FM17: Barnsley - "It's Just Like Watchin Brazil"

[Jamesbfc1887]

Barnsley

After a successful 2016/17 season, where Barnsley were comfortably stationed above the drop zone in 14th position the Sky Bet Championship, exceeding all expectations, I've decided that it is my turn to try and once again guide my home town club to safety in the 2017/18 season - using https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update and  https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-start-date, which will prove to be one of the most difficult task the club has faced for a long time.

The 2016/17 season got of to a fantastic start with wins over Derby and QPR in 2 of the first 3 weeks in the season. The Reds went on providing a great style of play which we had continued from the 2015/16 season which had seen the club win promotion from League 1 back to the Championship at the second time of asking, having come from 24th in the league on November the 28th 2015, under our tactical genius of a manager Lee Johnson, who then preceded to leave and join Bristol City and spend millions to finish just above the drop zone single-handedly thanks to Tammy Abraham. Under hometown her and ex-player Paul Heckingbottom we went on to win the last ever Johnstone's Paint Trophy beating Oxford 3-2 thanks to one of many Adam Hammill inspirational moments. The club then went on to win promotion through the play-offs with a last day win at Wigan (who were already champions) 4-1!!! Sailing past Walsall in the semi-finals 6-1 on aggregate, we went on to face Millwall at Wembley for our second visit in 2 months. Thanks to an Ashley Fletcher early goal, an Adam Hammill wonder goal and a Lloyd Isgrove header the reds went on to win the final 3-1 securing promotion back to the Championship.

The start of the 2016/17 season saw a fresh intake of a number of players including Tom Bradshaw from Walsall and George Moncur from Colchester. the season saw the reds rise to 1 point of the play-off positions thanks to star performances from Conor Hourihane, Sam Winnall, Marc Roberts. However in January a mass exodus of our best players occurred adding to Alfie Mawson who had gone to Swansea late in the summer, with Hourihane, James Bree going to Villa and Sammy the Snake ending up at Swillsborough (Sheffield Wednesday) this meant that coupled with money made from the sales of Mason Holgate to Everton and the sell on fee of 15% of John Stones' move to Man City from Everton the club had taken in around £15,000,000 - £20,000,000 of transfer money in which £500,000 was spent on Alex Mowatt from Leeds (who is yet to prove his worth) and Matty James was brought in from Leicester on loan to prop up a stuttering end of season, where collected less points than everybody apart from Rotherham, thus we finished in 14th which i would have snapped your hand off for at the start of the season and would do again this season!

For this Career i will be using the Sortitoutsi transfer update: https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update and the custom start date: https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-start-date in order to start at the end of the 2016/17 season.

I am new around here so any tips, advice or anything you may wish to ask please do so as it would be most appreciated (oh and sorry for the poor presentation and waffling on my first post)

I would also like to say that my reasoning for doing this save was that i was really struggling to get into a save and thought there wasn't a better way to do it than to write about it and share it with you and writing was partly down to reading some excellent stories on her such as SpillBlood's Rotherham save: 

A squad overview and more in depth player review will follow shortly, where i will also talk about my plans for the save, now my exams have finished .

Thanks for reading.                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jamesbfc1887]

First of all If you have read this far then thank you, but during this save I will try to keep an element of realism in the save e.g. as it is Barnsley I will not be offering any players more than £8,000 a week (at least for the first season anyway) due to our tight budget which can be beaten by pretty much any other team in the division.

I will also endeavor to sign the type a player Barnsley would e.g. fairly young with resale value - Cameron McGeehan-

Finally that if we get any transfers over 150% of the players value e.g. £1.5 million for a £1 million player I have to accept it.  

The Squad

As you can see there is clearly work to be done with the squad with probably 10 or so players needed, although with this having a lot of already released players in the database from England and elsewhere my task should be made significantly easier.

Do bear in mind my attribute threshold and colours - There not all woeful!-

Goalkeepers:

 

First choice keeper, decent stats and still young for a goalkeeper never in doubt given the other option.

Don't rate him at all I'll definitely be looking to move him on in the summer and he's only 5'11.

Fullbacks:

 

Just signed in the last couple of days as I'm doing this, he should be a good signing he's young, low wage and versatile and 1 of only 3 senior fullbacks at the club.

An absolute gem of a signing on a free from Barnet last year, he'll probably end up as a left back this season and we'll be lucky if we can keep hold of him IRl and in game with clubs such as Swansea snooping around.

No natural Left backs in the squad, fell out of favour last season with Paul Heckingbottom, looks okay, might develop and i'll look to play him at left back but never him or Yiadom are natural there and neither is anyone else so it's place I'll be adding to. 

