[FM22] Living the Dream

[HighwayCathedral]

I'm starting new career save (after my last one got corrupted) and I just wanted somewhere to post occasional updates about my progress.

The concept of this save is that I'm playing as a version of myself. I'm asking myself the question: "What if I quit my job, and just went out into the world of football management?"

Custom Data Files

I've added DaveInc and Nik33's data fixes in.

I've also loaded as many custom leagues as possible. However I've excluded nations where:

A. The vast majority of football clubs are financially impoverished.

B. The standard is very low and the rules are hostile to bringing more than a handful of foriegn players (because squabbling over the same few domestic talents is boring, and the AI is bad at it).

C. It's somewhere that I wouldn't want to work because of fears for my safety (e.g. Syria, North Korea).

As it turned out, the above pruning wound up excluding about 90 countries. Mostly these were from the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. Incidentally, all European countries stayed in (because of the financially transformative nature of a Champions League run).

I've also added a custom data file of mine which is just every player's PA randomised based on the -1 to -10 system. So there could be a few surprise career rises or declines (which is realistic).

Database

I'm using a large database. I've selected all players selected from all continents where they are a current international, or play for a top club, or for a club in a top division, or for a club involved in a continental competition.

I think this means that there will be about 0.75 million players in this database. This is down from the largest I've ever run, with 1.25 million, but it's still going to be running pretty darn slow. I don't much mind that as I usually take about 2 weeks to finish a season.

Game Rules

> The first transfer window is disabled (for realism).

> Attribute Masking is on (because having it off makes the game way too easy).

> Key staff will not get added (because usually this means that big clubs are given full staff rosters).

> Players are added to playable teams (because the lower leagues will need filling out).

House Rules

> Opportunity: When I start the game I have to holiday until 1st May 2022. This is because at the start of the game there are an unrealistic number of clubs without a manager, and holidaying for a season means that 90% of these will vanish.

> Money: Wages are important! I have to earn a living, and I don't have meaningful savings. So where I choose to work will be heavily influenced by the size of the wage I'm offered relative to the cost of living in that country. Relatedly, if a role is offered to me that I'm not much interested in, but which has a much bigger salary, I am required to take it just as seriously as I would in real life.

> Reputation: One thing that annoys me about FM is that even if you pick the lowest possible reputation, the game will still give you a weirdly high reputation value. I think this is because so many people pick the lowest possible value, load about 5 leagues, and then complain that there's a bug where no club will hire them . I checked and you get about 2750 rep even if you have no coaching badges  and a Sunday League Footballer background. This is ludicrous, and will still land you at some very decent clubs. Therefore I will amend my reputation value at the start of the game down from 2750 to 1. I really am starting from the bottom.

> Honour: I feel like this goes without saying, but I know that plenty of people will edit data or reload saves if something goes wrong. Doing this would completely spoil my fun, so I will never do this. The only possible exception is if there is some verifiable error that cannot be explained by other means (e.g. I once had a bug where all of my international players went away on international duty and never came back... they were stuck in permenant limbo).

> Interference: If a club insists on keeping a Director of Football, then I will interpret that as the club is going with a DoF model, and I am thus required to hand over all transfer policy strings to them. I can then only suggest transfer targets and hope that they sign the players I want (e.g. like at Chelsea). If the club does have a DoF, but does not insist on keeping them, then I will interpret that as the club going with a hybrid/muddled model (e.g. like at Everton). I must let them have a crack at signing players, but I will retain veto rights on any signings. The hiring and firing for the DoF position (and for the Technical Director position) will always be the domain of the Chairman. If there is ever no DoF present, then the Chairman will be assigned the DoF-like transfer discretion instead (to represent Chairman interference and indulgence). I am not allowed to override Chairman-led signings.

Starting Out

I don't have many points to allocate, but I've opted for the 'Knowledgable' manager template (in case this affects how my manager's attributes grow). I've oped to stick 4 points into Player Knowledge, 2 points into Youngster Knowledge, and 2 points into Determination. Everything else on the right side is a 1. On the left side I have a whole 1 point to play with. I've opted to stick it into Tactical coaching.

