Football Manager 2015

[Baddar]

Would Grealish still qualify as home grown though?

[TCO]

Oh he most definitely does, has nothing to do with who a player plays with internationally!

Which makes the FA's insistence on the rule for the good of England extra silly. Cesc Fabregas and Tim Krul are homegrown for example while Eric Dier isn't, it's a super pointless rule!

[Liam]

Sisto is sitting in my year 1 Fulham team.

[Baddar]

Oh he most definitely does, has nothing to do with who a player plays with internationally!

Which makes the FA's insistence on the rule for the good of England extra silly. Cesc Fabregas and Tim Krul are homegrown for example while Eric Dier isn't, it's a super pointless rule!

I know nationality doesn't (Darron Gibson qualifies for example), but was wondering because he's obviously really young, so didn't know if he would have needed to train in the country for X amount of years before qualifying because of his nationality.

Andreas Pereira is 18 at the start of the game and it's his 4th season at United - how long would it take for him to be recognised as home grown? I don't entirely understand the rules!

[TCO]

Oh he most definitely does, has nothing to do with who a player plays with internationally!

Which makes the FA's insistence on the rule for the good of England extra silly. Cesc Fabregas and Tim Krul are homegrown for example while Eric Dier isn't, it's a super pointless rule!

I know nationality doesn't (Darron Gibson qualifies for example), but was wondering because he's obviously really young, so didn't know if he would have needed to train in the country for X amount of years before qualifying because of his nationality.

Andreas Pereira is 18 at the start of the game and it's his 4th season at United - how long would it take for him to be recognised as home grown? I don't entirely understand the rules!

You don't have to register U21 players but once they start a season aged 21 they will. At that point they'll have to have been trained for 3 years (not continuously) with a club in England/Wales to qualify as home grown. Assuming Grealish/Pereira spend 3 years before their 21st birthday at an English club they'll count as homegrown for the Premier League. I imagine they already qualify for this at the start of the game!

8 of your 25 will have to meet this criteria

Champions League has two different categories of homegrown then. Trained at the club and trained in the country.

Edited June 8, 2015 by TCO

[Baddar]

When they last patched the game, were the new CL seeding rules implemented for 15/16?

[Noah]

So it's the end of 2023/24, and I don't think Ronaldo has gotten the memo that he's 39 years old and really should be thinking about retiring one of these days...

Yet he's still banging them in like it's nothing...

Only 15 goals in the most recent season?

RONALDO OUT!

[Benji]

Sold a few un-needed players at end of season last night to try and make space (as well as stop them complaining about lack of game time) for newbies. My scouting network is immense so I keep buying people in for free and then selling them at huge profit if they don't work out. Jason Steele was the one I was saddest to see go as he is a great keeper, but he just couldn't match Kevin Trapp, who gave us the third best defensive record in the league, will probably just loan in a second-string goalkeeper for the season as right now there's no decent options for the amount I want to pay.

I bought in Jordan Rhodes from Blackburn for that third striker role and offloaded Guidetti to Watford for a decent sum for a player I never used, and hopefully Rhodes will work well in rotation as Podolski gets older, so my main strike force is Podolski, Di Santo and Rhodes, the former two of which scored nearly 40 goals between them last season.

Also bought in Jores Okore from the relegated Villa, which makes my back three options ridiculously good with Ryan Shawcross, Liam Moore, Jores Okore and Pablo Insua, whilst my left wing backs are Patrick van Aanholt and Jeff Schlupp (who is also in striking rotation if need be). My right wing back options are limited as Richie de Laet isn't up to the calibre of the rest of the team (but was doing a stellar job), and Liam Moore is more of a centre back than a full back, and more full back than a wing back. Still, 3rd best defense in the league just got improved - someone call the maid because I want clean sheets!

