Tell me about your best ever savegame

[kstoyle]

Chatting to a mate this week and we were discussing our best ever saves in CM/FM. I have been playing the series since the 90s (yes that makes me old) and have had loads of great ones.

I have forgotten loads, but these 3 stick in my mind.

3rd place - Bath City in FM 06. First and most successful attempt at defuge challenge. Toook them to the Premiership. Really enjoyed but never got close to completing.

2nd place - Journeyman save FM12. Started Unemployed. Career Besencon (France) Red Star 93 (France), Viking (Norway), Rosario Central (Argentina)

1st Place - Journeyman save FM11. Started Unemployed with fairly low rep. Career - Monza, Reggiana, Torino, Bordeaux, Sevilla, Arsenal and AC Milan. Won many trophies including Ligue 1, Premiership, Serie A and the Champions League!

So what has been your best save game?

[Pompey1978]

A couple spring to mind:

- My only ever attempt at the dafuge challenge, I took Gateshead all the way up to the Premiership. My favourite promotion of them all was from the Conference to League 2, as I did it with a squad with an average age of 22, and got a message saying "They say you never win anything with kids, but manager Pompey1978 has proved that wrong" (I'm paraphrasing, it was years ago!). The other pleasing part of that save was that I had a centre half who played in every division for me (although by the time we reached the top flight he was brought on as a sub a few times just so he could have that accolade).

- The other save I really enjoyed was managing Hartlepool in FM2011; although we never reached the Premiership, I took them into the 2nd tier for the first time in their history and made them into a solid Championship side. Got into the play-offs twice but couldn't quite get over the line. What I really enjoyed about that save was that, having no money to spend initially, I took a lot of time to bring some youngsters through into the first team and it was a pleasure to see them blossom into good professionals. I also picked up some great young players from the French Clairefontaine national setup and they turned into absolute stars for me.

This year I want to do something I've not done properly before, and have a journeyman save.

[nine_iron]

My current Grimsby save on my Lincs & Humber database. Champions league group stage in season 4! Still cannot believe I made it this far, its been one crazy season. Going 0-2 up against Inter made it even more special.

The youth developement, the nation growth, the intense battles for the league. It all is making my best and most exciting save ever.

[Hypanimz]

The three that spring to mind are :

3rd - FM10. Taking Oxford from the Blue Square Premier up to the Premiership, Winning the League 3 times.

2nd - FM11. First time taking part in the Dafuge Challenge. Taking Weymouth from the BSS to become Premiership champions and Champions League runners up. Took about 20 seasons.

1st - FM12. First time completing the Dafuge Challenge. Taking FC United from the BSN to 11 times Premiership winners, 4 time Champions League winners and various other trophies. Also having a 65,000 capacity stadium named after me.

[alexyfoot]

I am generally not a fan of playing with big clubs but my by far most favorite save happened with Leverkusen on FM 2010 I believe. I initially started with Wolfsburg and won the title in 2nd season. Thought - oh, that's too easy, and resigned. Took charge of Leverkusen who were 17th at the time and struggling mid-season. Won the league 2 seasons later and went on to have a great battles with Bayern Munich until about 2023-24, with us have the edge in winning titles.

Despite having the two possibly best players in the world (acquired at an early age of course) I only won the Champions League 2(?) times total. However, I enjoyed every season of it as Bayern stayed very competitive (and even went on to win 3 in a row 2016-2018). The major clubs elsewhere after 6-7 season were Roma coached by my compatriot Stoichkov (for reasons unknown to man) and OM, who had many great talents in their squad. For some reason the big guns from England and Spain went on to perform quite badly in comparison but the two clubs above both won more CL titles than me.

Loved it.

[CityAndColour]

I love threads like this, as it allows me to reminisce.

The save I've gotten the most immersed in by far was my Forest Green save on FM11. After taking over them first season in the Conference, I ended up taking them to three Premier League titles, a League Cup and a Europa League over around 20 seasons. It was one of those great saves where you don't just get promoted every season, and you spend a few seasons in each division trying to move up. I think the only consecutive promotions I had were seasons four and five, when I was promoted form the Conference and then L2 at the first attempt.

This save spawned my favourite ever player, a French/Reunionese newgen striker called Jamal Lacoste, whose goals took me through all divisions. I wrote quite a lengthy post on him here which summarises his marvelous career.

