FM21: The English Football League thread

[Ronaldo Beckham]

3 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@Ronaldo Beckham Really great work, although I can't believe how you spell El Mizouni right but not Mullin, after all he did for you 

Oh balls. Cheers for correcting me lol.

I will edit it now.

[Jogo Bonito]

Just now, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Oh balls. Cheers for correcting me lol.

I will edit it now.

Just teasing, great work fella.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Just teasing, great work fella.

Oh yeah I know that. I just don't spelling people's names wrong so I had to correct it in the post lol.

Talking of Mullin he is breaking more records.

 

[warlock]

2 hours ago, Mr_Demus said:

I am looking for a team in either the Championship or League 1

Ignoring the bit about cool colours (I have no clue), there are a bunch of candidates. A bigger problem is that under human management almost anyone is capable of challenging for promotion.

But in the Championship I'd suggest maybe QPR, Preston or Birmingham; in L1 financial stability is a bigger issue but Plymouth, Gillingham, Bristol Rovers or Crewe all look decent bets for a mid-table finish.

[robterrace]

Couple of things from my save..

Absolutely battering teams at the moment

Ok...

He is good though.

 

 

[swansongs]

9 hours ago, craiigman said:

Was looking for extra striker cover, but then saw he was free agent, why not give him a go. Reasonable wage all things considered.

"Never lived up to the promise" is a bit harsh! Was a PL regular with us and won the PL with Leicester...

[robterrace]

Not that I got bored for an FA Cup 1st round match against a Conference team, but, the average age of this team was 18 and 45 days.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Dion Dublin has become the new Kosovo national team manager as well as continuing to manage Cambridge United.

[karanhsingh]

7 hours ago, Mr_Demus said:

I have read that, but could still use some advice

How about Swansea or Bristol city? 

7 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I'm going to finish my first season BETA with Tottenham (won't be winning the league).

I've set up three League 2 games, played a handful of games with each and now trying to decide which of them to continue with. Or whether to go with the Cambridge no-transfer challenge I was set. I also quite fancy a few League 1 clubs including Lincoln & Blackpool. And Reading, it's been quite a few years since I could say I like the squad but it was good last year and even better this year. 

Reading would be a good first english save I reckon, minus the superman Loader of course now but Olise looks a talent indeed. 

[karanhsingh]

In the words of Fabrizio Romano, here we go!

In an effort to have a challenge somewhat reflective of real life, I holidayed a few times to the current date and took over Derby in the worst position I found. It wasn't quite as bad as IRL (they are bottom of the league), but thereabouts. Here is the table at the time of taking over on 4th December 2020.

We are also way over the wage budget, so some trimming of the squad will be essential. First order of business was hiring some new staff, and sorting out automatic contract extensions for a number of the youngsters. Wayne Rooney's contract is something I will need to decide on later, as he does also have a one year option but of course is on a massive packet.

As mentioned, my primary aim with Derby County is to develop their set of youngsters, who are currently breaking into the first team. There are the following who are already playing a part this season and who will be played a lot from the get go -

Morgan Whittaker, Louie Sibley, Jason Knight, Lee Buchanan, Max Bird.

Then there are a few more in the youth squads who will be promoted to the first team soon hopefully, as soon as I can move on the older players. 

Bobby Duncan, Jordan Brown, Archie Brown, Harrison Solomon, Tyrie Wilson, Isaac Hutchinson, Festy Ebosele. Of course not all of them will make it, but we will see how we get on.

To add to the challenge and inspired by the "FM realism" thread, I will also.

- look to bring in domestic players and staff where possible

- only buy players found by my scouts and analysts

- not use the player search function at all

- make limited transfers each season as necessary

- develop tactics & set pieces from scratch

- have also put the DOF in charge of all contracts

The idea is to take things slow and build at a reasonable & realistic pace. This season will be about ensuring survival, and then a push for play-offs at least next season. 

As I start off, there is no less than 7 games remaining in the month of December alone. No rest for the wicked!

[craiigman]

8 hours ago, swansongs said:

"Never lived up to the promise" is a bit harsh! Was a PL regular with us and won the PL with Leicester...

I also don’t see how playing for Gillingham will prove anyone wrong 😂 always rated him though, so nice to have him.

