Football Manager 2011

[cmb211087]

Having got my team into League 2, my board decided to completely strip down my wage budget so I lost most of my staff. I then went into admin before the season even started so had -10 points. 2 games, 2 wins though and we sit on -4. The journey from BSN to Premier League continues!

[Whisper]

Enjoying a decent start to my Reading game. 2nd in the Championship after 7 games with Villa away to come in the League Cup 3rd Round. Brought in Seamus Coleman and Magnus Eikrem on loan and both are awesome, and signed Mphela (I forget his first name), the South African forward, who has banged in 5 in 6.

Enjoying it so far, though we're not winning games comfortably. I'll be more than happy if we can hang around the playoffs considering the board just want a top half finish. Just lost my best player, Matt Mills, to injury for 8 week though, which could scupper my plans.

But enjoying FM again is a good thing, or a bad thing depending on how you look at it!

[Benji]

So, I found my flaw at Leicester - my backroom staff. I've started a game by firing all but one of them and my team is performing to a tremendous level.

My one 'thing' with every Leicester game is that I sign one of our classic players, this time it was Robbie Savage... from Derby. Okay, so we're local rivals, but the guy was a hero to the Foxes fans and he is a great back up captain, but for some reason the fans don't like him despite several strong performances. My fellow fans are morons.

[TCO]

It's Robbie Savage though, I'm sure his own mother even thinks he's a bit of a tosser.

[Hobo]

In FM10 he used to go to Ireland a lot. 38 year old Robbie Savage was quite useful to my struggling St Pats

[9 to 5]

Robbie Savage is fucking awesome.

[Szumi]

FM10 was the first of the series I ever played, and loved it. Having troubles getting into 11 so far though. Been playing a MLS game with Philadelphia Union, and it's irritating the piss out of me. Whenever I try to acquire someone with a trade/player exchange, the deal keeps falling through because the deal would somehow push me over my salary cap. The problem? The player's contract is only 800 a week, and I am currently 1,000 under. The player being exchanged has a 3K a week salary. In no way, shape, or form, does this make any sense at all.

[stokeriño]

First season of my retro and/or time-travel game complete...

Farnborough Town 01/02

* Finished 3rd in the Conference. W23 D10 L9 (79 points).

Had a couple of good cup runs. I squeezed a fair amount of cash out of replays.

* Reached Third Round of the FA Cup.

- Ashton United 0 - 2 Farnborough (Qualifying Round)

- Farnborough 3 - 0 Margate (First Round)

- Bristol City 1 - 1 Farnborough (Second Round)

- Farnborough 2 - 1 Bristol City (Second Round Replay)

- Farnborough 1 - 1 Bradford City (Third Round)

- Bradford City 5 - 1 Farnborough (Third Round Replay)

* Reached Southern Final of the Vans Trophy.

- Farnborough 3 - 2 Swansea City (South First Round)

- Farnborough 2 - 1 Queens Park Rangers (South Second Round)

- Farnborough 1 - 0 Dagenham & Redbridge (South Quarter Final)

- Southend 0 - 1 Farnborough (South Semi Final)

- Cardiff City 3 - 1 Farnborough (South Final 1st Leg)

- Farnborough 3 - 2 Cardiff City (South Final 2nd Leg, 4-5 agg.)

* Reached Second Round of the FA Trophy.

- Farnborough 1 - 2 Hereford United (Second Round)

Made a profit of approximately £250,000 this season...since I didn't actually spend anything. Total club balance is now about £550,000.

Other winners of note...

Manchester United won the Premier League, finishing above Liverpool on goal difference.

Millwall won the First Division, with Portsmouth also securing automatic promotion. Derby won the play-offs.

Cardiff City won the Second Division, followed by QPR. Wigan won the play-offs.

Oxford City won the Third Division, with Hull and Swansea also promoted. Wrexham won the play-offs.

Doncaster Rovers won the Conference to get promoted.

Liverpool beat Sunderland 3-0 to lift the League Cup. They were then denied a domestic cup double after losing 1-0 to Leeds in the FA Cup final.

Barcelona won the Champions League, 1-0 over Roma. Inter Milan won the UEFA Cup with a 3-0 win over Valencia.

Real Madrid won the Spanish league. Bayern Leverkusen in Germany. Auxerre in France. PSV in Holland. Roma in Italy. Benfica in Portugal. Celtic in Scotland.

I suppose I'd better start thinking about how to improve my squad now... ¬_¬

[Twist]

FM10 was the first of the series I ever played, and loved it. Having troubles getting into 11 so far though. Been playing a MLS game with Philadelphia Union, and it's irritating the piss out of me. Whenever I try to acquire someone with a trade/player exchange, the deal keeps falling through because the deal would somehow push me over my salary cap. The problem? The player's contract is only 800 a week, and I am currently 1,000 under. The player being exchanged has a 3K a week salary. In no way, shape, or form, does this make any sense at all.

