Verby Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 (edited) Hello guys, I just exceeded all expectations of the board and got instant promotion in the first season to the Championship with AFC Wimbledon. This is my first ever time managing a team thats out of the English Premier League (I dont know why I never played the lower teams before, this first season has been the most fun and intense ive ever had!). I feel like my current squad is way out of its depth now we will be going up against teams like Fulham, QPR, Reading, Blackburn and Swansea who blow my wage budget out of the water. My current loan signings from last season do not want to come back, is this because I am still registered in League One and not officially in the Championship yet? Any tips on getting quality players in without having to pay huge wages, I managed to get Chelsea as an Affiliate club but have not worked out how they can send me some players without me having to pay any wages. Its June 1st and I have not signed anyone yet, I do have some time though. Also any tips on getting wages down for free agents? Is there any easy add ons I can do to sway them Edited December 21, 2021 by Verby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
properdisco Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Definitely stay patient with those loans as there does tend to be an adjustment and they could easily change their minds (I think the next season officially begins after you see those FM leaderboards, if its past that point maybe look for new loan targets). Recruitment is gonna be tough, I just got promoted to the Championship after starting in the National League and most of my star players are still from the League Two/One campaigns. There has not been a big jump forward in the quality of player who will sign probably because we're such long odds to stay up. There are plenty of good enough players released from the Prem each year but they will generally command a wage that the likes of QPR and Fulham will pay much easier than you. Foreign recruitment is tough because of work permits but I have seemingly had a decent amount of luck with getting Jong Ajax (the Ajax youth team) players in pretty cheaply. I would focus on staying on top of morale, be understanding when the times are inevitably tougher than they were in League One. Praise people's conduct regularly just because, praise anybody for anything that deserves praise. Hopefully you can be in a decent position for January and then see a better standard of player want to come in and keep growing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
anagain Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Those loan signings will be easier to make when the new season turnaround happens. I'd recommend paying attention to player's character if you are going to have a season of struggle. If you can find some young talent that's ambitious and a hard worker then I suspect they'd fair better than many young stars. Have a look around for experienced pros that might not mind dropping wages. Get some big CBs with high work rate and a good DM. Pack your defence and try and hoof the ball to a pacey striker. I wouldn't worry too much about beautiful football until you're sure you can make it work. Play the Wimbledon way of old and you'll frustrate teams. One of my preferences at any level is to get players that can play a number of positions well. If you play robust football and get a few bookings you can always fill slots. Not to mention, if a player can play a number of positions well then you can have less players and get more out of your wage budget. Im no expert at beating relegation at that level to be honest, but the above is what I'd do. I reckon you'll be fine if you romped up that easy with Wimbledon. Good luck. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verby Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 Cheers for the advice guys. Managed to keep extend 3 of the loan signings for the season after it registered I was in the Championship. Made a few free transfer signings also and managed to get a pacey young striker from Aston Villa on loan for the season. I am predicted 20th by the press, hopefully I can stay up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weller1980 Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Attacking gegenpress tactic, job done. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verby Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 First game of the season, maybe I was panicking over nothing, we shall see . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
properdisco Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 better than I'm doing with that result and predicted finish! I think my issue was maxing out my budgets in L1 and L2, couldn't afford many quick upgrades as the League One champions money is nothing compared to the former Prem team budgets, so mostly just have to hope my young team keeps growing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verby Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 (edited) I managed to sell Ayoub Assal in Jan of my first season to Burnley for 4m and they loaned him back to me for the season and let me take him again on loan with no wage contribution so they helped alot with my budgets although they are still nothing to write home about. The Wimbledon chairman is abit of a knob in the game Edited December 21, 2021 by Verby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
glengarry224 Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 17 hours ago, anagain said: Get some big CBs with high work rate and a good DM. Pack your defence and try and hoof the ball to a pacey striker. I wouldn't worry too much about beautiful football until you're sure you can make it work. I love this strategy. Great to grind out some draws against the better teams. My top targets after promotions: GK, CB then DM. 17 hours ago, anagain said: One of my preferences at any level is to get players that can play a number of positions well. If you play robust football and get a few bookings you can always fill slots. Not to mention, if a player can play a number of positions well then you can have less players and get more out of your wage budget. Like this too. Make sure to rotate your players enough. A couple of good utility players can really help do this. If I'm really having fitness and depth problems, I'll even tank a tough game: play reserves away at Fulham, for example. If you wear them out too much in the first half of the campaign, you'll start getting slaughtered in the spring. After promotion, in the pre-season, I focus heavily on Endurance and Resistance. In the January window, you can sometimes pick up a few sweet loans of players who are not getting any playing time at better clubs, so reserve some wage budget for January. Also, by then you'll know your team's strengths and weaknesses, and have some injuries so you'll know better where you need help. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 If you have the money don't hesitate to get some experienced quality players. Get strong personalities to cope with a possible spell of bad results, and don't get emotional with the lads you had last season, if you can sign better players do it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verby Posted December 22, 2021 Author Share Posted December 22, 2021 (edited) So far so good guys, sit second in the league 7 games in with only one loss. Louie Barry has been an absolute sensational bit of business for us, he has 10 goals in the league already. Our last two games hes put Huddersfield and Watford to the sword. Managed to get a Joshua Kitolano in on loan from Chelsea aswel (Looks like they bought him from a Norwegian team), I am very optimistic of a top 10 finish this season now although the Media are still predicating us to go straight down. I got slaughtered by Brentford 0-2 at home, think we had 3 attempts at goal to there 28.. and we barely were able to get out of our half lol. they did just get relegated from the Premier League so they still have a very strong team Edited December 22, 2021 by Verby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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