***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[Kobalt]

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

I feel like this year's version of FM has been the hardest for me.

Currently at year 10 and I'm still stuck on Vanarama National League South. Usually in the past, if I'm on year 10, I'm at like Championship or even PL.

[jesmith29]

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

Planning on picking up FM18 this weekend? Get Eastside Hockey Manager and Motorsport Manager for just £1 extra each if you purchase from Steam.

[gopher_guy]

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

On a great run to start the season, sitting in 2nd place in the league through 10 games. Only 2 points behind Olympiacos.

On a 5 game winning streak, flying high, and the next game on the schedule is Olympiacos away. Tweak my counter tactic, and I'm pretty happy with it. Feel like I've set us up well to go and get a result against the Greek giants.

First half goes by, it's working brilliantly. We're 0-0, but shots are even. I've got the only 2 shots on goal. Both were great chances, could have gone in.



"Oh yeah, Olympiacos, you think you're God's gift to Greek football?! Platanias FC is here now, and we're taking your crown! There's a new king in town!"



And then the 2nd half happened.





This game really knows how to take you down a peg.





edit: loooool I've never seen this before

[jasontoddwhitt]

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

My eleventh year at Amiens could be my last. It's the last year of my contract. A disappointing continental campaign led to some business decisions having to be made to give me the transfer funds to try and make a run at PSG. I was able to hang on to some key pieces and I'm hoping the pieces I was able to bring lead to us being able to take that next step.

Good Luck in your Future Endeavours

ST Ludovic Denis - 68 appearances, 17 goals, 8 assists, 2 POM Awards, 6.83 rating in four seasons ($1M to Sochaux) - Purchased Ludovic from Troyes for $2.8M. Started off well in his career with us as a backup option, but then he started to get lost in the shuffle the last couple seasons. Newly promoted Sochaux was looking for a striker with Ligue 1 experience and considering this is a position of great depth for us, we figured we could take a small hit with this sale.

GK Loic Badiashile - 148 appearances, 1.0 G/90, 63 SO, 1 POM award, 7.07 rating in seven seasons (Left on free) - Purchased from Brest for $1.8M. Was our #1 choice at keeper for three seasons before the arrival of Borja Martinez. Was a serviceable backup after that who never once complained about playing time. Would've liked to have kept him, but salary demands were too high for a backup keeper.

CB Tom Troost - 113 appearances, 4 goals, 1 assist, 3 POM awards, 7.16 rating in three seasons ($4.8M to Lazio) - Purchased from Ajax for $3.5M. Tom didn't like becoming the #3 center back after being outplayed by Guerin and Kingsley, and with Lazio coming in with an offer that gave us a slight profit, we had to make this move. We have other young options at center back ready to fill in.

GK Borja Martinez - 144 appearances, 1.09 G/90, 52 SO, 7.05 rating in three seasons ($24M to Inter) - Purchased from Real Madrid for $1.3M. Borja was lost in the shuffle at Real Madrid, but we saw his talent and once he got first team time, he exploded onto the scene. We were lucky to have kept him for three whole seasons.

DL Anders Rasmussen - 36 appearances, 1 goal, 7.35 rating in one season ($6.75M to Benfica) Purchased from FC Kobenhavn for $4.9M. Anders couldn't quite supplant Atilla Mitev as the starting left back so the two players split time. Anders and his agent didn't quite like that. Benfica came in and we made a slight profit. Good riddance.

DR Sebastian Conde - 44 appearances, 5 goals, 8 assists, 3 POM, 7.37 rating in two seasons ($12.25M to Atletico) Purchased from Junior for $1.2M. Conde's first season was spent behind captain Flavio Nasta, but his second seasons would see Conde take the next step in his career and actually stole some playing time from Nasta. Unfortunately for us, Atletico came calling. Would've loved to have kept the 24-year-old for his youth over Nasta, but the profit couldn't be ignored.

Projected Starting Lineup

GK: Alejandro Esteche (3.5/4.5 stars/19 years old/$5.75M)/22 U20 caps for Paraguay - Signed on loan this summer from Chelsea. Alejandro joined Chelsea last season from Libertad (Paraguay) for $600k and made five appearances for Chelsea in cup competition and made one start in the Premier League. Chelsea has high hopes for the keeper.

LB: Atilla Mitev (3.0/3.0 stars/24 years old/$20M/39 caps for Bulgaria) - Signed in 2030 from Sevilla for $2.7M. Saw a dip in playing time due to competition and missing a month of the season with a sprained ankle. Still made 29 appearances last season, registering six assists with an average rating of 7.21.

CB: Kingsley Singh (3.0/3.0 stars/28 years old/$14.25M/57 caps for India) - Signed in 2031 from Montpellier for $5.75M. Split time with Tom Troost early in the season before supplanting him in the starting lineup. Made 44 appearances last season, scoring one goal with an average rating of 7.10. Was named to the Ligue 1 Team of the Week four times.

CB: Loic Guerin (3.5/3.5 stars/29 years old/$18.5M/3 caps for France) - Signed in 2029 from Le Havre for $6.25M. Made 52 appearances, scoring one goal with a match rating of 7.28. Was named to the Ligue 1 Team of the Week four times and was named to the Ligue 1 Team of the Year for a second time.

RB: Flavio Nasta (3.0/3.0 stars/30 years old/$9M/0 caps for Argentina) - Signed in 2028 on a free from Atl. Tucuman in Argentina. Flavio split time with Rasmussen last season, the captain making 36 appearances, scoring one goals, registering six assists, and had a match rating of 7.34. Was named to four Ligue 1 Teams of the Week and was voted the Supporter's Player of the Season for a third straight season.

