[FM23] Out of Africa. (Spanish out of Morocco to be precise). We will start with Ceuta, but if things go badly I might end up at Melila.

[Jimbokav1971]

Out of Africa. 

 

A.D. Ceuta F.C. are a Spanish Team playing in the Primera División RFEF Grupo I (Tier 3) this season. What sets them apart from all the other teams at that level is that they aren't actually in Europe. 

They are based in Africa, on the North tip of the Moroccan coast, (just opposite Gibraltar), so whenever you hear Spain complaining about the UK owning Gibraltar, be reminded that they have at least 2 such territories on the African mainland, Cueta & Melilla, (the latter of which is further along the coast to the East)

 

I was hoping that Cueta would produce Newgens of African Nationalities, but in my FM22 save in Portugal, (where I had the Spanish structure loaded), they rarely seemed to produce Africans, (even of 2nd Nationality), but this might be down to the fact that they are only able to scout players at their own level in Spain.  

I'm not sure how realistic this strategy is, but my plan is to only sign players who are of African Nationality, (or 2nd Nationality). This might prove a problem, (especially in the early stages of the save), but I will also be allowing myself to use players who come through our Academy, (even if they don't have an African Nationality). 

You all know I like to challenge myself and as I'm making things easier by allowing myself to sign African players who have been produced by other clubs, I'm going to make things tougher by removing all attributes, or to be more accurate, making them invisible. 

Thanks to @_Ben_ who showed me how to do this by the way. (Actually, I'm not 100% sure that I'm going to do this now. I was keen at the end of FM22, but in the cold light of day with FM23 loaded and ready to go, now I'm not so sure). I think a smarter move is to maybe play the game as normal to start off with, (and get used to scouting and buying players again with the new system), and then go into the invisible attributes either later in the save or in a completely new save at some point. 

My main reason for doing this is because I'm interested to really see how the scouting system works because I understand that this is an area that has improved in recent issues of the game. Because I play Youth Only saves so regularly, I think I need to go back and properly delve into the scouting side of things and see how it's changed and what works and doesn't work. I will largely have to take the word of scouts in terms of making player signings, (and who we can sign will of course be very limited by only being able to sign Africans), but the upside of that is that we should be able to speculate a bit in terms of signing players who "might" be good, simply on the basis that they should be quite cheap and if it doesn't work out then it won't be a disaster. I'm hopeful that sooner or later we will unearth some gems. 

What might be a little more of a problem is training and working out which players are suited to what roles. Am I biting off a bit too much here? I think I might be. At the moment the decision is still up in the air. I definitely want to start with a Spanish club in Africa, (so that's Ceuta or Melilla who are in the 3rd and 4th tier respectively), but I don't know if the 4th tier is playable out of the box having never played in Spain. I think that with the self-imposed restrictions of only signing African players, I'm not sure that making the attribute levels invisible works with that because I want to test the scouting system and if I have nothing to judge it against then it will be literally the blind leading the blind. I think the answer is to play with attributes visible to start off with and then see how we get on. 

If I get sacked by Ceuta for any reason, I will 1st try and apply for the job at Melila, and failing that I will install a new manager at Melila and continue from there. 

My Belenenses save in FM22 was started with the Beta and continued all the way through with few if any problems. That's really impressive stability from the SI Towers boffins and I'm hoping for more of the same this time around. [Fingers crossed]

Edited October 20, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Game set-up. 

I've had a think about what Nations to load, (I usually just keep it to as few as possible), and the following is where I think the biggest chance of African newgens being generated is, (although I have limited to no experience with some of these Nations), and the only exception to this is South Africa, (the only playable African structure), for obvious reasons. 

[Edit]

Processing times should be fine as is, but as we progress, (if we progress), I will be able to deactivate the lower levels of all of these structures.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Badges & Experience. 

I know this is probably a bit risky, (but it's also fun right!)

.

[Jimbokav1971]

Welcome to Africa. 

I was expecting Melila to be fierce rivals. 

They think we're best suited to a 4231 with the players we've got at the moment, but I will persevere with the 442 I've been using on FM for what seems about 5 years now. 

