FM11: Official West Bromwich Albion thread - The Yo-Yo is on the ascent

[KingCantona]

Welcome to the West Bromwich Albion FM11 thread

The Baggies

A brief(ish) history

The foundations of the Football League and F.A. Cup success

West Bromwich Albion, founded in 1848 as West Bromwich Strollers, are an English football club based in West Bromwich. Their first ever game took place on 22nd November 1878 against the staff of Hudson's soap factory. The 12-a-side game ended in a 0-0 draw. In 1882 the club joined the Staffordshire FA and shortly after won their first trophy, triumping 3-2 over Stoke in the Staffordshire Cup final. By now they had gained national coverage in the press.

In the 1883/84 season, Albion entered the F.A. Cup for the first time. They reached their first F.A. Cup final in 1886, having turned professional in 1885. They were defeated 2-0 by Blackburn Rovers. The following season they reached the final once more with a familiar conclusion - a 2-0 defeat at the hands of fellow West Midlands club Aston Villa. In 1888 they reached the final for a 3rd consecutive season, going one better and winning the cup in a 2-1 victory over heavy favourites Preston North End.

In March 1888, William McGregor, founder of the Football League, wrote to West Brom and the other 4 teams he considered to be the best in England. He proposed the formation of an association of football teams who would play each other home and away each season. As a result, West Bromwich Albion became one of the 12 founder members of the Football League. Albion's second F.A. Cup success came in 1892 against Aston Villa in a 3-0. However Aston Villa were the victors in their third F.A. Cup final meeting in 1895, winning 1-0.

Fred Everiss, promotion, relegation and a near double

In May 1902, 19 year old Fred Everiss replaced Frank Heaven as Albion secretary, and remained in the post for 46 years. During his time as secretary/manager Albion were relegated from Division 1 three times and promoted twice. They also reached two F.A. Cup finals, beating local rivals Birmingham 2-1 in the 1930/31 campaign but losing out to Preston North End in 1937. Everiss ended his 46 year reign at Albion in Division 2.

Fred Everiss retired in 1948, which marked a turning point in Albion's fortunes. They remained the only club yet to implement the conventional role of a manager. Their first modern manager was Jack Smith, who led the club to promotion in 1948/49 and so began their longest spell in the top flight of English football - 24 consecutive years. Smith was soon dismissed in 1952 due the board's increasing frustration with the lack of trophies at the Albion. His replacement was Juventus coach Jesse Carver, who very soon after returned to Italy to coach S.S. Lazio.

In 1953/54 Albion had their most successful season. They came extremely close to becoming the first ever team to win a league and cup double. They led the league for most of the season, but eventually finished runners-up to fierce rivals Wolves. They did, however, win the F.A. Cup, beating Preston North End 3-2 in the final.

The year 1957 saw Albion become the first team to play in the USSR, which at the time was locked behind the "iron curtain". The Soviets were invited back to the UK, where Albion beat Soviet Central Army 6-5.

In 1964, a promising young striker arrived from Notts County. He went on to become Albion's most iconic player of all time: Jeff Astle

Post-Astle and the Atkinson era

The depature of Astle in 1974, coupled with the failure to achieve promotion, cost current boss Don Howe his job. In 1978, an unknown manager by the name of Ron Atkinson stepped in as manager and inherited a talented young squad including Bryan Robson, Laurie Cunningham and Cyrille Regis. In Cunningham, Regis and new signing Brendan Batson from Cambridge United, Albion were the first English team to simultaneously field three black players. These players famously became known as the Three Degrees, in reference to vocal trio of the same name.

May 1978 saw Albion make history again by becoming the first British team to play in China. The 1978/79 season was dominated by the Albion, but unfortunately due to huge fixture congestion at the end of the season, Albion slipped to third with Liverpool winning the title. The highlight of this season for many fans was the spectacular 5-3 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford. Atkinson went on to manage United in 1981.

1986-Present

Between the years of 1986 and 2000, Albion were stuck in limbo. Atkinson returned in 1987, but was soon lured away to Athletico Madrid. Ossie Ardiles took over for the 1992/93 season and led Albion to their first Wembley appearance in over 20 years - a 3-0 victory over Port Vale in the 3rd Division play-offs. Ardiles, like Atkinson, was lured away from Albion in favour of Tottenham Hotspur after only one season in charge.

