Football Manager 2022

[JasonM]

2028/2029 - As I set out to I kept Fulham in the Premier League. Having done my job of getting them up and keeping them up, I left the club. Somewhere during the season Poland offered me the national management job out of the blue, which I accepted because I guess why not.

(Fulham would get relegated in the 2029/2030 season, in peak Fulham fashion).

2029/2030 - In a qualifying group against a load of doss and Norway I ended up getting first place on G.D. by splitting wins with Norway. We'd get put in the truly spectacular (hyperbole) World Cup group of a South Korea that's nowhere near their once lofty peaks and a Costa Rica who... Well... are there.

We run through the group stages and in the next round we face... Norway, again. After a tough game, we end up winning 2-1 mainly because Haaland wasn't there to smash our backdoors in.
Next round, Team USA, the only team I failed to beat in two years of exhibitions. After a tough game, we end up winning 3-1 after going down 0-1 early on.
Next round, the Netherlands (because to become the best, you have to destroy what you love), we go down 1, we come back 1, then in extra time we managed to slot one past Bijlow and somehow get into the Semi Finals where we face...
Portugal. See the Netherlands game? Now repeat it but with about 500% more shithousery from Portugal, we win 2-1 despite being a man up, and somehow Poland is going to Wembley for the World Cup final...

It didn't come home

[Szumi]

Newcastle’s Saudi Blood Money Saga - Jan 23 to End of Season 23!

Spoiler

We started the post-Qatar Blood Money Saga in 2nd place, but still very much in a Champions League fight, even for just European places in general. And we… comfortably finished inside the Top 4, and even actually still pipped Liverpool to 2nd on the final day! This game I feel is all about momentum and once your side starts winning, they just keep winning. Losing, and it’s the same way, as evidenced by last season almost getting relegated. And after losing to Liverpool in the League Cup SF, away to Arsenal, and then away to Leeds… I was definitely concerned we were about to struggle. Boy, was I wrong. We instead only lost 1 match the rest of the campaign (away to Liverpool, ending a 5 match unbeaten streak), ending the season on an 18 match unbeaten streak, and just 1 loss in 24. Of those 18 matches, 15 were wins, including wins vs City, vs Chelsea, vs Spurs, vs Utd, and vs Arsenal. Having all those big matches at the fortress that is St. James Park genuinely helped!

 

An unbeaten streak also means that Newcastle have their first Blood Money Trophy - the FA Cup! I figured we’d bow out in the QF against Manchester United, especially after falling behind 0-1, but we ended up trouncing them on the counter 4-2 with a Callum Wilson hat trick! In the SD we absolutely destroyed Tottenham 5-1, going up 4-0, with Allan Saint-Maximin the star with 1 goal and 3 assists, although Amadou Haidara excelled as well with a golazo and 2 assists. In the Finals, we went behind inside 80 seconds to Chelsea, got an undeserved set piece goal before HT to get in even, and then score two within the first 10 minutes to blitz Chelsea to a 3-2 victory, holding Chelsea out for the final half-hour after Mason Mount pulled one back.

 

I only made one signing in January (well, technically two, but Jamal Musiala was signed for the summer because I knew I already signed too many U21 guys anyways. But he wanted out, he’s amazing, and I paid the money, because I have it, dipped in blood and oil), and it was almost a deadline day signing in Franciso Trincao since it was only £8.5m and I figured I could easily re-sell him for more. I’m glad I signed him because after taking a look at him, I converted him to an Attacking Midfielder, and he was an instant success. 3g & 9a in 10(4) league appearances, being a great focal point in the 10, especially with Wilson missing some time injured and Amine Gouri just not playing well. 

 

While Trincao was a smart deal, the two stars of the second half of the season were definitely ASM and Adeyemi. Adeyemi exploded to 33 goals (23 in 35 in the league) and 7 assists, in 44 overall appearances. 20 of his goals were in 2023. He finished 3rd in the Golden Boot, won Young Player of the Year, and was my lone representative in the Team of the Year. Saint-Maximin was red hot scoring as well, with 17 goals in 2023, ending his season with 23 goals (20 in 36 in the league) and 7 assists, in 44 overall appearances. His scoring touch was unbelievable given the first 12 months of the save. In terms of all competitions average ratings, Adeyemi was #1 at 7.43, Trincao #2 at 7.43, Callum Wilson (23g & 8a in 36app) #3 at 7.33, Nico Williams (11g & 12a in 31app, keeping big signing Antony on the bench very often) #4 at 7.32, and ASM #5 at 7.27. However, Caoimhin Kelleher gets a shout out at #8 at 7.22, taking the #1 spot for the final 18 matches of the season after Dubravka kept performing poorly. He kept 6 clean sheets in 14 in the league, 3 of 6 in the FA Cup, and overall performed well enough I will probably let him have a chance at the #1 shirt next season. 

 

Finished the season on, in my opinion, an absurd 83 points, 8 behind Man United’s 91 points, and 16 points clear of Spurs in 5th place. Crystal Palace, Blackburn, and Watford were relegated. The stories of the league were Brentford going from somehow surviving last season to finishing 11th place on 49 points, finishing just 3 points behind the other story, 10th place Manchester City. They got even worse in the second half of the season, finishing on 52 points, 6 points off the Europa Conference in 7th (Southampton), and TWENTY points off the Champions League. Max Allegri certainly hasn’t been the answer. Tuchel got fired at Chelsea as well, but Sergio Conceicao left Porto to still only guide them to 6th place in the final month of the season. 

