Interesting thread, even if I've never really been able to get into the newer FMs. I've got a couple of days off work so I've been feeling the urge to start a new old-school Championship Manager game (the last 01-02 edition is free to download and community updated if anybody's interested).

 

 

 

 

Ok, season 1 wrap...I'm pretty happy with how it went (there was some heartbreak along the way too.

 

So firstly, the BPL...we won...it was close. I only needed a point from the last 2 games, against Fulham and West Ham away. Only managed to get the point I needed at Craven Cottage before losing at West Ham, but luckily the win was sealed.

 

 

Didn't do much on the stats front though

 

 

The first trophy of the year. Bit lucky

 

 

Champions Cup group. Lost to Schalke in the last group game with a weakened team.

 

 

Second trophy of the year.

 

 

FA Cup semi final defeat

 

 

Champion's League Semi first leg. Note the injury to Lewandowski. Out for the last 4 BPL games and second leg of this tournament. Made it tough.
 

 

Second leg...heartbreak. 90th minute winner for City. 2-2...out on away goals.

 

 

Team stats for the season

 

 

All fixtures...lost to United all 3 times :(

 

 

 

Tactic 1

 

 

 

Tactic 2

 

 

 

 

Transfers

 

 

 

Edit: Oh, awards. Hazard (Football of the Year), Luiz (Player's player). Hazard, Mata, Luiz (TOTY). Me (manager of the year). Brendan Rodgers (sacked)

Edited November 7, 201312 yr by Cam

My saves have all been quite lazy so far. Think I'm going to make a save and stick to it. 

 

Spend an hour or so, completely changing the scouting network and coaches. Kind of waiting for further match engine fixes as well as I'm not 100% satisfied with it.

Fourth season wrapped up in blinding speed. Before I tell you about what we won, and what we didn't win, I've got to hand the floor over to a certain Belgian striker.

 

 

Sixty. One. Goals. After a torrid season on loan at Everton and two average ones at Dortmund I decided to finally give Romelu the chance to hold down the starting striker spot at Chelsea. He blew my expectations completely out of the water, taking the league by storm and breaking Andy Cole's long-standing single-season goals record. His 14 Champions League goals tied him for the single-season record in Europe.

 

Lukaku won the Football Writers player of the year award, although Ozil took the PFA one. He won the league golden boot and the Champions League golden boot, although that is obvious!

 

 

Just look at that injury record, the man is a machine. 19 strength comes in handy in this game, it seems.

 

We managed to make up for last years embarrassing semi-final exit at the hands of Burnley by winning the League Cup this time around, beating Jurgen Klopp's Man United in the final.

 

 

United have now lost three of the last four League Cup finals, particularly concerning for them when you consider that they also lost the FA Cup final last season to Stoke.

 

The Champions League group stage was a breeze, we savaged every team in our path with ruthless efficiency.

 

 

We were pitted against German opposition for the first knockout round and the quarters, we enjoyed getting a small measure of revenge for our Champions League final defeat by eviscerating Leverkusen.

 

 

Our triumph over Barca was brilliant, revenge for last years exit at their hands and a clear indication of our team spirit as we battled back from an early Messi brace in the second leg to take the win. Victory from the jaws of defeat, it was a special evening. The fact that we got a solid 1-0 win at Camp Nou in the first leg made it all the more sweet.

 

 

On the league front we secured a second title in four years, the title race was close and we were neck-a-neck with Man City for the bulk of it, only pulling clear in the latter stages. We sealed the title with a game to spare in a 6-0 hammering of Steve Clarke's West Brom.

 

 

The top four has a more familiar feel to it after last season, United and Arsenal have sorted themselves out under their new managers.

 

 

Our FA Cup run was highlighted by a 4-0 win over Man City. We took on Man United in the final; we were fighting to seal a domestic treble and have a chance at the hallowed quadruple, they were fighting to avoid the ignominy of a fifth successive cup final defeat.

 

 

Unfortunately we blew our chance at a domestic treble in heartbreaking circumstances, the game looked set for extra time and just as I was making my final substitution for the 30 minutes of football to come they struck a death blow with a Kagawa goal. I was distraught.