[RHKC]

59 minutes ago, craiigman said:

I also don’t see how playing for Gillingham will prove anyone wrong 😂 always rated him though, so nice to have him.

 

I used to like him until I found out he was a thief 

 

He was once on loan at Burnley who I support. I remember him coming off the bench to score the winner on his debut, brilliant goal.

 

But then, as you do when you're a professional footballer, he decided to steal mobile phones from a nightclub.

 

I will forgive him in the virtual world  good luck!

[Delbrenno]

On 02/12/2020 at 22:26, MaxeyN17 said:

PETERBOROUGH UNITED - SEASON PREVIEW 2021/22

As mentioned in my season review, I don't think my squad is anywhere near up to Championship standards, so the summer was all about strengthening. I decided to move the vast majority of my transfer budget into wages and set about listing players I wanted rid of. Leaving the club were Mo Eisa (£100k), Ryan Broom (£85k), Dominik Nagy (£100k), Aidan Barlow (£100k), Lynden Gooch (£100k), Frazer Blake-Tracy (£76k), Dan Butler (£60k), Louis Reed (Free) and Daniel Gyollai (£11k). This left me with a good amount to spend in wages and loyalty fees etc. 

I opted for proven experience in the Championship and/or Premier League whilst also bringing in a few loanees. Joining London Road on free transfers were Jon Toral, Jack Wilshere, Dwight Gayle, Charlie Austin and Stephen Henderson. I also spent £77k on Conor Townsend from West Brom. Our loan signings were Neco Williams, Marvelous Nakamba and Phillipe Sandler. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

I'm quite happy with the squad I've built so far, there's still room to bring in one or two more but we will see what becomes available. 

I have played two games of the season so far but I will leave those for a future update coming possibly tomorrow!

 

 

 

Hi mate I’m currently in my 3rd season with The Posh too. Having read your updates there’s a lot of similarities for our saves! 

1st season I was promoted finishing top of league. signed Aiden Barlow on a free. Johnson-Clarke was top scorer with 25 goals. Stand out players were Jack Taylor, Hamish Burrows, Sammie Szmodics. Barlow was young player of year for league 1. 
Moving to the championship I Signed Jack Simpson from Bournemouth for 400k, Mark Gillespie for 150k, Max Lowe for 190k, George Dobson for £1 million, Perry Ng for 250k and Jon Toral for free. Started really well being in the top 3 for first half of season. 
In January signed Jack Byrne on a free, and Taylor Moore for 700k after I got a cash boost from Ivan Toney being sold to West Ham. 
also signed Jayden wareham from Woking for 1k, he seems to be a bargain and possible wonderkid, had anyone else signed him or heard of him? 
Ricky-jade Jones is progressing well but not scoring many goals for me. Frankie Kent been superb along with Jack Taylor both made step up to championship comfortably.
Johnson-Clarke only scored 12 league goals in championship. Top scorer was Sammie szmodics who I play as a RWF with 21 goals. Barlow with 19 assists.
I’ve been playing Ronnie edwards from the bench who’s progressing well making the England U19 squad with Jones. 
finished in 6th and knocked out in playoff semi final by Sheffield united drawing 0-0 at home and losing 2-0 at brammal lane.

Now in summer and Barlow wanted by Burnley. They have bid £10 million up front and with £5 million add ons. I have accepted and board have given me £3 million to spend from £0!  
need to replace Barlow who I play as AP in the centre on attack.
 

Look forward to your progress! 

 

[Mr_Demus]

12 hours ago, warlock said:

Ignoring the bit about cool colours (I have no clue), there are a bunch of candidates. A bigger problem is that under human management almost anyone is capable of challenging for promotion.

But in the Championship I'd suggest maybe QPR, Preston or Birmingham; in L1 financial stability is a bigger issue but Plymouth, Gillingham, Bristol Rovers or Crewe all look decent bets for a mid-table finish.

 

14 hours ago, craiigman said:

I’m not sure on the finances side, but Blackburn?

 

13 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Bristol Rovers?

Cheers for the advice.

 

I have narrowed it down to Birmingham, QPR, Millwall, Burton, Crewe and Bristol X2.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

31 minutes ago, Mr_Demus said:

 

 

Cheers for the advice.

 

I have narrowed it down to Birmingham, QPR, Millwall, Burton, Crewe and Bristol X2.

