Football Manager 2008

[IAceI]

Who are you?

[SilentBob2004]

I'm playing as Arsenal, in the first season. Couldnt afford Akinfeev, so i've been trying to get Ustari as everyone seems to rave about him!

[IAceI]

What does he say? The offer isn't good enough but he's open to negotiate?

EDIT: What season are you in? As he just joined Getafe didn't he? So no matter what you throw at him, it'll be a while before he moves.

Edited April 23, 2008 by IAceI

[SilentBob2004]

I offer him a decent amount first time around (around £40,000 a week), but he comes back and says that he wants a longer contract and for more money, so i bump it up to a 5 year £60,000 contract and he comes back and says he wants bonuses. I give him all the bonuses (Appearance,Clean Sheet etc) and he says he wants them bigger, I bump them all up to the max (with now £80,000 a week!!!) and he rejects it saying talks have broken down. I put in a new £4.1m offer in, and the same thing happens!

[SilentBob2004]

Edit: Double Post!

Edited April 23, 2008 by SilentBob2004

[Fire Storm]

Ustari is way too crazy for anybody to use legitimately, he has his good games but he's usually unreliable. Akinfeev costs about £30+ million in this game which is madness. Personally I'd go for Ben Foster when he returns from injury, fantastic stats and still young, but maybe I'm biased because he helped Wrexham win the LDV Trophy

[SilentBob2004]

How much can you get Foster for? Mite have to be next season, cos I've only got £5.5m left for this campaign.

Already signed Barzagli, Wright Phillips, Matias Fernandez, and Lulinha (arriving next season)

Also, anyone know how good Almunia is on the 8.0.2 version? His stats are a lot better than the last version, I usually sell him to Man City who always want him, but he always plays a blinder when they play us. Is he worth hanging on to, and should I play him ahead of Lehmann?

[Fire Storm]

I'm not too sure, but in the second or third season a mate of mine tried buying him as Middlesbrough but Utd rejected all his offers including a £19m one.

Lehmann is best to play IMO, Almunia is, again, unreliable, at least Lehmann produces somewhat decent performances. Kameni is a good Keeper too, although he's got a new contract now, he might still sign for you, althought it could cost more than £5.5m.

[IAceI]

Have a look at Kanemi. Not sure how he compares in the long run, just checked him out now and his stats seem alright. I'm championing him a bit in reality, want to see him come to the Premiership at some point as he looks like a great goalkeeper. He's 2 years older than Ustari, but 'Keepers last a long time.

If not open up the editor and recreate a combination of Jacques Songo'o and Jose Molina - if that was real Deportivo would never have conceded a goal.

Kanemi's a bit mad, but... he's awesome ¬_¬

EDIT: Freaky. I was typing about Kanemi before the above poster even begun editing his post. Must be fate.

Edited April 23, 2008 by IAceI

[Sick N Twisted]

I just offered Ustari what he asked for...he was with Getafe but Getafe got relegated, so maybe that's why he joined me.

Edited April 23, 2008 by Sick N Twisted

[SilentBob2004]

How weird, I tried to get Ustari one last time and he took the first contract i offered him!!! Got him coming in January! Yay!

[IAceI]

LET ME HAVE A FREAKING PARENT CLUB. CLEARLY I NEED A DECENT TEAM TO GIVE ME SOME PLAYERS ON LOAN AND GIVE ME SOME MONEY. WHY THE HELL ARE THE BOARD SO FUCKING RETARDED?

Argh. Fuck them.

[Fire Storm]

So, an update on my current main game.

I had a poor run of 13 games without a win, then thrashed Sunderland 3-0. A decent run of 4 games without a loss followed and hope of avoiding the drop was gradually returning as we sat 19th just 3 points from safety, then Man Utd come to Pride Park and we get torn apart and lose 4-1, I made plans during the match and realised what our flaw was all season, we never used the wings, I tweaked the formation during the game and we seemed more alive by using the wingers more, but immediately after the game, I'm fired.

So I spent 2 months awaiting a job, only one club came to me though and I didn't like the thought of such a drop, so I applied for Cardiff, Udinese, Espanyol, Lazio and Fiorentina, nobody wanted me. Then the TNS job came up after they had a rocky season and finished 4th, well below the capabilites of them, so I applied and was appointed as the manager, so after releasing 20 (yes, 20) of the original TNS squad, I signed a few Premiership youngsters who were released for free, and have rebuilt my team, and now begins the climb back to the top for TNS, currently our friendlies have been horrific however, doesn't help when your entire first team are on holiday when the first friendly of the season comes along so you play a team of terrible regens.

So the lazy bastards are all struggling with fitness ever since returning, I'm lucky to get somebody with 80% fitness for a game right now, its bloody terrible.

Anyway, hopefully we'll put this preseason behind us and get a good season.

[Dont Fear The Reaper]

So, an update on my current main game.

