Lower League Discussion

[Qwikshot]

Okay, this forum seems a little too quiet...I know most players here will have England as a top league to play in. I have found that it is far more interesting to play in the lower divisions then in the higher leagues...

Case in point, I managed to get York from BSP to League Two in one season, not a great feat, but I was proud of myself winning the league outright. I got extremely lucky as I had put a flyer out on getting a parent league and I got three offers back. I didn't have to bother because Man U. decided to be my parent and was paying me around 100 EUROs to do so (if I read that right, the other two teams were significantly less), furthermore, my weakest spot was goal, and the first thing they did was drop Heaton on me for the entire season which helped, and of course I poached just about every loan listed player in their reserves (I messed up on the Chinese striker, he was a short loan and I couldn't get him back for the season, but Fagan, Heaton, Hewson and another midfielder all enjoyed time on my time - Eagles and Brandy wouldn't come).

Playing League Two was difficult, my tactics weren't working and I was trying to break free from my weird BSP tactic for something more conventional, which then really didn't work. Frustrated, I got an offer from Catania in Italy, took it and realized that I way over my head. Resigned after half a season of holding the line near relegation before just being bored, after about a season and a half unemployed Reading offered me a job, but by then I was completely off my game and decided to start over.

So why do people like the lower leagues more, is it the challenge, is it the fact that the rosters are more manageable (Catania had like 5 Physios!!!). Is it building up the players and running the gauntlet up to hopefully Premier?

Discuss?

[Celeval]

It's the upward mobility. Starting in LLM and advancing up the ranks just feels like a stronger (and, truth be told, more "realistic") achievement then starting in L1 or the Championship and making due. Feels more like it's my own work, if that makes sense.

[sovereignstar]

I'm pretty picky when starting new careers. I like a bit of a challenge, but I also want to give myself a realistic chance at success. I play extremely slow compared to the average gamer, so I don't want to start down in Blue Square. I also want a good chunk of transfer money just because it's fun to spend it! More manageable is a good way of putting it too. If I had 50,000,000 pounds of transfer money to spend, I'd probably go insane. If I was a Premier side I'd also be afraid that my lack of tactical knowledge would hurt me.

I create excel tables and input starting info (training and youth setups, transfer balance, etc) and table predictions for each team in prospective leagues. I won't pick the most well-off squad, but probably a team that is ripe for success. Think MK Dons in League Two.

[vex]

It's a couple of things for me. For one, I do like the challenge of getting my team from the lowest league to the top league, with the hope of continental play.

Also, I really like the thrill of getting promoted. It is much more satisfying to get promoted than just to win the league, imo.

My favorite thing probably though is that I can find young (usually foreign) stars and the great thing about being in the lower leagues is that many of them can start from day one in the lower leagues and as my team moves up the ladder, the players develop and stay in my starting 11.

[Ajaxab]

I find lower leagues to be an incredible challenge. After playing with Ajax and having a lot of success, I started a new game with Weston super-Mare in the BSS. I would like to say that one of my strengths is finding good young players who can fit the system I want to run, but in LL it is much more difficult to succeed with that strategy. Just finding anyone who wants to come play for my Seagulls is hard enough given that we have no transfer money and limited wages, never mind finding players who fit my system.

I am feeling like this job may well be an impossible task. In my first season, we fluked out with good draws to end in the 2nd round of the FA Cup. All that money kept us financially afloat. In the second season, we didn't even make the 1st round so that potential revenue is gone. I've never been the kind of player who likes to jump at better looking jobs, but it seems like such a struggle in the BSS that I might have to make a move at some point.

I don't suspect that the game takes account of the difficulty level of a position, but I wish it did. Managing a bigger club with some transfer money to play with is much easier, imo, than managing penniless minnows. Don't we deserve some credit for doing something like getting Weston super-Mare to the 2nd round of the FA Cup. We were this close to getting a game with a big four Premiership side.

[RospoKadu]

ive been playing FM for a long time now, back to when it was named CM. I decided to go with FM instead of the new FM after trying both of them for 2 season, and FM is way better. Its a bit heavy, specially if you dont have a good machine or you abuse in the number of controllable leagues.