They want me to sign U23's for the 1st Team, (and that won't be a problem). 

I'm also REQUIRED to work within the wage budget and although I haven't seen the finances yet, I don't plan on exceeding the budget if I can help it at all. 

Grow the clubs reputation seems basic but fine for this sort of save. Slow and steady is the key to start off with. 

Maximum 1 year contracts for players age 33+. I don't plan on signing anyone like that so it shouldn't mater. 

Continuing the "slow and steady" strategy, they want us to avoid relegation this season, with a view to making the playoffs in our 5th season.

The supporters think it's important that we don't get relegated, and although I haven't seen the players yet, that seems completely fair. 

Not completely sure what to make of this yet. I understand that it's dynamic, (but not very dynamic), and I'm not sure how much this impacts on surrounding areas. (If it doesn't then it's basically a gimmick). 

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm absolutely furious! 

We don't have a single African at the club. Not a single one. 

This is the Youth Intake view that I like to use and although we have 3 squads at the club, (Senior, B Team & U19's), this shows everyone. 

Initially I'm going to rank everyone by CA. 

Let's look at the best 3 players by CA, and see what they're like. 

Gonzalez (SUI) looks more like a wide player than a central striker to me, and I'm not sure I like the look of him at all, (but then again I haven't seen anyone else yet so let's not be too harsh). 

He's already a good player at this level and could develop to play higher. He doesn't like big matches though and I hope I don't have to rely on him. 

Liberto is much more to my liking and I will be astonished if he isn't my 1st choice ML. (I'm gutted that he's not a Libero with a name like that though). 

Adri Cuevas is a player I really like the look of. (I mean REALLY like the look of), but then I see his Det value.  He's a leading player at this level, (and then some I think). 

Initial reactions on just looking at the 3 best CA players at the club are that I like 2 of them, (although 1 of them is old), but so far so good). 

Now I'm going to rank everyone by PA. The 3 players who were at the top ranked by CA, are ranked 1st, 4th and 5th by PA, and the #2 ranked player is a loanee. This isn't a great start. 

Juan Gutiérrez is in on loan, and at this stage I don't know if he's here because we need him or for some other reason. 

Luismi looks better than decent, and I won't have any problems with him playing on the right flank. 

Alain García looks decent, but I'm not completely sure of what the standard is like at the moment. We seem to have some very good players but also some pretty bang average players too. 

All in all, not much to shout about in terms of PA. 

The registration rules seem to limit us to 24 players, but we possibly don't have to register youngsters. (I hope that's the case anyway).

[Jimbokav1971]

Delegate. 

I'm fine with delegating lots of stuff. I don't care about staff at the moment. There will be plenty of time for that later. 

Scouting. I want to be in charge of assigning scouts, but don't seem able to. Maybe I'm being stupid or doing something wrong.  Help if you know what's happening here please. 

I'm obviously going to be very hands on with regards to transfers, and unlike most of my saves I will actually be signing players, (if I can find some Africans). 

Media. No thanks. 

Training. This seems strange. I don't want to control the General Training for any squads, but I do want to control the Individual Training for ALL squads. For some reason I have to control U19 General Training and I'm unable to control B Team Individual Training.  Mayb..... Nope, got nothing. 

Tactics. The B Team is in a non-playable league at the moment so we don't have to worry about them. 

Match Day.

[Rikulec]

So you did go with Ceuta in the end, just like I guessed about a month ago. Good luck!

[Jimbokav1971]

3 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

So you did go with Ceuta in the end, just like I guessed about a month ago. Good luck!

Yeah, if it goes badly then I might have to try and salvage something at Melila, but the plan is to do it here. It's info overload at the moment. Struggling to work some things out and only just looking at the players in any great detail now to decide who will be playing where. Gonna have an early night I think, (surprisingly), so no games for me until tomorrow. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Julio Iglesias. 

When I was a kid, my Mum used to love listening to this Spanish crooner called Julio Iglesias, (the Father of Enrique Iglesias who you are more likely to have heard of), and his namesake is in contention for a spot in the middle of the pitch. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Initial problems. 

As I go through the squad and work out who is going to be in contention in what position, it strikes me that we have quite a few players who are the wrong side of 30, (older than 30), in the starting XI. 

