Football Manager 2016

[JasonM]

Took Hibernian, won the training cup AND the Scottish Cup (Europe, YAY!)... And then the team shits the bed in the final match of the season against Dundee United with 1 goal up on aggregate...

My two decent strikers (Stokes & Cummings) are gone, one I couldn't re-loan and the other got bought up for 1M and forced my hand... Lost both my goalies (signed Roy Carroll...) 

My wage bill is slashed almost by half, and I have gotten quite some money from the sales that were made. But there was nobody on the market that would improve the team and/or would actually be decently priced and willing the play in the Scottish Championship. I did manage to snap up a few loans, so that's nice... But my strikers are woefully underskilled compared to my pretty great midfield and very talented defense...

[MDK]

22 hours ago, Jasonmufc said:

Took Hibernian, won the training cup AND the Scottish Cup (Europe, YAY!)... And then the team shits the bed in the final match of the season against Dundee United with 1 goal up on aggregate...

My two decent strikers (Stokes & Cummings) are gone, one I couldn't re-loan and the other got bought up for 1M and forced my hand... Lost both my goalies (signed Roy Carroll...) 

My wage bill is slashed almost by half, and I have gotten quite some money from the sales that were made. But there was nobody on the market that would improve the team and/or would actually be decently priced and willing the play in the Scottish Championship. I did manage to snap up a few loans, so that's nice... But my strikers are woefully underskilled compared to my pretty great midfield and very talented defense...

Training cup? And can't you get a senior affiliate, maybe get some loan players from them.

To add to the professional nature of my squad I signed Ravel Morrisson 

[JasonM]

1 hour ago, MDK said:

Training cup? And can't you get a senior affiliate, maybe get some loan players from them.

To add to the professional nature of my squad I signed Ravel Morrisson 

Challenge Cup (cup with teams below the premiership) is the actual name, I have all the 'real' names enabled with sponsors and such. Board stiffed me on getting a senior affiliate for no reason but just to spite me I guess.

I got Ryan Seeger on loan to bolster my attack, and he's been effective in the games he's played.

In the Europa League I managed to win the second round against FK Sarajevo. Then got drawn against Genk, and despite drawing the away tie 1-1, the team were unable to score or draw the home tie, so I was knocked out... But at least I got a few hundred thousand from it either way.

[MDK]

Anyone ever use a wide target man?

[Meacon Keaton]

No, but it sounds hot.

[MDK]

Just now, Meacon said:

No, but it sounds hot.

[MDK]

Okay, so another thing that annoyed me happened. A player, Dean Cox, has been a faithful servant to the club and I love him so, but he is crap now and wants a new challenge. No probs for a legend like yourself. I offer him out to clubs for free and with me paying all of his wages (6.25k p/w)... but they couldn't agree on his wage during contract talks 

What a greedy cunt.

[METALMAN]

On 14/04/2016 at 15:14, MDK said:

Anyone ever use a wide target man?

I actually did use one once when I was manager of Bolton. I can't remember who (I hope it wasn't Emile Heskey). Anyway, it didn't work (so it might have been Emile Heskey).

[MDK]

I won the FA Cup  4-3 on penalties against Bournemouth! Orient are in Europe!

[JasonM]

So after retooling the squad last year, I managed to break through my inconsistency by getting promoted in my second season... Through getting second place and sweeping the playoffs.

As you can see, I was dominant throughout the season and was a scoring animal. The only thing I suffered were a few painful setbacks with hot strikers getting long term injuries. I even had to loan back Jason Cummings (whom I sold for 1M in the pre-season), and he ruined his achilles 7 games into the stint ending his season in december... (even more painful seeing he was 8 in 7!)

But we soldiered on, and the team's quality shone through by making the best of the big games and winning big even against Falkirk. But whilst Falkirk just chugged on with consistency, we messed up by dropping games against the likes of Airdrie, so playoffs it was... Which we won with an 8-0 aggregate in the final against St. Johnstone (we really wanted that win)

So into the premiership I have gone, and the team has remained largely the same with only superficial changes. Sold one guy for 550K, and signed a few young talents to bolster the squad, and a few loans to strengthen my wings... But that's it. I have extended Cummings who despite his big time injury managed to keep his skills up, and I feel he's a proven (and beloved) scorer who is able to continue his form in the Premiership for this team... Another extended loan is Liam Henderson from Celtic, going into his third season with the team (all on loan), who could've easily competed for playing time for Celtic, but that's their loss.

And the results don't lie, after nine games were second in the league only to unstoppable Rangers. Exceeding the already demanding expectations of being in the top six at season's end. And Cummings has been the go-to guy with six goals (hat-trick in the season opener against Hamilton!)

But despite Cummings being in elite form like he never even had an injury in the first place. The real breakout star is this kid right here.

Right Winger Roman Macek, who prior to last season failed to break through at the Juventus Academy, and whom I was shockingly enough able to sign for only 4,4K a month. And last season he was already top notch in the championship, getting 13 goals and 5 assists on 7,76avr in 29 games... But he's not just kept that form going, he's arguably improve on that form at a higher level, already having 5 goals and 4 assists in 9 games.

