the scalp.

Guardiola: "I'm thrilled with the result. The lads went out and did what I asked of them starting with their committment. Damien Duff was a constant danger and really freed up Aiden and Shaun. Raul Garcia was strong on both sides of the ball and his strike was amazing. I've been encouraging him to shoot from midfield more often. Ross Wallace came on and really helped keep us going in the second half. There's still a lot of work to do though and we're by no means through yet."

SPL

St. Mirren 0 Celtic 3

McGeady 1, 18 (pen), Lawson 78
MOM: McGeady (2g)

SPL

Rangers 1 Celtic 3

N' Guessan 26, Bernard Sent Off 90

Simao 68, McGeady 76, 82 (pen)
MOM: McGeady (2g)

With David Marshall deputizing for the injured Shay Given, Celtic did well to win at Ibrox after going behind early to a Rangers side desperate to keep their bitter rivals within reach. Captain Stephen McManus was a monster in defense as he marshalled the back line well and was a dominating force in the air. While the midfield battle was a stalemate, Celtic won the battle down the flanks as the likes of Damien Duff and Simao Sabrosa showed their class in the second half. Tempers flared late in the match as Olivier Bernard was sent off in the 90th minute. Valeri Bojinov, a fiery player throughout, was the victim of Bernard's fouls as he seemed to get into the Rangers player's head. McGeady's winner and Celtic's second was a rocket into the upper left hand corner and a result of a fine run by Shaun Maloney. The win means that Celtic are going full steam ahead in the league as Pep Guardiola's side continues it's amazing start to the season.

CL Group Stage Matchday 2

Celtic 2 Shakhtar 0

Robbie Keane 86, Maloney 90
MOM: Duff

Aiden McGeady was named as the SPL Player of the Month. Mark Wilson was named as the SPL Young Player of the Month.

HajdukSplit

12-03-2006, 06:50 PM

I am with Hajduk Split and I actually had the team qualify for the Champions League but was only able to get one win and a draw in the group stages in a group consisting of Barca, Liverpool and PSG. I sold two players for big amounts of money (Kranjcar to Wolfsburg for 5 million euro and Miladin to Sevilla for 2 million euro) and with the money I was able to buy some cheap but talented Croatian players from the domestic league.

I usually get bored with managing Hajduk after a few seasons because I realize how much better of a job I do than the real life Hajduk

My biggest achievement was winning the Bundesliga with Bochum in the 03/04 version of the game but I basically raided the Bayern Munich, Schalke youth teams and they all developed into good players :amazed:

xalcyx

12-04-2006, 12:00 PM

I no longer have the time for this game :(

Had to give it up cold turkey, tough let me tell you.

Ajacied

12-08-2006, 07:52 AM

I play FM 2007 and just ended the 2006/2007 campaign with NAC, one of the worst financial clubs in the Eredivisie. So I knew it would be a challenge from the start.

My goal was to avoid relegation and have Leonardo and Diba doing well so that I could sell them for lots during the winterbreak and get out of the debts.

Didn't quite work out that way as Diba and Leonardo both produced below expectations. Leonardo finished with 5 goals and 5 assists in 22 games, being suspended once for heading (3 games) while Diba had 2 goals and 10 assists in 37 games, but was suspended twice. The club is so poor financially that made it even impossible for me to re-sign Leonardo. His value kept dropping due to his season-ending contract. So now I am forced to let him walk away. Yet, it were the more experienced and usually quiet players who stepped up. My usual backup striker (Tamerus) finished with 18 goals and 6 assists in 36 games while Mike Zonneveld proved out to be a rock on defense/midfield. Only acquisition I did was getting one of my own former teammates (Danillo Pedrini) for about 45k.

Anyway, managed to finish 7th (!) and ended up playing in the playoffs to earn NAC an UEFA Cup ticket. Beat Roda JC 4-1 on aggregate but then Twente came around. I just had huge troubles with them during the season, losing both encounters. First game, 8th minute, they get a penalty, 1-0. A few minutes later, one of my forwards gets a direct red card. I tried to defend and keep the deficit as slim as possible since I played at home but than the real drama starts. They get up 2-0, 3-0. In the 45th minute, my goalkeeper gets a red card, penalty, 4-0. Game ended 6-0 though I still managed to win the away match 2-1 with pretty much only youngsters and reserves. The youngsters who were one of the positives for pretty much the entire season btw. When Leonardo got injured, I called up an 18 year old who was doing well for the U19 squad. He scored in his first 4 games and ended with 7 goals in about 20 games. I also have two Turkish U21 internationals who've been great. I seem to have a solid foundation for the future may I continue with NAC Breda.

Not sure what I'm about to do though, wouldn't mind leaving to a club where I have some money to spend. I applied for the managing position with Lyon (finished 6th in L1) but naturally I was not experienced enough.

EDIT: Heh, Tamerus wins player of the season in the Eredivisie. Farfán being transfered at the beginning of the season and Huntelaar being injured for 6 months sure helped though.

Ajacied

12-10-2006, 04:57 AM

Well quick update; Since the financial situation made it impossible for me to re-sign Leonardo, I focussed on loaning some youngsters from Ajax due to my knowledge of the club and my good relationship with Ten Cate. I tried the usual (Anita, Sarpong, etc..) but 'only' managed to get de Mul on loan, and I somehow managed to buy Donavon Slijngard (Ajax talent of the year 2005/2006). That pretty much sums up my off-season. Well I did manage to quality for the European Summercup, but lost in the first round (albeit on away goals).

With Tamerus injured for months and no Leonardo, I didn't have very high hopes of a good start. It kind of went up and down, until the game vs NEC (match 6), ended up losing 6-0. I was 15th in the league at the time. Next game; I host AGOVV, the newly promoted club. I gave myself an ultimatum; if I didn't win this game, I would start taking matter into my own hands. Ofcourse, I lost 2-0 and now stood 17th in the Eredivisie. Told the board I would like more money for transfers or this is only going to get worse. They refused --> I reacted with an ultimatum saying I will only continue if I have money to upgrade my squad. Which to they replied: "If that's the case than we're afriad we're going to have to let you go"

That's that.. I took a holiday, waved up several offers from weak teams (Scottish 3rd division like teams), applied for some decent teams such as Osasuna, Bolton and showed interest in the Fiorentina (Serie B now) job since it showed the current managing position as insecure.

Took another holiday (hey, why not!) only to come back to see that Fiorentina made me their #1 target. I did think their transferbudget of 2.2 million was rather low, so I told them to make it 4.2 and you have my signature. Ofcourse, I quickly took a peek at their squad to see if Toni was any good, but somehow he was sold to Roma the year before, hence the dissapointing seasons. However, Luis Figueroa has re-emerged into an elite striker and the club bought Papa Bouba Diop and Salgado, who both have been pretty awesome.

Fiorentina was 17th in the Serie B at the time I took over (there are 22 teams in the Serie B). Played 6 games now, won five, tied one, lost two --> now 10th. My goal is to finish amongst the top 6 to try and earn a promotion through the playoffs.

And there I am. Currently trying to search an AM but only have 4.2 to spend.

Ironchef Chris Wok*

12-10-2006, 07:39 AM

I just bought Wayne Rooney for 41 million pounds.

What? Shevchenko is retiring!

gary69

12-13-2006, 04:53 PM

les Habs

12-13-2006, 05:30 PM

I'm about to start a new game with FM2007 (PC, latest patch) and maybe planning to do a couple of changes with the editor, but I wanted to ask for opinions/advice here first.

Are you all happy with the league standards given? I have no problem with the top5ratings, but I'm not quite sure with the ones immediately below those (from Portugal &Turkey at 14 to Japan/USA etc. at 9). Should the order be changed for any of them?

I also have one question regarding "economic factor": is it okay for Italy to have their's so low (15) compared to other European countries (at the level of Hungary etc)? Don't they still pay close to top salaries in Italy, financially invest rather lot in football etc? What effect (if any) this relatively low value has on Italian clubs (I haven't managed one yet in FM2007, might manage now)?

And AS Roma's wage budget, is it correct, it's rather large compared to say for example, Chelsea?

And just refresh my memory, isn't it so that the "city attraction" value is only used to compare cities within the same nation, otherwise it doesn't make much sense that some rather small countries have such high values for their somewhat obscure cities?

I own FM 07, but have yet to play it. Still playing FM 06 and having changed the league standing for Scotland and other leagues (only a little bit) to make them more attractive, I can tell you this will make a difference as far as who will be willing to move to that league. I found that it was largely realistic the way the game came, but perhaps a bit too harsh. I think I upgraded Scotland by 2 points. Maybe 1 point would have been better. Still you can make other changes. Changing a clubs individual rating will help and perhaps be more specific. Of course wages can still keep it realistic.

Before I go further, you should give us more information to work with. Give us actual numbers. What is each league's ranking? How much is Roma's wage budget? How much is Chelsea's?

That said, I would think that Chelsea's wage budget should be significantly higher than Roma's. That said, I would still assume that the likes of Milan, Inter and Juve (before the scandal in the latter's case but still) all have some of the highest wage budgets in Europe.

xalcyx

12-13-2006, 06:12 PM

Can you US-Based guys let me know where you got FM 07 (PM if you need to). Is it Worldwide Soccer Manager you have, or actual FM?

Again, PM me if you need to.

Cheers

gary69

12-13-2006, 08:44 PM

I own FM 07, but have yet to play it. Still playing FM 06 and having changed the league standing for Scotland and other leagues (only a little bit) to make them more attractive, I can tell you this will make a difference as far as who will be willing to move to that league. I found that it was largely realistic the way the game came, but perhaps a bit too harsh. I think I upgraded Scotland by 2 points. Maybe 1 point would have been better. Still you can make other changes. Changing a clubs individual rating will help and perhaps be more specific. Of course wages can still keep it realistic.

Before I go further, you should give us more information to work with. Give us actual numbers. What is each league's ranking? How much is Roma's wage budget? How much is Chelsea's?

That said, I would think that Chelsea's wage budget should be significantly higher than Roma's. That said, I would still assume that the likes of Milan, Inter and Juve (before the scandal in the latter's case but still) all have some of the highest wage budgets in Europe.

Sorry, I didn't put all the numbers 'cause it's pretty quick to check those from editor.

Anyway, league standards are pretty much the same than in previous versions. IIRC. Big five (Fr,Ger,Eng,Spa,Ita) are between 15-19, and that seems right to me.
After that it's e.g. Port, Turk & Brazil at 14, Gre & Arg 13, Bel, Dut, Rus & Mex 12, Scot, Swi & Korea 11 etc.

The changes I'm pondering about are basically the non-Europeans vs Europeans, since with the current standards I'm wondering whether enough Brazilians, Argentinians, Mexixans players are willing to sign for these "second-rate" European leagues. What you think, would it be better to lower some league standards or upper others? I really don't wanna go into player editing, so drastic changes are pretty much out of the question (don't wanna unbalance game too much).

Also, are the Greece/Turkey leagues better than e.g. Holland/Belgium? I don't think there's a lot of player movement from latter to former IRL (correct me if I'm wrong), I would like it to be similar in the game as well. Or are club rankings really enough, so that likes PSV, Ajax, Anderlecht could still get players from these countries even if their league is of lower standard? Club rankings seem okay to me at the moment.

Having read SI forums a bit more, I did find out that there's a problem with one 19-year old AS Roma youngster (Orsi?), who gets triple the salary Totti gets. So maybe that's the reason. Apparently, one zero too much for this kid. Now I'm wondering how much to put for wages for Roma. In editor it's listed as 28 965 516 (highest of all teams), which is over 20 times more what Chelsea has. I think these numbers are not in any real currency as such, but are used to calculate the actual budgets inside the game.

Perhaps I could use the ratio between Roma's transfer budget and Chelsea's transfer budget for wages as well, Chelsea's being 20 times larger than Roma's. Unless anybody can point me to more accurate info re Roma's wages, i'm tempted to do this. This would put AS Roma on level with likes of Lyon, Porto, so maybe it's a bit low. Most comparable Italian teams don't seems to have fixed wage budgets in the editor, so that's another option for Roma.

I'm definately upping the economic factor for Italy to the same level as Portugal and Spain, which leaves only the likes of USA, Canada, Germany, UK, Japan, France, Benelux and Scandinavia above them.

Ajacied

12-15-2006, 08:27 AM

So I cheated for the first time with FM today.. :p:

I was playing in the promotion playoffs (Serie B) with Fiorentina. I beat Verona fair and square in the first series, then I had to face Lecce in the 'final'. Won the first game 1-0 at home on a 93rd minute freekick of Montolivio. Here comes the cheating part, during the 50th minute in the second leg, I fell behind 2-1. No worries as that would still be enough for me to advance (away goals), at least, that was what I assumed. So I defended with 5 defenders plus 2 DM's, and managed to maintain the deficit of 2-1. Turns out that away goals mean jack, and that Lecce advanced based on the fact they were the higher seed. I was pretty pissed and reloaded the game. Ah well..

Joretus

12-15-2006, 10:37 AM

Mexixans players are willing to sign for these "second-rate" European leagues. What you think, would it be better to lower some league standards or upper others? I really don't wanna go into player editing, so drastic changes are pretty much out of the question (don't wanna unbalance game too much).

Also, are the Greece/Turkey leagues better than e.g. Holland/Belgium?

Well isn't it pretty correct when it comes to Mexico? Since they are paying well in Mexico and there isn't much of mexicans in europe anyway it's pretty correct imho.

And I think Greece&Turkey have been getting bigger names, like Alex, Appiah, Jardel, Rivaldo, etc. While Dutch have couple of big teams which still can get good players(in the game as well).

I have played with some turkish teams(not those big tho) and they can't get too great players...

gary69

12-15-2006, 01:30 PM

Well isn't it pretty correct when it comes to Mexico? Since they are paying well in Mexico and there isn't much of mexicans in europe anyway it's pretty correct imho.

And I think Greece&Turkey have been getting bigger names, like Alex, Appiah, Jardel, Rivaldo, etc. While Dutch have couple of big teams which still can get good players(in the game as well).

I have played with some turkish teams(not those big tho) and they can't get too great players...

Thanks, I wanted to hear from somebody who has played with teams from those countries in the game. I take it from your post that it's enough for big teams to have a high club/city reputation to get better players even though their league might be of worse standard. Based on your experience, it would seem that the club status overrides the league standard.

As for Mexicans in real life coming to Europe, I think a lot of people are undecided why there aren't more arriving. I think it's a combination of money and their football ability. There are certainly cheaper options available from other countries (with more inner drive and monetary reasons to succeed than Mexicans?) so maybe an average Mexican footballer isn't considered "value for money". But even their national team's leading players haven't usually been a great success in Europe (Hugo Sanchez an exception).

gary69

12-16-2006, 11:34 AM

I started with Standard Liege in the Belgian League (they do play in Belgium still, at least until that Vallonia tv news station's separation hoax between Flanders/Vallonia actually happens:) .

I chose them because I basically only knew a couple of their older players (Conceicaio, Sa Pinto, Rapaic) and they were in financial trouble, so I couldn't buy my way out. Media prediction was third.

With a transfer budget of 150 000 euros, I didn't want to spend any of it until January when I would know my squad better. So I signed three free agent forwards (Daassi, ElKhattabi, Manchev), cause I didn't want to go to the season with only SaPinto (deCamarco is injured for 6 months, Kovalenko & Jovanovic looked more like wingers). And more importantly free-agent Kristian Listzes joined, so that my midfield playmaking won't rely solely on Belgian international Karel Geraerts and 18-year-old youngsters. Even then I'm 30 thousands over my wage budget.

Preseason went great, I didn't concede a goal and hammered the lower division opponents with 4 -10 goals. The league start was rougher with Conceicaio suspended and Rapaic & Onyewu injured.

Lost first game away 1-0 somewhat undeserved and drew the next three, conceding only 1. So defence works well with 22-year old Mohamed Sarr putting up man of the match performances. I wonder if this guy is so good in real life as well? Experienced RB Eric Deflandre also tackles well and doesn't make any mistakes. In midfield a guy named Junior (24-yrs) is doing well as a ball winner (Oussalah and Dembele are injured), but Geraerts has been disappointing (although I managed to sign him to a new 3-year contract, but I would sell him if the price is right: Osasuna are interested). Listzes is a good solution for now and youngsters Defour and Papassarantis are promising. If only strikers could buy more goals...

Anyway, my job was made easier when other big teams (Anderlecht, Brugge and Genk sold some of their better players like Vanderborre, Blondel, Vanderbergh etc.)

Biggest games so far were the Champions league third round qual. games against Lille. I went for counter attacking style in the first leg at home, and with tight marking on Keita and Odemwingie did surprisingly well. I only got one real chance when Lille defence made a horrendous mistake, and with keeper Tony Silva stranded Geraerts scored a long range shot into the empty net. Final result was 1-0, not bad.

With Odemwingie injured for the 2nd leg, I started to think we might even pull a suprise there. So again with the counter attack style, I packed the defence and midfield with only a lone runner up front. Unfortunately, Keita beat two guys on the flank in the 3rd minute and Bodmer headed home his cross. And just 5 minutes later Bodmer scored from a freekick. So I was behind on aggregate. I put Junior to man mark/kick Bodmer out of the game and he did great job for the rest of the game, put the damage was already done.

As I still needed only one goal to go through on away goals, I kept to my plan until last 10 minutes. Then I brought on two of my fastest attacking guys and went for attack. Lille was tired and stretched, and I got agonizingly close with Kovalenko hitting the post. That was my one change, but out we went. Lille deserved their win though.

So, not so great first two months in charge, put Conceicaio, Rapaic and Onyewu are now close to return, so I'm expecting things to improve.

The Vengabus

12-19-2006, 03:16 PM

I'm having a lot of fun playing with one of my favourite teams in Ajax Amsterdam. The Dutch league isnt much of a challenge, especially given the financial differences between the Feyenoord, PSV boards and mine, but there is a bit of competition. I had a lot of turmoil in my wirst winter in charge that cost us the league, and we ended up third but won the playoffs. Since then, I've finally gotten the tactics together, and it seems my players adore me. Ajax is also capable of having an incredible transfer budget given some success.

I'm in my third season so far, and winning game in game out with a fast, skilled, attacking squad with an average age of 22. Won the league by about 30 points going 31-2-1 with a GD of 75 in the second season, even while missing Huntelaar for half the season, and Sneijder for the other half. It meant sharing the work load and I had about five players with 10 goals or more that season, and I've never had something like that on FM/CM, which is making this all the more fun. I played with an agressive, wide, slow tempo 4-1-1-3-1, like this, given everyone healthy.

......................Stekelenburg......
Ratinho....Stam....Heitinga.....Emmanuelsson
........................Maduro.................... .........
........................Sivok..................... .........
Gourcuff...........Sneijder................Babel/Roger
.....................Huntelaar

***-face Maduro left on a bosman that year, but I brought in some Brazilians for depth, and thanks to a very generous transfer budget, was able to bring in Micah Richards for 20 million euro to replace Stam.

...................Stekelenburg.................
Ratinho........Richards.......Heitinga.........Esp arza/Emmanuelson
Gourcuff/Cardenas.......Sivok.......Sneijder.........Babel/Emmanuelson
..........................Celsinho/Vagner Love.....Huntelaar......

With fullbacks pushing up, and wingers pushing up.

7 wins in 7 games with 25 for and 4 against.

Ajacied

12-19-2006, 03:25 PM

The Vengabus

12-19-2006, 04:51 PM

Not playing the traditional 4-3-3? And you still aren't fired? ;)

My end goal is to coach Ajax someday (I am Fiorentina now, 3rd season) but I follow the squad closely. What have you done with some of the youngsters (Boakye, Schilder, Anita, Sarpong, etc.) or with players such as Gabri, Rosenberg and Grygera?

Gabri proved to be a very servicable back-up, and alternated as the starting fullback for my team the first two season but I sold him because he was playing less and less, as Ratinho got better, and he needed to move on.

Rosenberg is still in my squad, right now my first back-up striker due to some injuries. His first season he almost matched KJH and scored over 20, but somehow only got one the following year. He always seems to score in pre-season and in meaningless games at the end of the season to make me think about keeping him, and I do.

Grygera is also still with my squad and he's a servicable player, great at marking, and always ready to fill in when there are injuries or suspensions. He's 4th on my CB depth chart and 3rd on my DR list.

Boakye ammounted to nothing and was released after a first season loan where he did nothing. Now a back-up at Anderlecht at age 23.

Schilder looked promising, and has been loaned to different teams each of the three seasons, right now he's at Zwolle. He has the stats to be a competent DM for most teams in the eredivisie at only 22, but his technical, mental, and physical stats are all average, but consistently low double-digits. Doesnt seem to be improving that much every year, so I doubt how much better he can get. Burried behind some depth at DM, behind Sivok, Vertonghen, Paulo, Esparza, so I think he will be gone in the next season or two.

Anita has been on loan the last two years, and is now at Telstar. At 19, he looks capable to be a first-teamer for some teams within a year. Improved slightly at the start of this year, looks to have good pace and dribbling, but his other technical skills are distinctly lacking and pale compared to a pair of 19year olds I have in my first team. I'll hold on to him for now, because he does have the potential...and its tough finding Dutch talent for some reason. Where's the next Bergkamp!

Goossens was likely the closest to having the skills for his position as an AML, and he too has been on loan the last couple years. At 20 now has competent attacking technique, but has brutal mental stats and with those will never be good enough for Ajax. Still young, so we'll see. He's at Haarlem now.

Sarpong is probably the best of this bunch at this time. He's 20 and in my reserves and will probably get a couple games this year. His technical stats should get better, his physical stats seem good enough for his position, and mental stats might improve too. He's being tutored by Sneijder at the moment.

Some other Ajaccied from the start of the game:

Mitchell Donald, at 19, if he improves his physical stats would be close to Sarpong at this time. Good mental stats, and I would say almost on level with Anita at this time, and he's wanted by a few first division teams.

Jesper Floren, at 20, looks like he may have a bit of potential. Probably wont ever make my squad, but he could be serviceablef for a first division team.

Edgar Manucharyan is weird. In his first season for me as my third striker he was decent, at only 19, and would occasionally do something like score 4-5 goals in a friendly, only to miss absolute sitters in actual games. Constantly injured, he's healthy now but burried behind some really good strikers, and I think if he was to be retrained as a pacy withdrawn forward could be pretty good. Still valued at 4.5 million, playing for Ajax 2.

Jan Vertonghen has been a first teamer since he was 19 and a solid midfield prospect. Has played about 30 games in the last 3 seasons, averaging just under 7. His stats dont really suit him as a defensive midfielder where he would've got more playing time. He could be a good midfielder for a number of teams in the leageu, but will need to shape up to really make the team.

Donovan Slijngaard, who you've tried, has been loaned the last two seasons at Fortuna, where he's a first teamer. Looked really good at first, and at 21, looks to have stalled. His technical skills arent good enough to be the kind of fullback i need, especialyl his tackling. Mental skills arent rounded either.

Stanton Lewis is the only one of the younger players to score an actual league goal for Ajax, in his debut at age 18. His stats then were well suited for a striker, good scoring technique and good physical stats, but they havent really improved. Now looks like a possible member of the South African national team, but still mired in my reserve squad.

Probably the most successful of the young Ajaccied turned out to be Rydell Poepon, who pretty much single handedly kept Helmond in the eredivisie, scoring 10 goals at age 20 to be one of the highest scoring players in the league. Stats arent all too impressive, except his physical ones that are very good. Has 17 finishing, pace, acceleration, and strength, and thats enough to score for more teams. With 12 goals in the highest league, probably the most accomplished of the youngsters.

The goalies: Verhoeff has been excellent on loan and one of the better young goalies in Holland. Vermeer stepped in at age 21 to be our goalie after Stekelenburg went down for the last part of teh year, and was really solid, performing well in the league and in champions league play, even averaging an 8 over his ten or so performances, however towards the end of the season he seemingly let up, and started making ridiculous mistakes, so Maarten kept his job.