It's May 1st, 2022, and I don't have any particular ambitions. I know from experience that without a lucky break it can be difficult to get to the top when you start from low down. However, winning everything at the top can get boring fast, so I'm not desperate to get there quickly. I'm confident in my ability to manage pretty much anything from a tactical perspective. Ideally I need to start out somewhere where the players won't thumb their noses at me for being inexperienced, and which has enough money and reputation to attract a few difference-makers. I'd love to build a giant out of nothing, but whether you can do that is as much down to the club and the league as you.

Edited January 19, 2022 by HighwayCathedral

[HighwayCathedral]

I've wound up at Connah's Quay Nomads!

 

To be honest this was a role I applied for with no expectation I'd get it, as CQN are perennially near the summit of the Welsh 1st Tier:

 

This season CQN secured a respectable 3rd place, meaning they will compete in the Europa Conference League:

 

Obviously I'm nowhere near qualified for this kind of club, and the players agree. I've never seen such a lack of support in FM

Spoiler

At least not since I was managing at Atletico Madrid, where I had the whiniest and least professional bunch of players I've ever had. I narrowly missed out on a Champions League place because £6m-a-year-man Falcao was completely useless the whole season. I lost the Spanish Cup 4-0 to arch-rivals Real Madrid, and should have lost by double that. It was a shocking performance. I knew I was about to get sacked, so I sarcastically told the team that they were unbelievably great, and individually told each and every one of them that they deserved special recognition. They hated that. I got handed my P45 the next morning.

 

However the chairman must have liked what she saw in the massive dossier I sent him, so he's obviously agreed to sign me up. These are the club's expectations:

 

Although perhaps the chairman just wants a nominal leader because frankly she thinks the club runs itself? This would explain my shockingly low salary of 4,500 per annum, which is clearly a part-time wage. I'll have to be begging my partner to support me financially for this season (thankfully, I think she would!). Hopefully this will be the only season that I will be impoverished. If I don't get an acceptable pay rise after the first year, I may have to leave.

I'm going to be treating this job as a nothing-to-lose underdog situation. I'm probably going to get fired fairly rapidly because the players simply don't respect me. But who knows, maybe I can gradually win them over? Either way, I should at least have the opportunity to improve my standing in the game. There's also always the very slim chance that I can make a success of it.

Edited January 18, 2022 by HighwayCathedral

[HighwayCathedral]

I've been given a fair amounts of funds to play with. Nearly 50% of the wage budget is already free, and that'll go up if I let some players contracts expire in a few weeks time:

 

We've got a very thin squad, with only 16 first-team pros. One of those, Jamie Insall, has already agreed to leave for Shamrock Rovers.

 

Of those remaining, the standout is Neal Eardley, who was a regular for Blackpool and Birmingham earlier in his career.

 

Unfortunately he wanted to transition into coaching, and even if he was a player he wanted a two year deal and a wage rise about the club's current ceiling of £22,000, so we couldn't come to terms. He'll be released in a couple of weeks. Declan Poole, Jay Owen, and Callum Morris will be leaving with him. Hopefully that should free up nearly £100,000 a year in wages.

 

We're going to have to sign reinforcements quickly, as we're now left with only 11 senior squad members. We haven't gotten long to do it either: Our first Europa Conference game is on the 7th of July, meaning ideally we need to assemble a functioning squad in the next three weeks.

Edited January 18, 2022 by HighwayCathedral

[karanhsingh]

Nice, how does the random PA work? Does it even apply to established players?

[HighwayCathedral]

35 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Nice, how does the random PA work? Does it even apply to established players?

Yes, basically -10 means the game will assign a PA between 170 to 200, -9 will assign a PA of 150 to 180, etc etc

I've gone on the generous side. i.e. every player with a PA above 170 has been given a -10. I've done this because in this game it's been noted that most players will no longer reach their potential.