It also brought me my three other all-time favourites:

Russell Dicks - One of the finest central midfielders I've seen on any version, both my own games and screenshots others have loaded. Pretty much the perfect captain, athlete and also a very good technician. Seeing his determination at only 12 makes me wonder what he could have been if that was higher.

Adam Travis - Another with unbelievable mental attributes, he used to dominate games playing just behind a lone striker. The best free-kick specialist I've used to, and used to regularly pot them from 35+ yards.

No screenshot, but Paulo Cesar, a Brazilian striker who had strung together five straight 40+ goal seasons by the time I stopped the save.

I really wish I'd saved the file externally, as I'd love to install FM11 and play a few more seasons of it while I wait for the new version. Unfortunately it is on an old laptop I no longer have.

[Spart]

My most satisfying and diverse save was in FM10...

1. Started unemployed w/ Sunday League Rep

2. Weymouth (2 years - got them promoted to BSP then relegated; resigned)

3. Shelbourne (5 years - promoted to Irish Prem, won cups, got into CL groups stages; left for Preston job before finally winning Prem title & overshadowing the team that had become my nemesis, Bohemians )

4. Preston (4 weeks - terrible squad, bad finances, harsh owner; resigned in disgrace and embarrassment. Thought I'd messed up my career after such a good run in Ireland, especially as I didn't stick around to see Shelbourne dominate after all my hard work.)

5. Belgrano in Argentina (4 years - random job offer, good but aging squad, took them to promotion in Arg Premier league and then top end safety; sacked after board takeover)

6. Mexico (took on job part-time in my last season at Belgrano; won Gold Cup, beaten by Italy in World Cup final; resigned after World Cup the season of Belgrano sacking)

7. Cagliari (7 years - WC final appearance must have impressed Italians! Team surprisingly full of potential. Won 5 Serie A titles in 7 years, 3 Champions Leagues and lots of domestic cups. Turned Cagliari into a team of wonderkids and grizzled vets playing Tiki-taka!)

8. Morocco (took on part-time 6 years into Cagliari job)

...and that's where I left it due to uni deadlines, a busted computer and then FM11. Had another fun save with that version too however managing Tamworth to the Championship before taking over Blackpool, turning them into good football playing Premier League mid-tablers and a turnaround house for troubled or underachievers former wonderkids Ravel Morrison, Mario Gotze and Hatem Ben Arfa!

[uprockindude]

my best save was from FM12 with dafuge's challenge he set himself this year bad team from the worst division in a country where the standards of football are very bad and turn them into CL winners and make the league into the best in the world. he chose Bourneview Young Men from NI so I also managed in NI (they have no rules which is nice) I managed PSNI for 12 years would of been a lot more but my laptop broke and PC World lost the save.

we won everything except europa cup turned the club massively around and by the end NI had 3 qualifying places into Europe

[haunted1234]

fm12 polonia bytom (poland) winning champions league after 35 or so years , highlight of this all, had a full expanded build youth acadamy, and 2 very good players coming out of it (which i thought is impossible), i even opened the file with genie scout which iam usually not using just to see the PA of these 2 guys, the DM (my captain and carry) had PA of 17x~ and the attacker hat a PA ability of 19x, very unlikely from what i understand

[Sir_Liam]

My most legendary save was on FM2007 managing Hammerfest who started in the regional 3rd tier in Norway. For those that don't know, Hammerfest was the most northern team you could manage from the start on FM2007.

I was promoted in my first season to the 1st Division, and then it took me a further 4 years, which included some end of season collapses to go up to the Tippeligaen. I won the league there in my 4th season again, and then 5 years after that I completed the dream and won the Champions League.

A total of 14 seasons was what it took, but it was worth all the hard work.

After that I'd have to say my save game where I only managed New Zealand on FM2006. After 17 years I reached the World Cup final knocking out the likes of France and Argentina along the way. I then play Scotland in the final and lose 4-3. Probably the most depressing result I've ever had on FM. It was still a great save game though.

[TalkSport]

Mine would have to be in FM12. Data Edited so the legendary Gretna were back in Scottish Division 3.

2012-2018 'Gretna 2008' Won consecutive promotions, than SPL in 2018, also won 2 league cups, 1 challenge cup 1 scottish cup. (Never came top 6 again after i left )

2018-2021 'England' Took over for them for the Euros as fancied a break from constant games for a while, lost in Semis

2021-2024 'Dortmund' Left England to take Dortmund job as wanted to overhaul Bayern and they had zero debt and a decent core! Won league 2 out of 3 seasons and one UCL!

