Football manager discussion thread

[panix04]

I notice there a significant amount of football manager threads popping up. So I thought why not all discuss our love for football manager, our current tips, form etc. Im currently running Torquay Utd and i'm 2nd in the blue square prem after 20 games, not bad considering the board wanted a mid-table finish! I havn't signed many player due to my transfer budget being a measly 5k. But i picked up a couple of free transfer player who have been used mainly as subs, plus i got a parent club in the form of Notts forest and the keeper i got on loan from them has been a revelation between the sticks for me. I have narrowed the gap at the top to just one point behind Oxford. It would have been me at the top, but I was 3-0 at half time against Crawley and ended up drawing 3-3. Meanwhile Oxford were held to a draw. I was so angry I could have punched Matt Hockley in the face for giving that ball away in the 83rd minute! Fortunatly that isn't yet an option. So any tips, recomended lower league signings? Or does anyone actually understand training?

[BlueStar]

I got to say, I've bought FM2008 and still think it's crap...so I'm playing FM07 once again, which is great. I always manage Lower League clubs. Took over Glebe in the N-Irish Second Division this year and managed to become champion with a bunch of -18 year olds. The key to my success: a striker with 15+ Jumping and Heading, 2 decent Wingers (that play very offensive) with 10 Crossing, Pace, Acceleration and one decent defender (10+ in Marking, Positioning). I always play with a deep defensive line and close down opposition. If playing away, I tend to counter attack. In short: offensive 442 (offensive backs and wingers that are meant to go deep and put a cross in to my big guy up front), 2 hard working central midfielders, a big striker up front, preferably paired with a guy that's good off the ball to pick up rebounds.

[chris caulfield]

In my England game I have only lost one game in 4 1/2 years and that was in a friendly against Iran when I put a terrible team out to experiment. So that means I've won the Euro Championship, The Confederations Cup and The World Cup. But recently hit abit of bad form in my last 4 games getting 3 draws and a win in the Euro 2012 Quals.

[Basmat01]

im playing as Fulham who I just got Promoted to the Premier divison which will be abit of a stuggle to not get relegated this season with only 16 Million transfer budget and 4 key players want out But I picked up Gary O'Neil and Luka Modric on a free transfer and another Italian stiker Nicola Pozzi for only 1.6 million. im now looking for a left back. West Brom are doing very well in my game 3 seasons in the Premier Division and without one A grade player lol

[Blasphemywebleed]

I have 3 games running just now. One is my Faroe Islands game for my dynasty that no one is reading :rolleyes: My next is a game I started off unemployed with my experience set to Sunday league footballer. I signed my first contract with East Stirling in January 2008 when they were 12 points adrift at the bottom of the Scottish Third division. I finished the season in 7th place which wasnt too shabby. The next season I won the third division title. I only managed 3 games of the next season before I was off to recently relegated Motherwell in the Scottish First Division. I got them promoted to the premier division that year and was runners up in the Scottish Cup. I spent 2 years with Motherwell finishing 5th and 2nd in the league. I then signed for Premiership strugglers S****horpe. In my first season I finished 16th and avoided relegation only by a point. The 2nd season I finished 7th and was runner up in the league cup. I spent up to December of the next season with S****hrope and was sitting 4th in the league when I signed for Everton. Although Everton were sitting in 16th place at the time they were through to the knock out stages of the champions league, on top of that they were the first team to offer me a transfer budget :D. I spent 3 years at Everton finishing 14th, 5th and winning the premiership. In my current season I fancied a change and have just signed for Valencia, currently sitting 7 points adrift the top with 8 games to play. My other game is my other International game. I started with Turkey and won the world cup and the olympics. I then moved to Scotland and have won the European championships. And in about 20 mins time I hope to win the World cup with Scotland :rolleyes: I have 5 different tactics I use and change depending on opposition and whither i'm home or away. I understand training :rolleyes: If you travel over to [url]www.sortitoutsi.net[/url] they have a bunch of in depth faqs on creating tactics and training schedules. Edit: I cant say Sc-unthorpe? :rolleyes:

[keefmoon]