Burton has the great youth and training facilities as they get to use the English FA's training centre or whatever it is called.

I had a great save with Burton on FM19 where I didn't spend a penny on transfers or loaned anyone and I managed to rely on finding some decent regens on free's and I got promoted to the Prem after a few seasons.

Crewe have always had a history of producing some good young players but not in recent years. Maybe you could change that.

Birmingham have a good base to build on and have history of producing good players with Che Adams and of course Jude Bellingham.

QPR have always been a controversial team with ups and downs.

Millwall who used to have a bad rep but sort of turned it around over the years. 

Then there is the Bristol teams who are definitely worth a try. Bristol City have been a good Championship team with potential for years now.

Good luck in picking which team you want to manage.

[RHKC]

3 hours ago, Mr_Demus said:

 

 

Cheers for the advice.

 

I have narrowed it down to Birmingham, QPR, Millwall, Burton, Crewe and Bristol X2.

 

I'm currently managing Crewe and really enjoying it! Building my team around Harry Pickering whilst trying to keep Southampton and Everton away from poaching him 

[craiigman]

Has anyone played against Blackpool yet? I only ask because I’ve been playing a fairly conservative 442 so far to quite good results. Then along come Blackpool and they play like they are prime Barcelona. I managed to get a 2-2 draw in the end, but had to use Gegenpress pre set.

I know the game isn’t fixed or anything, but I find this every year when I start doing well, teams turn into Prime Barca. I do hope it was just Blackpool, not played next game just yet.

[Mackem742]

Got this kid through on this seasons youth intake. 15 year old centre back, already 3 star ability, Sunderland born too.

Also got an Egyptian winger/striker came through last years intake, looks pretty good.

[robterrace]

Paterson looks immense. I have seen some interesting nationalities come through the youth intakes as well. Makes it more fun I suppose.

[kroshot]

what skin is that

[Mackem742]

41 minutes ago, robterrace said:

Paterson looks immense. I have seen some interesting nationalities come through the youth intakes as well. Makes it more fun I suppose.

I snapped him up straight away, hopefully he can follow in the footsteps of Jordan Henderson and Pickford. He is already starring for my under 18's.

[Mackem742]

20 minutes ago, kroshot said:

what skin is that

Its a skin called priisek, its on FM Scout.

[kroshot]

got started on my yearly birmingham save (my club)so far no crashes which have bugged  me in the past.saving my game weekly so if it does crash i havent lost loads.

So here goes,looked at the squad which Karanka had left and it looked slow and old no dynamism  at all,so first of all overhauled the backroom staff , the first transfer window was going to be a busy one so i saw that the the midfield had was a problem so out went Toral 2m to Schalke,Davis 500k to San Jose,Kieftenbeld to Ascoli for 500k,Clayton to Vancouver for 325k and McEachran to Aberdeen in a swap plus cash.also noticed we were short on cover on the wings and at fullback and needed a pacy young striker or two.

The incomings started with Freeman who could cover both full back roles on a free,then went for Renato Santos to cover for the wings also on a free,Matt O`Reilly and Adam Barlow also joined on frees to give us depth.The midfield was helped with the arrival of Ugarte for 1.3m from Fenix and Lewis Ferguson from Abdereen for 750k plus McEachran,Finally saw Idah was up for loan from Norwich so snapped him up with a future fee of 6.75m agreed if he did well and the last one in was a bit of a punt on my part by signing Ricky Jade Jones from Peterborough for 1.4m (18 pace 18 acceleration )

The Janaury transfer window was less busy as it was just tweaking the squad with Gardner leaving for Aberdeen for 150k,Prieto to Colorado for 120k and Jutkiewicz leaving for luton for 475k,and finally Roberts leaving for Salt Lake for 475k.Only two arrivals came in Isak Petterson on a free after his contract at  Norrkoping rant down and Jack Simpson from Bournemouth for 200k.

Tactic wise we went with a 442 wide diamond and it payed off superbly with us winning 40 game drawing 5 and losing only 1 scoring a massive 156 league goals and letting in 44, plus reaching the League Cup Final losing 4-3 to Liverpool in the last minute.

