[FMT20] The Return, a Journeyman

[MarcxD]

Returning to a place I've been before...

A new thread in 2020, finally. I've not had the time or the mood honestly to get back in to FM 2020 after my Red Star save fizzled out last year. It didn't help that I started a new job in January, either.

As I don't plan on spending as much time as before on playing FM I am doing this save on FM Touch to still be able to update the thread regularly.

The general idea: a journeyman (which is a kind of save I rarely ever do), but I can only manage teams from places I've visited in real life.

To give the career more of a through-line I also want to try and bring along certain players with me at multiple clubs.

That does mean that this is NOT going to be youth-only and I don't have any clear limitations on the transfer front except trying to go for youth whenever I can. 

The following leagues are loaded:

Only the highest league in every country is loaded.

I have made a list of all the clubs I can take on, that are currently in the highest division or secondary if they get promoted. In Belgium, France & Holland there are a lot, in most other countries the list is more limited. My travelling has actually been relatively limited, which keeps the extent of this save nicely in check.

• Holland: AZ, Ajax, ADO, Feyenoord, Sparta, Utrecht, Vitesse, PEC Zwolle, Heerenveen, Groningen (+ Volendam, Almere, Cambuur, NEC, Excelsior, Dordrecht, NAC, Den Bosch, MVV)
• Belgium: Antwerp, Cercle Brugge, Club Brugge, Gent, Kortrijk, Mechelen, Oostende, Standard Liège, Waasland-Beveren (+ Beerschot Antwerp, OH Leuven)
• Germany: Bayern Munich. (+ HSV, St. Pauli)
• France: Bordeaux, Dijon, Lille, Lyon, Montpellier, Nice, Nîmes, PSG, Reims, Toulouse (+ Clermont, Grenoble, Nancy, Orléans, Paris FC, Rodez, Troyes)
• Spain: Barcelona teams (Barcelona & Espanyol), Madrid Teams (Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, + Rayo Vallecano) & Mallorca
• Portugal: Lisbon teams (Benfica, Sporting + Casa Pia)
• Italy: Rome teams (Lazio & AS Roma)
• Austria: Vienna teams: (Austria Wien, Rapid Wien, + Florisdorfer AC)
• Russia: Moscow Teams (CSKA Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, Lokomotiv Mosdcow, Spartak Moscow, + Chertanovo & Torpedo Moscow) & Zenit Saint Petersburg
• England: London teams (Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, West Ham United,+ Brentford, Charlton Athletic, Fulham, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers)
• Ireland: Dublin teams (Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers, St. Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, + Cabinteely, UCD) 
• USA: Chicago Fire FC, DC United, New York City FC, New York Red Bulls, LA Galaxy, Los Angeles FC

I've actually never managed in the MLS so that'll be a good one to try at some point.

But I'll be starting in Spain, for Mallorca. Had a nice beach/drinking holiday there with my high school graduating class. Sangria, Sun & beer....... good times

 

I want to go for mid-table in the first season.

As always I'll be trying to go for a high-scoring tactic with wing play. The midfield will be overrun but let's see. If this leads to a whole lot of 2-5's I'll go more conservative.

Anyway, welcome.

[MarcxD]

Summer 2019

All the transfers on 1/7 were real-life transfers, I did buy one player in Aridane who is a central defender. We had only had 2 at the club. I Also sold a 34-year old reserve GK.

Very happy with how things are going so far, the tactic is doing what I was hoping: lots of goals and actually some good wins.

[MarcxD]

Fall 2019

Hit and miss sometimes, as is to be expected I guess with the approach I'm taking. Bit of a rough end to the year but we are doing very well overall.

Apart from us doing well it's a bit of a pointless season with Real Madrid only having dropped points once - away at Sevilla. 

[MarcxD]

Winter 2020

One departure, a pretty good bit of money for a midfielder that I wasn't really using except from the bench.

I signed one new player, as the AML position was one of the weaker filled places. That was pretty much my transfer budget. 

January was good, February not so much. Hopefully getting back into form soon.

If we do get slightly more consistent we can have a shot at European qualification, otherwise it's going to be mid-table, which I wouldn't mind too much for the first season here.