I've found the key to lower league football on FM is route one football. Striker around 6' with 15+ heading and strength, plus a quick striker and 2 decent crossers on the wings is enough to guarantee goals galore all the way to the prem. And if you've got a good 'keeper that's half the battle. At real lower leagues 15+ reflexes, average positioning and low eccentricty will gain you so many points in a season. Gotta admit, I'm disappointed with 08. But I've only had it 2 days. I'm strugglnig to get going with anything. The moment I realised oltan Liptak is one of outhend's best players I lost interest as they clearly haven't done any research. As for training, I spend 10 minutes at the start of every new game sorting it. I work out what I want each position to be trained in (strikers-lots of shooting, attacking, tactics, medium strength and fitness, minimal defending and none goalkeeping), then select members of staff to do each bit. This depends on club size. For a Premiership team I hire 1 coach for each part of training (the attributes they need is in the manual), for smaller hire a couple of coaches to cover more than one aspect. For example; A coach has high attacking, mental and technical coaching stats. For a Premiership team I'd assign him to shooting and hire other coaches to do other 9 (I think) bits. For a smaller club I'd assign him shooting, attacking and ball control, then get another coach to do 3 other bits of training and another to do the rest. Hope that helps and that I'm making sense. Trying to sneak in a response on the sly in work so probably not!

[panix04]

because scunny includes the rude C-word that my mum would dis-own me if she heard me say it. Good job she don't go to the pub with me! he he

[Basmat01]

[QUOTE=keefmoon;372888]I've found the key to lower league football on FM is route one football. Striker around 6' with 15+ heading and strength, plus a quick striker and 2 decent crossers on the wings is enough to guarantee goals galore all the way to the prem. And if you've got a good 'keeper that's half the battle. At real lower leagues 15+ reflexes, average positioning and low eccentricty will gain you so many points in a season. Gotta admit, I'm disappointed with 08. But I've only had it 2 days. I'm strugglnig to get going with anything. The moment I realised oltan Liptak is one of outhend's best players I lost interest as they clearly haven't done any research. As for training, I spend 10 minutes at the start of every new game sorting it. I work out what I want each position to be trained in (strikers-lots of shooting, attacking, tactics, medium strength and fitness, minimal defending and none goalkeeping), then select members of staff to do each bit. This depends on club size. For a Premiership team I hire 1 coach for each part of training (the attributes they need is in the manual), for smaller hire a couple of coaches to cover more than one aspect. For example; A coach has high attacking, mental and technical coaching stats. For a Premiership team I'd assign him to shooting and hire other coaches to do other 9 (I think) bits. For a smaller club I'd assign him shooting, attacking and ball control, then get another coach to do 3 other bits of training and another to do the rest. Hope that helps and that I'm making sense. Trying to sneak in a response on the sly in work so probably not![/QUOTE] LOL maybe I should start taking notice of some of these Tactics I just Buy good players I havernt really taken notice of the training and that looks like I might have to start playing around with some of these

[Blasphemywebleed]

Oh yeah lower league signings. If you are in English Lower league I recommend picking up the following from Scottish Leagues: John Fleck (Rangers) Try for Loan, you will never be able to sign him below championship level Paul Di Giacomo (Kilmarnock) Starts on loan for Partick Thistle, good 2 footed striker who will consistently bang in 20 goals a season in lower divisions. Paul Caddis (Celtic) Solid young defender, again try to get on loan below championship level Tommy Coyne (Dumbarton) Starts off quite poor but with the right guidance he can turn into something special. He was a regular super sub for me with Sc-unthorpe. Nacho Novo (Rangers) Quite easy to sign in mid first season if you have £2m spare. Gary Hay (Kilmarnock) Solid LB. Will occasionaly break into Scottish national team, its touch and go with him but very reliable. Can be picked up for around 100k. James Fowler (Kilmarnock) Instrumental in my Scotland European championship win with Scotland. Will sign for English Lower league team in first season if you have 250k spare. Steven Smith (Rangers) Solid LB. You can get him on loan for the first couple of seasons but then he breaks into the first team and is very very costly. Neil McCann (Hearts) Veteran winger. Can be picked up for close to nothing in the first season. Wage demands can be high but he is good for a season or 2. Greame Smith (Rangers) Goalkeeper. Again can be picked up for next to nothing in first couple of seasons. Wage demands are quite low as well. Will break into Scottish national team 4 or 5 seasons in. Thats all I can think of just now. The above are all regular signings for me at lower level clubs and are very consistent game to game.