 

And so, the big one. Our second Champions League final in four seasons, our chance to atone for our loss to Leverkusen in Berlin. The match was being held in Inter's stadium but we were the favourites, the bookies were offering 4/6 for a Chelsea win, whilst Inter backers could get 7/2.

 

 

The only key player unavailable was Eden Hazard, who was suspended following a red card in the first leg of the Barca semi.

 

The stage was set, do or die time, did we have enough to conquer the Italians and claim old big ears?

 

 

Alas, no. We screwed up big time. Lukaku was anonymous but it's hard to pin the blame on him as collectively we failed to deliver. Our attacking style came up short against Inter's superb defence and the tricky sodden pitch. A huge opportunity wasted, though the team is young enough to hopefully have another crack at it in the not too distant future.

 

Much work ahead!

Edited November 7, 201312 yr by Charles Ryder

Fourth season wrapped up in blinding speed. Before I tell you about what we won, and what we didn't win, I've got to hand the floor over to a certain Belgian striker.

 

 

Sixty. One. Goals. After a torrid season on loan at Everton and two average ones at Dortmund I decided to finally give Romelu the chance to hold down the starting striker spot at Chelsea. He blew my expectations completely out of the water, taking the league by storm and breaking Andy Cole's long-standing single-season goals record. His 14 Champions League goals tied him for the single-season record in Europe.

 

Lukaku won the Football Writers player of the year award, although Ozil took the PFA one. He won the league golden boot and the Champions League golden boot, although that is obvious!

 

 

Just look at that injury record, the man is a machine. 19 strength comes in handy in this game, it seems.

 

We managed to make up for last years embarrassing semi-final exit at the hands of Burnley by winning the League Cup this time around, beating Jurgen Klopp's Man United in the final.

 

 

United have now lost three of the last four League Cup finals, particularly concerning for them when you consider that they also lost the FA Cup final last season to Stoke.

 

The Champions League group stage was a breeze, we savaged every team in our path with ruthless efficiency.

 

 

We were pitted against German opposition for the first knockout round and the quarters, we enjoyed getting a small measure of revenge for our Champions League final defeat by eviscerating Leverkusen.

 

 

Our triumph over Barca was brilliant, revenge for last years exit at their hands and a clear indication of our team spirit as we battled back from an early Messi brace in the second leg to take the win. Victory from the jaws of defeat, it was a special evening. The fact that we got a solid 1-0 win at Camp Nou in the first leg made it all the more sweet.

 

 

On the league front we secured a second title in four years, the title race was close and we were neck-a-neck with Man City for the bulk of it, only pulling clear in the latter stages. We sealed the title with a game to spare in a 6-0 hammering of Steve Clarke's West Brom.

 

 

The top four has a more familiar feel to it after last season, United and Arsenal have sorted themselves out under their new managers.

 

 

Our FA Cup run was highlighted by a 4-0 win over Man City. We took on Man United in the final; we were fighting to seal a domestic treble and have a chance at the hallowed quadruple, they were fighting to avoid the ignominy of a fifth successive cup final defeat.

 

 

Unfortunately we blew our chance at a domestic treble in heartbreaking circumstances, the game looked set for extra time and just as I was making my final substitution for the 30 minutes of football to come they struck a death blow with a Kagawa goal. I was distraught.

 

And so, the big one. Our second Champions League final in four seasons, our chance to atone for our loss to Leverkusen in Berlin. The match was being held in Inter's stadium but we were the favourites, the bookies were offering 4/6 for a Chelsea win, whilst Inter backers could get 7/2.

 

 

The only key player unavailable was Eden Hazard, who was suspended following a red card in the first leg of the Barca semi.

 

The stage was set, do or die time, did we have enough to conquer the Italians and claim old big ears?

 

 

Alas, no. We screwed up big time. Lukaku was anonymous but it's hard to pin the blame on him as collectively we failed to deliver. Our attacking style came up short against Inter's superb defence and the tricky sodden pitch. A huge opportunity wasted, though the team is young enough to hopefully have another crack at it in the not too distant future.

 

Much work ahead!

 

How are you playing Lukaku? I demand to see your Player Instructions / Tactics! 

 

Never got a striker scoring 60+ goals. Very impressive.