Maybe the team you're dealing with will end up over budget? The AI will accept transfer regardless of this and then BOOM! they get cancelled and screw your plans up.

[Szumi]

Naw, it says the transfer would send my team over the salary cap, not theirs. I figured maybe FM was just making a mistake, but looking into their salary, it didn't seem to send theirs over either.

[Gazz]

Started a journeyman game and my first port of call (literally) is Vladivostock with these boys.

Started out with 5 straight defeats, on the bright side, it's doing wonders for my frequent flyer miles.

[Benji]

Started a journeyman myself yesterday and chose to make it only english speaking countries (which was England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Australia and USA if I recall rightly) since I dislike being a new manager having to prove himself AND having to deal with the communication barrier. So I set away and applied for the first job... not too shabby, I got Hereford in League 2, much better than I was expecting since I've basically only got an expectation of "don't get relegated" in all competitions, so I've got a good chance of over achieving in my first season and minimal chance of being fired.

Sooo... signed myself on for a two year deal rather than one and chose to give myself a pay cut in exchange for the longer contract. Had a rough time in the friendlies against several teams who were clearly above me and finished with a W/L/D record of 1-1-4, all losses by a one goal margin, so I'm not too fussed. Tonight I get to dive into the league and test a couple of strikers I signed for depth. With all my will... the Bulls will rise the league!

(or not)

[Rocky]

I'm still at Umedalens and am about a third of the way through season 2.

Still in 2nd spot via Goal difference.

I have the best defence in the league having only conceded 3 goals but I also have one of the worst attacks having only scored 9.

Does anyone have any pointers on how to get your guys to score?

They don't seem to shoot when need be. The always look to shot from in the box.

I've tried "Shoot on Sight" to no avail. I have 2 upfront (One advanced, one support) with an AM pushing up from behind.

[Hobo]

Try training them on their attacking a bit more.

I've got AFC Wimbledon 3 points of a League 2 automatic promotion spot. Reuben Noble-Lazarus has come on loan from our parent club Barnsley. He's been impressive, with a goal and an assist in 2 games. Mark Quigley has been signed from Bohemians after a trial, and I'm looking to sell Elvis Hammond, who isn't too happy about it.

[db07]

Downloaded someones English expansion leagues that goes down to level 10 of England.... Started a game as FC United. Currently holding 5 place in the Evo-Stick League Premier Position, hoping to get to Blue Square N/S.

[Gazz]

This is why I love these games, still in Siberia, last game of the season, need to win to stay up or get a point and hope the team above me lose.

3rd minute - 1-0 down. Going down.

22nd minute - 2-0. Going down badly. Switch to a 3-2-5 overload formation.

44th minute - 2-1. Still going down but camped in their half.

60th minute - Team above me goes 1-0 down. Still going down.

81st minute - 2-2. I'm staying up

84th minute - Team above me equalize. I'm going down.

92nd minute - Team above me concede. I'm staying up on head to head games.

94th minute - Safe!

Unfortunately this means I now have to spend the winter in Siberia... >_<

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Really enjoying a Bayern game I started last night now. I've signed Van Der Wiel for £2.9M, Park Ji-Sung for £4, some 16 year old striker a scout highly recommended for £800,000 and Macheda on a season long-loan. Have also appointed Cesare Maldini and Olivier Bierhoff as scouts. The only downer in the transfer market being that the board are quite tight when it comes to wages.

I've had four competitive games so far and four wins; a 3-0 win over some minnows in the German cup, a 2-1 home win over Wolfsburg, a 1-0 away win against Hannover, and a 2-1 home win vs. Schalke.

However, I expect the winning streak to come to an end in the Champions League. I'm the same group as Real Madrid, Dynamo Kiev and Cluj! Next match is Madrid away.

[stokeriño]

Why is it that the player I track for ages and spend a decent amount of money on ends up being mediocre/poor, while the players I buy in a last minute "ohshitIneedanotherAMC/GK/etc." rush for really cheap end up being awesome?

I don't know whether to feel good about this or not...

[Benji]

Are you relying on scouts? If so, get new scouts, if not, start relying on them

Hereford are getting boring. I want to start a second Journey Man game, what are the best nations/leagues to use from people's experience? I'm looking at some more obscure leagues so I can try and get a European championship place to boost reputations somewhat faster.

[Rocky]

Eastern Europe... I always love playing there. On FM10 I loaded up all the Eastern European/Former Yugoslavian leagues I could Download and played a journeyman within those nations... Started at the bottom of Montenegro and eventually got into the first division of the Croatian League. Then other things came up and I left it.

I'm not sure if any has done those leagues for FM11 yet but it's a different game there almost.