Also bought in Denis Suárez from Barca for free even though it's not really a position I needed a player for (AMC), largely because he was a steal for free and takes decent wages, and a bit of competition for playmakers never hurt anyone. Got another midfielder too but he's not as good as my scouts said he was some months ago when I signed him for free, still, nice to have the option and I can always make a profit if he doesn't work out.

Had to offload some players by paying part of their wages, but not really an issue since we're among the world's 30 richest teams thanks to my wheelings, dealings, and achievements (not once has the board injected any cash, cheap gits). Still need to off-load "sicknote" Will Keane, nobody wants the useless beanpole for the amount I want, so I might try loaning him out to at least get his wages covered.

Also improved the backroom staff by dumping a couple of coaches who had become below standard over time, as well as a couple of scouts who were on the books when no better options were around.

So really, I still need a right wing back and a second string goalie, the first of which is top priority, whilst the second isn't so much of a bother since... y'know... second string goalie.

I do have some players coming through youth, but they're mostly ranked potentially 3*, which is just enough not to get sold if they reach their potential, and they're mostly making up numbers of home grown requirements, because no matter how much I improve facilities, they don't seem to produce enough good players. When I finished last night I'd offered some trials to some decent looking youngsters with black stars above 3* to take a closer look at them and hopefully bolster the numbers a little.

As it stands in my head, my First XI and Subs for next season are:

            L. Podolski   F. Di Santo

                 A. Knockaert

            D. Drinkwater  B. Silva

P. van Aanholt                      WBR TBC

       L. Moore  R. Shawcross  P.Insua

                   K. Trapp

Subs
GK     TBC
DC     J. Okore
WBL/FW J. Schlupp
WBR    R. De Laet
MC     A. King
AMC    D. Suarez
FW     J. Rhodes

[DavidMarrio]

I used a tactic I made for my Southampton save with Gateshead and it worked to an extent in the conference but I've made a 433 for League 2 and so far I've won 5 and drew 1 in the league, beat Bolton away in the League Cup 1-0 but lost to Reading away 3-0 in the next round.

What was annoying was hardly having a budget to sign people on a free or not being able to attract players. Managed to make a decent squad though with Marlon Harewood scoring most of the time when I decide to bring him on.

Also managed to get Adam Campbell back on loan on deadline day, let's see if he can score 42 league goals again

[Arjen Robben]

So it's the end of 2023/24, and I don't think Ronaldo has gotten the memo that he's 39 years old and really should be thinking about retiring one of these days...

Yet he's still banging them in like it's nothing...

On one of my old FM15 games, when I last played it Neymar was still playing and he was like 44. It's weird, like those players who are great but get old, their stats become ridiculous cause it's like it funnels all the stats they're losing physically in to technical/mental attributes. So like. players like Rivaldo always still looked really great on FM's before he finally retired.

[Gorka]

There's nothing worse than giving a team talk of "good half, lads. Let's have more of the same" then conceding in the first minute of the second half.

[JTB]

Just reached the November 2014 international break with Gladbach and I'm really pleased with how the season has gone so far (hopefully it continues in the same berth). I have only lost once in all competitions - a 2-0 loss to Bayern at the Allianz Arena in the league - and I'm yet to drop a point in the Europa League, with the highlight being smashing PAOK 7-2 to progress to the first knockout round with two games remaining in my group, which also contains Lyon and an a team from Cyprus called Apollon L.

Branimir Hrgota is the joint top scorer in the league with 11 goals, though his form is starting to dwindle a little bit and Max Kruse is getting more game. Still hoping to sell Raffael in January to raise funds for a great young prospect up front, and it's possible Kruse could be shipped out for the same reason with Dortmund interested.