My transfer dealings from the start of season 2:

 

OUT

Eto'o (free)

Schwarzer (free)

Cole (free)

....many others free

Marin (9m)

Ivanovic (8m)

Cech (22m)

Romeu (3.6m)

Torres (2.5m)

Mikel (20m)

Willian (30m)

 

IN

Casteels (2m) (backup GK)

Shaw (29m)

Papadopoulos (9m)

Rodriguez (500k)

Rodwell (20m)

 

It was a strange window. I'd wanted to keep Cole, but he wouldn't take enough decrease in wages, and wouldn't sign a one year contract...so I let him go. Ivanovic makes way so Wallace can be back up RB. Cech goes while he has a lot of value so Courtois can become long term GK (though he's been poor so far this season). Romeu goes because I didn't need him. Torres goes because he's crap. I somewhat regret Mikel going. I really thought I was going to get in a better DM/CM. In the end Rodwell was the only ok one available. I really wanted Pogba, but he wasn't being sold. Willian went on deadline day, because I'd been unable to move Schurrle (who was awful last season)..and I didn't want to go in with that many AM's again. Need more game for KDB and MVG. Got twice his value, so I'm ok with it. Shaw cost a lot, but should be first choice LB for ages. Rodrgiuez was a young DM from Real who was transfer listed. Got him cheap, he's already worth 8 times that...but he's out on loan at the moment. As I said, Rodwell wasn't ideal but at least he's English. He's at least 3 star potential...so same as Ramires and Lamps.

I haven't bought a FM game since 2008, you guys are making me want to dive back into it all over again. 

The big question is : If Jose leaves us again will it be Cam or C.R that we go for?

Probably not me...I did just buy Jack Rodwell after all.

 

-----

 

This season has started well for me so far. Won the Community Shield against United. Unbeaten in 6 in the league (one draw in a 2-0 comeback). Last 2 games were a 6-1 win at Goodison in the league and 5-1 win at Marseille in the CL. De Bruyne, Papadopolous and Lukaku have been stand outs. Lewandowski is also scoring more consistently than he did last season.

Interesting thread, even if I've never really been able to get into the newer FMs. I've got a couple of days off work so I've been feeling the urge to start a new old-school Championship Manager game (the last 01-02 edition is free to download and community updated if anybody's interested).

 

 

 

 

I tried to do this but I couldn't get it working for some reason. 01/02 was the best!

Does anyone else buy Football Manager through Steam? I've just discovered that there's a stat that covers how many hours you've spent on the game. Can anyone beat me?

 

 

 

 

 

Decided to start a lower league save, Sunday league reputation to make things as tough as possible. I opted for Cambridge United.

 

 

We've had a blinder of a season so far, despite only being predicted 8th we've raced out in front. Unfortunately my star keeper has just returned to his parent club as they won't let us extend his loan deal, I've been forced to bring in an inferior player.

 

We're playing a basic 4-4-2, balanced attacking, and have an alternate rigid counter system for tough away days.

 

 

Our finances are terrible, we're haemorrhaging money month to month and are predicted to be half a million in the red come the end of the season. Promotion is a must!

 

 

Inconsistency is one of the joys of lower league management, one moment you're putting in a fantastic performance against the best team on paper in the league...

 

 

And three days later you're getting beaten 6-0 by Alfreton.

 

 

Our most disappointing result was getting knocked out of the FA Cup qualifying round by non-league side Stourbridge.

 

I've decided to set us up with a parent club, we need every penny we can get and will hopefully benefit with some decent loan players. I had offers from Derby, Leeds and Gillingham, and opted for Derby as they have the best youth set-up.

 

 

My scout has a great work ethic...

 

 

How are you playing Lukaku? I demand to see your Player Instructions / Tactics! 

 

Never got a striker scoring 60+ goals. Very impressive.

 

He was playing as a poacher.

 

 

 

Does anyone else buy Football Manager through Steam? I've just discovered that there's a stat that covers how many hours you've spent on the game. Can anyone beat me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alas, yes.

 

 

Edited November 9, 201312 yr by Charles Ryder

I have 500+ hours on most of the FMs but played 900 in 2012. (The best FM yet so far imo)

Had a tough season 2. Only thing I won was the Community Shield. Competitions went like this:

 

Community Shield - 

Beat United 2-1.