Naturally, of the young players, Ryan Babel was the best, and still is. He's been a first teamer since the start and has played 70 games already for me, scoring 27 and assisting 28 from winger. Stepped back into a striker role when KJH went down, and scored at impressive pace. Loves to go in from the wing and roof the ball opposite corner. His ability must be really high, because pace aside, his skills dont look too good, almost at the level of some of the guys mentioned before, yet he consistently has been averaging really high ratings, 7.7, 7.5, and now 8.0 so far this year.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar is practically my favourite active player in the world right now, and someone I try to model my game after. In the game, he's also fantastic, and I would say a couple pace and first touch notches away from being unquestionably the best striker in the world. The best mental stats I've seen on a forward in some time, as well as excellent finishing. His injury last season was a major blow, and this year he's back, and scoring 9 in 7 so far, with a 9 rating.

One thing that has me worried is the sheer lack of class among the Dutch regens.. I've been scouting and scouting and theres nothing of real worth, so far the only notable player was a Feyenoord defender that my scout said could be about as good as Heitinga, and Heitinga isnt that good. The regens at Ajax have been brutal. It doesnt look like a single one will amount to anything, let alone approach Babel, Maduro, or even Sarpong or Anita. At this rate it might be hard to meet the UEFA requirements soon enough. Fortunately, my core players so far remain Dutch, but, there has to be a new Bergkamp, Kluivert, Seedorf, Davids soon.

Steve L*

12-19-2006, 05:42 PM

Ajacied

12-20-2006, 02:02 AM

Steve L*

12-20-2006, 07:35 AM

I've heard a lot of people complaining about how the creators didn't give the Dutch players, and especially talents, as much attention as some other nationalities. Not just the opinion of Dutch fans who play the game, but world wide.
Blame the Dutch, the fans worldwide do the ratings for the teams, not the creators.

There was a bug that stopped all players developing correctly but I think this has been fixed now.

xalcyx

12-20-2006, 11:47 AM

I've heard a lot of people complaining about how the creators didn't give the Dutch players, and especially talents, as much attention as some other nationalities. Not just the opinion of Dutch fans who play the game, but world wide. I have wondered why some talents don't develop as they should, but I am coaching a Serie A squad for two seasons now and rarely keep in tact with the Eredivisie. I do know that Sneijder was sold for 17 Million Euro's to Real Madrid, but other than that, I'm glad to be coaching somewhere else as it was irritating to see the players and prospects being so lowly rated.

Anita for one, is the biggest star in Ajax' potent youth acedemy and #1 on my prospect list (above Sneijder for one). He's supposed to be the next best thing since Rafeal van der Vaart (sold for 25 to Chelsea in my game btw) but somehow the game has failed to pick this up. He might be the only Dutch prospect who could get the 'wonderkid' tag. Emanuelson, Medunjanin, El Hamdoui, Donk, Aissati, Afellay, Dembelé are just a handful of talents who fans go after the moment they have the game installed, only to find out they really aren't as good as they should be(come). I experienced the same and that's why I really didn't hesitate when Fiorentina (Serie B at the time) offered me a job.

The only talent in the Eredivisie who has been getting proper credit is Jonathan de Guzman.

I always thought the Dutch were pretty well represented on the game. I remember many moons ago having guys like Robben and even Mido (when he was in Holland) on teams way before anyone ever heard of them.

Steve_L is right. Mainly its fans that do a lot of the scouting. Could it also be possible that you are slightly biased? ;)

gary69

12-20-2006, 11:56 AM

One thing that has me worried is the sheer lack of class among the Dutch regens.. I've been scouting and scouting and theres nothing of real worth, so far the only notable player was a Feyenoord defender that my scout said could be about as good as Heitinga, and Heitinga isnt that good. The regens at Ajax have been brutal. It doesnt look like a single one will amount to anything, let alone approach Babel, Maduro, or even Sarpong or Anita. At this rate it might be hard to meet the UEFA requirements soon enough. Fortunately, my core players so far remain Dutch, but, there has to be a new Bergkamp, Kluivert, Seedorf, Davids soon.

I haven't played enough seasons with FM2007 version to give a definitive answer on how things work with it, but I did quite extensive observations with FM2005. If the game mechanics/source code hasn't changed too much, here's what I came up with.

First, the national team standard has the biggest effect what current/potential ability regens are created each year. Secondly, the league standard determined where these regens appear (regardless of nationality). For example, I had a lot of Brazilian, Argentinian, German, French high potential regens appearing in top clubs in England, Italy and Spain (these three had the highest league standard in FM2005). Top prospect Brazilians rarely appeared in Brazil because I had lowered their league standard to 13 (?) but kept the national team level unchanged.

All of this can be changed with the editor before starting a new game (or with a saved game editor even after you have started your game).

In FM2007 it should be noted that with the players already in the (unedited) game when you start the first season, there are quite a few players with non-specific potential (but high potential, the minus guys) or random potential. If you disagree with it or want to make it more specific, then change it with the editor. For example, I had this youngster (Fredy?) Leon so good from the beginning that Chelsea bought him immediately and he was already better than Lampard, Ballack etc. in June 2006.

Back in FM2005 it seemed that there was a hard-coded feature which kept the number of top players about the same each year for each country (again depending on the national team standard). And the league standard overrides everything so that the best players move to them (from the AI controlled teams) and that regens are created in those leagues so that they stay as the best leagues. Same for clubs with the best ranking. For example, when I managed to make Nantes the best team in France and won the Champions League with them, immediately after I left they started to sell their players to better leagues (Italy, Spain, England). In two years they sold players for over £60 millions, but only spent £5 million to buy new (inferior) players with lower potential.

One interesting thing, which I noticed in FM2005 was that the AI manager current ability has a huge influence on results/success of AI controlled team. If you lower the ability of AI manager in mid-game, then that team almost always immediately starts to lose so that manager can be sacked and a one with a higher current ability can be hired. I didn't notice the same effect with the human manager ability.

Speaking of which, have you checked what manager ability you reach within the game and how does your ability change as seasons go by? How many seasons do you generally play before starting anew (from the 2006/2007 season)? Is it possible for a human manager to reach current ability of 200 in 7-8 years? Let's say you want to manage club teams first and then end your career at 2014 World Cup? Anybody done that yet after the latest patch, and if so what was your manager rating in the end?

Joretus

12-20-2006, 12:11 PM

I haven't played enough seasons with FM2007 version to give a definitive answer on how things work with it, but I did quite extensive observations with FM2005. If the game mechanics/source code hasn't changed too much, here's what I came up with.

Actually it have totally changed. It were before regens. Ie. after Ronaldo quitted "new Ronaldo" did born in Brazil. Now it's about newgens. Which are totally new and have nothing to do with retiring players. Don't know spefix, but it's totally different.

That's one of the reasons why they had problems with those gens and their developing before first patch which fixed that thing.

gary69

12-20-2006, 12:57 PM

Actually it have totally changed. It were before regens. Ie. after Ronaldo quitted "new Ronaldo" did born in Brazil. Now it's about newgens. Which are totally new and have nothing to do with retiring players. Don't know spefix, but it's totally different.

That's one of the reasons why they had problems with those gens and their developing before first patch which fixed that thing.

I don't think that was the case in FM 2005 anymore. There were several great Brazilian younsters (potential in the 190s) created in FM2005 already in the first five seasons when the likes Ronaldo and even Rivaldo were still around and there were nowhere near that many older Brazilians with high potential retiring.

I think it was more that the game made sure that the best nations had a predetermined number (give or take a few) of high potential players in each age group. Well, I have to get back to this if/when I have enough seasons played in FM2007 (depends I have enough time/interest to do that). I find it hard to believe that even now it's totally random, but it's somehow still connected to national team/league/club standards. If it were totally random, then it might get too unrealistic regarding which country/club has the best players.

Anyway, checked quickly with the editor the Dutch players who are under-22 years in the unedited database.

Max potential ability Number of players
190+..................................1
180....................................0
170....................................5
160....................................7
150...................................16
140...................................37

-10....................................0
-9......................................2
-8.....................................37
-7.....................................over 300

It does look okay to me, they have a starting-line up's worth of players with an ability over 160 (good national team level players) and another 16 not so far behind.

And 2 youngsters who are pretty sure fire potential world class players (-9) and huge bunch of guys (37), some of which will probably get a high potential when a new game is created.

I didn't play enough seasons in FM 2007 pre-patch, so I don't know what exatcly changed, but the changelog says that it was more of a problem with newgens developing from training than a problem when newgens were created in the first place (although the log says that they changed a balance with physical/technical/mental skills in newgens a bit.

xalcyx

12-20-2006, 01:47 PM

Ugh, talking about PA bugs the hell out of me.

However, in this respect I guess it is at least relevant.

Joretus

12-20-2006, 02:24 PM

I don't think that was the case in FM 2005 anymore. There were several great Brazilian younsters (potential in the 190s) created in FM2005 already in the first five seasons when the likes Ronaldo and even Rivaldo were still around and there were nowhere near that many older Brazilians with high potential retiring.

I didn't play enough seasons in FM 2007 pre-patch, so I don't know what exatcly changed, but the changelog says that it was more of a problem with newgens developing from training than a problem when newgens were created in the first place (although the log says that they changed a balance with physical/technical/mental skills in newgens a bit.

Well developer of the game told that in FM youngsters are newgens, while in before version regens. So I think at least SI ppl should know what they are talking about, don't you?

And the problem was huge before patch, newgens had very low techniques, etc.

The Vengabus

12-20-2006, 04:15 PM

Well developer of the game told that in FM youngsters are newgens, while in before version regens. So I think at least SI ppl should know what they are talking about, don't you?

And the problem was huge before patch, newgens had very low techniques, etc.

And when you start a seemingly great career on a vanilla version, this just blows. Any other critical flaws in vanilla version I should know about? I really would hate to stop this career, but at this point i'll have to..

Quiet Robert

12-20-2006, 08:15 PM

Im very happy, I got QPR from the Championship to win the Champions league in 6 years. Not bad considering I spent 2 years before I got promoted because no one would sign for me. I also won the WC and EC with England.

Nicely done. I've always wanted to take a Conference National team and see how far up the ladder I could go, but I think it would require a tremendous amount of time and effort. But it's always more fun (for me) to build up a team rather than take a powerhouse over.

I've only played around with the 07 Demo lately, but even that is a little too addictive. I'll probably pick up the full game soon, and see how that goes.

gary69

12-20-2006, 09:47 PM

Well developer of the game told that in FM youngsters are newgens, while in before version regens. So I think at least SI ppl should know what they are talking about, don't you?

And the problem was huge before patch, newgens had very low techniques, etc.

Well, like I said I can't speak from enough own experience re FM 2007, but since the separation of the former producers (Eidos) and the actual coders (SI) of the game series, new players haven't been regens as in previous versions. FM2005 was the first version with the new system.

From Marc Vaughan (SI, in Jan 2006):

"Early SI management games used a 'regeneration' system to create new players - hence in a few years time you'd find a young player who would have been the regeneration of a retired Mr. Sheringham and would potentially be a very good player.

Our later games such as FM use a 'new generation' system which creates players largely from scratch so people can't 'talent spot' in the way that they used to (in CM people used to look for similar styles of player to quality players who'd just retired and sign them hoping they were the regenerated version of player 'x') ...."

http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/521102691/m/4562050691?r=5672032691#5672032691

I haven't seen SI to announce how the system exactly works nowadays, but if you do a search on SI forums on regens/newgens there are a bunch of threads discussing it. I just wrote my own observstions in previous message from FM2005.

One of the best efforts to get data on newgen system was by a user named "Perpetua", who ran 17 leagues until 2020s and checked the newgens based on different criteria (country, age, PA etc.).

http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/521102691/m/9732074112

I have know idea whether SI has done similar tests, at least I haven't seen them published anywhere.

And the term "newgen" instead of "regen" was started to be used around the time when FM2005 was published, apparently first by a user named "Ackter" (by his own testimony).

And yes, there were apparently problems with FM2007 newgens' attributes prior the patch like there were apparently problems in FM2006 with newgens' determination attribute (at least).

Joretus

12-21-2006, 04:32 AM

Well, like I said I can't speak from enough own experience re FM 2007, but since the separation of the former producers (Eidos) and the actual coders (SI) of the game series, new players haven't been regens as in previous versions. FM2005 was the first version with the new system.

From Marc Vaughan (SI, in Jan 2006):

"Early SI management games used a 'regeneration' system to create new players - hence in a few years time you'd find a young player who would have been the regeneration of a retired Mr. Sheringham and would potentially be a very good player.

Our later games such as FM use a 'new generation' system which creates players largely from scratch so people can't 'talent spot' in the way that they used to (in CM people used to look for similar styles of player to quality players who'd just retired and sign them hoping they were the regenerated version of player 'x') ...."

http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/521102691/m/4562050691?r=5672032691#5672032691

I haven't seen SI to announce how the system exactly works nowadays, but if you do a search on SI forums on regens/newgens there are a bunch of threads discussing it. I just wrote my own observstions in previous message from FM2005.

One of the best efforts to get data on newgen system was by a user named "Perpetua", who ran 17 leagues until 2020s and checked the newgens based on different criteria (country, age, PA etc.).

http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/521102691/m/9732074112

I have know idea whether SI has done similar tests, at least I haven't seen them published anywhere.

And the term "newgen" instead of "regen" was started to be used around the time when FM2005 was published, apparently first by a user named "Ackter" (by his own testimony).

And yes, there were apparently problems with FM2007 newgens' attributes prior the patch like there were apparently problems in FM2006 with newgens' determination attribute (at least).

Vaughan or some1 other just commented in some threads in forums that "in this version we have changed totally newgens" Or something like that. As I did say I haven't had anything to do ever with playing code&systems in that way, since I think it takes something away of gaming illusion. I want to think them as persons not just numbers... so I really don't care about mechanics as long as those works. So you might be right, will they have made new system as well.

gary69

12-21-2006, 01:40 PM

Vaughan or some1 other just commented in some threads in forums that "in this version we have changed totally newgens" Or something like that. As I did say I haven't had anything to do ever with playing code&systems in that way, since I think it takes something away of gaming illusion. I want to think them as persons not just numbers... so I really don't care about mechanics as long as those works. So you might be right, will they have made new system as well.

The problem was that the game mechanics didn't work well enough, therefore it was very nice that some people found out the long-term imbalance (imbalance with technical skills development when compared to physical/mental attributes development), which was missed by SI-beta testers (there were over 1500 of them, but large majority of them were only allowed a one season beta version for piracy fears).

Looking at newgens really doensn't take anything away from game experience if you do it on "Manager holiday" -type of games. Newgens are different in every new game (although they are created according to some basic guidelines).

Anyway, SI did hype a lot about their new "Fred" -system regarding newgens but obviously they don't give away all the details, they don't want the competitors copying it.

From Miles Jacobson (Managing Director of SI on the SI blog):
"Youth Revamp

...in comes a whole new system of youth player generation, and database stability. It's internal codename is "Fred" because if it had a more descriptive name it would give far too many trade secrets away...so youth teams at active clubs should always be well populated with players...

...all areas of the game are linked, so if you have poor youth facilities, you will be less likely to find the next world superstar, but that doesn't mean that you can't, just that it's less likely...but the stability of the database over the long term stays the same..."

So, in theory the new system is better than the previous ones, so what are the biggest differences to old systems? Francis Cole (Fran) of SI has given away some details at their forums, this is what I have noticed so far:

1) "This is how it basically works"
"Fran: Pre FM 2005: Regen: Bergkamp Retires -> Young Bergkamp created
FM2005/2006: Newgen - Bergkamp Retires -> Dutch youngster somewhere created
FM2007: With FRED you've got to remember that bergkamp doesn't have to retire in the first place. So fred is basically: Bergkamp does nothing -> Australian GK appears."

2) Newgens' attributes are more linked to their position than previously i.e. a defender is more likely to have good attributes in tackling etc. than in e.g. finishing etc.

3) Database integrity is (still) preserved though

...Fran: Yes, but we also have to take into account the size of the DB the user has selected. There are about 210 footballing countries in the world? Say we had 50 players for each. That's 10,500 players you get, which is a bit much for some computers...

...non-active/playable leagues: All clubs/leagues/nations/continents operate under the same system. Though of course as you point out the numbers would be slightly different in active/non active nations - you would want every club in england (if you were playing in england) producing 7 (for example) youngsters a year, you wouldn't want every single club in the whole world creating 7 though as your pc would die...

...Completely random? No...What has been said before is that Nations were grouped (according to something similar to reputation), so that for example, 50% of high PA players would originate from a certain countries, 30% from other countries, 15 % from another and 5% from another. Countries move between these groups depeding on historical success....

...The system will try and keep the original player counts from nations the same. So when you start the game 100 players are from the Cook Islands, then the game will try and generate enough players from the Cook Islands so there are always around 100...

...we generally keep things like Nationality (so the db stays about the same, England have more players than Guam for example). We also tend to generally keep the same kinds of PA. So again England players have a better PA than Guam ones...

...Question:And naturally the nationality will also influence the newgen's PA. A Brazilian will tend to have a better PA than an English newgen, I suppose...
...Fran: Yes don't worry, I have whole sections of code just for Brazil youth stuff"

...Yes, in theory if Italy had all the best teams in the world, with all the best youth systems in the world they would be more likely to "generate" amazing players.

...Youth Academy+Youth System (plus other un-named factors) basically create your overall youth rating (which is hidden) which will be the governing factors on what your youngsters are like. And yes, before any body asks you could have the best rating possible and still produce youngsters who will never make it, and have the worst rating possible and still produce that "gem" (though is very very rare)

...Question: I'm sure i've seen in some of the hints and tips (or maybe from one of the si bods on here) that the nationality of your scouts / coaches / assistant man have an influence over where your newgens come from as well...

Fran: The youth players you get are influenced by which countries you have full knowledge of...Furthermore...I have not programmed it in for teams within/around Paris to get. We did a basic analysis of the db and found that the most notable nationalities for French youth teams to get were Ivorian/Cameroonian/Algerian etc."

...Question: So even if there are only 12 Kazakh players in the database, after 10 seasons there could be 3,000?

Fran: I'm not sure how you would ever up with 3000. But technically/theoretically it isn't impossible if a human took over every club in the world and turned every club in a club which is just run by people from Kazakhstan.

...Ah ok, I thought you were implying that there is no longer any link between nationalities in the starting database and nationalities of Freds, so that they would be created in random quantities of different nationalities. I'm relieved that that isn't what you meant!""

4) Some other observations from people who ran "Holiday manager" tests (from what I've seen these tests were done before the patch).

...I would hazard a guess that this is part of the mechanic, and that if it is, SI won't ever tell us so as to not 'ruin' the game. After reading lots of posts on this, and my own (poor usually) experience getting youth players, I'm starting to wonder if the game does this:
-Is team 'understaffed' in terms of average talent level? If so, increase odds of good_player joining youth academy.
-Is team total_player_value < league_average? If so, increase odds again.
-Repeat until Youth team brings current_team to near league_average."

So in theory the Fred-system is great, and if it works as intended, I like it.

Joretus

12-21-2006, 02:08 PM

The problem was that the game mechanics didn't work well enough, therefore it was very nice that some people found out the long-term imbalance (imbalance with technical skills development when compared to physical/mental attributes development), which was missed by SI-beta testers (there were over 1500 of them, but large majority of them were only allowed a one season beta version for piracy fears).

Well I think every1 should have seen it, at least I saw it after couple of seasons already. But anyway good that SI is patching the game fast.

I ment I don't want to know the game code or things which are running the game too well, since it's taking something out of that illusion of being manager.

I have no problem if some1 wants to get deep with mechanics, but I don't. Yes I have used editor to fix problems(ie. players having wrong better foot, etc.), but not too much ever and don't want to go too deep.

I could write about something my game which is prolly quite different than most of ppl are playing, since it's from not so big league, etc. But maybe I'll write after holidays about if, if some1 wants to read:dunno:

DevilFisch

12-27-2006, 10:15 PM

les Habs

12-27-2006, 11:17 PM

Ajacied

12-28-2006, 03:13 AM

No idea DevilFisch.. You can control any team imaginable in FM 2007 so not sure what the deal is on WSM 2007. Oranje still have no playerrights though, maybe that's one of the reasons? In FM you have to replace a file before you start playing and everything is back to normal.

Anyway, time for an update.

So I cheated for the first time with FM today..

I was playing in the promotion playoffs (Serie B) with Fiorentina. I beat Verona fair and square in the first series, then I had to face Lecce in the 'final'. Won the first game 1-0 at home on a 93rd minute freekick of Montolivio. Here comes the cheating part, during the 50th minute in the second leg, I fell behind 2-1. No worries as that would still be enough for me to advance (away goals), at least, that was what I assumed. So I defended with 5 defenders plus 2 DM's, and managed to maintain the deficit of 2-1. Turns out that away goals mean jack, and that Lecce advanced based on the fact they were the higher seed. I was pretty pissed and reloaded the game. Ah well..

So I earned myself a ticket to the Serie A..

I had done some minor shopping in the summer, mainly in the Eredivisie since you can get cheap talent for next to nothing if you play it smart:

- Mikhail Sivakov (Dinamo Minsk) for 160k.
- Mounier El Hamdaoui (Willem II) for 1.3 million.
- Ryan Donk (AZ) for 1 million.
- Manuel da Costa (PSV) for 400k

Sold:

- Bogdan Lobont (Panathinaikos) for 2 million.

Saved up the rest so the team could pay off some of its debts.

Season was going very good. They projected me to finish around 14th and fight with relegation for much of the season, yet I continuesly played in the top, never being any lower than 10th. Board was pleased with the way things were going and gave me more money to toy with. I needed some backup offensive players since the club sold Toni, Boijnov and Mutu weeks before I took over. I got myself:

- Giovanni Dos Santos (Barçelona) for 6.5 million.
- Hatem Ben Arfa (Deportivo) for 13.75 million.
- Jeffrey Sarpong (Ajax) for 300k

Sold:

- Eugen Polanski (Schalke 04) for 9 million.
- Christian Obodo (Liverpool) for 1.3 million
- Reginaldo (Athletico Paranaense) for 1.5 million.

Ended up finishing 4th (Inter, Lazio, Milan above me, Roma and Juve below me) and thus earning Fiorentina a CL ticket.

Awards I won that year, include:

- Best foreign player in the Serie A (Papa Bouba Diop)
- Best goalkeeper (Sebastien Frey)
- Best talent (Mikhail Sivakov)
- Had 6 (*SIX*) players in the team of the year.

My strikers, Luciano Figueroa and Gianpaulo Pazzini finished #1 and #2 in terms of goals/assists. And the team as a whole managed to become the highest scoring team in the Serie A by distance (must be the Dutch 4-3-3 I'm implying..)

Due to the arrival of Ben Arfa and Dos Santos, I could afford to lose Montolivo, whom Ajax wanted for 9 million. So more money came in and I had to look hard to see which position needed help. I already had an amazing striker duo and was well represented at midfield with Elano (Brazillian starter), Ben Arfa, Dos Santos, Diop and Sivakov. On defense I think I should easily have one of the better backs in the game (Kléber, Brazillian starter). I also have Salgado on the right but the central pairing of Terlizzi and Dainelli worried me at times. Both had more than decent ratings but they were still the weakest links of the squad. Dainelli is even my Captain.. Yet I decided to get more help at the backend.

I had tried the entire season to pry Alex away from PSV, and when I did it turned out I already attracted a non-EU player that season so the deal was cancelled. Now with a new season on the verge of beginning, I tried once more, only to find out Torino got him for 13 million but I still managed to get him for 20. A bit much perhaps, but I think he's worth it. Also got Gaël Givet from Monaco for 10 million.

Still looking for a respectable backup in net, but other than that, I'm set for yet another season. They project me to finish 5th now..

Here's my squad:

--------------- Luciano Figueroa --- Gianpaulo Pazzini -----------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------- Elano --------------------------------
-- Dos Santos ---------------------------------- Mikhail Sivakov --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------- Papa Bouba Diop ------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kléber ------------------ Alex ------- Dainelli ------------- Salgado
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------- Sebastien Frey ---------------------------

Subs:

#1: Christian Terlizzi
#2: Gaël Givet
#3: Hatem Ben Arfa
#4: Mounier El Hamdaoui
#5: Ryan Donk
#6: Fernando Belluschi
#7: Alessandro Potenza

Loaned out Manuel Da Costa, Jeffrey Sarpong and Matthias Lepellier.

