[FM20] It was Cambrogi in Wales, but now it's all about aggression in Wales, in England. Bellicosity, pugnacity and belligerence are all excellent words. But Welsh belligerence, in England now.

[rodesire]

Eight digit bank balance, now that's elite territory

[Jimbokav1971]

Sept 2044. 

Domestic games. 

European games. My aim is to finish 3rd in this group so I selected a much weakened team against Man Utd. 

Goal-scoring keepers. Oh look, it's a miracle! We get Pajvot (CRO) to sign a new contract and after missing 12 of his last 23 penalties, he has gone and scored 3 out of 3 this month, bringing him to 6 goals for the season and 48 career goals in total. There is still some residual unhappiness with the impact of last seasons training, but I think that is negligible now, especially with all the positives. 

 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, rodesire said:

Eight digit bank balance, now that's elite territory

Yep. I've only been buying teenagers and while we obviously save on the cost in terms of transfer fees, the big saving is the wages. I'm able to sign players on long contracts +3 options and then sell them on. The Champions League money is huge for us. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Welsh clubs in Europe. Oct 2044.

Apologies. I forgot to update you on the 2043/44 performances in Europe. 

TNS. 2 good wins against Midtjylland followed by 2 narrow losses to Shakhtar. They got out of the Group before losing to Celtic. Decent. 

Afan Lido. A pretty poor showing here, despite making the Group Stage of the Euro Conference, (by default). They don't score enough goals. 

Bala. I can't be too critical of them going out against French opposition. 

Llanelli. They don't often play in Europe, so this is actually a decent showing. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2044. 

Domestic games. 

European games. I played a team of kids again. I need to ensure that we finish 3rd rather than 2nd. 

Goal-scoring keepers. Pavjot (CRO) is now up to 12 goals for the season, (and 53 career goal), but I'm not going to comment too much on him now because I think it's deserving of it's own post. 

Finances. 

Edited May 17, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

7 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Jul & Aug 2044.

Goal-scoring keepers. I had a problem with Pavjot (CRO) last season in that while he scored 15 goals, he missed 10 of 21 penalties which is way higher than normal. I either need to find out what is making him miss, (and fix it), or I need to get rid of him and get in a new GK who is going to score. So what do I think is causing him to miss? Well I think it's morale/happiness, but let's see if I can prove that. He's now missed 12 of his last 23 penalties. Is he happy? No, of course he isn't. He wants a new contract because I'm paying him a pittance and he has 2+3 years left on his contract.

If I can get him to sign a new contract then that should resolve issue #1 and issue #2 I think is historic and will vanish over time. I was trialling someone else's training schedules last season and it didn't work out. 

Finances. 

 

3 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Sep 2044.

Goal-scoring keepers. Oh look, it's a miracle! We get Pajvot (CRO) to sign a new contract and after missing 12 of his last 23 penalties, he has gone and scored 3 out of 3 this month, bringing him to 6 goals for the season and 48 career goals in total. There is still some residual unhappiness with the impact of last seasons training, but I think that is negligible now, especially with all the positives. 

 

Finances. 

 

55 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Oct 2044. 

Domestic games. 

European games. I played a team of kids again. I need to ensure that we finish 3rd rather than 2nd. 

Goal-scoring keepers. Pavjot (CRO) is now up to 12 goals for the season, (and 53 career goal), but I'm not going to comment too much on him now because I think it's deserving of it's own post. 

 

Finances. 

Goal-scoring Keepers. Nov 2044. 

Back in the dim and distant past I was absolutely convinced that free-kicks taken by GK's were calculated by the GK's "handling" attribute because handling is the 6th attribute down on the GK's profile where the "free kick taking" attribute is on an outfield players profile. I was 100% convinced that whatever code SI were using to calculate the outcome, they were asking the inner workings of the game to use the wrong info. Either way, whether I was right or wrong, that has long since been fixed and free-kicks are largely a mystery to me. 

Penalties though. Penalties are not such a mystery. Ever since watching @OfficiallyTeach play FM19 on Twitch, (he's more into iRacing now I'm afraid), I had the idea in my head that penalties were resolved by morale or something like morale. What I saw Teach do was pause the game immediately a penalty was awarded, look at the body language, (which he used a lot anyway), and then select the penalty taker largely based on who was feeling confident. Of course he picked people who he thought might be good at penalty taking, but the deciding factor was that body language that suggested/indicated morale. I had never really considered this even though I used to look at body language myself a fair but, and the incident stayed with me. 

Now let's bring things almost back to current day. 

Pajvot (CRO) is a decent GK, (he's better than decent for the Welsh league), and you can see he us Free Kick Taking of 6, Penalty Taking of 3 and Technique of 6. They are not good attribute scores and if they were to determine the outcome of free-kicks and penalties, then you would expect him to miss a lot of both. That seems pretty reasonable doesn't it? 

