***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[Ozil]

My long awaited Chelsea save has started. I decided to do what should have been done to augment Roman's summer spree.

Ins:

Luke Shaw
Marouane Fellaini
Falcao
Adryan

Outs:
Paulo Ferreira
John Obi Mikel
Hilario

Looking at adding a central defender or Gino Peruzzi as a RB to move Ivanovic back to CB. Haven't decided how to go yet. My goal in this save is to develop a homegrown based squad and will only look to sign 18-year-olds. However, given the state of the squad, the midfield really needed a boost as well as striker. Signed Fellaini for 25 million and Falcao cost me 35 million. I sold Torres for 10 million to PSG and that was the best deal I had without having to fork out a portion of his wages.

4-2-3-1:

GK: Cech/Turnbull
DR: Ivanovic/Azpillicueta
DC: Terry/Cahill
DC: Luiz/Ake
DL: Cole/Bertrand
MC: Fellaini/Lampard
MC: Ramires/Romeu
AMR: Mata/Marin
AMC: Oscar/Adryan
AML: Hazard/Moses
FC: Falcao/Sturridge

Given that you really have to be in control of the spending in this year's version, my splashes on Fellaini and Falcao will be the last as I think with all the players returning from loan, Chelsea are well set up to compete in the present and future. I'm looking forward to Courtois, Lukaku, Josh M, and De Bruyne coming back from their loans.

[Bezzey]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ozil

Looking at adding a central defender or Gino Peruzzi as a RB to move Ivanovic back to CB. Haven't decided how to go yet. My goal in this save is to develop a homegrown based squad and will only look to sign 18-year-olds. However, given the state of the squad, the midfield really needed a boost as well as striker. Signed Fellaini for 25 million and Falcao cost me 35 million. I sold Torres for 10 million to PSG and that was the best deal I had without having to fork out a portion of his wages.

Gino has been very solid for me as a starting RB in my Roma save and it would allow you to move Brana to his much more suited CB position. I've tried to start a Chelsea save a few times but I haven't been able to enjoy the game with them.

[Ozil]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bezzey

Gino has been very solid for me as a starting RB in my Roma save and it would allow you to move Brana to his much more suited CB position. I've tried to start a Chelsea save a few times but I haven't been able to enjoy the game with them.

I think I'm gonna do that I've never run a Chelsea full save either, but it'll be fun playing with the 3 Amigos and players I've never signed before ie. Falcao. I've never had Hazard or Oscar. I try to sign different players for different saves. My Spurs save saw me sign completely different players so I could get a feel for how they play.

[jvalverde88]

Two years after winning a promotion, I qualify for the Champions League.

[Suntan Superman]

Is it bad that everytime I try something on FM and it works, I'm genuinely confused as to how it worked?

I just switched to a 5-3-2 since my top striker is out, and i don't feel like recalling my loaned out striker, (playing 3 CB's, 2 WB's, 2 DM's, 1 AM, 2 W) and it's working to perfection. Up 3-0 right now on the #5 team in the league.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Another season, another promotion for Rangers.

After Partick Thistle closed to 12 points, they couldn't pull any closer, and soon, our quality shown as we finished the season winning the First Division by 22 points. In the Scottish Cup, we advanced to the finale, where the Old Firm Derby would again settle the tournament. Unfortunately for us, we got hammered 3-0 as Celtic pretty much had their way with us, showing us that we would need to improve this team with the move up to the SPL. However, because Celtic had qualified for the Champions League, we received the berth into the Europa League as the runner-up of the Scottish Cup. We enter the competition in the 2nd qualifying round.

Let's take a look at the players who made this run possible....

Starting XI
GK - Anssi Jaakkola - 38 apps, 22 shutouts, 0.63 g/90min, 6.91 rating
---First Division Team of the Year
DL - Lee Wallace - 48 apps, 3 goals, 15 assists, 6 PoM, 7.52 rating
---Supporters Player of the Year, First Division Team of the Year, First Division Player of the Year
DC - Carlos Bocanegra - 43 apps, 4 goals, 1 assist, 3 PoM, 7.27 rating
---First Division Team of the Year, Retired
DC - Ross Perry - 42 apps, 3 goals, 2 assists, 1 PoM, 7.34 rating
---Released on a free transfer after contract negotiations stalled out
DR - Steven Whittaker - 30 apps, 4 goals, 6 assists, 4 PoM, 7.24 rating
---Loaned from Southampton
DM - Ian Black - 29 apps, 2 goals, 6.96 rating
ML - Aaron Sinclair - 44 apps, 6 goals, 10 assists, 3 PoM, 7.10 rating
---First Division Team of the Year
MC - Richard Brittain - 39 apps, 5 goals, 4 assists, 2 PoM, 7.08 rating
AMC - James McFadden - 33 apps, 8 goals, 5 assists, 1 PoM, 7.05 rating
---First Division Team of the Year, Loaned from West Ham
AMR - Bebe - 31 apps, 10 goals, 13 assists, 5 PoM, 7.40 rating
---First Division Player of the Month 2x
ST - Dominic Samuel - 48 apps, 27 goals, 11 assists, 8 PoM, 7.25 rating
---Broke the Rangers record for fastest goal twice, 17 seconds against St. Johnstone, and then 12 seconds against Partick Thistle, Loaned from Reading

