FM2005: A frog at Kenilworth Road

[FrogMan]

April 29, 2006
away at Stockport (currently 20th, 1 point out of relegation zone)
S: Showunmi/Hammond/Pinnock
AMC: Bridge-Wilkinson
DMC: Keane/Chambers (no up arrows)
D: Davis/James/Coyne/Foley (full backs with up arrows)
GK: Murphy

Team morale seems not so bad, despite the previous loss.

I tweak many of the individual orders in an attempt to recapture the balance I once had.

We're 4 points ahead of Watford and they play Walsall today. A win by us, or a loss by them would clinch a playoff spot for us.

22nd minute: They score on their first shot on goal, from a throw in played short then passed back to the throw taker who centered it to our 6 yard box. Down 0-1.

78th minute: We launched a great counter attack, all on the left. Steve Robinson passes it deep on the left to Enoch Showunmi. Show takes it to the byline before centering it in the 6 yard box to Lee Mansell who's left with an easy finish. Tied 1-1.

While we play a good game, form wise, it doesn't translate into any more goals. Five of our players end the game with ratings of 8.

Final Score: Luton 1, Stockport 1
Shots (on target): Luton 10 (2), Stockport 7 (2)
MoM: Kevin Foley with a rating of 8, but most importantly 10 tackles won out of 14, 8 headers won out of 11 and 5 interceptions.

Watford loses 0-1 to Walsall, we clinch a playoff spot!!! What a turn around this team has made. From clinching an out of relegation zone spot in the second to last game a season ago, to clinching a playoff spot in the second to last game this season.

On top of this, the away draw seems to have worked wonders on the team morale. I can see many players with superb morale.

May 1st, 2006
The Luton Team Board is still delighted with my management of the team.

Marc Bridge-Wilkinson finishes third for the League One Player of the Month award.

Sol Davis is named on the League One Team of the Week.

Transfer News
I get news that Chester star, 28yo defensive midfielder Jacob Burns wants out of Chester. He's saying he's looking to move to a bigger club. I take a quick look at his skills and like what I see. I declare my interest and ask my scouts for their opinions. He has averaged ratings of 7.26 in league play, and 7.4 in Cup play, while also appearing as a sub for Australia in 5 matches, averaging ratings of 7.

The very next day, we hear from the manager of Chester that he is open to sell Burns.

Reserves News
AH HAH!!! I decided to untick the "use current match tactics" box from the options under my reserves team management. Who's the keeper for their middle of the week match? Rob Beckwith... I had ticked that box only to give my many reserve strikers some playing time, since I had seen that my assistant manager seemed to be playing a 4-4-2 and I wanted him to play a 4-3-3 instead. Maybe there's some sort of contradiction that makes him unable to pick players properly with that option ticked on... I'll keep an eye on it...

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

The assistant manager, for lack of a better word, sucks in this game. It's really very buggy. I've had problems with him playing some of my 1st team in a Wed reserve match so they're tired come Saturday. Really annoying. Nevermind that he doesn't like any player I try to sign so I can't offer proper wages.

This has long been complained about to SI, going back to prior versions, but they don't seem to either understand the problem or intend to fix it.

Yeah, I usually don't care much about what my assistant manager thinks or says. Sometimes I read his recommendation for wages, but don't always follow it. I didn't know he could limit your spending though. I thought only the Team Board could do that...

FM

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Yeah, I usually don't care much about what my assistant manager thinks of says. Sometimes I read his recommendation for wages, but don't always follow it. I didn't know he could limit your spending though. I thought only the Team Board could do that...

FM

I think you are right in a sense, when you try to sign someone, the AM merely represents what the board is telling you. But in either case, something is off, whether it's the board evaluation or the AM doing it. The scouts evaluation of player talent is way off also. You might run into it if you manage to promote up, especially if you make it to the premiership.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

I think you are right in a sense, when you try to sign someone, the AM merely represents what the board is telling you. But in either case, something is off, whether it's the board evaluation or the AM doing it. The scouts evaluation of player talent is way off also. You might run into it if you manage to promote up, especially if you make it to the premiership.

yeah, scout's work is way bad. I don't care about them either, to the point that I simply search for players...

FM

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

yeah, scout's work is way bad. I don't care about them either, to the point that I simply search for players...

FM

The problem is that the scout tells me an obviously good player has no future in football. This could be someone with 100 caps and obvious talent. Then the board reflects the same evaluation in what I can offer for wages. As an example, I have a max of $5.6 million USD/annum for one player and they won't allow me more than $1.1 million USD/annum no matter who it is I'm trying to sign. I'm about $30 million below my wage budget because I can't sign anyone. Anyway, I pinged Marc V. about this because I really hope they're planning on fixing it.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

The problem is that the scout tells me an obviously good player has no future in football. This could be someone with 100 caps and obvious talent. Then the board reflects the same evaluation in what I can offer for wages. As an example, I have a max of $5.6 million USD/annum for one player and they won't allow me more than $1.1 million USD/annum no matter who it is I'm trying to sign. I'm about $30 million below my wage budget because I can't sign anyone. Anyway, I pinged Marc V. about this because I really hope they're planning on fixing it.

I saw you pinged Marc, but can't you simply change the type of contract to what *you* want to give the player? I know sometimes my assistant says a player would be a useful first team member, then the first team tag appears in the box, reflected by the wage my board will allow for a first team. When he says he would become an essential player, the "key player" tag appears and I can offer more. I may be wrong, but I thought you could pick up another tag, to be allowed to offer more to a player...

FM

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

I saw you pinged Marc, but can't you simply change the type of contract to what *you* want to give the player? I know sometimes my assistant says a player would be a useful first team member, then the first team tag appears in the box, reflected by the wage my board will allow for a first team. When he says he would become an essential player, the "key player" tag appears and I can offer more. I may be wrong, but I thought you could pick up another tag, to be allowed to offer more to a player...

FM

That's the whole problem. No matter who it is I'm trying to sign I get a "doesn't think signing is worthwhile" message. And everyone gets that message. I haven't had a different one in six or seven seasons. Even key first teamers I'm trying to re-sign get a "can easily replace" message. And some of these players are top level guys who've shown they can play at the highest level and have a high rep. It's really impossible to picture it until you see it happen over and over (and over). Apparently the most I can offer a "bad player" is $1 million, which is what they allow me.