2024-2030 'Barcelona' Made the step to biggest club possible. They had over 1bn finances 500+mil Transfer budget so built the most devo team ever (All players 20-23) as a result i won league 6 seasons out of 6 and UCL 5 times and Copa Del Rey 4 times! MOST successful time at a club in my FM life ever! Also smashed WR transfer with a brazil striker for 120mil :O

2030-2032 'France' Took over them as needed a break again. Second crack at winning Euros and core french team was in their prime (29-32) as it was my Barce team! Won euros!

2032-2034 'Gretna 2008' Yes i made the move back as they got relegated than promoted again but were struggling 10th out of 12th. Kept them up and in full season guided them to 3rd and Europe for first time since i left!

2034-2036 'Wolves' Took over them in march as their new tycoon wasn't happy with league position. I guided them to 3rd and UCL success in the last 3 months. The next 2 full seasons i finished runners up in league both BUT won UCL both times for 3 times on trot :/ (Always struggle to win BPL! Its my nemesis)

2036-2042 'Real Madrid' Same situation as Barce. They had over 1bn finances and 500+mil to spend so again used Barce philosophy and brought all devo kids (20-23) and went on to win league 6 times ( Including 2 whole seasons unbeaten on trot that involved 97 games unbeaten, 24 wins on trot) UCL 5 times and Copa Del Rey 3 times. Reckon with the smashed records it was farrrr more successful than Barce spell. They also went on to increase stadium size to 110'000 to compete with Barces 115'000. (Lyon had biggest stadium with 120'000 :O )

Than my computer crashed and i lost the save! That was like 4 months ago so only imagine what year i would have been up to now! Easily 2060+! Most successful manager in Liga BBVA's history!

[Chicha_14]

Has to be my Swansea save on this years FM which I started back in March, just about to complete my 20th season with them. Overall trophy count stands at 62 including 10 Premier League titles and 9 Champions Leagues. Had a stadium built and named after me with a capacity of 65000 as well as been the only 5 star reputation team over the 20 years and still holding onto that now.

Also won some international tournaments with Brazil, France and England.

[Big Marv]

Too many to mention, but...

CM2 (Spanish). Managed Athletic Bilbao to ~20 consecutive league titles, multiple other trophies. Slightly unrealistic, you could buy non-Basque's, and Juninho & Roberto Carlos were both well established stars of my team

CM97/98. Started at Reading gaining promotion to the Premier League and ultimately the league title after 8/10 seasons. Took over my club Liverpool and built them into a world-beating force. Took over at Spurs (Relegated to Division 3), got them promoted after first season and then the game reached the end disappointingly and I couldn't continue.

FM09: First of the FM series I really got into. Started at Port Talbot and was sacked after 2 seasons. Moved to Prestatyn and after an inauspicious start managed to get them into Europe, and a surprisingly positive result against Cracovia. Head-hunted by League 2 Notts County and failed there following the decision to raid Prestatyn for players, and players who succeed in the Welsh League, are not necessarily succesful in League 2. Moved to Staines (newly promoted to Blue Square South, with no players), managed to build a team that gained promotion to BSP & finally League 2. Stayed in League 2 for 3 years, before the save corrupted...

FM09 (in lieu of FM10): Brazilian journeyman career taking in CRB, Mixto (MT) & Ipatinga. Having a small amount of success with the first two (State Championships & promotions), I took over Ipatinga and built a real success story dominating domestic football in Brazil, never quite managed the Libertadores

FM11: Maidenhead (Blue Square South, Blue Square Premier, League 2), Crystal Palace (Nothing, Fired), Istanbulspor (promotion to the top flight, then missed out on the title as my board sold my best players), Tom Tomsk (promotion & consolidation in Russia's top flight), CSKA Moscow (Several domestic cups & top flights won) and finally Russia (qualification & the World Cup)

FM12: Cukaricki Bekgrade (promotion & consolidation in top flight), Brentford (relegation to League 2, left under a cloud), Lokomotiva Zagreb (promotion and the Croatian title with a vastly over-achieving squad), back to Brentford (failure to get promotion, my local side hates me!), Triestina (promotion from Serie C2 to Serie B, left the club teetering on promotion to Serie A), Liverpool (Premier League, Champions League, 2 x League Cups) and finally to Venezia (promotion from Serie C2 to Serie A, Serie C2 Cup) where I am now

[tomtuck01]

It's right here if you want to read through.