 

Carling Cup - 

Beat Liverpool and United in rounds 3 and 4, only to lost to Stoke in the 5th with a weakened team.

 

FA Cup - 

Out to Liverpool 2-0 in the 3rd round. Had terrible draws for both domestic cups. No gimme games.

 

Champions League - 

Sailed through the group stage with 6 wins. Beat Dortmund in the second round (two 2-1 wins). Man City in the quarters...it was epic. 1-0 home win. 3-0 down at Etihad at HT. 2 goals for MVG on as a sub to advance on away goals. Out in the semis to Real Madrid. Managed to lost 4-0 at the Bernabeau...and that was that. Drew 1-1 at the Bridge after conceding in the last minute...not that it mattered.

 

Premier League - 

Was ahead for the majority of the season, only to hit rough patches at the wrong time. Ended up losing to United by a solitary point. The gap was closing as the team started winning at the end, but it wasn't enough. Defence wasn't good enough this season conceding 39 in the league...on the bright side...scored 97.

 

So one trophy. Not great really...another semi final heartbreak in the CL, and a very rough season for domestic cups.

 

----------------------

 

Best players:
-Luiz

-Ramires

-Lampard (he just keeps going...he triggered an extension in his contract)

-Papadopolous

-De Bruyne

 

Dissapointments

-Schurrle (again..really need to sell him)

-Lewandowski

-Courtois

-Shaw

-Mata

 

Lewandowski lead scoring with only 16 (he started well, then faltered badly...and for ages). Only rated 6.82. Not good enough.

 

Need to try and move some players on. As it stands my first team and second team are more or less this:

 

GK Courtois (Casteels)

RB Azpilicueta (Wallace)

LB Shaw (Bertrand)

CB Luiz (JT)
CB Papadopolous (Cahill)

CM Lampard (Rodwell)
CM Ramires (Chalobah...has been quite impressive to be honest)
RAM Mata [a natural RAM now] (Markovic)
LAM Hazard (De Bruyne)
CAM Oscar (Van Ginkel)
ST Lewandowski (Lukaku)

Holy f**k Charles Ryder! Makes me look like I've just dipped into the game a few times.

 

FM09 - 504 hours

FM12- 639 hours

FM13- 55 hours

FM14- 40 hours

Holy f**k Charles Ryder! Makes me look like I've just dipped into the game a few times.

 

FM09 - 504 hours

FM12- 639 hours

FM13- 55 hours

FM14- 40 hours

 

It's a disease!

 

 

Had a tough season 2. Only thing I won was the Community Shield. Competitions went like this:

 

Community Shield - 

Beat United 2-1.

 

Carling Cup - 

Beat Liverpool and United in rounds 3 and 4, only to lost to Stoke in the 5th with a weakened team.

 

FA Cup - 

Out to Liverpool 2-0 in the 3rd round. Had terrible draws for both domestic cups. No gimme games.

 

Champions League - 

Sailed through the group stage with 6 wins. Beat Dortmund in the second round (two 2-1 wins). Man City in the quarters...it was epic. 1-0 home win. 3-0 down at Etihad at HT. 2 goals for MVG on as a sub to advance on away goals. Out in the semis to Real Madrid. Managed to lost 4-0 at the Bernabeau...and that was that. Drew 1-1 at the Bridge after conceding in the last minute...not that it mattered.

 

Premier League - 

Was ahead for the majority of the season, only to hit rough patches at the wrong time. Ended up losing to United by a solitary point. The gap was closing as the team started winning at the end, but it wasn't enough. Defence wasn't good enough this season conceding 39 in the league...on the bright side...scored 97.

 

So one trophy. Not great really...another semi final heartbreak in the CL, and a very rough season for domestic cups.

 

----------------------

 

Best players:

-Luiz

-Ramires

-Lampard (he just keeps going...he triggered an extension in his contract)

-Papadopolous

-De Bruyne

 

Dissapointments

-Schurrle (again..really need to sell him)

-Lewandowski

-Courtois

-Shaw

-Mata

 

Lewandowski lead scoring with only 16 (he started well, then faltered badly...and for ages). Only rated 6.82. Not good enough.