Edited January 18, 2022 by HighwayCathedral

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, HighwayCathedral said:

Yes, basically -10 means the game will assign a PA between 170 to 200, -9 will assign a PA of 150 to 180, etc etc

I've gone on the generous side. i.e. every player with a PA above 170 has been given a -10. I've done this because in this game it's been noted that most players will no longer reach their potential.

Yes yes I know how that works, I got what you have done now 

[HighwayCathedral]

A brilliant outcome a week later as I relent a bit, and Neal Eardley relents a bit, and we come to a compromise that will see him stay at the club. He agreed to lower his wage and bonus demands. I agreed to make it a two-year deal, and threw in the club captaincy as a sweetener. So that's our right flank sorted!

 

Next up, the start of the summer transfer window sees, our left flank gets sorted as we sign Joe Jacobson:

He may be past his prime, but his crossing and set piece delivery would be good at any level, and are insane for our level. He could be a massive difference maker, and is decent enough at everything else.

 

I also opted to flesh out our thin squad a bit with the signing of Ben Hedley:

For the time being I think we'll use him as a midfielder. However that isn't really an ideal fit for his profile. I think he'd actually be a much better fit as the rightmost centreback in a back three, given his decent spread of defensive and distribution stats. But he'll need time to retrain as a centreback.

 

Finally, I took a gamble on an intriguing-looking youngster called Patrice Makoun and got lucky:

He's immediately our best left-sided attacker: tall, strong, good in the air, and a decent finisher. A shame about his personality. He's not the ideal quality of player we want to be starting, but I'm happy enough to field him if we don't end up with good alternatives. I actually think he might score a bunch of goals this season because we have Jacobson and Eardley sending in crosses, corners, and free kicks.

[HighwayCathedral]

We've been up against it to bring in sufficient players ahead of our first game of the season, a Europa Conference League Path First Qualifying Round tie against Glentoran. The game is on the 6th of July, only 6 days after our pre-season started. So far I've only got 16 players, including 3 goalkeepers.

We bumped that up to 17 players with the signing of Burney alumni Joe McGlynn:

Signing McGlynn was largely guesswork on my part, but once again we've come up trumps. He's a lot better than I had hoped for, and indeed is immediately the best attacker at the club. A crying shame that we cannot register him for our match against Glentoran, but hopefully we should be able to use him for the return leg.

 

So we end up going into our crucial European two players light. And that's despite picking two goalkeepers for the subs' bench:

 I'm a bit unhappy with fielding Taylor in midfield, and Owens at left-centreback, as both are very lightweight. But we don't have much of a choice. Ideally, of all of the players fielded today, only Curran, Hedley, Jacobson, Eardley, and Adam would be starters. But we probably won't have enough funds completely assuage my misgivings.

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by HighwayCathedral

[HighwayCathedral]

Well that went well:

Glentoran seemed to have been instructed to go for the throat and throw crosses, bodies, and shots towards our goal. Thankfully nothing Glentoran did was of high quality, and Harrington, Holmes, and Owens were all more than happy to just keep batting balls away.

Glentoran did manage to get a few headers on target. But all of them were nodded right into the large hands of young goalkeeper Zak Adam:

Adam demonstrated ability beyond his years as he caught or batted away each effort with a minimum of fuss.

Meanwhile, for our very first attack Neal Eardley sent over a peach of a cross for Byron Harrison to nod home at the far post and open the scoring.

Glentoran's ineffectual attacking continued for a while before Patrice Makoun  decided to score on his career debut. With absolutely nothing on, Makoun turned inside his marker and smashed a low shot in from 24 yards. What a way to grab your first goal!

 

The next day, we got another big boost as muscular target man Tom Pope decided to join us:

It probably goes without saying that Pope should be deadly at this level; especially from set pieces, and especially since we have multiple dead-ball specialists.

 

That will probably tie up our striking department.

We could still do with a creative midfielder, a box-to-box midfielder, a left winger/wingback, a left-sided centreback, and a tall central centreback.