Easily my best save.

[Legionaire]

In one of my fm12 saves. I take over my local club shanghai dongya, I invest heavily into the youth development and after a decade, dominate asia champion league, domestic league, cup, even reserve and youth league. Half of the players in all level of national teams comes from my youth academy, by selling some of them to other teams in china rather than selling them abroad, the entire league improve to the point that I almost always meet another chinese team in champions league final.

However Camacho kept his post for a decade so I didnt have the chance to lead the national side

[joetattie]

CM00/01

Took Brechin City from Scottish 3rd to 3 time consecutive domestic champions in consecutive seasions, up until the SPL, from there, I took over the Rangers job and managed to take them to 5 consecutive titles, whilst watching Brechin slip to limbo between the SPL and 1st. Left Rangers for the Scotland job, and managed to win the world cup haha no word of a lie! and from them go to Falkirk (I believe?) and make them a semi successful european team, before leading Brazil to a world cup.

After I got into the game I was devastated to realised I had only loaded Scotland as a playable nation, so I was able to do it fairly quick.

CM03/04

Took Carlshalton to the championship play-offs in Dafuge Challange, but time constrictions and anger caused me to let the save slip, and forget about it.

FM09?

I got a season update, before FM10 came out, to give me something to do. And I managed to get engrossed in a fantastic Middlesbrough game. I retun, urned them from the Championship in the first season, managing to sign Beckham in the January! And the next season I believe I finished around 11th in the Premiership, then 4th the next season, with a magnificent Europa League run, and in the forth season I took them to their first Premier League title, and Champions League. From there I took over the Sweden job, and took them to European victory.

FM12

A recent journeyman save, starting off unemployed, and getting a job in the Icelandic Second Division, managing to just save my team Bí/Bolungarvík from relegation, then build through the next season, and finish 2nd, with promotion to the Icelandic second division. The 3rd season I finished mid table, and for the next 3 years we were the top team in Iceland, and European giantkillers. I managed to win the Europa League in my final season before taking a job trying to resurrect Auxerre from the second division in France. I only stayed the one season with Auxerre, managing to finish second, taking them back to Ligue one. Before the next season started, I took the Young Boys job in Switzerland, with them recently winning the league, and their manager leaving for higher, and greater things, I took over, and only just managed to win the Swiss league, after a terrible start to the season. With thanks to a free agent Balotelli, and a generally cheap Juan Mata I was able to win the Europa League once again, this time winning the Super cup aswell.

Also, in my time at Bí/Bolungarvík, I was in charge of South Korea U23s for two month, and in that, I won the Asian Games (?) going undefeated.

These are the ones that stick in my mind the most... I've had alot more games as this, but many of them have been sadly forgotten.

[Robert the Spud]

Napoli- Fm11. Not the most challenging or obscure, but my favourite ever.

Came 3rd in first season and won the EL final 3-2 against Athletico Madrid. It was an incredible game, and put us on the road. Bought in some low key transfers and finished 1st the season after and won the Champions League 2-1 against Barcelona, hitting them with some incredible counter attacks. Our success was similar to Porto's in 2003-04. I sold Lavezzi to Man City for £28m, bringing in Rossi as his replacement. He had a legendary 2 season streak with Cavani, where we won the league once more but not champions league. Then Real Madrid offered £45m for Cavani, who was going on 29, and was blocking the development of a great Argentinian regen ST, so I sold. Whole squad was S.American/Italian.

In 8 seasons, I won the CL 3 times, and Serie A 4 times. Finally did the double on my resignation season, after which I took over at my favourite club, River Plate.

[pl-fikander]

Current journeyman save from FM12, my only in this version. Made all 15 ex-USSR nations playable in the editor and started a career with a goal of winning league and cup trophies in every country. Managed Nashe Pivo (literally "Our Beer") from Kyrgyzstan, another Kyrgyz club Abdysh-Ata, Shakhter Karagandy in Kazakhstan, Zestaponi in Georgia and three clubs in Russia - Spartak, Khimki and CSKA. Now in 2027 I have four league titles of dreamed fifteen and I'm seriously thinking of staying with this save instead of switching for FM13.