 

I honestly don’t know what my transfer plans are for the summer! Musiala is coming in and will take over at the #10, but other than signing improved depth at the #6 over Hayden, left back over Jamal Lewis, and potentially upgrading at RB (Max Aarons tore his ACL in January, but Joe Scally and Calum Chambers both filled in well), I don’t see any need to really upgrade at any spot. ASM is wanted by many clubs, but I would imagine Champions League football keeps him here for our starting LW. Nico Williams has blossomed at RW to compete with Antony, and Callum Wilson can be my back-up ST for Adeyemi. Doesn’t mean I still won’t maybe try to sign Erling Haaland or something stupid!

*Edit* and leaving this out of the spoiler tags because holy shit is it amazing.

In true fuckery fashion, on the day the FFP report came out to determine our eligibility for Champions League, we signed an 8.5 million pound sponsorship with an "Asian soft drinks" company. It took our loss from 11 million pounds to 3 million pounds, ensuring we are eligible for Champions League by a million pounds. I guess FM is as corrupt as real football! 🤣

[JasonM]

On 02/03/2022 at 22:16, Absolute JasonM said:

2028/2029 - As I set out to I kept Fulham in the Premier League. Having done my job of getting them up and keeping them up, I left the club. Somewhere during the season Poland offered me the national management job out of the blue, which I accepted because I guess why not.

(Fulham would get relegated in the 2029/2030 season, in peak Fulham fashion).

2029/2030 - In a qualifying group against a load of doss and Norway I ended up getting first place on G.D. by splitting wins with Norway. We'd get put in the truly spectacular (hyperbole) World Cup group of a South Korea that's nowhere near their once lofty peaks and a Costa Rica who... Well... are there.

We run through the group stages and in the next round we face... Norway, again. After a tough game, we end up winning 2-1 mainly because Haaland wasn't there to smash our backdoors in.
Next round, Team USA, the only team I failed to beat in two years of exhibitions. After a tough game, we end up winning 3-1 after going down 0-1 early on.
Next round, the Netherlands (because to become the best, you have to destroy what you love), we go down 1, we come back 1, then in extra time we managed to slot one past Bijlow and somehow get into the Semi Finals where we face...
Portugal. See the Netherlands game? Now repeat it but with about 500% more shithousery from Portugal, we win 2-1 despite being a man up, and somehow Poland is going to Wembley for the World Cup final...

 

It didn't come home

Two years since leaving Poland after reaching the World Cup finals. I ended up getting a job at Metz as my hopes of getting a top tier job didn't come to fruition.

Season 30/31 was one of getting used to a different league, and fixing Metz from an aging squad to one with some forward potential. After a tricky year, we ended up getting 5th place and that meant the team reaching european football for only the first time this century with a Conference League.

My success with Poland also caught the ears of other nations, and despite not enjoying international management whatsoever (it's so boring and poorly implemented!), I got the one offer that I couldn't resist, and that was to manage my own nation the Netherlands towards and into the 2032 European Championships.

It started well, going unbeaten and winning the nation a Nations League (for what it's worth, it's only the second title in my career after winning the FA Trophy way back with Concord, so i'll take that success!)

An easy group also ensured us passage into the European Championships with an undefeated streak!

Season 31/32 was the second season with Metz, and it would be a very up and down season with some really good performances but also some utter blinders as the younger squad played better but also had lots of silly results where we didn't get a single goal and just grinded out draws. In the end we found ourselves improving by only one spot with a 4th place. We also bottled it in the last game, where we could've gotten a third place and CL spot. Just more indication of inconsistency.

The Conference League, some wouldn't really rank it... But I think we did decent?

Trophy number 3 in my career! Things are finally looking up for my career as the 31/32 season also had me beat a few teams away who wanted to bring me to the near-tippy top.

Oh, and the European Championships? Well we got drawn against Denmark, Iceland, and Ukraine... Lost our first game against Ukraine quite poorly, looked shaky in wins against Denmark and Iceland but still got through the group... It felt very reminiscent of my experiences with Poland as we were forced to grind out wins.

2-0 against Croatia, only after extra time.
4-2 against Germany, only after extra time.
Semi Finals against Belgium, my team decided to finally show up against our arch rivals as we annihilated them 6-1!
Finals against Portugal, another semi-arch rival. My second international final in as many tournaments! And after 90 minutes...

Get in there! My first ever international tournament possibly ever in FM? That is a good way to finish my international management career, because I sure as hell am not interested in doing any more of this...

But I just got my third trophy in two years, and I can't be more chuffed with the end result!

I thought about sticking with Metz and maybe even committing to a long term project, but finally the door opened to one of the top tier teams that I had personal interest in joining, so with all this success in my backpocket I would've been remiss to not capitalize on all the glory and finally make the step up to the top.

AC Milan, here I come with the endgame of pushing them back over Real Madrid's CL record and annihilate the last vestiges of Juventus' Italian dominance!

 

 

[FLiam]

I started a Blood Money Saga too. Approaching January in season one - will update soon.