Centrebacks:

 

Hometown hero, Captain, best CB at the club, he does the basics right, great physicals, heading and tackling, an old school no nonsense defender and one we'll be lucky to keep IRL and in game with prem interest.

£100k to replace Alfie Mawson a younger Marc Roberts, he's just signed a new contract as well and a fans favourite, he'll be Roberts' CB partner.

Another young CB brought in on the cheap, an okay back up with pretty average stats, I'll definitely be looking for extra cover at CB.

Centremids: 

 

Sessi was injured with an ACL knee injury and only played 3 games last season, im very dissapointed with his stats as they are pretty awful and very unfair IMO but he's our only CM with any "Bite", he looked good in those couple of games and a real battler.

A player who is starting show his true potential after coming in from Colchester having a bit of a fall out going out on loan to Peterborough with a view to a permanent deal but luckily enough for us it didn't work out for him there and he's back and is probably our best attacking player but I would like him to add the BWM role to his locker, so i'll be training him to do so despite the fact stats are pretty average, but I hope he'll improve. 

Someone who looks like he's fallen out of love with the game since arriving from Leeds for £500k in January, but he's still a fantastic player and football manager really rates him!

Really excited about this guy coming in as a new signing this summer for £200k - £300k after we submitted our offer to the St. Mirren fans page not the club and he's young hungry and got something to prove down south.

Wingers:

 

Not sure about Hedges really haven't seen that much of him he seems alright but not ready yet but he's one of only two real wingers at the club so he may have to play apart this season.

As mentioned in the intro he's probably now a club legend after two succesful spells at the club, Barnsley is his club it just works! and he's going to have to play a big part of this eason despite being our oldest and most senior player, despite the fact he doesn't act like he's the oldest player in the squad.

Strikers:

 

Bradshaw is our only real recognised first team striker and even he I have my doubts about, he's going to have to score 10 goals at least this season if we plan to stay in this division.

Lee is probably going to be a real back up for the left wing role and up front, he's really not a winger but he just been stuck out there tbh as he couldn't get a game last season and his fitness is a real concern.

Payne definitely has something in him for me although that's not reflected at all in FM, although his stats aren't that bad but he'll probably not feature much.

Jackson Spent last year on loan at Grimsby, probably no future here for him.

Tuton also spent last year on loan at Grimsby, quick but not much else I expect him to leave this summer.

Ones to Watch:

 

Really exited by this lad, definitely the best youth prospect club, I don't no whether to lone him out or keep him in the U23's

Brown is probably the closest of the youngsters to the first team squad and there is genuine excitement among fans about this kid.

16 Acceleration 16 Pace wow! one to watch for sure with devastating pace, this lad really impressed last year and I'll definitely watch his progress.

If you have enjoyed reading so far please let me know. 

 

 

[Jamesbfc1887]

A bit long I know so to conclude

Keep:

GK- Adam Davies. Star Goalkeeper, did well for me earlier in FM 17.

RB- Jason McCarthy. Not great going forward but a low wage and decent potential.

RB- Andy Yiadom. He'll probably find himself at left back this year due to a number of right backs i like the look of. 

CB- Marc Roberts. Our best player and Leading Centre back, he'll start every game I imagine, but he needs to extend that contract.

CB- Angus MacDonald. 1.6k a week is a joke he'll be a major part of the team this season.

CB- Adam Jackson. Decent back up on low wages and only 22.

CM- George Moncur. If he can learn to defend a bit more he'll a very good player for us.

CM- Alex Mowatt. Looks great on FM, he'll probably be one of my starting centre mids.

CM- Stevie Mallan. Probably back up but he's got that little something about him.

LM- Adam Hammill. Our biggest earner on 6.5k a week, but he's a hero and can provide that little bit of X factor.

ST- Tom Bradshaw. 1st choice upfront, one of our best players. 

Sell:

GK- Nick Townsend. Too small for a goalie.

ST- Shaun Tuton. League 2 standard.

ST- Kayden Jackson. Again League 2 standard.

Maybe:

LB- Cole Kpekawa. He'll stay if we don't get an adequate replacement. 

DM- Sessi D'Almeida. I'd like to give him a go and he's our only Ball winning midfielder, so he'll probably stay if we can't find anyone else.

ST- Elliot Lee. Not good enough yet for the Championship game time on loan in League 1 will be best for him.

ST- Stefan Payne. Shown a bit more than Lee whilst on loan at Shrewsbury, aloan I suspect will be the best option for him as well.

I think that is everything covered, with only 16 players I would consider playing and 11 I would actually be happy to play so a lot of work is going to be required over the summer.

Transfers:

Goalkeepers: 1

Full backs: 2

Centre backs: 1

Central midfielders: 1

Wingers: 2-3

Strikers: 3

So in total that's 10 or 11 players required over this summer. Better get busy. 