The Vengabus

12-28-2006, 03:52 AM

Well, I got Worldwide Soccer Manager 2007 for Christmas and after tooling around with it, I notice that I can't control the Germany or Holland national teams. Is there a reason for this? More importantly, is there a way to correct this problem?

By the by, I decide to start unemployed in July 2006 and get hired by League One side Scunthorpe United. And four of their top players are injured to start! Oh boy!

There is a number of changes you might notice due to licensing in the vanilla versions of FM/WSM. Look at the names of the Japanese and French league clubs, for example. Also I think the UEFA competitions arent properly named. Not to mention the Dutch and German national teams. These are all for licensing issues, but can be fixed by removing a file in your database called fake.lnc. Essentially, waht this file does is "mask" all the unlicensnceds stuff and makes it legal. Deleting this file, unmasks what is needed, but absolves the game creators from legal responsiblity.There is lots of information about this topic available online, in particular you can google, "fake.lnc" and most results will be about thsis process.

Joretus

12-28-2006, 05:11 AM

Well, I got Worldwide Soccer Manager 2007 for Christmas and after tooling around with it, I notice that I can't control the Germany or Holland national teams. Is there a reason for this? More importantly, is there a way to correct this problem?!

Have you updated the game already? You should go to gamefolder, go to data/db and dele lnc-folder over there. If you don't trust me copy backup somewhere. If you have patched you should go to data/db and take that newest patch folder and delete lnc-folder.

That will at least take those fakenames away.

And reason is simple. Licencing. Game isn't published at all in Germany because of that.

edit:Fact already mentioned reasons. Anyway you can take whole folder away.

Joretus

12-28-2006, 05:45 AM

And about my own game. I'm playing with F.C.U. Poliitechnica Timiosara in Romanian league. Currently I'm at 3rd in the league. I were 1st after 10 games or so, but had slump of 3 losses in a row. Still I'm not too far behind of Steuau which is firts. I haven't buyed more than 3 players and they are all playing in my 2nd team which is playing in second level and in the top half of that league.

I have 5 players outside of Romania, those are centrebacks McKain(Australia)&Mehmedovic(Serbia), fullback/winger Emeghara(Nigeria) and strikers Gueye(Senegal)&Glusgevic(Montenegro). I have been trying to sold Glusgevic since he doesn't have chance to brake my lineup. I have Boruc, Silvasan and Miha all have performed quite ok and they have some international games allready under their belt.

I'll buy couple of foreigners to my team when january will come(now at november) at least Junior Ross should be good buy. He will come as free, since his contract will end. He is already playing for Peru at international level.

I have one really nice youngster as well in my team, Gabriel Torje have been good in both 1st&2nd team and I have some other juniors coming up too. Atm I have 5-6 guys playing for Romanian U19 team.

Will continue if some1 is interested about some smaller teams than all those big teams;)

DevilFisch

12-28-2006, 05:22 PM

Thanks for the help, I now have my Hamburger SV and Olympique Lyonnaise and all that. Haven't tested whether I could control the German or Holland teams, as I just played more of my Scunthorpe game.

We're at the top of League One with 8 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss. Got a good DM on loan from Man United who promptly broke his leg. Regardless, Billy Sharp and Andrew Keogh are a-maz-ing in League One. I dominated Blackpool 4-0 in the first round of the English League Cup (a.k.a. Carling Cup) So naturally I draw Aston Villa in the second round on their home field and get dominated to the tune of 6-0, with all 6 coming in the second half.

It's OK, I still lead League One. I got my eye on the Paint Cup anyhow.

Jay_Miller 29

01-02-2007, 04:08 PM

Im in the 09/10 season on FM 07.
06/07 Sheffield Wednesday
07/08 Oxford/Kettering
08/09 Kettering (promoted)
09/10 Kettering (left) now at Chesterfield whom are in the Conferance.

biggest shock only losing 1-0 to Everton in the FA cup. when i was at Kettering. Kettering dominated the game.

Vidic5*

01-03-2007, 09:16 PM

Joretus

01-04-2007, 08:00 AM

I've heard of Torje before. How is he doing in real life? Congrats to Romania for entering the EU!!!:clap:

Seems like he have at least scored in Romanian league and played 10+ games or so. I'll continue with my game later on this month, since it seems at least some1 is reading it:)

Juni

01-04-2007, 09:55 AM

Sorry guys, I've been ridiculously absent in this thread. Seeing as I work on the game, I'm here for any questions and stuff you might have.

Personally I just had a hilarious end to a Hibernian game after being sacked for fining everyone who played in a 5-0 derby defeat at Hearts (hey, they got 3s and 4s), so I'm playing as Chelsea for a rare time to see if I can avoid using money and develop some kids.

Jay_Miller 29

01-04-2007, 09:58 AM

Hint for conferance clubs and league 2 clubs. sometimes in the game you may see.

"Barry Stephenson" Sign him is great. hes 19 and does'nt need a permit hes from Montserrat. (he has English as another nationality). hes usually around in the 07/08 season.

Hes a FREE transfer aswell. Other clubs can look at him too, but i recommend to loan him out if you do that. according to the staff at my former club "Kettering Town" he could be a great player.

DevilFisch

01-04-2007, 03:39 PM

Well, I played waaaaay too much WWSM yesterday and am near the end of my first Scunthorpe season. Highlights.

-Drew Newcastle in the third round of the FA Cup. Tied them at home, giving up a late equalizer to them. Then they pounded us hard at St. James Park on the replay. Blah.

-Won the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Beat Exerter for the Northern League Final and Bournemouth in the big final. A trophy for the Irons! Wheeee!

-West Brom Albion offered $5.75 million for Andrew Keogh, which my chairman (Steve Wharton) agreed to on my behalf. Keogh was the perfect foil for Billy Sharp, so I wasn't really pleased with the move. We turned out alright, though. BTW, if you're in Championship, GET ANDREW KEOGH.

-On the other hand, Billy Sharp scored a TON of goals for us, so a lack of Keogh feeding him the ball did not stop him. I think he scored something like 41 goals in all of the games he played for us this season. 41! Teams could just not stop him from getting space and blasting the ball in. Also, if you're in Championship, GET BILLY SHARP TOO.

-My assistant manager insisted we neede dhelp in all areas to avoid relegation all season long. We currently are in 2nd place and a win in our final game this season, hosting Brentford, secures promotion for Scunthorpe. Not bad for a team that lost a top forward, who did not make a lot of loan moves for Prem guys (I triiiiied to get Johann Smith from Bolton on a loan, Smith liked it, Bolton liked it, but apparantly the work permit people won't allow an American to move who ALREADY WAS SIGNED TO A TEAM IN ENGLAND. Stupid Work Permit Board...), and was predicted to fight relegation all season long.

HajdukSplit

01-04-2007, 10:09 PM

Started a game with Fulham and am in my third season, the first I started off well and went as high as 4th in the league without buying any players but the second half of the season the team struggled and I finished 12th.

Next season was the same thing, great start but then a slip up at the end of the season but not as bad, was able to make the semi-finals of the FA Cup, finish 8th in the league and qualify for the Intertoto Cup

Third season, I was eliminated in the final of the Intertoto Cup, losing 1:0 on aggregate to Sevilla. Great start to the season, bought a lot of good young players and some decent free transfers, currently 6th

Van der Sar
Volz - Melchiot - Kompany - Bonissel
Greening - Emerson - Carlos Martins - Yapi Yapo
Saha - Willock

*I got Melchiot, Kompany, Greening all on free transfers. Emerson is a great midfielder from Rangers, Carlos Martins was a youngster at Porto who I signed as a 19 year old, Yapi Yapo is a good Ivory Coast winger, from Beveren. Willock is a guy from the Fulhma youth school who has done well in my game

DevilFisch

01-04-2007, 10:12 PM

Is that Saha there Louis Saha? You got him BACK? If so, bra-vo. I also spy van der Sar on that roster and...you're playing an older version of FM? :dunno:

Regardless, good on you for keeping Fulham in the EPL.

SCUNTHORPE UPDATE: Big win at Brentford guarantees promotion to Championship! Now I have to upgrade...oh crap, my entire TEAM it seems like save for a few guys (Richard Hinds, Billy Sharp, Matt Sparrow).

Anyone got any recommendations on Championship-quality players or what I should look for in a Championship quality team?

Ironchef Chris Wok*

01-05-2007, 12:32 AM

gary69

01-05-2007, 12:07 PM

In my first season with Standard Liege I finished as runners-up to Club Brugge. trailing them by 9 points. Anderlecht was third and won the cup (I lost to them in the semi-finals).

The highlights of the season for Standard were two 1-0 league wins against Anderlecht and 2-1 home win over Brugge. I also had a 20-league-games undefeated run and never lost at home.

My reserves won the reserves league and U-19s were third in their league.

In the UEFA-cup I reached the group stage, but never had much change against Blackburn or Lens. I managed to beat Start of Norway, and actually had a chance to reach the knockout stages in my last game at home against the underachieving Parma, but could only draw with them and was eliminated. Paris SG went on to win the UEFA cup and Bayern Munchen claimed the Champions League.

In my 30-plus leagues game there were no surprises in other leagues either, with the likes of Chelsea, Inter and Lyon winning their leagues. Real Madrid won in Spain, though.

The biggest challenge for me came after I sold Oguechi Onyewu (USA) for 3 million euros to Villareal in January and struggled to find an adequate replacement. But then I got lucky, when Nicola Legrottaglie was not getting any games in Juventus and agreed to join me on loan for the rest of the season. (Juve are my parent club). That saved my season as he was my best player rest of the way.

The stars of the league were Nicolas Frutos of Anderlecht and Bosko Balaban of Brugge, who were also top scorers with 22 and 21 goals respectively. My best scorer Igor de Camargo got 12, but he missed half of the season through injury.
Bart Goor (Anderlecht) was the assist leader.

Got a new 2-year contract and the 3 million euros from the Onyewu trade are still there to be spent, so I'm first looking for a number one central defender, hopefully for around 1 million euros. Blackburn's Khizanishvili has already turned me down (he's stuck in the Rovers' reserves), but a couple of Nigerian internationals (Enakarhine and Olajengbesi) are more favourable. At the moment it seems I'll end up with one or the other.

That hopefully still leaves me 1+ million to go after a striker, as the biggest difference with me and Brugge/Anderlecht was, that they had a better top striker than I had. I'm not sure though whether I can find good enough striker within my price range. Ideally I would want a better goalie as well to match the goalies of the two teams mentioned above, but I simply don't have money for that.

I found some interesting rules in the Belgian league. Club has to have two under 21-years old players in all of their match-day line-ups (at least on the bench), and added to that, for the European tournaments the 25-man squad must include at least 4 players who have played in Belgium before the age of 20.

So taking into account the likely injuries a team would ideally produce every year at least 4 to 5 youngsters who can contribute somewhat, and you really cannot let go of the Belgian core of your players. Luckily for me I had two quality 18-year olds, who play for Belgian U-21s, so I'm set for the next season as well, although other teams are eying them. Additionally I have another youngster, who's not a liability, but ideally I would need a couple more (I have one 15/16-year promising player coming up, but he's maybe too young for next season still).

Are there really these kind of rules in Belgium IRL, or is this just an invented "home-grown rule" put into the game?

les Habs

01-05-2007, 01:50 PM

Hey Juni

It says "Do you want to add another head coach?"

Does this mean I can play more than one team at a time. For example, play as Frank Rijkaard with Barcelona and as Henk Ten Cate with Ajax? Or does this mean play as dual managers with a club? (Like Evans and Houllier did with Liverpool)

ALSO...

What's the minimum age in the game? I created some youngsters with Barça who are 12 year olds, but they keep coming up as 16 year olds in the game. I double checked the birth dates too. Is 15 years old the cutoff?

DevilFisch

01-08-2007, 10:46 PM

So I begin Scunthorpe: The Championship Edition. Among transfers, these are the new guys:

-Andy Caton, Striker. Got this young, incredibly pacy striker on a free, maybe he'll develop into a good finisher. He's already better than my now-ex-third striker

-Alexandr Geynrih, AM/F C. $300k to Torpedo Moscow got me this Uzbek forward. He had enough caps to pass through the work permit office and he's only 22. Took a risk on this guy when no one else seemingly wanted to negotiate a contract, turns out he's pretty damn good so far. Just came back from Asian Cup wherein he was a part of the Uzbekistan team that went to the Semifinals.

-Douglas Sequiera, DM, DC. $600 to Real Salt Lake for this Costa Rican veteran defensive midfielder. I love having a strong DM and in Championship, I'll need a guy who's strong with good tackling and teamwork ratings. Solidifies my midfield.

-Patrick Kohlmann, D L. $50k took him out of the now League One Sheffield Wednesday's reserves and slotted him right into my line up. Certainly made Marcus Williams expendable (the $1.5 million transfer from Reading for a guy valued at $250k also helped).

-Jimmy Smith, AM RC. $2.3 million to get away from the bench at Chelsea and give him a shot to shine in my midfield.

So how are they all doing? Caton's for the future, I expect him to just train well until later. Kohlmann is looking very good at left back for me. Sequiera has been solid with one exception, which I'll explain later. Smith is fitting in nicely, though I wish his morale was better (must have been spoiled at Stamford Bridge :) )Well, Billy Sharp is the MAN in Championship as well. 3 games in and he has 5 goals and 1 assist. Him and Alexandr Geynrih are working well together. I beat Millwall, who got promoted via the playoff, handedly 2-0 for my first Championship win. QPR put The Iron back in their place 4-2. Then came Stoke.

The game was IN Stoke's house and Scunthorpe was dogging it in the first half. Sequeira kicks a guy before a throw in, so he's sent off. Jim Goodwin, a valuable center-back on my squad, gets a late tackle on a Stoke player and is dragged off the field from a dubious red card. I'm down to 9 men. They score two goals. It's looking grim. What do I do?

I tell my team: SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO.

An injured Jimmy Smith meant Cleveland Taylor was fired up to bomb up the right wing. I moved Matt Sparrow to the left and hope he got energized. Geynrih, I stuck him at center midfield and put a big arrow straight up to striker. Dario Mazzola, a young prospect, is put in for a fourth back; achieving a 4-3-1 formation. What happens? Billy Sharp SCORES GOALS. As does Geynrih. And Scunthorpe battles MIGHTLY in the second half, with Sparrow and Taylor playing like beasts possessed.

So we come back to win 4-3. Goals from Sharp and Geynrih. I'm sorry that I'm typing so much about this, but I managed a 9 man team to come back from a 2-0 deficit at half time to win! On the road! In a game hardly anyone expected us to get a draw, much less a win.

I love this game.

FlyHigh

01-08-2007, 11:13 PM

Just reading this, I am so tempted to buy the game, is sacrificing my grades worth the obsession?

Quiet Robert

01-08-2007, 11:38 PM

This game gives you more reasons to hate Chelsea.

60,000,000$ (pounds)for Kaka. :eek:

How can you compete with that. :shakehead

DevilFisch

01-13-2007, 09:18 PM

How? Tight mark Kaka! Long ball! Uh...offsides trap? Who knows!

OK, The Scunthorpe 2007 - Championship Campaign has hit the half way point. Let's do a quick recap:

-The media has predicted Scunthorpe to finish 24th out of 24 teams. The Scunthorpe board of directors and the supporters groups have given me (the manager) the task of fighting relegation.

-Scunthorpe is currently in 8th place with 10 wins, 3 draws, and 10 losses.

-Scunthorpe is 2nd in Championship in terms of scoring with 43 goals for (Newcastle leads with 47). Striker Billy Sharp leads Scunthorpe with 17 goals, good for second in the league right now (Michael Chopra of Cardiff has 18).

-Scunthorpe is 3rd in Championship in terms of giving up goals with 40 goals against. Scunthorpe was hammered whenever centerback Douglas Sequeira and defensive midfielder Jim Goodwin gets red-carded (3 for Sequeira and 2 for Goodwin).

-My biggest win has been that incredible comeback against Stoke in their house. My last post described that game in detail. Other big wins include a 3-2 win over promotion candidates West Bromwich Albion, a 1-0 win over Watford in their house, and a 4-0 blowout of Ipswich Town at home.

-My biggest loss is a 3-0 loss to Bristol City, who won League One last season.

-I got offered the Watford job, actually. Watford are expected to go back up to the Premiership, currently sitting at 4th place. I turned it down because I didn't think cutting out on a contract for a lateral move in the league would be good. Their old manager ran up to Manchester City earlier, a job I had an outside shot at getting according to the media. Not for me, I'll stay at Glanford Park until the contract ends.

Scunthorpe just lost their last two after beating Coventry away 2-0 on TV. QPR is next at Glanford Park (my home stadium) and I'm looking to avenge a 4-2 loss from earlier in the year. Scunthorpe just drew Stockport in the FA Cup Third Round, I hope to win that once January rolls around. I'll post more on Scunthorpe as things happen.

les Habs

01-15-2007, 12:40 AM

gary69

01-15-2007, 11:47 AM

I'm sorry, but the game is rather ridiculous. I get teams interested in my players who are for sale, but then when I offer the players to them they say they don't think they could attract a player of that calibre to their club. What's more, I even offer them on a free transfer and the guys are worth like 10 million. I'm tired of the game already and I'm going to start playing something else.

I don't think it's wrong necessarily, selling/buying players under contract should be difficult. I have 200-300 players on my shortlist (alas showing my club as interested, but I'm not gonna buy them all, and the one's I'm buying depends on my salary & transfer budget). It's the same for AI controlled teams.

For example of the dozens (good) players I've been offered even for free over a couple of seasons, I haven't been able to sign but one or two. For example, I've been offered Maniche for free. Atletico Madrid paid 9 million for him last season, but he isn't getting any games this year, but has a salary of hundreds of thousands of euros a month. Maximum salary I can pay is 69000 but I offered him less, which he turned down. Again, it's the same thing for AI teams.

So, if you planning to buy a player, you should ask a report card on him by one of your scouts, it tells you whether he would be interested and what kind of salary he wants. AI teams do this and compare it to a player's current salary/contract/club reputation. After this, they can give you answer "they don't think can attract a player of such calibre to their club".

If there's a team interested in your player, you should really look at their club's financial and salary structure to determine what they can pay for his transfer and salary. If he has higher salary in your club then the chances are he doesn't want to go there even if they're interested and can match your asking price. You might have better luck in loaning him out.

Once you take over a new club, it usually takes at least two seasons to get rid of the players you don't want/need and get in the players you want. And even then you might have to buy out the contracts of a couple of players you can't get rid of otherwise. If your club can't afford it, then you're stuck with your current crop and hope to bring in quality youngsters.

Although there are a lot of quality players available for free/on loan every year, so you might have good seasons even with minimal buying.

So, I think it's good that game forces you to think your transfer policy well, and even then you probably make a mistake or two. If you're only planning to stay for a few seasons in a club, the long-term planning isn't that important. Or if you have "limitless" salary/transfer budget, then just pretty much ignore this aspect.

Even if you plan everything well, the "moronic" chairman can still ruin you buy selling 1-2 of your key players.

I think the transfer system works, but it might take too much decication and time for a casual player to make the best use of it.

Quiet Robert

01-16-2007, 01:02 PM

gary69

01-16-2007, 03:38 PM

I have a little question about free kicks. I've started playing with Roma and obviously I have Totti taking my kicks, but I've found that a lot times where it seems like he's in perfect shooting position, he'll pass it off. I was reading a FM messageboard and a thread about Barca came up and the poster wrote that Ronaldinho was doing the same thing.

Any tips on how to get the shot to be the no.1 priority? I've tried messing around with all the players, where they stand etc...and it still seems like I pass up on a lot of shot opportunities. I never really noticed this because I never played with an elite dead ball guy but it is kind of frustrating. Any help would be great.

I've have same experiences as you, but unfortunately can't offer any solutions. I looked at the amount of most goals scored from freekicks by other teams and since there isn't that much difference, I decided not to waste too much time on this any more.

How many players you have on your free kick takers list? I tried putting there only those players I actually wanted to take free kicks, but no change, they still pass it to the poorer kick taker standing next to them. Same happened, when I cleared the list altogether and left everything to AI. I think the match engine always doesn't represent these situations very well. If you look at the season long stats of the free kick takers in various leagues, the best takers still tend to have most success. What you see from the match engine, it just sometimes is a bit off from proper representation of what it should be.

I have another example from last night. My very-defensive minded opponent had a free kick from the right flank. They only had three players on my half, the kick taker, one player at the near post and another guy at the penalty spot. I had 6 guys back, one of them was a sort of 1-man-wall, but ALL the other five guys were marking the opponent at the near post, leaving the guy at the penalty completely alone. He promptly scored with a header from a free-kick.

This certaily wasn't the instruction I had given my players and even if I had, even a beer-league footballer would have ignored those instructions atleast somewhat, nevermind my (fringe) internationals.

So to my experience (similar as yours) sometimes free kicks work with the best/2nd or 3rd best free kick takers actually shooting and scoring even. Sometimes they just pass it to the worst guy possible.

There are other glitches with the match engine, that I would like to have some influence on. To tell my players what never/always to do. If a good striker is through alone, at least try to shoot on goal, don't run towards the left/right cornerflags so the opponents can get back to block your shots.

If I have ordered my team to play a narrow formation, it really means I don't want my poor crossing skill strikers (with tactical freedom low and rarely crossing -orders) running to the flanks and crossing to my 5'5" midfielder in the box.

Or I would like to prevent my goalie from coming nearly to the half line to take a free kick and blast it right at the opposing forward who is then clean through, with my defenders who are told to stay back at free-kicks, defend deep, don't play offiside etc. nowhere to be seen.

So, all in all when watching the match engine it often shows players making bonehead plays even when their attributes would suggest otherwise (e.g. decision, composure) and sometimes never doing what they are told. For example, a guy with a good long shot attribute doesn't shoot when he has a clear view of the goal, instead he passes it to the next guy with a poor long shot ability (and who has rarely shoot from distance -orders) who then blasts it high and wide.

It happens to the AI teams with match engine as well, not to mention some weird tactics by supposedly world class managers. I remember in my both CL games against Valencia their super wingers (Joaquin and Vicente) hit a long cross after long cross for their lone striker David Villa, who was surrounded by three of my 6'4"-6'6" defenders. This surely can't be the tactic they're leading the Spanish League with Villa scoring dozens of goals.

I'm sometimes seriously considering not to watch my team's games at all. I once had a touchline ban and had to let my assistant manager take care of the match (who has pretty good attributes and has been a first team manager at other teams at high level in previous years). The same bonehead plays continued then as well.

And it's not that I'm doing bad with my team, I think I'm performing at a level to be expected from this group of players at my disposal, if not better.

The match engine just could be a little bit better at some aspects, but now when I see something I don't like, I just take it as "my players are just stupid".

Or maybe the match engine was actually designed this way on purpose...:amazed:

Joretus

01-16-2007, 03:45 PM

Have seen some whining about freekicks as well. But it was mainly about "too much goals from freekicks". I have played 0,75 of season with newest update and I have had like ~5 goals scored from free kick and opponent about same amount as well. I don't have anybody too good with free kicks, but it sounds pretty right for me.

The engine isn't perfect and the match engine isn't either, but it's still really good and I think it's good players are "doing thinking" not just doing 100% what you are saying them to do. What would be more annoying than your full back doing some stupid move and leave his place totally empty and then opponent hitting you with counter attack and goal of their only opportunity.

edit:Rest half ot the Polii season coming up maybe this week, some really exciting games;)

xalcyx

01-16-2007, 05:06 PM

:D Glad to see everyone is loving the frustration of the game.

DevilFisch

01-17-2007, 02:33 PM

It makes sense that the players on the field do differently from you tell them. That's realistic. Sometimes the players ignore instructions. For example, a defender may ignore your command to hang back deep in order to get forward and pound a long shot on goal (and score). I certainly do not mind it when that happens. That same defender may kick an opposing player prior to a throw-in and get red-carded. THAT, is something I mind quite a bit (with plenty of explitives yelled at the screen).

In any case, I finished Scunthorpe's Championship season of 07-08. Let's review!