I am trying to go down the fairly realistic route though and not going too crazy.

[FLiam]

Season one in the books on my Newcastle save. I told myself I wouldn't go too crazy but maybe I spent a little too much in the January transfer window....

First thing first, we had a reasonably acceptable league campaign - I wanted to finish at least mid-table and managed it. We were never really consistent at any point in the season with our best spell being a five-game unbeaten streak from the middle of January to the end of February. We managed to beat both Manchester teams at home, giving United a 4-0 hammering whilst we navigated an excellent 2-1 win against Manchester City. A 0-0 home draw with Chelsea was also nothing to be ashamed of. The game the season will no doubt be the incredible 9-4 loss at Anfield - a simply bonkers game of football. 

League results:

Spoiler

Final league table:

Spoiler

You probably noticed that we qualified for Europe - obviously via a domestic cup. We did not fare well in the Carabao Cup as we were knocked out in the second round after a 2-0 defeat at Wolves.

Carabao Cup result:

Spoiler

We managed to have a spectacular run in the FA Cup. First off we were paired with Championship side Swansea City at home, we managed a fairly comfortable 3-0 home win. The fourth round draw was a home tie with Chelsea which I thought would be were we would be knocked out but we ran out 4-0 winners in front of the Geordie faithful. Next up in the fifth round? More stern opposition in Tottenham - although once again we got a kinder home draw. It was a close fought game but we managed to win 2-0. The quarter-final draw was very kind as were drawn with Rotherham United of League One - although we made it difficult for ourselves, we qualified for the semi-final after a 4-2 victory. 

Wembley beckoned, the first time I believe since 1998(?) - our opponents were fellow PL side Leeds United and it took an extra time winner from Miguel Almiron to book our passage into the final where Liverpool would await. 

Now - the 9-4 defeat at Anfield came three days before the cup final. Gulp. I switched our gameplan up a little bit to be a little more conservative and it worked wonders - scoring all three of our goals on the counter and we ended up 3-1 winners thanks to goals from now bona fide club legends Alan St. Maximin, Callum Wilson and local lad and super-sub Sean Longstaff.

FA Cup results:

Spoiler

We ended up spending a fair bit of cash in January - but I wanted to avoid too many "star names" and wanted to find the right sort of characters for the squad.

The first signing was arranged in December with Jarrod Bowen joining from West Ham for a fee that could reach a whopping £66m. I felt that the right-wing position was lacking with Murphy, Fraser and Almiron not cementing the place as their own and I wanted more of a goal-scoring threat which I believe Bowen will bring. 

Second up, I was looking at completely re-building the central defence - I do not plan to keep any of the existing players in this position bar perhaps Dan Burn. The first player I looked at was James Tarkowski, I needed someone that was PL ready to shore up our defence a little as we were conceding a lot of goals - due to his expiring contract I managed to get him for a total of £2.4m. Then I looked at bringing in a long-term option for the left-side of the defence - Sven Botman was the man for a fee that could cost us £53m. 

The next couple of signings were young players with a view to integrate them into the side over the next few seasons. Bryan Okoh signed from Liefering for a fee of £6.75m, he is a young CB with plenty of potential, already a physical specimen at 6'2" and only 18 years of age. The next player for the future was 21 year-old Guille Rosas signed from Real Sporting for £9.5. He's a right-back that has bags of stamina and work-rate. His passing, crossing and technique are already pretty good and has plenty of time to improve. Earmarked as Kieran Trippier's long-term replacement. With the added bonus of Europa League football next season - he should see plenty of game-time. 

The final act of the January transfer window was signing a striker to push Callum Wilson for a starting spot - so we parted with an initial £38m to sign Maxi Gomez from Valencia. He had scored 13 goals in 21 games so far that season and is the profile of striker I wanted, all-rounded skillset, strong, brave and good in the air. He has had a fairly slow start to his career at St. James Park though scoring only one goal from four starts in the league - but did bag thee goals in four FA Cup appearances.

In terms of out-goings, it was a case of cutting the deadwood. Ciaran Clark, Emil Krath, Matt Ritchie, Isaac Hayden, Federico Fernandez and Fabian Schar were all moved on permanently whilst Paul Dummet, Jamaal Lewis and Dwight Gayle were loaned out for the remainder of the season.

Transfers:
 

Spoiler

A few players put in high quality performances all season. Wilson ended up with 20 goals, St. Maximin with 11 assists whilst Joe Willock also had a fairly productive season in midfield with 9 assists and 3 goals.

Squad stats:

Spoiler

Now looking forward to the summer transfer window and preparing for a season with European football.

[FLiam]

So the board now want direct football and a minimum semi-final for every cup competition. Should be fun. 

[Twist]

Looking good.

Also, it’s the first time at Wembley since 2000.

We played Arsenal in the final in 1998 when they won the double, Man United in the final in 1999 when they won the treble and then Chelsea in the semi final in 2000. I believe that was the last year before the old Wembley was taken out of action so they played the semi finals there as well, which was retained when the new Wembley came ‘online’.

[Jam]

I recently started a new game and simmed forward a year to take over a team who had been relegated, and luckily Newcastle were one of the three teams.

