Football Manager 2014

[itszamora]

I'm having an incredible season in my career save on FM12, where I'm currently with Bayer Leverkusen. Won the German title last season (2015-16), and this year, having wrapped up the title again with 3 games to go, I've just played the semi of the Champions League against AC Milan, having beaten Bayern 5-0 on aggregate in the quarters.

The first leg at the San Siro didn't exactly start well, and we were 2-0 down at half-time. Despite giving the players a considerable bollocking, this quickly became 4-0 and the dream looked to be over. But we pulled one back from a corner, and then another, my Mexican regen striker seizing on a mistake, running half the length of the pitch and finishing well.

Shortly after, it was 4-3, and then, incredibly, from another corner, 4-4. We even had a chance to win it, but it ended 4-4 with us having the advantage on away goals.

Fast forward to the second leg, and we go behind early on, but equalise quickly to regain the advantage on away goals. As Milan push forward, we score three more to take a 4-1 win on the night and 8-5 overall. Not bad from 4-0 down after 55 minutes!

I'm also in the final of the German cup, so this could be a spectacular season. The treble is very much on with Hertha Berlin the opposition in the domestic cup and Marseille in Europe. If we win the Champions League, I'll probably stay for at least another season to bring some more youngsters through and have a go at the World Club Cup. If we don't, it might be time to move on - despite our impressive results, I think another European run like this is unlikely as the draw really opened up for us and that game and comeback at the San Siro was ridiculous. So we'll see...

 

[chez]

Out of curiousity, has anyone broken FFP rules in the game yet?

I enjoy the challenge of trying to succeed within the wage budget so I've not come across it yet...

Also, third in L2 with Exeter at the start of Jan '18 in my game with none other than George Barker as my top scorer.

I haven't personally broke it but I have seen the effects of other teams breaking it. Forest broke it last season on my game and Brighton (and the other clubs presumably) got a decent wedge of cash.

 

[fruitnveg]

An update, of sorts. I'll post some screencaps later when I get home (or more likely when I remember to do it).

I finished my first season, winning the league with ease (8 games to spare if I recall correctly). I did suffer the inevitable dip in form which started the very next game after my previous post (huge disappointment), Middlesbrough. We won the match but played awfully. Huddersfield was very similar and we suffered our first defeat against Charlton after that. Things continued in a very patchy vein until the end of the seaon when I realised my mistake (minus points for it taking so long) which I promptly fixed and allowed us to smash the last two matches of the season.

Promoted with us were Forest in 2nd and Derby through the playoffs. I had a fairly successful transfer window, though I did make a massive mistake when I signed two young right backs (Sam Byram from relegated Leeds and Elliott Hewitt from Ispwich); I had thought Hewitt a left back for some reason despite the game not saying it anywhere.

First match was against Spurs, I forget the destination; We won a fantastic 1-0. The second match, Gus Poyet's Sunderland was a 2-1 defeat. We played very well but could not score to match our play. Next, the League cup against MK dons. I played a largely second string team which should have won comfortably. I was embarassed in a 1-0 defeat on home ground. Next up, Man U.

 

[shaolinpunk]

I not played it for a week or so but I'm currently in the fourth or fifth season and trying to finish top four for the second year running.

I've got a bit of a tactical headache though in that I spent £11m on Alexander Mitrovic with the plan being he would be the 1 in my 4-5-1 but then right at the end of the window I stumbled across a 27yo regen in Brazil who was every bit as good as Mitrovic and snapped him up for £1m.

I want to play both as both are leading prem strikers, but to do that I need to drop one of my three quality centre midfielders, and only two wingers in my squad are good at playing in midfield rather than attacking midfield.

A good headache to have, but a headache nevertheless

 

[WhingForPresident]

Anyone ever encountered this?! First Champions League group stage game randomly rescheduled during an international break when all my players are on international duty, had to field my Under-18's

View attachment 50421

Still won 3-1 though as they had to play their youngsters as well!

 

[Mowgli37]

Currently in December 2020 on FM12 (still at West Brom since the start!) and Bridcutt has complained of a lack of first team football at Sunderland

 

[tomfitz12]

always enjoy it how in real life we are all begging to play 2 up front, then when a game comes and we can; no one decides to

 

[shaolinpunk]

2017/18 season: I won the prem and the league cup, and that was despite a couple of players getting the hump about rejecting bids for them in the January window (resulting in me selling two players for a total of £65m).