Here is an example:

Fred

Fred2

Team Finance

Team Wage Budget

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

That's the whole problem. No matter who it is I'm trying to sign I get a "doesn't think signing is worthwhile" message. And everyone gets that message. I haven't had a different one in six or seven seasons. Even key first teamers I'm trying to re-sign get a "can easily replace" message. And some of these players are top level guys who've shown they can play at the highest level and have a high rep. It's really impossible to picture it until you see it happen over and over (and over). Apparently the most I can offer a "bad player" is $1 million, which is what they allow me.

Here is an example:

Fred

Fred2

Team Finance

Team Wage Budget

wow, that sucks that you're using about a third of your wage budget... I'M not sure I'll this high before some time anyway, but it's good to know. Also hoping they are working on it...

FM

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

wow, that sucks that you're using about a third of your wage budget... I'M not sure I'll this high before some time anyway, but it's good to know. Also hoping they are working on it...

FM

I'm crossing my fingers also. I've figured out that the max they allow me to offer is either for a Backup or for a Youngster (if they are under 20-21). And nothing else. Hopefully it'll get looked at for the next patch.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

I'm crossing my fingers also. I've figured out that the max they allow me to offer is either for a Backup or for a Youngster (if they are under 20-21). And nothing else. Hopefully it'll get looked at for the next patch.

wow, seems like something serious enough. It would be one thing to always read that this or that player isn't good enough, if it did not have an impact on the kind of money you can offer. That way, you could simply bypass the need to have an assistant... Got an idea, what if you fire your assistant and work without one?

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Ouch, that sounds bad. Hopefully, they get it fixed soon. By the way, Congrats FM on clinching a playoff spot!

Thanks, hope you saw the news about Harrogate Town...

FM

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

wow, seems like something serious enough. It would be one thing to always read that this or that player isn't good enough, if it did not have an impact on the kind of money you can offer. That way, you could simply bypass the need to have an assistant... Got an idea, what if you fire your assistant and work without one?

FM

Tried it, he was just a mouthpiece for my evil board.

[Eaglesfan27]

Ouch, that sounds bad. Hopefully, they get it fixed soon. By the way, Congrats FM on clinching a playoff spot!

[FrogMan]

May 5, 2006
home vs Cheltenham (currently 15th with 55 points, we have 70 points)
S: Showunmi/Blinkhorn/Pinnock
AMC: Jones
DMC: Robinson/Chambers (with up arrows)
D: Davis/Davies/Williams/Keane (no up arrows)
GK: Goodlad

We can not move up, as 5th place Port Vale has 74 points to our 70, and we can not move down, since we've clinched playoffs, so I basically see this game as almost a friendly and I play a mixture of starters and backups. I even start keeper Mark Goodlad.

They come into the game showing an inventive 4-3-1-2 that I had not seen from another team...

8th minute: They pass it to the edge of our penalty box, past Curtis Davies. Mark Goodlad rushes out but is beaten on the one on one. We're down 0-1.

Nothing else happens. We're not dominated, but we're not dominating either.

Final Score: Luton 0, Cheltenham 1
Shots (on target): Luton 7 (2), Cheltenham 5 (3)
MoM: Cheltenham's Grant McCann with a rating of 8.
HoM: Nobody really stands out once again...

Possession: (us/them)
our zone: 15/14
middle: 16/28
their zone: 12/15

Not a very satisfying way to walk into the playoffs...

Transfer News
Jacob Burns is looking to move... The midfielder admitted that he has always been excited at the prospect of playing at a higher level and given the interest from Luton would certainly consider any forthcoming offer...

Work Permit News
Ivan Kaviedes has been granted a conditional work permit for his move to Luton. We confirm the transfer that will go through at the end of his current contract, on September 1st, 2006. I don't know what a conditional work permit means though. Conditional to what, playing football?

Playoffs News
We will play Sheffield Wednesday in the League One Playoff Semi Final. This will be a two leg series with the first leg being played on May 14th at Kenilworth Road and the second leg on the 18th at Sheffield.

These two games being only 4 days apart, I'd like to hope that my great team depth will help me, as it did in the thick of the season, when most every team had games every 3-4 days and we were doing amazingly well...

Looking forward, Sheffield Wed is declared evens favorite for both games, while our odds to win are at 9-4.

We've swept the seasonal series with Sheffield this year, winning first 1-0 at home, and a crazy 2-0 win on their pitch. I say crazy because they had 17 shots, 6 on target, while we had 5 shots, 3 on target in that game.

They have a starting forward currently injured for 2 more weeks, while we have a starting defensive middie in Richard Johnson that is way too unfit to play, following his recent injury. Our player conditions seem to be much better than theirs, but how this will play on the field remains to be seen.

Finally, Sheffield Wednesday were the odds on favorite to win it all this season. At the start of the season, they had odds of 6-4 to win it all, while we had odds of 40-1 :eeks:

Training News
I get a message that Matt Carbon was absent from training today. That's the first time this has ever happened to me, despite reading about it from other dynasties. I didn't understand what people meant about players being absent/missing from training, didn't know where to look for that sort of warning. Now I know

Weird thing is that Carbon is currently injured and I have set him on the "Resting" schedule, with nobody watching over him... I still issue a warning for unprofessional behaviour...

Scouting News
I'm probably getting what Desnudo was talking about with my scouts, as two of them both think that Jacob Burns is not good enough to play at Luton... I still like him, we'll see...

Discipline News
Carbon accepts his warning and acknowledge thathis unprofessional behaviour is unacceptable, and that he deserved a warning. He has indicated a willingness to improve his behaviour in the future.

U18 News
Seems like it's been a while since I've last entertained you with 16yo Kevin Joyce's development. He's now pulling double duty, often playing with the Reserve squad and then the U18 squad. In his latest U18 match, he collected his 5th Man of the Match award in 23 appearances, with a rating of 8, completing 26 of 32 passes, winning 9 of 13 headers, ending the game with a rating of 8. His average rating this season is a very good 7.52.

Playoffs News
The first leg of the other League One Semi Final between Swindon and Port Vale is played today, on the 13th, at Port Vale. Swindon wins it fairly easily, 2-0. They even finished the game with only 10 men, but they were already up by 2 at that point.

FM

[BreizhManu]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

The problem is that the scout tells me an obviously good player has no future in football. This could be someone with 100 caps and obvious talent.