 

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm a Barnet fan so a bit biased, but stop fannying about and play Yids at right back. 

His personality is wrong, (it's balanced and should be professional), and his leadership should be higher too. 

Despite the fact that he left on a free, Barnet fans love him.

I will be following this as long as you keep him at the club. 

[Jamesbfc1887]

Thanks.

Yids is a definite fan favourite at Barnsley and my player of the season this year, but unfortunately it looks like we may lose him this summer.

The only reason for perhaps playing at left back is because thanks to the database rightbacks like Conor McLaughlin are available on a free and I am yet to find a left back of his quality available for the budget we have (£2,000,000) .  

I plan to keep Yids around for a while yet.

[Jamesbfc1887]

Wishlist:

• I'd rather not be dependent on loans so i'll look to try for permanent deals, although loan deals do provide smaller Championship teams to get players we just can't afford to buy.
• There are also a wealth of free agents to trawl through thanks to the database update and plenty of players who I will try to persuade to run down the remaining couple of weeks on there contracts and join me.  
• Our budget lies at £2,000,000 and £60k a week free of wages, which I know sounds a lot but with 10 players of Championship quality and an assistant manager to pick up as well I expect to burn through it very quickly.

So here's a pre-transfer guide

• ST we need a big physical presence up front to help Bradshaw, who for all his technical skill lacks physical presence.
• On the Wing I am looking for some pace, to get down the wing.
• A midfielder, who runs is blood to water and who has some "Bite" in the centre of the park would be nice to replace Josh Scowen.
• Two left backs are needed although I may sign 1 left back and 1 right back because so far I am really struggling to find left backs of good enough quality and Conor McLaughlin looks like he is going to run his contract down at Fleetwood, so i should be able to get him in despite a lot of interest from elsewhere.
• At centre back another option in a similar mould to Roberts and MacDonald.
• Goalkeeper I think I've found the man for the job, Adam Smith who has just left Northampton Town IRL.

England will probably be too expensive even for the best players in League 2 and League 1 being above what I am prepared to pay so I'll be looking around Europe during the summer, because of our new French CEO Gauthier Ganaye and also look to Scotland where recently Barnsley have found some success with the likes of Marley Watkins and Stevie Mallan. I personally have had success in FM17 finding players in Northern Europe so I'll no doubt be looking there for some hidden gems. 

 

[Jamesbfc1887]

Preseason:

A poor preseason with very few fixtures, but I'm not going to worry that much because from what I've seen in FM17 it has very little correlation to your season at all. 

Starting with a very average performance against Crawley, an easy win and a fantastic Stevie Mallan goal against Salford, then an interesting friendly -which I would love to have IRL- against Bayer Leverkusen and a very promising performance but we finished of with an embarrising defeat to Doncaster Rovers (less said about that the better) .

The Tactic

A word of warning I don't claim to be some sort of tactical genius and this tactic is based to a large extent from watching Barnsley for many years.

This is my tactic for at home against teams I feel we can dominate.

I hope this leads to us playing in an open expensive style, where we get stuck in with energetic fast build play using the wings and relying on cosses, forcing the opposition to play long to Roberts and MacDonald who are dominant in the air and trying to physically intimidate our opposition.

 

This tactic will be used primarily away from home and also against some of the better teams in the league, as well as providing a good base if we go down to 10 men.

We will aim to sit back let the opposition pass the ball around at the back and then if they slip or take a bad touch or we make an interception we brake and brake fast using our pace down the wings to help us plough straight through the opposition's defence.

[Jamesbfc1887]

Transfers:

A busy period that's for sure. We've brought in 15 players, 12 of which will be in the first team squad.

We've brought in 3 out and out strikers, 2 centre forward/ wingers, 3 wingers, a central midfielder, 2 fullbacks, 1 centre-half, a goalie and 2 youth prospects, all of which are still young of course.

Most of these signings were free transfers after they ran their contracts down at their last club and I really think we've got some gems (e.g. Connor Mahoney) through the door for nothing!

We've still quite a lot of wage remaining too (just under £10k) to potentially spend in January if we need anyone else then.

I am sure some of you will know a bit about some of these players, but I'll give a review of them so you can see exactly what they'll be like:

Smith is a fantastic free signing! He'll push Davies for the starting spot and his stats are even better than his star rating!

On a free after leaving Inverness, he'll push for a start I'm sure.

An excellent signing and our oldest at 26, really good going forward with 15 crossing, far too good for League 1 and on a free with other clubs sniffing around very happy with this one. 

A hidden gem? Someone I've used a couple of times this year on FM. A bargain at only £60k from Jerv in the Norwegian 2nd tier.