In season one they had signed Diego Carlos, Santi Cazorla, Manuel Akanji, Hirving Lozano and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, whilst only selling Federico Fernandez. The majority of players wanted to leave but were easily convinced to stay when I promised promotion in the first season. I did manage to cash in on a fair few players - Chris Wood going for £13.75m, Almiron for £5.75m, plus Dubravka, Mkhitaryan, Hendrick, Krafth, Ritchie, Shelvey, Manquillo, Cazorla, Gillespie, Clark and Fraser for a combined £48m

The rebuild first season wasn't needed to be too drastic. Paul Onuachu and Ben Sesko came in for £40m whilst Fabian Delph, David Raya, Harry Winks, Divock Origi and Filip Ristanic made up the rest of the signings.

23 games in and I've won 19 drawing 4 so promotion is all but on the cards and allowing me to plan now for promotion. Going up a goalkeeper, left back, centre midfield and right winger will be the key areas to target.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

On 27/01/2022 at 21:02, Brandon Cutler Fan Account said:

March 16th proved a landmark day; won League 2 with seven games to go, and had an offer to move to Cardiff at the end of the season, moving up in the world! I'm extremely pleased about it particularly because I tried for Middlesbrough and they decided to reappoint Tony Mowbray, but they're in danger of dropping into League 1 whilst Cardiff are firmly mid-table. transfer budget is low but if I can get some shrewd free transfers in getting promotion within a year or two should be doable.

 

On 28/01/2022 at 21:52, Brandon Cutler Fan Account said:

Ended the season breaking most of the League Two records - most wins, most goals, most points etc. Can't say I haven't gone out on a high. I've officially entered "Favoured Personnel" status at the club, which is quite nice. Big Timmy Abraham scored a hattrick in the penultimate game to end his tally on 25 goals, totally worth the half million I spent on him. I'll be honest, depending on the scout reports, might bring him with me. Or Jack McKay, who used to play for Cardiff anyway.

Middlesbrough dodged Championship relegation by the skin of their teeth, so I'll have the joy of beating Tony Mowbray in the new season.

Update on these because I'm back to playing this again!

I won the Championship with Cardiff through the use of overpowered loans - Moise Kean from Everton scored 31 league goals, and Billy Gilmour from Chelsea seemingly became Frank Lampard once he crossed the bridge into Wales. Liverpool's Harvey Elliot and Leicester's Keirnan Dewsbury-Hall (who loves a long range banger) also put in great shifts after joining on loan in January, whilst Emile Smith-Rowe got injured and then was shit.

Star signing for the season (besides the loanees) was Ante Budimir - a 30-year old Croatian striker I signed for £2m and bagged 15 goals, including a hat trick to net us a draw after being 3-0 against Reading late in the season. Official legend status for me forever after that and I look forward to hopefully carting him around on my backroom staff when he retires.

So, the new season then! Squad rebuild was needed given four loanees basically carried me all year, so the easiest step first and foremost was sign two of them (Moise Kean and KDH for £9m - bargain - and £14m respectively). Chelsea wouldn't budge on £50m for Gilmour after he won POTY and YPOTY for the Championship, so I signed Conor Gallagher from them for £10m instead. Victor Nelsson joined from Copenhagen for just under £5m as a new first choice centre back, and the remaining budget I didn't really have went on getting Burak Yesilay on a free (new back up striker because I flogged Glatzel off to some Saudi team and everyone moaned there was no striker cover now, but he had good stats and is only 21 so should be capable) and a belter of a regen from Fulham for £14m plus a load of incentives.

The eagle-eyed of you will notice that I don't fully know the stats and I'm trying to scout him - well, whilst I was trying to sign him, I left Cardiff to do something I never do: move abroad.

I'm now the manager of Sporting Lisbon! A whole new country with a whole new challenge. Excited to try something different. Steven Gerrard filled my shoes at Cardiff and has immediately put all my wingers from last season on the transfer list, which I'd have been offended by if they hadn't largely been poor. Enjoy the refreshed squad, Stevie, hope you don't slip back into the Championship.

[FLiam]

FM22 is free-to-play until Monday on Steam.

[JasonM]

Going into HT 2-4 down against mid-tier Parma, then the team decides to knock in seven in the remaining 45 minutes with Parma a man down. Utterly insane game.

Iseini is my current star player, newgen from the club's academy. Absolutely brilliant lad. Insane contract though, by way of my predecessor.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I thought the fixture list was really weird in Portugal when I didn't get a single league game through October and instead just banged out two sets of qualifiers and the entire Champions League group stage before November whilst other teams in the league are still ploughing on putting me 4 or 5 games behind some teams, then remembered it's the Qatar World Cup being in November/December that's thrown the whole thing out of whack.

But yes, undefeated in the seven league games I've played (Six wins and one draw) whilst biggest title contenders Porto have played ten, losing one and drawing two, and Benfica have played eight, losing and drawing one each. Not much in it but early points dropped for the rivals is always good news. Porto's loss was a satisfying 3-0 defeat inflicted by myself, whilst Benfica lost to Porto, so all the better if they want to cost each other points.