I think this has something to do with hidden ratings Curent Ability and Future Ability.The Scouts/Coaches don't seem to look at the other attributes, just those two and this leads to confusion when a player as other very good attributes (Mainly due to bad scouting by SI Researchers), remember To Madeira, he had bad CA/PA ->wasn't even considered by the AI, but had great ratings.
Well I didn't scout for FM2005 but it looks way better than other versions of the game since there is a better correlation between CA and other attributes (e.g : a player with 120 CA should have an average of 12 in other ratings) but it probably still needs some work.

It also has something to do with your level of play.Let's say you're playing with Manchester United, your scout might not even consider players with less than 150 CA or youngsters with less than 150 PA.

Anyways, yeah it needs some work.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by BreizhManu

I think this has something to do with hidden ratings Curent Ability and Future Ability.The Scouts/Coaches don't seem to look at the other attributes, just those two and this leads to confusion when a player as other very good attributes (Mainly due to bad scouting by SI Researchers), remember To Madeira, he had bad CA/PA ->wasn't even considered by the AI, but had great ratings.
Well I didn't scout for FM2005 but it looks way better than other versions of the game since there is a better correlation between CA and other attributes (e.g : a player with 120 CA should have an average of 12 in other ratings) but it probably still needs some work.

It also has something to do with your level of play.Let's say you're playing with Manchester United, your scout might not even consider players with less than 150 CA or youngsters with less than 150 PA.

Anyways, yeah it needs some work.

Unfortunately that's not the case for me. Uniformly across the board my scouts rate everyone, good, bad, or mediocre, as unfit for my team which is now in the EPL. I'm gathering from reading the SI boards that the problem seems to derive from small clubs climbing the ladder to the higher levels. Something must happen with the scouting (and board assessing for wages) algorithm when you promote up. This is definitely a bug.

Sorry for hijacking your thead FM. We now return you to your regularly scheduled dynasty.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Sorry for hijacking your thead FM. We now return you to your regularly scheduled dynasty.

That's okay, it all started following a question of mine. FM discussion in here is very cool with me, it helps me understand why sometimes I don't agree with the scouts and/or assistant manager...

FM

[FrogMan]

May 14, 2006
League One Semi Final, Leg 1
home vs Sheffield Wednesday
S: Showunmi/Tarachulski/Hammond
AMC: Bridge-Wilkinson
DMC: Chambers/Keane (with up arrows)
D: Davis/James/Coyne/Foley (full backs with up arrows)
GK: Murphy

We go into this game with a very attacking mentality, try to create some havoc up front.

They played an attacking 5-3-2 in their last match, but they show a 4-4-2 with moderate push from the wingers as we get to the game.

Our players' conditions are all at 100% except 2 at 99%, while theirs is 3 at 100% (including the keeper) then some at 98% and a few at 95 and 96%. They have 2 strikers injured while we're missing defensive middie Richard Johnson.

1st minute: We get a great chance on our first break, only 30 seconds into the game, but Bartosz Tarachulski puts it over the bar. They take the ensuing goal kick up and do about whatever they want to do with the ball, finally scoring the opening goal before the initial minute has even ticked off the clock, damn! Down 0-1.

Very depressing start to the game, all of my players show form ratings of 5 after the goal, except two who are at 6.

8th minute: While one of their players is being attented to by their physio on the sideline, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson takes a loose ball near midfield, just past the center line and passes it on the left to Enoch Showunmi. The crowd goes wild as Enoch puts on the show and fakes the keeper out of his shorts and scores the equalizer, 1-1.

15th minute: Sol Davis takes a free kick near the central circle, to Bridge-Wilkinson just outside their penalty box. He switfly turns around and smashes the ball toward the top corner, a fabulous strike for the go ahead goal! 2-1.

27th minute: Tony James slides hard on one of their strikers, NOOOOOO, the ref points to the spot PENALTY!!! Kick comes... AND JOE MURPHY BLOCKS IT!!! They miss the goal on the following scramble. Still up by one.

37th minute: Following a collision with an opponent, Bridge-Wilkinson's condition drops to 49%. I see him being passed twice by opposing defenders. I take him out, Lee Mansell goes in.

48th minute: Three minute into injury time, Joe Murphy is having a wonderful first half, as he makes another great save on a one on one...

51st minute: Bartosz Tarachulski has to go off, injured. Matthew Blinkhorn comes in. It's our third and last substitution as Steve Robinson came in at the half to replace an innefective Keith Keane.

82nd minute: The referee makes a dubious foul call against us near midfield. They play the kick forward to an unmarked man at the edge of our box. He's alone against Murphy who can't do anything this time. Tied 2-2. This will be the final score.

Final Score: Luton 2, Sheffield Wed 2
Shots (on target): Luton 10 (5), Sheffield Wed 17 (8)
MoM: Joe Murphy, with a rating of 9 and numerous great saves to keep us in the lead for a long time.

Possession: (us/them)
our zone: 18/15
middle: 22/21
their zone: 8/16

Possession was well split, even though we got beat pretty bad in shots... Now, we'll have to win it at their place...

FM

[FrogMan]

Injury News
Bartosz Tarachulski's season is basically over as he suffered some broken ribs and will miss a month. Sheffield will also have to deal with an injury from the game, as one of their defenders should miss the next 5 days.

Achievement News
With only 2 games to pick from, five Hatters make the League One Team of the Week: Joe Murphy, Adam Chambers, Sol Davis, Tony James, and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson.

Injury News
This is not good. Defender Chris Coyne sprains his wrist in training and will miss 5 days.

April 17th, 2006
The Leg 2 of the other semi final is played and Swindon wins it again 2-0. They win the series 4-0 on aggregate.


FM

[daedalus]

Sucks. BartTara is a pretty solid player to be missing.

[Eaglesfan27]

This is a great read. I keep trying to vote to give it a 5, but my vote doesn't seem to be registering. Anyway, keep up the great work.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by daedalus

Sucks. BartTara is a pretty solid player to be missing.

yeah, sucks big time. I'll have to do with Show, Blink and Elvis up front, me guess, although I don't remember everybody's exact condition. I'll see right now, as I get ready to boot the game to play leg 2 of the semi, see ya later

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

This is a great read. I keep trying to vote to give it a 5, but my vote doesn't seem to be registering. Anyway, keep up the great work.

Thanks, glad you like it

FM

[FrogMan]

May 18, 2006
League One Semi Final, Leg 2
away at Sheffield Wednesday
S: Showunmi/Blinkhorn/Hammond
MC: Mansell (with up arrow)
DMC: Chambers/Keane (with up arrows)
D: Davis/James/Williams/Foley
GK: Murphy

I again set the tactics to be very attacking, despite us being on the road. I'm also gambling on us having better depth and better conditioning, so I tell my guys to keep the tempo of the game a bit quicker than usual. I'm guessing we could possibly tire them out and luck out on one goal. I also set the defensive line to stay deep, to compensate for the attacking mentality.