A real coup for us, played 2 games for Barnsley on loan a long time ago and didn't impress but that was a long time a go. A starter for sure with all the attributes I like in a BWM.

A massive fan favourite and a deal many would like to see after his loan spell here in the 2015/16 season when he scored at Wembley in the play off final, he'll be a good back up and I know he'll try and try and try.

Mahoney is an absolutely fantastic signing for us, only 20 as well. He can't really play right mid (according to the game so I'll have to train him) Can't believe he choose us although he is taking a hefty chuck of our wage bill.

Nicholson was someone that Barnsley were after IRL but butcherted that transfer after being unwilling to pay Hearts the compensation required, however I did not and I am definitely excited about his performances so far.

Another free transfer!, Lorenzen came up from an agent in my inbox, I didn't even know he was a free agent and I have signed him before on FIFA 17 from Bremen, a fantastic signing who can play upfront but also on the wing which I was not aware of.

A deadline day signing, he always seems to come good whenever I do a save and £150k may turn out to be a bargain a few years down the line. But I don't think he's ready yet so he's off to Burton on loan.

A striker at last! Johannes Eggestein one of FM 17's best wonderkids and I'm delighted to get him on loan, it's a massive coup for us to get him and I know he'll improve massively as the season goes on and we pay none of his wages. Surprised I couldn't get a future fee actually .

I told you we needed strikers. We have another massive fan favourite in Ashley Fletcher was a crucial part of our 15/16 promotion season much like Lloyd Isgrove whilst on loan from Man Utd, his efforts on loan earned him a move to West Ham where last season he dipped in and out of the 1st team.

Moult comes in from Motherwell for our biggest fee of the window £350k and our biggest earner on £8k a week after impressing IRL last season for Motherwell and stirring up interest among many clubs. His 15 finishing is excellent for a £350k and better than anything else we could afford an his 16 first touch means he could be very useful for hold up play. Oh and can anybody let me know if his name is pronounced Lewis or a Louis?

Oh and here's a youth product I found, looks like he could really grow into a fantastic player for us.

And for every great one there's a poor one and a classic FM case of here's a 4 star youth player says my scout I sign him and he's rubbish!

Here's an updated Squad list:

The squad has fully taken place now and although it will be a tough season I'm sure we can survive the drop.

I've still only brought in one left back though so

On 6/17/2017 at 12:21, Jimbokav1971 said:

I'm a Barnet fan so a bit biased, but stop fannying about and play Yids at right back. 

His personality is wrong, (it's balanced and should be professional), and his leadership should be higher too. 

Despite the fact that he left on a free, Barnet fans love him.

I will be following this as long as you keep him at the club. 

oops Yids may have to play at left back after all. 

But elsewhere we have 5 strikers, 5 wingers, 5 centre mids, 4 centre-halves, 1 left back, 3 right backs and 2 quality goalies.

An August fixture report will be out tomorrow (probs).

And once again thanks for reading. 

[Jamesbfc1887]

Soz for the no updates will be out soon (ish).

[Jamesbfc1887]

August and September:

Results:

Barnsley vs Norwich:

A great start to the league against one of the best teams in the league, with a great double strike from Tom Bradshaw to give a perfect start to the new season.

Barnsley Vs Coventry:

Aagh!, I don't think I've won an EFL cup game on FM 17 a slightly rotated side okay but still a very disappointing EFL cup game as we go out to a side 2 divisions below us, despite largely dominating the game.

Sunderland vs Barnsley:

So close! Almost a fantastic result but we were beaten but I what will probably go down as the goal of the season from Jermaine Defoe a 30 yard volley, to deny us a point, but promising signs with both Moult and Bradshaw as the strike force i hope will keep us up getting on the score sheet.

Barnsley vs Reading:

A game we should have won but didn't we dominated the game but couldn't make the break through and the came the sucker punch in the 85th minute on the break to give us our 3rd straight defeat.

Derby vs Barnsley:

Another loss and worrying times it felt like. We took the lead thanks to 1 over the top through ball to Moult who superbly slotted past the keeper to give us the lead but a 2 minute double from the multi talented Chris Martin ensured we went back to Yorkshire empty handed.

Barnsley vs Bolton:

Bolton at home a must win if we wish to be in the Championship next year. Things didn't start as I had wished, behind to an Adam Le Fondre goal, Adam Hammill sneaked in at the near post to draw us level however, just seven minutes later we were in front thanks to Moult, assisted by Bradshaw - who are forging a great partnership up top. Bradshaw doubled our lead, which was cut to a one goal lead in the 87th minute to make it a nervous last few moments, but Louis Moult secured our second win of the season by tapping in from and Adam Hammill cross.

September to follow.