Gary Megson took over at the start of the new Millennium and his arrival seemed to spark a revival in Albion's fortunes. They reached the Divison 1 play-offs in his second season, finishing 6th in the league - their highest league position since relegation in 1986. They finally reached the promised land in the 2001/02 season, but only won 6 games in their first season in the Premiership and were relegated. They were promoted again at the first time of asking, but again had a horrible start to the 2004/05 season, winning just 1 of their first 11 games. This led to Megson being sacked and the arrival of Albion legend Bryan Robson as manager. Albion were bottom at Christmas, but the relegation battle raged on until the final day of the season. Albion beat Portsmouth 2-0, while Crystal Palace, Norwich and Southampton all lost. Albion had completed the Great Escape, becoming the first club to ever survive relegation after being bottom at Christmas.

Albion were relegated once again the following season, and took two seasons to gain promotion in the new Football League Championship. They were, however, relegated again and Tony Mowbray resigned to take over at Celtic. Roberto Di Matteo took over and led Albion to automatic promotion as runners-up behind Newcastle United. This tendency to gain promotion and suffer relegation back-to-back has led to Albion's nickname the "yo-yo club".

This leads us to the present day. You take over as manager in the 2010/2011 season. You take over as manager of a club steeped in history and tradition. Will you be able to return The Baggies to the glory days of old?

Stadium: The Hawthorns

The Hawthorns has been the home of West Bromwich Albion since 1900. At an altitude of 551 feet, it is the highest ground among all 92 Premier League and Football League clubs.

The Hawthorns was constructed on the site of a field of hawthorn bushes, hence the name. When opened, the ground could hold 35,500 supporters. The first game took place on the 3rd of September 1900 between Albion and Derby County with an attendance of 20,104. The highest ever attendance at The Hawthorns was set on the 6th of March, 1937 when 64,815 turned up to watch Albion thrash favourites Arsenal 3-1 in the F.A. Cup quarter final.

Today, The Hawthorns has a capacity of 26,500 spread over four stands: the West Stand, Birmingham Road End, Smethwick End and East Stand. It is served by The Hawthorns railway station.

The Hawthorns

Club information

Founded: 1848

Nation: England

Location: West Bromwich, West Midlands

Nicknames: Albion, The Baggies, The Throstles, West Brom

Fierce Rivals: Wolves (who together form the Black Country Derby)

Other Rivals: Aston Villa, Birmingham, Stoke

Legends: Cyrille Regis, Tony Brown, Jeff Astle, Bob Taylor

Icons: Richard Sneekes, Laurie Cunningham, Derek McInnes, Willie Johnston, Bobby Robson

Chairman: Jeremy Peace

Manager: Roberto di Matteo

Captain: Scott Carson

Vice-captain: Jonas Olsson

Estimated value: £46M

Potential transfer budgets:

- £4M (attempt to avoid relegation)

- £4.5M (avoid relegation)

- £5M (mid-table finish)

- £5.5M (top half finish)

- £6M (continental qualification through league position)

- £6.5M (title challenge)

- £7M (winner)

Potential wage budgets:

- 500k }

- 500k }

- 575k }

- 575k } (as above)

- 600k }

- 600k }

- 625k }

Corporate facilities: Average

Training facilities: Top quality

Youth facilities: Average

Current kits

Current first team

Goalkeepers

13. Boaz Myhill

01. Scott Carson

Defenders

36. Gonzalo Jara

30. Gabriel Tamaş

12. Steven Reid

03. Jonas Olsson

06. Pablo

33. Paul Scharner

22. Gianna Zuiverloon

20. Nicky Shorey

02. Joe Mattock

04. Marek Cech

Midfielders

21. Youssuf Mulumbu

08. Giles Barnes

14. Jerome Thomas

07. James Morrison

11. Chris Brunt

17. Graham Dorrans

05. Somen Tchoyi

Forwards

24. Peter Odemwingie

31. Simon Cox

28. Marc-Antoine Fortuné

10. Ishmael Miller

09. Roman Bednar

[KingCantona]

Reserved for future use

[KingCantona]

Reserved again!

[-lewis-16-]

Very nice start indeed.

Impressive work for such a rookie. Seriously though, once the analysis is done, it'll be a cracker.