Regulars of this dynasty will see that 35yo Mark Williams is in for injured Chris Coyne, while Matthew Blinkhorn replaces Bartosz Tarachulski in the middle striker spot. I also decide to pull back my usuall attacking midfielder while giving him the forward arrow for when we have the ball. In that spot, I give the start to Lee Mansell instead of Marc Bridge-Wilkinson. BW is still not 100% from our last match (currently the lowest of all starters at 92%) and I decide it may be better to keep him on the bench so he could replace Mansell later in the game and be fresh as a playmaker when Sheffield's defenders will start to get tired. Defensive midfielder Richard Johnson is only at 88% and severely lacking in match pratice after missing three weeks with a groin strain. I still decide to have him on my bench instead of Steve Robinson. I consider Johnson a better option to come from the bench in a pinch late in the game.

On gameday, I tell Sheffield's manager Paul Sturrock that I hope to put a dent in his promotion hope on Thursday. Ahh trash talk! From a newspaper cut: "...speaking to journalists at the club's training ground, Gougeon commented that his side were more than capable of winning the game and that he would love to give Sturrock's promotion chances a setback at this late stage of the season"

Matthew Blinkhorn, Sol Davis, and Kevin Foley all like my forthright views regarding Sheffield Wed's slim chances of getting promoted. I would have hoped some more comments from some of the team leaders, but I'll take that for some fire...

As we get to the game, they show a 4-4-2 formation with heavy push from the wingers.

Player conditions are similar, many are a little under 100% on both sides, although both their inner midfielders have much lower condition going into the game. One is at 92% and the other is at 94% before the match has even started.

As the game starts I see these two 2-2 numbers next to the 0-0 score of the game and realize this is the aggregate score, cool.

13th minute: Enoch Showunmi gets his second great one on one chance but puts this one on the side netting. Still no scores. We're stuck with a stupid homer ref. In only 13 minutes, he's already given us 2 yellows (Adam Chambers & Lee Mansell)

The first half ends as they regained control of the ball. We were imposing our rythm early on, but they seem to have regained control around the 35th minute. They have two players with slight injuries and have already subbed one out, also due to injury. Maybe these yellows were justified :insert evil laugh: All their players' conditions are in the low 70s at the half, while ours are mostly in the high 70s.

Even though Mansell is having a solid game so far (rating of 8) I decide to put Marc Bridge-Wilkinson in, in hope of creating something up front.

63rd minute: Keith Keane's condition is dropping like a rock in water and I decide to put in Richard Johnson in his place.

85th minute: They are now controlling the ball very easily. Adam Chambers gets frustrated and get called for a foul. huhoh, the referee wants to speal to him... oh no!!! He gets his second yellow and is sent off. We'll have to play with 10 men from here on out. I decide to drop Marc Bridge-Wilkinson to defensive midfielder and I replace Matthew Blinkhorn by forward James Pinnock, whom I play in the attacking midfielder spot vacated by Bridge-Wilkinson. We're now playing a 4-2-1-2. As I end my tactic moves, I see what I never want to see in a game: Sheffield Wed goes to the dreaded 4-2-4 formation. Oh shit, this doesn't look good for us...

End of regulation: Well, we've survived for now, as the regulation time ends. Extra time will start shortly. At this time, I have no clue if any kind of Golden or Silver goal rule applies, or if we'll play the whole 2x15 minutes of extra time.

Here's how the players conditions of both teams are shaping up after 90 minutes of play:



As you can see, they are pretty much in the shitter for both teams, although the fact I waited so long to put in Pinnock gives him a chance, and my defenders seem to be in a bit of a better condition than theirs.

97th minute: Tony James can only scramble the incoming corner kick to just outside our penalty box. They push it back inside the box where one of their strikers hits a left footed volley that beats Joe Murphy to his left, we go down 0-1. As I'm writing down, my heart is sinking and I kind of expect to hear the "final whistle" but instead I see "Luton kicks off"... I guess there's no Golden Goal rule in effect, we're still alive, barely, but still alive...

I make some tactics change and decide to go all or nothing. This is what our formation will look like from now on:



I only gotta hope that the three in the back will be strong enough to hold back any attacks and that Tony James, whom I put in the defensive middie position because he's the one who apparently has the most gas left in his tank, can feed a ball or two so Bridge-Wilkinson can work his magic to feed the two strikers that are left.

103rd minute: This is our last chance push. Bridge-Wilkinson makes a great challenge on one of their defenders to steal the ball from him. He tips it left in the box to Enoch Showunmi, but away from the goal. Show passes it to James Pinnock just about on the penalty spot. Pinnock buys some time, turns to his left and fires a vicious top corner shot for the equalizer!!! We're back in business!!! Now tied 1-1 in the game, 3-3 on aggregate goals.

The defender that Bridge-Wilkinson challenged is injured on the play and has to leave the field. They're out of subs and will have to finish with 10 men. It's now an even field, 10 on 10. They go to a 3-2-4. I'll be damned...

105th minute: Right at the start of the second extra time period, their four strikers are too much for my three defenders, as they cross the ball not only once, but twice. First from left to right, then back from right to center, and they score. We go down again, now 1-2 and 3-4 on aggregate.

108th minute: well, RIGHT BACK AT YA!!! A great counter attack is launched by a perfect pass from Bridge-Wilkinson over their defender line, to a James Pinnock on the move. He's only got the keeper to beat, and he does just that, with a perfect kick from the penalty spot, just inside the post. His second goal of the game puts us right back in it!!! 2-2 for the game, 4-4 on aggregate. Crazy, crazy extra time. No goals for 90 minutes, and now 4 goals in less than 30 minutes...

As extra time ends, we're still tied. We go to penalty kicks!!!

As I go to set my penalty kick takers list, I realize that having Marc Bridge-Wilkinson in the game for the end of it was a very wise decision, as he got some great penalty kick skills (19).

Going into penalty kicks, I feel pretty about our chances now, if only because Joe Murphy, our keeper, has been red hot in this game so far, and he's blocked one against Sheffield in the 1st leg of the Semi Final.