Except that i don't think that they make a blind bit of difference, and that's why he keeps taking them. Someone asked me on Twitter recently who takes my penalties if I have a GK who is rubbish at taking penalties and they couldn't quite get their head round it when I answered, "my GK". 

2 seasons ago I rotated my GK between Pajvot (CRO) and Stirling (SCO). As soon as 1 GK missed a penalty then he was dropped, and the next GK came in until he missed. Nothing else mattered. By Christmas I had stopped rotating and Pajvot (CRO) was my 1st choice #1. He became unsettled in the 2nd half of the season though and missed quite a few, (after being brilliant in the 1st half of the season). In the end he only converted 12 of 20 penalties, (missing 8), at a 60% rate. I already thought that morale/happiness was playing a part, (and he had been unsettled by interest from bigger clubs), but I wanted to make sure/ 

Last season I loaned out Stirling (SCO) because I wanted to see a whole season of Pajvot (CRO) and he was less than inspiring as he only scored 11 out of 21 penalties, (missing 10), at a 52% rate. I purposefully didn't renegotiate his contract and I left his "happiness" exactly as it had been the previous season, (except that he now started every game). Now obviously we are winning a lot of games, so team "form" isn't an issue. It's simply, (in my opinion), down to individual player happiness. 

So he had a poor 2042/43, (missing 8 penalties). 

He had a very poor 2043/44, (missing 11 penalties).

I was tempted to start him off with a new contract at the start of the 2044/45 season, but I wanted to show the difference. I thought what I would do is wait to see how he did at the start of the season and then offer him a new contract and use it as a comparison within the same season, (rather than down to some sort of "random reset" or something like that). 

So at the start of the 2044/45 season he missed both penalties he took in August and then I offered him a new contract. 

In the 8 games during August, (BEFORE HE SIGNED A NEW CONTRACT), he scored 1 goal, (a direct free-kick), and missed 2/2 penalties, (both were saved I think). 

In the 14 games, (he only played 12 of them), during September and October, (AFTER HE SIGNED A NEW CONTRACT), he scored 10 goals, (3 direct free-kicks), and scored 7/7 penalties.

Now I'm not one to force my thinking and ideas down other peoples throat, (yeah ok, maybe I am a little forceful on occasion with some of the Youth stuff), , but honestly, you can take this or you can leave it, but I think the evidence stacks up nicely to support my hypothesis. The other thing I would say, (I have mentioned it earlier), is that Pajvot (CRO) was also unhappy with the training last season, (I downloaded someone else's schedules rather than letting my Ass Man), and to put it politely, it just didn't work for me for a number of different reasons. So there were 2 reasons that the player was unhappy. Now he has signed a new contract and there is only residual unhappiness relating to how he felt in the past about training, (that should vanish given time). 

I'll just show you his recent form to finish. I'm sure you can all make up your own minds and I'm hoping that this info might help @Makoto Nakamurado something a little special in a future save.  

After signing new contract. 

Before signing new contract. 

Edited May 17, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Yes, of course Pajvot (CRO) saw his next penalty saved. 

[Jimbokav1971]

New Ton Pentre league appearance record. Nov 2044. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2044. 

Domestic games. I was gutted to lose the Afan Lido game, (especially considering that we missed a penalty to make it 1-1), but they deserved the win. They have been decent in the league so far this season. 

European games. We've earned our 6 points against the Portugese and that's all I was after. 

Goal-scoring keepers. Pajvot (SCO) may have missed his next penalty after my last update, (it was always going to happen), but he bounced back by converting 2 more to bring him to 13 goals for the season and 55 career goals. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2044. 

Another GK! 

[scousevasey]

9 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Now I'm not one to force my thinking and ideas down other peoples throat, (yeah ok, maybe I am a little forceful on occasion with some of the Youth stuff), , but honestly, you can take this or you can leave it,

Pretty sure I missed the section saying we all had to subscribe to your ideas and join the cult of Jimbo.

 

But slightly more seriously, when you do theorise something, you then spend time testing and tweaking it, to back up your idea rather than just claiming you know everything.

Lots of mu success in my FM18 save came down to having read your youth only saves previously and seeing the influence of some weaker players who may have been otherwise let go. And this year with the editor to back it up, it shows even more clearly the reasoning.

I also used the tutoring after reading your saves, and am waiting for a more in-depth Jimbo guide to mentoring (as you struggled with it last year if I remember correctly).

I have tried the Goalscoring GK but struggle to get the rest of the set piece structure in order, so have backed off a bit (I think the formation and roles influence the first movements after the ball comes into play, but haven’t tested it)

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

6 minutes ago, scousevasey said:

Pretty sure I missed the section saying we all had to subscribe to your ideas and join the cult of Jimbo.

You WILL subscribe. 

The Cult of Jimbo.  Is it wrong to like the sound of that? (A lot?) 