[The_Damaja]

My Tottenham save in FM12 was one of my favourites. The first 4 seasons I came 2nd in the PL on all 4 occasions, I lost a Europa League final, 3 CL finals, 2 FA cup finals and 3 League cup finals. I then stopped playing the save because I couldn't handle anymore heartbreak! A month later I started playing the save again and bounced back with a quadruple, then the following season with a treble (PL, CL, FA Cup) as well as the world club cup and super cup and to top it all off I won the World Cup with England on penalties!

[hugo_rune]

My best save started with Vindjbart in Norway's second division. I fought with them up to the top division, got relegated but bounced back up the next season and consolidated. Stayed with them for 11 and a bit years.

Then I went to FC Midtjylland in Denmark where I got a taste of European football in the Europa League, and fought for the title, but I didn't win much - just one domestic cup in four years. Then I left to Bologna in Serie B, where I stayed for about a decade. Took them up to the top division, and built a great team that won 2 Serie As, 3 domestic cups, a Europa League, and finally a Champions League. By far my most glorious period of management in FM.

[spankie]

CM93-94 on the Amiga I started a career with Watford starting in Division 3 (the lowest league at that time) with fake players and after at least 14 years won the domestic treble and Champiions Cup all in the same season. I think it took me 7 years to get to the Premier League and won it at least 4 times. I remember that I started the save with 2 defenders that went on to play for England and kept them until they turned 31+ and stated to struggle. I also picked up a striker who I kept for 4 or 5 years and he was constantly the leagues top scorer with at least 35 goals a season but was only ever worth £50k, he couldn't handle the jump to the Premier League and I got rid of him.

More recently I completed dafuge's challenge with Chelmsford a few FM versions ago, but since then I've just never had the time to devote to playing FM and end up quiting the career.

[marieweaver132]

My favorite games which I was ever saved such are Mario Games, Hudson Soft, puzzle game and racing game but I like puzzle game.

[Herbert Fandel]

My favorite games which I was ever saved such are Mario Games, Hudson Soft, puzzle game and racing game but I like puzzle game.

What a tortured attempt at humour - You just about managed to smuggle a joke in there though....almost

[LeBaiton]

The one that stands out the most for me is the one I am still playing to this day. It's an FM10 save with a large european database. I never cheated, used scouting programs, or deliberately restarted a game, I do have had to replay games due to crashes

I started out my save unemployed with reputation on automatic. The idea was to holiday to a couple of years in the future, but after several nights of being on holiday for one season, and the end of season two near, I decided that I was too eager to wait longer so I started applying for jobs.

In april 2012 I was offered the job of Raith Rovers who were in the Scottish First Division, somewhere near the bottom. I managed to keep them in division one and I spend the next 12 seasons there.

Most memorable moment: beating the big names and winning the Scottish Premier league four times in a row, and reaching the quarter finals of the European Champions League.

In 2023/2024, Real Madrid came 'a knocking. I had promised myself I'd only leave the Rovers for a big name, and Real was certainly that. I decided to jump ship, leaving Raith with a fat wallet, a decent reputation, a team full of potential, superb facilities and a tiny stadium (which they abandoned the next year for a new and improved stadium named after a certain legendary manager, *cough* )

Joining Real Madrid I was faced with a good squad of players, all mostly aged 30 plus. I spend some of the budget on talents that I had already scouted in my time at Raith, but who were always too expensive for me to purchase, invested in youth & youth setup and signed some of the staff that left Raith with me. I spend 11 years at Real, made a world-beating squad, won the LIGA 8 years in a row, Champions League 7 times (lost one time 2-1 to Galatasaray, my arch nemesis in Europe).

Most memorable moment: Spending cash like water and - despite trying hard - still not running out.

After 8 years of winning everything you could win, I let my contract run out and left for unemployment once more. To my surprise, not one club wanted to have me. I was linked to every job available, but I was never approached. I had already kind of decided what I wanted to do, as I loved my period at Raith developing the club. In 2031 I joined Blackpool, who were hard on their way to drop out of the Blue Square North, standing last after a few months in.

It's 2041 now, and Blackpool have clawed their way back to the English Premier League. I'm running on a tight budget. My young and upcomming talents all want to leave for big clubs. I'm still playing in Bloomfield Road which is maxed out at its capacity of 20,000. I've only recently been able to peak the interrest of some of the now 30+ players that I once coached at Real Madrid. Some of them have already retired and became staff which I've tried to bring to Blackpool (spanish has become the club's second language, sorry fans!).