The Iron was 10-3-10 at the halfway point in 8th place. The second half of the season was not kind to me. Injuries, players leaving for international competitions, and so many blown leads dropped them down to 16-9-21. That's right, the second half record was 6-6-11. Still, for a team predicted to be in 24th and my only expectations was not to relegated, I succeeded in that regard. Fun Championship Facts: Derby County won the league, Newcaslte United got promoted and West Brom Albion won the playoff against Watford for promotion. Burnley, Coventry, and Colchester are dropping to League One.

Injuries and a lack of luck from Billy Sharp resulted in him finishing with 19 goals. That's right, he scored only TWO since the halfway mark. Good for 11th in Championship, tied with his former teammate Andrew Keogh (thanks Steve Wharton for selling him over my head, you fool!).

Scunthorpe did lead Championship in one category: Red Cards. 11 red cards. Thanks a lot Douglas Sequeira, Jim Goodwin, and Billy Sharp (those 3 accounted for 7 of the 11). Strange thing is, most of the red carded were on Scunthorpe last season in League One and had zero red cards. I guess the Championship brought out the worst in some of these guys.

Scunthorpe did go all the way to the 6th round of the FA Cup before being soundly beaten by the Blackburn Rovers in Blackburn. Blackburn would then go on to lose in extra time to Chelsea in the FA Cup Final.

Leftback Patrick Kohlmann was my iron man of the Iron, playing in all 46 games of the season. Jamaican international centerback Shavar Thomas is the best performer in the 2nd half, coming off injuries and poor form to delight in the back line.

What am I looking for Scunthorpe for next season? Improved defense and an improved midfield on the wings. But for now, I'm relaxing until July.

les Habs

01-18-2007, 07:46 PM

I don't think it's wrong necessarily, selling/buying players under contract should be difficult. I have 200-300 players on my shortlist (alas showing my club as interested, but I'm not gonna buy them all, and the one's I'm buying depends on my salary & transfer budget). It's the same for AI controlled teams.

For example of the dozens (good) players I've been offered even for free over a couple of seasons, I haven't been able to sign but one or two. For example, I've been offered Maniche for free. Atletico Madrid paid 9 million for him last season, but he isn't getting any games this year, but has a salary of hundreds of thousands of euros a month. Maximum salary I can pay is 69000 but I offered him less, which he turned down. Again, it's the same thing for AI teams.

So, if you planning to buy a player, you should ask a report card on him by one of your scouts, it tells you whether he would be interested and what kind of salary he wants. AI teams do this and compare it to a player's current salary/contract/club reputation. After this, they can give you answer "they don't think can attract a player of such calibre to their club".

If there's a team interested in your player, you should really look at their club's financial and salary structure to determine what they can pay for his transfer and salary. If he has higher salary in your club then the chances are he doesn't want to go there even if they're interested and can match your asking price. You might have better luck in loaning him out.

Once you take over a new club, it usually takes at least two seasons to get rid of the players you don't want/need and get in the players you want. And even then you might have to buy out the contracts of a couple of players you can't get rid of otherwise. If your club can't afford it, then you're stuck with your current crop and hope to bring in quality youngsters.

Although there are a lot of quality players available for free/on loan every year, so you might have good seasons even with minimal buying.

So, I think it's good that game forces you to think your transfer policy well, and even then you probably make a mistake or two. If you're only planning to stay for a few seasons in a club, the long-term planning isn't that important. Or if you have "limitless" salary/transfer budget, then just pretty much ignore this aspect.

Even if you plan everything well, the "moronic" chairman can still ruin you buy selling 1-2 of your key players.

I think the transfer system works, but it might take too much decication and time for a casual player to make the best use of it.

Actually no, it's totally unrealistic and it's a bug. A lot of people feel the very same way. It has nothing to do with salary in your Maniche example and I have no problems attracting players. The problem is selling 10 million + valued players who have multiple clubs interested in them. These clubs can afford the fee and their wages, yet they don't even take me up on giving them away for free. It's ridiculous to think that is somehow realistic when they have very reasonable wages too.

And don't give me that "casual" nonsense.

Quiet Robert

01-18-2007, 10:32 PM

Little midseason Roma report.

With only 2 million to spend, Roma weren't very active in the summer transfer period. Nowotony was brought in from Dinamo to strengthen the CB position, which needed to a veteran presence. Nowotny turned out to be a key player for Roma, scoring 1 goal, and along with Chivu helped anchor one Serie A's most solid defences. Roma also took a chance on a few youngsters and bought some veterans to stabilize the 2nd team.

Roma find themselves 2nd in Serie A, although a full 12 points behind Inter, who have yet to lose a game. Roma struggled early on, but soon found their form, and went on an 12 game unbeaten run, which included 9 wins. Roma have won their last 6 home games convincinly, but away games still prove challenging. Furthermore, starting 1-2-3 was enough to dig a hole which now seems nearly impossible to surmount.

Goalkeeping issues were to blame, as Doni and Curci both struggled. Doni eventually gained his form though, and ended up allowing only 3 goals in the next 11 games.

Totti has been the team's key player, scoring 11 times in 18 league matches.

Roma finished 1st in Champions League Group E, and drew Liverpool to eliminate them on Match Day 6. :D They went on to draw PSV in the 1st round knockout stage.

Things were going great, Roma's transfer budget was increased to 18 million, so the January window looked to be the perfect opportunity to nab the elusive striker missing from the team. Even Coppa Italia was looking promising, Roma drew Chievo and seemed poised to advance.....but then Mancini had to decide he was little ***** and declare he no longer wanted to play for Roma. What's worse, he declared that Milan should be his next team. :shakehead :banghead: Luckily Pirlo decided around the same time that he was unhappy at Milan and that he wanted a better contract. A deal is being worked out, but it doesn't seem likely to work. Although Roma are considering the 20 million offer for Mancini from Milan, Man U, Chelsea and Real Madrid have also inquired about the ***** midfielder.

Things started off horribly in the new year though, as an unhappy Mancini voiced his displeasure at not having been dealt to Milan and Roma fell to fledgling Ascoli 1-0...

2nd half should be exciting. (This game is way too addictive.)

gary69

01-20-2007, 03:34 PM

Actually no, it's totally unrealistic and it's a bug. A lot of people feel the very same way. It has nothing to do with salary in your Maniche example and I have no problems attracting players. The problem is selling 10 million + valued players who have multiple clubs interested in them. These clubs can afford the fee and their wages, yet they don't even take me up on giving them away for free. It's ridiculous to think that is somehow realistic when they have very reasonable wages too.

And don't give me that "casual" nonsense.

Well, the casual remark wasn't directed so much towards you (I have no idea how much you play the game), but against "a lot of people" you mentioned to be complaining about transfers. I guess most people play the game on average a couple of hours a day (maybe more on weekends) to the total of 20 hours a week at most. Then there are those few who "play" 8-15 hours a day planning and analyzing everything, they are certainly not casual. That's what I meant.

But you did contradict yourself a bit by saying you often get the line "they can't attract the player of that quality to their club". That simply means the AI club can't meet the players wage or other demands (or due to the club's wage budget). You often also get the same announcement if the player doesn't want to join that club for whatever reason. For the human player the commentary is more varied, you get lines like "player x has no intention of joining your club". Maybe what those people complaining about transfer system actually want is a more detailed commentary on why a particular transfer failed (even though the end result would be the same, i.e. transfer not happening).

Now, let's look at the transfer market more closely in my current game. The first thing to remember is that about 90% of transfers are free, without any fee involved. So if you sell/buy players with transfer fees in more than 1 out 10 times, you're already doing "better" than an average AI club/manager.

In my game there are at the moment approximately 110 000 players. Here are the transfer figures for the past two seasons.

Time..........................No. of Transfers in Belgium (my league)..........No. of transfers in other countries
Jun-Aug06.....................346 (70% free transfers)..............................5853...(70 % free transfers)
Sep-Dec06......................48 (100% free)........................................1606. ..(90% free)
Jan07.............................77 (52% free)..........................................186 9...(60% free)
Feb-May07......................32 (100% free).........................................1138 ...(90% free)
Jun-Aug07.....................917 (90% free).........................................1141 6...(85% free)
Sep-Dec07......................33 (97% free)..........................................184 6...(89% free)
Jan08.............................95 (52% free)..........................................178 2...(65% free)

So, in January there is more demand for better players and clubs are more willing to pay transfers fees for team. This may be due to their players being bought first (hence money and salary room), they might have left salary room in autumn on purpose, injuries, new manager, league success (relegation fear, cup success, push for Europe etc). Most transfers occur in July though, and most of the big money transfers happen then as well.

Now, let's look at the salary structure. I use my current club Standard Liege and Belgium as an example. My wage budget is 693 thousands a month, and at the moment I have used about 570 000 of it. But due to board restrictions I COULDN'T hire anybody better than I already had in January 2008, even if it would seem so at first.

On the season end -loans boards restricted my salary offers to 6000 a month (most clubs offering players thought this was too little). Now, on actual transfers they restricted my offers (even if only until the end of season) to 20000 a month. Well, I already have 20 players with salaries over 10 000 and my starting eleven are on 20000+ salaries. I don't really need or want any more same calibre players, I wouldn't mind a couple of 40000 a month players (my lone key player gets that). So if I was a AI club and a human player offered me their 40000 a month players for free, they would get the line "can't attract players of that quality to the club". Maybe the wording is a bit unclear, but it just means that the club and player can't agree on salary, whatever the reasons.

And it's not that I would have problems next season either, after the summer of 08 I will get over 150 000 off my payroll because of ending contracts. It's just my board/chairman's attributes and their wage budget structure (they basically only allow 1 key player salary and about a dozen first team salaries). Again, same for the AI teams, if they already have the first team spots filled, they don't need/wan't same calibre players.

Now, let's look at two other major clubs in Belgium and their transfer and salary policies, Anderlecht and Brugge, and compare them to me.

In two seasons, Anderlecht have bought 7 and 6 players (respectively of which 4 and 6 they paid a transfer fee for). They've sold 5 and 15 players (again respectively of which 5 and 8 they got a transfer fee). They usually only buy expensive guys after they've sold a player, and usually a bit cheaper (1-3 millions) and a few years younger player with potential. They are doing well on transfer market.

Their total salary budget is about 950 000, and they have 96 players of which 55 are U-19 youngsters with salaries under 1500, to the total of 44 000. In their first and reserve teams Anderlecht has 41 players, their lone key player gets 83 thousands, and 18 other players get over 20000. If any of these guys leaves for whatever reason, they start looking for a replacement. This is when you have a chance to sell a AI team one of your players, provided he is good enough, of suitable age and has a suitable salary. But even then, usually there are a few other (foreign) players that fit the bill, or they might promote a youngster instead.

And Brugge then. They've bought 1 and 4 players in two seasons (all paid a transfer fee for) and sold 5 and 10 players (they got a transfer fee for 5 and 5 players). Again, similar to Anderlecht, they only buy replacement for first team players leaving, but it seems that they let go of their youngsters for free more often (they are probably worse than Anderlecht's youngsters). Brugge has 34 youngsters with a salary of under 1500 to the total of 22 000. Their first and reserve teams have 47 players, with one key player with a salary of 40k, and 21 players with salaries of over 10k. Their total salaries are 616 000, just a bit higher than mine, but they have fewer youngsters (the AI is probably better on judging their youngsters potential than I am, and lets go of those with not enough potential quicker). Interestingly, their top striker Bosko Balaban has agreed to a deal for the Premier league in the next summer, so they will most certainly buy a replacement for him. Again, here would be a chance to sell them your player.

As for me, I've bought 7 and 20 players in two seasons (1 and 6 I paid a transfer fee for) and sold 8 and 20 players (of whom I got a transfer fee for 1 and 4 players). Those I let go for other clubs free (usually youngsters for lower leagues) have no future at the club. There were two players I inherited from the previous manager I had to buy out, since nobody wanted them. A 32-year old full back with 3 years left on his contract with a first-team level salary (but he couln't break into my first team any more) and hopeless youngster with a long contract.

But I wouldn't complain about a bug in transfer system on this, no club in their right mind would pay that 32-old the salary he got from my club, so he doesn't want to join anybody (hence again the much maligned line of "can't attract a player of his quality to their club"). And the youngster knew, he probably won't get a contract anywhere any more.

In the end, what I'm trying to say about the transfer system, I think it's okay, a lot of complainers just want easily to get rid of the players they don't want/need, but that's not realistic.

Now then, I do have a couple of complaints myself. This might be related to transfer system, actually. There are too many instances when a quality player retires altogether in their prime years (22-29) because of their too high salary demands after being without a contract for a few months. Freddy Adu, Francis Jeffries are some of the names get mentioned a lot. In my game Ecuador's international goalie (he played at the Copa America just before) retired in his mid-20's, Macedonian international striker (with 7 goals in 15 games) retired at 22 etc.

Other thing I would like to have, that there shouldn't be any grey players allowed in the active leagues. I got pissed when Anderlecht got a (good) grey goalie when two of their first team goalies and their lone reserve and youth goalie were injured at the same time before their match against me. They just should have hired an out-of- contract goalie or put an outfield player there. In a similar situation I had to a hire an unempoyed goalie.

Btw, I no longer have any complaints regarding free kicks, after seeing the less-than-brilliant action Ballack and Drogba put together in the Chelsea-Liverpool match.

gary69

01-27-2007, 12:20 AM

Here's my (a bit delayed) summary on Standard Liege's second season.

It was an eventful season with a new chairman taking over, amazing run in Europe and a bit disappointing 3rd place finish in the Belgian league.

The season started with a Champions League qualifier against Palermo. On paper I didn't have much chance to advance, but after getting a 1-0 home win in the first leg, I began to think that with some luck Standard might make it. And stupidly Palermo didn't play any friendlies during the two weeks before the second leg, so they were rusty and on low morale. Luckily enough, I was able to get the away goal I was looking for, and scraped through on away goals after a 2-1 loss.

Then my season plans were dented a big blow, when my chairman announced him leaving the club, and he sold my midfield playmaker for years to come, Steven Defour for 5 million plus to Ajax. Well, at least the chairman left the club with some retirement money for himself. :) (Btw, since Defour was already cup tied with me in Europe, he missed the CL this season.) An American millionaire was the new chairman, and as his first act he severed the parent club -ties (loan deals) with Porto and Marseille, although Marseille's Managing Director Robert Louis-Dreyfus stayed as a Standard board member.

Fortunately, Stuttgart offered to loan me their Brazilian midfielder Antonio da Silva for free (no wage contribution). He went on to be my main attacking midfielder/ playmaker, supported with veterans Listzes and Sergio Conceicaio, who both missed time due to injuries.

Since I got a tough CL groups draw with ManU, Bremen and Valencia, with little chance of progressing, I tought we might show the world that Standard can play some attractive football at least. Standard promptly lost 2-3, 2-3 and 1-2 in their first three games, so in the next home encounter I thought we might defend with all we've got, to at least give the home fans a one point to cheer about. We went ever better than that, snatching an overtime winner against Valencia to win 1-0. And we did the same in our next home match, again netting an overtime winner against ManU (2-1). In the final game away against an already-qualified Bremen fielding some reserves, we got a 2-2 draw and finished third in the group at the expense of a disappointing Valencia. So Standard would continue their European adventure in the UEFA cup.

League was strolling along nicely, but we could only draw with Anderlecht and Brugge at home, so that might come back to hount us later in the season when we visit them.

In the UEFA cup Standard put together some good displays during spring. Especially goalie Jan Lastuvka (on-loan from Shaktar), who was the main man keeping Espanyol at bay in the 1st knockout round 4-0 aggregate win. Then Standard got a favourable draw and easily disposed of Panathinaikos.

In the quarted-finals Standard were pushed more, but another Spanish club Betis lost 2-1 on aggregate, again Lastuvka in great form. Now several Spanish clubs were shortlisting him.

It had to end sometimes, and finally in the semi-finals Arsenal was too strong for Standard, although we did get a 2-2 home draw, before losing 1-3 away.

I was again undefeated at home for the whole season, but there were a few hiccups in the Belgian league away from home for Standard (I even served a one match touchline ban), but in the end it all came down to the penultimate week's game against Anderlecht (I had an away draw with Brugge few weeks prior) in May.

I lost 3-0 and Anderlecht were the champions, and this result even allowed Brugge sneak past me by one point. So Standard ended in the disappointing third place, which means no Champions League football next season for Standard. I actually got 3points more than last season, but Anderlecht improved even more and Brugge didn't fall enough.

My reserves again won the reserves league, to really show my squad depth, and U-19team finished third in their league.

League's top scorer was Bosnjak of Genk at 25 goals, followed by Brugge's Bosko Balaban, who missed some time through injuries. Assist leader was Anderlecht's Serhat. My three main strikers got 10 goals each, with other strikers contributing 7 goals with limited playing time.

As last year, my best player was again the main central defender, new signing for this season, Nigerian international Olajengbesi, who finished second in the average ratings leaguewide.

Another notable incident within the Standard camp was the transfer of midfield general and captain Karel Geraerts to Spain during the winter break. I bought the Norwegian Amundsen to replace him (with a one-third of the 3m transfer fee I received for Geraerts), but more importantly I got the Finnish international Tainio (released by Spurs for free) for a six-month contract until the end of season. He stayed healthy and apart from a game or two was great (second best average rating in Standard).

Finally, here's the list of Standard's players who contributed most this season:

Goalie:

Jan Lastuvka (on loan from Shaktar)

Central defenders (usually 2 played in each game):

Seyi Olajengbesi (captain after the winter break)
Mohammed Sarr
Eric Matoukou

Wingbacks: (combined for 11 assists)

Landry Mulemo (league leading 7 yellows)
Jonathan Walasiak

Defensive midfielder (1 spot): (both missed games due to injuries/suspensions)

Badou Kere
Seyfo Soley

Central midfielder (1-2 spots):

Karel Geraerts (captain during autumn, sold in January)
Teemu Tainio (brought in January)
Jan Amundsen (bought in January)

Attacking midfielder/playmaker (1-2 spots):

Antonio da Silva (on loan from Stuttgart, my assist leader with 8, also 5 goals)
Kristian Lisztes (6 goals and 4 assists, missed months due to injuries)
Sergio Conceicaio (3 goals from freekicks, 1 assist)

Forwards (2 spots):

Igor de Camargo (10 goals, my best allaround striker)
David Lafata (10 goals, new Czech signing at the beginning of the season, speedy)
Romano Denneboom (10 goals, free Dutch signing from NEC at the start of the season, most powerful and best header of my strikers)

With no Champions League in prospect next season (2008/09), my plan is to concentrate on winning the Belgian league. If I don't succeed in doing that, I'll probably leave, since my contract is up anyway.

gary69

02-21-2007, 04:52 PM

New 7.0.2. update available (save game compatible, for the most part):

http://www.sigames.com/static/index.php

xalcyx

02-21-2007, 05:57 PM

New 7.0.2. update available (save game compatible, for the most part):

http://www.sigames.com/static/index.php

Thank **** for that. :shakehead

On a side note, I have a cracking game going with Inter/Italy right now.

Ajacied

03-01-2007, 07:58 AM

My Fiorentina career got lost when I tried to update the game (patches, roster updates). Had to install the game from scratch. Quite a downer since I started to get a pretty good side.

So, new game. Started out with Ajax this time.. Did a manual update so my team already included Davids and Leonardo, as well as about 7 players being loaned out.

The winterbreak just finished and I am tied for 1st in the league along with PSV. Got eliminated in the CL, finishing 3rd in a group with AC Milan, Osasuna and Slovan Liberec. Actually drew Milan twice (they equalized in the final 5 minutes in both games), but had to beat Osasuna during the last match to advance. Ended up losing 0-1 and now face Standard Luik in the UEFA Cup.

I'm also still active in the domestic Cup, having to play the Quarter finals vs rivals Feyenoord, who I will also face in the UEFA Cup if I beat Standard Luik.

As for management, I bought Serginho on advice from Jaap Stam. I didn't have anyone who could backup Emanuelson so this was a smart suggestion by my captain. He also brings experience to a rediculous young squad and only costed 650k. As usual, I also bought the 18 year old Mikhael Sivakov for a measily 40k and the 14 year old Nicolas Millán from Colo Colo. Further acquistions were Steven Defour, who came this close of signin with Ajax in reallife this past offseason. He also had Ajax as his dreamclub so the deal was easily made. Perhaps I even overpayed since they accepted my 2.5 million offer in no-time. All these moves are rather minor though. They were all immediately sent to my U19 squad while Serginho is only an insurance backup. My biggest acquisition was Matthiue Bodmer, on advice from my scouts. Payed a little over 13 million for him.

Currently trying to unload Rosales, Gabri and Lindenbergh. Have been trying to either get Bojan Krkic or Moussa Dembelé, but both have rather high price tags (Bojan ~ 7, but prefers to remain with Barçelona. Dembelé ~ 11)

So, my squad, in traditional 4-3-3 ofcourse:

-------------------------- Huntelaar -------------------------
- Babel ------------------------------------------- Leonardo -
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------------------- Sneijder ---- Bodmer --------------------
--------------------------- Davids -----------------------------
- Emanuelson ------------------------------------ Heitinga -
---------------------- Grygera - Stam -----------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------ Stekelenburg -------------------------

Subs:

- Ogararu
- Maduro
- Manucharyan
- Mitea
- de Mul
- Vermaelen
- Perez
- Gentenaar
- Serginho
- Roger (amazingly good btw)

With potential world talents such as Anita, Sarpong, Millán, Defour, Sivakov and Goossens waiting in the wings. Not sure how the Ajax talents will develop though. I've heard alot of complaints about FM'ers regarding that trio.

My goal now is to win the UEFA Cup and to win the domestic league, and preferably the domestic cup as well. High standards, but that's what Ajax should be all about..

DevilFisch

03-12-2007, 10:09 PM

The patch didn't kill the Scunthorpe season I was running! Sweet! I'm in the last year in my 3 year contract and I don't know if I want to re-sign with the Iron. All the same, here's what I did in the offseason:

-Bought a bunch of players. I snagged an attacking left midfielder from AC Milan on free, his name is Roberto Massano. He's really good. But I got him after I dropped $1.6 mil. on Michael Barnes away from Manchester United, also an attacking left midfielder. Ooops? Sold my original left mid away for $210k because he was going to get NO time between these two. So I bolstered the left side. Got a boost in the middle by snagging George O'Callahan from Bristol Rovers for the bargin of $75k. Had to, he improves my team and gives it some needed veteran presence. Couldn't do much for the right, unfortunately. Bolstered the backline with the signing of Sean St. Ledger from Preston North End for $300k. My Uzbek forward was sold away for $400k; how do I replace a guy like that? I spent $300k for Diego Armando Meija, El Salvador national team's fairly young and cheap striker.

-Preseason went OK. Beat Huddersfield. Lost to St. Johnstone. Beat Dundee, St. Pat's Athletic, and Sligo Rovers. Tied Reading. Not bad. One of my youth players, Joe Wilcox, doesn't suck; so he earned a spot. Massano beat out Barnes for starting ML; so I begin to regret dropping so much money on him. Meija looks OK in Championship. St. Ledger is exactly what the team needed.

-Championship! The media predicts my young team (average age: 23) to be relegated - and come in 24th. 1000-to-1 odds to win it all, they say? Well, I'll show them!!! 40 points was enough last season to avoid the drop and a team worse than this earned 57. THE IRON WILL BE UP WHETHER I AM THERE OR NOT! HA!

-Games! We start hosting Leeds United, we end the game 0-0 which isn't such a good sign. Better than a loss. Beat QPR 1-0 on a beautiful late goal from Diego Armando Meija. Got pasted by Kevin Doyle and Reading at Reading 3-1; they sure as hell played like a Premiership team, how they got relegated I don't know. Leicester away was tough, they were 1-4 odds to win. So we come from behind to win 2-1 thanks to Billy Sharp and Diego Armando Meija. It's like I signed a hispanic Andrew Keogh or something, Sharp really came on after this game.

-League Cup! We draw League One Oldham, surely Scunthorpe can beat them! 7 shots, 2 on net, and 0 goals with a lucky one for them = a loss. Well, it means an easier schedule in the beginning, not like we were going to win it. Blah.