[Jimbokav1971]

7 minutes ago, scousevasey said:

I also used the tutoring after reading your saves, and am waiting for a more in-depth Jimbo guide to mentoring (as you struggled with it last year if I remember correctly).

You won't be seeing it I'm afraid. I have decided that the benefits involved are just not worth the investment in time. It's still doable and is of benefit, but significantly reduced, (in my opinion). 

In any case, although I haven't read his whole thread, (shame on me), I would direct you to the following thread by @_Ben_which is a thing of beauty in it's analytical nature. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Worth a look. 

I know not everyone uses Twitter, but if you do, https://twitter.com/SebWassell (who is an SI staff member), is well worth a follow. 

Here are some of his recent posts. A lot of the stuff he says seems pretty basic, but what he's really good at is explaining things really clearly, and also good at linking different little bits together. 

 

Edited May 18, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2020. 

Domestic games. 

European games. Again, I selected a significantly weakened squad for this game. 3rd was what we aimed for and 3rd is what we got. 

Goal-scoring keepers. Pajvot (CRO) added 2 more goals and an assist to his tally this month. He has now scored 15 goals this season, (10 from 13 penalty attempts and 5 free-kicks), 

Finances.  The reason our balance is much reduced is because the Jan Transfer window is open and we have been pretty active. I will do a separate post for transfers once the window closes. 

[rodesire]

What happened to TNS? They're well down for a second season now

[Jimbokav1971]

7 minutes ago, rodesire said:

What happened to TNS? They're well down for a second season now

I haven't looked into it in huge detail, but I think it's largely down to poor transfer dealings. They had a couple of good Managers after Ryan Giggs, with both Ryan Porteous and Adrian Fein winning a treble and a double respectively, but..... oh wow, I didn't realise this, Lionel Messi is the Ass Man and was the Caretaker Manager the last time they changed Manager.

I think the biggest problem for TNS is that they haven't been sacking Managers, but their Managers are being poached by English clubs. Although Porteous was the manager who put an end to our successful run, it was the 4 years under Giggs that laid the groundwork for his success. You might remember that during the last 2 seasons under Giggs, we only won the league because our head to head record against TNS was so good. Take the derbies away and TNS were dominant. 

Having said that, they have only lost 3 of 20 league games this season and have finished 2nd in their Euro Conference Group.

Their 1st team looks decent and they have some good players, but they don't have anywhere near the depth we have for example. Their front 4 are particularly decent, but they are lacking in other areas and I can't really work out where their money is going. Having said that, we have won 9 out of the last 11 seasons so their access to the Champions League has been limited, and now the top 2 qualify for Champions League qualifiers, they find themselves battling to finish in the top 2. 

I would say though that Afan Lido have lost their creative influence to injury, (but i have loaned them a replacement to try to add to TNS's woes). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Interview offered. Jan 2045. 

I've already been approached by Wolves in this save and as mentioned the last time, although I have a soft spot for them in real life, we're not a good fit for the purposes of this save, (and they're not Welsh). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2045 Transfer Window. 

I will admit that Kyle Williams HG would not have been signed had he not been a poached product of our Academy. I think I was either tired and/or under the influence of alcohol when I arranged this deal. 

Naciri (SWE) * was signed on a free, but I hoped he was going to be better than his PA rating currently suggests. 

Allan (SCO) came in for a nominal £600k and I think we can develop him and make some profit even taking into account wages of £156k per season. 

I am making a determined effort to sign more Welsh player and to that end I paid £10M for Morgan (WAL) 6'4". He's already a Senior International and I quite like the idea of playing him a s WTM, (or something a little different anyway). I absolutely did over-pay, but I'm quite happy to do that for Welsh players. 

I don't remember signing this player. He's older than I would usually like to sign, but his PA looks decent and I obviously like his passing ability. I think he was on my radar from when he was younger, and I possibly signed him thinking he was still a teenager. We paid £5M for him but I would suggest that there is scope for significant profit here. 

We paid £3M for Bajunovic (SRB) and while it;s a bit of a punt, it could be decent business. I would not have signed him had I taken time to notice his low Det level. I think I signed him yesterday while watching a re-run of the ENG v SCO game at Euro 96 and my focus was obviously on that. 

The 1 position we have been really short in was centre-half as we sold about 3 in pre-season. Keskin (BEL) was signed for only £500k and will improve when played I think. 

I wanted to sign a 1st choice right back for our Euro Cup run after Christmas and Bruno (POR) is it. I will look to sign a better player who's contract expires in the Summer. 

I see Carter (ENG) more as a DL than a DC and again he's a cheap addition that provides some depth.

Again, Murphy (WAL) would not have been signed were he not Welsh. 

I have high hopes for this bloke. He still has 5.0 after joining, (a lot of my scout reports are downgraded after the player arrives), and while I think he will become an influential player, I do worry about his Aggression levels. 

