Football Manager 2021

[Cymbols]

Here’s a question for y’all. If you are managing a team that is financially insecure, is there anything you can really do about it, apart from selling players? I’m playing FM19 admittedly (first time I’ve played a version since 14), and I’m top of the Belgian league and the on field stuff is going alright, but the club is in the red, and I’ve never really paid attention to the financial stuff before.

[JasonM]

10 minutes ago, Cymbols said:

Here’s a question for y’all. If you are managing a team that is financially insecure, is there anything you can really do about it, apart from selling players? I’m playing FM19 admittedly (first time I’ve played a version since 14), and I’m top of the Belgian league and the on field stuff is going alright, but the club is in the red, and I’ve never really paid attention to the financial stuff before.

You can check if the league itself has some good win bonuses, that can stave off financial problems for a while. Long term it's probably best to cut into the wage budget and sell players for profit. At least until you can manage to become a staple in the CL/EL group stages and you get to live beyond the means of the league more.

Other than that, sponsorships are a bit of a tossup and it's hard to improve your sponsor income even in FM21, where despite having been on top of the Dutch leagues for 7 years now, i'm still nowhere close to Ajax in terms of sponsor money.

The biggest profit-maker for me has been flipping prospects. Signing cheap talent, developing them, then selling them to the big boys and repeating the cycle until I'm confident enough I can financially sustain a more aggressive strategy.

[Cymbols]

Yeah made an improbable run to the Europa League round of 16 which helped. Playing as Genk, goal was to reach the group stage. Qualified through a group of Betis, Marseille, and a Croatian team, and lucked out by drawing Copenhagen in the next round. Lost out to Valencia 4-3 on aggregate in the next round though, was 3-3 but down on away goals, and lost out going for broke late on.

 

Definitely got valuable players to sell. Unhelpfully some MLS and Saudi teams have triggered the release clauses for my top CB and locker room leader CM in March. We’re top of the table so I’d like to keep them, but I can’t match their wage offers so I’m at least getting some cash in, but out of the £14.5m made, I get £350k to reinvest. On the plus side my manager reputation should be alright after only one season, so I could always look to move on.

[Hobo]

Got into the CL group stages again! (knocked out Feyenoord on the way).  This is less a less horrible group than last time.


Also Celtic got knocked out by Poznan and some lads from Kazakhstan knocked out FC Kobenhavn.

So Ireland, Poland, and Kazakhstan have teams in the Champions League groups here but Scotland, Holland and Denmark don't.

[Hobo]

Jurgen Klopp: Parkvilla are an easy opponent!
 

Spoiler

HOWS THAT FOR EASY, JURGEN?

 

[Gazz]

On 23/04/2021 at 15:09, Cymbols said:

Here’s a question for y’all. If you are managing a team that is financially insecure, is there anything you can really do about it, apart from selling players? I’m playing FM19 admittedly (first time I’ve played a version since 14), and I’m top of the Belgian league and the on field stuff is going alright, but the club is in the red, and I’ve never really paid attention to the financial stuff before.

Never bothered with it and you'll just eventually get a board takeover which will clear all or part of the debt.

[JasonM]

After 11 seasons in one save and with one club, I have managed to achieve something that I have never managed to achieve in all my years playing FM and CM. I have taken a club and I have guided them to an undefeated season.

I was admittedly helped by my biggest rivals not being in the same form as they usually were, but it's still something I never expected to achieve.

I guess the next challenge is to go 34-0-0. Oh, and to win the Champions League...
Before this season, I stranded in the first KO 6 times out of 8 chances, this year I finally managed to break the rut and find myself in the Semi Finals.

Maybe it's finally coming up Millhouse.

I still feel that actually getting the big one is nigh impossible due to the development stalling on my talented players due to being a second tier league. But one can hope...

In the meantime, I'm drowning in cash, so I have started the process of funneling funds into my hometown club, started it past winter break and they immediately reacted by securing promotion. So maybe I can financially push them into becoming a powerhouse club. Because I'd rather build a new... world... order of clubs that deserve their place in the sun over the old order.