Player performance wise Idah scored an incredible 54 goals in all comps with Leko scoring 43 all comps,with Hogan and Jutkiewicz chipping in with a few each, with all the midfield contributing a few each.Most of the assists came from Bela,Sanchez and Halilovic all got double figures.The fullbacks Colin and Pedersen also got forward a lot scoring and assisting.The centre back roles were filled mainly by Dean and San Jose with Clarke Salter and Friend providing cover

Will update after the summer transfer window 

[robterrace]

So.

I want a centre back to come through.

However, this has also just happened.

[robterrace]

Well, thats some list..

[warlock]

Thanks for the updates, everyone. Some interesting saves, some interesting starts, some interesting transfer business .

As for me, I've had a frustrating week - every time I tried to set aside some time for FM I was subjected to constant interruptions, and I've struggled to find a save that grabs my interest. Eventually I found a club that I've never managed before but we'll leave it at that for the time being - it might not stick. But so far it looks OK and I've played the first few friendlies, with a tactic that looks like it might work.

I'll only add that the relegated PL clubs might not be the walk in the park they seem at first glance. I've looked at Bournemouth and Norwich so far and there are hidden pitfalls. Bournemouth has a good squad, but most of your best players have 12 months remaining on contracts and there's no money to renew, especially if they want a pay rise, so you need to sell before you can do much (or risk losing them on free transfers next summer), and there's no guarantee you can find replacements as good, let alone better. Norwich is a different challenge - there's a little money (but not enough for major new signings) but the club is quite a bit over FPP budgets. The threat there is that you might win promotion and find yourself subject to a transfer embargo. And there are plenty of players who are happy to talk about a move away, but refuse every contract offered to them 

In both cases it makes for a good challenge but not the relatively comfortable introduction to FM21 I was looking for. But I'll definitely have a crack at both before the winter window update.

[robterrace]

I'm just waiting for a couple of editor files to come out before I start my main save, but, I'm enjoying the Chesterfield one at the moment.

Got to the New Year with a pretty decent run, ending 2022 in 2nd place in League One.

Little bit of squad building saw us raid Manchester City for 20 year old left back, Josh Wilson-Ekbrand. He brings pace to the game, as well as the ability to go up and down the wing all day, something, which in the way I've got the side playing at the moment, he'll need.

We've received an offer for one of our star players as well, with Rotherham offering £250k for Dan Happe.

Unfortunately, he said that he wanted to talk to them, and agreed a deal, so, will be leaving the club. Its a shame, as hes been an absolute monster of a player since joining us, but, I don't want to stand in the way and make a player unhappy.

We do have a replacement centre back lined up, and hopefully, that will be revealed soon.

Our goals have been coming from all over, with Ben Cottrel and his compatriots in midfield chipping in handily, but, top scoring with 20 goals in 25 in all competitions, is Pedro Marques. The 24 year old Portuguese has expressed an interest in staying with us, and a deal potentially going up to £900k (breaking our transfer record) has been agreed.

Finally. We've got a cracker of a local derby in the 4th Round of the FA Cup.

 

[robterrace]

So, departing was Dan Happe, coming in, after having a few months away from the game, is former Arsenal youngster, Daniel Ballard.

The 23 year old Northern Irish international has been on my target list for a long time, but, I held off due to not having any space in the squad.

Comparatively, he is a perfect replacement for Happe.

We also completed the signing of Pedro Marques, for £425k up front, and another £450k over 3 years.

[Jogo Bonito]

10 hours ago, warlock said:

I've had a frustrating week - every time I tried to set aside some time for FM I was subjected to constant interruptions, and I've struggled to find a save that grabs my interest. Eventually I found a club that I've never managed before but we'll leave it at that for the time being - it might not stick. But so far it looks OK and I've played the first few friendlies, with a tactic that looks like it might work.

Which league are you looking at now? Hopefully this one will work out to be what you want.

5 hours ago, robterrace said:

So, departing was Dan Happe, coming in, after having a few months away from the game, is former Arsenal youngster, Daniel Ballard.

We also completed the signing of Pedro Marques, for £425k up front, and another £450k over 3 years.

Doing well. These look decent signings, alongside Josh Wilson-Ekbrand.

[robterrace]

40 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Which league are you looking at now? Hopefully this one will work out to be what you want.

Doing well. These look decent signings, alongside Josh Wilson-Ekbrand.

Thanks.