Sure enough, the moment the transfer window opened after the season the big clubs have started circling again. Leverkusen keep bidding for one my midfielders, a 22-yr-old Frenchman, and I keep telling them where to shove it.

My crazy good Brazilian striker decided the grass was greener elsewhere so I sold him to Valencia and used half the money to sign a 23-year-old Italian from Milan who is not far off being the same standard anyway.

I lost in the FA Cup final to Tottenham... and the following day they sacked Villas-Boas for finishing 7th in the league. Seemed a bit harsh to time it like that.

 

[WhingForPresident]

2017/18 season: I won the prem and the league cup, and that was despite a couple of players getting the hump about rejecting bids for them in the January window (resulting in me selling two players for a total of £65m).

Sure enough, the moment the transfer window opened after the season the big clubs have started circling again. Leverkusen keep bidding for one my midfielders, a 22-yr-old Frenchman, and I keep telling them where to shove it.

My crazy good Brazilian striker decided the grass was greener elsewhere so I sold him to Valencia and used half the money to sign a 23-year-old Italian from Milan who is not far off being the same standard anyway.

I lost in the FA Cup final to Tottenham... and the following day they sacked Villas-Boas for finishing 7th in the league. Seemed a bit harsh to time it like that.

I was top of the league by two points, had already won the Capital One Cup and in the FA Cup and Champions League final with one league game to go in 2019. Lost to City whilst United won in their match to lose us the title in the last league game, then proceeded to lose the FA Cup final to United and then the Champions League final to Chelsea I hate this game.

2020 now and only three second place finishes, one COC, one Europa League and one Super Cup in the bag

 

[albion534]

Came second in Championship with Brighton, ended 16th, won 3 out of my last 6 games drawing 2, to complete a great escape by 2 points, signed Macheada on a free after loaning him from Jan....massive hit, scored 14 goals in Prem

Espinosa from barca is a quality player, and rather cheap, tore the championship apart

Just signed Flanagan from Liverpool on a free for my second season in Prem

Oviedo is quality at LB

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Whitehawk won L2 with a 18 point cushion. 4 Seasons have gone as I didn't promote 1st year of L2 so probably why this one was so easy. My keeper wanted out (Lithuania's starter) but I promised him promotion and thankfully he's re-signed. Some immense Northern Irish, Welsh and Irish regens. One Scots regen CB too.

Made southern final of Johnson's but lost both legs to a crappy L2 team having beaten loads of good L1 sides.

Confident of L1 but Champ will be tough if we still play to 1k in a 4/5k building when L2 clubs seem to get 9k fans regularly, easy enough. I got the board to upgrade youth or training facilities a few times only to always get it cancelled every single occasion and them do something very helpfull like change 500 seats to standing then the next year 1500 standing to seats with the money instead :/ Why when we 1/4 fill our ground in a higher league! Not had a single decent youth come through for first game ever but guess goes with the territory.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Really enjoying my current save, currently 5 seasons in.

Promoted in the first season in 2nd, signed a lot of decent youngsters in close season (Bryam from Leeds, Cresswell from Ipswich, McCabe from Sheffield Wednesday, Frimpong from Arsenal amongst others). A decent crop of home grown youngsters and finished fairly comfortably.

In the second season bought a few more home grown youngsters and had another fairly settled season including winning the league cup. In the third season bought a whole shed load of Argentinian and French youngsters who were all rated to be star players. The goalkeeper and striker in particular are now two of the best players in the world, qualified for the Europa with their help. In the fourth season got knocked out of the Europa in the first knock out round finished 7th (the youngsters hadn't developed yet) but qualified again by winning the League Cup for a second time.

In the fifth Season won the Europa and qualified for the Champions League, the striker (regen), goalkeeper (regen) and two wingers (Depay a Holland International from PSV is amazing and can be bought for 10m) and now having reached most of their potential. Unforuntately the centre back (regen), midfielder and striker all had their heads turned in the Summer by Real Madrid, Manchester United and Bayern Munich respectively but they were sold for massive profit and my overall strength in depth has gone through the roof at the start of the sixth season (as well as bank balance). Signed Gabriel Barbosa for 40m whose now 21 and will progress to be one of the if not the best striker in the world.

No where near the level of PSG, Man City, Chelsea etc etc in terms of players and the increase in wage budget is going to start making indents to the bank balance which I want to try and avoid. The main frustration is trying to sign young English players or developing them in the youth team. All the youth candidates each year are 1 star rated which against my semi star laden squad is fair enough but it would be nice to have one player come through. Buying English players is stupid expensive, there are a few potentially leading/star players in the Championship but the teams want 50+m to sell. Mimics real life!