We're rapidly running out of salary allowance so I don't think we'll get all of those. But we'll do what we can.

I'd generally rather mend and make do for the time being than risk bringing in an average player. The British talent market is so strong that there's always an opportunity to nab a sensational player if you have the patience.

Edited January 18, 2022 by HighwayCathedral

[HighwayCathedral]

Our Chairman's decided to bring in a mate of hers as Director of Football. Fair enough.

 

And the first thing he did was find this fellow:

That's a pretty great find actually! We have been lack attacking midfielders, lacking left-footed central midfielders, and lacking creativity. Glynn Griggs brings all of those. You know what, fine work there Chris.

 

The second leg of our Europa Conference ties sees us go through after winning on penalties:

We were absolutely battered all match. Both of their goals were arguably Danny Holmes fault, but I can't really blame him for either. He was in the right place, and trying his hardest, but he was outmatched for both goals by a better player.

What he was fault for was bodychecking his opponent with his thigh right in front of goal. The opponent was probably about to be flagged for an offside run, and was unlikely to convert with Holmes so close to him, but our centreback wasn't taking any chances and knocked him over.

Thankfully Adam continued to shine, making a fine save from a decent penalty take.

We almost nicked the game right at the death as fringe man Sameron Dool ran clear, only to hit a poor effort right at the keeper.

Thankfully, we held on through extra time, despite going a man down, and Adam once again proved the difference as he saved Marshall's shot. McCartan never looked confident and his nervy shot hit the foot of the post before bouncing out.

That left John Disney to win it. He didn't hit the best penalty, but it was enough. Next up is Sturm Graz. The Austrian Bundesliga is no joke, so I fully expect our run to end there. But at least we're gauranteed to earn another £85,000 in prize money, plus gate receipts. That represents a very decent chunk of change for a club of our stature.

 

Further good news on the transfer front as Arsenal youngster Alex Kirk agrees to join us on a season-long loan:

He's already our best central defender, ahead of Danny Holmes. He is also only 19, whilst Holmes is 33. I think we'll be using him as our centremost defender, given his aerial prowess and lack of technical ability.

 

In terms of transfers, we are probably sorted for the season at goalkeeper, centreback, and striker.

We are a bit light at fullback beyond our starters, but we can make do for now.

However we are still very light in central midfield. I'd be happier if we could bring in at least one more body to play there. Ideally I'd like two. Thankfully, we have done well in terms of wages and still have about £100,000 p/a to play with. That's enough for 3-4 star players for a club of our stature, so perhaps I should be looking to splash out.

Edited January 19, 2022 by HighwayCathedral

[HighwayCathedral]

Well, it wasn't to be. Our Europa Conference journey is essentially over after Sturm Graz cruised to a 4-2 victory in Wales in the first leg of the tie:

We at least put up a fight, with Joe McGlynn in particular impressing. The young lad scored a brace to earn his first senior goals.

However when several of their players earn more than your entire staff and players combined, you know it's going to be a tough ask. Graz's star man Jacob Jantscher (a quality player in real life) actually earns double our wage budget.  He showed why do day, as he dominataed proceedings.

 

My only hope of the next leg is that we don't get absolutely battered. This will be a tough ask considering we will be away from home. Hopefully complacency will creep in for them, now that the tie is almost out of sight.

[HighwayCathedral]

In a move that both fills out our midfield and boosts our creativity, we have signed Darren Oldaker:

 

A similar move sees us sign James Waite:

A lot of Waite's attributes were unclear, so I think I've once again been lucky. Wait should provide excellent cover for our starters. Also, his Determination is wonderful.

 

The only position that is crying out for strengthening is our left-sided centreback slot. At the moment the only player who is suitable to play there is Kris Owens:

But whilst he's not a terrible player, he's a long way from an ideal starter. I'd be much happier for him to be cover for the left-hand side of our defence.

