Football Manager 2023

[pmcla26]

By far my favourite save this year is my current one. I set the start date in 5/2023 (using Iceland as the starting country I believe) and set myself as manager of Leicester. 2 games left and 19th in the Premier League. Wasn't how I expected it, as the plan was to do the upcoming rebuild for this summer in the Premier League. Relegation happened and I stuck with it and rebuilt in the Championship instead. 

 

Sold/released everyone from the first team squad apart from Iversen, Smithies, Thomas, Kristiansen, Faes, Souttar, JJ, Choudhury, KDH, Soumare, Barnes, Daka, Vardy and Albrighton - Tete rejoined on a free in January. Alex Scott, Viktor Gyokeres and Jeremy Doku were pretty much the only signings for a decent amount of money (around £30m for all three), then there were a few other free/cheap transfers like Omar Marmoush, Han-Noah Massengo, Axel Tuanzebe and Ronnie Edwards. Levi Colwill came in on loan in January as he couldn't get a game at Chelsea. I won the Championship first season on 110 points, with Palace coming 2nd on 109. We also made it to the FA Cup final, but lost on penalties to Man City. 

 

First season back in the Premier League and the squad had to be improved. Ludovic Blas joined on a free, Colwill joined permanently (£60m spread across many years, a massive gamble that would pay off immensely), Khellven at right-back to support JJ, Tom Krauss replaced Choudhury, who left on a free to Brentford, Roony Bardghji to play back up to Tete, and Marcos Leonardo would come in up top. Man City unsettled Iversen and spent £30m on him as back-up (  ), so Ugurcan Cakir replaced him and Muric came in as a back-up keeper - £15m for the pair of them. Man City again unsettled one of our players, with Souttar leaving to the Etihad on a loan with an obligation to buy for £30m in the summer on deadline day in January - Perr Schurrs would replace him on the same type of deal but with a £24m fee.  Martin Baturina also came back from a loan in January after signing from Zagreb for £8m in the summer. Long-story short, we finished 3rd. Not bad for a newly promoted side. 

 

With a Champions League campaign coming up, we needed further strengthening. Ousmane Diomande would come in for £40m from Sporting and Romeo Lavia from Southampton for £34.5m. Joe Scally replaced JJ, who left for Leipzig, in January as he wouldn’t sign a new deal. We got to the Champions League QF losing vs Barcelona 4-1 over two legs, despite winning the first leg 1-0 at home, we capitulated at the Nou Camp and Lewandowski ran riot. We did finish second in the Premier League though, and exacted revenge on Man City in the FA Cup final, beating them 1-0 in the final, despite star man Alex Scott and first choice striker Marcos Leonardo both out injured. 

 

4th season summer transfer window and Arnaud Kalimeundo has just joined for £60m. Daka and Leonardo were our top scorers on 16 goals each last season. I'm hoping that a top striker might be the final piece required to push for the Premier League title. 

Edited 2 May 2023 by Pete52

[Dan LCFC]

On 30/04/2023 at 15:25, moore_94 said:

Just had to apply for the job at Jeonbuk when it came up

 

Favourites for the league whilst still also having about £5m to spend which is plenty

 

BOOOOOOOOO! BOOOOOOOOOO!

[moore_94]

4 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

BOOOOOOOOO! BOOOOOOOOOO!

I assume you think joining Jeonbuk is bad? 

[Dan LCFC]

18 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

I assume you think joining Jeonbuk is bad? 

Gangwon loyal. Jeonbuk were just a big thorn for me. They are by a mile the best side in that league though. I'll be amazed if you don't win the league.

 

I beat Jeonbuk 2-1 in my first ever game at Gangwon with a 94th minute winner. One for the ages.

[moore_94]

13 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Gangwon loyal. Jeonbuk were just a big thorn for me. They are by a mile the best side in that league though. I'll be amazed if you don't win the league.

 

I beat Jeonbuk 2-1 in my first ever game at Gangwon with a 94th minute winner. One for the ages.

