***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[Suntan Superman]

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

Probably your favored clubs

[NoDakHusker]

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

Probably your favored clubs

Yeah, favored clubs will cause rival managers of those clubs to sometimes appear in the "worst opinion" section, at least at the start of a save when you have few relationships or rivalries. Wenger and Pochettino like to show up in mine, which makes me feel warm inside.

[Zac]

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

I find it funny that there's two of us currently managing teams in the Belarus second division in this thread...

We got promoted the year I took over. I took over a team in a promotion spot because the manager left for a team in the first division. And they got relegated, lol. And I went up with his old team.

Been doing okay in the top flight. Staying mid table. The youth system in this country is crazy. Every intake I get 4-5 future stars. I have a team in four years that could amazing if they all develop properly. I have 9 of them right now that all have a full five star potential and current of 2.5. All of them are in my first team. And all are under 20. Its crazy.

[gopher_guy]

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

We got promoted the year I took over. I took over a team in a promotion spot because the manager left for a team in the first division. And they got relegated, lol. And I went up with his old team.

Been doing okay in the top flight. Staying mid table. The youth system in this country is crazy. Every intake I get 4-5 future stars. I have a team in four years that could amazing if they all develop properly. I have 9 of them right now that all have a full five star potential and current of 2.5. All of them are in my first team. And all are under 20. Its crazy.

I've noticed that, too. Although I ****ed up with one... Kid was 20 years old and a regular in my starting Xi, with plenty of room to grow. He had less than a year in his contract, I was negotiating with him, and after like the 2nd counter offer his agent just shut it down. Wouldn't let me talk to him again. Losing him on a free after this season.

I had another one who was really promising, but a club came in with a 10k+incentives offer for him, and the board deemed it too good to pass on, So I was forced to sell him.

I think I'm going to get a coaching license or two out of them, try to get them promoted, and move on to greener pastures.

[Zac]

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

I think I'm going to get a coaching license or two out of them, try to get them promoted, and move on to greener pastures.

Yeah this will probably be my last season here unless we get into Europe. I got an offer, that I didn't apply for at the start of the Belarus season, from Burton Albion in League 1 (relegation battle). But I ended up turning it down because I don't think I want to go to England just yet. It was a much better job, but I kind of want to see out some of these youth players. And to see if we can get Europe. I've also been enjoying playing in countries I usually don't even consider with FM17.

[Altimus]

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

Ah, I got an offer from Napoli for a job offer in year 3 of my PSG save. However, the offer was in December and I hate leaving jobs in the middle of the season so I declined. I was very tempted though. Financially they are doing good, their team is very stacked and currently they lead their group in Euorpa. Serie A though, they were 18th but that challenge was most interesting of the offer. Also I feel this is the year for a CL trophy with PSG. Either way, win or lose in the CL this year and I will be leaving my post in the summer.

[Suntan Superman]

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

Some club loyalty being shown

[Zac]

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

So I managed to make the impossible happen. I ended Bate's 12 year run of winning the title! By one point on the last day of the season. Which means we are in CL next season!



It was an amazing season. These kids really developed well, and three of them are already 4 star players in this league. And wanted by teams in Russia and Ukraine.

Then I got three amazing job offers two weeks later. West Ham, Hoffenheim and Koln. All offered me interviews without me applying. My rep jumped from 1 start to 2.5 stars over night. I attended all three thinking they would turn me down due to others applying. Then I got back room change requests. Then all three offered me contracts. Granted they are all in relegation battles. But they are all 3.5-4 star teams. In the top 3 leagues in Europe. Now I have no idea what to do.

I wanted to leave at the end of this season, but we got into CL. Albeit early qualifying rounds. And there is no way we make the group stage. So I'll probably think about these three jobs for a long time and then pick one.

[JHedges2]

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

Some club loyalty being shown

So awesome. This game is so amazing lol.

[Altimus]

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



I thought this was pretty cool since Welbeck is still young. Galaxy paid €10m for him.

[Suntan Superman]

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

Currently 20th in the Premier League, look who comes knocking on MY door.



I don't think I hit "decline interview" quickly enough.