My big problem with Gladbach is that Raffael is on high wages and I want to sell him but nobody wants him, Hrgota is scoring goals but won't get any better than he is and wants a massive wage hike (from £1.7k a week to £40k a week, which isn't on) with 18 months left on his contract. Meanwhile, Kruse has been really hit and miss, scoring in the Europa League but not blowing people away in the league and is the player in my team with the highest value so could be sold for decent money. I would like to get somebody like Fierro in because he's always a quality poacher and that's generally the role I use for my lone striker with a winger, inside forward and advanced playmaker supporting him, but if I can stretch the funds out a bit more, I want to sign Mattia Destro. I had him on FM 13 with West Brom (back when you used to be able to get him on a pre-contract deal) and he broke every goalscoring record out there for me. He looks great on this FM too but he's more expensive these days so I'll need to ship people out before I can bring him in.

[JasonM]

(Link for Gyazo pics of the respective things, obviously. I found linking to be a bit less cluttered than posting it outright, or using spoiler tags for every single pic... Feedback appreciated)

Alright, finished off 2024 in spectacular fashion by reaching (and losing) the FA Cup Final (against Chelsea), and finishing in 7th place in the league despite being expected to make the drop. Seemingly everything par to the course with my run of success ever since managing in Denmark (something in that food, clearly).

During the season I also picked up a title in the Asian Games, which sounds impressive but basically is an u23 asian tournament... But hey, I won it by managing the team personally, so more trophies for me! Am gearing up to take a shot at the Olympics too, and after that also the East-Asian Cup against China/Japan/North Korea. So there's potential for 2 extra prizes in my international management future.

Continuing back to Forest, last season I made a very tidy sum of 26.7M in pure cash profit, mostly spurred on by the ridiculous TV money, but of course the prize money added a bunch too. It spurred moneybags Al-Fawaz to plan a new stadium for the team... Which is a shame, because I liked The City Ground and it was pretty big at 30K, sure it's no Old Trafford, but why do away with a perfectly good stadium that has served since Victoria was still a monarch...

Well at least the game picked the best name for it. Named it after the biggest Forest manager in history (not me, yet), Brian Clough, fair dues to the game for not calling it "Psycho Pearce Plaza"... However... (eyes editor), nah Brian deserves it.

On the players side, Macias has exploded onto the scene with 23 goals in 44 games, including going 19/35 in the league. He was the Wonderkid I expected him to be and more, he's devastating in front of goal and he terrorized, next season will be even better hopefully.

Hoyt also had a great season with 19 in 27, 14/21 in the league... But the latter part of his season got derailed with a torn hamstring costing him the final three months of the season, and his absence hurt the team a lot, Walcott/Wijnaldum simply didn't have the skill to work well with Macias. Hoyt has been knock-y during the entire season, but before his big injury he had been good despite picking up a lot of knocks, but it was a matter of time before he did and well... When it snapped it snapped hard. His physicals have suffered a bit, and at 28 years of age won't really bounce back to it's old level. He's still quality, but well... A few more of those injuries and he won't be. But still, 14 goals in 21 league games is a great record, and he was arguably more lethal than Macias. But hey, they both were great and hopefully it'll continue next year.

Then again, Macias is being chased by Inter and Liverpool, and his clause is at 17M (unless I give him a ridiculous 250K wage hike to get a new contract without a clause, but fuck that, he'll keep earning 50K and he'll better enjoy it.)

Jordan Campbell and Adam Barrett, the Scot and the Irish kids who I bought for a pittance last season, they continued growing and becoming better. And Barrett got awarded the Young Player of the Year award for his efforts. Keano, eat your heart out!

Despite his status as (old fart) backup, Walcott still impressed in the time he got on the pitch. 6G/5A in 10(7) games is nothing to scoff at, and he seems to still have his edge despite being 35 years old and being well over the hill.

I had also picked up Wijnaldum, (who I have always been a fan off) on a freebie from Villa, he wasn't great but he was more than serviceable for a 33 year old who I brought in as a tutor.

Knowing my weaknesses at the halfway mark, I invested in defenders. Signing Máté Kovács for 1.7M from Videoton, 19 year old Model Pro Hungarian defender who has all the talent in the right places, should become a very good anchor at the back in a few seasons.

