Football Manager

I never got into FM or CM. I used to play LMA Manager which I loved but they stopped the series in 2007. Nowadays I just use Career Mode in FIFA.

Love it, play it most of the time. I've even lost a relationship in part because of Football Manager lol. On an epic career game at the moment. When I load it back up in a bit I'll let you know how great it's going - building my way up from the very bottom, it's the only way to do it.

On FM10 I had a great game going where I started off as Plymouth (my usual starting club on the series) where the aim is always to get them to the Premiership and stabilise them there. Then I left to join Den Haag where I stayed for over 20 seasons until FM11 came out. I won the league 17 times - first season was saving them from relegation, second season Europa League and then I hit greatness. I won the Champions League 7 times with them as well (maybe more), was the best save I've ever done. The formation I had was a 4-4-2 but with advanced wingers where they joined in as extra strikers when attacking. I basically outscored every team I played against and it worked perfectly. Welbeck was my leading goalscorer for ages, picked him up on a free when he was 27 or something, had him in my first team until he was 33 and he was hitting 30+ goals a season. His last season was when he was 34 and he was more of a back up, but still managed to hit 17 goals in 22 appearances. I also had the best regen that I've ever had as well, a nice striker who at 16 walked into the team from my youth team - by 22 he had almost all 20's for stats. Never seen or had a player like him before or since.

On FM12 I had a great save where I was with East Fife in Scotland for over 20 seasons and turned them into world beaters - this was a real challenge and took bloody ages as I was having to constantly rebuild the squad as players where being picked off by bigger clubs all the time and I couldn't compete on wages. Was a great game though, felt kinda sad when FM13 came out as I knew I'd have to get it and give up this save.

On FM13 though, I started from the very bottom. Unemployed and took the first job that came available, which happened to be Havant & Waterlooville. Finished the season as FA Trophy winners and the Blue Square South Champions. I almost quit the game at the end of the season, as I waited until 2 weeks left of my contract to sign a new one, and then they sacked me for not signing a new contract even though I did. I was furious. Then Morecambe offered me a job as they've just been relegated from League 2. So I got them promoted straight away as they had the best squad in the league, despite having a small squad. In my second season with Morecambe I struggled at first but had a storming second half of the season when got me into the play offs which I then won by luck more than anything.

I then jumped ship to MK Dons who'd just been relegated from League 1, but i couldn't get them straight back to League 1 finishing a disappointing 6th. Second season though I got promoted to League 1 via the play offs and had a season there. Second season in League 1 and I got promoted after signing a great striker who was 33 and coming to the end of his career. Finished 9th in my first attempt at the Championship.

Then the big one came along. Newcastle got relegated and sacked their manager so I applied for it on the off chance. Got it and dominated the Championship. Stayed with them for 4 more seasons in the Premiership before leaving as I couldn't do any better than 4th (which I got on the last day of the season in my last season) and I get angry when I lose with Newcastle, so I tend not to manage them much on this game. With Newcastle though I won the Capital One Cup, The Europa League twice and the Super Cup. But as I couldn't stand losing I resigned and took the England job (mistake, but I'll get to that).

5 months into that I got bored and took the Celtic job - I wanted some trophies in my cabinet and though that this would be an easy way to feel good about the game again after resigning from Newcastle. And it was just as easy as I thought. Scottish League Cup 3 times, Prem 3 times and the Scottish Cup twice. Couldn't do anything in Europe though.

Anyways, my mistake was the England job. Turns out that they go to shit. No good keepers, no good right backs, no right wingers at all unless I want to look at Championship level (and they can hardly get games there!), the best I had was Oxlain-Chamberlain who was in his 30s. Just before he retired though I did somehow manage to win the European Championships, despite being thrashed by Switzerland 4-0 in the group stages where they raped me down my right side (seriously, you'd never think that England's left side of the pitch would be 200 times better than the right - I had 2 quality left backs and about 5 quality left wingers!). After winning the Championship though I resigned as it was pissing me off how poor the players were. If I didn't have 5 world class strikers in the England team I don't think I'd have gotten out of the group stage.

And now I'm at Wolfsburg. Saved them from relegation in my first season and just started my second with them after getting rid of a load of players on high wages and rebuilding. Might have been too much too soon though, but we'll see.

Benji, you're far worse than me...

I'm always Spurs.  Had a few games when I wasn't (usually AFC Wimbledon or Crystal Palace) but I would get the hump with Spurs selling players I liked (2010-12 they always sold King Ledley and I couldn't let that happen...).  So yea, always Spurs.

I get bored easily as well, so 4 seasons is usually the limit of my game.  Hate winning stuff as well.  I don't think I've ever played a season after winning the league. 