Reserve VII
GK - Ben Cringean - 9 apps, 5 shutouts, 0.44 g/90min, 7.02 rating
DC - Sebastien Faure - 33 apps, 1 assist, 1 PoM, 7.10 rating
DR - Sam Byram - 48 apps, 1 goal, 4 assists, 1 PoM, 7.22 rating
---First Division Team of the Year, Young Player of the Month, Loaned from Leeds
AMC - Fraser Aird - 21 apps, 4 goals, 1 assist, 6.90 rating
AMC - Dean Shiels - 12 apps, 2 goals, 1 assist, 7.02 rating
MC - Lewis Stevenson - 14 apps, 1 goal, 6.97 rating
ST - Jeffrey Schlupp - 22 apps, 3 goals, 1 assist, 7.03 rating
---Loaned from Leicester

[Suntan Superman]

I think I'm going to have a new rule, only signing players whom have names I can pronounce.

I attempted to yell at my reserve Goalkeeper, his last name is Goikoetxea.

I have no idea how to pronounce that. So I ended up calling him G-String.

My wife came in to the bedroom with me yelling at the laptop.

I'm sleeping on the couch tonight.

FM strikes again.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Heading into the new campaign, the first order of business was to figure out what to do with Dean Shiels and David Templeton, two players who began to complain about playing time last season (so did Dorin Goian, but he decided to retire instead). Shiels is a 30-year-old attacking mid who is getting a little long in the tooth. Templeton is a 26-year-old left midfielder who signed a big contract extension with me two seasons ago and promptly shredded his knee and has not been the same player. Being that they are two of my higher earners, I tried to off-load them. Nobody bit on Templeton (even on a free) and I took a free offer from Hearts, but Shiels rejected their contract. So the next best thing to do was the loan route. Templeton was loaned to SPL side St. Mirren for the season at $9k a month and 16.5% of his wages. Shiels was loaned to League One side Leeds with me footing the bill and a future fee of $8k. Not exactly ideal, but it gets their grumbling out of my locker room.

Also being released on frees were Francisco Sandaza and Ross Perry. Sandaza was awesome for me my first season with Rangers, netting 13 goals. But his issue was injuries keeping him off the pitch. Adding it up, he missed 29 weeks of action for me over 3 seasons. I hated to see Perry go, but we simply couldn't agree on a contract and I decided to go in another direction.

Major Transfers In

Our big spend was on Aberdeen's fullback Ryan Jack. We spent $1.8M on the 23-year-old who won the Scottish Young Player of the Year award last season. We locked him up on a 3-year-deal. He is slotted as the starting right full back. Value: $1.9M

33-year-old defensive midfielder Serginho Green, who we got on a free transfer from Vojvodinda (1 year deal) is slated to be our starting DM. Value: $450k

21-year-old striker Gaetano Monachello, who we got on a free transfer from Metalurg D (4 year deal, former Inter youth) is slated to be out starting striker. Value: $3.9M

25-year-old midfielder Frank Moussa, last year's League One Player of the Year, signed on a free out of Coventry (3 year deal). Moussa will likely start at AMC, but can play MC and provide cover at left midfield. Value: $1.9M

21-yer-old striker Jes Pedersen is on loan from FC Nordsjaelland. He is the backup to Monachello and provides cover for the attacking mid position. Value: $100k

Currently in negotiations for Peterborough left back Kgosi Ntlhe. The $4.4M valued fullback is wanting a new challenge and if I can lock this guy up, it would make it easier for me to sell Lee Wallace. Though I have Wallace locked up for two seasons, unless the board increases my payroll levels, I will never be able to resign him. Plus, Ntlhe is only 21. Wallace is 27. All it took to reach the negotiating table, an offer of a friendly.

Competitions
Thankfully, the board don't want me to win the SPL right out of the gate. The board simply wants to gain entry into the Europa League, meaning a top five finish. In the Europa League, the boards wants me to reach the group stages. The board wants to win the Scottish Cup and they don't care about the Scottish League Cup.