We have no less than 11 players over 30 and 6 more who are 25 or older. This is an OLD squad. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Scouting. 

Now the fun begins. I've already mentioned that we have a really ageing squad, and I need some young blood to come in over and above the Youth Intake, (speaking of which I don't even know what our Facilities are like yet, (so let's look at that now). 

That's ,not good. 

I think it's going to be a while before we're banging out 1st Teamers from this Academy. 

So let's get back to the scouting. 

• We have a scouting budget of £80,500
• We don't have a transfer budget. 
• We're enormously under our wage budget. 

These 4 players are on this list because their Agents have approached us so let's have a look at them. 

Carlos Castro looks decent and I was all set to snap him up on a free, and then I remembered...... I can only sign Africans.   (He doesn't have an African 2nd Nationality). 

We already have info on some Africans. Some of them are without a club and the bottom 1 is a player I've heard of because he has 1 cap for (NED) and used to play for Everton. 

I've asked for some to come on trial so I can have a look at them and I've scouted others, but actually I see we have extensive knowledge on them already so I don't need to do that. 

Jú (GNB) is a player I really like the look of as a long-term prospect, but I look at the scouting report and there is a lot of ambiguity there in terms of his PA. If I keep scouting will that be more accurate? I don't think it will. Actually, I don't have any transfer finds anyway so I can't sign him. 

Tidjane Traoré (CIV) looks great again, but we can't pay a fee so I'm effectively window-shopping with no cash. 

Ali Abdul Rahman (GHA) certainly has some issues, but he's available on a free and seems to be just what we need. 

Nordine Ibouroi (COM)(FRA) is interesting in so much as he's both tiny and can't jump, but also is a really excellent header of the ball. What a strange mix. How could I exploit this if at all?

[SatournFan]

8 часов назад, Jimbokav1971 сказал:

Game set-up. 

I've had a think about what Nations to load, (I usually just keep it to as few as possible), and the following is where I think the biggest chance of African newgens being generated is, (although I have limited to no experience with some of these Nations), and the only exception to this is South Africa, (the only playable African structure), for obvious reasons. 

[Edit]

Processing times should be fine as is, but as we progress, (if we progress), I will be able to deactivate the lower levels of all of these structures.

Adding Scandinavian leagues later down the line could prove fruitful in this regard. Just clicking through the Danish Superliga club squads on Wikipedia I found there's quite a good amount of African players currently plying their trade there, same goes for Swedish Allsvenskan and Norwegian Eliteserien. FC Nordsjaelland famously has a partnership with the Ghanaian Right to Dream Academy, of course.

[ToMexico!!]

Good Luck @Jimbokav1971 we're steadily luring you to a full-African save...maybe by FM27 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

4 hours ago, SatournFan said:

Adding Scandinavian leagues later down the line could prove fruitful in this regard. Just clicking through the Danish Superliga club squads on Wikipedia I found there's quite a good amount of African players currently plying their trade there, same goes for Swedish Allsvenskan and Norwegian Eliteserien. FC Nordsjaelland famously has a partnership with the Ghanaian Right to Dream Academy, of course.

I considered that, but if I I have to add 1 I have to add them all and didn't want that many more leagues in from the start. If I reduce leagues as we progress, (to remain with just top tiers later on in each Nation), then I might add the Scandi Nations then. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, ToMexico!! said:

Good Luck @Jimbokav1971 we're steadily luring you to a full-African save...maybe by FM27 

The main thing stopping me from an a full-African save is the lack of other active structures out of the box. 

When deciding upon this save I decided that my next save will probably be an attempt to win everything in Asia. Every competition in every Nation. So many Countries there that I've not managed in. If they can be researched and in the game, why can't Africa?

[ToMexico!!]

13 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

The main thing stopping me from an a full-African save is the lack of other active structures out of the box. 

When deciding upon this save I decided that my next save will probably be an attempt to win everything in Asia. Every competition in every Nation. So many Countries there that I've not managed in. If they can be researched and in the game, why can't Africa?

This is sadly true, I've had a few conversations on here with other avid African save players regarding the lack of African nations from the off. I would certainly prefer the likes of Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon and Senegal over Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and India. 