Edited January 20, 2022 by HighwayCathedral

[HighwayCathedral]

We were dreadfully poor for the return leg:

To be frank, I wasn't expecting us to get close to our opponents. They're at least two notches higher than us in footballing terms, and we'd had the additional handicap of having to bolt half of a new-squad onto an existing one without a pre-season to find ourselves.

But even with those low expectations, we undershot it quite dramatically. Things got off to a bad start when in the 6th minute captain Neal Eardley conceded his second stupid penalty in four matches. He clumsily dived into Yeboah; despite the striker not really having anywhere to go. Jantscher calmy dispatched it. 0-1.

Kirk conceded an unforgivable goal as a bread and butter direct pass found Yeboah, and the striker was free to shoot hard into the net despite Kirk man-marking him the whole time to make it 0-2.

Craig Curran somehow managed to get himself sent off for a second niggling tackle in a row so that we went into half-time a man light.

After half-time Kirk conceded virtually the same goal as earlier (but this time with Hierlander) to make it 0-3. What a pathetic performance from the Arsenal youngster, despite being instructed to play the game on what should be his best terms.

Jantscher then rubbed salt in the wounds with a wonderstrike from a free kick. He hit a soaring, curling shot from 25 yards out, with the ball curving into the top-right postage stamp beyond the despairing arms of Adam. 0-4.

Hedley made things worse in the 82nd minute by kicking the back of his opponent's legs, getting himself sent off, and leaving us with a solitary midfielder. Fortunately, Graz eased off after that, and we weren't punished any more.

In truth, the matchup told me very little about my side other than that we're not anywhere near the level of a professional upper-mid-table Austrian Bundesliga side. That much was already obvious. The opening match of our domestic season -away against Cefn Druids- will be much more instructive.

 

On the plus side, I wasn't aware of that another £400k would be bunged at jus for participating in the Europa Conference. That's a very welcome addition to our coffers to sit alongside the £170k we already earned. It means that our club can be considered financially secure.

Edited January 20, 2022 by HighwayCathedral

[HighwayCathedral]

So our team heading into the 2022-23 domestic season our squad looks like this:

 

Goalkeepers (2):

Spoiler

Our first-choice keeper. He's already decent for this level, and still very young. I can see him being with the club for a long time.

 

Cover for Adam. Not a bad keeper! I will always appreciate a goalie with good communication and distribution. I'll be happy to keep Calderbank-Park as a backup for as long as he's happy with that arrangement.

 

Centrebacks (5):

Spoiler

A rotation option. Judging by his traits, Holmes is evidently a fullback stuck in the body of a centreback. In theory he should be a robust enough defender, but in practice he's proved a bit flimsy in high pressure moments. Between this and his age I'm unlikely to renew his contract come the end of the season.

 

A rotation option. Harrington is not quite at the level I'd like from a first-team regular, but he's been reasonably impressive so far, and he seems to be improving at a steady clip. My only worry is that there's a chance that he might get left behind if we progress quickly enough as a club.

 

A first-teamer. On loan from Arsenal (signed by our Director of Football). He may not play the most attractive football, but he's slightly better than our other options, and is quite a lot younger. His contract expires this year. I doubt Arsenal will be interested in renewing his deal, but he probably would like a higher wage (£50,000+) than we could offer him.

 

A versatile backup. Disney is pretty much average for this level of football, which means he's a bit lightweight for us. I have no doubts we'll release him at the end of the season. In the meantime, he can provide us with decent defensive cover.

 

A first-teamer. Hedley isn't naturally a centreback, but I prefer my centrebacks to be ball-players as well as defensively sound and Hedley fits the bill. I can see him being with us for a while yet.

 

 

Wingbacks (5):

Spoiler

Our star man. Jacobson is too good for this level, given that he wouldn't look out of place in the Championship or SPL. He may no longer have any pace, but his delivery from wide and from set pieces will surely net him the better part of 20 assists at this level. I would expect him to chip in with a few goals too. I expect we'll re-sign him for next season.