Edited February 29, 2020 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

Spring 2020

Just missed out on European football in the end after a couple of nice games in the end of the season, barring the 0-6 against Real Madrid of course. 

[MarcxD]

Summer 2020

First intake... 

And for some reason, bugged I'm guessing, I got another intake a few weeks later.

I also got an offer from abroad, a club I could actually go to. It would've been a big step up, with them having a transfer budget of about 30M -- they won the Russian league last year, and their manager left for Sevilla. They would not agree to a limited pay-off would another club come in for me though, so I'm staying at Mallorca. It was a bit quick anyway.

Nothing too explosive, the first team is not changing too much from last year. Some bench options for free, Bellini, Alvarez and Sepulveda are long-term talents (I got an 1.5M optional fee for Sepulveda, just seeing how he'll do), Wiedwald a new goalkeeper. I tried to get rid of most of the unnecessary players, especially the ones getting on in age.

Pre-season and the start of the league went well, would like to score more though.

 

[MarcxD]

Fall 2020

Heading for another mid-table season, getting similar results to last year. We are building up quite a bit of a financial balance thanks to the tv money, so things are looking better for the future.

 

[MarcxD]

Winter 2021

Two players leaving, who I didn't really use at all.

Signed a new AMC, as back-up for Kubo (or as replacement if Real Madrid want him back).

Pretty good results to start the new year, except for an embarrassing defeat in the cup and the usual battering by one of the top 3.

Definitely in the race for Europe again, looking at this it seems we could just as well finish 4th as 10th with how close those positions are.

 

[MarcxD]

Spring 2021

Just came short again... really the away games at Getafe and Leganes were the only games where we should've had a better result. On we go..

[MarcxD]

Summer 2021

Two intakes again...

Not a lot of money spent, so far, as my transfer budget is still limited. I managed to keep Kubo, and he's loaned for two more seasons from Real Madrid. Together with Puig from Barcelona for a year that should be a pretty good midfield duo. Vallejo a strong addition in central defense, although he is injured for multiple months so next season is when he will really shine, hopefully. Méndez is one for the future.

Started very strong at home against Getafe but we soon came down to earth. Overall not exactly the start I was looking for.

The goal definitely has to be European qualification this year.

[MarcxD]

Fall 2021

November sullying what has been a pretty good period overall. 

Really close fight for the European spots again. Shocking season for Atlético so far..

 

[john1]

YES! You are back!! \o/ So, so unlucky to miss out on European spot in first two seasons   Very odd to see you getting two youth intakes  

[kidthekid]

I'm loving the tactics. Glad to see you back to posting. Congrats on the new job btw.

[MarcxD]

On 04/03/2020 at 17:53, john1 said:

YES! You are back!! \o/ So, so unlucky to miss out on European spot in first two seasons   Very odd to see you getting two youth intakes  

Heh, Thanks mate!

On 05/03/2020 at 20:46, kidthekid said:

I'm loving the tactics. Glad to see you back to posting. Congrats on the new job btw.

Glad to be back! Thank you!

[MarcxD]

Winter 2022

Three new signings, mostly for the future but Serna will be the first choice GK right away. Henrique is a Brazilian right back and Paulucci an Argentinian AML.

Few players leaving...

More noteworthy are the players leaving the B team, I guess. Didn't see quite 10M in Miguel Ángel so he was sold.

January wasn't precisely great, dropping points at Granada and Girona... but a perfect February with some nice high scoring wins.

Ridiculously close in the battle for Europe...

[MarcxD]

Spring 2022

We did okay overall in the rest of the season, especially as we got closer to the end.

It doesn't say here, but we did qualify for the European Conference League. 

 

[MarcxD]

Summer 2022

Only the one intake this time around, and not much to write home about.

It's been a lot more busy than previously, as I made some pretty big transfers. Most important are probably Carles Aleña for free from Barcelona, who will be a great boon to our midfield; Amine Gouiri from Lyon who will be our best player and should hopefully score some good goals; and last but not least Antonio Nistal.

