Football Manager 2007

[Farmer Reil]

Stephen Ireland has been hailed as 'the next Eamon Dunphy' by the media...

So, he's going to have a bland career in England, before buggering off back to Ireland to do absolutely nothing, then become a journalist and radio host? ¬_¬

[estebanmon]

I got bored of Villareal, so I started a new game with Mansfield again.

With the patch, the money-sucking guy is gone, and it seems everyone's salaries were raised and the team was still crap. After a few signings, and a few firings, we're back in buisiness. We beat the Arsenal reserves, by the way. And we beat something-borough 1-0 on our starting game and stole a tie from the team that's supposed to win the league at the 93rd minute.

Mansfield rocks. Even IF the strikers can hardly hit the ball on target and all other strikers available suck. And having only 6k of my transfer budget left doesn't help things. All I need is a striker, because one got injured and the other scored on the first game and now he won't be able to score for like 10 games.

Oh, and not like this is important, but out of the 18 guys in the under 18 team, 1 is actually pretty good.

[Steeb]

That was awesome.

Last day of the season. Top three places are cemented, it comes down to five teams fighting for the fourth spot in that last match: Aston Villa [Me], Liverpool, Wigan, West Ham and Man City. We had to win to get 4th. Anything less, and one of the others took it. Final match? Against Bolton. Shit.

Anelka puts them 1-0 up. And then 2-0 up. Top Goalscorer of the season showing why. Second Half, I make no changes, just change to All Out Attack. Delgado draws me one back. Berger follows it up in the 82nd. I figure that at least I tried, and UEFA Cup is nothing to be sniffed at for my first season there.

93rd minute, Carew scores. 94th, Bent scores. I win 4-2 and take the 4th spot. I proceed to shout and dance. I love this game.

[Gazz]

What is the main benefit of tutoring? Is it to pass on preferred moves? See if it is, then I might as well have Caiuby learn from Diego Tardelli when he's finished tutoring my 16 year old striker, Ferreira. Since Caiuby doesn't know any preferred moves and Tardelli has a few.

Anyone able to expand on what's passed on etc. and how regularly it will work and does it fail etc.?

They do pass on preferred moves, and as many kids start with a balanced personality, tutoring can give them the same personality traits as their mentor.

Its also more sucessful if they already have similar personalities. I once tried to make a 'model professional' tutor a temperamental Chilean youngster and the kid refused the offer, so I shipped him off to Russia for the winter. That'll teach him!

EDIT: Oh, and if the learning experience goes well, they both become one of each others favoured personnel.

Edited May 12, 2007 by gazzpriest

[therockbox]

This Premiership lark isn't as hard as it looks >_>

Started the season with a 4-0 win away at Newcastle, and haven't really looked back. Couple of minor hiccups against Everton (1-2) and Man Utd (0-1), but I've also beat Chelsea 3-0.

My chairman decided to sell my top striker on deadline day, leaving me no time at all to bring in a replacement. Luckily my attacking midfielder has been chipping in with goals, so hopefully he can keep that up.

My reserves are through to the fourth round of the League Cup after 1-0 wins over Liverpool and Hull, both away.

Only good thing about selling my best player is that I've now got a £13m transfer budget, so I might actually be able to sign a good right winger.

[Summers]

Nicely done, what's yr squad?

[therockbox]

GK: Ian Beavers. Signed him from Liverpool for £1.6m after six years in the reserves without an appearence. Solid so far, but his eccentricity rating is 16 so I'm waiting for the mistakes. 11 games, 7.18 average rating.

DR: Jean-Michel Hamel. Had him on loan from Newcastle last season, and they've let me take him back again. Not bad, but I'm looking for someone whose less of a cunt. 6.75 over 9 games.

DL: Blake Dunphy. My most expensive signing for Forest at £2.7m from Man City. Can play at LM as well. 7.38 over 8 games.

DC: Ryan Shawcross. Starts off the game in the Man Utd reserves. Went to Villa in 2012 after doing nothing (there's no history between 2007 and 2012), played 14 games over five years until I bought him for £120k. Been amazing ever since, can't remember him having a bad game. 11 games, 7.91 average rating.

DC: Danny Sweeney. Bought him as a replacement after my chairman sold my other CB in January last season, looked shaky at first in the Prem but his average rating is now 7.70 over 10 games

MR: Ferreira. Nothing spectacular, only here by default really. 6.90 over 10 games.