[Altimus]

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

My 3 year stint at PSG has come to an end. I agreed to take the Manchester City post starting in June in February after they fired Pep. In 3 years Pep finished 3rd, 4th, and they finished 6th the final season and were 9th when he got fired. He did get them runner up in the CL though in year 2. I never coached any English team in the PL unless I got them promoted, outside of Chelsea. That was my rule. However, I broke that rule as Pep really messed up Citeh with a lot of interesting\weird purchases so I liked the challenge of this. Plus they aren't Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham or Livepool so I've given myself a pass. :wink:

My 3 year project ended in PSG on a little of a sad note. Obviously the goal was a CL title. In year 1 I got bounced by Real Madrid in the knock out stage. Next year to Atletico Madrid quarter final and year 3 I got to the CL Final after beating Chelsea - Juventus - Bayern Munich (who always kill me in the CL no matter what FM game\team). In the final I met Arsenal and in the first 30 minutes I found myself down 3-0! Thinking to myself, well this is Arsenal so I still have a chance. In the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half Cavani scores and then Dybala to make it 3-2. Unfortunately I could not tie it and ended up losing on 3-2. Actually threw by water bottle in this one Wenger style as the ref only gave 2 minutes stoppage time! lol

Oh well, now the Man Citeh journey begins. On a side note, every FM I remember I would always get a decent bump in salary when switching jobs but here Citeh doubled my salary with the opening offer. Thought that was interesting.

[Azamien]

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

I feel like this game is programmed to enjoy giving you the middle finger. First, the backstory.

I used to be a yearly buyer of FM. But then they raised the price and I hate spending money, so when 2015 was released I decided to wait until there was a decent sale. But feedback on that version was that they barely changed anything from 2014, so I never ended up buying it. After that I kind of got used to not playing the game anymore. Once in awhile if I got the itch I'd load up 2014, then something would annoy me and I would put it back down.

But I was having the itch again, and FM 2017 was free for the weekend and half off, so I decided to give it a try. The first thing I did was create a game controlling IMFC, and saw that Atlanta and Minnesota are already in the game. Brilliant. Last time I was playing and there MLS expansion I had to wait until the next year's version.

After playing a few of the preseason friendlies and whatnot, it bugged me that I was using this season's squad with last year's schedule, which made for some interesting time warping with player histories and such. So I decided to start a new game and use last year's squad and just play out a new alternate history. Things were going swimmingly. The squad was happy and healthy. We blazed through the preseason and won the first three matches of the MLS season. Every managerial string I pulled was working. I was clearly a genius.

I didn't feel like I needed to beef up the squad. I was, after all, using the roster from the end of last season, when the real Impact made it within one header from the MLS final. But a player that an agent offered me came back with a scouting note that I hadn't seen before (or since) -- "Sign at all costs." And miraculously the player was affordable. Now, this is MLS we're dealing with, and I know full well how weird their rules are. So I thought ahead. Before even offering a contract to the player I found a team with spare international slots and sought out a trade. I offered a fourth round pick (those guys rarely even make the squad) but the team demanded an extra $65K in TAM to make the deal work. Fine. I was maybe overpaying a bit, but I needed the slot for my new CB who could dominate in the air for us while Cabrera developed more as a player.

You know what I didn't do? Verify cap space and remaining TAM. When the player arrived I couldn't find a way to get the last $200K I needed to get him registered. If only IMFC hadn't made the mistake of bringing in Ontivero. Oh well. Lesson learned. Rather than going back to a previous save, I considered it an educational moment and started an entirely new game. Losing a few hours of time wouldn't be as bad as putting myself in a bad spot only three matches into the regular season.

That's the backstory. Now here's how the game really sucker punched me.

In my new game, things weren't going as well. I couldn't find any combination of players that was resulting in a reliable attack. Piatti was good, but not great. Drogba was streaky. Mancosu was terrible. No one I put on the right wing could do anything. I alternated between a deep three man middle (similar to how the real team finished last season and has started this one) and a 4-2-3-1 while trying all to find combination of guys while could get it done. I even tried a 4-2-2-2, which is basically an automatic loss of the possession battle. All the while dealing with nagging injuries and inconsistent fullback play. No wins in the first five.

During that poor run I decided to extend Piatti long term. As a pre-negotiation promise I had to agree to strengthen the team. Of course I'd try to do that whether I had to promise Nacho's agent or not. And I kept my eyes open for ways to do that on a team with almost no cap space or roster maneuverability, but nothing materialized. Piatti noticed, and got increasingly upset. I wish there was a line in the interactions menu that said, "Hey look, man, I want better players too, but this league is weird as **** and we don't have the cap room to bring in anyone better than what we've got." But there isn't a line like that.

Over the course of the season things started to improve. Oduro finally stepped up and made the right wing his. Things were still inconsistent, but rotating Venegas and Ontivero at CAM provided a bit of attack. The DMs were playing great, but as in real life Donadel and Bernardello were collecting yellow cards like it was their hobby -- and a competitve hobby at that. And for whatever reason Opara had become unhappy in KC, so I was able to pick him up for a bag of marbles (or the MLS equivalent $65K in GAM.) Picking him up gave us a better chance in the air, and let me move Ciman to RB, which FM thinks is his natural position (probably because that's where he often plays for Belgium.) And in this go-around, Cabrera is developing into a top CB, to the point where I'll probably lose him to Europe or Mexico soon.