They kick first... (in parenthesis, the player's penalty kick skill, when known)

John Hills (19)..... kicks it wide right, NO GOAL!!!! 0-0

Marc Bridge-Wilkinson (19).... scores!!! 1-0

Richard Wood (9).... balls touched by Murphy, but it goes in... 1-1

Tony James (17).... easy goal to the right!!! 2-1 after 2 on both sides

Chris Innes (?).... scores to the right... 2-2

Mark Williams (13).... scores to the left!!! 3-2 after 3 on both sides

Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu (16).... scores to the left... 3-3

Elvis Hammond (12).... scores in the middle!!! 4-3 after 4 on both sides, if their next one misses, we win!

Matthew Hamshaw (11)... HE KICKS IT WIDE LEFT!!!!!

LUTON WIN ON SHOOTOUT!!!!!

Final Score: Luton 2, Sheffield Wed 2
Shots (on target): Luton 11 (4), Sheffield Wed 18 (8)
MoM: Marc Bridge-Wilkinson with a rating of 10, but more importantly, he completed 31 of 39 passes, 9 of them key passes, and he had 3 intereceptions and an assist.

Possession: (us/them)
our zone: 14/21
middle: 19/22
their zone: 13/11

I'm really proud of that game, an amazing game!!! Not only we came back, but we did it twice, and on the road on top of it! Wow!

So happy that I'm going to make this game available for you to watch, if you're crazy enough to do so
Click here to download the game
Then save it to a place where you can get it from within the game.
You can watch it by clicking on "Watch match" when FM2005 loads, instead of loading your regular game.

Adam Chambers will be suspended for one match after being sent off. While this may sound bad, he would not have been able to play anyway, since he strained his groin in the game and will miss the next two weeks anyway.

FM

[SirFozzie]

you're lucky

Up into two years ago, you would have been done after the 90 minutes, as Sheffield Wed would have won on away goals

Now there's no reason not to win the whole damn thing.

[FrogMan]

Playoffs News
The League One Final draw happens. The one game final between Luton Town and Swindon will be played at Wembley on May 26th.

UKbetting.com has us as the favorite in this game, which is kind of surprising. The odds for us to win are at 6-4, while a Swindon win is at 13-8.

The two teams have met 5 times in the last two seasons. In league play, the two teams have both won one and drawn 2. Luton has won the only Cup match between the two teams, in the first round of the LDV Vans Trophy, this season.

They have superb team morale all around at the moment, thanks to a pair of 2-0 wins on their 2 legs of the playoff semi final. We're about the same, except for two players with "okay" and "good" morale.

Right now, as of May 20th, we concede quite a bit of player condition to them, but that is mostly due to our team playing a grueling 120 minutes long second leg against Sheffield Wednesday. There are still 6 days to go before the match is to be played, lots has time to change since then...

Achievement News
We put 4 players on the League One Team of the Week: Joe Murphy, Adam Chambers, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, and James Pinnock. Sheffield Wed only puts 2 on the team.

Internation Call Up
Chris Coyne is called up by Australian manager for his World Cup squad. The 27 year old defender was uncapped not so long but now seems like a regular since his good play in the Oceania Nations Cup.

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

you're lucky

Up into two years ago, you would have been done after the 90 minutes, as Sheffield Wed would have won on away goals

Now there's no reason not to win the whole damn thing.

We're not lucky, we're skillful.... at injuring players

I fully intend to give Swindon a run for their money

FM

[terpkristin]

Great job, FM!
I can just imagine how you were sitting there in front of the screen, biting your nails with your team...heck I was doing that just reading it!

Good luck with Swindon.

~tk

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Great job, FM!
I can just imagine how you were sitting there in front of the screen, biting your nails with your team...heck I was doing that just reading it!

Good luck with Swindon.

~tk

thanks tk.

You know, that game was quite a story. It took me about 4 hours to complete. I booted my game around 3:50pm, after my wife had told me that kiddo had fell asleep for his nap around 3:30. He usually takes nap of at least 1 hour, and most of the time, up to 90 minutes or even 2 hours. I figured, "hey I got time to play that game". I started the game per se around 4pm. For some reason, kiddo woke up about 10 minutes after I had started the game, yapping in his crib. Andrew asked to go see him, which he did, and him and my mother in law set to play with Matty in the living room. Was all nice and going well, until I hear "Steve, could you come watch Matty, I gotta get dinner ready and mom's leaving with Andrew" That was my wife, the party pooper She even pushed it to say it was "only a game" SAY WHAT!!! It's life or death here!!! Guess where I was when she called me to duty? Right at the start of extra time... It was about 5pm then. The regulation time had already taken me more time than usual because I had taken care of a diaper change, and I was writing down a lot more than usual about the game. I go down play with kiddo a little, until it's time for his bottle, which Patsy said she would give him, but she says I have to watch on the stew, make sure it doesn't stick. Darn, after reading the cooking and FM thread of Eaglesfan27, I made sure of setting a timer to remind me of coming back every 5 minutes and went upstairs play the extra time, then what? PK!!! but it was dinner time, and after that, bath time for kiddo, so I ended finishing my game after I had tucked kiddo in... Crazy, crazy, but fun

FM

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

thanks tk.

You know, that game was quite a story. It took me about 4 hours to complete. I booted my game around 3:50pm, after my wife had told me that kiddo had fell asleep for his nap around 3:30. He usually takes nap of at least 1 hour, and most of the time, up to 90 minutes or even 2 hours. I figured, "hey I got time to play that game". I started the game per se around 4pm. For some reason, kiddo woke up about 10 minutes after I had started the game, yapping in his crib. Andrew asked to go see him, which he did, and him and my mother in law set to play with Matty in the living room. Was all nice and going well, until I hear "Steve, could you come watch Matty, I gotta get dinner ready and mom's leaving with Andrew" That was my wife, the party pooper She even pushed it to say it was "only a game" SAY WHAT!!! It's life or death here!!! Guess where I was when she called me to duty? Right at the start of extra time... It was about 5pm then. The regulation time had already taken me more time than usual because I had taken care of a diaper change, and I was writing down a lot more than usual about the game. I go down play with kiddo a little, until it's time for his bottle, which Patsy said she would give him, but she says I have to watch on the stew, make sure it doesn't stick. Darn, after reading the cooking and FM thread of Eaglesfan27, I made sure of setting a timer to remind me of coming back every 5 minutes and went upstairs play the extra time, then what? PK!!! but it was dinner time, and after that, bath time for kiddo, so I ended finishing my game after I had tucked kiddo in... Crazy, crazy, but fun

FM

Glad my cooking and FM thread helped someone. I've taken to using a timer when playing FM too

Congrats on the big win!

