Football Manager 2021

Flash Gordon said:
I'm on the brink of binning off my game!!

The start of my season is always the knockout rounds of European competition as the league in Sweden runs from March-December.

I reached the Champions League 1st round knockout for only the 2nd time ever and I decided to go all out.

I paid the release fee of a world class midfielder to take me to the next level - he cost £101m!! :eek: I had over £150m in the bank though and I'm regularly getting big offers for my players now so I'd never be in financial trouble. I also rejected Man Utd pursuit of my world class striker for £55m. I have a team of 3-4 bordline world class players and another 4 who are wonder kids, plus the rest who are former wonder kids in theor early 20's.

I went to Stadio Olympico in my opening game and smashed Lazio 4-1. A 2-2 draw in the second leg saw me qualify for the QF for the first time ever. I got drawn against my bogey team Spurs!

I had the home leg first and fully fit team, but I went 2-0 down in 7 minutes. They scored a 3rd on the counter late on to win easily. The second leg I attacked them but only drew 1-1 and so I'm out again! They have several world class players but its frustrating. I feel like I've hot the ceiling with this team and even keeping this team together has taken effort with several of my players being pursued and wanting moves to big European clubs.

I've lost my drive to turn it back on, not sure what the next move is.
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Keep it up mate, im enjoying reading your posts.
 


Flash Gordon said:
I'm on the brink of binning off my game!!

The start of my season is always the knockout rounds of European competition as the league in Sweden runs from March-December.

I reached the Champions League 1st round knockout for only the 2nd time ever and I decided to go all out.

I paid the release fee of a world class midfielder to take me to the next level - he cost £101m!! :eek: I had over £150m in the bank though and I'm regularly getting big offers for my players now so I'd never be in financial trouble. I also rejected Man Utd pursuit of my world class striker for £55m. I have a team of 3-4 bordline world class players and another 4 who are wonder kids, plus the rest who are former wonder kids in theor early 20's.

I went to Stadio Olympico in my opening game and smashed Lazio 4-1. A 2-2 draw in the second leg saw me qualify for the QF for the first time ever. I got drawn against my bogey team Spurs!

I had the home leg first and fully fit team, but I went 2-0 down in 7 minutes. They scored a 3rd on the counter late on to win easily. The second leg I attacked them but only drew 1-1 and so I'm out again! They have several world class players but its frustrating. I feel like I've hot the ceiling with this team and even keeping this team together has taken effort with several of my players being pursued and wanting moves to big European clubs.

I've lost my drive to turn it back on, not sure what the next move is.
Click to expand...

This is why I've stopped making saves based in Europe, if you pick an inferior European league you eventually get stuck where you're too good domestically and not good enough continentally and it's pretty much unavoidable thanks to how the game's hard coded for English teams and PSG to be minted as fuck.

I tried the MLS last year, there's just too many games in 1 season.

Thinking of doing an Australian league save, possibly Wellington as they're based in New Zealand and will get shit regens as a result, league has the DP slots from the MLS but not the fart on with salary caps etc.
 
Well the takeover went through in my Valencia save. However it wasnt the Arab fella. He put £13 mill into the club bank balance. Received about £87 mill for TV rights and being in the Champions League. No extra transfer funds or wage budget and asking for more isnt even an option in the board request screen. When he took over he also said he wanted to build a new stadium. We are already scheduled to move into a new stadium in 2025, not sure how that works but must be a bug :lol:
 
Finished 2nd in my first season with AD Sanjoanense. Was absolutely neck and neck with Beira Mar towards the end of the first stage, a point behind. 2 games left, 4-0 up at half time and drew 4-4, Beira Mar also drew. Last game won 4-0 but as Beira Mar had the point advantage their 2-0 win won group F and got them in to the promotion playoff for the Segunda League.

My 2nd place got me into the 'other playoff'. So basically the Portuguese leagues are restructuring, they are introducing the Third (Terceira) division and shunting the Campeonato down a level to Division 4. The new division is made up of all the teams promoted from my level through the playoffs and relegations from the Segunda.