Transfers! Summer recruitment saw the need for a new CB and ST as priorities, so brought Tapsoba in from Leverkusen for £23m, sold off a load of deadweight I didn't even know was in the team, and signed up Dusan Vlahovic to lead my front line. They also had Ayoze Perez sign permanently after being on-loan here last season (had no say in the one), then I lost Marcos Acuna who decided he wanted to play in Spain, so he headed off to *checks notes* Boca Juniors for £15m. Former Porto star winger Luis Diaz came in on loan from Schalke to replace him, and Timothy Fosu-Mensah comes in as emergency RB cover. January has started badly with Bayern activating a £25m release clause on my best CM that I didn't know was there, so given the board only gave me half of that back I've signed Albert Sambi Lokonga from Anderlecht as his replacement to use up my entire budget.

I finally get a run of league games now so hoping by the end of February I'll be in a commanding lead and have plenty of time to focus on the league after we crash out of the Champions League. After we bravely came second in a group of Real Madrid (lost to them twice), Borussia Dortmund (beat them then drew) and Galatasaray (beat them 4-0 twice, lol). We got Man City for our troubles  in the first knockout round so think my first CL adventure will be coming to an end soon.

[JasonM]

Quick update on the season(s), got the Serie A in the first season on the backs of some phenomenal luck with Juventus not being up to form. That quickly changed in the second season as Juventus was in major form and we dropped 7 losses in the first half of the season.

Some tactical retooling and making some signings, we managed to go from sitting in 8th and nearly being out of a job to getting 2nd place in the final game of the season. With an utterly mental 103-32 goal difference, somehow second to Juventus doing 102-98 because of course those assholes gotta one-up me. (I did kick their asses in the Supercup AND the cup final, though, so i'll say we won the season over them.)

Got annihilated by Liverpool in the Champions League Quarter Finals, because it's FM22 and of course Liverpool makes even the best clubs look like League 1 clubs.

But I got, what has to be one of the greatest seasons I have ever gotten out of a player, ever.

And is from my boy, the main Milan man. Romario Iseini. Getting an 8.00 AVR across the season and a truly mind-boggling 26G-24A league season.
Just utterly mental, this lad. On top of that, I have restructured his salary for next season, where he'll make 20M/a (with 4M/a loyalty and a shitload of other bonuses because he's goddamn worth it.)

The guy that has made it all happen in the second half of the season and who is arguably 50% of Iseini's legendary season which will probably get him snubbed for Ballon AND WPOTY (because this is still FM, after all). The FM22 cheeselord, Lorenzo Lucca. Who I got in January when his Atalanta contract was running out and I decided to just straight up pay them 23M to immediately sign him.

He wasn't just great in front of goal (Corners whipped out towards the far post he just banged in on the regular), but he also added a great deal of assists by simply heading the ball into open space because he's a beautiful man who totally isn't broken. His season is arguably even better than Iseini, because in the 19 games for Milan this season he had 24 goals, 10 assists, and a ludicrous 8.44AVR

I think next year we might storm the league with this unit. Never before have I ever seen a team be this utterly prolific, but they just keep putting up silly numbers together. I love it, haha.

 

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Surprisingly didn't get spanked by City and only lost 1-0 on aggregate - a Raheem Sterling goal separating us. They got spanked by Juventus in the next round so I didn't feel too bad.

We got knocked out of the Portuguese equivalent of the FA Cup before winning the Portuguese equivalent of the League Cup to get my first piece of silverware here. The congested league fixtures, whilst for the most part giving us some great momentum and rocketing us into title contention, are knackering the squad and not having enough decent full backs is starting to bite me in the ass. 8 games left of the season now, and it's pretty much down to myself and Benfica. If we both win every game, they'll win the league by one point, so I'm hoping they cock up and draw somewhere whilst I don't make any mistakes, but their run-in is marginally easier so I don't see it happening.

I'm really hoping they give me some actual transfer budget in the summer or I'll be thinking of moving on again, depending how the league goes. I don't see how they expect me to make marquee signings whilst only giving me 30% of the money for any players we sell.

------

Just editing to save a second post.

Devastatingly came up short. Once City had knocked us out, we didn't lose a game for the rest of the season. The only game we didn't win, was typically against Benfica, who also won every remaining game since the previous post and took the title by one point. Second place guarantees me a Champions League group spot and saves me the hassle of qualifying at least, but to come so close on the first attempt in a new league is agonising. On the other hand, second in the league and a piece of silverware is a successful season on balance, given we were predicted for third. So I'll take it, and hopefully strengthen enough over the summer to best Benfica this time around.

I had a quick review how my previous teams had done:

Cardiff - last place and relegated with a game to go. Gerrard got the sack and was replaced by Slaven Bilic in March. The regen I posted about was their top scorer with 8, and Gallagher had the most assists for them, so I can at least be assured my signings were solid for them. Hopefully they bounce straight back up. Swansea got relegated alongside them so there's that at least.

Man United won the Prem on the last day after Arsenal, who led for most of the season, bottled it against Burnley, who came 6th ahead of Spurs, lol.

Chesterfield - Firmly established in League One after I got them promoted there, a tidy 11th place finish for them! Fair play.

First two signings are done too, both frees whilst I await my new budget - Kristian Pedersen of Birmingham, as my new back-up left back; and Raul Jimenez from Wolves. Luis Diaz has agreed to join permanently too, which saves me looking for a wing option, but will likely use a big chunk of whatever budget I was going to be given. Probably need an extra centre back if nothing else, and maybe a right back since Fosu-Mensah decided he wanted £70k a week to join permanently which he isn't worth.

