***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[gopher_guy]

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

Finished season 1 at St. Pauli

Kind of a disappointing season, ended up finishing 12th. I survived the offseason, there were rumors that I would be sacked after the season was over.

I am currently looking for a center back, which I am in desperate need of; I didn't have too much trouble scoring, but my back line was not hard for other teams to break down.

The club lost money last year, so I'm going to have to figure out how to turn that situation around, never had to really deal with financials before. Hopefully we have a better season, which will hopefully lead to more gate receipts.

[ubernoob]

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

Year two of the game, year one in the 2. Bundesliga, can be considered a pretty good success.



Some job offers straggled in throughout the course of the season (Motherwell, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Giannina, Dukla Praha) but I'm torn now. Fenerbahce SK just offered me a job that intrigues me but I'm not sure what I wanna do. They finished 5th in the Super Lig, and are considered a bigger club than me... but man getting Stuttgarter Kickers into the Bundesliga proper would be fun, too. I've been looking at the interview offer for a good 10-15 minutes not sure what to do.

[Bruins]

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

Some job offers straggled in throughout the course of the season (Motherwell, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Giannina, Dukla Praha) but I'm torn now. Fenerbahce SK just offered me a job that intrigues me but I'm not sure what I wanna do. They finished 5th in the Super Lig, and are considered a bigger club than me... but man getting Stuttgart Kickers into the Bundesliga proper would be fun, too. I've been looking at the interview offer for a good 10-15 minutes not sure what to do.

For me, that's too big of a jump in clubs so I'd decline since I like to play semi-realistically.

[Perceptor]

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

I'd stick it out to see. Looks like you're building something there uber

[ubernoob]

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

For me, that's too big of a jump in clubs so I'd decline since I like to play semi-realistically.

I ended up declining... but I took a team that was 80-1 odds (both years, first year predicted to finish dead last in the 3. Fußball-Liga. Second year predicted to finish dead last in the 2. Bundesliga) to winning promotion the first year, finishing mid-table the second with relatively few signings (I think... 6 in both years combined.) Kept the wage bill more than under control, no transfer funds on a sinking ship that was losing money - now they're making money.

It really isn't too big of a jump, considering that both leagues have the same 3-star reputation (2. Bundesliga is at 14th, Super Lig is at 10th.)

If a big name team team comes calling before we get promoted to the Bundesliga proper, I think that's gonna be the only way I'm leaving Stuttgarter Kickers.

[Bruins]

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

It really isn't too big of a jump, considering that both leagues have the same 3-star reputation (2. Bundesliga is at 14th, Super Lig is at 10th.)

I guess what I meant was, despite the Süper Lig not being a top league, Fener is still a perennial Champions League team. You're not going to see a 2. Bundesliga manager be handed the reigns at a club like Fener in real life.

[ubernoob]

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

I guess what I meant was, despite the Süper Lig not being a top league, Fener is still a perennial Champions League team. You're not going to see a 2. Bundesliga manager be handed the reigns at a club like Fener in real life.

Yeah, this is true. I did lie, however. It looks like they finished 8th that year. Plus it could have just been timing for them, I don't know how many other decent managers are out there unemployed (I haven't kept up with that too much, as I am not subscribed to any leagues outside of the 2/(1) Bundesliga.)

[ubernoob]

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

Man, what a difference a year makes. My payroll budget went from just over 42k a week with 0 transfer budget to ~85k a week with a 1mil transfer budget. Granted, I signed a few people (none over 4,500/week I believe) but pretty much dragged my entire transfer budget to payroll. My Payroll budget is now 101k per week.

Finally got to signing some decent coaches for both first team and youth team.

However, one of them is basically Willem Dafoe.

Spoiler

and the finances. Balance graph for the last ~2 years.

[Suntan Superman]

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

At Iruna, financial security was my top priority, considering I had no plans of making the Europa League anytime soon, I normally ended up shifting every year at 4-5 positions, when someone asked for a new contract I'd sell them for the highest price I could get, worked on building facilities and developing the youth coaching before I touched a real transfer. After getting La Liga money though, I kind of wish I had tried to take a riskier path, spending 5 years at Iruna was great, but man, those 3 years in Segunda B were painful. All of my prudence paid off though, they've got great training/youth facilities, excellent junior coaching, and a new stadium scheduled for 2030.

I have moved on from Iruna now though, took over Hertha BSC, a club stuck in perpetual promotion/relegation. I took them over with 9 games left in the 2. Bundesliga season, and guided them safely to promotion, had I not been able to do that(they were in 3rd when I took over, we finished 2nd), I would've felt really foolish leaving Iruna, but after awhile, you just need a change of scenery. A 34 year old Viktor Fischer is my top signing of the off-season going into the Bundesliga, on the downturn, but still better than any attacking midfielder we had. Iruna finished 10th, and look very healthy heading into their second season in La Liga, they have a great foundation, and I'm really proud, I just hope the guy that takes over doesn't run it into the ground.

