Those of you who manage the lowest teams of all?

[Billsmcfc]

Hi guys, for those of you who take on the lowest league teams on the game, genuine question but what’s it really like and what enjoyment do you get from it?

i always start a save with Oldham Athletic when the game comes out but with zero money and zero talent I just find it such a struggle and don’t get much enjoyment out of getting best week in week out.

I always stick to it for a few seasons but then there comes a time I can’t be bothered loading it up as I’m still stuck in the top 12 at the most.

How do you guys cope with such lower leagues teams in the way of results and getting better players? Do you give more time to youngsters and persevere with them hoping they come better than your first team players? Maybe you try and loan a couple of players here and there?

Im thinking of starting a save with Salford but only if I know there’s some hope of success out there, I’m having huge success with my Man City save I think not just because of the players but because of the tactic I’ve spent days on end creating and it’s paid off, maybe this tactic could work for a lower league team also?

 

[alian62]

FMScout has some good guides 

www.fmscout.com/a-lower-league-guide-fm18.html

 

[Etebaer]

Initially freeing up Budget by shafting all the useless U19-Youngsters i have (~30k) and getting the best Team possible with the least amount of Investment from the Transfemarket while Scouting/Trialing hundreds of youth Players searching for ones good enough to grow with me for some years (at least 4 of them) into a league where i start to make some little Money allways hunting the bargains and overlooked/underapreciated Players and sometimes going all in like spending 25k (p.a.) Wage for Quaresma (yep, that 38 yrs old Quaresma) who retires at Season end but pulls me into my 2nd Promotion into the league i can at least survive financially and grow instead of being in a state of permanent fincancial drought and also leading me into the Amateur Cup Final falling one Penalty short of winning what would have give me a 6 Digit (~300k) income the following Season due participating in the DFB Pokal eventually but it should not happen.

Now i try to get into the 3.Liga straight (i have loaned out a terrific 18yrs old 3.Liga playmaker for a huge lump of money) not wasting time in the 4th League but there is only the League Winner getting into Promotion Playoffs so the odds are low...

Yeah, that effort/challenge and winning/losing is fun to me:

The Joy of great Wins

The Joy of great Goals

The joy of a successfull Playerhunt

The Joy of seeing youth Players grow with the Team

The Joy of the Clubs Progress - growing in stature, growing attendance, getting attractive for better Players, etc.

 

I totally like that!

 

PS: As low league british club the striker "Shama Bako" could be of interest for you - he has some random values but usually very good ones and is english at one of his two nationalities.

PPS: I dont know anyting about the lower english leagues but i have to free up Budget by lowering the Scouting Budget so i have the Money to give my useless Youngsters the Budget increasing Free Transfers.

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by Etebaer

[Billsmcfc]

Brilliant reply mate @Etebaer You’ve just give me the push to take on the biggest challenge of my career yet!

[Nobby_McDonald]

Oldham are by far one of the lowest teams.

I almost always start in the English non league below National League North/South. I really enjoy starting at that level and working my way up.

[Grifty]

I find it far more fun to build a team up from nothing, creating club legends along the way, building the facilities/stadium expansion, picking up youth players released from clubs and turning them into profit, than managing one of the big teams and buying Haaland & Mbappe

[Bristol CityFC1981]

3 hours ago, Grifty said:

I find it far more fun to build a team up from nothing, creating club legends along the way, building the facilities/stadium expansion, picking up youth players released from clubs and turning them into profit, than managing one of the big teams and buying Haaland & Mbappe

Yep I’m currently doing a save in Northern Ireland and loving it!

[metallimuse]

4 hours ago, Grifty said:

I find it far more fun to build a team up from nothing, creating club legends along the way, building the facilities/stadium expansion, picking up youth players released from clubs and turning them into profit, than managing one of the big teams and buying Haaland & Mbappe

What he said.

I do not see the appeal of playing as a big team who are regularly in Europe. It's just boring and easy.

I'd rather take a lesser fancied team and try to build them up and create a legacy and over turn the status quo.

Even if I'm doing a journeyman save and I've made it to the upper echelons of management through my career when I decide to leave the club I'm at I would only join a club who has fallen on hard times, some thing that is a good 'project'.

[thehig2]

@Billsmcfc

I like to start unemployed with no experience or coaching badges, and start at the bottom, I think its the most rewarding way to play the game.

For me, the game is all about the managers legacy. I try to make realistic decisions so if I'm managing at a Vanrama North/South team and get a job offer after a few seasons at a bigger club, more often than not I'll take it. 

I'll gradually manage bigger clubs until I'm at a top club, bu then it feels organic as your manager as the experience you'd expect a manager to have at a top job.