ML: Vidar Eriksen. Signed him in January last season for £200k from some Swedish team. Not bad, but Fiorentina want him and have already offered £1m for him. I'll probably sell in January. 6.82 over 9 games.

MC: Denilson (the Arsenal onel). On loan from Everton, was put in the reserves after I left them and had only played in cup games since. Getting on a bit (30) but I'd like to sign him permanantly.

MC: Benjamin El-Labban. Got him from Brondby for £500k, again in January of last season. Wasn't great in the Championship, so I'm surprised to see him doing well in the Prem. 7.27 over 11 apps.

FC: Cedric Evena. Signed him on a free when I arrived at Forest, now worth £4m. Five goals in 10 games, average rating of 7.40

FC: Marco Perrone. Signed him from Villa for just under a million. Disappointing really, 6.80 rating over 9 games with only 2 goals.

Outside of the first team we're pretty limited, really. Any injuries, especially in defence, and I think we'll slide down the table.

In my youth team I've got a 17 year old whose described as the next John Terry. I signed him at 16 for £1.5m, which is too much for a team with our finances - but his stats are as good as most CB's in the lower half of the table.

[Summers]

Those I know look quite good. Surprised yr top, to be honest, with that team.

[Xero Gravity]

I wonder if Southgate knew Castromán was a schizo before he wasted over £8M on him

[J.Vengeance]

First Season as blyth spartans wasnt too bad, got a club link to newcastle, and secured a mid table finish, next season i need to try and push towards play-off, meanwhile im getting rid of most of my players due to some of them being really shit all season

[Farmer Reil]

I heart John Wardle.

I'm 7th in the Premiership with Man City, and as soon as the January transfer window opened, I asked for money for transfers. I wasn't quiet expecting £7.5mil. Woot.

So now I can maybe make DaMarcus Beasley's move permanent (he hasn't been brilliant so far, but his stats are good enough...), and find a striker that can score (Vassell is on fire, so it's not a huge problem, but Samaras and Corradi are in shite form).

Edit: Holy shit. At the start of the season, the chairman wanted me to avoid relegation. Well, I think it's safe to say I'm going to manage that.

Champion's League? Yer 'avin a laugh!

Vassell is currently the 3rd top scorer (behind Johnson and Henry) with 14, and Distin is the top-rated player in the Premiership, and also has the most MoM awards.

My only signings so far (apart from Rickie Lambert ¬_¬) have been Danny Murphy and some striker from Luton who's name escapes me. Oh, and some French guy from a Conference North team that my scout said would be good in the future.

I'm trying to offload Corradi (Samaras has finally started scoring), but nobody wanted him in January. Sinclair is going to be off soon too, because he's shite and the fans keep saying he's past it (and I keep agreeing). Ben Thatcher might also go, because he's far too expensive for his ability, but he's my only half-decent left back.

Edited May 13, 2007 by Farmer Reil

[estebanmon]

I got bored of Mansfield quite quickly and started a game with Villa at random.Then I remembered the takeover. Now I can replace the nobodies on the team with some better names with my $38 million budget.

I hired a bunch of cheap prospects from south america (around 2k each) and sent them all to Poland to get a citizenship.They have good stats for 17 and 18 year olds.

I also bought a very good keeper with just 1 eccentrity and all other stats over 15, except kicking which is 9 and one-on-ones which is 11. Still, he's only 23 so in a few years he can replace that 33 year old that Villa have. The other one can die for all I care.

I tried getting Farfan from PSV too, but he asked for like $72k salary, so I rejected him right away. He was supposed to replace my injured striker, but at that price tag, I might as well get Babel from Ajax, which I tried but he got a 6 month injury when I offered for him.

[Summers]

Villa don't start with a 33 year old keeper.

[Hajjhowe]

Hmm, just started a game with Dinamo Kiev. This will probably seem really stupid, but how do you delete e-mails/messages?

Also, anyone else take some 'big' clubs from smaller leagues to see if they could lead them anywhere? It seems like most of you just grab English teams (Which is understandable, really).

Edited May 13, 2007 by Hajjhowe

[Big Red Fury]

Hmm, just started a game with Dinamo Kiev. This will probably seem really stupid, but how do you delete e-mails/messages?

Also, anyone else take some 'big' clubs from smaller leagues to see if they could lead them anywhere? It seems like most of you just grab English teams (Which is understandable, really).

[Hajjhowe]

Yeah. I have a feeling I'm not going to like them very much

So, anyone able to tell me how to delete old, read messages?