[Jimbokav1971]

7 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

This is sadly true, I've had a few conversations on here with other avid African save players regarding the lack of African nations from the off. I would certainly prefer the likes of Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon and Senegal over Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and India. 

I might be wrong here, (and please correct me if I am), but I think ito money and how many copies of the game it instigates. While the population of Africa is approx 1.4B, the population of Asia is 4.7B but the bigger issue us that I would guess that significantly more people per capita play FM in Asia than in Africa, (but that's quite possible a completely incorrect assumption). 

Either way, because the game has become much more stable in recent years out of the box, continuing a save from a start with the Beta seems sensible, (when in the past you were effectively wasting your time because you knew you would have to start again). 

The sheer size and variety on offer in Africa makes it really appealing to me. I remember playing in South Africa for a single season, but that was ages ago. Well in need of a return. 

[ToMexico!!]

29 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I might be wrong here, (and please correct me if I am), but I think ito money and how many copies of the game it instigates. While the population of Africa is approx 1.4B, the population of Asia is 4.7B but the bigger issue us that I would guess that significantly more people per capita play FM in Asia than in Africa, (but that's quite possible a completely incorrect assumption). 

Either way, because the game has become much more stable in recent years out of the box, continuing a save from a start with the Beta seems sensible, (when in the past you were effectively wasting your time because you knew you would have to start again). 

The sheer size and variety on offer in Africa makes it really appealing to me. I remember playing in South Africa for a single season, but that was ages ago. Well in need of a return. 

Not sure how it works to be honest but I don't think you are far off from being right. 

Yeah, editions ago I wouldn't have bothered starting a big save until the full release but I'm more than happy to get going with a save and thread. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Initial scouting. 

There's a lot to pick through in this screen and I want to go slow so I don't miss anything. Apart from a little bit of scouting at the end of my Belenenses save I haven't done any proper scouting in ages, and I understand this area has had a revamp, so let's have a look. 

 I like this graphic. I don't think it was there previously, but if it was there it's certainly more prominent now. 

 When I was playing Youth Only and just wanted to keep an eye on our old players, there wasn't really a need for scouting range. Here I'm not so sure. The "Scouting Range" costs us £74,500 per season, but that doesn't include any scout reports. Our scouting budget is only £80,500 per season so effectively we only get to spend £6,000 on scouting this season. I'm not sure that makes good economic sense to me. The problem is, if I completely cancel the scouting range, (as I would have done in the past), I don't know how this impacts the existing knowledge we have. For example if we look at the main graphic above showing the Agent Offers and Free Agent Offers, you will see that on the right hand side it says that our knowledge of all 6 players is "extensive" and I think this takes over from the % scouted figure we used to see. My thinking, (at least ibn this early part of the save), is that I want to keep with the Scouting Range because it means I have less reason to scout anyone I want to look at, (because we already have "Extensive knowledge", but of course I'm going to test that. I would guess that while the info will remain extensive, it will also soon go out of date, (so still be extensive, but also be out of date). 

 Something else I'm not sure about it, what happens when we run out of scouting budget? Will I just not be able to scout? If I run out of scout budget after 10 months, when I can't pay the bill for the 11th month, do I automatically lose all the knowledge/reports that I have garnered over the course of the season? 

 We don't have a transfer budget, and that's absolutely fine, but we do have a wage budget of £61,650 per month and we're currently only spending..... Ahhhh. That's not our wage budget. That's our AVAILABLE wage budget. I quite like that. If that was there in previous issues of the game I never noticed. I've always worked it out manually. (£136,634 - £74,984 = £61,650). 

 I need to get this going so let's click on it now and see where it takes us. 

Ok, so we basically have to dial into the detail and tell our staff exactly what it is we're looking for. 