 

Need to try and move some players on. As it stands my first team and second team are more or less this:

 

GK Courtois (Casteels)

RB Azpilicueta (Wallace)

LB Shaw (Bertrand)

CB Luiz (JT)

CB Papadopolous (Cahill)

CM Lampard (Rodwell)

CM Ramires (Chalobah...has been quite impressive to be honest)

RAM Mata [a natural RAM now] (Markovic)

LAM Hazard (De Bruyne)

CAM Oscar (Van Ginkel)

ST Lewandowski (Lukaku)

 

I propose dropping Lewandowski and giving Lukaku the #1 spot.

Edited November 9, 201312 yr by Charles Ryder

Decided to start a lower league save, Sunday league reputation to make things as tough as possible. I opted for Cambridge United.

 

 

We've had a blinder of a season so far, despite only being predicted 8th we've raced out in front. Unfortunately my star keeper has just returned to his parent club as they won't let us extend his loan deal, I've been forced to bring in an inferior player.

 

We're playing a basic 4-4-2, balanced attacking, and have an alternate rigid counter system for tough away days.

 

 

Our finances are terrible, we're haemorrhaging money month to month and are predicted to be half a million in the red come the end of the season. Promotion is a must!

 

 

Inconsistency is one of the joys of lower league management, one moment you're putting in a fantastic performance against the best team on paper in the league...

 

 

And three days later you're getting beaten 6-0 by Alfreton.

 

 

Our most disappointing result was getting knocked out of the FA Cup qualifying round by non-league side Stourbridge.

 

I've decided to set us up with a parent club, we need every penny we can get and will hopefully benefit with some decent loan players. I had offers from Derby, Leeds and Gillingham, and opted for Derby as they have the best youth set-up.

 

 

My scout has a great work ethic...

 

 

 

He was playing as a poacher.

 

 

 

 

Alas, yes.

 

 

 

Dude, how many seasons have you done so far this season? It's only been out 10 days!

Only five, I swear...

 

The beta was available a few weeks ago.

5 seasons in a few weeks is normal once you get sucked into the bloody thing, its more addictive than crack. Is there a console version coming out?

Jeremie Boga is amazing on my save. Outperforming Hazard atm and has higher potential than Mata 

Jeremie Boga is amazing on my save. Outperforming Hazard atm and has higher potential than Mata 

 

I made a right tit of Boga...somehow managed to lose him on a free. I have no idea what happened. But he left, and there's nothing I can do about it now lol. That said I scouted him again once I realised, and he's down to 3 star (that's not to say he can't get higher again)

 

-------------------------

 

The off-season before season 3 has been a marathon one for me. Mostly transfer related...so many offers for my players and for me to offer for others. Huge changes in my list.

 

Out goes:

Thorgan Hazard (2.9)

Mata (50)...this one was hard...because I love him, but he was my first choice RAM, and a natural at that, but performed far too poorly

Ormeruo (15)

Cahill (5.25)..had gone down to 2 stars...not carrying that in an older player...barely getting any game time anyway

Wallace (2.5)...performing poorly, and would not get a WP next contract

Moses (5)...didn't want him

McEachran (2.9)...requested a transfer, couldn't say no...have tons of other CM's

Werner (20)...worth 2.5...yes a lot of potential, but he'd played poorly...50% of next sale clause will come in handy

Onzai (4.4)...made a profit, played like 2 games

Kalas (2.7)...he wasn't in the frame after new signings...50% of next sale

Rodwell (21.5)...made a profit...have players of more potential to fit in

 

In comes:

Theres (3)...3 1/2 star potential regen

Atalay (3.2)...4 star regen

Jedvaj (2.2)...cheap 3 1/2 star defender

Fernandes (4.4)...couldn't pass up a 20 year old CM with 4 star potential for that amount

Fitzgerald (15)....steep fee, but a 5 star potential regen striker...hoping for the best

Zouma (15)...been chasing him since the start...has slotted straight into the team at the expense of Papapapadopooooplos...4 star potential

Jeronimo (1.5)...20 year old CM regen...chased by a dozen big clubs, chose me... 4 1/2 star potential

 