[Blasphemywebleed]

Tactic. My current fave tactic and the one I use for Faroe Islands and most of my British based games is the following. Set up a simple 4-4-2. Have both wingers run down the wings to support the striker. Have one of your Strikers fall back to a AMC position and make him your target man. Have one of your CB push forward into a DM position to again support the midfield. Set mentality to attacking. Attacking play down the centre, marking to Zonal and tacking to Medium. I have pulled off some sensational results using this tactic. Most notable my european championships final with Scotland. Scotland 5 Italy 1

[panix04]

so whats your biggest ever achievement? For me it was either getting Torquay Utd into the premiership thanks largely to the efforts of an ageing Alan Shearer, or my longest game were i started at West Ham, got them back into the prem, secured a champions league spot, dropped down to manage Birmingham, in my 1st season there I anihillated the 1st division and one the league cup, in the 2nd seasons i finished 2nd in the prem and woman the eufa cup. I then got offered the Man Utd job and couldn't refuse it, there transfer budget was amazing 140+ million from memory! So i took over and nabbed this "regen" irish star from man city and started dominating with Man U. The backbone of my team was: Matthew Sadler, Carlton Cole, Cherno Samba. Damn that was a good team! I did the clean sweep on season and then got bored! But winning the eufa cup with Birmingham was my highlight. I only really joined them 'cos the West Ham bored were unhappy with the fact I was in 7th!

[Blasphemywebleed]

Pulling off a 1-1 draw with Hungary in my Faroe Islands dynasty :p hmmm. My greatest acheivment so far in FM08 would probably be taking East Stirling from the Scottish Third Division to the SPL. It took 9 seasons but I got there in the end. I also didnt have a single penny transfer budget the whole time so I had to make do with loans and youth players. My greatest ever game in management sim history would have been back in the clearly best game of the series, CM 97/98. I started off with Bury. I worked up my reputation until I eventually got offered the Everton job. I started with Everton in the first division and got them back to the premiership. I cant remember how many seasons it took me to win the champions league I think it was 2 or 3, but I stayed with Everton until I finished my career and won the champions league and premiership every year.

[Basmat01]

[QUOTE=panix04;372894] I only really joined them 'cos the West Ham bored were unhappy with the fact I was in 7th![/QUOTE] I must say I do find it weird that clubs that are doing quite well sack there managers mid-season. I one game I took Bolton in 2 seasons from the Coca-cola League to 4th in the Premier Division and they sacked me LOL I dont know if it happens alot in Socc...opps "football"

[Blasphemywebleed]

Ok. This isnt one of my acheivements but I think you all should know the Barcelona team in my current game cos they are unstoppable. This is the starting line up they just fielded against me. To put you in the picture In my last match I easily beat Real Madrid who are in 2nd in the league 4-0 away. I just played this Barcelona team and they hammered me 6-1 at home. GK Craig Gordon (Wtf?) DR Daniel Alves DC Rio Ferdinand DC Sergio Ramos DL Adriano MR Silva MC Fabregas MC Steven Gerrard ML Ronaldinho ST David Villa ST Adrian Mutu They had the following on the bench: Thierry Henry John Terry Gianluca Buffon Freddy Adu Christiano Ronaldo Wayne Rooney Micah Richards. That is some team right there :eek:

[WrestleManiac]

I have 4 games on the go... I have my Liverpool one to proove to my brother-in-law that the reason he keeps losing is because he's crap. He's prooving me wrong so far. Then there's my England game. I got England to the Semis of the Euro Champsionship and lost 2-1 to Portugal. In my Charlton game I won the Championship in my first season. Was rubbish in the League cup. Fifth round in the FA Cup. Life in the Premiership is tougher, but I think I can keep the Addicks from dropping... but it's gonna be close. Best buys have been John Halls from Reading for£325k, Luis Jimenez from Ternana for £2.8M, and Martin Fenin from Levski for £1M. I had Chris Eagles on loan in the first season and he was instrumental in our promotion. And then there's my Welling game which is also my dynasty. An important thing about lower league - and this is a no brainer really - you really do need to do well in the cups - even the non-league ones - just to keep your balance in the black.

[sebsy]

Seeing as the 8.0.2 patch came out yesterday I can now finally play my first ever game on FM08. You see, I never buy FM when it comes out, every year I wait until around February time to buy it as I can't bring myself to start a game until all the (inevitable) patches are out. I can finally start my career game as Manchester United. The only thing is, I am a regular on the SI Forums, and there seem a lot of people saying how board confidence is still borked and you could find yourself getting sacked despite winning the league, simply because you failed to get past the third round of the League Cup or something like that. Thing is as Man Utd manager I never bother with the LC, using it mainly to give my youngsters a run out and a couple of fringe players from the first team squad and anyone in the first team who is returning from an injury. So I don't want a career game to be ruined because I get sacked 4 or 5 seasons in for winning the EPL and the FA Cup but getting nowhere in the League Cup. That is my only worry now :(

[Astil]

So who you guys got at running back?

