Football Manager 2011

[Liam]

Started a new game with Fulham. Was worried by my first game of the season being Chelsea at Craven Cottage. Somehow went and spanked them 3-0. Admittedly they had Hilario in goal, but still.....was a bit of a shock.

[Gazz]

Serious dilemma time. Lyon just bid 5mil for Hargreaves, he's worth £3.6mil and I got him for nothing at the start of the season. He's been playing well but it's Hargreaves he could go down at any second. I've also had a bid accepted for Nigel De Jong for £4.2mil who's worth £5.75mil, a ready made replacement.

Is that worth making the change?

I would, De Jong is younger, probably on less wages and you make a profit on the two deals.

[stokeriño]

The youth would be the deciding factor for me, yeah.

[TCO]

Thanks, accepted the bid from Hargreaves and delayed the De Jong deal a week just in case Hargreaves doesn't want to move.

I will have to break my wage structure though, De JOng wouldn't take anything less than £65,000

[EddieG]

I was about to say, De Jong and cheap wages? He's the highest paid Dutch athlete. ¬_¬

[stokeriño]

Is the following Starting XI good enough for a decent go at the Champions League...? (by which I mean qualify from the Group Stage etc., not win the damn thing...)

GK: Vincent Enyeama

DL: Martin Olsson (not technically signed yet )

DC: Ciaran Clark

DC: Gary Cahill

DR: Brendan Moloney

MC: Charlie Adam

MC: Owen Hargreaves

MC: Henri Lansbury

ST: Salomon Kalou

ST: Robbie Findley

ST: Nassim Ben Khalifa

My immediate reaction is 'no', but I'm not really sure where to prioritise improvements.

[Gazz]

Thanks, accepted the bid from Hargreaves and delayed the De Jong deal a week just in case Hargreaves doesn't want to move.

I will have to break my wage structure though, De JOng wouldn't take anything less than £65,000

You can get him to accept less wages by increasing the agent payment.

For example, £5000 per week over a 4 year contract is £1m, give the agent an extra £250-300k and you make a tidy saving.

[TCO]

I tried that, he wouldn't budge belowe £65,000. It was a decent deal though considering he wanted £105,000 initially. Danny Guthrie and his £16,500 wages are gone to Bolton now, so my wages are still way below budget in case I need to sign somebody else.

[Summers]

Boselli left to join Birmingham City for 10m. They then proceeded to beat me in the first game of the season with Boselli being the star. Fuck.

[The Quasi Juice]

I was about to say, De Jong and cheap wages? He's the highest paid Dutch athlete. ¬_¬

Nope, Robben is the highest paid Dutch player

[TCO]

According to ESPN it's De Jong

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6391145

EDIT: As I typed that Mike Ashley went and sold Ben Arfa over my head to Man Utd for £10mil

Edited May 28, 2011 by The Cool One

[Gazz]

I was about to say, De Jong and cheap wages? He's the highest paid Dutch athlete. ¬_¬

Nope, Robben is the highest paid Dutch player

I dunno, De Jong is on obscene wages at Man City.

[Jimmy]

Is the following Starting XI good enough for a decent go at the Champions League...? (by which I mean qualify from the Group Stage etc., not win the damn thing...)

GK: Vincent Enyeama

DL: Martin Olsson (not technically signed yet )

DC: Ciaran Clark

DC: Gary Cahill

DR: Brendan Moloney

MC: Charlie Adam

MC: Owen Hargreaves

MC: Henri Lansbury

ST: Salomon Kalou

ST: Robbie Findley

ST: Nassim Ben Khalifa

My immediate reaction is 'no', but I'm not really sure where to prioritise improvements.

Sometimes it's really more about your team as a whole thean the individual players. Looking at it, my initial reaction was also no. But in my Ipswich game I was told my squad was worse than any other team we played and I made it to the semi-final. I really think it just rests on the ability of your team to perform as a team. Of course, you need the odd individual to stand out, too.

[Summers]

Right back, centre mid and centre forward is perhaps weakest. Lansbury and Findley could be improved upon maybe?

[Jimmy]

Half way through the season in my West Ham game and I'm sitting quite comfortably at 12th. Was gifted with 5.75m for my January Transfer Window, which I was pleasantly suprised with. I'm trying to shift some of the dead weight in the squad - and there's plenty to get rid of.

Everton are the only team who want Carlton Cole, but are only willing to pay his trasfer fee over 48 months which isn't really any good to me. With Mark Noble injured and Hitzlesperger still out, I need to buy a replacemant centre midfielder becuase I'm fucked if either Parker or O'Niel go down.

I've got Erik Torres coming in half way through the month for a 1.8m fee and I'm looking to sign Wickham for 3m, too. Got to try and keep hold of Demba Ba in this window, despite him wanting to leave.

[Berober]

Well. I broke FM2010. Adriano is playing so well that the fans are -127% happy with him.

Probably helped that I bear Bordeaux 6-1 in the first leg of the first knockout round, when Cuellar Own goaled and then got sent off after I sold him last season. Agen Cuellar strikes again (Y)

[stokeriño]

Signed Danny Welbeck for £3.4m to take Findley's place in my First Eleven. The best thing about him was that he settled for just £38kpw and didn't want a 'match highest earner' clause like most twats seem to these days. Awesome.

I also sold Rob Earnshaw...and my fans now hate me for it. He had one year left on his contract which I wasn't going to renew, given that he was 33 years old and already described as "the 6th best striker in the squad" even before Welbeck signed, which I can only assume means even the 17 year old kid Andy Hunt stood ahead of him. But really the deciding factor was the conclusion that he wouldn't be able to make my 25 Man Squad once Welbeck arrived, so there's no point having me pay £15k per week for him to get unhappy not playing football for a year. It's only kind to let him go, right?

So anyway, newly-promoted Peterborough (lol, so doomed) paid £300k for him, which when added to the £780k I'd save in his wages makes a tidy little sum. But then of course, he is a "fan favourite" and wah wah wah boo-hoo etc. They'll just have to live with it.

[Hobo]

Grosetto the bottom team in Serie A in 2018 and I look forward to playing them if they keep performing the way they are. They've lost 4-1, 6-1, 8-4 and 4-1 in their last four games.

Knowing my luck they'll beat us.

[Gazz]

8-4!

[Guest Neon Noodle]

Nothing like quitting your Lincoln City game months ago because you can't get a win from anywhere, then coming back and immediately winning a JPT game 5-0 (against Carlisle, but still), with Josh O'Keefe scoring a hat-trick - he hasn't even scored three for me in a SEASON before!

The year is 2015, in 20th place in League 1 due to 7 points off 10 games. Was promoted after 2011/12 and have finished 14th or 15th in my three League One seasons so far.