[Etebaer]

I am in the 7th Season now since i started in the german Tier 6 league, promoted 2 times (into Tier 5 (Oberliga) and eventually Tier 4 (Regionalliga)).

Won the Amateur Cup 3 times by now (4 times in the Final, lost one due to Penalties after conceding an equalizer after a corner in injuriy ot) and earning close to 2 Million Euros from participaing in the DFB Pokal for that (getting 1 time into the next round for +550k Reward Money and +550k TV Money).

 

Was around the Top 5 each Season in Regionalliga:

First Season i had 2 of my 3 Fist Team Strikers injured for accumulated 9 months with several more months having their form not taking up any good shape so i played the Season with 1 First Team Striker and one u19 Talent which is at best a Tier 6 Striker.

Missed Promotion Playoffs in Season 2 by two Points for several reasons like having a Player i loaned (terrific midfielder that would have helped me much) disappear after 19 days from my Team finding him sold to another Club, my GK having a weak decisionmaking showing negatively up in some games, my best Strikers only on loan not that motivated and quite inconsistent, a few misdecisons at my side what Player to throw into what game and when.

Third Season was a rebuild as the Teams Keyplayers started to show declining/stagnating abilities and good loan Players were prety much unavailable a Promotion challenge was never to happen so i tried use the time wise for a rebuild.

In Season 4 for the first time i have a Team that is mostly up to the Task and not a total Underdog, the Top Striker is under contract at my Club (was a Free Agent i hired inmidst of the last season, have several good loans, for at least 2 Seasons to come that play at Tier 4 top Level or even above that and my decisionweak GK is not improving but i have loaned a terrific 18 yrs old Talent that surpasses him in almost every part of Goalkeeping.

Sadly i lost a very good Wingback but i have to offer non promotion clauses to keep my Player wages in a range (i pay still under average) that i can balance them with my DFB Money (went from -199k bank balance up to around +1000k but without extra income i am deep in the reds) and for some reason he was unwilling to sign very good offer of mine (in the end he hired up for a club where he gets 10 times what i can pay, gladly in another league) though i got 2 Players whom i believe they can take his place without much loss and develop beyond him.

With much games to play i am in 2 Points distance of the first place and hope i will make it this time into Tier 3 (where i sadly meet a 3.Liga that is half filled with B-Teams of Big Clubs bcs the youth Players generated by this game are way, way, way, way, way to good having 16 yrs old en masse that surpass Top Tier Players with their abilites already that spill into these B-Teams).

Time will tell.

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Etebaer

[Padders]

Come and have a look at the Youth Academy challenge

taken me 80 years to get Scarborough into the Premier League 

[DementedHammer]

I enjoy trying to get a bunch of guys with questionable footballing abilities playing something that resembles decent to watch football. 

To be honest though, I'm not sure FM scales that well to the lowest divisions in the game.  I realise it's all relative, but, in my opinion, it's a bit too easy to play sexy attractive football with a bunch of no hopers - I'd love to be forced to go long ball or super direct, just to get some kind of results. 

That said, I still wouldn't play FM any other way. I think it's been around 12 years since I managed a team as high as League One. (CM01/02 was the last time that I managed in the top flight.) I'm currently managing a team in the Essex Senior League. 

Edited April 30, 2020 by DementedHammer

[CityAndColour]

On 28/04/2020 at 08:40, Nobby_McDonald said:

Oldham are by far one of the lowest teams.

I almost always start in the English non league below National League North/South. I really enjoy starting at that level and working my way up.

Ditto. I actually often lose interest once I get promoted into the Football Leagues.

[Zardoz]

My 2 best remembered saves and my actual saves are all saves in which I started from the bottom.

In the first (FM 2012)one I started in the Danish 2nd league and went after one year to a newly promoted team in the English 6th league. I was about 10 saisons with the team and moved them to league 2. It was MY club.  The identification with the club was really high.  I rember that still very well and sometimes I look after the club in RL ( In reality the club moved further down).

In my actual save (FM 2017)  I set me the goal to get a job offer from Manchester United, City, PSG, Barcelona or Madrid. I started to work my career up the top starting as a semi pro. I started as unemployed manager as usual, began in the Vanarama North with Worcester FC and battled  via  Galway United, VfL Bochum and Blackburn Rovers my way up as actual manager of Liverpool (presumably not very long, the situations begins to be critical).  I have to confess that the international aspect is fun but the most satisfying aspect was to see that in Worcester some of my players played still after several years and I was several years favoured personal in Galway (after winning the Irish championship with them). I often think it would have been still more fun to stay in Worcester and move them further up. After this save I will try this.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Zardoz