A bittersweet end, but bigger things and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on them as I move forward.

[Anners]

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

At Iruna, financial security was my top priority, considering I had no plans of making the Europa League anytime soon, I normally ended up shifting every year at 4-5 positions, when someone asked for a new contract I'd sell them for the highest price I could get, worked on building facilities and developing the youth coaching before I touched a real transfer. After getting La Liga money though, I kind of wish I had tried to take a riskier path, spending 5 years at Iruna was great, but man, those 3 years in Segunda B were painful. All of my prudence paid off though, they've got great training/youth facilities, excellent junior coaching, and a new stadium scheduled for 2030.

This is sort of where I'm at with Leeds at the moment. Apart from I'm trying to keep hold of my players instead of selling them, although it has crossed my mind. I'm pretty good for finances though, thank god for parachute payments!

[Suntan Superman]

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

So, I've abandoned my normal conservative approach and have gone all-in at Hertha BSC. I told the board I'd get a top half finish and have depleted the transfer budget, maxed out the wage budget with signings, and so far we've got 4 draws in the league and I beat BFC Dynamo in the first round of the DFB Pokal 7-0. Because I, the man who almost always lines up with 5 defenders and a defensive midfielder in his first year and parks the bus, has gone full attacking. An aggressive 4-3-3, offensively greedy and high tempo, and I brought in rotation guys because this is full Arkansas style 90 minutes of hell football. Once the tactic is learned, I'm curious as to how it will pan out. I also have a much more conservative 4-5-1 being trained in case this goes south quickly, but I figure, why not.

This post will serve as a precursor if I end up sacked by December.

EDIT: I realize I had one offensive at Iruna as well, but it was with wing backs and sending players forward, this is quite possibly the most reckless I have ever gone tactically, I'm waiting for the inevitable 5-5 scoreline, so far 4-4, 2-2, 3-3, 1-1

[gopher_guy]

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

Suntan, do the traditional powers stay powerful that deep into the game? Just curious if the Bayerns, Reals, Barcelonas, etc, still dominate, or if the CPU levels the playing field over time.

[Suntan Superman]

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

Suntan, do the traditional powers stay powerful that deep into the game? Just curious if the Bayerns, Reals, Barcelonas, etc, still dominate, or if the CPU levels the playing field over time.

Actually for the most part, I'd say the sim has been pretty realistic as far as results go. The big teams stay big, but have their off years, every now and then there was a one-off challenger, one of the more notable things is the teams that fail to achieve their goals are definitely punished, Bolton, Blackburn and MK Dons are battling Relegation out of the football league right now, my first year MK Dons were in the Championship and they invested a lot of money only to lose in the promotion playoff, lose all of their players, lose a lot of money and have fallen down to League 2. Bolton and Blackburn fell earlier in the sim, but are in the Portsmouth home of recovery still. Spurs are "In Debt" currently as well.

Bayern, Barca, Utd, City, Pool, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Dortmund, Monaco, and PSG have all been consistent, the italian big clubs have rotated, one of AC Milan, Inter, Juventus finishes outside the top 4 and sack their manager each year it seems.

Got my first win! Currently 1-5-0 in the league. Beat Cottbus 2-0(though the scoreline doesn't show our total dominance) in the DFB Pokal to move on.

[Kobalt]

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

Went with Nice in Ligue 1 just because of Neal Maupay. Found about him couple years ago when he scored his first career goal at age 16(!).

[ubernoob]

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

Well, it was a struggle but changing my tactics up at the end of the season (normally ran a 4-4-2 variant, for the last 4-5 matches of this season I switched it up to a 4-3-3... which wasn't fluid but was accomplished.)

Looks like I got a lock on that 10th position, barely.



The good news is that pretty soon a few of my youth players (nobody U-17 can play in a match in the 3. Liga or 2. Bundesliga, even as a fill in sub at the end of the season) will be ready for substitute action and I have a couple nice prospects from my youth ranks. Nothing too crazy, but solid options at the very least for 15-20 minutes at the end of games. Will help keep my budget down as well.

Probably my best player in the youth ranks. HSV has offered over 2mil (with money over time included in that number) for him multiple times but I'd like to keep him - unless they really put more money up front.

MC - Sandro Michels

Spoiler

Another that has gotten decent looks, and in the future should grab more attention though he's a very "future" prospect, seeing as how he's only 15.

DM - Branko Djuricic

Spoiler

Then I got this guy. A decent striker, but I may end up just jettisoning him for a decent offer - depending on how he progresses. I don't really play with a Target Man in my tactics and this dude is tailor-made to play a target man in lower divisions. My assistant is high on him as well, obviously.

ST - Daniyar Kovalenko

Spoiler