Football Manager

Discussion in 'Soccer Board' started by Principal McVicker, Sep 21, 2009.

  1. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    Managing MLS is so wild. Atlanta has a 70MM+ transfer budget, but it's useless in my pursuit of Kellyn Acosta. Also trying to get New England's international spot, but that hasn't worked out for me yet.

    Learning a lot about the league though, which is one of the things I'd wanted to accomplish.
     
  2. NittanyKnight

    NittanyKnight They got love bites and everything
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    Manchester CityOrlando CityPenn State Nittany LionsUCF Knights

    Holy transfer budget. I had like 1.8m to start with. Made good use going into South American and getting quality for cheap. Use your scouts to hammer Brazil and Argentina.

    It is next to impossible to get players from other MLS sides. You can try to over a package of draft picks with GAM and TAM and see if it works. I trade away my draft picks for GAM and TAM. I use the GAM to buy down contracts to get under the salary cap.
     
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  3. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    Oh I've been using all sorts of mixes of stuff to try to get him.

    Is there something I'm missing with regard to getting domestic/foreign teens into the club? Seems like I can't get domestics cause they have to go through the draft, but then I can't get foreigners cause they take up an international spot.
     
  4. NittanyKnight

    NittanyKnight They got love bites and everything
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    Manchester CityOrlando CityPenn State Nittany LionsUCF Knights

    Nope. Welcome to MLS. Pay attention to your academy. The in take date is late December and you can get some absolute beasts if you have a good Head of Youth Development and press your board for junior coaching and increase youth recruiting. You can bring in them on contract with no salary cap impact as a hot prospect.

    I prefer the academy to the draft. Until proven otherwise; you get much better prospects from your own academy than in the draft. Also the draft picks have huge trade value. A 1st round pick can be worth over a million. Go the MLS page and look under the transfer tab for "Estimated Trade Values". I always offer out my draft picks for the highest value on there to try and get the GAM.
     
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  5. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    I'm entering season 6 of my Boreham Wood FC save on FM14. It took me two years to win the Skrill South (Tier 6). I almost backed my way into winning the Vanarama National League (Skrill Premier/Tier 5) but ended up losing in the first round of the promotion playoff. I was touted to win the Vanarama in year 4 but fell into a trap where I was looking ahead to League 2 and built around potential. I lost in the Promotion Playoff final. Year 5 was a dominant year where I set goalscoring records and played beautiful football. My winner was well deserved and promotion into League 2 also saw my club transition from a semi-pro to a professional squad. This all sounds wonderful but my wage budget got cut from €1.5 million per year to €975,000 p/y. I had to trim a bunch of players off my roster and even though I'm sitting at about €70,000 below budget, I can't sign anyone worth a shit. I've been able to retain 10 of the previous years starters but now I'm stuck trying to fill the bench with any swinging dick that'll sign. OopsPowSurprise help me.
     
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  6. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    Did you use the editor to get those leagues? And you use Euros for your wages?
     
  7. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    FM14 allows for the inclusion of Tier 6 in the English system. That includes Skrill North/South. I'm playing with a massive database. I think I'm only excluding one low level Russian league and the Macedonian league. I didn't want to play with US dollars and just felt like fucking around with euros. I also don't like thinking about wages in a per week basis.
     
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  8. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    I run a fluid attacking 4-2-3-1 with two midfielders that stand their ground and a ton of speed in the attack. It's pretty much the air raid and whoever I put out front will lead the league in scoring. The key to my team is the AMC. I need that guy to do it all and the current AMC won back-to-back Vanarama/Skrill Premier Player of the Year.
     
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  9. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    [​IMG]

    This beautiful motherfucker is Danny Whitehead and the AMC in my scoring machine. In real life, he revived his career in Tier 5 and Wigan signed him this year.
     
  10. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    Oh right, for some reason it felt further down reading that stuff.
     
  11. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
    Donor TMB OG
    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    Just finished the first season with ATL.