[Szumi]

Newcastle’s Saudi Blood Money Saga - The 23/24 Season

 

Transfers:

Spoiler

The big transfer business was actually done in January 2023 when I bought Jamal Musiala in an agreement to come in the summer (already had signed too many U21 players). So Musiala was the star signing at £81m that will rise up to £97m in add-ons. Wonder kid Julian Alvarez joined to add depth to the attack in a £7.5 rising to 9.5m deal, which is going to be a steal like Trincao was in January. However, it’s still Newcastle, so I had to make some big signings! After failing to land him last summer because he chose Manchester United, Weston McKennie was made available for transfer and joined for £47m to be the perfect rotational piece in midfield since he can start as a B2B alongside Adams, or start as the BWM over Adams next to Tielemans. My gamble signing was bringing in Luis Diaz from Porto. He only cost £41.5m so it’s a bargain for him, but bringing him in means I’ll be shifting ASM from an inverted winger on the left to a straight winger on the right, after he had his best season ever for me. 

 

Wary of FFP because of only just being eligible thanks to sponsorships at the last minute, I was ready to sell players this summer. Karl Darlow made a loan to Bournemouth permanent for £1.8m, and Joelinton was finally able to be moved off the wage bill with just a £1m move to Huesca. Isaac Hayden moved on to Leeds for £7.5m because well, he’s just not Blood Money level. After falling out of form last season and Trincao perfectly transitioning to the #10, Joe Willock was sold to Porto for £20m. Amine Gouri is my first transfer flop and was sold to Dortmund for £25m after I almost sold him to Gladbach to £33m before he refused a move. Nice thing is Gouri never hit any of his performance add-ons, so I only ended up paying £21.5m for him, and made a profit! With McKennie coming in, Amadou Haidara was moved on, but it was with Arsenal meeting his release clause of £38m, a nice profit of £33.5m in just 18 months time! 

 

There were two big sales in the squad as well. After deciding I wanted Luis Diaz in the squad, I made the decision to transfer Antony, backing the form of Nico Williams to be the main back-up on the RW. I knew I wouldn’t get my full money back, but by getting £50m from Inter, I almost broke even for a player who did well, but wasn’t the star man I wanted. The biggest transfer though? I’m pissed about. I couldn’t get Karim Adeyemi to agree to a new contract with a release fee I was happy with, and figured I would just try again at the end of the window. Well, I never got the chance. PSG paid the £77m release clause, and he moved on deadline day. 

 

I had to make a panic buy replacement, and Victor Oshimen came in as the replacement from Napoli for £75m, that will almost surely hit the full £105m. He’s lightning fast (19 speed), amazing movement (19 off the ball), and a quality finisher (17, with a 16 first touch), but does come with injury history. Almost signed Alexander Isak or Tammy Abraham, but went with the lightning pace thinking he will be great for counter attacks. All in all, I only had a net spend of plus £28.5 million! 

 

Premier League

Spoiler

After winning our first two matches by a combined score of 9-1, September was 3 losses of 4, home to Manchester United, and away to Southampton and Brentford. However, form recovered from there, with losses only being to teams I’d be okay with losing to (home to Liverpool, away to Chelsea) and only a handful of draws until the end of February, a home loss to Wolves. The best result of the season was definitely crushing Manchester City in December, 7-2 with a first half hat trick for Saint-Maximin, and Oshimen having a hat trick off the bench. Our form had us in Top 4 for almost the entirety of the campaign, mainly in 3rd or 4th - comfortably behind Liverpool and United, competing with Arsenal, Everton, and Wolves for Champions League, until Chelsea surged from mid-table in the winter after sacking Sergio Conceicao and hiring Arne Slot from Lyon by way of Feyenoord. Like, Chelsea just started winning and didn’t stop, going from as low as 13th all the way up to 3rd place in the end.

 

With Chelsea shooting up the table in the spring, and a great run in the Champions League (more on that later), the league table almost got dicey. Draws at Man City and home to Southampton, plus losing at Manchester United had my Top 4 hopes in doubt with 3 matches left to go. I won home to Brentord 2-1 with a 90th minute winner from Luis Diaz, but my penultimate match, away to Liverpool, I had to at least get a point to move level on points with Arsenal ahead of the last match of the season. I was losing 1-0 after just 5 minutes, but Julian Alvarez equalized with a belter in the 87th minute! He actually should have won the match too minutes later with a breakaway, but I escaped with a point, which actually cost Liverpool the title to Manchester United.Seriously, Liverpool let it slip. 1 win in their final 7 matches, 3 straight draws to end the season, while United won the final 3 matches and unbeaten in 10+ to end the season.

 

But anyways! Last match of the season! Away to Everton. They’re on 70 points, and could finish Top 4 with a win and Arsenal loss at home to West Ham. I have to equal Arsenal’s result as I have better GD. Everton were the better side and dominated xG, but I won 2-0 on the day thanks to Oshimen scoring a brace, meaning I finished in 4th place with 76 points, 7 points worse than last season, but with a long European season as well. Leicester and Brighton were relegated on their first season back, while West Brom dropped down in their second season. 