[FrogMan]

May 26, 2006
League One Playoffs Final
vs Swindon at Wembley
S: Showunmi/Blinkhorn/Hammond
MC: Mansell (with up arrow)
DMC: Johnson/Keane (with up arrows)
D: Davis/James/Williams/Foley (no up arrows)
GK: Murphy

I set pretty much the same lineup as the one used in the second leg of the Semi Final against Sheffield Wednesday. The only change is Richard Johnson taking the place of injured/suspended Adam Chambers.

Lee Mansell is again in the central middie spot for the start of the game, leaving Marc Bridge-Wilkinson to come fresg from the bench if/when we'll need to make something happen.

Chris Coyne has not fully recovered from his injury, now only at 77%, so Curtis Davies will be the backup defender.

Since going with a heavily attacking mentality has served us well in the last two games, I set it the same for this final. I ask my boys to keep the tempo quick and play the field as narrow as possible and concentrate the passes through the middle. I also set my defensive line to play deep.

Swindon played a vanilla 4-4-2 formation with moderate push from the wingers in their last game. As I scout them, I see that one of their central defenders, a guy averaging 7.21 as form rating. Also, their top striker, average of 7.41 in form rating, is showing as very tired with only 75% condition.

They may have a weakness in goal, as their starting keeper has only averaged 6.89 over the course of the season, in 48 appearances. Dang, he's started and all league games for them!

A reminder that the odds for us to come out as winners are set at 6-4, while Swindon's odds are at 13-8. We're the favorites going in.

As we get to the game, they show a 4-3-3 formation similar to us on top (outside arrows on outside strikers) while they play their three middies on a straight line in the middle. This may well turn out to be a very open game...

23rd minute: Matthew Blinkhorn is injured and has to go off. He wasn't having his greatest game though (only rating below 7, a 5), so this may be a positive shakeup, although a bit early if you ask me. James Pinnock comes in. Let's hope he can work his magic like he did in extra time last game...

38th minute: A great shot from Elvis Hammond, coming after a nice center from Enoch Showunmi, is tipped to a corner by their goalie. Still no score...

The first half is over. We spent more time around their goal toward the end of the half, almost doubling our shots in the last 10 minutes...

50th minute: They lose their right full back to injury. While putting a new guy there, they also put in a new right forward. This will be one to watch, fresh legs versus the worn down legs of my defenders...

58th minute: We keep knocking at the door, but their keeper gets on tipping our balls to corner kicks. Still no score...

61st minute: Marc Bridge-Wilkinson comes in for Lee Mansell. I set him as a playmaker and tell my player to use the playmaker. Steve Robinson also comes in to replace Richard Johnson.

We're spending much more time toward their end since the start of the second half.

71st minute: Marc Bridge-Wilkinson really is at the center of everything as he exchanges passes with first Keith Keane, then James Pinnock, finally giving the ball back to Pinnock who fires a bullet toward the goal that's just tipped again to a corner...

84th minute: An opposing defender slides on James Pinnock with both feet and gets called by the referee. That player already has a yellow card and the referee gives him his second yellow. HE'S SENT OFF!!! The ensuing free kick is right outside their penalty box and Pinnock lines up as our mandated free kick taker. He sends a beauty of a strike through their 4 man wall!!! We're up 1-0!

Swindon goes to a 2-4-3 formation in a more attacking style.

90th minute: For the second time in less that 3 minutes, Mark Williams clears an incoming corner kick free out of our penalty box. The 35 year old veteran has played two great game for us in the last two games and make me real happy I resigned him for next season...

injury time: Damn, the clock shows 94:50 and this darn game is never going to end, I'm thinking as they mount an attack, but they put the ball in the stands...

FINAL WHISTLE!!! WE WIN!!! WE PROMOTE TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

Final Score: Luton 1, Swindon 0
Shots (on target): Luton 18 (9), Swindon 12 (2)
MoM: Swindon's keeper Adam Bartlett with a rating of 9. What I thought could have been a weakness for them turned out to be their strength.
HoM: James Pinnock with a rating of 8, but a great game coming from the bench. He completed 24 of 28 passes, 3 of them key passes, won 5 of 12 headers, 2 of them key ones, and scored the winning goal.

The 6th place cinderella team moves on to promot, against all odds...

FM

[daedalus]

Nice. Good show, Mssr Frogger.

[Desnudo]

Congrats Froggy, some great matches there.

[Eaglesfan27]

Congrats FM! Great Show

[FrogMan]

Thanks guys, appreciate it!

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Congrats Froggy, some great matches there.

You sure got that right. I tell ya, I've never been so immersed watching a live depiction of a simulated game before. That game that went into penalty kicks, I was biting my nails like crazy, and twice, after these two goals, I pumped my fists in the air, making no noise since kiddo was sleeping. Amazing fun.

Glad you all seem to enjoy the read. Offseason is coming...

FM

[FrogMan]

Team Board News
The Luton Board is probably sending me a message as they announce that the team's transfer budget will be in the region of 800k for next season Woah, that's a lot of money!

They also say that I will be allowed to retain the vast majority of any transfer income to supplement this budget. By that, they mean 90%.

At the same time, they announce (well they didn't announce it, I went to check it out) a wage budget increase, to a total of $81k per week, up from the $64k they were at the end of the season.

Achievement News
I finish 3rd for the League One Manager of the Year award, behind Millwall's Colin Todd (1st), and Cardiff City's David Platt (2nd). I'm happy with that

Former Hatter Steve Howard finished in a three way tie for Top Goalscorer of the year, despite finishing the season at Sheffield United in the English Championship.

Junes 1st, 2006
As expected, the Luton Team Board are deligtheed with my performance as manager, why wouldn't they be?

Transfer News
I decide to transfer list Keith Keane, asking $2M for him. He's valued at $1.85M but his value has steadily gone up all last season, so I'm guessing he has a lot of untapped potential and somebody may be willing to pay for that. He's also gained some national recognition, as a memeber of the Ireland U21 squad. Anyway, he wants to move and I'm not going to keep a unhappy player in my camp...

Loan News
Mark Smyth's loan is coming to an end. He's nice, but probably not up to the standards I'm looking for in a striker. I will let him got back to Liverpool without even playing one match with the first team.
Transfer News
With money to spen and being very nervous at the thought of moving up, it's tempting to look at all the players out there like a kid in a candy store. I'll still have t restrain myself, especially keep the wages in check...