 

Cover for Jacobson. Owens is pretty decent as far as covering options go. He's got pace and will to win, and has OK mental and technical attributes. If no-one better comes up, then I can see us renewing his deal.

 

A first-teamer. Eardley is pretty decent all-round, and is especially decent when it comes to the technical side of his game. He is showing signs of age-related decline, but I'm nevertheless confident that he'll be good enough to feature for us over the next two years. After that, I doubt he'll want to continue on as he already has an eye on retiring from playing.

 

Cover for Eardley. Rickard is a bit leightweight, and we don't play with wingers. However he's got some pace, and decent distribution, which means we're probably safe bringing him on late in the game when the opposition wingers and fullbacks are tiring.

 

A rotation option. On loan from Colchester (signed by the Director of Football). Akolbire is another good find from our DoF. He's got just about enough in the physical, tehcnical, and mental department, shows excellent commitment, and can play on both flanks. I can see this being a good year for him.

 

Central Midfielders (6):

Spoiler

A first-teamer. No-one else on the team offers Oldaker's creativity. He's not sensational, but his skillset is rare at this level, so I can see him sticking around for a year or two.

 

A rotation option. Griggs isn't quite good enough just yet to be gauranteed a starting berth, but for this level he is well ahead of the curve. I expect him to be featured a lot this season, especially because he's our only naturally left-footed midfielder. We're planning to keep him for a while yet.

 

A backup. Taylor is barely good enough for this level. I'll try to feature him as little as possible but he is still going to get some minutes because I only have 6 midfielders for 3 positions. We'll let him go as soon as his deal expires, or anyone shows any interest.

 

A rotation option. Waite is pretty decent at most things that don't involve physical confrontation, whilst not being especially exciting. I can see him sticking around for few years.

 

A rotation option. On loan from Wigan (signed by our Director of Football). Smith is pretty much exactly what you expect at this level. It's a bit of a shame that he doesn't have the passing to go with his vision, or the aggression to combine with his fitness. I think this will be a case of one-year-and-done.

 

A first-teamer. Curran is one of those weird players who isn't good at anything or bad at anything. As a consequence I've decided to convert him into a central mifielder. I think this will be his last year for us as by next season he is probably going to be physically past it.

 

Strikers (7):

Spoiler

A first-teamer. Pope may be a bit sluggish, and his reading of the game may only be so-so, but his aerial ability and will-to-win make him a huge asset at this level. I expect he'll hit a goal every other game. Who knows how good he'll look by next season, but it isn't out the question he'll stay with us for another year.

 

A first-teamer. Signing McGlynn is a bit of a coup for us because he's already a standout at this level with his movement and game intelligence. He's also clearly got room to grow in terms of his ability. Tactically, he's vital to us because we otherwise are lacking in the way of players who can make penetrating runs. I can see him being with us for a while yet.

 

A backup. Harrison is a decent striker for this level, as his nearly 1-in-3 career record will attest. However clearly he's over the hill, and he's also easily the weakest of our three 'big man'-style strikers. I imagine most of his minutes this season will be off the bench. I can't see us being interested in keeping him.

 

A backup. Makoun has some very promising qualities, but I'm a bit worried that his personality is going to get in the way of his development. I think we'll give him some minutes here and there, mostly off the bench. His long-term deal should mean he'll be with us for a while yet.

 

A rotation option. Odelusi isn't a fantastic player, but he is pretty quick, and that counts for a lot at this level. He will probably feature a lot this season, filling in for McGlynn when he gets tired, or coming on as an impact sub when the opposition defence is looking leggy. I can see him being with us for a couple of years.

 

A first-teamer. Hanson is very similar to Pope, and very similar in terms of skillset and abilities. Having both should hopefully be a scary prospect for opposition defenders. As for the future, we'll see where we are with him at the end of the season.

 

A backup. Dool has respectable pace, movement, and dribbling, and some nice traits. However he wants to play first team football and he's not good enough to do that with us, so hopefully he'll be moving on soon.

 

 

Edited January 21, 2022 by HighwayCathedral