[foggy]

Reserved again!

great start KC nice peice on the history of the club - are you going to do a section on potential line ups/ formations etc?

[KingCantona]

great start KC nice peice on the history of the club - are you going to do a section on potential line ups/ formations etc?

Yeah will definitely be doing that, will be up in the next day or so

[KingCantona]

Very nice start indeed.

Impressive work for such a rookie. Seriously though, once the analysis is done, it'll be a cracker.

Haha, cheers Lewis

[Frank327]

Is it just me, or is it very easy to reach the avoid relegation? I did a quick test to see how well a simple 4-3-3 would do in FM11, and chose WBA. I didn't do any transfers at all. I just quickly made my 4-3-3 tactic without too much fancy stuff (Changed some sliders for the inside forwards to make them more like wide strikers). So I went on a holiday to see how they would do. After 10 matches, I'm number 9 in the premier league, and I got a manager of the month award.

Was I just lucky, or is it always this easy? I do have to say that right now Odemwingie is my only injured player, so maybe I was lucky there.

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Odemwingie is looking terribly underdone

[Nemo168vn]

I picked up Westbrom in my online league, started out last night. That was the first time I've looked at Westbrom, and first thought was that the players generally have quite good looking stats you know.

I've sold some and will be posting a more clearer post tonight as I don't have the database now - but I picked up:

Axel Witsel - 3mil (can't get defour because he didn't want to come)

Humberto Suazo - 3mil ( I wanted Christian Benitez (birmingham loan last season) but my friend who was playing Westham was able to signed him)

Rafael Toloi - 6mil

Gaelano - 5.5mil

The two young CBs are considered young talents, but I hope they will actually be able to play my first team right away.

Any advice people? As I don't know how well these west bromwich players will perform. And where's the analysis for this topic?

[benbobjr]

Hey Nemo, I guess you must have sold some players to get that kind of money to spend?

I just had 5 million and bought Oswaldo Sanchez a Mexican Golakeeper for £925k, Rasmus Lindgren a Swedish midfielder for £1.3M. The rest of my money spent on youth players such as Brazilian left back Dodo who I bought for £1.5M and a few others. I sold Luke Moore for £1.2M, Abdoulaye Meite for £500k and Leon Barnett for £275k.

So I virtually stuck with the players I had. I started out with the set formation of 4-2-3-1, but I wasn't doing great and saw someone above mention the 4-3-3 so i started to use that and never looked back. Ended up finishing 6th in the league by the end, and were losing finalists in the League Cup final to Chelsea.

Sanchez started the season as my goalie but he got injured, Carson took his place and remained as my first choice.

Nicky Shorey was my first choice left back.

Gonzaolo Jara started as my first choice Right back before Gianni Zuiverloon took over that place as the season went on.

In central defence Jonas Olsson and Pablo were basically my first choice throughout.

In midfield I started off with Graham Dorrans in the centre, Chris Brunt on the Left and Somen Tchoyi on the right. Until I bought in Lindgren in January and then I had him in the centre, Dorrans on the Left and Brunt on the right. I was disappointed that James Morrison really didn’t impress and neither did Mulumbu and Scharner, but they along with Steven Reid were good back up players.

I tried to get Chris Wood out on loan but he wasn't happy with this or being in the reserves, so when I switched to the 4-3-3 I gave him a chance up front and he did well before later in the season losing his place to Ishmail Miller. both Odenwingie and particularly Fortune did very well up front with Odenwingie getting in the league 12 goals and 10 assists and Fortune 19.

My best overall rated players were Fortune and Odenwingie followed by Dorrans and Brunt. Now I just need to improve on my defence for the next season.

[Rubentus_Juventus]

Play Ismael Miller as an inside forard on the right (train him) and he is ridiculous! He was the best player i used in the demo

[Minkaro]

Any advice on best formation/tactics to use?

[benbobjr]

4-3-3 works a treat for me

[taz47]

WBA new start no edit, media predict 19th,

scored for fun,defence was a problem first half of the season,let in about 40 before jan was hard to get someone to sign me then I signed verkhovtsov,

He made my defence solid great buy, My top performing players were Kadlec and Brunt,

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/237487-Ultimate-FM2011-tactic

tactic used ^

[Rubentus_Juventus]

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/246131-Ishmael-Miller-The-Manchester-City-Reject

.....absolute gun!