Anyway, ive always been a great fan of lower league management. Its just more challenging than starting a game right away with AC Milan or Inter (by the way im always playing in Italy, there seems to be more balance in the lower ranked teams in there)

I like to look for some lower league teams with a good chance to grow up. i usually start in Serie C2, or if there is a good team with a nice upside in C1 i'do go there too. In the last few years i didnt even touched a team in Serie B or higher from the start.

My latest good playing was in fm 2007. I started out with Catanzaro, playing in the C2. The team had a good stadium, which helped me to get some extra money. In two years i was playing Serie B, and stayed there for 3 seasons after gettin my desired promotion to Serie A. That was really excitin, because i had lots of good young players comin through the youth academy (i always like to grow my own players) In order to do that im always scouting for youg players, usually in the 17-20 years of age range. Lots of them turn out to be busts, but ive had some really nice payoffs with it.

Playin in the Seria A was realy rough in the start, but i managed to hang on to it for 2 consecutive 14th place finish. After that i managed to finish 6th in what was a major season from my Striker, and i sold him for some good 20milllion to AC Milan. After that i bough a nice young colombian striker and a few more young players to develop with. Also invested in the training and youth facilities.

I stinked in the UEFA Cup the next season, but got some nice money from playin it. I managed to keep going 7th to 5th in the following 3 years, and finally managed to win the Serie A in 2016 or 17 if i remember correctly. Man, thats was SWEET! Winning it with Catanzaro was trully great.

After winnin the Seria A i started to buillt a nice squad to be able to compete in the Euro championships. It took about 2 years for me to finish strong in both competitions. By that time i had a Serbian striker called Igor Petras and a netherlands star striker called Richard Kuipers. They were both monsters which i grew from my youth academy. I Got my European Champions Cup title in 2021, and they were both valued at 66m each. After that season i sold Kuipers to Barcelona for a ridiculous 76m plus a nice french youngter they had.

Im currently not playing that file anymore, and started a game in Fm 2008, which seems to run much smoother than FM 2007.

I started in Brazilian 3rd division with the team from my hometown, SER Caxias. Im only 3 years into playin and im already in the 1st Division, but im planning to get a chance to manage the team which i cheer to, Internacional (yeah, that one that beat Barcelona in the 2006 FIFA World Club Chanpionship! :D )

[Toddzilla]

It's been 5 years! Where ya been? :D

[Cringer]

Scottish Third is my starting point, but I don't stay there for long because the Scots can't handle me. :D

[Ajaxab]

It's amazing what having a good parent club can do. I started a new game with Bromley of the Blue Square South. We're in my fifth season at the helm and have managed to get to League 2 and finally becoming fully professional. But that progression has been a direct result of Arsenal wanting to team up with us. As a result, we've been able to get some superb young players on loan who have really, really helped us. It has almost felt like cheating. But a BSS and BSP title and a Setanta Shield in the trophy case means I can't complain.

It's been a bit strange getting into L2 though. The same Arsenal players who joined us in the BSS and BSP at 18-19 don't want to be loaned to us anymore at 20-21. Maybe it's Wenger's youth policy or at least Pat Rice's youth policy (Wenger went off to manage France). I don't know...

[Passacaglia]

Scottish Third is my starting point, but I don't stay there for long because the Scots can't handle me. :D

When I'm all out for the lower leagues, I like to rock out in Northern Ireland Second Division. I figure that's the smallest country with the most divisions (need to get promoted twice, and even then, you're playing in Northern Ireland, which is so small that talent is probably still worse than Conference North/South)

[Cringer]

When I'm all out for the lower leagues, I like to rock out in Northern Ireland Second Division. I figure that's the smallest country with the most divisions (need to get promoted twice, and even then, you're playing in Northern Ireland, which is so small that talent is probably still worse than Conference North/South)

I had a great career with a Northern Ireland Second Division team, Portsdown or something like that. It was the last version I had, so I think that would have been 2005. Was a great career getting up into the Premier and then fighting for anything positive in continental play.