Its all quite convoluted, but long and short I have been promoted but remain at the same level in the pyramid :lol:
Urgh, drew first game of new season 0-0 and my squad is awful. Gone professional and am overspending on wages by £500 (Wage budget of £3,700p/w).

My goalkeeper wanted an £800 p/w contract so had to be released, could only get an 18 Yr old on loan to replace him. My two best players on loan last season aren't being allowed to return by their clubs either.

Couple this with my chairman denying me to study for my National A License in case I use them as a stepping stone and a 24 team Div 3 (46 games man 😭) I'm starting to worry!
 
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Venkman said:
Finished 2nd in my first season with AD Sanjoanense. Was absolutely neck and neck with Beira Mar towards the end of the first stage, a point behind. 2 games left, 4-0 up at half time and drew 4-4, Beira Mar also drew. Last game won 4-0 but as Beira Mar had the point advantage their 2-0 win won group F and got them in to the promotion playoff for the Segunda League.

My 2nd place got me into the 'other playoff'. So basically the Portuguese leagues are restructuring, they are introducing the Third (Terceira) division and shunting the Campeonato down a level to Division 4. The new division is made up of all the teams promoted from my level through the playoffs and relegations from the Segunda.

Its all quite convoluted, but long and short I have been promoted but remain at the same level in the pyramid :lol:
Urgh, drew first game of new season 0-0 and my squad is awful. Gone professional and am overspending on wages by £500 (Wage budget of £3,700p/w).

My goalkeeper wanted an £800 p/w contract so had to be released, could only get an 18 Yr old on loan to replace him. My two best players on loan last season aren't being allowed to return by their clubs either.

Couple this with my chairman denying me to study for my National A License in case I use them as a stepping stone and a 24 team Div 3 (46 games man 😭) I'm starting to worry!
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Does the Portuguese league restructure in year 2? Can you play in what becomes the 4th tier?
 
Flash Gordon said:
Does the Portuguese league restructure in year 2? Can you play in what becomes the 4th tier?
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Yes.

What begins as the 3rd division becomes the 4th second season (it's also a nice short first season, 28 games).

So basically, because I didn't top the group initially. I went in to a promotion playoff which was actually just a 'win this so you aren't involuntarily relegated' playoff.

Beira Mar didn't win their promotion playoff group, but all teams involved that weren't in the 2 promoted to the Segunda also go up to the third division.

Not sure I'm explaining it brilliantly..

The Campeonato is split into groups, those who finish 1st go to a promotion playoff for the Segunda. Whoever doesn't go up then go into the newly formed 3rd division.

All teams that finish top 6 in the initial groups then go into a playoff to play to join the 3rd division. 2 teams relegated from Segunda and 22 'promoted' from the Campeonato to form the new league.
 
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I've decided that I'm going to go one more season full intensity with Hammarby to try and make a Champions League run. This was partly encouraged because Spurs (the team that knocked me out in the QF this season) went on to win the competition, so maybe I'm closer than I think.

I'm making some strides in bringing the Swedish league up the rankings too. It's currently considered the 8th best league in Europe behind the big 5, Portugal and Holland (who have always been 6 and 7). Passing big money leagues like Turkey and Russia is a big achievement. The result is that the European places in Sweden are improving - When I first started this save, Sweden had 1 Champions League qualifier who started in the Preliminary rounds and 2 Europa League teams in the qualifiers. We now have 6 European places!! 2 of them are in the Europa Conference League (the new third competition), 1 goes automatically into the Group Stage of the Europa League and amazingly 3 Swedish teams will compete in the Champions League, 2 of which will go straight into the group stages. Hopefully, the extra cash flowing around the league will increase the quality.

As for Hammarby, you can see the current ranking in the coefficients below. Not bad to be better than Real Madrid over the last 5 years.

Logon or register to see this image


After this next push to win the Champions League, I'm not sure what I'll do. Part of me is considering, scaling back, selling all the stars for huge money and trying to win the league with home grown or home developed players. Bur first I will be looking at formations that will get the best out of my £100m star player who is below:

https://ibb.co/JrLSqrd
 
Flash Gordon said:
I've decided that I'm going to go one more season full intensity with Hammarby to try and make a Champions League run. This was partly encouraged because Spurs (the team that knocked me out in the QF this season) went on to win the competition, so maybe I'm closer than I think.