CM: Helio Felix (3.0/4.0 stars/21 years old/$6M)/17 U21 caps for Portugal - Signed last season from Sochaux for $4.2M. Was a rotational piece for us last season, making 33 appearances, scoring three goals and registering four assists with an average match rating of 7.06. Was named to the Ligue 1 Team of the Week one time. We are looking for more out of the 21 year old, and expect him to be in the starting XI more often than not.

CM: Giomaria Brundu (3.5/3.5 stars/25 years old/$32M)/18 U21 caps for Italy - Joined last summer on a free from Inter. Made an instant impact for us, making 53 appearances, scoring seven goals, and registering nine assists with a match rating of 7.22. Was named to the Ligue 1 Team of the Week two times.

CM: Jamie Fuller (3.0/5.0 stars/20 years old/$14.75M/25 U21 caps for England) - Joined again this summer on loan from Liverpool for a second season. Last season, he made 27 appearances, scoring one goal with a match rating of 6.89. Love his potential and hope he can make that next step in his development.

AMC: Nazareno Tula (4.5/4.5 stars/24 years old/$37M/8 caps for Argentina) - Bought Tula last January from Barcelona for $14M. A steep price, sure. But Tula was more than worth it as he spearheaded our second-half surge into second place. Last season, made 27 appearances, scoring six goals and registering 12 assists with a match rating of 7.53. Was named to two Ligue 1 Teams of the Week. It will be interesting to see what Tula can do with a whole season under his belt.

ST: Adam Forsberg (3.5/3.5 stars/29 years old/$15.25M/9 caps for Sweden) - Joined in 2031 from Hammarby IF for $3.1M. Last season, made 45 appearances, scoring 24 goals and registering 8 assists with a match rating of 7.11. Output significantly improved with the arrival of Nazareno Tula. Was named to one Ligue 1 Team of the Week.

ST: Nacho Varela (4.0/4.0 stars/28 years old/$30M)/0 caps for Spain) - Signed in 2028 from Deportivo for $2.8M. Nacho got off to a slow start, but with the arrival of Nazareno Tula late in the season, he (like the rest of the team) saw his level of play increase. Nacho made 45 appearances, scoring 31 goals and registering 7 assists with a match rating of 7.19. Was named to the Ligue 1 Team of the Week three times.

[Kobalt]

***The Official Football Manager Thread***





Final match of the season, Dorchester is at 4th placed Dartford, I'm at 14th place Weadlestone, and Slough is at 6th placed Salisbury

Edit: I drew while the other 2 teams won, time for a promotion playoff once again.

And lost in the semifinals again

[Zac]

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

I'll come back to the created club save later. Started a journeyman save for now. Ended up in second division of Belarus for first job with Energetik-BGU Minsk. Only club after 19 other failed interviews that offered me a job (no badge and Sunday league). Oddly they were in second place as their manager jumped up to a team in the first division. After a few games we are now in first with 11 to go. Its nice to not be playing in England again.

[Suntan Superman]

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

In the weirdest season I've played in awhile. Brøndby are the club that suffered automatic relegation, finishing outside of the championship group, then in the bottom two of their relegation group, and finally succumbing 4-3 to AC Horsens in the relegation semifinal and 6-2 in the relegation final to SønderjyskE. They've flirted with relegation in real life, but to see them go down is something else.

I went to check on the exodus -


Welp....

In news related to my club, I've signed two well-known wiley veterans to provide some cover and to help out in the Champions League...

Marco Reus joined on a heavily incentive-laden contract with an injury release clause after his last season in Dortmund ended with just two league appearances.

Luis Gustavo also joins the club on an incentive-laden deal, no injury release, but just a one+one deal. Gustavo suffered a season-ending injury at Marseille after the final year of his contract, and this might be his last season as a player as well.

[Zac]

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

I just had the game crash on me after playing for about 4 hours. My dumb *** never saved once. Through an entire off season. All transfers and everything, lost. I'm so angry with myself.

[jasontoddwhitt]

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

I just had the game crash on me after playing for about 4 hours. My dumb *** never saved once. Through an entire off season. All transfers and everything, lost. I'm so angry with myself.

You don't have autosaves turned on?

[Zac]

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

You don't have autosaves turned on?

No. That is something smart people do. And something normal people don't have an irrational annoyance about. No idea why, but auto save in this game annoys me. This is only the second time in thousands of hours its bit me in the arse though.

[gopher_guy]

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

I just had the game crash on me after playing for about 4 hours. My dumb *** never saved once. Through an entire off season. All transfers and everything, lost. I'm so angry with myself.

Oh God... That's something that would make me take a week or two hiatus, lol.

[Kobalt]

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

I just had the game crash on me after playing for about 4 hours. My dumb *** never saved once. Through an entire off season. All transfers and everything, lost. I'm so angry with myself.

I would start a new save

[Suntan Superman]

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

the most i ever lost was two months, and that was after 15 years in save, and it broke me.

[Zac]

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

I think I have to ditch this save and start another. Its hosed. It keeps crashing. No other older save I have currently but this one crashes. I've reported it and given SI the save file. This is now officially my shortest save.

[jasontoddwhitt]

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

It's funny the intricacies of this game. Nacho comes back from a concussion and struggles his first two matches back. I bench him for our tilt against Manchester United at Old Trafford in Champions League. Tied 2-2, I bring him off the bench for the last half hour and he bags a brace and gives me a 4-2 victory (but Porto beat Red Bull Salzburg to knock us out).

Then the next match in league action, I start Nacho and he scores four goals against Sochaux.

Nacho is back!