Also picked up an English defender from West Ham who was in his last 6 months, so it was a cheapy for 250K to get Adam Mingay, not the best of the bunch, but he's more than solid as a backup defender.

Lastly gave Rennes 6M for Jordane Le Borgne who looks simply spectacular as a defender, and I knew that I had to get one guy that was a surefire top defender to step into the role. Jordane is big, strong, brave, and is a true leader. If the bastard ever decides to learn English he might become the captain too...

Oh, and before the season I also needed a proper left back since I had none that was of any decent ability, so I used my evil powers as South Korea Manager to pick up a kid from the South Korean leagues. And Yoon Jae-Hyung was more than impressive in the first season in the best league in the world.

Going into next season I haven't really started to make new signings yet. But around the time Hoyt got injured I started to realize that my striker depth beyond Macias/Hoyt is lacking sorely, Walcott won't be around for long and Wijnaldum isn't a skilled scorer either. Oh and Luke James, fuck that guy even if he's the team top scorer with 46 league goals... He's been playing shit at Charlton all season, I doubt he'll be anywhere near the starting lineup next season...

Anyways, ignoring that ranty bit, I decided I needed some extra blood at striker position, and luckily my ridiculous scouting system has paid off extremely (have 421 players found with 5* potential or more, including current stars)... And my scouts found a Swiss Superman who is 19 years old, Model Professional, and seems to be a Macias-lite, which kinda works since he's 19... Anyways, I couldn't ignore Boris Davatz so I paid 5M to get him to Forest. He'll provide the perfect support to Hoyt/Macias, and gives me a great talent to put on the field if Hoyt might get another big injury.

So time to prepare for going into Europe, a potential swoop in from big teams to buy Macias, and generally trying to improve an already talented team...

If you wanna see some more pics, ask and I'll deliver

Edited June 9, 2015 by Jasonmufc

[Baddar]

When they last patched the game, were the new CL seeding rules implemented for 15/16?

Somebody answer this for me please!

While I'm here, how does the new TV deal work in terms of transfer budgets ahead of the 2nd season? Are you given more by the board?

[JasonM]

When they last patched the game, were the new CL seeding rules implemented for 15/16?

Somebody answer this for me please!

While I'm here, how does the new TV deal work in terms of transfer budgets ahead of the 2nd season? Are you given more by the board?

I don't know about the CL seeding since I haven't had much CL time in this version, but I do know the board tends to hike budgets in advance. But that's only assured funds like TV revenue, and not prize money.

[Baddar]

FM can be frustrating sometimes - see Gorka's post earlier, but when you go 1-0 up, and then get a red card before half time, yet still manage to hold onto that lead (away at Swansea), it feels very satisfying. Now the small matter of needing to beat PSG 3 days later to top my CL group. :/

Spurs can still get to fuck though. 15 games in, they've won 12, drawn 2 and lost 1 (I beat them 2-0).

EDIT: Won 1-0.

EDIT2: Ha, fuck off. Atletico finished 2nd to Galatasaray, and Celtic won their group ahead of Real Madrid, with Napoli coming in 3rd. I'm totally being drawn against one of those, aren't I? :/

EDIT3: Shakhtar it is. Could have been worse.

[Benji]

Jordan Rhodes just scored four goals in his debut. Think he might just settle in here.

[JasonM]

Jordan Rhodes just scored four goals in his debut. Think he might just settle in here.

See him score none in the next 15 games...

[JasonM]

Well, my arrogance reached a new peak and a low in quick fashion.

With every team hot and heavy trying to woo me for their side (including teams like Inter... And Blackpool?), I decided that I deserved a new deal, they refused, I leaked to the press, moneybags got angry, during the talk I said they couldn't find anyone better than me, and they thought otherwise... They axed me >_>

Well, time to strike out and take some other job... Notts Co looks awfully interesting.

[Liam]

I'm sitting 7th with 11 games to go in the Championship - but only 5 points off top, with most of my big matches done. Will be interesting to see how things pan out from here.