When I saw this ANDORRAN kid, I knew I had to get him whatever the cost...

We qualified for the main tournament in Europe, but not perhaps the best start in the league.

Fun little group, should definitely be able to progress though.

[MarcxD]

Fall 2022

We are not doing great in the league, perhaps due to the extra games we're playing in Europe. But those European games are going well so far.

It's going to be a hectic 2023 with a lot of league games left (winter world cup 2022 be damned!) and European and cup games as well.

[MarcxD]

Winter 2023

The biggest sale so far, in Kamano who I had signed a few years prior for a little more than a million. 

I got in a replacement who is also adept at playing on the other side of the pitch, who is quite a lot better than Kamano. Happy with the business overall...

We had some promising results, moth importantly we managed to make it to the final of the cup and we managed to beat Barcelona in the league! Too many points dropped elsewhere, though.

We are still only mid-table, and it's going to be a tough ask to qualify for Europe this year.

[Benjoe]

Love the concept, @MarcxD!

Consistency is key. So I'd say you are the real champion in Spain!

Good to be qualifying for some European football at last, and looks like some solid business is being done.

Love Kanté as well! How has he been progressing?

[MarcxD]

23 hours ago, Benjoe said:

Love the concept, @MarcxD!

Consistency is key. So I'd say you are the real champion in Spain!

Good to be qualifying for some European football at last, and looks like some solid business is being done.

Love Kanté as well! How has he been progressing?

Thank you!

Yes, we are very consistent... too much so.

I am cautiously optimistic for the future, but it's going to take a while to break through to the top. I am thinking that if real progress isn't made after 5 years at the club I might be moving on, depending on any job offers of course.

Kanté is still stuck in the Mallorca B Squad, with players like Aleña coming in it's tough to find a place for him. It would be different if this was a one club save.. and spoiler alert I'm not sure he's going to stay at the club for much longer. 

[MarcxD]

Spring 2023

For f... sake.

We had kind draws in both the cup and Europe, and made it to two finals. 

But we managed to lose both 1-2, both in close games, but not yet. As we also had a poor finish to the league this season turned out to be quite disappointing in the end.

We're not playing in Europe next year... making the final losses doubly annoying as that would've meant we qualified for Europa League.

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

Summer 2023

Actually not a lot of business, as we are currently in the situation that real direct improvements cost too much money. 

Moore and Osborne are two strikers on loan who should give us some good firing power together with Gouiri, the others are more decent players to fill up some gaps in the squad.

Nothing much interesting here.

Bit of a rough start with two losses in the league, albeit one was against Barcelona. But we did very well in September so that gives me hope for a nice run this season.

[MarcxD]

Fall 2023

No losses for four straight months! Sure, we only played Atlético once and haven't faced Real Madrid at all yet, but still. Still generally going for some high scoring games which is what I like to see..

5th looks a lot better than 11th halfway last season, but as always it's pretty tight behind the top teams, which more and more seems like it's going to be a top 2 league instead of a top 3 with Atlético steadily dropping away.

 

[MarcxD]

Winter 2024

Huge sale in Gouiri, as PSG paid his limited fee. 

Here are the sales from the B team, and Kanté is sold. His natural development was just a bit slow as I don't feel I can offer him the minutes he needs anyway, so this seems like a pretty good deal.

I needed to replace Gouiri so I got in Pellegri, who has not enjoyed quite that good of a development this save as he can but he is still very good for this level and can grow further. Mor is a good addition for right wing, I Also got a optional future fee for a little more than 2M to sign him permanently in the summer if he does well.

The losses did come, first of all in the supercopa final, and we are not going to win a trophy this season again as we lost surprisingly to Real Valladolid in the cup.

[MarcxD]

Spring 2024

Only showing March as a job offer came in at the end of the month, which I could take according to the rules of this save. It was a much bigger club from a different league where I could go for trophies in the near future. I did doubt about taking it, because we are having the best season yet at Mallorca; besides I don't have a particularly positive feeling about the club that offered me the job. But, in the end I decided to take it.

Boo and hiss if you want...

I've been to London several times, although the most recent trip has been a few years back now.