Having had a brief look at the squad I think we're decent out wide but lacking pretty much everywhere. The biggest issue of the squad isn't a particular position, (at least I don't think it is), but more the fact that so many of them are 30+ and this is the biggest priority to change. I want us to sign youngsters, even if they don't turn out to be very good, because sooner or later we will find one that is. A scattergun approach if you will. Ok, that doesn't work. I actually have to pick a position, but I can pick all positions, so that's ok, but it only highlights positions within my 442 tactic so I still don't think I will see players who are only WBL, WBR, DM AML, AMR and AMC. Ok, well I will just stick with my 442 for now I guess. I don't really want to restrict players to just those that fit into our 442 tactic. If we're signing young players then we will have time to mould them to our system and at this point who cares if they're an AML rather than a ML. We will have to come back and look at that at some point in the future though. I'm particularly thinking of WB's who I want to play FB, but who I might want to scout for because of they greater attacking ability.

[Edit] Actually, I have worked it out. The drop-down menu can be changed from the name of my tactic (442 High Press Bal), to any, and this activates all the positions not used in the 442 tactic.

Well I thought I had it worked out by maybe not. When I manually click on all positions it shows like this. 

But when I go back in to look at it, it's changed to this. So maybe there is a limit to the number of positions that can be searched or something. Is this a bug or by design do you think?  I'm not sure. What did it look like in FM22? 

The best I can do is this, but I'm concerned that it will only find me strikers who like to play on their own up top, or a centre back who liked to play free in a 3. That surely can't be right can it, but what's the point then? 

I also don't want to sign loans particularly at the moment. I'm signing youngsters, (hopefully), so the idea of clogging up the pathway to the 1st Team with players owned by other clubs seems counter-productive.

In terms of CA and PA I think that 2.0 should be the minimum for CA and I'm going to up it a little to 4.0 for PA. This might be a risk in that we might not see any, but we're playing in Spain and I think there should be loads, and the only real question is whether or not I can find some who are also African. 

Although I want to sign younger players, I'm not just talking about teenagers or even U21 players as I might do in the future, but just players who aren't the wrong side of 30. WIth that in mind I will stick the upper age limit at 25. Plenty of time for me to sell a 25 year old on for a profit. It's also going to significantly increase the number of returns I'm likely to get and could be the difference between signing Africans and signing nobody. 

We can only scout Spain, but rather than limiting the search to 1 competition I will just scout the whole Country. (Again, scattergun approach).  

In terms of priority, this will be my top priority, (because it will be my only priority until I work out where the holes in our squad are). 

This is what I'm left with, but I realise I've missed out "Further Details". 

I don't know what that is so let's have a look. 

I wonder if under Nationality I can set it to African and then another value for 2nd Nationality African? 

It will allow the 1st Nationality detail, but it won't allow 2nd Nationality which is obviously frustrating, but better than nothing. 

So our end "Top Priority Recruitment Focus" looks like this. Let's see how that gets on. 

 This doesn't look great, but then again we only have 1 scout. He doesn't seem to have any knowledge of anything though..... 

 There were about 6-8 scouting recommendations to start with so I went through them one by one and discarded everyone who didn't have an African Nationality/Second Nationality/ (By the way, from now on I'm going to just say Nationality rather than Nationality or 2nd Nationality because it's a pain. When I say Nationality I also mean or 2nd Nationality). 

Chentouf (ESP)(MAR) doesn't look great, but he appears to have good PA and he's African. That might be good enough for me. I've taken him on trial and will have a look at him before deciding. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Scouting continued. 

I found 42 players who were unattached, and who were of African Nationality and invited them all for a trial at the club. 

Unfortunately the board will only allow 30 players on trial at a time. 

This is what the squad looks like now, sorted by CA. (I want to look at CA 1st, because it will allow me to immediately discard the old players with low CA so that I can free up the space for some of the 12 that I haven't been able to bring in yet). 

Here is what the squad looks like now, sorted by PA. 

Little bit of Geography. 1st of all, Surinam is in South America rather than Africa, so I can immediately discard Royston Drenthe (NED)(SUR). Apologies for that. 

Looking at CA players from the bottom up, (and looking for older players because even if they have decent PA it will be too late to reach it), there are a few more who can be discarded. 

Baba (SEN)(ESP) is 34 and will immediately be discarded and removed from the shortlist. 

