***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[Mr. Face]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

I was hired to the Solihull Moors in my FM11 game. Thus far I've only lost one match and even beat a Welsh Premier League team. I'm 4-1-0 on the season so far.

Surprising considering how ****ty Solihull is supposed to be.

[Anners]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Has anyone got any suggestions for improving finances in a low-rep league? I'm managing Dempo in India and I'm struggling quite badly to make a profit. I've won the league the past 3 years but there's next to no prize money or TV revenue. I know there's the "raise funds through selling players" but that seems to be a bit of a dead-end also.

My wages aren't even that bad either, especially considering Dempo are the best team in India. This is the salary per annum, also includes two of the lower division sides:



$831k - United SC
$666K - Dempo

Obviously India is a bit of a poor league. I've tried getting a parent club but my board seems to not be able to make any links. Was hoping for a big European club so I'd be able to get some income from them as some of the Chinese clubs are getting around £1m ($1.5m) from their parent clubs.

Any ideas?

[ImTellinTim]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Try scheduling some friendlies at large European clubs.

[Anners]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Try scheduling some friendlies at large European clubs.

This was something I attempted to do, but the board won't sanction a trip to Europe or South America as it's too far.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

I started a save with Millwall. So far we're bringing the LOLs with no points in the first 4 league matches. Had a couple injuries to key players (captain and vice captain). Got the vice back, but the captain still has to ease his way into shape.

The positive note is that we've won in the first two rounds of the Carling Cup (upsetting EPL side Reading in the 2nd round) to match the board's expectations. Third round draw was kind too, as we have a home match against a non-EPL side.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Got a few more matches in with Millwall the past couple days.

League (Championship) - It still isn't going well. After a little 3-match unbeaten run, we have lost a couple more and sit at 3-1-9. We were leaking goals at the back to start, but it has been getting a little better of late. The board is getting a bit restless, as we are sitting just in the relegation zone. We are expected to finish mid-table.

Carling Cup - Still alive! In the 3rd round we defeated Leicester City at home. Next draw was at St. James' Park against Newcastle. A week after announcing our new affiliate link with them, we came away with the 1-0 upset against what was admittedly not their best squad. In the quarters we have drawn Wolves (8th in the Championship) at home. I hope we can win that and draw one of the big boys left in the semis to guarantee ourselves a big gate in the home leg.

[Kobalt]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Re-downloading the facepacks, icons, logo, etc. for this game sucks.

[ubernoob]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Re-downloading the facepacks, icons, logo, etc. for this game sucks.

It does. It truly does.

Yuck.

[Kobalt]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

I thought I could just copy and paste my save from my dying laptop to the new laptop, and I could just play that save. Guess not, Gonna have to start another one.

Oh and still downloading facepacks.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Heartbreaking loss to Wolves (who are on a torrid run - climbed to the league lead from 8th since my last post). They scored in injury time to win 2-1. At least it was our highest attendance of the season. We need all the money we can get right now. I'm looking to offload the guys with the highest salary that don't get any playing time in January.

Good news is that business is picking up in the league. Now in 17th at 7-2-11, 5 points clear of the drop zone and the board has backed off.

Oh, and we drew Spurs on the road for our entrance to the FA Cup. ****.

[Kobalt]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Finished downloading all the stuff, took me forever. Started a save with Kaiserslautern, enjoyed that team when I took them on FM2012. Would love to build a great youth academy to develop young players <del>until I lose them to Bayern</del> and have them play for German National Team.

Need to get promoted first though.

[jesmith29]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Started a save unemployed, and was hired by Shrewsbury Town FC. When I took over they were in League 2, as they were relegated from League 1. The board was looking for a respectable finish.

I switched to 4-5-1 and brought in players to fit.

We ended up 5th. 21W 14D 11L +26GD 77pts. 78 goals 52 allowed.

We drew Oxford in the playoffs and started away. Game 1 was 0-0 and in game 2 we were up 2-1 and they scored with 30 seconds left in Inj time, to force extra time. No one scored so off to penalties and I had a bad feeling. Oxford missed their 1st we hit ours, but never scored again. We lost 3-1 on PK's. Oxford than played Hartlepool and got hammered 3-0.

For the season Luke Rodgers (CF) led the team in goals with 28 and a 7.27 rating. Sydney Schmeltz (W) led the team in assists with 15. Jermaine Grandison (CB) led the team in rating with 7.41 and Aaron Wildig (CM) was 3rd with 7.20.

For year 2 the minimum expectation is promotion to League 1. To help accomplish this the board set $39K for transfers and $22.5K P/W for wages. My 1st season P/W wages were $38K roughly. I unloaded some dead weight and sold a FB for $20K that I picked up for free. My current wages are roughly $16.5K P/W.

Dundee United made an offer for Sydney Schmeltz of $250K but I wanted $325K, so I could replace him and add to the transfer budget. The highest they went was $300K. Schmeltz was p*ssed, so I spoke with him saying "I have ambitions of getting promoted this season". If not he said he's off at the end of the year. What a team player!

If the team performs like we did last year, we should get into the playoffs, at least.

[Kobalt]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Played 5 matches in the league so far, and allowed a PK goal in 4 of the 5 matches.

[jesmith29]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

In my Shrewsbury Town save, the Captial One Cup has been the road of the little engine that could.

Our 1st match was against Sheffield Wed and we somehow won 2-1 in extended time. 0-0 at the end of regulation and we were down to 10 men due to an injury. We scored 1st but SW scored 2' later so tied 1-1 going into the final 15'. in minute 118 we got a PK and hung on for a 2-1 victory. SW was in the PL last season and are in the top of the NPC this season.

Our next easy opponent was against Brighton Hove & Albion from the PL led by Uncle Harry. We played a counter attacking style and scored 2 in the 2nd half for a 2-0 victory.

Next up Man U at Old Trafford!

UGH!

[ImTellinTim]

Re: ***The Official Football Manager Thread***

Season 1 at Millwall is in the books. After getting blasted 5-0 by Spurs on the road in the FA Cup, we only had the league to worry about. The drubbing was worth it, though. Spurs sold out the match and it was chosen for TV, so we netted almost a million in proceeds.

After that, we went on a big run in the league, and even topped out at 6th. Then we just ran out of gas and limped to the finish line with a 1-3-7 record in the final 11 matches. We finished at 18-5-23, good for 14th. Scored and gave up 68 goals, good for 3rd most scored and 6th most against. Andrew Keogh scored 29 goals to win the golden boot and a place on team of the year. It was the most goals scored in the NPC since Lee Hughes netted 31 for West Brom in 98-99. 23 losses was also the most in the league. We have to work on holding at the back late in games.

In the transfer windows, I have managed to trim all the fat from the club. The 2nd league season has had a better start than the first. We've started 1-4-0, while holding 4 clean sheets. Unfortunately, we also didn't score in 3 of those. After getting through Northampton in the first round of the COC, we took a disappointing 2-1 loss at League 1 Oldham in the second round. They scored on the last kick of the match, a shot off the underside of the bar from 20 yards out.