[EddieG]

Hmm, just started a game with Dinamo Kiev. This will probably seem really stupid, but how do you delete e-mails/messages?

[Farmer Reil]

I'm always picking obscure leagues, usually Finland or Slovenia. My Man City game is the first English game I've ever started, outside of the Conference South, since CM01-02.

As for deleting emails, you don't/can't. They stay there. New emails are yellow though, so it's easy to tell if you've got new ones. And it won't let you 'forget' anything you *have* to deal with, like player registration or decision deadlines. The colour of the 'lights' next to the email is different depending on the action required.

Green = no possible action (most messages).

Yellow = action possible but not required (appealing against bans, responding to media comments, etc).

Red = action required (squad numbers, player registration, etc).

As for my Man City game... it all sorta fell apart. I started drawing against teams like Sheffield United and Blackburn (no offence, 9to5, but you were 19th. I should be beating you ). And then my last six games of the season were absolutely horrible:

Bolton, away. Managed by Sven Goran Eriksson in his first game in charge. Won 4-0 in something of a shocker.

Liverpool, at home. Lost 2-0, despite creating tonnes of chances.

Chelsea, away. Hah. Lost 5-0. In terms of average rating, Dunn and Distin are the best centre-back pairing in the Premiership. But they might as well have stayed at home. Shevy, Drogba and, later on, Toni just helped themselves.

Manchester United, at home. Shock 5-1 win, as Daniel Sturridge (who's only playing because everyone else is injured) nails a hattrick on his first-team debut. Ferguson was fired as a direct result (I like to think) of this match, as United sank to 7th.

Arsenal, away. Lost 2-0 to a Baptista double. Annoyed, as we beat them at the Emirates.

West Ham, away. This is the Tevez-and-Spud-on-form West Ham, so still scary, and 10th before the game. Won 2-1, after leading for 80 minutes via a first-minute goal, before Tevez scored in the 79th. I was THIS CLOSE to sueing the FA, when Dean Morgan (the guy I signed from Luton who's name I forgot in my last post) scored his second to give us the win.

Still only good enough for 7th overall though. But still, that makes me a God in the blue half of Manchester.

Arsenal win the title, with Chelsea and Liverpool joining them in the Champion's league.

Tottenham get 4th and the UEFA Cup slot.

Arsenal won the League cup, so that'll give Everton a UEFA Cup place for finishing 5th.

The FA Cup final is Chelsea vs Fulham, which is a real arse because Fulham are 8th, so will get the other UEFA Cup spot even if Chelsea win.

So that leaves the Intertoto Cup as my only route to Europe. I'm assuming Manchester United didn't apply... surely it would be beneath them? Which would leave me as the highest-ranked team not yet in Europe. Huzzah.

Oooh, and 7th is good for £8.25mil prize money. Nice.

Relegated, by the way, were Watford (relegated after 32 games, with 18pts), Sheffield United and Blackburn. Blackburn needed a miracle; Reading to lose three games, two of which were agaisnt Sheffield United and Watford, and Blackburn to win all theirs, which included Arsenal away and Liverpool away. Precisely none of those things happened.

Edit54: Well, colour me fucking gutted. United DID apply for the Intertoto. So I get fuck all

Edited May 13, 2007 by Farmer Reil

[Farmer Reil]

Double post, but fuck it, the other one is long enough ¬_¬

It turns out, that we were allocated an extra place due to the Sporting Play table. So United qualify for the UEFA Cup automatically, and Spurs are in the Champions League.

Which means we're in the Intertoto! Yeah!

Is it bad that Intertoto Cup qualification is my greatest achievement ever in FM?

Edit: No, wait, I got that all kinds of wrong. The official word from the screen that pops up at the end of the season is:

Chelsea qualify for the CL automatically due to winning it.

That's why Spurs are in the CL.

Which is why United are automatically in the UEFA Cup.

Portsmouth qualify for the Intertoto, despite finishing tenth (so obviously Villa didn't apply...).

I get into the Intertoto via the Sporting Play draw because despite having Ben Thatcher AND Joey Barton, I was somehow the best disciplined team ¬_¬. Apparently that is better than being the highest-ranked Intertoto team in the league.

Whatever, I'm in Europe, I'm happy

Edited May 13, 2007 by Farmer Reil

[9 to 5]

My best is winning the Scottish cup with one season stop-over with Celtic, so no. >_>

That said, beating Rovers is the ultimate challenge surely?