Honestly no idea why I signed Mooney (IRL). 

No, can't see this bloke getting many games either. 

Records. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2045. 

Apologies. I played the 1st game in Feb by accident again.

Domestic games. 

Goal-scoring keepers. Spurs particularly, (but other clubs too), have been in for Pajvot (CRO) and he has become unsettled after I turned down a £10M+ offer for him. Obviously I have recently posted about how happiness impacts on penalty taking, (at least for GK's), so let's hope there is a sliding scale and he doesn't start missing immediately. 

By the 3rd week of the month Nottm Forest had joined the queue for Pajvot (CRO) and had upped the bidding to £13M and then £15.75M.

I was expecting a really poor month from Pajvot (CRO) due to him being unsettled, but he actually scored 3/3 in Jan and it wasn't until the TNS game at the start of Feb that he missed one. Other than the 2 he missed at the very start of the season, he's now scored 12 penalties from 14 taken. .

Finances. 

[rodesire]

TNS in 4th! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Manager Movement in Wales. Mar 2045. 

Aitor Karanka was Wales manager for quite a while and some of the high profile managers I have gone up against in Wales have been Ryan Giggs, Harry Kane, Feite Arp and I'm sure there are more that I can't remember. 

TNS are currently managed by Josh Sargent who is an American youngster at Werder Bremen in real life and Messi as their Ass Man.

Afan Lido have obviously had Harry Kane as Manager, but have also had Adrian Mutu, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Dennis Praet, Vinícius Júnior and Carl Fletcher is the Ass Man who steps in as and when required. 

Llanelli have had Harry Kane as manager. 

Carmarthen have had Scott Hogan, Dennis Praet, Pablo Fornals and Fiete Arp, 

Connah's Quay have had Matt Ritchie and Luis Boa Morte.

Barry Town have had Matt Ritchie, Dennis Praet, Harry Kane, Ryan Giggs, and are now managed by Scott McTominay. 

Airbus have had John-Joe O'Toole, Fabian Delph, James Tavernier and Lukas Jutkiewicz.

Bala have had Pablo Fornals & Abdou Diallo, 

Newtown haven't really had any "names" as managers. 

Cardiff Met Uni were managed by Simon Hawarth for 14 years and Christian Fuchs is the current Ass man. 

Cefn Druids have had Luis Boa Morte, Svetoslav Todarov, James Tavernier, Fabian Delph and Sean Longstaff.

[Jimbokav1971]

26 minutes ago, rodesire said:

TNS in 4th! 

Yeah, but in their defence, they're still in Europe in March. 

They need to expand their squad so that they are better able to fight on both fronts. I think this is what's holding them back at the moment. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2045.

Domestic games. 

European games. We were unlucky to lose the home leg, never mind about lose it by 2 goals, and we needed 2 late goals to beat Bristol City, (in their debut European season), on away goals. I thought we had no chance after the 1st leg. 

Goal-scoring keepers. Pajvot (CRO) is up to 18 goals and 10 assists for the season, but he has also missed 5 games this season, (due to short-term injuries I think). (43a) Cheedy (IRL) also scored a penalty in 1 of his 2 appearances. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

On 18/05/2020 at 08:20, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2044. 

Another GK! 

Youth Intake day. Mar 2045.

What an absolute abomination of a Youth Intake. I can't even be bothered to analyse it. 

Squad by PPA. 

Squad by PA. 

Squad by CA. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2044. 

Sorry. I did it again. I played the 1st game of the next month before updating. I'm so engrossed in the save I keep forgetting. 

5

The Trophy-hoarder accomplishment is not actually deserved because 5 of the trophies have been Tunnock's Caramel Wager Challenge Cup wins which are simulated and I have no impact on. 

Domestic games. As the season reaches it's climax, I'm becoming even more annoyed with the 2-0 loss to Afan Lido. We should be going unbeaten. 

European games. I thought we had blown it when Kobenhavn led on away goals in the 75th minute, but 2 injury time goals, (we needed only 1), saw us through on aggregate. 

Goal-scoring keepers. Pajvot (CRO) is up to 22 goals and 10 assists for the season now. He had a penalty saved in the 1st leg against Kobenhavn that I thought was going to prove costly, but he more than made up for that with penalties in each of his next games, including the 2nd leg against Kobenhavn. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2045. 

Domestic games. We didn't quite hot the 100-goal mark, falling 3 short. We lost just 1 game all season, (not to TNS), and that's particularly frustrating. I really want to score 100+ goals in a season and go unbeaten. 

European games. I'm frustrated to lose, but what the hell are Barca doing in the EURO Cup in the 1st place? I really thought that this might be the season for European success. 