I am already the fourth new permanent manager at the club since Mourinho was sacked in 2021, with Ernesto Valverde, Luis Enrique and Alex Pastoor (?!?!?!) managing them before me. None of them were particularly successful: 1 7th place and three 6th place finishes.

The squad is much stronger of course than in Mallorca, but is still led by real life players: Harry Kane, Son, Dele Alli & Lo Celso.

I started with a loss, but after that we did pretty well, although we did lose the two games against top teams in May.

In the end I managed to lead the club to a sixth place finish, which means we'll play Europa League next season (not Conference as it says here).

I did win a 5th straight 3rd place Moty award in Spain, so there's that...

I left Mallorca when we were in fourth, the club finished in 5th in the end. Mallorca hired Michael Laudrup as my replacement. 

[john1]

Interesting move to Spurs  And didn't do too badly with them  

[MarcxD]

On 11/03/2020 at 20:03, john1 said:

Interesting move to Spurs  And didn't do too badly with them  

Thank you, hope it works out and I can win a title here soon. 

[MarcxD]

Summer 2024

Three new signings, including one of my former players at Mallorca in Aleña, who together with young Brazilian talent Alfredinho should bolster our midfield; Dalot is a much needed improvement at right back.

A strong start to the league but we did lose the first North London derby.

[MarcxD]

Fall 2024

We are having a strong season, beating United, City and Liverpool so far in the league. 

It's a tight race for the title, though, with the top 5 still in contention.

[MarcxD]

Winter 2025

One new signing, for the right wing.

One departure as well.

January wasn't particularly strong, but we had a much better February with a short little streak going now.

Arsenal slightly running away with things now, let's see if they can keep it up.

[MarcxD]

Spring 2025

There is the first trophy of this save! Took a while. 

Duly Spursed it domestically, 2nd in the league and lost the FA cup final....

Pretty insane close finish to the league.

[john1]

Fantastic season overall, gutted to see Arsenal slipped up in the end    

[MarcxD]

On 15/03/2020 at 21:45, john1 said:

Fantastic season overall, gutted to see Arsenal slipped up in the end    

Thank you, them slipping up gave us the shot to win it but sadly City took it instead 

 

[MarcxD]

Summer 2025

Money needs to flow!!

I signed another player from Mallorca, colombian superstar GK Serna.

The other big signing was Fontana, a young central midfielder, as replacement of Lo Celso/Florentino Luis, my two big sales this summer.

Sesko is a new option as a striker - Kane and Son are getting there in age. Aiello is a new option for the left wing.

I'm showing the intake but it's not like I'm planning on sticking around too long to see how they develop. Nothing too exciting anyway.

Good start to the season; another trophy in the pocket even if it is only the community shield and getting four points from facing City and Liverpool is not bad at all.

[MarcxD]

Fall 2025

In general we're still doing very well, some big wins here and there, and not dropping too many points.

It was a kind draw, to be fair.

In first, but only a small lead. I am not discounting any team in the top 6.

[MarcxD]

Winter 2026

One new signing, really only a kid with potential for a cheap price.

Nothing too exciting in the departures either, Parrott is a relatively young striker who I don't think is quite good enough.

A shame to have lost to City, but otherwise we're doing well. Still in the run for the FA Cup.

Okay, I don't think I need to worry about United this season.

[MarcxD]

Spring 2026

We won the cup! 

...

But I gave away the title lead on the very last matchday. How very much more Spurs could it get.......

[john1]

Absolutely gutted you threw it away on last game of the season However good to see you beat Liverpool to win FA Cup! 

Edited March 18, 2020 by john1

[kidthekid]

Tough way to lose the league title but still a good season.

[MarcxD]

On 18/03/2020 at 14:48, john1 said:

Absolutely gutted you threw it away on last game of the season However good to see you beat Liverpool to win FA Cup! 

 

On 19/03/2020 at 01:51, kidthekid said:

Tough way to lose the league title but still a good season.

Thank you guys, it was rough but we'll go again. PL is a tough league no ways about it. 