June 7th, 2006
It's now official, Elvis has left the building...
(That one was for daedalus )
As I take one last look at his profile page, I see that his value has now soared to 180k, wow! The playing time in the playoffs sure helped him showcase his talents a little. Good for him, we get 70k for the transfer. Kind of ironic that, only two weeks ago, he was part of our team, helping down the team he's moving on to, Swindon

Disciplinary News
Matt Carbon was missing from training again today. Since we're June 7, and offseason starts on June 8, I only issue a warning to him, for unprofessional behaviour. He accepts his warning and again say he will try to behave like a good little boy in the future, we'll see about that...

FM

[FrogMan]

World Cup 2006 News
The World Cup 2006 has started. I usually don't pay much attention to international competitions, except if one of my players is involved. Chris Coyne is the only Hatter part of the World Cup this time around. He plays well without excelleing (rating of 7) in the 0-1 loss of Australia against Ireland. He played the whole 90 minutes.

Transfer News
I start looking for a top flight defensive middie, with the potential departure of Keith Keane, and the letting go of my 4th DM, Bobby Wilde. At first, I'll look mostly at players available under Bosman ruling, then I'll see if I have to spend big bucks to acquire one...

I find Paul Evans, a 31yo central defensive middie, whose contract ends on July 30. He's very aggressive and brave, with a good all around skill set. He played with Nottingham Forest in the Championship this season, so he's of the caliber of the league we're going into. He's earning $4400 per week right now, and is asking for $8000 per week. I find this a bit high and go with a first offer that is much lower, at $6000 per week and a signing fee of 60k. So you know, the Team Board now allow me to give up to $8200 per week for a key member. Evans is valued at $2.2M...

I also find another pretty good one in Samuel Johnson, currently playing with the Kayserispor club, in Turkey, I think. He's asking for 9600 per week, my assistant thinks he would become an essential member of our squad. I trust his judgment on that one and offer him 8200 per week.

Contract News
We get news very quick that Paul Evans has accepted our terms and signs with Luton. It's a bargain in my eyes. The transfer will go on July 1st.

Transfer News
I'm also looking for a left footed striker. As much as I like Enoch Showunmi, I don't feel like he can man the left side of our front on every match. I'd like to find a starter, and use Show for when we have more than one match in the week...

I try a crazy bid for a 27yo striker, right footed but with crazy skills. The guy's name Andrzej Niedzielan, a Polish fellow. He's the total package: strong, quick, and with great pace. He's currently earning $10500 per week and is asking for $13500. This is a bit over what I can offer, but what the heck. I offer him the best package I can: $8200 per week + 200k signing fee + 750 per goal + 400 per assist. I'll see if he bites...

Among other news, Samuel Johnson agrees to terms with us. The move is delayed for a work permit to be granted. A decision should be made on July 2.

World Cup News
Chris Coyne plays well again without excelling (rating of 7), in Australia's 2-0 win over Senegal.


FM

[FrogMan]

Contract News
Andrzej Niedzielan's agent has announced that his client has rejected our offer. I expected that, to be honest. He's willing to negotiate but says that a significantly improved offer would ve needed if terms were to be agreed.

I can't do much about the base salary, so I push the signing fee to 300k and bump the goal bonus to 100k, and the assist bonus to 600k. I also add an appearance fee of $420.

He also has rejected the offer coming from is current team...

Achievement News
Bartosz Tarachulski is voted Luton's Player of the Year byt the supporters. Wow, kind of unexpected. My guess if that Steve Howard would have been the shoe in, and they fell back on the other playmaker...

Money News
Luton is given $1.1M for Championship TV rights for the forthcoming season. Woah, I heart this kind of money

Board Appraisal
The Luton Team Board are very pleased with my performance. They let me know that the team is expected to fight bravely against relegation from the Championship in the coming season.

World Cup News
Chris Coyne has another one of these good but not excellent showing, with a rating of 7 in Australia incisive 3-1 win over England. This is England's second loss in group play. They lost to Senegal earlier.


FM
PS: as I write all this I realize that with no games being played, there are no date stamps to relate to. I'll try to write more dates in the future dealings with the offseason. We're around June 20th right now...

[FrogMan]

Contract News
Andrzej Niedzielan rejects our second offer and walks away from any negotiating. I guess it's just as well that way, I would have gone crazy trying to remember how to spell that name anyway
FM

[FrogMan]

Special News
I found this news very funny: "Harrogate Town have made an offer to loan Liverpool's Mark Smyth for 3 months". Maybe few of you will get it, but I'm sure Eaglesfan27 will find the coincidence funny.

Transfer News
I'm still scouring the transfer lists, searching for players to help boost my team. Right now I'm thinking about getting a striker with pace, dribbling and crossing to play on the side striker spot. I won't break the bank for just anybody, but if I find one like that, I'd like to see what he could do in my 4-3-3 setting...

International Round-Up
Chris Coyne again does well without excelling, getting a rating of 7 while playing the whole match in Australia's 1-2 loss over Portugal. With the loss, Australia is out of the Cup.

July 1st, 2006
The Luton Team Board is down to bein very pleased about my work, mostly because it's the offseason and the high of promoting has been replaced by the agony of not knowing if we won't simply get crushed in the Championship.

Transfer/Contract News
With the arrival of July 1st, the contracts of many players on my shortlist are coming to an end. I look through and find a few I will want to keep an eye on.

Rowan Vine is one of them, and he's just been released on a free transfer. He's asking for $5400 per week, I decide to make him a very low first offer at $3600 per week.

I also offer Keith Keane to a group of selected teams. I ask $2.2M for the young D/DM, his value has just jumped to 2.6M.

Work Permit News
Samuel Johnson's work permit is turned down. He's from Ghana and has 8 caps. He would certainly fit well within my midfield, but with the recent signing of Paul Evans, I decide not to appeal. The defensive midfielder position is not one of my priorities at the moment.

Contract News
Rowan Vine accepts our offer and signs with Luton. There are some holes in his skill set, but I see him as a goal scoring machine. He scored 13 goals while on loan with us in 2004-05, averaging a form rating of 7.17, and scored 11 with Swindon in 2005-06, averaging a form rating of 7.21. He'll get plenty of playing time in my striker rotation...