Watford are 10th in the Premier League and we've beaten Ajax before. I'm nor sure about Napoli, but we've comfortably beaten Roma the last few times we've played them and also beaten AC Milan in recent years. Without Barca we would have had a hell of a chance this season. 

Goal-scoring keepers. 23 goals in a season for a GK is good. It's really good. But when you consider that Pajvot (CRO) was awarded 25 penalties, scored 5 direct free-kicks and (43a) Cheedy (IRL) also scored 1 penalty he could have had 31 goals. Am I being greedy to look at it that way? Yeah, I think I probably am. 23 goals in a season for a GK is brilliant. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season summary. May 2045. 

League Table. 

Squad by Appearances. 

Best XI. 

Awards. 

Facilities. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Rankings. Jun 2045. 

How high do we think this can go? Surely there is going to be a ceiling where we're just not going to go any further. Switzerland, Greek & Ukraine are doable though aren't they? 

We're ranked the 17th best club in Europe. That's astonishing when you think about it. 

We're so close to auto-qualifying for the Group Stage of the Champions League. Although I hoped, I never really thought this was possible. 

Looking at the points, although Belgium are 1 spot above us, it'd Turkey who we have the best chance of over-hauling next season I think. If we don't do it next season, (Belgium are going away from us), then in 3 seasons time we should have another go to leap-frog Turkey. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Welsh Clubs in Europe. Jun 2045. 

I know that TNS were still in Europe in March, but let's see how they and everyone else did. 

Barry Town finished Runners up so they are 1st. They played 1 round of game in each of the Champions league, EURO League and EURO Conference. I didn't even know that was possible. LASK are Austrian which is a tough draw I suppose and then they were REALLY unlucky to get TNS in the EURO Cup and then a Portugese team in the EURO Conference. I know they didn't win any games but I think they were REALLY unlucky. 

TNS started off in the EURO Cup and then dropped into the EURO Conference Group Stage before losing to French opposition in the 2nd Knockout Round. There is absolutely no shame in losing to any French side. 

It's interesting to see an Icelandic side in the Group stages of anything. Love it. 

Afan Lido did brilliantly to get past Sturm Graz of Austria, and just couldn't squeeze past Aberdeen. I think that's a pretty decent performance. 

Llanelli have also performed really well. Ferencvaros are big hitters in this little pond and to lose by a 1 goal over 2 legs is decent. Things are progressing well. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sponsorship. Jun 2045. 

It's a shame, but for some reason I haven't been tracking this at all. £9M sponsorship for the JD Cymru Premier seems like a lot of money. £2.4M for us seems like a decent amount of money. 

Not sure where the link to the table is.....

[Jimbokav1971]

Reputation. Jun 2045. 

This seems a little tough for me. TNS are being penalised for their success in Europe. That's the only reason other teams have beaten them in the league. They really need to start investing in a bigger squad. 

Welsh clubs down to and including Regional. 

I'm sure that there was a way to see English clubs on this list, but for whatever reason I can't see it at the moment. Sorry.

[Jimbokav1971]

Plans for the save going forward. Jun 2045. 

• I'm keen to move on to Swansea or Cardiff, and once there I think I will restrict myself to a 100% Welsh only save. 
• Before I go though, I would really like to win a European trophy and Ton Pentre. I would love to go Welsh Only or Youth Only here, but the reality is that while we are just a little club playing in the Welsh leagues, I think we are restricting ourselves enough as it is. 
• That's not to say that I'm going to stay here forever though. If our Rep pops to Continental and I still can't win a European trophy then I might just admit defeat and move on, (but really don't want to do that). At the same time I don't want the save to gob stale and I've been here a while now. 
• My squad is enormous. Wages page on Finance screen says we have 110 players contracted, but I'm not sure if that includes players that I have loaned out. Hopefully it does. Before the end of this Summer transfer window, I'm going to have a REAL go at streamlining the squad, working out who I want to keep and why, and seeing how much cash we can bring in from the rest. 
• I really wanted to get the Facilities here to 20/20/20/20, but it's 20/20/20/19 at the moment, (Youth Recruitment is on 19), and I'm not even sure if it's possible to "pop" it to 20 in Wales. (Maybe we have to be Continental reputation or something). 
• After catching up completely on @_Ben_'s thread, I'm determined that I need to look at my staff, (for the 1st time in this save). There is no point me tracking the players that we have been producing and those being poached if I'm not going to put any effort at all into the recruitment of staff. I don't even know my HoYD's name or where he comes from never mind about what his personality is. 

I'm sure there is more that I want to do, but that's it for the time-being. 

Oh, almost forgot. 

• I suppose I would like to manage the Welsh aged group sides and then Senior National Team at some point, but I don't want it to get in the Way of Ton Pentre or the next phase of the save, so in all likelyhood that's still some considerable distance away,

[Jimbokav1971]

New record. Jun 2045. 

This sounds great, but really isn't that impressive. 