Keïta (SEN) is 30 years old and I was initially not keen to sign anyone of this sort of age, but he's rated at 3.5-4.0 CA so he might be decent. The problem is that although he's at the club now, I can't really see anything. I think this is different to how it worked previously. I'm hoping we will see more of him as his stay at the club progresses. 

Erimuya (NGA) looks interesting, but the variables involved are still quite big so again we will have to wait. The fact that he's got a full Cap for (NGA) though is a positive sign. 

I will progress a little while to see if I can see more about these trialists. 

[wearesporting]

Don't be too successful or your entire squad will be called up for the African Nations Cup 

[Jimbokav1971]

14 minutes ago, wearesporting said:

Don't be too successful or your entire squad will be called up for the African Nations Cup 

That's the plan. I already know it's going to be an enormous problem at some point in the future, but it just makes it more fun. 

[Jimbokav1971]

The scatter-gun approach. 

My plan was to really just to sign quite a few Africans in the hope that some of them would turn out to be decent and we would do well on the pitch and then sell them and basically take over the World. 

It isn't quite that simple in Spain though because of their league registration rules, (at least at this level). 

• We're limited to 24 players registered in the squad at any time. 
• 3 of them have to be GK's
• We're effectively limited to 21 outfield players. 

We have a B Team and an U19's Squad so this wouldn't usually be a problem, but our B Team play in a non-playable league and we only actually have 2 U19 players. We have loads of dead-wood hanging about and 21 outfield players is small for the way I like to run a club, (especially when you only have 2 U19's to call upon). 

The scatter-gun approach clearly isn't going to work at this level, (at least not signing players who are older than 19). 

I'm going to have a re-think, (about my strategy, not the save). 

The league above, (tier 2), allows a squad of 25 players. 
The league above that, (tier 1), allows a squad of 25 players. 

I hate Nations with registration rules like this. In Portugal I think I could have 78 or something. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Transfer confusion. 

I've brought in a few players already, (this will make it 4 I think), but I'm having problems completing the free transfer of Keïta (SEN). He's a free agent, but for some reason the game is telling me I need £2,400 in our transfer budget to complete the deal, but I can't work out why. 

He's a free agent and there doesn't seem to be a payment anywhere that amounts to £2,400. It's not the agent fee or a bonus or anything like that. 

I've adjusted the budget and forced the deal through, but is this a bug or am I missing something? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Planner. Aug 2022. 

Anyone who followed by Belenenses save will guess at how pleased I was when I saw the announcement of a Squad Planner, especially a planner that allows you to plan 5 years in advance, so let's have a look at it now and see if it stops me making all those posts. 

GK. We've got 2 experienced GK's who will play in the 1st Team this season, and although I can register a 3rd one it seems silly to sign either African GK when they aren't as good as the back-up (ESP) GK's we have, (so they will be released). The chances are I will just stick with 2 GK's anyway. It's not like they are going to go away on Int Duty. 

The 2 B Team GK's have also been stuck on the Development list and I hope the [whoever it is] can arrange a loan for them. I would rather they played in an active league than for the B Team in simulated matches. 

1st Team . Leandro 6'1" & Jesús Romero 6'1",.
B Team. Antonio Santos 6'1" & Lolo 6'0".
U19's.
Sell.
Loan. Antonio Santos 6'1" & Lolo 6'0".

The bit at the bottom is confusing me though. 

Oh hang on. If I have players from these areas on these areas then they show in a different colour. 

And if I click on [Add] I can add players from my shortlist so it looks like this.

Mapisa (ZIM)(ESP) & Bouba (GUI) are both better than the 2 B Team lads, so it's interesting to add them in there even if I'm not actually signing them, (although I might sign Mapisa (ZIM)(ESP) if I can. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Planner. Aug 2022. 

DL. Youmeni (CMR) isn't good enough so I have terminated his trial, but Errahaly (MAR) will be kept around for a bit. Télis (URU) 6'4" is a centre-half so I don't want him on this list at all. Simao (GNB)  is worth keeping an eye on but Adama (SEN)(ESP) appears to be more winger than a full back. I've also asked Guebba (ESP)(MAR) to come in on trial. 