Scout/assistant manager problems
I'm having the same problems reported earlier by Desnudo. Some amazing players are being reported by my assistant manager as being not worthwhile, making it so the team board only allows me to offer them $6200 per week, even as key player, while for other players that the assistant manager find worthy enough, I can offer up to $8200 per week. I'm not at a very high level yet, but this is already causing me to lose out on some strikers that are asking for that $8000 or so a week, but I'm not allowed to offer them more than 6200... A bit frustrating...


FM

[FrogMan]

July 4th, 2006

Transfer News
Nobody is interested in Keith Keane, maybe it will pick up after we've played a few games...

Among other transfer news, P. Ferreira of Portugal have made an offer worth $20k for Dani Rodrigues. I guess I had set up the answering maching to automatically accept it, cause that's what happened, heh...

International Call Up
Reserve team defender Jacopo Piotto is called up to the Italy U19 squad for the European U19 Championship. That's interesting. I've never seen Piotto, who was signed on a free transfer, as a possible first teamer before a long time, but maybe if he plays internationally a little...

Transfer News
We sign 17yo free agent David Hatton. Hatton is an attacking midfielder vapable of playing on the right and in the middle. He's got some amazing skills at some place (physical, dribbling, finishing) but some holes in other areas, some that could hamper his development as an attacking middie (no creativity and not very good off the ball). Anyway, a free transfer that you pay only $120 a week is worth a try in my book...

Transfer News
Dani Rodrigues agrees to a deal with P. Ferreira and leaves Luton. He was complaining of not getting enough first team playing time, and I did see when he'd get any, anytime soon...


FM

[FrogMan]

Special Notice

I have decided not to start a new thread for the next season of my Luton team. I'll simply keep on writing in here. I hope you'll keep on reading
FM

[FrogMan]

July 8th, 2006

Training/Discipline News
My assistant manager tells me that Matt Carbon was missing from training yesterday. Say what?!? I jave set my options to suspend all training during the period from June 8th to July 12th. We're July 8th, IT IS NORMAL FOR A PLAYER NOT TO BE TRAINING NOW!!! I don't even issue a warning...

Transfer News
I'm taking it very slowly, looking at players on a daily basis, asking my scouts for their opinions, whatever it's worth. I'm probably not going to sign many more players, at least until Keith Keane is sold, if he sells. Then I'll probably break the bank for one of two players...


FM

[FrogMan]

July 12th, 2006

Training/injury News
The first day of training camp is here, and with it, the first injuries, dang... Defensive middie Richard Johnson suffers a groin strain during a warm up. While he will only be out for 2 weeks, pundit say the injury will undoubtedly hamper his desire to be fully prepared for the gruelling season. I can't have this happen. We need him...

35yo defender Mark Williams also gets injured in training. A damaged heel will force him to sit out for 1 week.

FM

[FrogMan]

TV News
We learn that our September 23rd home game against Q.P.R. has been pushed back from its original 15:00 timeslot to the 17:30 timeslot, du to the fact that it will be televised. woohoo!!! We're gonna be on TV!!!

Friendlies
I have lined up 6 friendlies for this offseason. Two will be away games that were offered to me by conference teams, while I've arranged to play 4 top teams at home: Fulham, Southampton, Birmingham, and Ajax. I offered each of these teams between 40k and 60k to come at our stadium. For most of these friendlies, the team board was estimating we would be able to make between 150k and 160k in gate receipts.

July 16, 2006
Friendly #1, home vs Fulham
I won't go into details with the friendlies, since I don't pay much attention to stats and such things with them. I only make sure that my starters get around 60 minutes of playing time, except in the last one or two, if they're match fit by then, they might not even play...

We lose this one 0-2, the second goal coming from a fluky free kicks that deflected off the wall. Keeper Joe Murphy was the best Hatter with a rating of 8, while every other players got 7's except Matthew Blinkhorn who got a 5. A crowd of 9944 fans was at the game, not bad.

16yo Kevin Joyce even came in and played at centreback for the last 26 minutes. He did fairly well, getting a rating of 7, completing 14 of 17 passes, and winning 5 of 5 headers.


FM

[Crapshoot]

NIcely done. As for the Reserve team, I simply pick the players and leave the AM in control - it makes them play. I also arrange lots of friendly's against the under 18 when there are huge gaps in the reserve team's schedule, allowing my players coming back from injury to regain fitness quickly... So far, managed to take Man City to 1 premier league title (Shawn Wright Phillipps, 8.87 rating- golden god!), and trying to stop the Red Devils from taking it this year..

Btw, you might want to look at the free transfers in late july- in FM, very often, really good players remain unsigned and you can pick em up on the cheap. Its a bug I think, but one you can take advantage of.

[tanglewood]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Btw, you might want to look at the free transfers in late july- in FM, very often, really good players remain unsigned and you can pick em up on the cheap. Its a bug I think, but one you can take advantage of.

Not really. In real life over the last few seasons, lots of good players are avaliable on a free right up until the season is starting. Four or five years ago it wouldn't have been the case, but now lower league clibs are much more financially stringent so quality is easy(er) to find on a free. Conversely, your chairman won't necessarily like you piling huge sums of cash on free transfers, but if it gets results.....

[Desnudo]

If you are using custom training schedules, you'll want to make sure you manually set the players to rest after the season. There's a bug where the auto-off feature doesn't work.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

NIcely done. As for the Reserve team, I simply pick the players and leave the AM in control - it makes them play. I also arrange lots of friendly's against the under 18 when there are huge gaps in the reserve team's schedule, allowing my players coming back from injury to regain fitness quickly... So far, managed to take Man City to 1 premier league title (Shawn Wright Phillipps, 8.87 rating- golden god!), and trying to stop the Red Devils from taking it this year..

Btw, you might want to look at the free transfers in late july- in FM, very often, really good players remain unsigned and you can pick em up on the cheap. Its a bug I think, but one you can take advantage of.

Thanks for the hint. As far as recerves, if you mean what happened with Beckwith, I think it's all right now. I had him selected for the game btw, but my assistant manager simply didn't play him. odd...

About free transfers in late July, I couldn't say if it's a bug or not, but I have indeed seen some interesting players. Thing is I'm getting closer and closer to my wage budget limit, and I also have striker Ivan Kaviedes coming on September 1st, when his contract is over with Barcelona. I'll probably wait a little more before signing anybody else...

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

If you are using custom training schedules, you'll want to make sure you manually set the players to rest after the season. There's a bug where the auto-off feature doesn't work.

Dang, that may explain that thing with Carbon. I'll try to remember to put everybody to resting for next offseason... Thanks for the tip.

FM