Really surprised that I've got Marques, although, the fact that he was already on loan, and banging goals away left, right and centre may have helped

 

[Fishlcfc_9]

How are people getting on with rotation/keeping players fit? I think with my Lincoln side the drop off from the first 11 is quite big. A bit like in real life, means I've ended up basically throwing the cups and heavily rotating (I was a bit annoyed when we did that against Liverpool in the League Cup)!

Had an interesting FA Cup tie with Burnley (bringing back memories of this game: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38940052!), but heavily changed side couldn't upset  Dwight McNeil and co.



Also going to need some recommendations probably as my suspicion is I will still be in L1 next year but hopefully with a bit of wage budget for the second season... CB is sorted but most other positions up for grabs!

[Parmie]

Just now, Fishlcfc_9 said:

How are people getting on with rotation/keeping players fit? I think with my Lincoln side the drop off from the first 11 is quite big. A bit like in real life, means I've ended up basically throwing the cups and heavily rotating (I was a bit annoyed when we did that against Liverpool in the League Cup)!
 

Certainly with the Papa John I fully rotate out but for the Carabao and FA Cups I treat them as important for financial reasons while in Leagues One or Two. Now I'm in the Championship, I'm going more the other way, promotion is tantalising the league games trump everything else, but at the same time, I can afford to have some depth. 

Towards the end of the season I do see any positions where I've only got one real first teamer see issues with jadedness. I'm actively trying to recruit towards at least a 1st choice and prospect in each position so if nothing else, the prospect being rotated in is useful for their development, I've still not got that in place for two positions.

[Fishlcfc_9]

11 minutes ago, Parmie said:

Certainly with the Papa John I fully rotate out but for the Carabao and FA Cups I treat them as important for financial reasons while in Leagues One or Two. Now I'm in the Championship, I'm going more the other way, promotion is tantalising the league games trump everything else, but at the same time, I can afford to have some depth. 

Towards the end of the season I do see any positions where I've only got one real first teamer see issues with jadedness. I'm actively trying to recruit towards at least a 1st choice and prospect in each position so if nothing else, the prospect being rotated in is useful for their development, I've still not got that in place for two positions.

Makes sense. I think next season I might be able to have a tiny bit more depth than I do now. especially if like you say I look for a prospect or two in the positions I am shorter. CM is one, which is a bit unhelpful!

[robterrace]

Probably my best performance this save. Sheffield United are 2nd in the Championship, and the team they put out against us was strong.

[kitcub]

Some great posts here, really interested in everyone else's stories in the EFL. I've started with my supported club (for now), Shrewsbury Town. First 3 or 4 months have been a bit rocky, but signs over Christmas and into January that we're starting to gel a little. 1st Feb and the transfer windows about to slam shut, but no idea who to go for. REALLY needing some competition in the left back area but struggling to identify anyone any good who isn't already on loan somewhere! We're 10th in League One, P27 W10 D9 L8 (GD+8) on 39pts, 8 off the Play Off spots.

[warlock]

5 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Which league are you looking at now?

League One. If I make it to the end of the transfer window I'll be good for the whole season, I think 

[robterrace]

Its looking likely that Regan Booty is departing for £400k, so, the shopping list came out and we went to Blackburn to pick up Jacob Davenport for £180k, he is better physically and mentally, but has some scope to improve his weak areas.

[kitcub]

22 hours ago, robterrace said:

However, this has also just happened.

JOE!!!!   (Player-Manager I hope at 35? :P)

 

[robterrace]

7 minutes ago, kitcub said:

JOE!!!!   (Player-Manager I hope at 35? :P)

He retired

In other news, we've had a couple of players leave, one due to his minimum fee clause getting hit, by the club top of the Championship.

The departure of Huffer puts Ben Amos' experience in the driving seat for our promotion campaign, however, the position will go to former Manchester City youngster, Josh McNamara, who has been recalled from his loan at Orient, where he made 31 appearances. The 19 year old needs improvement in a couple of areas where he isn't as developed as Huffer, but, in terms of shot stopping and distribution, he matches our former #1.