    Accomplishments:
    - Supporters Shield
    - MLS Cup
    - Coach of the Year & US Hall of Fame
    - Almiron Newcomer of the Year (Martinez 2nd) and MVP (Martinez 2nd, Villalba 3rd)
    - Martinez Golden Boot
    - Miles Robinson Rookie of the Year
    - Guzan GK of the Year
    - Gonzalez Pirez Defender of the Year
    - Guzan, LGP, Villalba, Almiron, Martinez, and two of my purchases on the MLS Best XI
    - Asad continues to get no love despite leading the league in assists

    Key Signings:
    - Joao Denoni DM/CM - Brazilian
    - Brandon Hines-Ike CB - American from Europe

    Key Departures:
    - Julian Gressel - Game doesn't rate him worth anything and he was taking up an international spot

    Tactics:
    Attacking 4-3-3
    Carmona/Larentowicz at DM, Denoni as a Box-to-Box CM, and Almiron at CM in the AP Attack role

    Almiron tallied 16 goals from that position, but only 5 assists. Was really disappointing, but according to this game that's where he belongs.

    Biggest disappointment was getting bounced 0-1 in the first match of the US Open Cup. Started a weaker side, but still should've been plenty good enough and it was at home. They really came into their own in the second half of the season, only losing one match after the All Star Break. We also didn't lose any matches to DC United, so that was good.

    I definitely used more youth than the real team did this season. Carleton and Vazquez got regular sub minutes. Goslin got starting time too, until I realized the Academy had a better player and signed him. And like in real life, RB was definitely the weak spot with neither Walkes nor Mears locking it down during the season.

    It's been a lot of fun though. Only gripes are Martinez being far worse at one-on-ones than he is in real life, Almiron being worse at assists, and the ATL fan support being half what it was in real life. The last point being a really dumb and weird issue for the game to have I think.

    A couple things going into the offseason:
    - All of my coaches will be finishing coaching courses and I'll be starting one
    - Walkes' loan ends so I can finally strengthen that position
    - Still haven't gotten close to getting Acosta
    - Offloading a lot of dead weight players
    - Players signed a year before their 16th birthday are eligible to count as home grown without the international spot being taken up once they get HG status, so gonna see if I can start pursuing that.
     
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  12. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    MA I can never get into the game if I watch the real team. I always end up getting frustrated if the real life player blows up and his sim version flounders. I'm on season 7 of Boreham Wood save and I've made it to League One. I spent seasons 3, 4, and 5 gaining promotion from Vanarama (Skrill Premier) to League 2 and I pulled a winner in my first season. I'm at mid table now still running a 4-2-3-1 with all 4 defenders in full defensive duties. I have one of the mids playing deep-lying playmaker to keep position and the other is a wandering Ball-winning midfielder. I want to transition the second mid to Box-to-Box when I have a player with the skill. AML and AMR are usually wingers but I just find best available and adapt my tactic to their strengths. AMC remains as my primary creator with the lone man on top a Poacher. I've had a ton of problems with my full backs. They're on an island out there and even playing a defensive winger affords them little help. I've found some positive results in seriously micro-managing the opposition instructions. I don't want to pick up traditional wide midfielders as my base formation has no use for them. I tend to park the bus by swapping the AMC with a DM but that still leaves each full back isolated against two wide players. My ball winning midfielder will offer help sometimes but the deep-lying playmaker won't assist on the wings. I have the DLM set up for station keeping with the intention that he doesn't push far upfield but it seems to limit his lateral positioning as well. Things are trending very well but it's been my biggest weakness. Biggest highlight of getting into League One was scouting outside the UK. I'm so fucking hype.
     
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  13. Andy Reocho

    Andy Reocho Please don't get lost in the sauce
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    Kansas JayhawksKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsNewcastle UnitedBig 8 ConferenceFormula 1

    Just started a new save in FM17 with Grasshoppers. Haven't really done a smaller country save before, interested to see how it goes.
     