[MarcxD]

Summer 2026

We have a small but strong squad so I am only doing limited transfers - big ones to improve certain positions. Reinier is now the best AMC at the club, and will rotate with Aleña at that position, who is also back-up as MC.

Xavi Vacas is a very talented player for the right wing.

Outgoing are mostly youth or back-up players, outside of Son who was getting on in age and left for China, and Carlos Soler who also left for China (Shanghai) for a nice sum of money - he was replaced by Xavi Vacas.

We had a good start to the season in August but a bit of a rough September, especially in the Champions League. Out of the EFL cup early as well, seems like a yearly tradition at this point.

 

[MarcxD]

Fall 2026

A very good fall, although the CL remained some what hit and miss. We did progress, though.

A little lead, but not perhaps quite enough to be comfortable.

 

[MarcxD]

Winter 2027

No signings, and no real departures of note, only youngsters.

A few rough defeats in the league...

And the lead is gone. It looks like another ridiculously close title race.

[MarcxD]

Spring 2027

Third time's a charm, there is the very first title this save!

I am staying for one more season as I want to have a crack at the CL here. Regardless of whether I win it next season or not, I will resign at the end of that season and look for a new league afterwards.

 

[MarcxD]

Summer 2027

To really go for the CL I decided to do two more big transfers. With Harry Kane really getting close to his expiry date I got in a striker in Esposito. Doku is a new player for the left wing.

Outgoing there is nothing too exciting, all the money we got in was for players from the reserve squad/back-ups that just aren't quite good enough for the level I'm aiming for but perhaps are good for mid-table PL, like strikers Philip Godwin and Prince Yeboah; AMC Thomas Pegg and central defender Thimothée Pembélé. 

Is he quite worth 108M, I'm not sure, but he is going to be key for us to compete in Europe I think.

While we surprisingly lost in the Community Shield otherwise we had a perfect start to the season. 9-2 in the CL!

[kingjericho]

How are you finding FMT? Any noticeable differences compared to the full version? Anything you miss?

[MarcxD]

20 hours ago, kingjericho said:

How are you finding FMT? Any noticeable differences compared to the full version? Anything you miss?

I mean, it's a lot quicker, which is the big advantage. When you don't have hours upon hours to play but still want to progress relatively quickly there is really no choice -- you can add quite a number of leagues and it still progresses rapidly in comparison with the full version.

The big downsides are that you can't add league files and that there are no full youth intakes. You also only have one youth/reserve side.

I tend to skip a lot of the features in the full fat version, so I don't mind too many of the things lacking -- for instance there are just a few staff members (Ass man, hoyd, DoF, chief scout) instead of a whole army. No full press conferences is another thing. There are less complicating factors like dynamics (although there might be some of that under the hood, perhaps) and players can fit a formation right away, don't need to build up tactical familiarity. So you could say that makes the game too easy in some aspects, although of course it is still about your players and tactics against the AI. There's just less man management and a lot of the stuff I find more laborious than anything in the full version.

I think it really depends on how you play the game if you would miss all those features, I for one don't really. At least not in a save like this. Perhaps the biggest issue is that there are no full youth intakes, and there's not quite as much information and screens as in the full version. For a long term one club save, especially one with a focus on youth, I would not go for FMT. 

 

 

 

[kingjericho]

Nice. My biggest concerns are staff and scouting. Can you still organize scouting assignments the same way?

And when you talk about youth intakes, do you mean the club doesn't get new youth players every year? Or just gets less players?

[MarcxD]

22 minutes ago, kingjericho said:

Nice. My biggest concerns are staff and scouting. Can you still organize scouting assignments the same way?

And when you talk about youth intakes, do you mean the club doesn't get new youth players every year? Or just gets less players?

Scouting generally works the same, but you are more limited in the amount of assignments you can set, as you only have the one scout, your chief scout. He has a maximum amount of assignments, depending on how good he is. But I do think you pretty much have the same options with regarding to setting the assignments (choosing regions/nations/leagues, setting attribute limits, ongoing or time limited, etc.)

You get less players, generally 4-6 instead of 16. Some years I got two intakes, but I think that's a bug and not a feature...