Yeah currently well on track for winning the league

 

Already won the Champions League with them as well, when I took over it was already after the group stages

 

[Dan LCFC]

6 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Yeah currently well on track for winning the league

 

Already won the Champions League with them as well, when I took over it was already after the group stages

 

I was going to add in "going unbeaten", quite plausible on that showing.

 

I had Man City syndrome in the Champions League at Gangwon. Won the league 3 years out of 4 yet lost every single game I played to a Korean side on the continent. Only won it once I dodged them all - remarkably I dodged Jeonbuk because they lost to Indonesian Persija in the quarters.

 

God that save was fun at times. I'm gonna do it again one day.

[moore_94]

Just now, Dan LCFC said:

I was going to add in "going unbeaten", quite plausible on that showing.

 

I had Man City syndrome in the Champions League at Gangwon. Won the league 3 years out of 4 yet lost every single game I played to a Korean side on the continent. Only won it once I dodged them all - remarkably I dodged Jeonbuk because they lost to Indonesian Persija in the quarters.

 

God that save was fun at times. I'm gonna do it again one day.

Yeah I kinda wish I had stayed at Deajeon to make it a bit harder for myself, but trying to get through and out of South Korea as soon as possible haha

 

With the money you get at Jeonbuk it makes it easy to take the majority of the best players, already signed players from Suwon, Seoul, Ulsan, and Daegu (predicted 2nd to 5th)

 

I got Seoul in the second round, BG Pathum (Thai) in quarters, Melbourne in semi's and then Al-Hilal in the final who I drew 0-0 with in the 1st leg but then somehow smashed them 5-1 in the 2nd leg!

 

I like the idea of simming ahead ahead to like 2030 or something and doing a save with Gimcheon for a few seasons, managing them itself would be an interesting save with how they get players

[Tommy Fresh]

9 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Yeah I kinda wish I had stayed at Deajeon to make it a bit harder for myself, but trying to get through and out of South Korea as soon as possible haha

 

With the money you get at Jeonbuk it makes it easy to take the majority of the best players, already signed players from Suwon, Seoul, Ulsan, and Daegu (predicted 2nd to 5th)

 

I got Seoul in the second round, BG Pathum (Thai) in quarters, Melbourne in semi's and then Al-Hilal in the final who I drew 0-0 with in the 1st leg but then somehow smashed them 5-1 in the 2nd leg!

 

I like the idea of simming ahead ahead to like 2030 or something and doing a save with Gimcheon for a few seasons, managing them itself would be an interesting save with how they get players

Are you able to be Gimcheon?

[Tommy Fresh]

9 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Yeah currently well on track for winning the league

 

Already won the Champions League with them as well, when I took over it was already after the group stages

 

Ulsan not going very well, they have a load of cash as well I believe, they'd be outrageous if they went down

[Dan LCFC]

15 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Yeah I kinda wish I had stayed at Deajeon to make it a bit harder for myself, but trying to get through and out of South Korea as soon as possible haha

 

With the money you get at Jeonbuk it makes it easy to take the majority of the best players, already signed players from Suwon, Seoul, Ulsan, and Daegu (predicted 2nd to 5th)

 

I got Seoul in the second round, BG Pathum (Thai) in quarters, Melbourne in semi's and then Al-Hilal in the final who I drew 0-0 with in the 1st leg but then somehow smashed them 5-1 in the 2nd leg!

 

I like the idea of simming ahead ahead to like 2030 or something and doing a save with Gimcheon for a few seasons, managing them itself would be an interesting save with how they get players

I was stuck in Asia for 10 years, Malaysia and South Korea for 5 each! If I do a pentagon again I'll start in Africa I think as it's easier to get to the top.

 

I weirdly smacked Al-Hilal in the final too. It was pathetically easy. No exaggeration to say Persija gave me a better game.

 

Gimcheon were always very up and down, was quite relieved when they were relegated because they were one of those sides who were a bit crap but could take points off us.

[Dan LCFC]

5 hours ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Ulsan not going very well, they have a load of cash as well I believe, they'd be outrageous if they went down

Ulsan did go down on mine.