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  14. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    My understanding is that once you become a perennial champion, you need to focus on retaining the National Team's talent. There's a correlation in FM between regen potential and NT rank. If you can up your nation's youth pool enough and make the right International signings then you can seriously compete in club tournaments. Some guy on the FM subreddit did this with North Ireland (or Ireland?) over the summer. Laid the blueprint for competing with Bayern, Real, and Barca with a small nation.
     
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  15. Andy Reocho

    Andy Reocho Please don't get lost in the sauce
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    Kansas JayhawksKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsNewcastle UnitedBig 8 ConferenceFormula 1

    Interesting. I'm always big on using the youth system/buying young, so I will try and take advantage of that. May start trying to pluck the Swiss youts from the crummy/poor small clubs.
     
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  16. Andy Reocho

    Andy Reocho Please don't get lost in the sauce
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    Kansas JayhawksKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsNewcastle UnitedBig 8 ConferenceFormula 1

    I also wonder if I should have found the patch that adds the lower Swiss leagues. I have only played like 3 league games and a couple europa, but wondering if it would be worth restarting with the patch and have the top like 4 leagues
     
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  17. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    The more lower leagues, the more regens. Make sure your team becomes the pipeline to the NT and invest heavy in youth facilities.
     
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  18. Andy Reocho

    Andy Reocho Please don't get lost in the sauce
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    Kansas JayhawksKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsNewcastle UnitedBig 8 ConferenceFormula 1

    I know it varies on everyone’s computers, but how many countries and leagues do y’all generally use when running a save?
     
  19. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    All of Europe except a couple eastern Bloc countries, all of SA, USA, and then like Australia, Japan, and S. Korea. And then as deep in the leagues as it'll go for the big countries and the default for the rest.
     
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  20. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    All of them. I built a PC to run the largest database.
     
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  21. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    Except Russia. Russia gets their top league and that's it. Don't want my save filling up with those assholes.
     
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  22. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    Looking forward to finding the next Messi in Singapore or Vietnam.
     
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  23. Andy Reocho

    Andy Reocho Please don't get lost in the sauce
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    Kansas JayhawksKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsNewcastle UnitedBig 8 ConferenceFormula 1

    mr fancy pants over here
     
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  24. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    What does adding leagues and countries do? I've always used extremely large databases but don't really know why I do it.
     
  25. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    More leagues means more players. Its great if you're really into recruiting so you can set up your own recruiting pools instead of setting your scouts on auto. Its great if you're not playing a blue-blood. Although they can be difficult to find, small countries will produce world class talent. You'll be able to make a competitive bid on a guy if you spot him early enough without worrying about going up against Barca or Bayern's transfer budget.
     
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  26. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    Best value is going to be in Central America, Caribbean, South America (outside Brasil and Argentina), Africa, and Southeast Asia. Top teams don't have much of a presence there so you're only competing against local clubs for top tier regens. If you're limiting your database, try to include a few of these countries to help you in the end game... and make sure you get a feeder club in Serbia.
     
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  27. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    Recruiting pools?
     
  28. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
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    When you search, you can select 500 players at a time and right click-> prepare scouting reports. Its still important to keep your scouts roaming and raising their knowledge in target countries. The heightened knowledge unmasks certain stats that will help you identify potential signees when you search for specific attributes. The reports are important because they can reveal potential injury and character issues that don't show up in their stats. Scouts with higher determination will prepare more reports per day.
     
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  29. Andy Reocho

    Andy Reocho Please don't get lost in the sauce
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    Kansas JayhawksKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsNewcastle UnitedBig 8 ConferenceFormula 1

    Basically finding players you like through different avenues than whatever your scouts provide.
     
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  30. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    It's a nice way to work around scouts with low determination and high CA and PA stats. They won't provide many reports from their assignments but you can still leverage their abilities by providing them with a list.
     
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  31. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    Okay, I do that. The terminology made me think it was some new feature.
     
