New Shrewsbury Town save:HELP

[redster2008]

Normally when playing FM, I'll start with a mid-table/Europa League team and see where I can get in about 3 years and then move on to somewhere else in Europe and see how my career develops. Recently however I decided I wanted to take a team from League 2 to Champions League glory. I have set myself a 10 season target, but I'm a bit lost as to how I should manage the lower leagues. I can't help but feel that my dynamic, possession-based, attacking 4231 won't be of much use with players that lack the attributes for it, and I don't know which players at lower level I can pick up on my budget of £20000 who will be one of those stars. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks.

Jude

[podunkboy]

Well...off the top of my head:

1. Assess what you have on the squad and build you tactic around them, don't try to build your team around a tactic.

2. If you have any glaring positional deficiencies, first have your backroom squad recommend some loan signings (especially if you have a parent club). Sometimes, you will pay nothing to very little for a player better than anyone you could ever afford.

3. Keep your tactic simple, players at lower levels aren't going to be able to execute 12+ team instructions plus a half-dozen player instructions.

4. Once you have a tactic, try it out and if you can't ascertain the failings, visit the tactics forum. But don't just say "give me a tactic", they like give-and-take in there.

5. You could probably go over and read the LLM sub-forum...but don't ask for help, they're kind of against that, but you might pick up some ideas from their failures and sucesses.

6. learn to accept lower ratings from your backroom staff - even when the board will let you offer mutual termination, you'll take a hit to your budget, sometimes it's best to muddle through until their contract runs out and then find someone more qualified.

7. keep an eye on the transfer-lists and out-of-contracts, and run your scouts over them repeatedly. You can often pick up a transfer-listed player for no transfer-fee up front and just a sell-on fee (and since no one else is going to pay for most of those players, you just have to budget for their salary - and as a bonus, lower-level players often don't have agents, so you save on those fees.)

8. sign players to non-contract terms, so you only pay them when you play them. Most appearance fees are less than what you'd pay in weekly salary.

9. don't be afraid to give your youth players some time in the senior squad, if you're not going to promote them eventually you might as well dump them and their youth salary now.

10. slow and steady builds long-term success. Don't mortgage the team's future on a player you can't afford if you don't get promoted.

[Guest]

Well...off the top of my head:

1. Assess what you have on the squad and build you tactic around them, don't try to build your team around a tactic.

2. If you have any glaring positional deficiencies, first have your backroom squad recommend some loan signings (especially if you have a parent club). Sometimes, you will pay nothing to very little for a player better than anyone you could ever afford.

3. Keep your tactic simple, players at lower levels aren't going to be able to execute 12+ team instructions plus a half-dozen player instructions.

4. Once you have a tactic, try it out and if you can't ascertain the failings, visit the tactics forum. But don't just say "give me a tactic", they like give-and-take in there.

5. You could probably go over and read the LLM sub-forum...but don't ask for help, they're kind of against that, but you might pick up some ideas from their failures and sucesses.

6. learn to accept lower ratings from your backroom staff - even when the board will let you offer mutual termination, you'll take a hit to your budget, sometimes it's best to muddle through until their contract runs out and then find someone more qualified.

7. keep an eye on the transfer-lists and out-of-contracts, and run your scouts over them repeatedly. You can often pick up a transfer-listed player for no transfer-fee up front and just a sell-on fee (and since no one else is going to pay for most of those players, you just have to budget for their salary - and as a bonus, lower-level players often don't have agents, so you save on those fees.)

8. sign players to non-contract terms, so you only pay them when you play them. Most appearance fees are less than what you'd pay in weekly salary.

9. don't be afraid to give your youth players some time in the senior squad, if you're not going to promote them eventually you might as well dump them and their youth salary now.

10. slow and steady builds long-term success. Don't mortgage the team's future on a player you can't afford if you don't get promoted.

Excellent post.

[redster2008]

Thanks, much appreciated! I can see why I'm always being directed over here, you guys are brilliant.

[redster2008]

Thanks a lot!

[stevio36]

I have just started with them after a long Charlton save and play either 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 DM with the current squad and am top of the league so give the players a chance,just tweak a few instructions and see

[redster2008]

I have just started with them after a long Charlton save and play either 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 DM with the current squad and am top of the league so give the players a chance,just tweak a few instructions and see

Have gone with a 4141, my midfield pairing of Lawrence and Loftus-Cheek is working wonders. I managed to get Liverpool as an affiliate as well so got some good players in on loan. Thanks for helping!