-------------------------------------------------------

So my team and squad now:

 

First XI

-----------------------------------Courtois---------------------------------

-Dave-------------Zouma------------------------Luiz------------Shaw-

 

-----------------------Lampard-------------Ramires--------------------

 

-De Bruyne--------------------Oscar-----------------------Hazard----

 

-------------------------------Lewandowski---------------------------

 

Second XI

-------------------------------Casteels----------------------------------

--Kane-------------Papadop----------Jedvaj-------------Bertrand

 

-----------------------Chalobah----Fernandes----------------------

 

-Markovic-------------------Van Ginkel--------------------Schurrle (I don't want him, no one will buy him)

 

------------------------------Lukaku------------------------------------

 

Other options:

JT, Christensen, Ake, Geronimo, Baker, Fitzgerald

 

I don't know if the depth is good enough to win the league...I guess it'll depend on injuries. My CM is still light in terms of world class players...but Ramires and Lamps are both 3 stars, and the youngsters have so much potential I want them to get some game time with me. We'll see how it goes I guess. JT will be let go at the end of the season, and probably Lamps too. If Lewandowski doesn't improve, he's on the scrap heap.

Jeronimo? God I hope we dogn him in the real world. Would love to see him romping up the wing.

Reading this thread forced my hand and I am happy to say that my life is now devoted to FM. Just started a career with Vitesse with an international footballer pedigree, I'll keep everyone updated.

I've wrapped up my first season with Cambridge United, we managed to overcome the odds and win the Skrill Premier despite only being predicted to finish eighth. It was not altogether easy, however, with the second half of the season giving me nightmares after a new years collapse blew the title race wide open.

Things started to go awry in January, after our loan keeper returned to his parent club I was forced to hit the market to try and find an adequate replacement as soon as possible. In the interim we started our backup keeper, our previously impeccable defence seemingly imploded overnight. We went on a run of 6 games without a win, a 2-0 result against Salisbury arrested the slump but we then proceeded to lose back-to-back games against our two closest title rivals.

I managed to find a good keeper eventually, bringing in Dean Delany on a free transfer. His leadership and determination attributes put him head and shoulders above his teammates so I immediately handed him the captain's armband.

We had slipped to third and all seemed lost as far as our chances were concerned, but I was determined to seal a playoff spot at the very least. We managed to go on a run of three wins which got us back in the hunt, before slipping up away to Macclesfield. Fortunately for us Forest Green's run-in featured tough clashes against Luton Town and Wrexham, I was relieved when they dropped points.

Three wins and a draw catapulted us to the top of the table but it would all go down to the final day: we needed a win to guarantee the title, for 80 minutes we attacked Gateshead relentlessly but they managed to hold on. Forest Green were winning and on top, all looked lost until Adam Cunnington finally made the breakthrough. Euphoria.

 

 

Now this is what I call job security!

 

 

As you can see from the table it was a close run race, only 1 point separating us from second in the end.

 

 

With a few weeks to spare as we weren't involved in a dreaded playoff I decided to raise a bit of cash to help plug the hole in our pocket.

 

 

French reserve sides represented the best profit margin, I played the under 18's to avoid handing out first team appearance bonuses. A nice little earner if I do say so myself.

 

 

In the end our books weren't quite as bad as what they were predicted to be, though we've still got a while to go before we clear our loan debt and start getting back into the black.

 

 

Not a penny was spent on transfers and not a penny was raised, it's all about loans and frees at this level. We'll have a modest increase in our wage budget to get a couple of frees in next season but we'll also have to cover all of our current player wages rising due to promotion clauses.

 

 

Harry Dunk and Adam Cunnington were standouts statistically, as was Chris Maxwell. Despite only having him for half a season he made it into the Most Clean Sheets reckoning, that's how pivotal he was in that early run we went on.

 

Our goal for next season will simply be survival, hopefully we can keep our heads above water and establish ourselves in the bottom rung of the Football League ladder.

 

 

5 seasons in a few weeks is normal once you get sucked into the bloody thing, its more addictive than crack. Is there a console version coming out?

 

I don't think so, the last version to come out on console (Xbox 360) was FM2008.

Edited November 10, 201312 yr by Charles Ryder