[sebsy]

[QUOTE=Astil;373190]So who you guys got at running back?[/QUOTE] :D :D

[tristram]

Playing as Manchester City here (glory glory to the Citizens indeed), first season we made no purchases as such (only Dionisis a Brazilian Under 21 defensive midfielder who's done extremely well) and I constantly had to fend off impending rumours about Micah Richards, Elano and Michael Johnson being offered gigs elsewhere. Anyhow, the aim was to achieve mid table safety, I took City to 6th. The board was thrilled, but disappointed that under my stewardship our fierce rivals Bolton, and of course United, had drubbed us a couple of times. Through the off season I brought in some what I thought to be good talent, and for the most part has been. Gasberonni I think his name is, Italian who can play left, centre or right mid field in an attacking role, Juan Roman Riquelme no intro needed, Thiaggo Motta, Florent Sinoma-Pogelle I think his name is to play as a quick striker off my target man Bianchi, Marc Valiente to rotate in the defence, and Pierre Wome to go to left back. A few of those I got on frees. In the start of the season I negotiated a 17m pound deal for Vedran Corluka to move to Real Madrid, but am still holding off on Johnson, although it's making him unhappy. When he was a bit happier, I managed to sign him for a further five years. Tactically this season, I am struggling. We're 5-1-5, I can score a few goals but we're leaking them left right and centre. I'm not sure what the deal is... but it's annoying me, but my annoyance is overriden with joy about the real City beating United. By the way, whilst in the UK went to Arsenal v Newcastle at Emirates Stadium. AWESOME! I loved the chanting "If you hate Tottenham, stand up..." "For the Arsenal 3-0"... "Who are ya? Who are ya?" "You're going to get the sack tomorrow..." "We're going to win 4-3" (from Newcastle fans right at the end of the game when it's 3-0 to Arsenal "We can see you sneaking out early..." HA, loved it.

[tristram]

[QUOTE=sebsy;373176]Seeing as the 8.0.2 patch came out yesterday I can now finally play my first ever game on FM08. You see, I never buy FM when it comes out, every year I wait until around February time to buy it as I can't bring myself to start a game until all the (inevitable) patches are out. I can finally start my career game as Manchester United. The only thing is, I am a regular on the SI Forums, and there seem a lot of people saying how board confidence is still borked and you could find yourself getting sacked despite winning the league, simply because you failed to get past the third round of the League Cup or something like that. Thing is as Man Utd manager I never bother with the LC, using it mainly to give my youngsters a run out and a couple of fringe players from the first team squad and anyone in the first team who is returning from an injury. So I don't want a career game to be ruined because I get sacked 4 or 5 seasons in for winning the EPL and the FA Cup but getting nowhere in the League Cup. That is my only worry now :([/QUOTE] Haven't noticed that myself. The only managers in the Premiership to get the boot in my game last year was Roy Keane (Sunderland were running 20th), Gareth Southgate (Middlesborough were running 18th) and David Moyes (Everton were running 16th, far too low for a team of their ability). They really did get Moyes wrong didn't they, that bloke is a good manager.

[panix04]

I have been trwaling through trying to get as many pics/logos/kits as possible. I play with the original skin and my preference is for using pics cut out with a clear background (as per the original data) I have found plenty of packs, but they are all divided into teams and downloading and unzipping is becoming a bit of a chore. Does anybody have a large collection they can just zip up and host on megaupload for me to download and save myself a whole load of time? Or failing that can someone point me in the right direction for a super mod?

[Blasphemywebleed]

[url]http://www.sortitoutsi.net/index.php?page=downloads&area=gfx&game=fm2008[/url] they have league packs there. the next is a super pack for logos for all clubs [url]http://fm.onlinewelten.com/downloads,id1459,europa_superpack.html[/url] I dont know Of a superpack for kits as yet. On the top link they have league packs for the stadium backgrounds for when you click on a teams page, which is essential in my opinion.