I'm making some strides in bringing the Swedish league up the rankings too. It's currently considered the 8th best league in Europe behind the big 5, Portugal and Holland (who have always been 6 and 7). Passing big money leagues like Turkey and Russia is a big achievement. The result is that the European places in Sweden are improving - When I first started this save, Sweden had 1 Champions League qualifier who started in the Preliminary rounds and 2 Europa League teams in the qualifiers. We now have 6 European places!! 2 of them are in the Europa Conference League (the new third competition), 1 goes automatically into the Group Stage of the Europa League and amazingly 3 Swedish teams will compete in the Champions League, 2 of which will go straight into the group stages. Hopefully, the extra cash flowing around the league will increase the quality.

As for Hammarby, you can see the current ranking in the coefficients below. Not bad to be better than Real Madrid over the last 5 years.

Logon or register to see this image


After this next push to win the Champions League, I'm not sure what I'll do. Part of me is considering, scaling back, selling all the stars for huge money and trying to win the league with home grown or home developed players. Bur first I will be looking at formations that will get the best out of my £100m star player who is below:

https://ibb.co/JrLSqrd
Click to expand...

That regen is incredible. I enjoy using a Mezzala in wingerless systems. Can get a pretty healthy goal return.

These saves are the absolute joy of FM for me. I lose interest too quickly with SAFC for some reason.

Mind, fair play to you for sticking at it for so long. I'd have had itchy feet and left by now. You had many big job offers?
 
Venkman said:
That regen is incredible. I enjoy using a Mezzala in wingerless systems. Can get a pretty healthy goal return.

These saves are the absolute joy of FM for me. I lose interest too quickly with SAFC for some reason.

Mind, fair play to you for sticking at it for so long. I'd have had itchy feet and left by now. You had many big job offers?
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I'm the same, can never do an SAFC game (or and English game at all for that matter). I think I'm attached to certain players or don't like the ratings of others. I might change that next year with KLD throwing the money in though!

This is the longest save I've done in years to be honest. I did an 8 season AZ one a couple of years ago and left when I got itchy feet and the save turned to shit so I'm reluctant to do it again unless there's a challenge I really want.

I've not had as many job offers as I deserve to be honest :lol: I've turned down interviews from Dortmund, Napoli, Roma, Lyon, Sevilla, Newcastle :eek:, Leicester and West Ham or Crystal Palace off the top of my head, but the really elite clubs don't seem to come for me. I've never applied or interviewed for any other job mind.

There's not many teams I'm interested in on this save if I move from Hammarby. I'm curious about a few years with a Tycoon owned club, but I've only noticed 2 on my save. Southampton are one, but they still can't break the top 6 of the Prem. Celta Vigo are the other and since being taken over 6 years ago, they've been relegated and promoted twice. They're a yo-yo club who spent £100m in the Spanish second tier!
 
Flash Gordon said:
I'm the same, can never do an SAFC game (or and English game at all for that matter). I think I'm attached to certain players or don't like the ratings of others. I might change that next year with KLD throwing the money in though!

This is the longest save I've done in years to be honest. I did an 8 season AZ one a couple of years ago and left when I got itchy feet and the save turned to shit so I'm reluctant to do it again unless there's a challenge I really want.

I've not had as many job offers as I deserve to be honest :lol: I've turned down interviews from Dortmund, Napoli, Roma, Lyon, Sevilla, Newcastle :eek:, Leicester and West Ham or Crystal Palace off the top of my head, but the really elite clubs don't seem to come for me. I've never applied or interviewed for any other job mind.

There's not many teams I'm interested in on this save if I move from Hammarby. I'm curious about a few years with a Tycoon owned club, but I've only noticed 2 on my save. Southampton are one, but they still can't break the top 6 of the Prem. Celta Vigo are the other and since being taken over 6 years ago, they've been relegated and promoted twice. They're a yo-yo club who spent £100m in the Spanish second tier!
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I do like an English LLM save mind. Lose interest once I hit the Prem though.