-Injuries! The Iron is finally favored by the bookies to beat Southampton. Naturally, we tie. What we deserved after wasting an early Billy Sharp goal (assist Meija) and a sweet strike from Diego Armando Meija. Just as I was thinking of renaming him: Diego! Armando! Meijaaaaa!, Bradley Wright-Phillips gets a brace. Bah. But a lot of bad things happened in this one. For one, Michael Barnes earned the starting ML spot; Roberto Massano got a calf strain putting him out 3-5 months. Guess I didn't waste $1.6 million. My fiery and effective-when-not-pushing/kicking/punching other players DM Jim Goodwin gets a twisted ankle that keeps him out for 2-4 weeks. Lastly, my new El Salvadorian sensation gets a bruised thigh that'll keep him out up to 2 weeks. Not bad, except we play 4 games in that time. I will miss him dearly, given that he revived Sharp's career.

-Recent game! The Iron is somehow favored to beat Crystal Palace in their house and they did 1-0. It featured about 26 attempts on goal by both team with some of the craziest misses, close-calls, and howlers I ever seen in WWSM since I started playing it a year ago. Good to know my team can sit on a lead...provided the other team has the luck and accuracy of Thomaz Radzinski.

I'll keep you posted of any details. BTW, if/when Scunthorpe gets 60 points, I'm going to end my tenure with some craziness. Like 3-6-1 formations and the such. I already gave Frank Rjikaard the thumbs up (because FC Barcelona really cares what the American at Scunthorpe thinks).

Ajacied

03-14-2007, 06:12 AM

Nice read Devilfisch..

I am in my 3rd season with Ajax now. Probably my real last chance at succes since it's getting hard maintaining my players. Currently facing Arsenal in the CL quarter finals, am first in the league (8 points ahead of Feyenoord who have an immensly strong squad btw) and still in the race for the Dutch Cup. If this isn't going to work out, I might have a sale of which I am going to get very, very rich. I have already declined a 30 million offer for Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid) a 38 million offer for Akinfeev, not to mention I could very well get over 50 million for Klaas Jan Huntelaar, who's been the best striker in the game so far (41 goals in 50 games last year, currently has 36 in 31 and 16 in 18 for Oranje)..

Also bought more Merida and Lokando from Arsenal, giving me amazing depth for the future.

Ajacied

03-14-2007, 03:28 PM

Average age of my squad is 23.57 btw.

But wew.. Just played my legs vs Arsenal.

First leg: In London and the first thing that stuck out to me was that Henry was out, which was good, only to find out he was replaced by Fernando Torres, which was not so good. Played my usual attacking style since that's what my players are used to but also to force that important away goal. Up to the game itself where I was under constant pressure. Torres scored the 1-0 in the 40th minute and I knew I wasn't going to bring anything offensively this match so I had one of my offensive midfielders (Bodmer) play DM next to Maduro to hold back their pressure. Worked out well.. I managed to create a few minor chances myself and actually played an all out attack in the final 10 minutes (2 strikers, 2 wingers, 2 attacking midfielders). Yet, I was pleased the game finished 1-0 as I saw potential for the return in Amsterdam.

Second leg: I locked up the Eredivisie title in the mean time before this match started. Started out with my usual 4-3-3 only switched Maduro for Davids since I wanted more experience in such games. They looked scary with Torres, van Persie and Henry all fit into the line-up. It only took 24 minutes for Fernando Torres to score (again). Down 1-0, I now needed 3 goals with about 75 minutes to play. This, while Huntelaar, my top striker, has been scoreless for the past 10 hours. Kept playing the same style as I wasn't playing bad at all.. and then, bam, 1-1, 2-1, both Huntelaar before halftime came around. Continued play in the second half with the way I ended the first and see how things worked out. Up in the 75th minute, I took Davids off in favor of another striker, Dembélé. Managed to create a few really good chances in this game but they remained utterly dangerous. I had already lost hope before Klaas-Jan Huntelaar completed his hattrick in the 89th minute. I couldn't hold back a gigantic scream.. Changed Dembélé for Maduro and got back to my original 4-3-3. Four minutes left and they hit the crossbar on a rocket, whilst Akinfeev makes a huge save on the following rebound. They make two more fouls and I try to steal as many seconds as possible, before the referee finally makes an end to it in the 95th minute.

And so I beat Arsenal.. :handclap:

DevilFisch

03-14-2007, 10:44 PM

Thanks O=S. Congratulations on beating Arsenal.

Scunthorpe has played two more months, let's see where they are!

-They were at the top! Of the injury table. At one point, I had 6 injuries: a center back, my two left midfielders, a utility midfielder who was playing at ML in Massano's and Barnes' place, and a center midfielder. We spent most of September and October with them out and a really out-of-it guy at ML.

-They actually did pretty good in September. Except on TV. Opened September up with a TV game against Southend, lost 1-0 there. Lost to current Championship leaders Ipswich Town in the next game, but rebounded with a comeback 2-1 win against Sheff Wednesday. A close 3-2 loss to former Premiership squad, Luton Town. Then, my team decided to respond by holding onto a lead against Plymouth 3-2. A pretty good September for a team predicted to come in last.

-October began with a TV game against Stoke City after a long international break. We lost 1-0. Notice a pattern? The stadium finally got expanded a few thousand seats, but 14197 (12014 seats) capacity is now the SECOND smallest in Championship. Take that Southend! The training facilities got upgraded too. But October became the month of comeback wins. Down 1-0 to Preston North End at half, tell the guys I want more from them, and BAM 3-2 win. Hosting the ex-EPL Man City 4 days later, losing 1-2 at halftime, tell the guys I want more from them and WHAM 3-2 win. Dogged it in a 1-0 loss to Cardiff City away, but 4 days later at Wolverhampton. A really struggling team, new manager, near the bottom of the table and we were down 2-0 at half. What did I do? What could I do? Tell the men I wanted more from them and SLAM 3-2 win. Somewhere in all this, one of my top defenders, the Jamaican national team defender Shavar Thomas wanted a transfer to a bigger club. Well, I said yes because I got some money ($1.32 million) to spend on his replacement. Winter window should be fun...need an upgrade on the right midfield, Cleveland Taylor likes getting yellows and 5s in games instead of doing well.

-November began with a scoreless draw at Millwall. All the same, Scunthorpe now sit in 6th with 9-3-6 record (W-D-L). That's 30 points and I hope to have about 45 by the end of the year. That should be enough to ensure at least another Championship season for Scunthorpe. But will I renew my own contract? Will I sign any of the 22 guys whose contracts will end on 6/30/09 like mine? Will I go crazy by Feb. with stupid stuff or push for the playoff? WHO KNOWS?

-NOVEMBER! I prepared for a trip Bristol City but it was re-arranged at the last minute. Something to do with 4 of my players being on international duty whilst having 5 injuries (back at the top of that table then!). Should have let Rory Fallon go if I knew that was going to happen. So that's now in December, wedged in between a trip to QPR and a home game against Leicester City. Next game! Home against Hull City! It's on TV, aw crap. But no, my team did well with the improbable goal coming from centerback Shavar Thomas. He's really done well as of late, shame he wants to leave. We win on TV for a change, 1-0. Next, we go to Bramhall Lane to visit Sheffield United. They fell back into Championship last season and sitting in 15th, they may not be going up soon. All the same, The Iron was 3-1 odds to win whilst the Blades were 4-5. So we dropped 3 goals on them in the first half. A sweet FK from my New Zealand right back David Mulligan and a brace from Diego! Armando! Meijaaaaaa! This after a good game against Hull City and a brace internationally against Panama in WC qualifiers. He's also come on as of late, now my team's goals aren't mainly scored by Billy Sharp. OK, I'm off to get the sleep I need (I am weak?), I'll host Watford - another team that wants to go up but are in 16th. While Scunthorpe is now in 5th with a 11-3-6 record (36 pts. in 20 games. Niiiice. Relegation is all but avoided at this point), I'm still a heavy underdog. Guess I'll have to show the Hornet Antlers all about a proverbial steel beam to the back of their heads.

-NOVEMBER PT. 2!!! Well, I showed Watford that their Marlon King can be limited and that their team can't score many against the Iron! Just one lucky goal before the half. Tied it up, thanks to my DM/DC/Whereever Jim Goodwin potting a goal. My right back David Mulligan hit someone with a two-footed tackle and got sent off, so we didn't score with 10 men. 1-1 it was. Then another tough away game at then 4th placed Norwich City; held them back to a 0-0 draw. This time my sole ML got two yellows and sent off. Lastly, Diego! Armando! Meija! finished on a Billy Sharp move up front to secure a 1-0 win away at QPR. We end the month with a 7 game unbeaten streak. So naturally I am not considered for Manager of the Month. Mulligan's FK goal got accolades as the third best goal scored that month. England U21 Nat Jimmy Smith got third in the league's best young player of the month award. In the world of soccer, YOUR World Player of the Year of 2008 is Miroslav Klose of Werder Bremen. Arjen Robben of Chelsea came in second; Lukas Podolski of Bayern Munich came in third.

-FA Cup Drawing! Third Round! We draw Reading! Away! As in currently first place Reading. As in Reading I play in a little more of a week away. As in the Reading who pounded The Iron 3-1 earlier in the season. Guess we're not making a run for the FA Cup and Europe this year! Baaaah.

-Please give me some suggestions as to what fun stuff I should try with my team once I hit 50 points for the season. Thanks.

xalcyx

03-15-2007, 08:03 AM

Just reading this, I am so tempted to buy the game, is sacrificing my grades worth the obsession?

Oh yes.

xalcyx

03-15-2007, 08:06 AM

Well I am hanging out with Inter, essentially we are untouchable. Won the league all three seasons, and the CL two times. I got the Italy manager's job and I am hanging out until the end of the 2010 world cup, then I'll probably quit that game. My Team:

--------Zlatan-------Iaquinta-------Adriano--------
---------------------------------------------------------
-------------Palombo-----------Gago-----------------
Abidal-------------------------------------------Elano
--------Mertesacker---Barzagli---Andreolli---------

Its an interesting formation, but in Italy its been highly effective.

DevilFisch

03-16-2007, 08:56 PM

It's the beginning of a new year for Scunthorpe! They sit at THIRD PLACE at Championship. Sustained an 11 game unbeaten streak since 10/25 which was snuffed out by Southampton on 12/20. Started with a 1-1 tie with Bristol City. Things picked up in a 3-1 beat down of Leicester. Diego Armando Mejia made December his own; he had a hat trick as he made Leicester regret they played soccer. A late put back by Matt Sparrow ensures a win against Reading; and Mejia gets one in defeating Leeds United in their house. Then came Southampton. They scored 3 on The Iron in the first half; demanded more of my team AND put them in a 4-3-3. Got three goals in the second half within 5 minutes of each other (Mejia at 62' and 65'; Billy Sharp at 67'); but they hit on a lucky counterattack to get a 4-3 win. A 2-2 comeback tie (as in we sucked early and fought for that tie) at home against Crystal Palace sent 2008 to a close. 15 wins, 7 ties, 7 losses and 52 points is good for 3rd in the league and ensured safety from relegation.

-Reserves! Plenty of guys! Plenty of injuries! 14-2-3 after 19 played; second in Group 4 reserves. U18s not so good, 9th place in Group 3 U18s (led by Man Utd right now) with a record of 5-1-7.

-No, I was NOT named in the top 3 for managers of the month. Oh no, I'm just keeping Scunthorpe up in 3rd in the league. Give it to the Cardiff City manager. 4 wins, 1 tie, and 1 loss is impressive for a team in SEVENTEENTH PLACE. I don't mind. No props for Diego Armando Mejia except for 3rd place in goals of the month.

-Mejia and Sharp both have 15 goals. My thinking is that Mejia is the El Salvadorian Billy Sharp and Billy Sharp is the new (English-version) of Andrew Keogh, what with Sharp having 10 assists to go with those 15 goals. What of Andrew Keogh? Leading West Brom Albion in goals with 9, as they sit in the relegation zone in the EPL.

-People want my young defender and corner-kick master Dario Mazzola. Shavar Thomas, a strong defender, wants to leave. The transfer window is open, I suppose if they go then I'll go get some defenders. Signed loanee Robert Sinclair to a long term deal; he upgrades my right midfield. Any recommendations for a not terribly expensive Championship-calibur central defender? Nuno Valentes of Everton is old, but still super-good at left back - something that seems to be a dearth of talent in England/Scotland/Ireland/Wales. Sorry Patrick Kohlmann, I got the push right here...if he signs my fat contract offer.

-JANUARY UPDATE! The transfer window is OPEN. I get NO ONE. After all this team has done with injuries and the like, I see no reason to upgrade. Also, I only had a little under a million so...not enough to get a quality guy. Robert Sinclair is a permanent member of the Iron and that's it. I wanted Diego Armando Mejia's teammate, Alfredo Pacheco. He's an attacking left back who only has poor physical stats. I figured with his 34 caps with El Salvador would lead to another awesome bargain for The Iron; but he was denied a work permit. BAH!

-FA CUP! I draw Reading in the third round. Crap. At their field. Double crap. And it's on TV. I'm screwed. And so they did. This time, it wasn't Kevin Doyle, but it was Shane Long. A 5-2 loss led me giving my squad "the hair dryer treatment" album with such hits as "13 attempts on goal vs. 1 by you! WHAT THE HELL" and "WE BEAT THIS TEAM A MONTH AGO, THEY DIDN'T CHANGE! WHAT ARE YOUR MALFUNCTIONS" Pity the team who play us next.

-JANUARY CHAMPIONSHIP ACTION! That would be Huddersfield Town, sitting at 24th place in the league. Sure, it was in their house and on TV; but we put the sword to them. 4-1 featuring Sean St. Ledger's first goal, Billy Sharp, and Diego! Armando! Mejiaaaaaa! with a brace making them miserable. Sheffield Wednesday got lucky with a goal in a fairly even and uneventful 1-0 loss. Luton Town was next and at the time were right behind The Iron in the standings (4th place). Then we had some injuries to some key midfielders (Jimmy Smith, Robert Sinclair); but the Hardest Costa Rican on Scunthorpe, Douglas Sequeira finally returned and didn't punch a dude in the face (see last season). Worst though is that DAM got an injury! OH NOES!!11 The rain fell hard at Glanford Park and Scunthorpe made it rain real hard on Luton 5-2. Rory Fallon (Striker #3) and George O'Callaghan (who finaly isn't hurt) helped; but it was all Billy Sharp who had a brilliant hat trick. Sharp told Championship, "Hey! I'm BILLY SHARP. I scored 35 in a League One season! FEAR ME!" The media was pleased, as was I. Lastly Southend came to the Iron's house and played harder against Scunthorpe than anyone so far this season. Surprised me too. As did my left back putting in a corner kick for goal #1 and Rory Fallon making the most of a Billy Sharp feed to win 2-1. Sharp, again, was the man of the match. And Mejia's back and...

-WE FINALLY GET SOME RESPECT! Sharp was named Championship player of January 2009. 4 goals and 2 man of the matches will get that for you. My left midfielder Michael Barnes is named Young Player of the Month. Roberto Massano (also not injured) seen cussing his luck. And I'm finally in the Manager of the Month finalists...in third though. If only we beat Sheff Wed...by 4 or something.

DevilFisch

03-17-2007, 10:10 PM

Sorry that I've been hogging this thread lately; but I just did something of note.

Through January on, I kept Scunthorpe United FC up by the top, sitting in third place. In February, my other ace signing from last season's window, defender Sean St. Ledger gets Championship Player of Feb. 2009. Impressive considering he ended the month (and missed March and most of April) with injuries. All the same, Scunthorpe had the ability to drop pain bombs on unsuspecting opponents. Losing out of the FA Cup was brilliant in that all my guys stayed fresh; helpful in big victories over then first place Ipswich Town (3-2, 2/7), a 4-0 beatdown of Preston North End, a 5-2 come-from-behind smackdown of Millwall at The Den followed by a 4-2 smacking of Bristol City in their house 4 days later, etc.

However, in the midst of all of this, Scunthorpe took second and by the last two games, we had a 2 point lead over Ipswich Town and Man City (both with 80). Considering how poorly I did against Southampton, Man City, and Ipswich Town at times; the playoff was a bad idea. We lose to Watford next, but thankfully Man City and Ipswich Town puckered. It all came down to the final home game at Norwich City.

4-1. Billy Sharp, Jim Goodwin, and a brace from Diego Armando Mejia. We win.

Funny that when you start the game, there's an opening at Scunthorpe for the head coach. They finished 12th in League One a year after their promotion, earned by winning 2nd place in League Two. In my first season, I used the Sharp-Andrew Keogh experience to take second in League One to move up to the Championship. We survive Championship despite the media predictions and oddsmakers. Now, we just earned second place in Championship, again making the media look like the idiots they are and making Scunthorpe bettors very, very rich. Now, SCUNTHORPE IS GOING UP TO THE PREMIERSHIP. Will we survive? Maybe not. But it kills my hopes of running a different team in a different league. Which is fine. If/when Scunthorpe crash out of the EPL with the worst possible record in the smallest stadium in the EPL with the cheapest line up, I want to be the guy.

Season In Review:
Leading Goal Scorer: Diego Armando Mejia (26 G, 10 A)
Leading Assist-er: Billy Sharp (24 G, 16 A)
Top Defender: Shavar Thomas (44 GP, 7.23 avg. rating)
Top Youngster: Michael Barnes (35 GP, 4 sub, 3 G, 9 A 7.13 avg. rating)
Best Performance: Diego Armando Mejia 3/10 @ Millwall: 4 goals
Top Midfielder: Michael Barnes
Comeback Player: Douglas Sequeira (3.75 months of injury, missed preseason, played 19 games at center back, 7.29 rating)
Best Surprise: Billy Sharp and Diego Armando Mejia working well together to destroy opponents
Best Signing: (tie) Diego Armando Mejia ($160k)/Sean St. Ledger ($300k) (Mejia got me the goals, St. Ledger gave me D)
MVP: Billy Sharp

(League awards? Mejia came in second, tied with Southend's Billy Paynter - who was given the "golden boot" for Championship. I don't know how Man City's George Samaras came in third, given that Billy Sharp had 24 and Samaras had 22. I came in third for manager of the year. At least I'm behind the guy who won the playoff (Man City's Sam Allydarce) and Championship champions Reading (Phil Parkinson).)

FINAL RECORD: 25 wins, 10 ties, 11 losses, 80 goals for, 52 against, 85 points, PROMOTION!

UP THE IRON~!

gary69

03-18-2007, 07:58 AM

After winning the Belgian league with Standard in my third season (I stayed on for the fourth season) I checked my attributes with the FFF 2.12 editor and found this interesting info on me:

Current ability : 200 (it was 100 by default when starting the first season, I think)
Potential ability: 200
Home reputation: 5796
Current reputation: 7007
World reputation: 5599

Financial control: 13 (never used the whole transfer/salary budget)
Squad discipline: 15
Club/player loyalty: 9 (I sell/release at least youngsters a lot, plus 2-3 starting line-up players a year)
Tactical consistency: 13 (I've basically used same tactics for four seasons)
Domestic player bias: 5 (I admit, a lot of foreigners)
Hands on approach: 15 (I manage 90% of the reserve matches as well plus all contracts)

Personality (scale 1-20?)

Adaptability: 10
Ambition: 1 (wow! Although I only applied for vacant jobs for the first time this summer but was turned down by Milan (listed as my favourite club), Napoli, Porto and Sporting Lisbon)
Loyalty: 17
Pressure: 20
Professional: 11
Sportmanship: 10 (I mock rival club managers, especially on controversial penalties)
Temperament: 20 (I'm pretty hard on players who complain at times)

Coaching (scale 1-100?)

Determination: 44
Goalkeepers: 82
Judging current ability: 95 (not too bad, huh?)
Judging potential ability: 82 (I guess this is because I have large youth squads, and since I'm not allowed to scout outside Europe, I buy around 10-20 non-Europe based African international U-19 youngsters every year for 1 thousand per player + incentives for appearances)
Man handle: 83
Motivating: 89
Tactics: 95
Attacking: 95
Defending: 94
Fitness: 80
Mental: 87
Technical: 84
Tactical: 95

Has anybody else here checked their attributes?

DevilFisch

03-26-2007, 09:10 PM

Some of that can be found within the game. I'm not sure what FFF is, but here's my coaching attributes and stats. I swore the personal stats were found in game in last year's game, this is all I could find:

Reputation: Continental
Language: English
Financial control: 16 (I spend a lot of the budget. Selling? Huh?)
Squad discipline: 16 (Cleveland Taylor gets his career 30th yellow! Time for another fine!)
Club/player loyalty: 9 (Release the youth, some other guys, I buy a lot, OK)
Tactical consistency: 12 (Mostly 4-4-2. Though I've used 4-3-3 in pinches where I'm really behind and I just want goals. Sometimes 5-4-1 to protect leads/forwards are tired as hell)
Domestic player bias: 15 (I look abroad and use some foreign players, but most of my roster guys are in the UK)
Hands on approach: 16 (Huh. I let my assistant do all the reserve and youth stuff. Hmmm. I do the first team contracts, though.)

Now that Scunthorpe United is in the Premiership (stop laughing), here's what I did in the summer to bulk up the squad. I blew most of my $10 mil. budget on these guys:
1. WB/D/M L Alfredo Pacheco - (FAS, El Salvador International) I needed a boost at left back and while he's slow he's an attacking full back who is more than competant in his own end. Wanted him at the winter window in Championship, but NOW I get a Work Permit for him. Currently fighting Patrick Kohlmann for the LB slot. ($50 k)

2. D/WB R Steven Cherundolo - (Alaves, US International) Needed a big upgrade to right back so Shevar Thomas can stay in center. So I go for Dolo! He was injured for a month when I got him, so he missed preseason. But he's fitting in well now. (Cost: $3.5 mil)

3. WB L James Butcher (Mullignar Town) My scouts said get him at any price and he's a project attacking full back. Making him into a M L, well trying to do that now at least. (Cost: $4k)

4. AM RL, FC Douala (Portsmouth) Team needed help in midfield and a new forward (goodbye Rory Fallon) so he fits all those needs. Effective at 30 in my squad. (Cost: $1.7 mil)

5. GK Vincent Degre (Cannes) Most of my transfer window buying was looking for a good veteran GK. After failing three times, I take a chance on this young gun in Cannes. He is GOOD. Sorry Joe Murphy, but you don't have the stats to do well in the EPL (Cost: $2.8 mil)

6. AM RC Martin Rak (Sparta Prague) Young, more midfield help. Scored Scunthorpe's first EPL goal. Yep. (Cost $450k)

So, how is the Iron looking in the EPL? Surprisingly well 4 games in.
1-1 @ Manchester City
0-1 vs. Everton
0-0 @ Aston Villa (TV)
1-0 vs. Newcastle United

I'm so happy we won a game. We will stay up! Maybe! Next up is Chelsea. On TV. At Stamford Bridge. I...don't think we're going to win that one. The International break was fun. Ireland beat the hell out of England in WC qualifiers. Ex-Scunthorpe forward Andrew Keogh is the man and my defender who my assistant never picks to play (Sean St. Ledger) made the Ireland squad. Ireland making the 2010 WCs would be grand. Jamaica's going, why not them as well? More later.

Ajacied

03-27-2007, 05:46 AM

Crapperdecrap.. Huntelaar's contract is running out in 8 months and he isn't keen on staying. There probably goes the best player I'll ever coach in the game, for free. I hope I can convince him to stay otherwise I might be forced to sell him during the winterbreak.

Here's his resume:

2006/2007: 41 games - 26 goals - 17 assists (best player Eredivisie)
2007/2008: 51 games - 41 goals - 11 assists (best player CL, Eredivisie)
2008/2009: 43 games - 48 goals - 15 assists (best player CL, Eredivisie)
2009/2010: 05 games - 10 goals - 03 assists (still going on)

gary69

03-29-2007, 07:56 PM

My Standard game got corrupted so I'm starting a new one (with Ajax) since I didn't feel like immediately playing again the first few months of a season (in the game time terms) from my backup file. I look forward seeing if can set up a steady youngster production line from the Ajax academy for years to come.

As there's not likely to come any more updates for FM2007 I took a look at the 7.02 database to make it more to my liking, correcting the most claring inaccuracies. The most notable being the hugely underrating of the older 30+ years players potentials, especially for smaller nations.

I don't blame the researchers per se, as they are probably mostly around 20 year olds, too young to never have seen those players in their prime or heard the talk about their potential, but I just can't stand the thought of playing with such a flawed database.