Most memorable moment (up until now): consecutive league promotions, all the way up to the English Championship!

I'm 63 years of age in the game and Blackpool will be my last team to manage. I've decided I will retire from the club once I've won the EPL and when the club has build a new stadium. I will then create a new manager whom I will give the name of a scottish youth player who never quite made it at Raith Rovers and start out unemployed again with the lowest reputation I can pick.

Footnotes:

- Raith Rovers continue to dominate the SPL, having won the SPL 11 times after I left, with their youth academy producing plenty of bright scottish football talents.

- Real Madrid is no longer the richest club in the world. Their spot has been taken over by Italian club Genoa. Real continue to dominate domestically, and in Europe. They have had to concede the LIGA title to Barcelona for a couple of times since I left though.

[Herbert Fandel]

Lowest Reputation yet offered Scottish Div 1? Was it different in FM10? or was the lowest repuation the lowest it would let you have rather than the lowest possible?

[LeBaiton]

I think the lowest reputation you could have in FM 2010 was the reputation setting "automatic"?

I could however have been mistaken and taken over Raith in D2 instead of D1. I'm doing this from memory and don't have the save handy

[Herbert Fandel]

Ah, now there is a common misconception, automatic was at the bottom of the list but as I understand it wasn't necessarily the lowest, rather the lowest that would get you a job.

However, as I also think that reputation was less important then than now, and that it doesn't make that much of a difference to your interesting career story, I apologise for pointing it out

[LeBaiton]

No problem! My memory's too hazy to say for sure if I picked automatic, or if I picked another reputation setting. I've been playing this save for well over a year and a half, and I simply don't remember for sure. Selecting the settings was probably the fastest thing I've ever done on this save (speed's a drag now!)

[whilewolf]

My first ever game CM93 I started as Man City I think I might of won an FA cup but the league always alluded me eventually I gave up and moved to Everton where I won everything.

CM97/98 I cant remember who I was managing it was probably City but I remember that I had the best LWB in the history of football he was like a 6'2" Roberto Carlos.

FM07 I made Colchester into the best most dominant team in the world after spending years stuck in the championship.

[Chalky1989]

FM10

Holidayed to 2020.

Took over Liverpool in 2021. Took them from midtable obscurity to 8 league titles in 8 seasons, 5 CLs, 4 FA Cups, and I think 5 LC's. Helped that I had the greatest player I've ever used on the game, an American called Nathan Vasquez....by the time he retired(10 years after I left), had 600+ goals in 800+ games, used to play up front, then transitioned to a CM/CAM role by the end. Also had other world class players in the team. I took over England in 2022, left in 2028. Won 2 international tournaments, lost one. Resigned. Also left Liverpool in 2028 after they still refused to expand Anfield.

Took over Brazil, but after 3 games, I could sense it wasn't working, left.

Took over Spurs in 2031, managed to overturn Liverpool as the dominant force(they'd walked the league as per usual since I'd left, their new boss got a new stadium named after him after winning the league the first time...needless to say I was livid. ). Stayed for 4 seasons. Won everything a few times. Left. Took over West Ham, in the late 2030's. Won everything several times. Left. Went back to Liverpool(remnants of my squad had aged, and the current boss didn't know how to build a team, so they were doing badly) Won the league and CL again.

Also managed England again to another world cup and Euro championship in the 2030's. Stopped playing after 2040.

[SRL88]

It's right here if you want to read through.

Easily my best save.

Click this link and you will see my save linked in the first sentence. That is mine.

[Faultless]

FM12- Started out unemployed with Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and English leagues loaded, managed to get a job with newly promoted SJK and took them up in my second season and proceeded to dominate the domestic scene for 10 years with 9 titles and every single domestic cup won.

Couldn't cut it in the champions league with my best position 3rd in the group stages.

Got an offer from Chelsea halfway through the 2022 season when they were in 12th position and guided them to 5th.

Currently sitting 3rd in my second season and hoping to finish 2nd at worst (Arsenal are unbeatable and have conceded 9 goals in 30 games so far).

[englandmanager]

Arsenal are always unbeatable

it's a ridiculous bias from SI

[PNE_Chris]

Mine would have to be in FM12. Data Edited so the legendary Gretna were back in Scottish Division 3.