Our biggest home league attendance last season was 904 on the last day of the season against Afan Lido. 

Our home domestic Cup games were a little better. 

But our figures were skewed hugely by playing not just Man Utd and Bristol City, (more people travel from England because it's closer), but also a 10k+ travelling from Barcelona. Our record gate receipts are still Spurs from a few years back I think. 

While our home ground Ynys Park has a capacity of only 2,700, things are a little different at the Bridgend Community Arena. 

I'm sure this is wrong and it's annoying me a little. I know there is talk of this stadium being built, but I can't for the life of me see it being built anywhere near this big. Does anyone know who the Welsh Researcher is? (I've just checked and it's @Coloradoso I will post in the Bugs Forum anyway. Should have done that long before now). 

[AceAvenger]

Jimbo your dedication is phenomenal, you're 25 years in and you're still planning for the future. I honestly enjoy reading your stories more than playing the game sometimes. Hopefully you do win a continental competition will Ton Pentre before you go on your EFL and PL adventures.

[Johnny-Trotter]

54 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

While our home ground Ynys Park has a capacity of only 2,700, things are a little different at the Bridgend Community Arena. 

I'm sure this is wrong and it's annoying me a little. I know there is talk of this stadium being built, but I can't for the life of me see it being built anywhere near this big. Does anyone know who the Welsh Researcher is? (I've just checked and it's @Coloradoso I will post in the Bugs Forum anyway. Should have done that long before now). 

I saw @metallimuse had something similar happen in his Motherwell save when a 'Glasgow Community Stadium' was built. I believe the game sometimes puts in stadiums as a kind of 'placeholder' when certain countries might not have enough large all seater stadiums to actually host, but would still be considered. The few times I have seen this happen was when Scotland and Wales co-hosted a future European Championships, so perhaps you can check the history of that tournament and connect it to them the Bridgend Community Arena was built?

Edited May 20, 2020 by Johnny-Trotter
Removing extra text

[Jimbokav1971]

34 minutes ago, AceAvenger said:

Jimbo your dedication is phenomenal, you're 25 years in and you're still planning for the future. I honestly enjoy reading your stories more than playing the game sometimes. Hopefully you do win a continental competition will Ton Pentre before you go on your EFL and PL adventures.

Not working does help I've got to admit.

At the moment I'm due to go back at the start of June, but I have a feeling that I'm going to stay off. God only knows what I'd have done for the last few weeks without FM. 

[Jimbokav1971]

35 minutes ago, Johnny-Trotter said:

I saw @metallimuse had something similar happen in his Motherwell save when a 'Glasgow Community Stadium' was built. I believe the game sometimes puts in stadiums as a kind of 'placeholder' when certain countries might not have enough large all seater stadiums to actually host, but would still be considered. The few times I have seen this happen was when Scotland and Wales co-hosted a future European Championships, so perhaps you can check the history of that tournament and connect it to them the Bridgend Community Arena was built?

I will have a look and see if I can find a reason for it. 

[yCymro]

1 hour ago, Johnny-Trotter said:

I saw @metallimuse had something similar happen in his Motherwell save when a 'Glasgow Community Stadium' was built. I believe the game sometimes puts in stadiums as a kind of 'placeholder' when certain countries might not have enough large all seater stadiums to actually host, but would still be considered. The few times I have seen this happen was when Scotland and Wales co-hosted a future European Championships, so perhaps you can check the history of that tournament and connect it to them the Bridgend Community Arena was built?

This.  Saw it in another save I was doing.  Wales hosted the Euros and all these new stadiums cropped up over Wales.

[Jimbokav1971]

Scotland/Wales hosted the 2044 EURO's. 

#

They haven't hosted the World Cup, (although they finished 3rd in 2038). 

They haven't hosted the EURO Nations League Final, although the hosts don't seem to be working properly either. 

They haven't hosted the U20 World Cup, (although they came 3rd earlier this year!) 

They haven't hosted the U21 EURO's. 

They haven't hosted the U19 EURO's, (but they've won it not once but TWICE!). How have I missed that!!!!!!! 

Not sure what else it can have been built for.

[Jimbokav1971]

I really don't understand this. Aug 2045. 

This is what the qualification places for Europe look like right now. 

It could be though that this doesn't kick in until next season though, so I might have to look at what it was last season, (I'm honestly not sure). It's ok though because I take a picture every season so I can go back to last season's picture that I posted in here and this is what it looks like.

It's basically the same in that we are in the same position so have the same places, but where as Ukraine and Turkey were ahead of us, now it's Belgium and Turkey.  

The reason I'm even posting about this is because I have just had the following message, and I haven't played any European games yet. 

We seem to have Qualified for the Group Stage of the Champions League without playing any games and I don't understand why. 

Let me just go back 1 more season, (to Jun 2043), and see what that shows. 

This just doesn't make sense. 

