Football Manager 2012

[stokeriño]

MK Dons are in the Championship! (although working to make these guys a success still makes me feel kind of dirty...)

Really barely scraped the League 1 title. With two games left I was only ahead of Sheffield United by virtue of one more goal scored. The next weekend, after half an hour of play the scores were Bournemouth 2 - 0 MK Dons and Sheffield United 1 - 0 Charlton... Final scores? Bournemouth 3 - 4 MK Dons and Sheffield United 2 - 2 Charlton!

So I did have a two point gap heading into the final game, which was away at Sheffield Wednesday. You would think that the "mid-table with nothing to play for" Owls would happily roll over to prevent the Blades from winning the title...did they fuck. Luckily a 1-1 draw was sufficient with United also drawing to, er, someone.

Andi Weimann returns to Aston Villa from his loan. I salute you Andi...and the 41 goals you gave me...you will be missed. (Probably in a very real sense: hello relegation dogfight. ¬_¬)

At least I now have money to spend for the first time ever - £1.5 million transfer budget, to be precise. Sam Hutchinson on a year-long loan will cover up the gaping right-back-shaped hole in my squad nicely. First bit of money splashed was £375,000 on Jake Bidwell from Everton (but he only wanted £475pw wages and is still better than my current players so WHAT THE HELL). Have also brought Nathan Doyle in on a free from Barnsley; the MK fans dislike this for some reason. Do you think the game makes the fans remember that he was arrested on suspicion of cocaine possession? I dunno.

Going to be a task to find a good poacher/striker though. Those on offer for loans are shit and those for sale typically want wages of at least twice my £3,500pw limit. Oh if only Aston Villa would care to loan Andi back again...but they won't. Swines.

And finally, the Dons have just finished an entirely unnecessary upgrade to thestadium:mk's capacity, which admittedly was pre-programmed into the game because it's just happened in real life. I mean sure, we managed 21,000 for our FA Cup replay against Stoke City, but average attendance last year was ~9,000. So the ground needed to be increased to 32,000...why? :/

[Dingle]

Stok, it's all about the 4-6-0, even with MK Dons.

[Baddar]

Promising start to season 2...

A 3-1 win at OT against Chelsea, including a Fernando Llorente goal on his debut after coming off the bench.

I then drew 0-0 away at Newcastle - I'll take that as they're a bit of a bogey team for me.

And my last game yesterday was a 3-2 AET win over Real Madrid in the Super Cup. A 2nd trophy!

I've been drawn with Marseille, Copenhagen and Besiktas in the CL - I should actually qualify this time.

[Plubby]

I just had the weirdest situation...

My game "froze" for a few minutes because the referee was standing in the penalty area waiting for Defoe to walk over to him so he could get a yellow card for diving...

...except Defoe was over on the sideline getting medical treatment for what was clearly not diving at all

So I just had to sit there and watch until the magic spray™ kicked in.

[Gazz]

Maybe he injured himself diving.

[Plubby]

Hilarious.

[Baddar]

I was able to put some more time into my game last night.

It's P5, W4, D1 in the league. Wins over Chelsea, West Brom, Reading and Bolton, and a draw against Newcastle.

I beat Burnley 4-0 in the CoC, and won my first two CL games against Copenhagen and Besiktas. Marseille did the same, so we're running away with the group at the moment.

Some difficult games coming up though. Liverpool and Arsenal in the league (both have made great starts), and the back to back CL matches against Marseille.

[stokeriño]

My lack of goals saddens me. And why is it that loaning teams are such sticklers for the percentage of wages you're willing to pay? No room for tinkering like there is with transfer deals.

In this case, Aston Villa are willing to loan Andi Weimann (again) if we paid 50% (£7,500) of his £15,000pw wages, with £0 loan fee. My club's wage structure will not allow anything above 20% (£3,000), even if I were to shift the finances to give myself a tonne of extra salary budget. So why won't they accept an offer to pay 20% wages plus a loan fee of ~£200,000 (39 weeks till the end of the season x £4,500 wages = £175,500)? Makes no sense.