2012-2018 'Gretna 2008' Won consecutive promotions, than SPL in 2018, also won 2 league cups, 1 challenge cup 1 scottish cup. (Never came top 6 again after i left )

2018-2021 'England' Took over for them for the Euros as fancied a break from constant games for a while, lost in Semis

2021-2024 'Dortmund' Left England to take Dortmund job as wanted to overhaul Bayern and they had zero debt and a decent core! Won league 2 out of 3 seasons and one UCL!

2024-2030 'Barcelona' Made the step to biggest club possible. They had over 1bn finances 500+mil Transfer budget so built the most devo team ever (All players 20-23) as a result i won league 6 seasons out of 6 and UCL 5 times and Copa Del Rey 4 times! MOST successful time at a club in my FM life ever! Also smashed WR transfer with a brazil striker for 120mil :O

2030-2032 'France' Took over them as needed a break again. Second crack at winning Euros and core french team was in their prime (29-32) as it was my Barce team! Won euros!

2032-2034 'Gretna 2008' Yes i made the move back as they got relegated than promoted again but were struggling 10th out of 12th. Kept them up and in full season guided them to 3rd and Europe for first time since i left!

2034-2036 'Wolves' Took over them in march as their new tycoon wasn't happy with league position. I guided them to 3rd and UCL success in the last 3 months. The next 2 full seasons i finished runners up in league both BUT won UCL both times for 3 times on trot :/ (Always struggle to win BPL! Its my nemesis)

2036-2042 'Real Madrid' Same situation as Barce. They had over 1bn finances and 500+mil to spend so again used Barce philosophy and brought all devo kids (20-23) and went on to win league 6 times ( Including 2 whole seasons unbeaten on trot that involved 97 games unbeaten, 24 wins on trot) UCL 5 times and Copa Del Rey 3 times. Reckon with the smashed records it was farrrr more successful than Barce spell. They also went on to increase stadium size to 110'000 to compete with Barces 115'000. (Lyon had biggest stadium with 120'000 :O )

Than my computer crashed and i lost the save! That was like 4 months ago so only imagine what year i would have been up to now! Easily 2060+! Most successful manager in Liga BBVA's history!

Gretna? You legend!

[Phil Macklam]

I suppose for myself it will be back on CM1 or CM2 where all we had were fake players and the team formation pitch was horizontal instead of current vertical.

Anyway I digress. As it was all those years ago all I remember my career lasted over 20 seasons (which I have never managed since) and it was the point I got the Arsenal job (I'm a Tottenham fan btw) was the highlight of it all.

In my first season with them (cannot remember how long into the game it was) we were relegated into the Championship. The next season after most top players left we were again relegated into League One.

As you can see things not going to well and thank goodness for none of the Boardroom confidence etc otherwise I'd of been sacked a long time ago.

Into the League One campaign we ended up as champions and went on to win the Championship the following year.

I had adopted a new tactic then a 4-2-4 with the 2 wide men on the left and right of the strikers. All I know it was a Scottish player playing at left wing who scored a ton of goals for us.

Into the Premiership and we won that and then the Champions League after that.

I realise it's super sketchy but it is my biggest memory of the earlier CM's was this career that saw me relegated twice with Arsenal and then two straight promotions and leading them to glory afterwards, plus this formation.

I'm sure there has been many other saves but nothing sticks out more than this does and it was 18 or 19 years ago so hence the lack of detail.

[Xavi Valverde]

By order of appearance :

CM 99/00 : a crazy game with the Bayern where I won almost every titles I could. Totally in love with Stefan Effenberg and I discovered a young Zlatan Ibrahimovic, still playing in Malmö. First season, I managed to make him top scorer of the league, even though he arrived in winter. I signed an incredible icelandic regen player too.

I started a new career with Malmö only to play with Ibra and the other big scandinavian stars(Bakircioglu, Wallerstedt, Hakansson, Kuqi)

CM 01/02 : Incredible duel between the two clubs of Roma. I had the AS Roma, and with Lazio Roma we brought the derby to the world biggest game ever. I think Roma and Lazio shared 10 CL and 10 Calcio in the ten season. I think this is the save where i found the most challenging opponent ever. The Lazio was simply the greatest, I remember my desperate attempts to buy their best players to disturb their perfect squad.