[King Ellis]

I can't remember where I left off on my last Alfreton FM20 update, might not have even posted one in this thread since the last one was closed. Was probably at the end of my first season in the Premier League, 27/28 season. 2nd season was a marked improvement, jumping from a 12th place finish to 7th. Someway off the Europa and Champions League places but I was flirting with the possiblity of the Confrence League by the end. Turns out that wouldn't have been necessary anyway since I managed to scrape past Man City in the semis of the FA Cup before somewhere smashing Utd 4-1 in the final.

29/30 was another 'best of the rest' season in the league, narrowly missing out on 7th which didn't end up getting a ECL place anyway due to results elsewhere (like 17th place Newcastle shocking Chelsea in the FA Cup final, a Chelsea who have won the league like 4 years in a row now). I did manage to make it to the Europa League final though, even whilst I was quite heavily rotating and playing kids along the way. Did get a little scary in the quarters when Everton were 3-0 up extra time but my right back suddenly popped up near the end to get the away goal. Final wasn't quite as exciting since I got smashed 4-2 by RB Leipzig. I had a penalty after like 10 mins but my striker missed it and that pretty much took him out of the game.

Need to push on and try and start getting that European qualification consistently now but I also want to do a little bit of a rebuild. Squad is at it's limits in turns of foreigners but there's a few I'd happily let go if the right money came along. Like this one Spanish guy I got on a free, Liverpool just came and activated his 53m minimum fee like 18 months later but I'm relatively well stocked in midfield. Plus, this promising CB I had went for like 38m to China which represented a 35m ish profit and he was 3rd/4th choice anyway so I'm happy with that.

I probably would need to develop the more clinical line of thinking to start bringing in some real next level players and it's not like we don't have the money (case in point, next seasons budgets are 2m wage and 103m), I just find it hard not to be loyal to my boys. Like my left back is only 2 stars but he's our captain and he's been in the team ever since the day he came through the youth intake back in League One. It's odd because they always seem to perform above what they should be capable of. Like, one of my backup CM's who was canned by Spurs as a kid is only listed as a decent League One player but he managed to get an average of 7.61 across 8 games in the Europa run. Infrastructure of the club is coming along, think everything training wise is at it's peak apart from youth facilities which are being worked on. The stadium is due to be upgraded to 31k (we're selling out all the time at 23k) and we've just moved to category 1 youth level. Still waiting for my U23's to actually get a league place mind you...

[Cymbols]

Won the league in my first season at Genk, which is great. Finished the season £11k under the wage budget. Started the second season £65k over the wage budget. Not ideal.

[Hobo]

Still in with a shout in the Champions League groups. Although we've got a month off between games.

[Hobo]

Update:

A 2-0 win over Olympiakos and Parkvilla are through to the last 16

[JasonM]

3 minutes ago, Hobo said:

Update:

A 2-0 win over Olympiakos and Parkvilla are through to the last 16

It's coming home, lads

[Malenko]

That was close. Congratz

[Hobo]

Daryl Horgan has now got the Champions League record for most assists too.

Looking forward to getting absolutely destroyed in the knockouts.

I've tried this kind of game a few times - and I've never managed to get through the CL groups. Got to the Europa League QTRs in one.

Edit: Got Chelsea in the first knocked round. Also apparently the game hasn't given my team an off season.

I guess we are just powering through. Even if we dont play again until February (Irish domestic season is a summer season and ends in Octoberish)

[Hobo]

The Leinster Senior Cup Quarter final has presented me with a squad rotation problem

[JasonM]

It's coming home!

EDIT: It very much did not 'come home'.

[Malenko]

On 05/05/2021 at 20:10, Hobo said:

The Leinster Senior Cup Quarter final has presented me with a squad rotation problem

What if your B squad wins? 

[Hobo]

23 hours ago, Malenko said:

What if your B squad wins? 

I would've preferred that - actually had quite a few players cup tied due to having 2 squads in the comp

fun that 3000 people turned up to watch an intra-squad match though

[Hobo]

Take that you Cheese Gorged Maltese Eunuchs! 

 

 

 

 

[METALMAN]

Just something I’ve been thinking ... is FM a game that anyone who plays it actually enjoys or is it just something you do to distract yourself from the hollowness of life and the fact that everything is meaningless?