Some of the older players are all right (like Romario potential rated in the 190's) but in contrast some are way off (like Gianluca Lentini of Italy as opposed to Salvatore Fresi of the same nation), or Nii Lamptey who was probably the most highly rated prospect of his time. And smaller countries like Finland supposedly have dozens of more potentially talented players than Litmanen, most of whom IRL struggled to make an impact even at the English second level. If the researchers don't know the older players, they could have used the older FM (CM) versions to represent them correctly.

Interestingly, I also found out that the Nigerian forward Rachid Yekini (remember the net hugging goal celebration at the WC'94) is still playing in the Nigerian league, I will certainly hire him as my next scout, if possible.

Now, these changes might not affect game play that much since most of those players will retire in a year or two, but than kind of misrepresentation just annoys me (and correcting it shouldn't distort the game mechanics, even if weirdly nearly all the younger players reach their potential in the game no matter what).

Oh yeah, another thing. I don't know why, but Austrian cities are not rated at all for the "city attraction" rating, so the city of Vienna is as attractive for players as some obscure small village in Austria. If you plan to have Austrian league as active, you should rate the Austrian cities in the editor along the same lines as other countries' cities are rated (capital the highest and so on).

DevilFisch

03-29-2007, 11:57 PM

Finally...FINALLY.

9/19/2009, Scunthorpe defeats Charlton Athletic 2-0 at Glanford Park in Scunthorpe.

Since that time, Scunthorpe has not won any games. Not a one. We tied Portsmouth and West Ham United 0-0 and fought back to tie Spurs 2-2. Then came the losses, to Bolton, to Manchester United, to Birmingham City, to tying Sunderland, then by last place (then last place) Reading, Middlesbrough on TV, and then nadir either being destroyed by Arsenal by Emerites Stadium 5-1 or a 3-3 tie with West Brom Albion where in they got the equalizer with seconds left on a clearly offsides play. The FA did nothing when I expressed my anger at the call. All the same, injuries messed me up, left me without a true left midfielder and only one on the right at times; but even when they came back, nothing much could be done. Steve Cherundolo not meeting expectations, giving me 4 performances (as in ratings of 4). Dario Mazzola regressed at DM. Teams took shots all day, my young French GK Vicent Degre got hammered and the critics looked at him (and not, oh, my D, my midfield, me, etc.)

It was 12/16 and Rafa Benetiz, coach of Liverpool, took pity or expressed confidence by saying I had enough to stay out of relegation. With only 2 wins and 7 ties to my name at that point, I wasn't so sure.

But then a beautiful thing happened. I played with an attacking mentality (hard to do when everyone and their mother says you got no chance at winning against Liverpool...or anyone else) and got rewarded with an early goal from Billy Sharp (who is 2 away from being the team's all time leading scorer). Tried to be more defensive and got lucky when Liverpool couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Revert back to attacking ball after half and nearly make it two.

But then my El Salvadorian left back Alfredo Pacheco pulled on Luis Garcia's shirt while Garcia was going up. RED CARD. 10 men, a 1-0 lead and Liverpool just moved to a 4-3-3. What do you do? Especially without any natural left backs left?

You move a right back there who is "competant" at LB, you take out a striker, play long ball, slow down the tempo, and switch to the most defensive mentality that isn't ultra defensive. Oh, and pray your goalie has the game of his life.

He did, we got an insurance goal late, and we finally win our first game in over 2 months. Well worth the lost sleep.

Got to win more to stay up. Chairman maybe leaving (odd, he said he loved the club back in L1, he can't handle being in the relegation zone in the EPL whilst making a fat profit?)

Any help as to who is good in the EPL would be def. appreciated. Especially at midfield. DM, specifically.

Live in the Now

03-30-2007, 01:20 AM

Is there anywhere that I can buy this game with cash money.

If I were to pay with money order on Amazon.com, how exactly would I go about this.

My internet is way too slow to do the pay & download version, and I closed my bank account over a disagreement a few weeks ago. No tengo credit card either, but I need this game. NEED.

Ajacied

04-01-2007, 03:45 PM

DevilFisch

04-01-2007, 05:06 PM

Ok hear me out.. I might need your advice.

The year is 2010 and I'm in my 4th season with Ajax now. The first two seasons were tough. Had to find the right system and balance..

2006/2007 - 2nd Eredivisie, knocked out in groupfase CL.
2007/2008 - 2nd Eredivisie, Knocked out in first knock-out round CL.
2008/2009 - Won Eredivisie, knocked out in semi-final CL.
2009/2010 - Won Eredivisie, won CL, won domestic Cup.

Also, Huntelaar and Akinfeev wanted to remain with the club after all. I was this close of trading both of them during the winterbreak but managed to reach an agreement with either one just in time.

But.. here I am. I've won all there was this year. But now Internazionale is knocking on my door, offering me a contract (I actually beat them during the CL semi's). They are offering me the world (140 million transfer funds) and have a remarkeble squad. Think their current squad and then add Ribéry and Dani Alves. It's pretty impressive.

I saved and quit the game since I have to study, but I'm still torn on what to do..

I've shown great progression with Ajax and I still don't feel like the team is even near its potential. Lots of talent who are in the mids of their development which I am very curious about. On the other hand, new challenge could be good and there isn't much left to prove here..

Any advice?

Great job on winning the triple there with Ajax. I say go take on the Inter job. Sometimes a change of pace, a change in leagues is what is necessary to keep the game interesting and exciting. It sucks to leave players who've seen from the start and gave them a chance despite their lack of immediate quality; but you can try and do the same at Inter. See if you can develop similar talent away from Ajax.

Another idea could be to try out running a national team. U19/U20s, U23s, and the senior squad should change things up greatly.

As far as my Scunthorpe game, I'll write up a way too long update on it. Transfer window action, chairman problems, ties, wins, losses, injuries, and the FA Cup! Maybe The Iron will stay up in the EPL! Maybe their next coach will keep them up? Also: 2010 World Cup draws! Ooooh, exciting, I know.

Live in the Now

04-10-2007, 06:57 PM

I just got this game in the mail.

ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod

DevilFisch

04-10-2007, 09:33 PM

Hey! It's been a while since there's been a Scunthorpe update! It's March 15 2010 and we got some exciting occurrences!

WINTER TRANSFER WINDOW: We got Diarra!

Alou Diarra.

Mired in Lyon's reserve squad, I splashed the last of my $1.2 million transfer budget to provide a significant and solid option at DM. The fans loved it when I signed him (already he's a favored player) and he's been doing well.

How has the Iron struck? Well, January started poor with a 4-1 loss to Newcastle United, a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa, and a 0-0 draw with Chelsea which remains as a highlight of my managerial career. The biggest failure was a 3-3 tie against Newcastle United in the 4th Round of the FA Cup. You say,"But you lost them 4-1 earlier, isn't 3-3 good?" Not when you led at halftime 3-0 and dominated in possession. Took out our frustrations on Charlton Athletic 4-2 and a 2-1 win over Portsmouth on TV ended the month.

The ensuring set of games improved. A tough away 4th Round FA Cup replay led to a gutsy 1-0 win to stay in the FA Cup. Billy Sharp > You. A 3-2 loss to West Ham United away kind of sucked, but I was more concerned with the FIVE STRAIGHT TV MATCHES. Money, money, money, mo-NAY. First was the 5th round of the FA Cup, a 1-1 tie at Portsmouth; followed by a 1-0 loss to Tottenham; a 2-0 win at home to move on the FA Cup on the replay; a stupifying performance against Bolton away 1-0 with Diarra getting his first goal; and then...for the sixth round of the FA Cup...the mighty, the dangerous, the infamous...

Huddersfield Town.

Yes, the game thought Scunthorpe-Huddersfield is TV worthy over, say, Tottenham-Liverpool. We win 3-0.

Last game I was played was hosting Manchester United. And I really should screencap the results, if I knew how. You wouldn't believe it, but not only did I win the game, I beat them convincingly. Scunthorpe the relegation fighters beating 3rd place and CL-bound Man Freakin' Yoo. What could be sweeter?

An invite to apply for the EURO VASE~! Whooooooooooo! I think this is the Intertoto, but still; EUROPE~! is possible for the Iron!

Anyway, Scunthorpe is still undergoing a chairman change; Billy Sharp wants to get paid and NOW; and the team is sitting in 14th with 34 points with 8 games left in the season. A FA Cup Semi at Wembley looms against Tottenham. And I still don't know whether or not I'll resign for another year of the Iron.

SUPER EARLY WORLD CUP PREDICTION: Because it's 2010, let's have a little fun and see what WWSM thinks the 2010 groups will look like

A: Bulgaria, Brazil, New Zealand, Italy
B: Portugal, USA, Cameroon, France
C: Japan, Germany, Egypt, Denmark
D: Iran, Mexico, Argentina, Holland
E: Paraguay, Sweden, Costa Rica, Croatia
F: Morocco, Switzerland, Australia, England
G: Jamaica, Czech Rep., Uruguay, South Africa
H: Spain, South Korea, Ireland, Ghana

Wow. The US gets screwed with the Group of Death AGAIN. Not that Group D is much easier. Spain and England better advance or else I'll laugh and laugh. Good to see Oceania represent in the WCs ("holla" to NZ). Poor, poor Turkey, Belgium, and Ukraine for not making it...

Roke

04-13-2007, 12:32 AM

I continued a Newcastle game I have going after a 6 week or so Sabattical. Just finished the 2009 season. Finished 3rd in the Premiership and made it all the way to the Champions League Finals where I faced Chelsea.

I'll try to limit player-naming in case any of you want to avoid knowledge of players but it was Theo Walcott's coming out party. He had 2 goals and 4 or 5 glorious chances where he nearly put it in. My side had fair control until Chelsea brought on Drogba in the 79th minute (I was leading 2-1 at that point). He headed in a goal soon after to tie it up, we went to extra time. Walcott was absolutely robbed in the 117th minute or so and it ended up going to penalties. Where I lost 5-4.

It's such a gutting feeling when that happens but the whole match, especially extra time and the penalties was incredibly intense. In 3 matches against Chelsea the 2 goals I conceded in the game were the only ones I conceded to them all season (the 2 goals scored were also the only 2 I scored against them). I"ll be back for sure, boosted by the revenue I get from the first Champions League appearance under my management. :yo:

DevilFisch

04-17-2007, 08:13 PM

Well, the magical season of 2009-2010 for Scunthorpe United has ended. A quick recap of March, April, WC2010 (get ready to chuckle), and offseason doings!

March: After taking care of the mighty titans of Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup, we had some business with Manchester United. Winning 1-0 specifically. A close 1-0 loss to Liverpool didn't deter my team too much as IIIIIIII was named the Mirror Manager of March and Jamaican CB Shavar Thomas was named EPL Player of March.

April was shaky...a big 3-1 win over fellow midtable guys Birmingham City was good. Losing 5-2 to Sunderland 2 days later was not so good. Clutch 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup Semifinal was shocking to me. Not nearly as shocking as Reading beating Chelsea (as in 20th place Reading vs. 2nd place Chelsea) 1-0 in the other. Scunthorpe-Reading FA Cup Final FOR THE...HUH?. Heh. That made the 2-0 win over Reading 3 days later in the EPL so much more fun. A draw at Middlesbrough was OK, but we ended the month with a 2-0 loss to West Brom Albion.

May featured a gutsy as hell 2-1 win over EPL winners Arsenal, a dissapointing 1-2 loss to relegation fighters Wigan Athletic, and a big, big BIG 2-0 win over Reading for the FA Cup. Yes, the game did sell out Wembley...how I do not know. SO!

Scunthorpe United FC 11-16-11, 41 GF, 54 GA, 44 pts.
13th Place in the EPL ($9 mil, I believe is the reward)
FA Cup CHAMPIONS (We're going to EUUUUUUUROPE!!!! YEAH~!)

Other EPL Fun Facts:
Arsenal win for the second time in a row
Bolton Wanderers, Charlton Athletic, Reading all got relegated; Watford, Luton Town, Blackburn Rovers got promoted into EPL
My Chairman still wants to leave. Takeover attempts failed.
Billy Sharp is my team's leading goal scorer with 22, 18 in the EPL. Sharp is the fans' player of the year, 4th year in a row.

Offseason Doings:
Despite all this chairman nonsense, I sign a 2 year contract extension for $1.1 mil/year. My transfer budget got bumped to $32.84 million and the payroll budget is $21.8 million. Which I need because my guys got to get PAID. Namely, Billy Sharp, Diego Armando Mejia, Patrick Kohlmann, and Roberto Massaro. Sure, why not!

And because I got the cash, it's time to spend $33 million this summer! Whee! I need striker(s) because if Sharp or Mejia get hurt, I'm toast. A backup GK in case Degre starts getting owned. Help at full backs would be helpful, as well as talented depth for the midfield when (not if, when) injuries strike. Depth in general would be nice. So here's what I did so far:

1. Ignatiy Nesterov, GK $275k to Kilmarnock. Joe Murphy's off on a free transfer. Murphy was great in getting Scunthorpe up to CCC and EPL; but he's no use in the EPL. So I get a cheap young GK to back up Degre.
2. Gerardo Grighini, D R $1.7 mil to Dortmund. David Mulligan is not a good back up D R; I'd rather have someone who can develop behind Cherundolo. Grighini was available, he's got potential, and he boosts my back line.
3. Ever Guzman, ST $4 mil to Morelia. I don't know how but he got a conditional work permit despite not Mexican nat'l team caps; and he wanted just as much money as Sharp. His stats and his strike rate make it worth it. Oh so worth it. I'm drooling over a flat 4-3-3. But that's not all...
4. Eddie Johnson, ST FREE. Chelsea languished this physical BEAST in their reserves. For shame! I didn't expect Guzman, but with Johnson I now have 4 EPL-class strikers! Thanks Chelsea!
5. Yuya Kondo, D C $75 K to Jubilo. He's got 20 caps for a 20 year old CB. Japan national team is quite young (and somehow made the knockouts in 2010) Like James Butcher, he's a project; I think it's worth it. Much better than the 1891 crappy youth guys I got.
6. Veljko Paunovic, AMRLC, FC FREE. Old versatile guy who's got good stats, perfect for a back-up sub/injury reserver.

We got Arsenal in the Community Shield. World Cup 2010 was fun. Group B was the group of death, USA did not advance. France and Portugal, who did advance, faced off in the WC Final. France won on PKs. But I'd doubt the accuracy of this simulation, which had Ireland and Jamaica in the knockout stages and BRAZIL not making the knockouts. Yes, BRAZIL CRASHED OUT. Amazing.

xalcyx

04-18-2007, 10:19 AM

I've just started a game as PSG. I'll be looking to usurp Lyon from their dominance, and become a dominant European team as well. I think it should be a nice challenge, given the non-EU transfer rules and such. I'll update everyone shortly.

gary69

04-27-2007, 01:27 PM

So, I started a new game and took control of Ajax. I met an old friend in the Champions League qualifier and disposed Standard Liege (my club from a previous game) somewhat easily.

I chose not to buy anyone, but to see what I could get out of the current squad. I loaned one player though, Dutch centre back Landzaat from Germany, since I wasn't quite sure if the young backup stoppers would be good enough just in case if needed due to injuries. In the end, Lanzaat wasn't used much apart from the early season, when Grygera was injured for a few games.

My line-up was as follows:

...........................................Stekele nburg

...........Heitinga........... Stam.................... Grygera............... Emanuelson
.
.
Gabri/de Mul.......................Maduro.................D avids
.
.
.
..............................Sneijder............ .........................Babel/Leonardo
.
.
.
................................................Hu ntelaar

After being injured for the first five games (Gentenaar stand-in, Vermeer loaned out to future 1st division promoters Sittard), Stekelenburg was my goalie for the rest of the season. Apart from 2-3 mistakes that led to goals, he was nothing short of amazing, making several incredible reflex saves that earnt me draws/wins. Stekelenburg was chosen the Dutch goalie of the year.

I chose Stam as my captain, and he had a strong season (my best average rating with 7.18), only on two-three occasions he was rounded by pacy strikers who ended up scoring. His partner Grygera was injured for the first half-a-dozen games of the season, but was steady if unspectacular for rest of the way.

Heitinga was the more conservative of the full backs and occasional CB, and was very reliable (he also captained the Dutch national team). Emanuelson was free to push forward at will and did very well in the attacking department, and wasn't exposed nearly as much as he unlocked the opposing defence. Being only 20 though, he wasn't able to play in every game, so Vermeulen/Lindenbergh got occasional stints there. On those occasions, the more attacking Romanian right back Ogararu took care of the role of the attacking full back.

I was pleasantly suprised how well the partnership of Davids and Maduro took control of the midfield. They were both set to be defensive minded, but Davids still netted 6 (!) goals (often long distance screamers) while Maduro scored twice, but contributed team lead -equalling 7 assists.

On the left flank my first choice was Babel, who was often ordered to cut inside to support Huntelaar, he had a good season with 6 goals and 7 assists, although he faded a bit in the latter parts of the season. He had a great start with 5 goals when he was a stand-in for the injured Huntelaar for the first half a dozen games of the season. For the rest of the year, Leonardo was the player most often on the left (he covered for Sneijder in case of injuries in the middle as well), and to my surprise Leonardo was never injured. Nice return with 5 league goals and 7 assists from him.

On the right midfield, Gabri played when I chose the more defensive approach, and for the latter part of the season de Mul was a starter in a more attacking formation (for the first half Rosales was preferred to him, but I sold the Argie to Aston Villa for 5+ millions in January). All three did their job, amassing a couple of goals and assists each. Gabri was the bad boy of my team, with two red cards (not straight ones). Mitea and Roger had a few run-ins in the team and did quite well, sharing 5 goals and 6 assists between them.

Sneijder was in the slot behind the striker, but unfortunately he had three somewhat lengthy injuries during the season, and didn't really have a prolonged sustained succesful period with the team. He still had 11 league goals in 23 games, but it really hurted Ajax to miss him at crucial times. In my Champions League group (Arsenal, Osasuna, Anderlecht), he wasn't fully fit in a couple of games, which probably cost me the chance of progressing, although I just kept Anderlecht behind me. In truth, I had enough chances to win all three draws against the Spaniards and Anderlect. In the Uefa cup I narrowly lost to Paris SG, while dominating both legs. Paris went on to lose to PSV in the final.

Huntelaar was the main man in attack with 21 league goals, but he too missed around 10 games because of injuries. Luckily Manucharyan was usually a great stand-in, scoring 7 goals in 12 starts.

After a somewhat sketchy start (3 losses in the first half of the season), I got into the groove and went 16 games undefeated from end of November till early March. I only lost one match (away to Feyenoord) in the last half of the season. My home record was almost perfect, the only black spot was a 1-1 draw with Twente. So I wrapped up the title with 3 games to spare with a win over closest rivals PSV who had a fixture pile-up with the UEFA cup. My season ended as early as April 15th, while other Dutch clubs continued into European place/promotion/relegation playoffs. Ajax record was 34 22 8 4 74-29 +45 74.

PSV got the raw deal when they sold Farfan in January and bought Iaquinta to replace him, only for the dude to injure himself for six months in his first match. Ajax only gave me a two-year contact extension after I already won the league (although I asked for it a month earlier), which was the stated aim by the board.

The surprise team of the season was Den Haag. who finished third in the regular season, but had to settle for Intertoto cup in the Euro playoffs. Contrary to real life, AZ Alkmaar was horrible all season long, and only just climbed out from the relegation zone after van Gaal left to take over Marseille in early March.

Despite winning the title, I really didn't get any speacial feelings towards my players, and so I decided to part with Sneijder (16 million Euros to Real Madrid) and Huntelaar (20 million Euros to Liverpool) in the off-season. I recalled all the players from loans, and bought two promising 18/19 year old Brazilians from Flamengo. Let's see where Babel, Sarpong, Anita and other youngsters can take me and whether Stam and Davids still have a season left in them, or will I end up getting the boot from the board.

Ajacied

04-28-2007, 07:31 AM

My first year with Ajax went pretty much the same as yours, Gary. It wasn't until midway through the second season where my top players deferred themselves from the rest of the pack and really started taking manners into their own hands. Selling Sneijder and Huntelaar this early seems like a mistake to me. I'm in my 5th season now and Sneijder is a top 5 midfielder in the game. He left Ajax the same year I did, when Juventus bought him for 57 million Euro's.

2006/2007: 30 games - 10 goals and 04 assists; grade 7.00 (season 7.10)
2007/2008: 57 games - 17 goals and 27 assists; grade 7.31 (season 7.23)
2008/2009: 60 games - 18 goals and 32 assists; grade 7.73 (season 7.76)
2009/2010: 57 games - 17 goals and 20 assists; grade 7.55 (season 7.69)

His free kicks and long distance shots are unmatched in this game.

Huntelaar scored at a 1.17 clip his final two seasons under my reign. Twice winning the best CL player award. Surpringsly he's still an Ajacied but I figure I could've gotten around 60 million for him.

2006/2007: 46 games - 26 goals and 11 assists; grade 7.04 (season 7.03)
2007/2008: 63 games - 49 goals and 14 assists; grade 7.38 (season 7.24)
2008/2009: 51 games - 60 goals and 13 assists; grade 7.84 (season 7.86)
2009/2010: 26 games - 30 goals and 08 assists; grade 7.85 (season 8.11 (!))

Stam was exceptional during my first two years as well. Even named best CL defender when we reached the quarterfinals in my second season. He quickly headed downhill after that, with mainly his speed (which is actually one of his best attributes in real life) quickly going downhills to around 6/5.

I won the CL in my 4th and final season with Ajax (reached the semi's in my 3rd) and I never could've done that without either Huntelaar or Sneijder.

I wanted to see where the original squad could take me as well, but I quickly got annoyed by some, in particular Stekelenburg. I got rid of him, Roger (who was surprisingly good in the game but I just didn't like him), Gabri, de Mul, Rosales, Perez, Gentenaar and Ogararu (Grygera was already set to leave for Juve, just like in reallife) and loaned out everyone who didn't picture in my plans. I tried to get replacements who I did like. Names who I acquired in those 4 years include: Dembelé, Bodmer, Sivakov, Serginho, Akinfeev, Kerlon, Cardénas, Millán, Merida, Lokando, Ismael, Lucas, Zapata and Defour. The Ajax youth didn't amount into much, unfortunately. Anita and Sarpong have decent stats as youngsters but just don't develop as hoped.

My CL winning team:

------------------------------ Huntelaar ----------------------------
- Babel ------------------------------------------------ Cardénas -

------------------------- Sneijder -- Kerlon ------------------------
-------------------------------- Lucas -------------------------------

- Emanuelson -------- Zapata -- Ismael ------------ Heitinga -

------------------------------- Akinfeev -----------------------------

- Babel is a scoring machine when you put him in the strikerslot.
- Lucas was a last minute replacement for the departing Bodmer (30 million).
- Zapata from Udinese is pretty average, for except manmarking, tackling, positional game, teamwork and speed which are all 18/19/20, with speed being 16.
- Emanuelson and Heitinga are amazing now. I even bought Heitinga for my Inter scquad (costed me 34 million).

I only lost one game with Ajax my final season before I left for Internazionale. Here's how I am doing over there..

Arrived in a very pressured situation. They won the CL not two seasons ago yet fired their coach the following season. Crap load of talent on that team but I didn't like some of them and tried to re-tool it with the 180 million Euro's I got to work with.

Sold:

- Silva (11.25)
- Pepé (8.5)
- Downing (28)
- Maxwell (3.5)
- Andreolli (3.5)

.. for a combined 55 million.

I also let a bunch of players leave/retire, including Toldo and Zanetti)

I acquired:

- Akinfeev (45)
- Kompany (25)
- Bojan (18.5)
- Bale (21)
- van der Vaart (68)
- Merida (24)
- Vara (775k)

.. for a combined 202 million Euro's.

That's a whole lot of spending, but I only need to do it once and I'm done for the next few years. I went though the league undeafeated that year, winning the Serie A by 26 points with a goaldifferential of +67. Ah yeah, I also won the CL for the second consecutive season.. :yo:

CL winning team:

-------------------------- Adriano - Ibrahimovic ------------------

--------------------------- van der Vaart --------------------------
- Stankovic ----------------------------------------------- Ribéry -
--------------------------------- Viera ------------------------------

- Grosso ------------- Rodriguez -- Kompany------------ Alves-

------------------------------- Akinfeev -----------------------------

The following year is where I am currently.