[MaxeyN17]

So despite DMac accepting a bid for Dembele from Stoke, Siriki rejected the move and signed a new deal at London Road. Despite this, the end of the transfer window was quite a hectic one! Both Cole Dasilva and Nathan Thompson wanted new deals which I was happy to offer but they wanted far more than they were worth so they were promptly sold to Luton for £425k and Rotherham for £575k respectively. Ethan Hamilton, Reece Cole and Mark Beevers also left the club but for very small fees. 

Now for incomings. Declan John joined on a free transfer to replace Dasilva whilst £775k was spent bringing in Jason Kerr from St. Johnstone. Eldin Jakupovic joined to add further depth to the goalkeeping position and I will be looking to make him a coach once he retires. Finally, Michael Obafemi joined on loan from Southampton, adding pace and power across the frontline.

We are currently 11 games into the league season and things are going much better than expected. We currently sit in fifth place with six wins and two draws. We are also the top scorers of the division with 30 goals but we have also conceded more goals than any team outside of the bottom six with 18. Plenty of work still to be done but I find scoring goals a lot harder than stopping them going in at your own end. 

Somewhat surprisingly, Clarke-Harris and Jones have made the step-up to the Championship quite well with six goals apiece. Meanwhile, Gayle and Austin, the proven players at this level have one goal between them. Hopefully we can get some goals into those two without losing the goals from JCH and Jones!

[Parmie]

Bradford City Season 5 (2024-2025):

Transfers:

Right winger Simon Power left us after we couldn't agree a new contract, his wage demands being unreasonable for his ability, coming into a new season, we therefore had no natural right sided midfielders. The solution was Cleary and Shotton arriving on loan, both promising youngsters from premiership teams. Rhys Bennett, whom my scouts tell me has premiership potential, is snapped up after his release from Man Utd. 

In my head I am building some kind of link between Colombia and Bradford. So another Colombian prospect joins to backup our keeper Joe Lumley. I feel comfortable coming into the new season that we've got a good first team and a number of (mostly Colombian) youngsters who should develop well. Disaster then strikes with Crystal Palace swooping in for a contract release on new work permitted Jhonnys Pitre, breaking my plan to bring on Pitre and Polo this season. I didn't notice it was only £850k and I am so annoyed I almost give up on the save there and then.

I calm down and replace Pitre with yes, another Colombian youngster, who looks like he can fit into the Advanced Forward role although he won't arrive until June next year. Bournemouth won't stop bidding for Belgian prospect Verschueran who also having just gained a permit was supposed to be our left winger this season, however, £5m cash with incentives seems like it will secure financial security for the foreseeable so cash in. 

Having worked out my US knowledge is coming from head of Youth Development Stephen Glass, another free signing, Dragavon gets contract released by Leicester in January, I am more philosophical about this one, it's a lot of money and besides, he's not Colombian. This provides an excellent opportunity to active a release clause of our own to replace Dragavon by signing Antony Valencia, yes he's Colombian.

With these disruptive transfers occurring, I don't build on last season as I wanted to. I get more confidence we can be more tactically aggressive, moving up to a positive mentality, but this backfires and isn't successful, by the time I make the adjustment back, we're still firmly rooted in mid-table.

With a multi-million pound credit balance for the first time, I pressure the board into approving training and youth facility improvements. The academy is still producing one or two exciting graduates even without this though.

Board expectations and the bookies still have us as relegation contenders coming into the next season, but I know I need to sort out a permanent solution to right wing, and while Callum Cooke is still going strong as my only true box to box central midfielder, he's peaked and I just seem to struggle to find anyone who will takeover that role. There is also a gap in wide midfielders who are natural in midfield wide positions rather than attacking wide positions. I may need to think more creatively and convert someone with the right attributes. 

I keep checking if I have any favoured status after winning 2 promotions, cup quarter and semi finals, and keeping us in the Championship, but it's hard crowd in Bradford, I have no special recognition yet. David Faupala, scoring 146 goals in 5 seasons doesn't merit any favoured status yet either. 

[robterrace]

The sort of message I love to get from the board after I've raised the best part of £1m in a transfer window.

[Terk]

In the last few editions of the game for some reason I've gravitated towards a first save with Sunderland. It's usually a fairly slow burner, having to dump all the overpaid rubbish out of the squad and slowly replace them, but this time it's started off pretty well (much to my surprise). The board only have a play-off place as my expectation, so unless my current run of picking up injuries manages to completely derail things then I reckon we should be well on course to achieve that. Best result so far came in the Carabao Cup though, winning 1-0 away at Leicester in the fourth round (the prize being a quarter final tie at Arsenal, which might bring in a nice bit of cash).