[moore_94]

5 hours ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Ulsan not going very well, they have a load of cash as well I believe, they'd be outrageous if they went down

Yeah it isn't going to get any better for them either as I have just signed 2 of their best players in the summer window

[Tommy Fresh]

Just now, moore_94 said:

Yeah it isn't going to get any better for them either as I have just signed 2 of their best players in the summer window

Join them if they go down😂

[Tommy Fresh]

Currently doing one in the third tier of Belgium, and player values and cash in the bank means I can already tell I'm gonna leave these after one season. Unless player values rocket and I can cash in. 

Edited 3 May 2023 by Tommy Fresh

[Tommy Fresh]

On 02/05/2023 at 14:41, Pete52 said:

By far my favourite save this year is my current one. I set the start date in 5/2023 (using Iceland as the starting country I believe) and set myself as manager of Leicester. 2 games left and 19th in the Premier League. Wasn't how I expected it, as the plan was to do the upcoming rebuild for this summer in the Premier League. Relegation happened and I stuck with it and rebuilt in the Championship instead. 

 

Sold/released everyone from the first team squad apart from Iversen, Smithies, Thomas, Kristiansen, Faes, Souttar, JJ, Choudhury, KDH, Soumare, Barnes, Daka, Vardy and Albrighton - Tete rejoined on a free in January. Alex Scott, Viktor Gyokeres and Jeremy Doku were pretty much the only signings for a decent amount of money (around £30m for all three), then there were a few other free/cheap transfers like Omar Marmoush, Han-Noah Massengo, Axel Tuanzebe and Ronnie Edwards. Levi Colwill came in on loan in January as he couldn't get a game at Chelsea. I won the Championship first season on 110 points, with Palace coming 2nd on 109. We also made it to the FA Cup final, but lost on penalties to Man City. 

 

First season back in the Premier League and the squad had to be improved. Ludovic Blas joined on a free, Colwill joined permanently (£60m spread across many years, a massive gamble that would pay off immensely), Khellven at right-back to support JJ, Tom Krauss replaced Choudhury, who left on a free to Brentford, Roony Bardghji to play back up to Tete, and Marcos Leonardo would come in up top. Man City unsettled Iversen and spent £30m on him as back-up (  ), so Ugurcan Cakir replaced him and Muric came in as a back-up keeper - £15m for the pair of them. Man City again unsettled one of our players, with Souttar leaving to the Etihad on a loan with an obligation to buy for £30m in the summer on deadline day in January - Perr Schurrs would replace him on the same type of deal but with a £24m fee.  Martin Baturina also came back from a loan in January after signing from Zagreb for £8m in the summer. Long-story short, we finished 3rd. Not bad for a newly promoted side. 

 

With a Champions League campaign coming up, we needed further strengthening. Ousmane Diomande would come in for £40m from Sporting and Romeo Lavia from Southampton for £34.5m. Joe Scally replaced JJ, who left for Leipzig, in January as he wouldn’t sign a new deal. We got to the Champions League QF losing vs Barcelona 4-1 over two legs, despite winning the first leg 1-0 at home, we capitulated at the Nou Camp and Lewandowski ran riot. We did finish second in the Premier League though, and exacted revenge on Man City in the FA Cup final, beating them 1-0 in the final, despite star man Alex Scott and first choice striker Marcos Leonardo both out injured. 

 

4th season summer transfer window and Arnaud Kalimeundo has just joined for £60m. Daka and Leonardo were our top scorers on 16 goals each last season. I'm hoping that a top striker might be the final piece required to push for the Premier League title. 

Never thought to do this, weirdly as I always end up joining relegated sides if I'm a lower league side.

[Dan LCFC]

I found it quite easy to sign decent players in Korea. Gangwon had a bit of money behind them as well, never sure how much it was relatively but I used to get a couple of million and you could buy a top end K-League player for about £600k.

[moore_94]

7 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

I found it quite easy to sign decent players in Korea. Gangwon had a bit of money behind them as well, never sure how much it was relatively but I used to get a couple of million and you could buy a top end K-League player for about £600k.