He's so good right now, I have a hard time wondering what to focus on after I get his balance up to 10... He's a winger first and foremost, but his defensive ability rivals my full backs. And he's got potential to become a pretty decent scorer too if improves his finishing and heading. He's basically Ronalite right now, and I am wondering whether I should try to build him into a complete forward, or a complete wing back. Suggestions are welcome, of course.

Finally here's a screenshot of my current squad. Besides having the GOAT Roy Carroll, my goal is easily the weakest spot beyond the young and inexperienced defense... Midfield is still very very strong, seeing I didn't lose a single soul in the pre-season. (Despite some teams best efforts to low-ball me every single day)

[Whisper]

Finally got my Barcelona (previously Everton) season going. Can't sign anyone as we're a mere £1.3m over wage budget. Woefully short on centre backs, as Mascherano and Mathieu have gone, and midfielders now that Iniesta has retired.

Had to promote a few youngsters and I'm playing Munir out of position at left back while Alba is injured.

2 wins from 2 though... 5-2 against Atletico in the Super Cup first leg and 7-0 at home to Granada in the league. Having Neymar, Suarez and Messi makes it a tad easy though...

I suppose I should try and get Messi and Suarez's 400k+ wages off the wage bill. But short term success is more important for me. I'm not staying longer than 3 seasons anyway!

[The Lusophone]

Fulham is a horrible choice using the winter transfer update. Everyone is injured and you've got a transfer embargo. I've never had a defence leak so many goals.

[JasonM]

End of the winter transfer window, and lo and behold I have somehow managed to stay in the running for european places... Somehow.

Had a horrible 7 game stint in November where I won only one game and the team barely got going for no reason just other than being terrible for teh lulz. Then in January we lost 0-4 to last placed Dundee Utd because my team has a real habit of losing big against the worst possible teams.

Transfer wise there's been a few big shakeups. Biggest of all is Roman Macek has gone to Newcastle for 3,5M which simply was too big of a fee to say no to. We need that money and even though he's great I feel I can somehow weather the storm. Young prospect Mark Brown got cradle-robbed by Man City for 1M plus 40% next sale, again it wasn't one I could really toss aside and I think the team will survive.

Thirdly, the team has been bought by a new owner. Who has wiped away debts and has replaced the previous loan with another loan (yay! /s), other than that I've been hunted by a bunch of teams including Anderlecht, RB Salzburg, a few Championship teams, a few Dutch teams, a Polish one, and others. But other than RB Salzburg it never went further than interviews, and Salzburg I rejected because it didn't feel right.

I have signed a bunch of defenders. First one is Luca Gasparotto from Rangers for 400K, who has quickly slotted in as a starter and seems like he'll have a good career for us. Another one is Julio Plegesuezelo on a free after he got dumped by the Arsenal academy. Thirdly is Levan Gegechkori from a Polish side (Jagiellonia) for 325K, who caught my attention and will turn into a very useful full back who can play both sides.

Finally there's Kasper Skaanes who I signed on the final day of the transfer window for 210K from Haugesund in Norway, as you might expect he's poised to fill the big hole Macek's departure has caused. He's not as good as the Czech, but he's still a steal for the price and will do just fine...

Then another thing for the end of the season, Liam Henderson has been with the team on loan from Celtic for the past three seasons. But I've finally bit the bullet and I'm buying him for 875K from Celtic, which to me is a steal for someone whose poised for his first Scotland cap.

Tl;dr - 4M in, 940K out, a cool 3 million profit on the transfer market.

Oh, and of course Jason Cummings has been my go-to scorer because that's just what he does. I'm partly inclined to buy him back from Burnley...

[Liam]

15 minutes ago, Work Experience Jack said:

Fulham is a horrible choice using the winter transfer update. Everyone is injured and you've got a transfer embargo. I've never had a defence leak so many goals.

With the update, it was the first time I managed to get promoted as Fulham.

[The Lusophone]

How? I can't string two wins together at the start of the season.

[Whisper]

And I've just won 2-0 at the Bernabau... I have a feeling Barcelona is going to be a bit too easy.

Though, just checked my board confidence and it's "very insecure" due to the wage bill.

Might not be long for this job!

[Whisper]

Apologies for the double post, but having gotten suitably bored by my above Barcelona switch, I think I'm going to finally make the jump to FM16 since I can get it fairly cheap.

Links to decent picture packs anyone?

[JasonM]

12 minutes ago, Whisper said:

Apologies for the double post, but having gotten suitably bored by my above Barcelona switch, I think I'm going to finally make the jump to FM16 since I can get it fairly cheap.

Links to decent picture packs anyone?

Sortitoutsi.net is generally the best place to get graphics for FM

https://sortitoutsi.net/graphics/style/1/cut-out-player-faces

I suggest you use their pretty fast torrent rather, else you need to download every part through crappy file-sharing sites.

[Liam]

19 hours ago, Work Experience Jack said:

How? I can't string two wins together at the start of the season.

I'm not quite sure. It seemed like they gave Dembele and McCormack a bit of a mid-season boost, as they just savaged other teams.

I bought Jimmy Kebe IIRC as well, since he was free, and he did a job.

[Whisper]

Just reading the SiGames forums ahead of starting my FM16 game tonight, and seen some posts relating to a bug affecting stadium capacity of lower league clubs when they are promoted.

Seems pretty game breaking. Anyone here had any problems in the lower leagues? I was going to start a Conference North game but not sure it's worth it now