I had a poor run of 13 games without a win, then thrashed Sunderland 3-0. A decent run of 4 games without a loss followed and hope of avoiding the drop was gradually returning as we sat 19th just 3 points from safety, then Man Utd come to Pride Park and we get torn apart and lose 4-1, I made plans during the match and realised what our flaw was all season, we never used the wings, I tweaked the formation during the game and we seemed more alive by using the wingers more, but immediately after the game, I'm fired.

So I spent 2 months awaiting a job, only one club came to me though and I didn't like the thought of such a drop, so I applied for Cardiff, Udinese, Espanyol, Lazio and Fiorentina, nobody wanted me. Then the TNS job came up after they had a rocky season and finished 4th, well below the capabilites of them, so I applied and was appointed as the manager, so after releasing 20 (yes, 20) of the original TNS squad, I signed a few Premiership youngsters who were released for free, and have rebuilt my team, and now begins the climb back to the top for TNS, currently our friendlies have been horrific however, doesn't help when your entire first team are on holiday when the first friendly of the season comes along so you play a team of terrible regens.

So the lazy bastards are all struggling with fitness ever since returning, I'm lucky to get somebody with 80% fitness for a game right now, its bloody terrible.

Anyway, hopefully we'll put this preseason behind us and get a good season.

[insert Jeff Stelling Joke Here]

Anyway, In my Derby game, I managed to get us relegated...a horrible final four games against Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Spurs meant 4 consecutive defeats and this, I finished 20th

Just beginning in the championship now, I won all 4 of my friendlies including a win against Inter Milan !

[IAceI]

I roll into the last 5 games of the season in 12th out of 18. Meaning the predicted mid-table obscurity prediction is about to come true as I will have a spectacularly average season at the end of it all for the second year in a row.

Being 12th sounds great and all, especially when theres only one automatic relegation place. Unfortunately 14, 15, 16 and 17 have a play out. With two more teams going down. I don't fancy playing in that and after finishing mid table last year after I was told I would finish bottom, I'm all for a mid-table finish once more.

Unfortunately I don't have a particularly amazing run in, but I have just managed to beat Pro Vercelli 2-1 at home. Which is a good result for us. Alto Adige (Away) next who are 5th, followed by Portosummaga (Away) who are 6th, Chiogga (Home) who are 9th, Pavia (Home) who are 3rd and Bellaria (Away) last who are 8th. So not the nicest run in, away matches are always hard and are getting a point is hard enough. Then when my only home matches are Chiogga and Pavia, that's no fun as Pavia will be ridiculously hard. Chiogga is a must win match it seems.

After the season I'm probably going to try and get rid of a lot of dead weight and bring in a whole host of new players. I need a freaking parent club, and we're like £450k in debt. I've ruined our finances as we lost about 37k a month.

Edited April 23, 2008 by IAceI

[Pesci]

Ugh, these games are so fucking shit sometimes. I'm doing absolutely immense in the league, top of the table, haven't lost a game in ages, just beat Man United away and drew with Chelsea and Arsenal away too. Next fixture is Leicester at home, and I lost 1-0. Leicester who hadn't won in 23 games. I don't think I was missing a single first team player. It's clearly because Steve Bruce (Leicester manager) told me he was envious of the talent in my team (a positive comment), so I required saying I was sympathetic of the task he had to keep Leicester up. Somrehow that would make my players angry. In the real world, it's actually impossible for anybody to be offended by that. Yet on FM 07 some of them would get a "slight concern" over it. What the fuck? Fuck off. I'm absolutely seething.

[IAceI]

Pro Vercelli (H ) 2-1 Win

Alto Adige (A ) 2-2 Draw (Lead twice, played well)

Portosummaga (A ) 1-0 Win (Penalty, held on)

Chiogga (H ) 5-2 (Hat-trick for Biggi, two for De Luigi)

Pavia (H ) 1-3 (Put them top, was a tough break but they were better)

Bellaria (A ) 1-1 (93rd minute equaliser kept us in 10th, would have finished 11th otherwise)

A decent season. 12 wins, 9 draws, 13 losses. Quite similar to last season which I think may have been 12-10-12 so not much in it. A lot of players will be leaving this season I believe and I made sure we finished in a respectable position at the end of the year. I've lost all the money but I'm performing to their expectations otherwise. Hopefully we can now start to build for a possible promotion.

The problem is, it's Serie C2/A and teams go up, and down and seem to switch leagues depending on who else gos up and down since A, B and C are all regions I believe. So I play different teams all the time and it could be a bad year, I may get a lot of good teams. So we'll see. Glad the season's over though.

Edited April 23, 2008 by IAceI

[Fire Storm]

The season has started fairly bad for TNS.

First game of the season was Haverfordwest, we drew 1-1, I thought it would just be a slight hitch and we'd brush it off.

Next game against Aberystwyth, lost 3-1, and I'm pissed off at the fact the team just conceded an easy goal in the first minute from a corner.

[SilentBob2004]

I've got too many central midfielders so Denilson and Abou Diaby are crying about having too much competition. Am trying to play them both as much as I can but it'd be easier to sell one of them. Who turns out to be the better player?

[Summers]

Diaby.