 

Brought in about £500k selling a few players who either looked like they wouldn't suit, got annoyed when I initially rejected bids for them or were named Will Grigg (I'm still holding a grudge from how terrible he was in my FM2020 save). Signed Jason Cummings for £375k from Shrewsbury (hadn't scored in five league starts before getting himself injured) and Joe Pigott from Wimbledon for £150k who has done much better, bagging 5 in 10. Undoubted star of the show though has been this lad who one of my scouts recommended and impressed on trial. Figured he'd be a decent option off the bench but has forced his way into my starting XI

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Cambridge United Season 2 Mid Season Update

I am currently 3rd place in League One after my succesful first season going up from League Two. 

Paul Mullin continues to bang in the goals at Cambridge. He currently has 25 goals in 26 games so far. I am calling him the new Jamie Vardy.

El Mizouni who I managed to get on loan for another season is providing the assists again with 12 assists so far. 

Kaylen Hinds on a free transfer is my best bit of transfer business so far with him getting 15 goals in 28 games so far.

Richard Nartey continues to be a rock at the back and is my captain but he is wont sign a new contract cos he is annoyed I didn't improve the coaching team which I am trying to do but oh well. Fiorentina are currently interested in him. 

I managed to get another goal machine on a free transfer in former Chelsea youngster Charlie Brown. He has got 15 goals so far in 17 games.

I managed to make £700k in transfer fees by simply selling players who were unhappy that they aint playing football.

I will do a full season review later tonight.

 

[robterrace]

So.

This has happened.

6 games to go, and the sprint to the line for the Championship is on.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, robterrace said:

So.

This has happened.

6 games to go, and the sprint to the line for the Championship is on.

Well done on your promotion buddy.

[causticgrip]

Found it hard to decide which team to start with this year but went for Bournemouth in the end. 

Managed to achieve the goal of promotion by winning the league but it was a tough battle against Brentford! Beating them home and away was key in the end.  121 league goals scored, we really did thump a lot of teams hah.  Also reached the League Cup semi finals,  where we lost to Arsenal 1-0 .

 

Utilised a lot of loan signings and a couple of frees.

Slimani is boss at this level, highly recommend signing him for like only 40% wages. Emerson from Chelsea also quality obviously, surprised to get him on loan. Solanke starting to show the ability that was promised when he was a young player at Chelsea/Liverpool. Danjuma, a player i'd never heard of, was also brilliant. Cook and Lerma solid in midfield as you'd expect at this level. Emile Smith Rowe and Laird showing bags of potential but I doubt i'll be able to sign them permanently from Arsenal and Man Utd. 

Going forward in the PL, I'm going to favour signing young and British players and try to have a core of a team that'll be here for the long term.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Look at the Cambridge Youth Intake I just got. Wow.

Cameron Coxall

Rowan Sewell

Simon Wilson

Cameron Dixon-Wandless

Graham Young

Warren Ginty-Farrington

 

[kitcub]

5 hours ago, robterrace said:

So.

This has happened.

Bottom?!?  *sobs quietly*

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Cambridge United Season 2 Review

 

SPOILER ALERT

CHAMPIONES CHAMPIONES OLE OLE OLE.

I even managed to get to the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup finally losing to Arsenal in the Quarters.

My star striker in the end was Charlie Brown who got 32 goals in 36 games and 9 assists.

I had 3 other players who got more then 10 goals each. Paul Mullin who was the main man last year and the start of this season but he got ousted out by Charlie Brown and new signing Tyler Smith who I signed on a free tranfer. Kaylen Hinds also got 15 goals this season.

Idris El Mizouni was again the master of assists. He managed to get 23 assists this season and 9 goals. I just managed to sign him for £1m upfront and £2m over 48 months. A bargain definitely.

Richard Nartey is still unhappy I haven't improved the coaching team even though I have. Its got to be a bug as he has been unhappy for over a season now. 

I want him to sign a new contract but he wont and he will probably leave on a free transfer in 12 months if he doesn't change his mind soon.

Looking forward to testing my skills with Cambridge in the Championship.