Currently on my 4th season and just took the title with Tottenham.  Made some additions to the side (Phil Jones, Papadopalous, Luke Shaw, Raheem Sterling, Wilshere, Destro up front) and lost one game all season.  Won the CAP cup, in the FA cup final (won it twice in the first two seasons).  Had to play my reserves so I didnt win the European cup as well.  This is when I dislike the game, winning is too easy and other teams are horrible at building sides.  Man Utd bought Walcott and have played him 3 times in 2 seasons (probably about right, tbh...)

If the long term games were realistic I'd play for longer, but I know I could take AFC Wimbledon and make them the biggest club on the planet, which is totally unrealistic.

Still can't put the game down tho, and am looking forward to the new season already...

Hilds

Last edited by Mr Hilds (Sat-1-Jun-2013 09:01:23)

So, 2014 has been out for a week.  Any stories thus far?

I've just hit January with Spurs.  Sitting 5th, but have been 2nd all season (United top) and if I win my 2 games in hand I go top.

Finding the finance side much better, and I'm not able to just spend money so trying to save and buy wisely.

Signed Will Hughes and loaned him back to Derby where he's the best player in the Championship.  Signed Bennett from Derby as well, and bringing him thru my under 21s. Brought in Leandro Damiao for £7m and he's hit 13 goals in all comps in 18 games (7 league). 

Soldado started slowly (hence buying Damiao) but exploded in November and December and grabbed 10 goals in 9 games (hoping that happens in real life...).

Some really good players at Spurs.  Lamela looks really good, Paulinho is class.

Clean sheets are really hard to get, and goals were a problem to start with (might have been my tactics).

Spurs NEED a left back...

About to restart with a long term game this evening as this game was my "getting to know you" session.

Any other stories thus far...?

In my third season as East Fife. Two successive promotions and now in the Scottish Premiership.

Annoyingly, despite 5 players leaving, I have a lower wage budget now that I did in the Scottish Championship where I was expected to finish mid table at most. So I can't sign anyone and my squad is 19 players big for my first season in the top flight.

It's going to be a long season...

In my third season as East Fife. Two successive promotions and now in the Scottish Premiership.

Annoyingly, despite 5 players leaving, I have a lower wage budget now that I did in the Scottish Championship where I was expected to finish mid table at most. So I can't sign anyone and my squad is 19 players big for my first season in the top flight.

It's going to be a long season...

U finding it realistic or too easy?

My biggest gripe with fm is i have to throw games to stop spurs winning the title in the first season. From your promotions it sounds like its still too easy...

Yeah I've found it's been relatively easy. Not so much now I'm in the top flight with the smallest squad ever and no money (I'm actually over my wage bill and most of my players are on £500 or less. Only player I'm paying more than that for is Gary Caldwell who is o £1.2k a week - signed him on a free when in the Championship, he wanted to come home so I snapped him up quickly being a Scot international with tons of experience. He helped greatly in getting to where I am both league wise and financially.

Doesn't help that the Scottish rules are that every stadium in the top flight must be 20,000 so I've had to spend £6m that I don't have to upgrade my stadium, so I'm sharing a ground with another team for the season whilst paying off a loan that I can barely afford. Fun times!

Recently, I've been playing a lot of Football Manager. I'm about 6 seasons in with FM13, and still in my first in FM14. Needless to say, I've had mixed results.

Since FM14 is the relevant one, I'll talk about that. I've started with Swansea, made myself unsackable just so I can concentrate on Swansea without worrying if I get into a bad patch (because I got sacked in FM13 if I went through a 5-game bad run of results, which is just ridiculous).

I'm still getting used to everything involved in the game, I don't watch a lot of matches simply because it just takes too long... my computer slows the game down quite a bit.

Anyways, with the Swans, I'm definitely struggling... I have a really decent team (the Swans squad now plus a couple extras like Diakite.) I find transfers are never a straight forward affair, but definitely a little easier than FM13. I'm hoping to improve on my results as I get used to the game... which is why I made myself unsackable so even if I do get sacked I can claw my way back up to the Premier League, which is sometimes more fun than actually being there.

One thing I do love about FM is just the stats... there's so many, I can't think of a stat I can't check. I'm a sucker for stats, there's something really rewarding about checking the history after a 10-year career, but maybe that's just me.

I also love the realistic approach of the game, seeing old players go into management etc..

so overall I'd say the game is great, I'm just not very good at it.

Love the stats!

I enjoy building my back room team and then bringing thru young players. On 2013 I played to my 4th season (which is on one my longest gamed) and had a squad size of 15 players over 21 and the rest all under 21. Only non english were Bale and Lloris, and I had 11 players in the England squad (should have been 15 imo...)

Spent a week playing the first 4 months of fm 2014 as I was searching for the best british staff i could find.

Picked up terry mcdermott as my ass man, and always get phil cannon in as my head of youth.

Anyone found any good staff? (Im happy to post the 4+ stars I've found if anyone is interested.