I have sold:

- Anderson (21.5); he was furious and wanted to leave immediately when I sold Pepé.
- Burdisso (3.2)

Needed a replacement for Anderson and another CB and my off-season would be perfect. I got Gourcuff as a substitute for van der Vaart and Heitinga to rotate with Gonzalo Rodriguez and Kompany. I then noticed how Viera's stats went down and considering his age (34/35), I actually needed to get myself a replacement. Even though I also have Essien, I mainly use him for RM and RB. I went out and bought Denilson, who's an amazing DM in the game. Had to overpay though (43). Loaned him out to Valencia for a full season.

Current team:

------------------------- Adriano - Ibrahimovic -------------------

--------------------------- van der Vaart --------------------------
- Merida ----------------------------------------------- Ribéry -
--------------------------------- Viera ------------------------------

- Bale ---------------- Kompany - Heitinga --------------- Alves-

------------------------------- Akinfeev -----------------------------

Bench:

- Grosso
- Bojan
- Rodriguez
- Essien
- Stankovic
- Cesár
- Gourcuff
- (Denilson)

Ajacied

04-29-2007, 03:59 AM

Yesterday I got handed my first Serie A defeat in 52 games. We just had an off-day vs Palermo and lost 2-0. It was also just my second loss in competitional football in 2.5 seasons.

gary69

04-29-2007, 04:40 AM

Yesterday I got handed my first Serie A defeat in 52 games. We just had an off-day vs Palermo and lost 2-0. It was also just my second loss in competitional football in 2.5 seasons.

Sounds like you need a new challenge. Are there any international tournaments coming up, maybe there's an opening in one of the qualified teams? I always look out for those when my reputation is high enough, 6 months project from January to July.

Or if you have a lot of leagues loaded, I sometimes have a go at those Scandinavian summer leagues and subsequent European cups run with them (if they qualify). This way you'll be free in the midseason before January transfer window, for one of those teams who have fired their manager by then.

I have also the South American leagues loaded this time, but haven't managed there yet, that should be interesting some day though, with a plethora of highly rated youngsters there.

Ajacied

04-29-2007, 04:48 AM

I'm not cruising though. The CL is a real fight and I just barely made it to the second round this time. I also just can't win the domestic Cup, where I just lost to Juventus, so I expect to get an angry letter from the board.

I also coach Oranje though. First up is the EC 2012. I'm in a poule with Ukraine, Sweden and Turkey, so that was great news.

DevilFisch

05-14-2007, 08:02 PM

Aahhhh, it's been a while since I gave a Scunthorpe United update. It's December 2010 and we got plenty of highlights already.

Scunthorpe is sitting in 11th place right now with a 5-5-6 (W-L-D) record. Billy Sharp remains my top EPL striker. Starting the season was slow, but I got a young Bayern Munich defender (Mats Hummels) on loan who has done very well. I got the transfer money, just not the salary budget to sign him. Boo.

The Iron lost the Community Shield to Arsenal, who is now in first and is looking to three-peat the EPL.

Early on, my $6.7 million trio of strikers not named Sharp got no goals. Now Eddie Johnson exploded since the UEFA Cup and now leads the team in scoring. Billy Sharp being injured helped in that regard.

I must say, the UEFA Cup experience has been great. A 5-1 aggregate on Brondby saw me through the group stages. I get lucky and draw Sporting SP (Portugal), Deportivo (Spain), Austria Wein (Austria), and CFR Cluj (Romania). Sporting SP was tough at their house, a 2-1 loss. But we responded with big 6-0 beatdown of Deportivo at Glanford Park featuring an Eddie Johnson hat trick and a Diego Armando Meija hat trick (Sharp was injured but no biggie). 3 days later saw a 3-0 beat down at Austria Wein's house and Scunthorpe took the group lead with a 3-0 win over Cluj (with two PK goals by Sharp within the first 6 minutes!)

Now in the knockout stages, Scunthorpe United drew FC Artmedia Bratislava. Hee. Winner of that takes on the winner of Rennes and Manchester City.

League Cup wasn't a total waste with a 3-1 win over West Ham United in Round 3. Yay. Then a 3-0 loss to Man United in the next round. Boo.

Euro qualifiers have begun again: Billy Sharp was called up to the England team! NIIIIICE! Scored in his first cap too.

Most startingly was that Scunthorpe now has a new ownership board, led by Mike Newby. What was startingly was his statements to the press that he wanted David Moyes to coach the team. Yeah Mike, I only took this team up from League One to the FA Cup in less than 5 years. Whatever. His message to me saying that my job was safe was cute. Real cute.

All the same, UP THE IRON in 2010.

The Vengabus

05-15-2007, 01:16 AM

This game just pulls you back in; currently on my longest game yet, starting season 4 as manager of Nottingham Forest. Still in the Championship after almost getting fired last season, but this year expectations are low and we intend to smash them.

xalcyx

05-15-2007, 10:38 AM

gary69

05-15-2007, 12:21 PM

Oh man I have the most frustrating game going as Spurs right now.

I have a world class squad, and I've won the CL 3 times, but I can't win the friggin premier league. The thing that undoes me is the "hole" that teams always fall into in January in the game. I always pick up spotty results and the other teams just cruise through and keep winning. It's driving me bananas, along with the retarded injuries that come up in this game. Ever notice that when the long-term injury bug hits it targets specific positions?

Anyway, here's my squad:

----------Defoe------------Klose---------
-----------------K. Nolan-----------------
Tuncay------------------------------Lennon
-----------------Lucas---------------------
Barry-------King----C. Davies-----Richards

That's not much of a squad, certainly not world class, hey, it's not even a full starting XI :sarcasm:

Anyway, as for the injuries in certain positions, big squad really helps there. The way I deal with it, is to have really large squad (if you afford it, like Spurs with your success should).

For a big team I try to have the following first squad (plus reserve and youth squads too):

goalies (4): 2 internationals in their prime (plus one good mid-30s veteran, plus youth international)

centre backs (6): at least 3 internationals in their prime, one older/younger fringe international, 1 good veteran, 1 promising youngster

full backs (7): two similar level players for both sides (might have different qualities in defence/attack), one back-up guy who can play both sides, plus a bit lower level veteran and youngster

def.mid (3), two international quality guys, plus one back-up with a bith less class

midfield (4): again two internationals, plus two fringe internationals

attacking mids(3): they are usually the most injury prone one squad members for me, so I usually need 3 for the one spot (also, along with a striker, this is the position I usually do a substitution in the second half).

Forwards (6): At least four top guys with not much difference between them, the other two are usually a still good veteran and one younger forward (I change youngsters who get loaned out to feeders or other teams from one season to other)

So, with 30+ players basically I have two first teams, plus a third one with a bit lower ability. Only once I've suffered in results because of massive injuries, when I had the best 3 goalies, best 4 centre backs and best 4 strikers injured simultaneously for close to a month.

Of course this means, that without major long-term injuries half the squad don't get to play many matches, which might cause some unrest.

But I overcome this with planning the length of the contracts in such a way, that each season there's a substantial turnover of players, with contracts coming to an end for those players who are likely not to feature much. And it's not usually hard to get good replacements players to sign for a top club.

xalcyx

05-15-2007, 01:04 PM

hm.....what kind of formation do you use? I struggle to find a consistent one in england.

Ajacied

05-15-2007, 01:12 PM

hm.....what kind of formation do you use? I struggle to find a consistent one in england.

Depends on your strenghts..

With Ajax, I played the traditional 4-3-3, with Huntelaar operating alone in the middle

---------- XXX ----------
XXX --------------- XXX
------ XXX - XXX -------
---------- XXX -----------
XXX ---------------- XXX
------ XXX - XXX --------
---------- XXX ------------

All my wingmen (backs or forwards) played with an arrow pointing up.

With Internazionale, I had two elite strikers in Adriano and Zlatan, so I played 4-4-2

------ XXX - XXX -------
---------- XXX -----------
XXX ---------------- XXX
---------- XXX -----------
XXX ---------------- XXX
------ XXX - XXX -------
---------- XXX -----------

Again with everybody on the side, in this case Bale, Merida, Ribéry and Alves, with the arrow pointing up front.

Important thing is to stick with a formation. Don't alternate it (only during a match) and don't rotate the players too much, either. You might struggle in the beginning, but things will quickly take off once everybody is settled in.

Great succes!

The Vengabus

05-15-2007, 03:39 PM

DevilFisch

05-15-2007, 04:24 PM

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep that in mind as...it's now January in my Scunthorpe game. We won at Luton so the month isn't starting with a slump, so maybe I figured it out?

Incidentally, what generally works best against a 4-3-3, the formation posted by O=S? I know to go down the flanks in a 4-4-2 tight diamond, and I know to play wide against a 4-5-1 or a 5-4-1; but the 4-3-3 keeps hammering me (doesn't help that it's Man. United using it and killing me 6-1).

xalcyx

05-16-2007, 05:27 AM

Depends on your strenghts..

With Ajax, I played the traditional 4-3-3, with Huntelaar operating alone in the middle

---------- XXX ----------
XXX --------------- XXX
------ XXX - XXX -------
---------- XXX -----------
XXX ---------------- XXX
------ XXX - XXX --------
---------- XXX ------------

All my wingmen (backs or forwards) played with an arrow pointing up.

With Internazionale, I had two elite strikers in Adriano and Zlatan, so I played 4-4-2

------ XXX - XXX -------
---------- XXX -----------
XXX ---------------- XXX
---------- XXX -----------
XXX ---------------- XXX
------ XXX - XXX -------
---------- XXX -----------

Again with everybody on the side, in this case Bale, Merida, Ribéry and Alves, with the arrow pointing up front.

Important thing is to stick with a formation. Don't alternate it (only during a match) and don't rotate the players too much, either. You might struggle in the beginning, but things will quickly take off once everybody is settled in.

Great succes!

Points well taken, it's just a funny thing. I had massive success as Inter, but can't seem to get this Spurs team over the hump. I think part of it is that Arsenal is so grossly overrated in this game that they are almost like a super team, which is very frustrating.

In a delightful irony, Rafa Benitez just replaced Mourinho as chelsea manager in 2012.

gary69

05-16-2007, 01:01 PM

The January slump is due to rerating of your teams strength by the AI, and they change the way they play against you. I've found to break the slump, I have to play a bit more defensively, playing more veteran guys with good mental stats.

I don't remember a SI representative ever even subtle hinting (which they have done on some other issues) that it happens so straightforwardly this way in specificially JANUARY, but rather a more continual re-evalutation process by each individual ai-team (manager).

Which makes more sense, since if an AI manager gets clearly beaten by you in your previous encounter, he'll probably try something different next time you'll meet, wouldn't you also? (This also makes more sense considering there are leagues, which don't run from August to May). Of course it becomes more EVIDENT TO YOU as a manager of one single club in January, since by that time you usually meet the other league teams for the second time that season. This is something I think you can read behind the lines from SI answers regarding re-ranking.

Even if the re-ranking happened only in January, it's still a moot point for top teams against most other teams. Because keep in mind that if you're already ranked a top team (club reputation, media prediction for league position) and do well in the first half of the season, the clubs (managers) perceiving themselves inferior to you, already play defensively against you, especially in away matches. In such cases, even if reranking happens, it does nothing to you, but rerank you pretty much the same way you were ranked before.

And besides ranking, there are the rivalries, injuries, home team advantage and different approach in home games, media comments (affects players mental states), training (did you do enough physical training in pre-season?), poor pitch conditions (players need more rotation/rest, especially if they have played in national team tournament previous summer), player contracts/being transfers targets by AI teams (distracts players) and so many other things to consider if you get bad results in January, that it can't be blamed solely on the mysterious re-ranking.

As for your remedy, it's never a bad idea to have a few good veterans in your team for a stretch run, I usually hire a couple myself in January, there are often decent experienced 33+ old internationals available as free agents or for minimal fee, who are happy to sign for a top team for 6 months. You don't even have to play them too often (1-3 matches, even as subs, will do), but they have a positive effect on your squad in training etc., provided they have good mental stats as you suggested.

gary69

05-16-2007, 01:33 PM

Incidentally, what generally works best against a 4-3-3, the formation posted by O=S? I know to go down the flanks in a 4-4-2 tight diamond, and I know to play wide against a 4-5-1 or a 5-4-1; but the 4-3-3 keeps hammering me (doesn't help that it's Man. United using it and killing me 6-1).

Although I tend to have problems against ManU, or more precisely against C.Ronaldo (who switches flanks all the time if I try to mark him closely, if not he just glides past my players), if I'm the inferior team playing against the 4-3-3, I always look to utilize the empty space, there's usually space in the "hole" between their midfield and defence.

Put 2 guys there, good long shot abilities are useful, so somebody (CBs, MIDs) from AI has to move forward/back trying to block those. And if they're using wing-backs who run forward a lot, make your guys also go to those empty spaces behind them, this stretches their CBs too.

In defence, since 4-3-3 often means they attack wide, I don't leave them room on the flanks (i.e. no attacking full-backs), and even a DM between my midfield and defence. This means I'm thin in midfield (if you play 2 AM's in the hole like I do), but usually so are they. Also be careful, that your own CB's (at least not both) are not too high on "closing down", this moves them out of position, full backs (with the help of DM) have to be able to adequately deal with their wide men.

Although, if I'm managing a top team, my approach is usually to play to my strengths the way I want, and let the opposition worry about me! The only exceptions are if the opponents have a truly remarkable player (C.Ronaldo and Kaka are two who usually give me troubles), then I might reserve special treatment for them. Usually a DM to prevent them running riot in the "hole", help defence and pick up loose balls.

gary69

05-16-2007, 01:42 PM

I think part of it is that Arsenal is so grossly overrated in this game that they are almost like a super team, which is very frustrating.

I guess I have been lucky then, more often than not when I face Arsenal, Thierry Henry is either injured, jaded/in need of a rest, which makes them much less dangerous. Also in my games, quite often some of Arsenal's better players (Fabregas, Eboue most often) leave to play in Spain.

Ajacied

05-17-2007, 05:27 AM

What frustrates me is the youth of the big European sides. Especially Arsenal, their youngsters are extremely overrated and are worth over millions before they hit 18. It's the same with Chelsea and with lots of other teams. If I'm looking at Ajax (sorry to involve my own team here), their youth is terrible compared to those teams. They're rarely worth anything while Ajax easily has a much better youth program than both teams in reallife.

Ric Flair

05-17-2007, 10:08 AM

I've been debating on whether I should pick this game up or not but after reading about it here I don't think there is any doubt. Gonna put my order in now.

les Habs

05-18-2007, 01:55 AM

Anybody pick up Alexandre Pato? Can somebody who is later in the game tell me how he turns out?

gary69

05-18-2007, 02:38 AM

Anybody pick up Alexandre Pato? Can somebody who is later in the game tell me how he turns out?

If you're using the SI original/patch database Pato is one of those youngsters, who have only a potential range set (I think -9 or -10), which means they turn out a bit different in every game. Barring early career long-term injuries, at worst players with that kind of potential range can be just an average Brazilian NT player, at best they can be the best player in the game.

So you'll never know exactly how good he turns out, you have to scout him.

I've picked him up at least in one of my games as soon as he turned 18 and was eligible to be signed outside of Brazil. By then he had won the World Club title with Internacional plus domestic Brazilian honours. I was surprised there weren't any other teams interested in him at that time and even my scouts who were set to follow the Brazilian championship didn't recommend him. I had to specifically order them to scout him for a couple of matches.

So I got him cheaper than some other Brazilian young stars, e.g. Renato Augusto from Flamengo was more expensive. By his mid 20's A.Pato was very good, but not the world's best, I'd guess his ability was somewhere in 180's range (out of 200) in that game.

DevilFisch

05-18-2007, 05:31 PM

I got a really stupid question:

How do you successfully sell players? Often time, if I want to get rid of someone, I let them go on a free once their contract runs out. If I place someone on the transfer list, they never seem to attract interest. Is there something else I need to do? I'd like to make a little cash on my players (let's just say a 17 year old youth striker is making a certain El Salvadorian striker on my team expendable).

les Habs

05-18-2007, 06:32 PM

The Vengabus

05-19-2007, 04:25 PM

After almost getting fired the season before, we've come back this season on fire. Currently sitting tied for top of the Championship in March, and just having done this: my greatest coup in this version (http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/7109/upsetmw4.jpg) of the game, beating a full Chelsea (sans Robben and Cech) first XI in the League Cup final. Scoff all you want, but this assures me Europe for next year:yo:.

DevilFisch

05-20-2007, 04:51 PM

SUCCESS!!!!!

Scunthorpe United had a wildly successful 2010-2011 season.

Lowlights:
-Still continually owned by the Big Four. Did get a win over Liverpool in late May.
-You know that "January slump" gary was talking about earlier? I hit that hard. At the end of December I was in fifth (!!) but then I hit the slump. Well, not quite a lot of losses; just ties. Lots and lots of ties. Started innocently enough on 1/1 and 1/3 with wins; but then my next EPL win was on 2/27 against Man City! So many of those wins were improbable comebacks - but I kept moving on.
-Missed out on 5th and 6th place (UEFA Cup spots) due to those ties and losing a crucial game against Tottenham in May which would have kept me in it to get 6th.
-Diego Armando Mejia got injured for much of the second half of the season.
-Ever Guzman has no stamina. Boo.

Highlights
-FA Cup Run. Pounced all over Everton, Reading, and Middlesbrough to make it to the final eight (sixth round). Then I drew Liverpool away and got killed. Not bad for defending championships
-Eddie Johnson. Wow. 13 goals in the EPL, 1 in the FA Cup, 10 in Europe. I got a second striker!!!
-Paul Devonshire may be my first academy-to-first team player. I'm proud.
-Signed Mats Hummels from Bayern Munich permanently during his loan. Solid CB in the middle, will only get better.
-Geraro Grighini has established himself as a strong full back, something I could definitely need.
-More goals from the midfield: Diarra (6), Jimmy Smith (5), Douala (4), Martin Rak (3). Helps take some pressure off my strikers.
-No red cards! Yeah!!
-Billy Sharp RULES THE WORLD with 30 total goals in all competitions. Seriously, all of you who need a pacey striker when to start off and don't want to spend a lot: GET HIM. He is a favorite of mine, winning me games in L1 through the Championship through EPL and in Europe. I'm so proud of his development and the fact that he gets it done in all levels.

-THE UEFA CUP RUN
In my last post, I secured a berth in the knockout stages. This is how it went.
First Round: Owned FC Artmedia Bratislava - 5-3 away (4 from Sharp), 3-1 home for a 8-4 aggregate win.
Second Round: Rennes. Dominated at home 4-1 with goals from each of my four strikers (Sharp, Johnson, Guzman, Devonshire); held on away 1-0 to win in aggregate 5-1
Quarterfinal: Deportivo! The team I dominated in the group stages like no other! I did better away than home, 3-0 and 2-1 respectively for another 5-1 aggregate win.
Semifinal: AC MILAN. I pull of a dramatic upset with a 2-1 win at San Siro (hell, I was happy to get the two goals). At home, Eddie Johnson ices it with a goal and even a late one from Pirlo did not matter as I move on 3-2 aggregate.
Final: MIDDLESBROUGH. Seriously? We go to Athens. My guys are tired (no thanks to losing 3-0 at Aston Villa 3 days earlier lousy EPL), my guys are in a neutral area, and my guys TOTALLY COME THROUGH. Sharp off a free kick, Massaro scores his only goal of the season, and Sharp scores another one late to seal the win.

Results:
8th place in the EPL: 15 wins, 11 ties, 12 losses, 49 GF, 49 GA
Top Goalscorer: Billy Sharp (30)
Most Man of Match: Billy Sharp (9)
Best Defender: Sean St. Ledger (7.12 rating over 45 games)
Best Midfielder: Alou Diarra (Hard DM with 10 yellows, 7.15 over 51 games and 6 goals)
Best Striker not named Sharp: Eddie Johnson (7.33 rating)
and
UEFA CUP CHAMPIONS OF 2011!

UP THE IRON!

In other leagues: Arsenal three-peats the EPL, but loses to Liverpool in the FA Cup. Newcastle - yes, the same Newcastle that fell to Championship a few years earlier - crashed the top 4. Poor Chelsea (they are in 5th). Sevilla just had enough over Valencia to take La Liga. Lille won Ligue 1 easily (not over but Lyon is in the relegation zone), Bayern Munich flew ahead of everyone else in Bundesliga (runner ups: Hannover 96 and Mainz 05. Yep.) and Vitesse surprises everyone in the Eredivise by taking the league title (poor Ajax!)

xalcyx

05-22-2007, 03:58 PM

FM literally killed my hard drive. :(

FlyHigh

05-22-2007, 05:07 PM

Now that it's finally summer, I need to get this game. I've already satisfied my CIV4 addiction for practically a month straight, time for some football. :D

xalcyx

05-23-2007, 03:49 PM

Now that it's finally summer, I need to get this game. I've already satisfied my CIV4 addiction for practically a month straight, time for some football. :D

there goes your social life :)

FlyHigh

05-23-2007, 04:36 PM

there goes your social life :)

I'll take care of that when I'm older, I can only do all-nighters playing games for so long. ;)

Roke

05-29-2007, 03:52 PM

Glad to see people are enjoying the game as much as I am. It truly is one of the greatest games I've ever played.

I've been playing a Newcastle United (my favorite club) file for a while now and it's been going very well. I'm in 2012 right now and pretty much a big money club. I haven't won a major trophy (I did win the UEFA Cup in the 10/11 season) but i've come close. 2010/11 I finished 2nd in the Premiership. I neede a draw on the last match of the season against Blackburn and lost 3-0. I was undefeated in 14 or so going into that match so it was heart-breaking, Chelsea ended up winning the Premiership. The other high point, if you can call it that, of my tenure so far was losing on penalties to Chelsea in the 2009 Champions League. Another heart-breaking game but I'm hoping I can make it back this season.

I've spent a ton of money in the past past 3 season. 27.5 million pounds in 2009/2010, 32 million in 2010/11 and 87 million (and counting) in 2011/2012. **NOTE: Do not read until on if you want to read the names of players who are decent or better in my game)** With that money I've brought in players like Vincent Kompany, Xabi Alonso, Daniel Carvahlo, Jonathan de Guzman and just now Christiano Ronaldo. Signing De Guzman (for 44 million pounds) was a huge mistake. I wanted him to fill the ATtacking-right midfield role in my formation but he is a terrible passer and can't really cross the ball. He's now playing a central midfield role for me while being my set-piece taker. My board bumped up my transfer budget for the January transfer window and I, embarassingly, spent 43 million Pounds on Cristiano Ronaldo to fill that hole, for a total of 87 million spent this year. It's like I'm the new Chelsea. Anyway, I want to post my lineup, so here it is.

-------------------------- Theo Walcott-------------------------------------------
Daniel Carvalho -------------------------------------------------Cristiano Ronaldo--
----------------------Scott Parker------Jonathan De Guzman----------------------
-------------------------------Xabi Alonso-------------------------------------

José Gonzalez Manuel Santos - Stephen Taylor - Vincent Kompany - Anthony Vanden Borre

-------------------------------Igor Akinfeev---------------------------------------------

Subs:
1)Leonardo GK
2)John Obi Mikel M C
3)Michael Owen ST
4)Peter Ramage D RLC
5)James Milner M RL
6)Obafemi Martins ST (will be sold since I have Owen and Walcott plus some depth guys).

I have to say it's a little embarassing that I've been able to amass so much money and buy so many players. I currently sit 3rd in the Premiership, 3 points back of Chelsea and 4 back of ManU. Getting Ronaldo should help me catch ManU, I hope anyway.

FlyHigh

05-29-2007, 04:09 PM

Live in the Now

05-29-2007, 04:14 PM

You can only get it online. I tried for the longest time to find it in stores, but I never did.

It is so addicting, but good thing that the Gold Cup and Copa America are coming to let me lay off a bit.