1st Team. Josema
B Team. Álex Macías
U19's. 
Sell.
Loan. Álex Macías

It means that the above has turned into this after some work. The best thing about this is that you can remove players, (such as centre-backs who can "cover" the full back position in an emergency but who you really don'[t want to play there). 

I probably want to sign 1 more DL, but whether that's Errahaly (MAR), Guebba (ESP)(MAR) or someone else remains to be seen. 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Planner. Aug 2022. 

DC. The way the planner works seems a little strange when it comes to the DC, MC & SC positions, but especially the DC positions. I want to be able to look at partnerships and pick a 1st choice partnership on 1 page. I don't want to have to fiddle about with left centre-half selection and then go and do the same thing again with the right. I know that there is a difference between DLC and DRC, but I want to see it all on 1 page. 

1st Team.  Télis (URU) 6'4" & Erimuya (NGA). Lafarge (FRA)(MTQ) 6'1" & Juan Gutiérrez 6'1".
B Team.
U19's.
Sell. José Carrasco 6'2" (SELL), Nacho Holgado. (SELL) & Polaco (SELL).
Loan.

Also, Polaco (SELL) is at the bottom of the list but still listed as choice #1, despite Telis at the top also being listed as choice #1.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Planner. Aug 2022. 

MC. This is the strongest area of the squad in my opinion and we have a few really decent starting players. 

1st Team. Keïta (SEN) & Adri Cuevas. Julio Iglesias & David Castro. Amar (FRA)(ALG).
B Team. Adrián Moyano (SELL), & Polaco (SELL).
U19's. Amar (FRA)(ALG)
Sell. Adrián Moyano (SELL) & Polaco (SELL).
Loan. Amar (FRA)(ALG)

Edited October 21, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Koetzer]

5 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Unfortunately the board will only allow 30 players on trial at a time. 

Not sure if it works in FM23, but in all previous editions you could just move first 30 trialists to the reserves and invite new ones  

[Jimbokav1971]

11 minutes ago, Koetzer said:

Not sure if it works in FM23, but in all previous editions you could just move first 30 trialists to the reserves and invite new ones  

I think I actually prefer it this way. It makes me deal with those that are in before getting swamped with more. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Planner. Aug 2022. 

ML. There might only be 3 natural wide lefties, but the actual quality is decent and although some of the trialists are decent, I won't be signing anyone unless I can find a young teenager. I'm not sending Ismael to the B team because he's too good and even if he can't play on the left he will be a back-up player elsewhere. 

1st Team. Liberto,Ñito & Ismael.
B Team.
U19's.
Sell.
Loan.

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Planner. Aug 2022. 

MR. We have more bodies on the right flank than the left flank, but the same quality isn't there below Luismi, and as a result striker Gonzalez (SUI) will often feature on the right I think. 

1st Team. Luismi & Gonzalez (SUI).
B Team. Aisar Ahmed, Ismael Maruja (SELL) & José Prieto (SELL).
U19's. 
Sell. Ismael Maruja (SELL), José Prieto (SELL)
Loan. Tote, Aisar Ahmed, 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Planner. Aug 2022. 

SC. I think we're ok up front and for that reason I'm not looking to sign Dieng (SEN). The problem is though that I have no idea about the quality of football at this level in Spain and I also don't know if the fixtures will come thick and fast and if we will need much rotation. It's gonna be a pretty steep learning curve I think. 

1st Team. Pablo García & Pito Camacho. Bichi (NGA) & .David Alfonso
B Team. Iván Breñé, Dani Muñoz (SELL), José Prieto (SELL)
U19's.
Sell. Dani Muñoz (SELL), José Prieto (SELL)
Loan. Iván Breñé

[Jimbokav1971]

Overall Squad Depth. Aug 2022.

I'm been off-loading players because I just can't see them playing for us, but at the same time I'm looking beyond this season, (walking before I can run I know), and thinking about the registration rules and our depth. I'm concerned that at the end of this season, some of our better players will leave and we will really struggle to replace them. 

We only have 2 U19 players, (and both of them have been signed by me). They both have 4.5 PA and nothing else matters. (Not even one of them having Det of 2). 

We've got 14 players out in the B Team, and most of them I will be happy to see leave. 