I've still got Bridcutt, Forster Caskey, Asmundsson, Bryam, Cresswell, McCabe etc etc kicking around the team to fulfill the HG quota, going to try and buy Luke Shaw next transfer window.

 

[shaolinpunk]

The main frustration is trying to sign young English players or developing them in the youth team. All the youth candidates each year are 1 star rated which against my semi star laden squad is fair enough but it would be nice to have one player come through.

I've been frustrated by this. Not one single youth player has come through in my career that could be good enough for the prem. I've bought a load of foreign youngsters into the U21s that are spending most of their time on loan but that's it.

I want to promote from within but instead I'm buying star youngsters from abroad then, if they leave, making a big profit

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

I've been frustrated by this. Not one single youth player has come through in my career that could be good enough for the prem. I've bought a load of foreign youngsters into the U21s that are spending most of their time on loan but that's it.

I want to promote from within but instead I'm buying star youngsters from abroad then, if they leave, making a big profit

I guess it mimic real life!

From what I understand the level of youngsters coming through is based on many things- your clubs reputation, your youth recruitment level, your category rating and your youth training facilities rating. These are still fairly average for me (only Cat 2 and a basic youth recruitment network) so really I can't complain but when I've boosted these to maximum in previous versions its still difficult.

If you haven't try asking the board to up and spend more money on these- they do cost a lot of money though.

 

[shaolinpunk]

I guess it mimic real life!

From what I understand the level of youngsters coming through is based on many things- your clubs reputation, your youth recruitment level, your category rating and your youth training facilities rating. These are still fairly average for me (only Cat 2 and a basic youth recruitment network) so really I can't complain but when I've boosted these to maximum in previous versions its still difficult.

If you haven't try asking the board to up and spend more money on these- they do cost a lot of money though.

My finances are really strong (relatively low wages and transfer fees vs success on the pitch and a slowly growing worldwide presence) so I keep convincing the board to upgrade the youth and training facilities. The success of this policy has been that in my latest batch of youth players there is one with a three star potential.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

My finances are really strong (relatively low wages and transfer fees vs success on the pitch and a slowly growing worldwide presence) so I keep convincing the board to upgrade the youth and training facilities. The success of this policy has been that in my latest batch of youth players there is one with a three star potential.

Ha. Well it's important not to get too attached to the star ratings, 3 star potential depending on the rest of your quad and how good they are might mean he's going to be a pretty good player. Remember the star ratings is calculated against the relative quality of the other players at your club overall (ie. if you sold all your star players a 3 star rater player would suddenly jump to 5 star) and the relative status of your club in world football, so if its in the top10 even a good premier league player is going to be defined as 'average' for you.

 

[albion534]

in my first season in prem i had a 3 rated 17 yr old centre back who i threw in for a couple of prem games, sent him on loan to Rochdale....bless him, and now at the start of the 2nd season in prem he's now 4 star rated....

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

I've literally only started the game in the last two days so very early on. Played 14 games. Won 11 - Lost 2 - Drawn 1.

I did have a 10 game winning streak but suddenly lost 2 on the bounce. I have no idea if I'm doing it right but I'm sure I'll find out.

I re-signed Vicente and got in Matt Derbyshire on loan and Vicenzo Iaquinta on a free. Also signed Paul Robinson for £20k as cover for Ward. Had offers for Barnes but want to keep him unless Celtic pay fees up front and not over a long period.

Signed Glen Loovens and Fitz Hall but neiher can dislodge Upson And GG. El Abd is furious and wants to leave. Signed a bloke who can play all down the right side on loan from Orient and he has been a success.

Playing a fluid 4-2-3-1 with mostly KLL, David and Buckley supporting Leo.

Kemy also wants to leave. Will need to let 3 or 4 go in Jan as I have literally no budget left and I really need to offer some new contracts or my squad will be torn to bits.

Tried to sign Matt Tootle from Crewe and Joe Newell from Posh but didnt have the funds to complete them.

 

[shaolinpunk]

I just want that one 16 year old who already has pace, finishing, first touch and composure of 15+ that I can nurture into a world class talent as a pet project

 

[albion534]

I just want that one 16 year old who already has pace, finishing, first touch and composure of 15+ that I can nurture into a world class talent as a pet project

isnt that a quote from Jimmy Saville's Bio?