FM2007 : A very good game started as free agent. I spent most of my career running the Dinamo Bucarest, with great achievements and a solid base of top class Romanian players. I then made a less convincing year in the Dinamo Kiev and signed for the Atletico Madrid for 3 or rfour years. I finished my career with a world cup with Spain and eventually signing to Barcelona to win a last champion's league.

FM2011 : a long save with San Marino, which is playing in italian leagues. My first idea was to build a team of player from San Marino but they were so rubbish I couldn't even let one play in the low divisions. I couldn't reach the Serie A because I was too angry to fail a promotion. I led the league with 10 points safe when I suddenly went through a bad beat. I finished 2nd or third and couldn't make it on the playoff.

I'm a supporter of the F.C.Barcelona but I never made my best games with them. However, I play often with good teams because i like to play with and against the best players. Some other teams I managed and made great games with : Olympique de Marseille, Créteil Lusitanos, Sabadell, Arsenal, Leeds UTD, Nottingham Forest, Ajax, Parma, River Plate, Dinamo Moscou, Shakthar Donetsk, Santos.

Clubs I still want to manage one day : Liverpool, Dortmund, Napoli, play in the US.

I never played a ton of seasons in the same savegame, maybe I did a 12 years career once.

I'd like to try a 'marathon' one day, which would be winning various leagues in different countries in the same save. At least la Liga BBVA, Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Eredivisie.

[Daniel19489]

I have to quote 2 save games.

FM06 - Gretna. SPL champions in 3 years with Muamba and Fabregas on loan from Arsenal for 3 years through affiliation

FM12 - Newcastle. FA cup x3, Lge cup x2, EPL x2 and CL. All in 5 seasons... Feb season 6 - 4 pts clear in PL and still in FA, CL and LC.

[TalkSport]

Gretna? You legend!

Yeaaaaaaa

They will always have a place in my heart after their mesmeric rise through the Scottish leagues and FM05 when they was an absolute epic save

[duck my sick]

My best save has been on FM12, this is how it went:

1st season: started as my beloved Burnley. Lost in the playoff final to a last minute winner damn you Middlesbrough!

2nd season: strengthened the squad and was promoted as champions. Premier League here we come!

3rd season: finished a respectable 11th, included beating Chelsea 4-3 at Stamford Bridge! Was offered the Everton job, turned it down.

4th season: unbelievably finished 4th with a last game win over Spurs! Woooo!

5th season: reached the Champions League semi-final before being knocked out by Real Madrid. Offered the Chelsea job and accepted their offer.

Won everything with Chelsea and started feeling guilty about leaving MY Burnley. After 6 seasons at Chelsea, Burnley had dropped to league 1... then the Burnley manager was sacked. I arrived back in Burnley and got them promoted in consecutive seasons back to the Premier League. Then my game crashed haven't been on FM12 since. Waiting for the new game now

Come on you Clarets!

[Ranquelme]

On FM09or10.. I began my managing Newcastle who had Michael Owen and Martins up front. I finished a surprising 3rd in my first season and managed to sign Quaresma and Adriano on the cheap from Inter. But the funniest thing was Liverpool going into admin, they had a firesale of players, including selling Gerrard to me for a shocking £1m. (Torres went to Roma for £12m) After 3 seasons my team was something like:

Given

Regen (possibly the greatest fullback ive had) at RB

Collicini

Agger

Ryan Taylor

Quaresma

Gerrard

Hargreaves

VDV

Jonas

Adriano/Owen/Marquinhos (GOD)

I won the league after 3 seasons and then won the CL twice in a row and the league 3 times in a row and built up a fantastic side with Marquinhos scoring something like 35 goals in 40 games. After 7 seasons I left for Inter who had sacked Mourinho as they finished 7th..

I didn't realise at the time but Inter were owned by a USSR (what?) tycoon and had £600m in the bank and £200m transger budget..I began to sign Marquinhos and 3 regens from the Newcastle side and dominated Serie A and Europe.. Marquinhos went through a spell of scoring 3 hattricks in a row on more than one occasion. Serie A was a little easier than the Premiership. I played Newcastle in the CL final after 2-3 seasons and won 7-1. Kinda felt bad about it.

[JojoVillaHursty]

I have two.

1: Fm2007 as Aston Villa I made them the most successful team in the world just using youth and young players I scouted.

2: Fm2010 as Oxford United again made them the most successful before moving to the Mls then to Chile'