[Woodsmeister]

i am Newcastle and discovered an awesome formation purely by accident, due to injuries i had to put the best team out i could and came up with this bad boy... GK: Shay Given CB: Abdoulaye Faye CB: Steven Taylor CB: Danny Sh1ttu RWB: Habib Beye or Geremi (running up to the halfway line) LWB: Charles N'Zogbia or Jose Enrique (running up to the halfway line) CM: Nicky Butt or Joey Barton CM: Emre RW: James Milner (charging up the wing) LW: Obafemi Martins (cutting inside) CF: Michael Owen im undefeated even getting a draw at Old Trafford and White Hart Lane and getting wins against Blackburn (H), Bolton (A), Liverpool (H) and Portsmouth (A) so im pretty pleased so far.

[The Bus]

I'm into January 2012 with a game that I started with Watford to be sacked after 3 years. Well not sacked but no renewal. I was supposed to play in the premier league in 3 years, but after playing the second season up I was knocked off in playoffs in the third season and failed to reach the goal. Then I got into AFC Bournemouth in League 2, I really didn't want that team but didn't want to be unemployed, and then when I saw Swansea City in League 2 job to be free, after their manager went to Watford :D , I applied and got there. I really didn't like the Bournemouth side and Swansea were contenders and in every sense seemed a better option. Well after 4 days I was out from Bournemouth and in Swansea after waiting to days as unemployed. Bournemouth made to resign with the option to be sacked as I applied for a new job 4 days into the stint there. Now I'm in League 1 as I won the championship in League 2 with Swansea in the first year and now I'm second in League 1 and on my way to promotion with the goal to get a safe mid-table position. Last season I went to the fourth round in FA Cup knocking out S****horpe (L1) and Preston (CHA) to be destroyed by, then 2nd in premier league, Aston Villa 0-5. Also made it to St. Johnstone South Semi-Finals but Millwall was better then. This season I was horrible in all of the cups and got knocked out in the first round of them all. After starting the league with quite many draws I started notching win after win in league and got from the mid-table to second. Now I have 233 games played and 117 of them are wins. 2 leagues won and 4 awards won two of them being manager of the year. I've got a proper team now but some acquisitions are to be made if getting up to championship. Currently my lineup is: GK: Neil Alexander (30K from Dundee) DR: Damien Johnson (free transfer) DC: Ívar Ingimarsson (free transfer) DC: Terrell Forbes (140K from Yeovil) DL: Joan Capdevila (free transfer) MR: Scott Gardner (free transfer) MC: Owain Tudur Jones (original) MC: Burton O'brien (original) ML: Stuart Giddings (free transfer) FC: James Beattie (free transfer) FC: Darryl Duffy (original) Subs: GK: Casto (original) DR: Marciano Bruma (free transfer) DC: Ben Clark (original) DL/ML: Scott Golbourne (original) MC: Sean Lynch (free transfer) MC: Keith Southern (free transfer) MR/ML: Chris Shuker (original) MR/MC: Dean Sinclair (original) FC: Kieran Agard (700K from Everton) slight dissapointment as Beattie beat him for starter. Robbie Savage and Lauren got too old and serve as a reserve now with Michael Nelson(DC), Anthony Mason(ST/MR) and Danny Wells(FC). Sadly I had to give up Billy Clarke(FC) as Sheff Wed offered a million and I also sold Mark McAllister(FC) for 500K as he wouldn't resign. Beattie proved to be twice the player than Mark. Now it's time to see whether I can already get promotion this season or not as the league turns into the latter half...

[keefmoon]

I'm a bit disappointed with it to be honest. It hasn't taken my interest like they normally do. On my game I was Southend in League One, said I'd get us promoted (only way to have the wage budget below what we're actually paying) and got us to 4th in the league at March. We also got to the JPT Final and beat West Ham 3-0 in the League Cup. But the board are unhappy I lose 2-0 away to Swansea, who are by far the best team in the league. The confidence thing does need a shake up. But they're satisfied with me. Sold Peter Clarke for 850k, signed Tranmere winger Steve Davies for 325k and Paul Robinson from Milwall for 250k, so got a decent team. Just need a fooking goalscorer now... What I will say is I think this is the most realistic FM ever. You ned to much effort to do well (unless you're one of the top teams). Unfortunately, the most enjoyable games aren't always the most realistic (CM01/02 is a perfect example). Tristram buddy, if you're ever in England again let me take you to a Southend game. It's fantastic if you'v never been apparatntly. The way everyone knows each other, the chants are really creative (you're even fatter than your wallet", or "you're just a fat Freddy Eastwood" (Southend striker) to Wayne Rooney. Regardless of what you say about football fans, generally there's a pretty good sense of humour there. But yeah, FM08... not bowed over to be honest.