Yeah the most I have spent on a player is £825k and it was only that high because he was from Suwon - couldn't resist raiding Daejeon after I left as well

 

[moore_94]

Suwon can kiss my ass, there goes the unbeaten season 

 

[moore_94]

Season over and my time at Jeonbuk and in South Korea has come to an end, only signed a deal to the end of the year and turned down a new deal so no need to resign

 

Went a bit wrong towards the end with Jeonbuk in the league, threw away our unbeaten season with 7 losses in our last 12 league games but we got far enough ahead earlier in the season so it meant Suwon couldn't catch us, although they came close

 

Final league game of the season just had to be against my former side Daejeon as well, thankfully it was a comfortable 4-0 win to confirm the title

 

K League 1, K League 2, FA Cup, and AFC Champions League is a pretty decent trophy haul for just 2 seasons

 

Keeping an eye on the Birmingham job which is currently insecure, would be a good "narrative" for the save for me to join a club in England with a South Korean tycoon owner after smashing it in South Korea myself

 

Edited 3 May 2023 by moore_94

[moore_94]

Looks like Birmingham have absolutely wasted the money they have spent since they got a tycoon takeover

 

Spent £40m total in 2 January windows and 1 Summer window and I think there is only 1 player they have paid money for who is actually any good, and he only cost £2.5m

 

Had only taken a glance at the squad before getting the job but just noticed they have a certain FM legend... Eder Alvarez Balanta!

 

 

[CosbehFox]

On 27/04/2023 at 16:07, CosbehFox said:

Got Woodhouse Imperial up the tiers into the National North. 

 

Only promotion which wasn't immediate was Midland Football League (tier 9) - had to do Southern League Central Premier via the play-offs cos King's Lynn had tons of dollar. 

Budget is a real struggle this year, so do well to stay up. 

 

Accounts are minus £150k, can't get a league crowd over 200. Had to move into Loughborough Uni Stadium this season. 

Halfway stage in Conference North - just outside the playoffs. 

Had an excellent cup run to 2nd Round of the FA Cup - done by a late goal from Yeovil. Would have been a trip to Stoke. Finances far better after that. 

 

If I can get one more attacking player in, I reckon we could get in the playoffs but squad is doing nicely for a tilt next season. 

[moore_94]

Had to go on a bit of a mad one with Birmingham in the January transfer window, squad was full of crap

 

They had a crap keeper, 1 alright full back, for some reason a load of centre mids with less than 10 dribbling, 1 decent winger, and just 1 decent striker

 

Couldn't resist in the end and had to go back to Jeonbuk and raid them for their star striker who scored 52 goals in 52 games for me

 

Also signed a load of kids (players with yellow *) as the youth teams were lacking any actual good youngsters to try and develop

 

[Tommy Fresh]

23 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Had to go on a bit of a mad one with Birmingham in the January transfer window, squad was full of crap

 

They had a crap keeper, 1 alright full back, for some reason a load of centre mids with less than 10 dribbling, 1 decent winger, and just 1 decent striker

 

Couldn't resist in the end and had to go back to Jeonbuk and raid them for their star striker who scored 52 goals in 52 games for me

 

Also signed a load of kids (players with yellow *) as the youth teams were lacking any actual good youngsters to try and develop

 

What's the bank balance and budget situation like? Also Benjamin Dominguez is class

Edited 4 May 2023 by Tommy Fresh

[Tommy Fresh]

Decided to finally have another go at cracking Colombia, I've done all South American nations over the years and always managed to dominate domestically and continentally. However, never had any real joy in Colombia, I think it becomes fairly difficult due to the amount of games you have to play, but I'm going to persist with it on this years, started with Real Cartagena in the second tier, played 5 and scored 4 in every game so far.

[moore_94]

12 minutes ago, Tommy Fresh said:

What's the bank balance and budget situation like? Also Benjamin Dominguez is class

Bank balance is £31m

 

Transfer budget is £8m with £75k spare wage budget

 

Still also got a sell on clause for Bellingham if I ever want to use it, or if he is sold I will get £16m