But now here's where things got sketchy. Suddenly there are media rumblings about Monterrey courting Piatti. Then word comes that he wants to go. First I send the captain to convince him to stay. Patrice is unsuccessful. Then Piatti wants to talk to me about it. So he tells me that he feels like he should be playing in competitions like NACL (I guess the CCL license wasn't affordable) and that he could get there with Monterrey and not with IMFC. Now here's where the game annoyed me a bit. First, he had just played in that competition the previous year. You know, they one where IMFC went to halftime of the second leg of the final with the lead. And also this conversation was happening the week before the first leg of the Canadian Championship final. But the game didn't let me say "you were just there last year" or "we're a two-leg final away from getting there!" So, ignoring the options about giving him a raise or me being able to give him better playing time or just putting off the discussion until an actual offer was made, I told him that I could get him to NACL just as soon as some of the young players came around. He said he couldn't wait. I said I wasn't keen to let him leave. He said I would regret that and he'd turn the locker room into a hellscape. I ended the conversation.

I had no intention of letting him leave at that point. I had just given him a new contract with a giant raise. It was going to take Joey Saputo coming back from Bologna and forcing me to sell him. In real life I might dislike confrontation, but the video game manager version of me is one stubborn SOB.

So he pouted. He didn't play super well, but not badly enough to get benched. His attempts to turn players against me failed as the locker room was close knit. And so we continued to solidify our spot in the lower echelon of the playoff qualifiers, and even won the Canadian Championship (which I could do another fourteen paragraphs on, but will sum it up by saying we overcame a 0-1 home leg defeat to win in Toronto, with the only goals being Mancosu's first two of the year after Gio had put TFC up early.)

I thought maybe that the return to "NACL" would settle Piatti down. After all, that's why he wanted to go to Monterrey, right? But he continued to pout right up to the day Monterrey (and in a surprise bid Tigres) put in a $3.7MM offer for him. Which, of course, I rejected. I don't get paid more if Saputo makes a profit on the team, and with the way MLS rules are that transfer fee does little to benefit my ability to build the roster.

Nacho was extra spicy after that. He went to the media and said he was going to do anything he could to get out of Montreal. But I kept playing him. And he kept playing well enough to stay off the bench. And so the season continued to pass.

A few weeks later, there was a media report that Piatti had decided that he would stay to finish out his contract, and his agent confirmed it a couple of days later. Then about two weeks after that, his agent came to me and said that Nacho was no longer concerned about squad depth, and was happy with how things were going. I checked his page, and for the first time in months my best player had a green morale arrow. He was happy again! This would provide a massive boost to the team as we finished the last games of the season. With an in-form Piatti we could possibly even make a run at a better playoff seed. Magnificent!

Now here, finally, is how the game gave me a Stone Cold-style double bird. You might not even believe it but I swear this is 100% true. The very next time I hit "continue" after my star player had finally become happy I received notification that Ignacio Piatti would be out approximately 5-6 weeks after "attempting a sprint" in practice.

I hate this game. So I bought it this morning.

[ImTellinTim]

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

I hate this game. So I bought it this morning.

Please keep posting in here.

BTW, go here to get the competition names right: https://sortitoutsi.net/downloads/vi...-beta-20102016

[Azamien]

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

BTW, go here to get the competition names right: https://sortitoutsi.net/downloads/vi...-beta-20102016

Thanks!

As for an update on how FM hates me, Piatti's torn groin healed. He passed his medical check and was approved for 60 minutes. I'm not one to rush things, plus if you start a player who has a minutes limit you're giving away one of your subs that can be used to change the way a match is going.

Opara, who has become a mainstay in my defence since I traded for him, got injured late in the first half. Otherwise the match was going well, and Shipp wasn't having a great game, so I brought Piatti in at the 60th minute. A nice half-hour run out to get back into the groove, with another sub in my pocket if needed.

Three minutes later Ciman goes in with both feet and for the second time in three matches gets sent off. The match is still scoreless at this point, so instead of going with three men at the back I decided to sacrifice a CM, Bekker in this case, to bring in Camara to fill Ciman's spot. Sixty-fifth minute and I'm now out of subs and down a man.

Fast forward to the 79th minute and things are going fine. I'm losing the possession battle, but Red Bulls aren't getting anything on frame. Then Piatti gets smashed by Duvall. Broken ribs, out 4-6 weeks. And I had to finish the match with nine men. Getting creative, I moved Oduro up front next to Drogba and played a 4-2-0-2. It actually worked and it was my team attacking at the end and nearly pulling out a miracle. Alas, it finished scoreless, which was a great result down to nine men on the road against the 2nd place team.

So, in the last three months Piatti has played 20 minutes after finally becoming happy and probably won't be back until the playoffs. If we hold on to the 6th spot.

I still hate this game.