Afan Lido are the other Welsh club in the Champions League so let's see what stage they came in at. They came in Best Placed 2nd Qualifying Round, (BPQ2), which means that we should have played in the Champions Playoff. 

I really don't understand what's going on. Any suggestions?

In any case, we're in the Group Stage without playing a game. 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul & Aug 2045.

Pre-season. 

Domestic games. We've started off a bit timidly and I'm not sure why. 

Goal-scoring keepers. After 23 goals last season, Pajvot (CRO) gets off to a slow start with just 1 goal in the opening month. 

Finances. 

[rodesire]

7 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I really don't understand what's going on. Any suggestions?

It's the Champions League winner spot that's messing with you.  The qualification spots assume that the winner of the Europa and Champions Leagues would not qualify for the Champions League group stage.  However, if they do by the virtue of their league standing, their spots do not roll down in the same league.  Instead they go to the best league that does not have a group stage entry which is Wales in P11.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Champions_League#Distribution

Changes will be made to the access list above if the Champions League and/or Europa League title holders qualify for the tournament via their domestic leagues.

* If the Champions League title holders qualify for the group stage via their domestic league, the champions of association 11 (Austria in 2019/2020) will enter the group stage, and champions of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds will also be promoted accordingly.
* If the Europa League title holders qualify for the group stage via their domestic league, the third-placed team of association 5 (France) will enter the group stage, and runners-up of the highest-ranked associations in the second qualifying round will also be promoted accordingly.
* If the Champions League and/or Europa League title holders qualify for the qualifying rounds via their domestic league, their spot in the qualifying rounds is vacated, and teams of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds will be promoted accordingly.
* An association may have a maximum of five teams in the Champions League.[67] Therefore, if both the Champions League and Europa League title holders come from the same top-four association and finish outside of the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of the league will not compete in the Champions League and will instead compete in the Europa League.

 

[scousevasey]

8 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I really don't understand this. Aug 2045. 

This is what the qualification places for Europe look like right now. 

It could be though that this doesn't kick in until next season though, so I might have to look at what it was last season, (I'm honestly not sure). It's ok though because I take a picture every season so I can go back to last season's picture that I posted in here and this is what it looks like.

It's basically the same in that we are in the same position so have the same places, but where as Ukraine and Turkey were ahead of us, now it's Belgium and Turkey.  

The reason I'm even posting about this is because I have just had the following message, and I haven't played any European games yet. 

We seem to have Qualified for the Group Stage of the Champions League without playing any games and I don't understand why. 

Let me just go back 1 more season, (to Jun 2043), and see what that shows. 

This just doesn't make sense. 

Afan Lido are the other Welsh club in the Champions League so let's see what stage they came in at. They came in Best Placed 2nd Qualifying Round, (BPQ2), which means that we should have played in the Champions Playoff. 

I really don't understand what's going on. Any suggestions?

In any case, we're in the Group Stage without playing a game. 

Can you go to the Playoff page (Champions League, stages, Champions Playoff).

 

My first guess is that someone somewhere failed FFP and was kicked out, so the draw had all the teams and you lucked into a bye (hugely unlikely as you should have had the draw notification)

 

But you could use that screen to see if a Belgian/Ukrainian team were there that shouldn’t be

[scousevasey]

7 minutes ago, rodesire said:

It's the Champions League winner spot that's messing with you.  The qualification spots assume that the winner of the Europa and Champions Leagues would not qualify for the Champions League group stage.  However, if they do by the virtue of their league standing, their spots do not roll down in the same league.  Instead they go to the best league that does not have a group stage entry which is Wales in P11.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Champions_League#Distribution

Changes will be made to the access list above if the Champions League and/or Europa League title holders qualify for the tournament via their domestic leagues.

* If the Champions League title holders qualify for the group stage via their domestic league, the champions of association 11 (Austria in 2019/2020) will enter the group stage, and champions of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds will also be promoted accordingly.
* If the Europa League title holders qualify for the group stage via their domestic league, the third-placed team of association 5 (France) will enter the group stage, and runners-up of the highest-ranked associations in the second qualifying round will also be promoted accordingly.
* If the Champions League and/or Europa League title holders qualify for the qualifying rounds via their domestic league, their spot in the qualifying rounds is vacated, and teams of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds will be promoted accordingly.
* An association may have a maximum of five teams in the Champions League.[67] Therefore, if both the Champions League and Europa League title holders come from the same top-four association and finish outside of the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of the league will not compete in the Champions League and will instead compete in the Europa League.

 

That is a much better answer (with actual research and knowledge)

[Jimbokav1971]

58 minutes ago, rodesire said:

It's the Champions League winner spot that's messing with you.  The qualification spots assume that the winner of the Europa and Champions Leagues would not qualify for the Champions League group stage.  However, if they do by the virtue of their league standing, their spots do not roll down in the same league.  Instead they go to the best league that does not have a group stage entry which is Wales in P11.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Champions_League#Distribution

Changes will be made to the access list above if the Champions League and/or Europa League title holders qualify for the tournament via their domestic leagues.