4 seasons is the most you've done? On FM11 I finished it in my 39th, in FM12 I finished in my 24th and in FM13I finished in my 20th. With how  I'm going in this one I reckon I'll get over 20 unless I start again with the January transfer updates which I didn't in 2013.

Do u watch the games, or just have the results? I always watch the games (not the full 90, but the one before it) so a match takes about 30 mins to play out. So playing this way i usually get to my 2nd or 3rd season before starting again, or moving onto a different game.

I like seeing the patterns in play and trying to affect it. Been tempted to play a few matches as the fully 90 minutes, but havent yet.

Playing 20 seasons sounds boggling to me... i start losing interest when my regens start taking the place of players i like. On 2013 i would start to lose interest when the players i like irl would get past 28 (28 is my selling age generally).

30 minute matches? Are you crazy? I love football manager games, but I do not have the patience to sit through that! The games I do watch, I have highlights only, where it shows me the goals and close chances but skips the rest... and other times, I just go for the instant result.

You are dedicated Hilds, I'll give you that.

I put it on advanced highlights and have the speed 3 quarters of the way up for highlights and all the way for when there's no highlights. The highlights have to be higher than the default to seem more realistic to me, play is far too slow otherwise.

I guess I don't do too much looking into things. I don't care what other teams are going, I leave training and friendlies to my Assistant.

I'm pretty much the same as benjawi... except like I said, some matches I do go for the Instant Result just because my computer isn't the fastest and sometimes when it's being particularly laggy it can take a good 10-15 minutes to get through some quick highlights.

I do all my training. I leave friendlies to my ass man tho. I think i go into detail and set up my iwn stuff because i run a team irl. I get enjoyment from seeing the corner i spent time setting up in training come to fruition on the pitch. Also love seeing my players change the way they play due to what I've told them. Dont get that by skipping games.

But everyone plays their own way. I know people that set everything up then 'go on holiday' for 4 seasons and come back to enjoy the regens that have been created. No one plays it wrong, and thats the beauty of the game. There is no set way to win, and no one is better than anyone else.

I banned myself from FM years ago!  It was getting it the way of my regular life...

I banned myself from FM years ago!  It was getting it the way of my regular life...

Yea, when i was with my ex i used to play it when she was round all the time. It probably contributed to the fact she is my ex... so with my current girlie i keep it turned off when she is round. She is more important to me than fm, but only just... 😉

I'm playing an FM13 save as Newport County, with the target of bringing them up to the Premier League.

And I just lost agonisingly in extra time of the Playoff Final of the Blue Square Bet Premier against Alfreton.

Never mind, time to rebuild for next season!

It got so bad for at one point that i was bringing my laptop into lectures and playing FM the entire time!  If my sister & her hubby came over for dinner, i'd be playing FM and chatting to them at the same time.  Glad i've cut it out now...

Love FM - been playing years. Despite supporting Chels, I don't choose them often.

Last year, I won the Premiership, Europa League and the FA Cup with Newcastle. Then took Blackpool into the top flight and won them the FA Cup too. Ademilson was vital in both campaigns.

For the latest edition, I'm looking for a new save. Just dominated a couple seasons as Dortmund - without Lewandowski - and it's getting predictable. Bayern Munich are ten points behind me in the league! Any ideas?

Playing 20 seasons sounds boggling to me... i start losing interest when my regens start taking the place of players i like. On 2013 i would start to lose interest when the players i like irl would get past 28 (28 is my selling age generally).

Same.

Last edited by Solara (Mon-17-Feb-2014 20:40:17)

Only in Football Manager.

Also, Bournemouth got promoted into the Premier League in the 2015/16 season on my save. How they did it I don't know, because the squad is terrible.

Last edited by rhys (Fri-4-Jul-2014 17:23:47)

I'm in 2028 and just won the Champions League with East Fife 😄

Was tough and proper fluke as well. Got through the group stages alright, but won 3 of my knockout games on penalties, including the final. Scored against Real in the first minute and they equalised just before half time. I then spent the second half and all of extra time defending for my life. Luckily I have penalty takers that have never missed and I had them all on the pitch come the final whistle to win the game.

I'm in 2028 and just won the Champions League with East Fife 😄

Was tough and proper fluke as well. Got through the group stages alright, but won 3 of my knockout games on penalties, including the final. Scored against Real in the first minute and they equalised just before half time. I then spent the second half and all of extra time defending for my life. Luckily I have penalty takers that have never missed and I had them all on the pitch come the final whistle to win the game.

This makes me go off the game. I'm in 2017 and have just won the title with spurs, but it feels unrealistic,  so I'll prob start again. If it is t realistic, then what's the point.  East Fife will never win the Scottish premier, never mind the champions league.

And rhys, I see nothing unrealistic about that scoreline. I can see arse scoring 8 against u, and I can see u scoring 4 against them.

Swansea beating man city 8-4 would be a better example...