[westmarsh7]

This season IRL I have enjoyed watching WBA, playing good football and its a joy to watch and doing well so I thought why not give em a bash

Pre Season went well with first game against Reserves/Youths a 1-0 with Miller scoring, Grimsby Town saw Olsson get 2 and Miller again in a 3-0 victory

4-0 away at Crawley Fortune 2, Odemwingie and an OG followed by Dungannon away with Thomas, Fortune and another OG. Crusaders was the first goal we let in with a 5-1 win Miller, Jara, Morrison, Bedner and Odemwingie. Last game against Swindon saw us lose 1-0

Brought in Peter Masilela for 180k for a left sided player, Christian Benitez a big strong striker for 1.5M, Thorgan Hazard 2.5M more for the next few years, Abubakari Yakubu for free at right back and Macheda on loan for Man Utd for the season.

4 games played in the season Home against Wigan saw a 0-0 in which the game was decribed boring and would like to say it was.

Away at Birmingham saw a 2-0 win Odemwingie and Macheda

Carling Cup at Aldershot 6-0 Macheda 2, Thomas, Benitez, Scharner and Odemwingie

Then came the big home tie against Liverpool but the big man Odemwingie scores 4 in a 4-1 victory. O 3 of his goals were penalities haha

[westmarsh7]

Lets just add 1-0 WIN to that list away at Manchester City!!!!! Olson from a corner and Myhill has an amazing game against City and mainly Tevez!!

[Colski]

Odemwingie is looking terribly underdone

I completely agree. What's the most effective way you guys have played Odemwonder as I can't seem to get much out of him at the mo?

[Rubentus_Juventus]

starting another one with u boys, hoping for the same sort of suceess i had in 11.1

[titley100]

Started a networking game with a friend i decided to go West Brom as he decided Newcastle, First season went roughly okay stayed out of relegation the whole time but only to finish 14th in the league.

First seasons signings:

Stand out signings:

Kyle Walker, solid in defense and bombed forward well to support.

Khouma Babacar, Very much one for the future found great form towards the end of season.

Signing that didn't impress:

Renato, was utterly rubbish from the get go was encouraged by ass man to sign him.

Axel Wistel, home sick as soon as he moved taking time to settle in maybe improve next season

This season (11/12) so far made some awesome signings here is a screen shot below:

Ben Foster brought in as par exchange with Joe Mattock + 5.5m to replace the clumsy Carson.

Aaron Ramsey maybe paid over the odds at 20m over 48months but he will become world class.

Onuoha bring much needed pace to the back four if needed.

Taylor brings depth to the CB's after my friend released him on i free i quickly snapped him up.

Kyle Walker back on loan after an amazing job he did last season view to buy 5m

Finally my bargain of the season Ibrahim Afellay awesome player to get him on a free I was buzzing.

I think I am now creating a squad with the depth that can this season push for a mid table finish maybe Europe but this is a team defiantly for the future with possible world class players like, Babacar and Ramsey lets hope to holding onto them.

here is what I think my strongest starting lineup is.

I will keep updating how the team preform in the future

[Hagginho]

Anyone who has some recomendations for signings?

Trying to get Masilela..

Advice for gettable and cheap players?

[adz555666]

During my 1st season with The Mighty Stripes, I won the FA Cup, League Cup & finished 8th. I kept the same squad throughout, never brought anybody. I played 4 - 4 - 2, had an attacking stratagy, defended deep, played a slow tempo, man marked & had my players playing short passes. My team of the season was: Carson, Shorey, Olsson, Pablo, Jara, Brunt, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Tchoye, Miller & Odemwingie. Had started with Fortune up front but after a good start he quickly lost form!

Adam

[JOEJOE]

Just starting fourth season with albion , had best finish to season last year in league with an 8th place finish just starting the fixtures now and hoping to get a place in Europe this season

[JOEJOE]

quick update fourth season played 15th matches and top of the league. Is anyone else currently playing Albion save?

[normanwisdomii]

Finally my bargain of the season Ibrahim Afellay awesome player to get him on a free I was buzzing

no way! you did not get afellay on a free? HE COSTS 10M+ IN THE FIRST TRANSFER WINDOW... you sir have cheated