  32. Jean-Ralphio

    Jean-Ralphio A real toe-tapper
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    Michigan WolverinesUtah JazzGreen Bay PackersArsenal

    I’ve always hated watching fm playthroughs on youtube. But lollujofm has some really fun series from last year and this year if anyone ever want some background noise.

    I’m playing as Arsenal right now. looking for a lower league team to actually get a challenge, but i havent really found a team i wanna give a go yet.
     
  33. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    I've played Coventry, Hereford, and Boreham Wood. Going from Pro-Am to professional is one of the best experiences in the game. I chose Coventry because I have a buddy from there. I chose Hereford because it's the home of the SAS. I chose Boreham Wood because it was the home of Stanley Kubrick's studio and it's real close to London (get that youth intake bump). Most important of all, I liked all their uniforms and logos.
     
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  34. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
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    I've dabbled with top tier play throughs and I just can't get into it. Its the same whether I'm playing NCAA 14 or Motorsport Manager. Part of my thrill is building an empire from nothing.
     
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  35. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    I'm a big uniform guy for choosing teams. Also a big random location guy and poorest/smallest team in the league guy.

    Also now that I finally have Twitter, I follow Hereford and Unterhaching on there and I always wonder if they wonder why some random guy in Alabama is one of the 15 likes on their posts.
     
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  36. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    Go Moo Cows!
     
  37. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    MA I wish the game let you choose uniforms. Football purists and Sports Interactive fanboys say the game doesn't need the option, but fuck that. I also wish they visualized sponsorships in the stadium and on the uniform. Motorsport Manager spoiled me. It would open the door to modding real sponsors into the game.
     
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  38. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    That, and I wish I could decide my own sponsorship deals. When your LL club builds a new stadium and immediately signs a 15-20 year stadium sponsorship. Kill me.
     
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  39. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
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    Stadium and facilities acquisition need more detail. Even if it's some 5 or 6 premade options to choose from, I want a say in the stadium. I shift-tab at the start of every game and look up whatever stadium I'm playing in that day.
     
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  40. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    Is there some way I'm missing to buy down salary cap impacts during contract negotiations?

    Can't sign Asad, can't sign Garza, can't buy down Villalba. It's like any transfer over 500k tries to force me to sign them as a DP.
     
  41. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
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    MLS play through
    scust.png
     
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  42. MA

    MA Surprisingly normal looking
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    Alabama Crimson TideSan Antonio SpursWashington CapitalsManchester UnitedAtlanta United

    It's the most challenging FM save I've ever had, and in some frustrating ways. But it's making me use different strategies than I've had to before, which is refreshing.
     
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  43. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
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  44. Mix

    Mix I own a Fuddruckers with Scottie Pippen
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    UCF KnightsPittsburgh PenguinsOrlando CityPittsburgh Steelers

    I pick my lower league team by stadium size, logo, and color. And usually debt load. If they are clear of debt with a few thousand seats and have an interesting look to them its easy for me. That is how I originally picked Southport (also love being called the Sandgrounders) and have been using them a lot in recent years. I did find some club that was originally non-playable with a sweet ass logo that I might drop back down after a few years at the top with Southport.
    BTW good convo in here. Enjoyed it a lot.
     
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  45. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
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    I've been finding a ton of great players in Scandinavia. Granted they're great for a L1 team, but I'm paying about 10% of what I would for a similar English player in transfer fees. Interesting thing is that many aren't willing to make the move from their Viking Wonderlands to a London Suburb. It's a nice way to limit the practice and prevent exploits.
     
  46. Jean-Ralphio

    Jean-Ralphio A real toe-tapper
    Donor
    Michigan WolverinesUtah JazzGreen Bay PackersArsenal

    Imed Louati scores goals for fun i imagine hed do well in league 1-2, but idk if he’s playable unless you have Denmark loaded.
     
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  47. Andy Reocho

    Andy Reocho Please don't get lost in the sauce
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    Kansas JayhawksKansas City RoyalsKansas City ChiefsNewcastle UnitedBig 8 ConferenceFormula 1

    Made it to winter break. 10 team leagues are weird, but at the same time makes it easy to swing the league.