 

My biggest hurdle in the league was my own team selection issues. I signed Luis Diaz with the plan of him being an Inside Forward on the left, and ASM a Winger on the right. Well thanks to ASM starting the season off with a torn hamstring in pre-season, and then Diaz tearing his thigh muscle right as ASM was coming back, followed by a dislocated shoulder almost immediately after coming back from the thigh injury, the two only started ONE league match together, with two additional matches where one came on as a sub with the other starting… in the first 27 matches! Their next appearance together was Match Day 28, and second match both starting was Match Day 31. They only started 4 of 38 league matches together. 

 

Callum Wilson was the star of the Premier League for our squad, with 21g & 7a in 21(7) appearances, although Victor Oshimen was amazing as well with 16g and 4a in 16(9) appearances. Saint-Maximin was again electric with 12g & 8a in 23(5), Jamal Musiala had 7g & 9a in 29(5), Julian Alvarez had 9g & 5a in 16(14) while playing in pretty much every position possible, while Luis Diaz had just 5g & 5a in only 15(5). All 4 of my defenders were rock solid too - Gianluca Mancini, Tanguy Nianzou, Andrea Papetti, and Jamal Lascelles - posting over 7.30 avg ratings each. 

 

 

Champions League

Spoiler

Entering in Pot 4, obviously, I could have landed a very tricky draw. Instead, I got a pretty comfortable draw! Juventus, Porto, and PSV Eindhoven. I couldn’t be happier with that draw, and starting the group off by winning 2-0 home to Juve was the dreamland scenario! Scrapped a 1-0 win at Porto on a penalty despite being second best gave us PSV for the next two matches to really cement our position. Winning 2-0 in Holland and 3-0 back home meant we were already qualified after 4 matches on 12 points thanks to Juve being on 7 points and Porto on just 2 points. We finished first place overall, drawing the final match in Italy despite a weakened line-up.

 

I again got a great draw for the Round of 16, landing RB Salzburg. A Tielemans golazo 30 seconds into the tie looked promising, but Salzburg equalized with the last kick of the game to level the tie at 1-1 in Austria. However, we won 3-0 in the return leg with a hat trick from Oshimen. The QF was again favorable, drawing Benfica, because luck is on our side thanks to Blood Money bribes! Two goals inside 7 minutes pushed us to a 5-0 victory at home against Benfica, thanks to a hat trick from Callum Wilson. I rotated heavily with the FA Cup Semifinals after the second leg, and got whalloped 3-0. I started Dubravka in this match to be nice to him, and he was so bad I hooked him after the third goal for Kelleher. It was the right decision, apparently!

 

Semifinals we again got the lucky draw, getting Inter (who upset Bayern) instead of landing Liverpool or Arsenal. I again had a huge first leg at home, winning 4-1 on the back of a hat trick from Saint-Maximin. This was a closer tie though. His penalty to make it 2-0 came in the 81’. Oshimen then scored two minutes later. Inter pulled one back in the 90th, only for ASM to get his hat trick in the 3rd minute of stoppage time for the huge advantage. Grounded out the away leg, losing just 1-0 to set up a shocking appearance in the Finals… sadly, against Liverpool. So naturally, we got absolutely humped 5-0. Embarrassing performance, but hey, we made the Finals!

 

 

The Cups

Spoiler

League Cup yet again saw us face off with Liverpool in the Semifinals for the second year running, after winning @QPR, @ Brentford, and @ Blackburn. Liverpool have been my bogey team. They won 2-1 at our ground thanks to a late penalty that I can’t believe was a penalty, and then 4-2 at Anfield. Oh well.

 

The FA Cup started easy with victories at Hull City and Millwall, before a tricky 5th Round tie away to red hot Wolves. They came back from 2-0 down to equalize, but we won 4-2 thanks to another Wilson goal and a late 4th from ASM. It meant the Quarterfinals were home to the also red hot Everton, but a hat trick from Oshimen saw us thump Everton, 5-1. Semifinals against Chelsea, a team who did the double on us in the league and the form team in England. It was an incredibly tight match with a bunch of saves, but we won it 2-1 thanks to Wilson and Diaz goals. That put us in the Finals against Southampton, and no nice story for the little guys! We crushed them 4-0 with 3 goals in 7 minutes, two of them from set pieces. Second FA Cup victory in a row, hurrah! 

 

 

Future Plans

 

Spoiler

Because I apparently like to sign a player ahead of the season, Jude Bellingham is coming in the summer on a big money move. My plan is to sell Youri Tielemans on, as he was always only a back-up choice anyways. Pep Guardiola wants him at Juve, so hoping I can get good money for him. Jamal Lascelles is sadly moving on as well. He’s a free transfer, always complaining about wanting a new challenge, and is only a 2 star CB. Might as well let him go, and I’ll still have Calum Chambers as my 4th choice CB, or one of the younger prospects. I’ll be in the hunt for another English/HG left back to upgrade over Jamal Lewis, and potentially upgrade at keeper over Kelleher. Hoping an attacking midfield 3 of Diaz-Musiala-ASM actually get to play together in 24/25, although I’ll be in the market for an English depth option there as well to make sure I’m still keeping good on the HGs for the Champions League. After a disastrous second half of the season, Nico Williams may get moved on if I get a good offer for him. Same with Trincao, as I can always easily upgrade over both men. 