I often find the foreign saves a little bit of a struggle initially, as you don't know the players etc. Once I'm into it and build my own squad I love it. Like you, I never seem to get many really decent job offers. Never get linked to jobs of any sort, even after winning the Serbian and French league I wasn't in the running for a single job. Dont know whether that was down to not being at the clubs for long.

Wanted to get AD Sanjoanense up to the top flight (they have great youth facilities, one of the reasons I went there) but the President has seriously pissed me off denying me the chance to get my badges. Reckon if I quit I wouldn't get a better club though.
 
Venkman said:
I do like an English LLM save mind. Lose interest once I hit the Prem though.

I often find the foreign saves a little bit of a struggle initially, as you don't know the players etc. Once I'm into it and build my own squad I love it. Like you, I never seem to get many really decent job offers. Never get linked to jobs of any sort, even after winning the Serbian and French league I wasn't in the running for a single job. Dont know whether that was down to not being at the clubs for long.

Wanted to get AD Sanjoanense up to the top flight (they have great youth facilities, one of the reasons I went there) but the President has seriously pissed me off denying me the chance to get my badges. Reckon if I quit I wouldn't get a better club though.
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Just as I said I don't get big job offers, Man Utd and Man City offer me interviews on the same day :lol:

Man City are a bizarre club on my save. They've only won the title once in 11 years! They won the Champions League twice and then Sheik Mansour left after scaling back funding for a couple of years. Al Mubarek led a consortium to take them over though. Their transfers are remarkable though - in 11 seasons they've spent £2.75bn (average of £250m a season) and sold £2.5bn.

I'll be turning both down though.

I love a lower league save when clubs have great facilities, but to be honest, I often grow too quickly. This Hammarby save is a good example. My facilities are state of the art and as a result, they produce players capable of being top Swedish league players. The problem is that those players are not good enough to play for me. I have 20-30 cap Swedish internationals who I give a run out in early cup fixtures or meaningless league games.
 
Flash Gordon said:
I'm the same, can never do an SAFC game (or and English game at all for that matter). I think I'm attached to certain players or don't like the ratings of others. I might change that next year with KLD throwing the money in though!

This is the longest save I've done in years to be honest. I did an 8 season AZ one a couple of years ago and left when I got itchy feet and the save turned to shit so I'm reluctant to do it again unless there's a challenge I really want.

I've not had as many job offers as I deserve to be honest :lol: I've turned down interviews from Dortmund, Napoli, Roma, Lyon, Sevilla, Newcastle :eek:, Leicester and West Ham or Crystal Palace off the top of my head, but the really elite clubs don't seem to come for me. I've never applied or interviewed for any other job mind.

There's not many teams I'm interested in on this save if I move from Hammarby. I'm curious about a few years with a Tycoon owned club, but I've only noticed 2 on my save. Southampton are one, but they still can't break the top 6 of the Prem. Celta Vigo are the other and since being taken over 6 years ago, they've been relegated and promoted twice. They're a yo-yo club who spent £100m in the Spanish second tier!
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Mate of mine who I always have a bit FM crack with got a tycoon takeover as Wigan while in league one, first time either of us has ever had one. Bloke put in nowt at all and after 5 years in the prem his wage bill is still capped at £1.6m and the biggest transfer budget he's had has been £35m. He's got £375m in the bank but the bloke wont let him spend owt :lol: . Must have been a bug.
 
Managed to win the Welsh Premier League with Newtown, it took my 20th game v TNS to beat them and it was that win that won the league. In other news Sunderland are in League 2!
 
Bit disappointed they haven't included Dreyfus in the new update - was hoping to crack on with a Sunderland save without the chancer. Debating whether to start anyway or wait for the other patch they've mentioned to capture the Chinese transfer window in 2-3 weeks time.
 
Urgh, lost interest in my Portuguese save after the hideous restructure to the new third division. 46 game season with only the top 2 to play for promotion wise, hit a bad run and fall behind and that's it. Long old slog.

Fancy a lower league European save with a nice short season, Scandinavia?
 
Does this year's edition still have the blocked crosses issue that meant if you were playing with attacking wide players every other highlight was a blocked cross then corner?
 

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