* If the Champions League title holders qualify for the group stage via their domestic league, the champions of association 11 (Austria in 2019/2020) will enter the group stage, and champions of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds will also be promoted accordingly.
* If the Europa League title holders qualify for the group stage via their domestic league, the third-placed team of association 5 (France) will enter the group stage, and runners-up of the highest-ranked associations in the second qualifying round will also be promoted accordingly.
* If the Champions League and/or Europa League title holders qualify for the qualifying rounds via their domestic league, their spot in the qualifying rounds is vacated, and teams of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds will be promoted accordingly.
* An association may have a maximum of five teams in the Champions League.[67] Therefore, if both the Champions League and Europa League title holders come from the same top-four association and finish outside of the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of the league will not compete in the Champions League and will instead compete in the Europa League.

 

So Spurs won the Champions League last season. 

And by winning the Final, they gain access to the Champions League, but at this stage I don't know at what level they come in at. 

They actually go straight into the Group Stage, which seems fine. 

But they also finished 2nd in the Premier League last season, so they have effectively qualified twice for the Group Stage of the Champions League. 

Thanks @rodesireThat makes complete sense now. 

 

[AFH]

I have spells of playing FM and not playing FM and when I have a spell of playing FM (like now) I always come to Career Updates and read through the entirety of whatever save you've got going on. I've read this over the last few days and it's been very enjoyable, as ever! I much prefer reading through threads like this than watching FM content on YouTube/Twitch.

Judging by your youth intakes so far, I guess it would've taken a very long time to get this far if you were doing youth only. I always get motivated to do a youth save after reading your threads and I've been thinking of doing one in Northern Ireland but think it might be too much of a slog this year.

Anyway, interested to see how you do in the CL this season 

[Jimbokav1971]

23 minutes ago, AFH said:

I have spells of playing FM and not playing FM and when I have a spell of playing FM (like now) I always come to Career Updates and read through the entirety of whatever save you've got going on. I've read this over the last few days and it's been very enjoyable, as ever! I much prefer reading through threads like this than watching FM content on YouTube/Twitch.

Judging by your youth intakes so far, I guess it would've taken a very long time to get this far if you were doing youth only. I always get motivated to do a youth save after reading your threads and I've been thinking of doing one in Northern Ireland but think it might be too much of a slog this year.

Anyway, interested to see how you do in the CL this season 

Thanks very much. I am pretty sure that I would not have topped TNS yet if I was still doing Youth Only. I've had some VERY good players along the way, (particularly strikers), and while we have produced loads of good GK's, a few good full-backs, some excellent midfielders and a couple of decent strikers, we have produced not a single decent centre-half and only 1 half-decent winger. 

We would be finishing 2nd, but it would be a struggle to do so. Compare that to where we are now with £100M+ in the bank and competing at the business end of the EURO Cup, that's a significant difference. The other thing to say is that the only way we have afforded many of the latter upgrades were through our European exploits. So it's a double edged sword. Without signing players we wouldn't have progressed in Europe and without progressing in Europe we wouldn't have afforded the upgrades. 

[yCymro]

3 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thanks very much. I am pretty sure that I would not have topped TNS yet if I was still doing Youth Only. I've had some VERY good players along the way, (particularly strikers), and while we have produced loads of good GK's, a few good full-backs, some excellent midfielders and a couple of decent strikers, we have produced not a single decent centre-half and only 1 half-decent winger. 

We would be finishing 2nd, but it would be a struggle to do so. Compare that to where we are now with £100M+ in the bank and competing at the business end of the EURO Cup, that's a significant difference. The other thing to say is that the only way we have afforded many of the latter upgrades were through our European exploits. So it's a double edged sword. Without signing players we wouldn't have progressed in Europe and without progressing in Europe we wouldn't have afforded the upgrades. 

I'd also argue that you now need the other Welsh Prem sides to do their bit, as well as the main National Team.  If these guys are also succeeding it will make your work far easier.

This is from my experience, going through this in previous years.

Edited May 21, 2020 by yCymro

[Jimbokav1971]

4 hours ago, AFH said:

I've been thinking of doing one in Northern Ireland but think it might be too much of a slog this year.

Goal-scoring GK actually started for me in N.Ireland at Lisburn Distillery with a real life GK called Chris McIlmurray who turned into an outfield player in real life and then left the game completely after being capped for N.Ireland at U17 level. He played for Glenavon in real life and I obviously nabbed him when he was released. 

I loved playing in N.Ireland and particularly likes the Cup Competitions where the Reserve Teams of big clubs played against the 1st Team of smaller clubs but still counted as competitive fixtures.