 

[JasonM]

34/35 season, last season had the wildest second part with so many goals being scored that my head spun three times. Now with a full season, time to see if we can make it happen across a full season!

PS: Serie A + Cup + Supercup + Champions League == The worst fixture congestion I had ever experienced. At the end of the season I had a singular calendar week where I had 3 games in 5 days, just utterly nuts...

First off, the Supercup. AKA the "We go to a dodgy nation and play for a lot of money, cup". We won it, 5-0 in Shanghai against Juventus, get merced you old crone!
Secondly, the Italian Cup. Italy is easy in that European teams get drawn into the quarter finals, so we only have to play 4 games (two-headed semi finals, for some reason) if we won. We did win, quite handily at that, beating Torino, Inter, and Atalanta respectively in a rivalry bonanza.
Thirdly, that pesky league... Juventus is a monster, but I was a bigger one (when my goalie wasn't leaking insane amounts of preventable goals.) The congestion late in the season messed with us, BAD, but we managed to pull through in the end to win the league with 1 point difference. On an utterly insane 137-42 goal difference, breaking a record from the 40s which stood at 125, twelve goals to spare, this club is just insane...

The silly part of it all, despite shattering the goal record, Juve's striker got 43 goals and Sesko 'only' got 32, so even in record breaking action Juve always have to take away the shine from me... But to hell with it, we beat them at every single turn and that's what truly matters.

PS: the congestion is utterly nuts in Italy. Not only do you need to play 38 games, the league starts in the final days of August, and there's a two week winter break. So the crunch got so bad at one point that we had to play a game against Inter during an international break, where 5 of my players were from the academy because we couldn't fill out a match day squad.

And now finally the big one. Last season sucked, we struggled, seemed to get better, then Liverpool curbstomped our teeth out in the quarter finals with a complete blowout. This year I wanted it to be different. WIth the potential on this team, the only thing I would accept is scoring shitloads of goals and making it further than Liverpool.

Spoiler: We achieved both those goals.

25-7 in a group against Ajax, Zenit, Pardubice. Poor Pardubice got annihilated by the rest, and I ran into the next round without much issue other than Ajax grinding out a draw against me (at that point the first non-win of the season).
1st KO, West Ham. I am wary of British clubs, they're just too broken in this, but we somehow managed to win 1-3 and then stomp them 6-1 at home to confirm our goalscoring ability (and our inability to keep a clean sheet).
Quarter Finals - Dinamo Kyiv, so far so good. we won 4-0 and 6-1 against them as we swept them aside.
Semi Finals - Liverpool Vs. Leicester on one side, Milan Vs. Bayern on the other side. Whatever way it would go, an English team would once again make it to a goddamn CL final in this cursed game.

Both first games were 2-2. Then we went down 2 against Bayern in the return away from home, and some black magic assists from my backup right back put us at 2-2 before my notoriously leaky goalkeeper clutched the penalty series, every dog has his day and he picked the right time to show up when it mattered... And to my surprise, Leicester clutched a 2-3 win at Anfield to punch their second finals in three years.

Finals time, Millenium Stadium. Put in my Welsh midfielder I took from Man Utd as a super backup (6'6 Midfielder who can play all across the middle.), seemed appropriate and he'd give me a defensive edge. And I needed it as Leicester started strong, played hard and cagey, and made us struggle as much as we did against Bayern. No goals, though, as Pinardi for the second CL game in a row decided to show up and earn his keep with 9 saves! And when it seemed guaranteed we'd go to extra time, my substitute winger played a poor pass that was bobbled by the Leicester defense and Lorenzo Lucca pounced on it to get us a 1-0 win in the dying minutes.

My first ever quadruple in FM history, in the bag. Insane scoring, breaking the goalscoring record in both the Serie A (137 Vs. 125) and the Champions League (49 Vs. 45). None of my players getting a scoring or assist trophy, and my goddamn curse of a GK winning best goalie of the CL because he decided to show up and get paid in the two games that mattered most in the end.

Too bad you're still getting replaced with 36yo Donnarumma next season, lad.

Whew... I need a drink. If anybody wants some screenshots of players, tactics, and the lot. I can abide when I recover from the rollercoaster ride that was the most insane season of FM I have ever had.

[Twist]

Took Austria Vienna to the Europa League final in the second season of a game. Lost 1-0 to Atalanta. Devastated.

[Twist]

On 23/04/2022 at 04:02, Twist said:

Took Austria Vienna to the Europa League final in the second season of a game. Lost 1-0 to Atalanta. Devastated.

I followed this up by … losing in the Europa League final again. This time to Arsenal.

Both times the deep European run has left my squad falling apart in the league towards the latter stages and RB Salzburg romping away both times despite winning the initial league stage.

Won the Austrian Cup twice though, so yay?

[Malenko]

3 minutes ago, Twist said:

I followed this up by … losing in the Europa League final again. This time to Arsenal.

Both times the deep European run has left my squad falling apart in the league towards the latter stages and RB Salzburg romping away both times despite winning the initial league stage.

Won the Austrian Cup twice though, so yay?

That was a really fast season!

[Twist]

1 minute ago, Malenko said:

That was a really fast season!

I’m waiting for a new job to start and recently separated from my wife. I have a lot of time on my hands.