Hence as it stands my Championship campaign is relying on the likes of Daniel Powell (scored 10 goals in League 1 last season) and Callum McManaman (loaned in from Wigan as some kind of consolation prize). This is not good, with the results so far being:

Leeds United 1 - 0 MK Dons

MK Dons 0 - 0 Swansea City (fuck knows how they got relegated, they usually storm up to Top Six)

Hull City 0 - 1 MK Dons

A goal! A goal! Hooray! (scored by Powell)

Still, it's a fun experience. Brought in 7 or 8 new players mostly on frees, but can't remember who they all are atm. Only annoyed at the moment that Stephen Gleeson injured Sam Hutchinson in pre-season training to put him out for 3 to 4 months...so loaned in Michael Keane from Manchester United on a 3 month deal as cover, only for him to get a 2 month injury against Hull and I've had to send him back. Sigh.

[Jimmy]

The wage structure/fee stuff pissed me off to no end, too. Makes no sense whatsoever.

[The LBTN Express]

Managed to get to the Championship with Gateshead and stay there after three straight promotions.

Finished 1st in the Blue Square Premier with 107 points, thanks to a prolific partnership struck up by Jon Shaw (35 goals) and Pablo Counago (43 goals). Then finished 2nd in League Two with Counago (20 goals) again being the main reason. Jon Shaw struggled in League Two with only 2 goals but managed to bring Joe Garner in who scored 14 goals in 22 goals firing us into promotion. Then despite a crap start in League One, we went on a massive run after Christmas and somehow managed to finish second. Counago had aged and wasn't scoring, but Ibrahima Sidibie who was brought in the summer was on fire netting 27 league goals.

Had a rough time in the Championship, sitting in the bottom three for the entire season. Not surprising since the annual wage budget was £2.1 million, £2million behind the next lowest team. Despite being in the bottom three all season we managed to somehow scrape a 1-0 victory over Bolton on the final day of the season to stay up and things are looking up for the next season. Managed to make a £4million profit through the low wage budget, £3million of which has been added to the wage budget for this season.

Have managed to strengthen the squad greatly and five games in the league we've won four and drawn one. The Premiership better get ready for Gateshead.

[DavidMarrio]

Managed to get to the Championship with Gateshead and stay there after three straight promotions.

Finished 1st in the Blue Square Premier with 107 points, thanks to a prolific partnership struck up by Jon Shaw (35 goals) and Pablo Counago (43 goals). Then finished 2nd in League Two with Counago (20 goals) again being the main reason. Jon Shaw struggled in League Two with only 2 goals but managed to bring Joe Garner in who scored 14 goals in 22 goals firing us into promotion. Then despite a crap start in League One, we went on a massive run after Christmas and somehow managed to finish second. Counago had aged and wasn't scoring, but Ibrahima Sidibie who was brought in the summer was on fire netting 27 league goals.

Had a rough time in the Championship, sitting in the bottom three for the entire season. Not surprising since the annual wage budget was £2.1 million, £2million behind the next lowest team. Despite being in the bottom three all season we managed to somehow scrape a 1-0 victory over Bolton on the final day of the season to stay up and things are looking up for the next season. Managed to make a £4million profit through the low wage budget, £3million of which has been added to the wage budget for this season.

Have managed to strengthen the squad greatly and five games in the league we've won four and drawn one. The Premiership better get ready for Gateshead.

Larry Zbyszkoary striker Pablo Counago

[stokeriño]

Here be my full list of MK Dons summer signings:

Ryan Fredericks (MRL) - Free Transfer from Tottenham Hotspur (straight out on loan)

Sam Hutchinson (DRC) - One year loan from Chelsea

Jake Bidwell (DLC) - £375,000 from Everton

Mustapha Dumbuya (D/WBR) - Free Transfer from Doncaster Rovers

Nathan Doyle (MRC/DR) - Free Transfer from Barnsley

Sam Walker (GK) - Free Agent

Anton Forrester (ST) - £70,000 from Everton

Callum McManaman (ST) - One year loan from Wigan Athletic

Michael Jones (MRL) - £50,000 from Sheffield Wednesday

Marc-Antoine Fortuné (ST) - Free Agent

Plus a handful of players out, one of whom for £40,000 to bring my net transfer spend to £460,000.