    Through 18 games, I'm 3rd on 31 points with St Gallen being in first with 34, and Basel second on 32. Didn't make many moves, lost my only first team DM for 8-9 months with an ACL injury, so I brought in Niklas Dorsch from Bayern on loan, and 20 year old Brazilian Romulo.

    I somehow won my Europa League group that had Vigo, Braga, and Legia. Lost to Vigo both times, but was able to win the other four, with one Legia and Braga win basically coming at the death. Drew Feyenoord in the first knockout, which was about as good a draw as I could have hoped.

    Only got 1 mil in transfer, so not sure what I'm going to try and do on that front. Really wanting to get another first team coach ASAP
     
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  48. Mix

    Mix I own a Fuddruckers with Scottie Pippen
    Staff Donor TMB OG
    UCF KnightsPittsburgh PenguinsOrlando CityPittsburgh Steelers

    I feel like I should have an entire budget for players, coaches, scouts, etc and I can use it how I want. Don't limit my coaches when I have 500k in unused salary space.
     
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  49. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    I tested this out recently. Unused player salaries does effect how much you can offer a staff member in negotiations. I went into a negotiation with my slider committed entirely to transfer budget. I saw a 50% increase in salary once I fully committed the slider to salaries. This is on FM14 so I dont know if it still works that way on the latest versions.
     
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  50. Lemmy Caution

    Lemmy Caution Lurking since Alice's mugshot
    Donor

    I finished 2nd place in League One earning an auto-promotion to the Championship in just my 7th season. To recap my seasons:

    Season, League, place
    1, Vanarama South, 9th
    2, Vanarama South, 1st
    3, National League, 3rd (loss in playoff)
    4, National League, 4th (loss in playoff)
    5, National League, 1st
    6, League 2, 1st
    7, League 1, 2nd (automatic promotion)

    I was hanging around 9th-12th in the first half of the season and then found 3 Championship level free transfers along with a delayed transfer going through. I pulled the trigger on them after I found myself 10 points off first place on New Years Day. I threw all the new signings into the first team in the hopes of making a playoff run and setting myself up for a winner in the following season. Boreham Wood took some lumps early on with the new signings but holy shit did we go on a phenomenal run. Finished the year with 99 goals scored and ~65 allowed, 1 point off from 1st place. Danny Whitehead continues to shine in my system and is now worth over 2 million Euros. He's only 26 years old and each season is better than his last.

    I haven't gotten my new transfer budget yet and I'm wary of rubberbanding. I have my whole team returning and most of them are rated at least "good signing" at the Championship level. First priority is finding a replacement Right Defender. My current guy is young with some good potential but he's not progressing as quickly as the rest of the team. I anticipate getting hammered if I don't make a solid signing there. Next priority is finding an established AMR. Winger or Inside forward will be determined by the Full Back signing. The guy I have there is a real good player with a ton of potential but he's still a bit young and I wasn't anticipating a promotion this season.

    The rest of my team is set up real well with an established starter (good/leading Current Ability in Championship with good Potential Ability in Premiership) and a high potential backup (decent/good CA, high/leading PA in Premiership). I installed this Sith style system between seasons 4 and 5 and it has served me incredibly well. I've been signing high potential players, whenever available, for 30k-50k Euros as assets and I made €7MM in sales over the last year. Only one of them was a starter on my squad but he was an easy sell as an injury prone player at €2MM. The remaining 5 million in sales came from nine or ten other guys that weren't cracking my match day squad.

    These profits haven't loosened the Board's purse strings as my youth facilities and training facilities have never been upgraded. This offseason will be the third in a row with major stadium upgrades. This past season saw my first sold out match in my 5000 seater. Season 1 had ~100 fans in attendance per match with 20 season ticket holders. Season 7 averaged ~2400 fans with 500 or so season tickets sold. I like to think there is some crazy asshole that's been following my squad since day one. In my mind, he's the guy from Fake Taxi and I honor him every year at Fan Day.
     
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