Ric Flair

05-29-2007, 04:22 PM

I spent awhile online a few nights ago downloading a version but once I finally got it all straightened out I realized it wasn't in english.:banghead::madfire::pullhair: I think I'll just have to bite the bullet and order it off of amazon.

les Habs

05-29-2007, 10:19 PM

Is this game sold in any US stores? I've looked around for like a week and a half and can't find it. I didn't want to have to order it because of shipping and I've been lazy cause I've been doing some dynasties in other sports games, but I need to get it. Soon.

Not likely to find in any brick and mortars. Just go to Amazon. $19.99 and you get free shipping (I think you have to select the appropriate option at checkout for the free shipping) if you spend $25 or more on media type items. So just get the game and a CD or something and the money you save on shipping will eat half the price of the CD. I can recommend a few good CD's if you need some help. :D

The Vengabus

05-30-2007, 07:59 PM

Wow.. sometimes things just go right for you. All season long, the Championship was a two-horse race between my Forest side and a very strong Villa that simply rolled the league. We tied with 104 points on the last matchday, and my 93'rd minute goal tied me with them on goal differential, and my extra win won the league for me.

cr7

05-30-2007, 10:52 PM

does any1 kow where to get it for the PSP? please.. i want this so bad...lol

les Habs

05-31-2007, 06:20 PM

Not likely to find in any brick and mortars. Just go to Amazon. $19.99 and you get free shipping (I think you have to select the appropriate option at checkout for the free shipping) if you spend $25 or more on media type items. So just get the game and a CD or something and the money you save on shipping will eat half the price of the CD. I can recommend a few good CD's if you need some help. :D

Well? It's $19.99 dude. You'd probably have it on Monday if you'd have ordered it by now.

Ric Flair

06-02-2007, 09:52 AM

Well? It's $19.99 dude. You'd probably have it on Monday if you'd have ordered it by now.

I ordered it a few days ago and mine is due to arrive on monday. Good thing I'm off tuesday and wednesday.

The Kandyman

06-06-2007, 04:39 PM

Taylor, Kompany, and Vanden Borre are always a must have! The game is no fun unless your playing with Newcastle.

Anyone else getting excited about Football Manager Live? Its coming early 08.

FlyHigh

06-06-2007, 05:35 PM

Hopefully mine will be here by Saturday, I ordered it late so that I could get a book with free shipping.

les Habs

06-06-2007, 08:55 PM

I'm currently playing a Barcelona game where I am also running Ajax, Celtic and to a smaller extent Man Utd. I really am only running Utd in the transfer window so that they spend their near 100 million (after a certain transfer) wisely.

Anyone else getting excited about Football Manager Live? Its coming early 08.

Absolutely not, and I can't for the life of me think why.

ukyote

06-11-2007, 05:57 PM

This game ate my life. I guess I'm lucky though cos I get bored with each new release so I only lose about 6 months per year to it... till the new sparkly version comes out with new features and players!

:help:

FlyHigh

06-13-2007, 01:29 AM

Wow, just got the game and it's incredible. Started as Arsenal (had to do it) and had a bid accepted for David Silva for about 10 MP. But Chelsea outbid me and the board wouldn't let me offer as big a contract.

However, I did pick up Ribery for like 20 MP (I was really desperate for some kind of wide player). I'm only a few games in, but I've qualified for the CL group stages (although Standard Liege put up a big fight) and beaten Watford 3-1 and Blackburn 4-1 (RvP at the double!). Love it already.

I'm just going to learn the ins and outs of the game and then start a game with a smaller club so I can build them up.

FlyHigh

06-14-2007, 12:14 AM

The Vengabus

06-14-2007, 02:23 AM

Ahh Rosicky! He's scoring wonder goals for me at Forest, still, at the age of 33, while tutoring my up and coming #10's.

les Habs

06-14-2007, 02:27 AM

Does anyone know how to hire staff in the game? Specifically a physio and scouts?

I just lost Hleb and Ribery 3 months each with broken legs and Cesc has already missed a month for me. I'm 5th in the Prem (just had a run of 4 draws), but leading my CL group pretty comfortably. RvP has been brilliant for me as has Rosicky and Henry of course.

I think you just do a staff search and then offer a contract to whoever you want (even if they have a contract with another club - clubs steal my personnel when I'm playing with a minnow all the time). You can sort the search results by reputation and then choose from there.

I wouldn't think you'd need scouts with Arsenal. What with the players you have already and the money at your disposal you can just buy players w/o having to gamble.

FlyHigh

06-14-2007, 09:51 AM

I think you just do a staff search and then offer a contract to whoever you want (even if they have a contract with another club - clubs steal my personnel when I'm playing with a minnow all the time). You can sort the search results by reputation and then choose from there.

I wouldn't think you'd need scouts with Arsenal. What with the players you have already and the money at your disposal you can just buy players w/o having to gamble.

Actually, Arsenal don't have too much in the game. Buying Ribery took up nearly all of my transfer budget and he was about 25M euros which is an overpayment, but not too bad and I don't mind it seeing as he can be a good 1st teamer for the next 8 years.

I don't have any South American scouts either, that's the main reason I want to hire one.

FlyHigh

06-16-2007, 10:42 PM

This is some kind of game, I've already gone through a full season.

Very frustrating one for me. Started out pretty strong, Baptista was a monster, scored 10 goals in 16 appearances and Henry was playing well too. But then Ribery and Hleb both got hurt in internationals for 2 months, so I ended up moving van Persie to wide left midfield and rotating Rosicky and Walcott at wide right midfield.

Injuries were a major problem for me my first year, all total, I lost Ribery for 4-5 months (he made 14 total appearances for me), Baptista for 5 months (and he had 10 goals in 16 appearances), Hleb for 3 months, Rosicky for 2 months, and Cesc for a month.

Also had some major heartbreak. In the FA Cup, I ended up drawing Liverpool (who won the league) and beat them 5-0 at Ashburton Grove. Next tie was Man City. Almunia (my starting GK, Lehmann is way too unreliable in the game), got hurt for 2 weeks, so I had to play Lehmann. Lehmann made two stupid ass mistakes, then I hit the post and bar once each and I lost 2-1, very disappointing.

After the loss in the FA Cup, RvP and Cesc both became unsettled, but I managed to keep them and get their confidence up again. However, after winning my 1st CL leg against Valencia 3-2 at AG, I lost 1-0 at the Mestalla (Albelda scored in the 85th minute). So I went out on away goals.

However, I stayed strong and ended up ending the season on a tear to finish 2nd in the Premiership (5 points back of Liverpool) which exceeded my expectations.

More bad news though, my summer transfer kitty was 15m € and I got outbid on both Bodmer and Makoun. But I decided to trust my current roster and I sold Reyes for 19m €. I couldn't sign Baptista though since his asking price was 23.5m € and Real didn't want Reyes (even though he scored 19 league goals for them on loan). I did end up signing Jaaskelainen though because he's such a great shotstopper and very reliable. Only cost me 6m € which isn't so bad.

So I have high hopes for next year. Bendtner will be breaking into the 1st team and Henry is definitely staying :D, so hopefully the team can improve.

*Injektilo

06-16-2007, 10:46 PM

I'm currently managing the team of Montrose in the Scottish 3rd Division. 7 games left in my first season, and I'm dead last by 4 points. :(

I just hope I get enough reputation I can apply for a job with a bigger budget than $5k.

cr7

06-17-2007, 04:09 PM

wat is the exact title of this game???

CUBErt

06-17-2007, 04:46 PM

Injuries were a major problem for me my first year, all total, I lost Ribery for 4-5 months (he made 14 total appearances for me), Baptista for 5 months (and he had 10 goals in 16 appearances), Hleb for 3 months, Rosicky for 2 months, and Cesc for a month.
Sounds like you're training your players too hard.

FlyHigh

06-17-2007, 06:27 PM

Sounds like you're training your players too hard.

Usually I alternate between medium and high. Medium if I have a stretch of consecutive matches or high if I have a week or a fortnight off. I never do intensive though except in preseason. Honestly, most of them got hurt during a match and then were out for a long time, I don't know if training has anything to do with that.

Roke

06-17-2007, 07:10 PM

Last night I got fired from Newcastle in 2016 in my main FM file. I couldn't overcome losing my best central defender, right defender and Cristiano Ronaldo to free transfers. I was sitting in 7th and in the FA cup final ,my board only wanted to qualify for Europe but my team was just too inconsistant. I'm going to start a file in Conference North/South of England. I would re-start with Newcastle but I think I'll wait until 2008 comes out.

FlyHigh

06-17-2007, 11:22 PM

If this game is right about Bendtner, I can't wait for next year.

CUBErt

06-18-2007, 07:52 AM

Usually I alternate between medium and high. Medium if I have a stretch of consecutive matches or high if I have a week or a fortnight off. I never do intensive though except in preseason. Honestly, most of them got hurt during a match and then were out for a long time, I don't know if training has anything to do with that.
Then my guess would be that you didn't give them enough time to recover and played the guys at around 90 or even 80 percent?

As for training, I don't think I ever use intensive training, even in the preseason. I usually go with high in the preseason and drop to medium once the real games begin. Relatively conservative perhaps, but it keeps my players on the pitch.

FlyHigh

06-18-2007, 07:54 AM

Then my guess would be that you didn't give them enough time to recover and played the guys at around 90 or even 80 percent?

As for training, I don't think I ever use intensive training, even in the preseason. I usually go with high in the preseason and drop to medium once the real games begin. Relatively conservative perhaps, but it keeps my players on the pitch.

Not that either, if they're not above 95%, then I don't play them usually. Only time I would is if it's someone like Henry or Cesc and it's a huge match, but I usually just rest them beforehand.

Ajacied

06-18-2007, 07:58 AM

Arsenal is the most overrated team on FM though. Not really a challenge.

FlyHigh

06-18-2007, 08:00 AM

Arsenal is the most overrated team on FM though. Not really a challenge.

I know but I want to learn the game. Also, they do have the weird Arsenal runs of form (5-1 win, then 2-0 defeat, then 3-1 win, and then 3-2 defeat, etc.)

Once I get through above 3-4 years, I'm probably going to switch to Zaragoza or I might try an NT.

CUBErt

06-18-2007, 08:06 AM

Not that either, if they're not above 95%, then I don't play them usually. Only time I would is if it's someone like Henry or Cesc and it's a huge match, but I usually just rest them beforehand.
Hmm, then it's hard to say what the problem is. You have the new patch, right? I seem to remember there being some kind of bug in the game originally that resulted in too many injuries occurring.

Anyways, whatever the reason behind the injury plague is/was I hope you'll get rid of it sooner or later.

CUBErt

06-18-2007, 08:09 AM

Arsenal is the most overrated team on FM though. Not really a challenge.
Using an "overrated" or elite team is the best way to get into the game and learn how to play it. Besides, it's not like Ajax is a big challenge either :)

FlyHigh

06-18-2007, 08:35 AM

Using an "overrated" or elite team is the best way to get into the game and learn how to play it. Besides, it's not like Ajax is a big challenge either :)

Yeah I also forgot to mention that for a club that's the 5th richest in the game, I haven't gotten too much money for transfers. I mean, Chelsea spend like 80 million euros every transfer break.

Ajacied

06-18-2007, 08:41 AM

I know. I didn't mean to downtalk anyone here, just commenting on Arsenal as a whole. Having played two careers already (albeit both until 2013), I've noticed plenty.

It's good to learn the game with a quality team though, but you'll lose the value of winning the CL once you have. I'm thinking of beginning all over with a low-budget team and see where it takes me. And by low-budget I really mean near amature status.

Ajacied

06-18-2007, 08:42 AM

Yeah I also forgot to mention that for a club that's the 5th richest in the game, I haven't gotten too much money for transfers. I mean, Chelsea spend like 80 million euros every transfer break.

Wait until they offer you a contract. That way you can chose your own transferfunds. But be careful, the higher you chose your transferfund to be, the lower your funds for salaries will be. So you have to find proper balance.

FlyHigh

06-18-2007, 09:08 AM

Wait until they offer you a contract. That way you can chose your own transferfunds. But be careful, the higher you chose your transferfund to be, the lower your funds for salaries will be. So you have to find proper balance.

Already did that, I couldn't raise my transfer funds significantly without cutting salaries too much, so I only pushed it up 3M Euros.

*Injektilo

06-18-2007, 09:59 AM

I'm thinking of beginning all over with a low-budget team and see where it takes me. And by low-budget I really mean near amature status.

Hey, that's where I'm at, managing one of the worst teams in the lowest division in Scotland. :)

Once I get through above 3-4 years, I'm probably going to switch to Zaragoza or I might try an NT.

If you want to manage a NT, I'd recommend that you create a second career and manage both. NT Management in this game is actually pretty boring. There's absolutely nothing to do in between games, since all the players are with their respective clubs, and games come by pretty rarely, except when you're in the midst of a WC or a Euro.

gary69

06-18-2007, 12:45 PM

Already did that, I couldn't raise my transfer funds significantly without cutting salaries too much, so I only pushed it up 3M Euros.

Which season are you in and what's your reputation like? Did you start as an experienced ex-international player (in your profile)? If you didn't, then it might take a few succesful (i.e. winning something) seasons before you get huge transfer funds even if you manage a profitable big club (without a sugar daddy). The board seems always more willing to give funds to managers who were internationals as players.

It's always good to ask for more transfer funds from the second season onwards (during mid-season or even outside the transfer window to buy players who won't arrive until next season) to see where board stands on this. But keep in mind the following:

- if they refuse you once, make note of the reason, and don't ask again until you have done something (usually won, or made huge profit) that makes their previous answer redundant

- look at the club financies screen at the end of season and see if the board pays any dividents to owners. If they do, that much money can be asked for transfers instead and if they like you, you will most likely get it. As long as you don't ask so much that it takes the club into debt. And to buy wisely, take a look at your players squad status, board may only allow a certain number of key players, and if you buy too many rotation/back-up players, you might be deemed as wasting money. It helps of course, if you're a succesful manager, your players & supporters like you and you have a good reputation.

- if you haven't even spent most of your already existing transfer funds, you are less likely to get more before you spend them. Don't worry even if you have spent all your transfer money and the board have refused you before, they might still give you money for an exceptional (key) player.

- if you spent a lot in the past seasons without being succesful (reaching or exceeding board expections), you might get a less favourable transfer budget.

The Vengabus

06-18-2007, 12:56 PM

I don't think that starting with one of the elite teams off the bat for a total FM rookie is all that easy. These teams have expectations, and it's easy to get fired. I think the best case scenario for learning is one of those big teams, with decent money, that never really do anything, and have no expectations... like Newcastle.

The Vengabus

06-18-2007, 07:42 PM

FlyHigh

06-18-2007, 08:12 PM

Which season are you in and what's your reputation like? Did you start as an experienced ex-international player (in your profile)? If you didn't, then it might take a few succesful (i.e. winning something) seasons before you get huge transfer funds even if you manage a profitable big club (without a sugar daddy). The board seems always more willing to give funds to managers who were internationals as players.

It's always good to ask for more transfer funds from the second season onwards (during mid-season or even outside the transfer window to buy players who won't arrive until next season) to see where board stands on this. But keep in mind the following:

- if they refuse you once, make note of the reason, and don't ask again until you have done something (usually won, or made huge profit) that makes their previous answer redundant

- look at the club financies screen at the end of season and see if the board pays any dividents to owners. If they do, that much money can be asked for transfers instead and if they like you, you will most likely get it. As long as you don't ask so much that it takes the club into debt. And to buy wisely, take a look at your players squad status, board may only allow a certain number of key players, and if you buy too many rotation/back-up players, you might be deemed as wasting money. It helps of course, if you're a succesful manager, your players & supporters like you and you have a good reputation.

- if you haven't even spent most of your already existing transfer funds, you are less likely to get more before you spend them. Don't worry even if you have spent all your transfer money and the board have refused you before, they might still give you money for an exceptional (key) player.

- if you spent a lot in the past seasons without being succesful (reaching or exceeding board expections), you might get a less favourable transfer budget.

Yeah I started out as a rookie manager although I have continental reputation after 1 year. I did exceed my board's expectations for the Premiership, but I didn't make any serious Cup runs.

I probably overpaid for Ribery, especially with his injuries, but Jaaskelainen has been really good for me so far. Just thinking, I don't know if I really need to shop too much seeing as Bendtner has been such a good player so far.

*Injektilo

06-18-2007, 10:50 PM

I hate this game. Seriously. **** this stupid ass ****ing game.

8 seasons in, and I'm finally closing in on a premier league title. Sitting second, 5 games without conceding, 12 game unbeaten, superb morale...a win would put me in first, and the driving seat in front of Chelsea, its against rivals Sheff Utd. Straight bottom, already relegated, all players morale very low, missing half their first team.

How the **** is a 3-0 win for them realistic at this point? This might be the most frustrating loss I've had in years of playing CM/FM.

There are a couple of possible reasons for this.

- Your team was overconfident and didn't put in much effort.
- The SU manager employed a tactic that completely beats yours. As soon as you see that you're getting beaten on the possession % and the passing %, you need to change your tactics to counter theirs. If they employ an attacking tactic, play defensive, etc.

les Habs

06-18-2007, 10:58 PM

Which season are you in and what's your reputation like? Did you start as an experienced ex-international player (in your profile)? If you didn't, then it might take a few succesful (i.e. winning something) seasons before you get huge transfer funds even if you manage a profitable big club (without a sugar daddy). The board seems always more willing to give funds to managers who were internationals as players.

It's always good to ask for more transfer funds from the second season onwards (during mid-season or even outside the transfer window to buy players who won't arrive until next season) to see where board stands on this. But keep in mind the following:

- if they refuse you once, make note of the reason, and don't ask again until you have done something (usually won, or made huge profit) that makes their previous answer redundant

- look at the club financies screen at the end of season and see if the board pays any dividents to owners. If they do, that much money can be asked for transfers instead and if they like you, you will most likely get it. As long as you don't ask so much that it takes the club into debt. And to buy wisely, take a look at your players squad status, board may only allow a certain number of key players, and if you buy too many rotation/back-up players, you might be deemed as wasting money. It helps of course, if you're a succesful manager, your players & supporters like you and you have a good reputation.

- if you haven't even spent most of your already existing transfer funds, you are less likely to get more before you spend them. Don't worry even if you have spent all your transfer money and the board have refused you before, they might still give you money for an exceptional (key) player.

- if you spent a lot in the past seasons without being succesful (reaching or exceeding board expections), you might get a less favourable transfer budget.

Some good stuff here.

I hate it when I'm playing with Barça and they pay dividends. To who?

One thing that I've noticed that maybe you have too, but if you're sitting on say 15-20 million euros in transfer funds and winning matches while still turning a profit that the board sometimes gives you additional funds midway throught the season WITHOUT HAVING TO ASK. That happened to me in last year's game with Barça.

FlyHigh

06-18-2007, 11:16 PM

Henry 10 goals in 10 games.

Bendtner 9 goals in 9 games.

If Henry stays, next year should be soooo fun. :D

Mustard Tiger

06-18-2007, 11:45 PM

Bendtner is amazing in this game. I started my first year as Birmingham manager and he was simply a goal machine for me. Scored 30 goals to lead the Championship in scoring and helped gain promotion to the Premiership via the playoffs. Luckly I was able to extend his loan stay for another year as I can not afford his transfer.

The Vengabus

06-19-2007, 12:04 AM

There are a couple of possible reasons for this.

- Your team was overconfident and didn't put in much effort.
- The SU manager employed a tactic that completely beats yours. As soon as you see that you're getting beaten on the possession % and the passing %, you need to change your tactics to counter theirs. If they employ an attacking tactic, play defensive, etc.

Fair assumptions. But not entirely correct. We dominated both %'s, yet couldnt score, and allowed 3 goals on 4 shots.

Sadly, this loss somehow broke our backs. Our brilliant defensive record came tumbling down, and this loss meant that Chelsea could choke (which they did) and still recover. Came down to the last day, an away tie at Liverpool for me, and a home tie against West Ham for them. They were up by 2 points, and 5 GD. So I needed a West Ham miracle, which I did not get. At the same time, my team came completely apart, and was rocked like they've never been, losing a 6-0 even though I did everything I could to stop the hemmoraghing. After that was the FA cup final where I played Arsenal, whom I had made my proverbial ***** that season. yet, regardless of the adjustments I tried to make, I couldnt even get a single shot, and lost 2-0. I'm really choked about this season. Great, dominant runs in UEFA, FA cups, and the league, and then choked at the end. Not impressed at all, and will have to reconsider things over the summer. Extremely dissapointed in Huntelaar who did not step it up when he should have, going 10 hours without scoring the stretch run.

Mind you, second place and some nice cup runs were a lot better than anybody expected for us. But the manner in which we dismantled teams like Real, Chelsea, Arsenal all season made me think we had more potential.

Evilo

06-20-2007, 02:34 PM

So since everyone has played this game, I decided to give it a try.

So I started a season with Lyon (with my boys, Keita, Bodmer, Ben Arfa and Benzema).
First season, I won the league despite 9 losses.

Players I bought : Huntelaar (33M), and a bunch of french youngsters (Sagna, Moutaouakil, Digard, Gouffran, N'Gog, Obertan, Mangani, Belhadj).
I sold Reveillere, Clerc, Govou, Malouda, Wiltord, Carew...
This summer, I bought Alex (the PSV one), Luizao (young brazilian Dman).

One thing I don't get though is how poorly my players are valued.
I mean a guy like Coupet is worth 4M. Abidal as well. I had to sell Reveillere for 2.8M.

Why is that?

After 10 L1 games in season 2, I'm 8-1-1, leading my CL group easily (already qualified after 4 games), and Juninho has 9 goals and 9 assists so far (!!!).

My current team :
---------Coupet--------
Sagna-Cris-Alex-Abidal
----Juninho-Bodmer----
Keita-------------Ben Arfa
----Fred--Huntelaar----
Key backups : Riou, Toulalan, Kallstrom, Obertan, Benzema, Luizao, Moutaouakil, Belhadj, N'Gog...

Question #2 : Ben Arfa missed 3 months of the previous season, and is out 3 more months this season. Bodmer is injured seemingly every week and gets injured every time he comes back.
Both of my phisios are top quality it seems.
Right now, I have 5 guys sidelined.

Why is that? What shall I do?

*Injektilo

06-20-2007, 02:38 PM

Question #2 : Ben Arfa missed 3 months of the previous season, and is out 3 more months this season. Bodmer is injured seemingly every week and gets injured every time he comes back.
Both of my phisios are top quality it seems.
Right now, I have 5 guys sidelined.

Why is that? What shall I do?

Check your training schedule. It may be too heavy for them.

I can't explain the value attached to the players, other than to say that FM is very British-centric, and there may be some bias - or at least a lower level of knowledge - stemming from that. But this is my opinion, and am probably wrong in saying it.

xalcyx

06-20-2007, 02:42 PM

If this game is right about Bendtner, I can't wait for next year.
It is right A LOT about young players. Although, as O=S says, arsenal are very favoured on this game.
Arsenal is the most overrated team on FM though. Not really a challenge.
Meh the EPL is always a challenge unless maybe you're chelsea.
Yeah I also forgot to mention that for a club that's the 5th richest in the game, I haven't gotten too much money for transfers. I mean, Chelsea spend like 80 million euros every transfer break.
You're likely paying off a stadium too?
I hate this game. Seriously. **** this stupid ass ****ing game.

This is why I had to quit it for a while. I was doing too much damage to my office.
So since everyone has played this game, I decided to give it a try.welcome!

One thing I don't get though is how poorly my players are valued.
I mean a guy like Coupet is worth 4M. Abidal as well. I had to sell Reveillere for 2.8M.

Why is that?
There is built-in code in the game that ties a player's value largely into his reputation, but also his age. The players you mentioned are somewhat older, and play in a (and you'll love hearing this) lower profile league.

Question #2 : Ben Arfa missed 3 months of the previous season, and is out 3 more months this season. Bodmer is injured seemingly every week and gets injured every time he comes back.
Both of my phisios are top quality it seems.
Right now, I have 5 guys sidelined.

Why is that? What shall I do?
Are you all patched up? The early versions of this game actually had horrible injury bugs, which are addressed somewhat in the patches. Download the latest patch from www.sigames.com. The other explanation is that your training may be too intense. Failing that, it may just be one of those things in the game that are a little unrealistic and hugely frustrating. When the injury bug hits, it usually hits one position.