Likely first eleven at this time:

GK David Martin

DR Mustapha Dumbuya

DC Sam Hutchinson

DC Jake Bidwell

DL Dean Lewington ©

MR Jay O'Shea

MC Nathan Doyle

MC Darren Potter

ML Luke Chadwick

ST Marc-Antoine Fortuné

ST Callum McManaman

...Suffice to say, the Championship is going to tear these guys to shreds and spit them back out on the rubbish heap. Just got beaten 3-0 by Peterborough in a supposed 'six pointer', am out of the League Cup after a 2nd round loss to Wolves, and currently have 5 points from 5 games.

[jack95]

Has there been a patch or something that makes the UEFA World Cup 2014 Qualification groups the same as in real life? Because if not, I've incredibly freaked out by the fact that they are exactly the same.

[Gazz]

I would have thought so.

[Berober]

Has there been a patch or something that makes the UEFA World Cup 2014 Qualification groups the same as in real life? Because if not, I've incredibly freaked out by the fact that they are exactly the same.

I think the 12.2 update makes it mandatory.

[jack95]

Has there been a patch or something that makes the UEFA World Cup 2014 Qualification groups the same as in real life? Because if not, I've incredibly freaked out by the fact that they are exactly the same.

I think the 12.2 update makes it mandatory.

That makes much more sense.

Edited September 14, 2012 by jack95

[DavidMarrio]

Here be my full list of MK Dons summer signings:

Ryan Fredericks (MRL) - Free Transfer from Tottenham Hotspur (straight out on loan)

Sam Hutchinson (DRC) - One year loan from Chelsea

Jake Bidwell (DLC) - £375,000 from Everton

Mustapha Dumbuya (D/WBR) - Free Transfer from Doncaster Rovers

Nathan Doyle (MRC/DR) - Free Transfer from Barnsley

Sam Walker (GK) - Free Agent

Anton Forrester (ST) - £70,000 from Everton

Callum McManaman (ST) - One year loan from Wigan Athletic

Michael Jones (MRL) - £50,000 from Sheffield Wednesday

Marc-Antoine Fortuné (ST) - Free Agent

Plus a handful of players out, one of whom for £40,000 to bring my net transfer spend to £460,000.

Likely first eleven at this time:

GK David Martin

DR Mustapha Dumbuya

DC Sam Hutchinson

DC Jake Bidwell

DL Dean Lewington ©

MR Jay O'Shea

MC Nathan Doyle

MC Darren Potter

ML Luke Chadwick

ST Marc-Antoine Fortuné

ST Callum McManaman

...Suffice to say, the Championship is going to tear these guys to shreds and spit them back out on the rubbish heap. Just got beaten 3-0 by Peterborough in a supposed 'six pointer', am out of the League Cup after a 2nd round loss to Wolves, and currently have 5 points from 5 games.

First season in the Championships always tough, the gaps alot bigger in terms of the talent. On my old Wrexham game I found the gap between League 2 and 1 wasn't that much so I could pretty much have the same team while trying to build a team that could survive in the Championship. Was lucky that I managed to get a few loan signings in and got promoted from the Championship so the money was a massive boost.

League Cup was never going to do much apart from get you some extra revenue if you got one of the big clubs, the fixture congestion would hamper the team as well so its probably best that you did get knocked out. Just try to aim for survival and build the squad up, plus hopefully in January there'll be more options to get in on loans. I always find sometimes clubs won't accept a long term loan but will accept a short term loan.

[stokeriño]

I have improved from "shit" to what in the 1980s would have been called "Chelsea-style inconsistency".

3-0 wins followed by 3-0 losses aplenty. ^_^

[Berober]

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=6954

[stokeriño]

So wait, is that supposed to just be the 2011/12 season but with Aston Villa's squad replaced?

I did try to download it, but Sophos Anti Virus quarantined it as adware.