If I ignore the trials we have currently still at the club, that leaves us with 23 players in the 1st Team, (and 1 of them is in the process of leaving). 

So with the squad registration rules meaning that we can only register 24 players, and 3 of them need to be GK's, then that's our squad right there, (with the space for 1 emergency signing during the season). I know that we can sign someone if someone gets a serious injury, (it's like 150+ days or something), but I want to keep 1 spot in Reserve for that special player I find, (I can dream). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Old bloke! 

I've actually heard of this bloke! 

I know he's old, but he's also damn good. If we can get half a season out of him then..... This is exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned keeping 1 slot free. (Well that didn't last long). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Pre-season. Aug 2022. 

Goal-scoring GK's. I forgot to set my GK as penalty taker and free-kick taker and I was only reminded when someone smashed in a free kick and I realised I had forgotten. 

Leandro took them in August and it went something like this. 

Cadiz B. Missed a penalty. 
Sevilla B. Scored a penalty. 
Los Barrios. Scored a penalty  & had a 2nd penalty nicked off him by someone on a hat-trick,  (so I fixed that for future). 
Talavera. He scored a goal from open play.  I have never seen it's like before. It's absolutely mental and I'm just gutted that the picture quality isn't better and that it wasn't in a competitive fixture. 

In other news, my right back thinks he's in Strictly Come Dancing or something. 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2022. 

Spanish Federation First Division A. Well this was rather unexpected. R.Madrid B had some astonishing players and I can't really explain the result. £17M £11M & £9M are the valuations of just 3 of their players on show. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 2 shots, 1 on target, 0 goals. 

Finances. 

Pablo García. After 4 goals on opening day I thought I had better introduce you. Usually I wouldn't even look at a player with Det of 5, but will he make me change my mind? 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Achievements so far. Sep 2022. 

I think achievements are broken. 

More people have had a player score a hat-trick than have given U23 player their league debut. 

I've signed a player who previously played for another Network player despite not ever playing a Network game? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2022. 

Spanish Federation First Division A. It's been a tough month with some tough fixtures. We've played teams placed 2nd, 1st, 7th, 4th and 3rd, so the results are possibly not as bad as they appear. We've scored against all but top of the table Alcorcón, and the games were all competitive. It seems strange to say it, but I'm quite pleased with this month. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 7 shots, 2 on target with 1 goal this month. 

Finances. 

Leandro 6'1". He's scored his 1st goal now so I thought I would show you our GK. 

[Sonic Youth]

Looks like you’ve got the bug already for this save 

[Sonic Youth]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Leandro 6'1". He's scored his 1st goal now so I thought I would show you our GK. 

Well travelled and he hasn’t left Spain? Not what I’d have thought that description would be for.

[Jimbokav1971]

Problems with Recruitment Focus. Oct 2022. 

Every single month I'm getting a nil return. I'm not even getting any near matches.

[Jimbokav1971]

57 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Looks like you’ve got the bug already for this save 

There are a few little bugs actually. Nothing hugely significant at this stage. We will see how it goes. 

[Jimbokav1971]

54 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Well travelled and he hasn’t left Spain? Not what I’d have thought that description would be for.

That's a good point. Maybe "Journeyman" and "Well travelled" have been confused. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2022. 

Spanish Federation First Division A. Really happy with this month. We might have drawn with Algeciras and then should have beaten Vigo B never mind about lost to them, but our run of poor results, (if not poor form), was ended with a thumping of Unionistas where we also missed a penalty and hit the woodwork at least twice. 

I'm obviously how perilous a save like this is in the early seasons, (and this season especially), but I think we're doing ok. We're 4 points clear of the drop and I think we're plenty good enough to beat the teams around us and we just need to start drawing against the bigger sides. We're also the 4th top goal-scorers in the league, (which is nice). 

Goal-scoring GK's. 4 shots, 3 on target and 1 goal. 

 

Finances.  This is going down pretty quickly. 

Liberto has scored 2 goals this month, (Pablo Garcia scored in all 5 games this month but you have already seen him), so I thought I would introduce him to you.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Motlhen]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Problems with Recruitment Focus. Oct 2022. 

Every single month I'm getting a nil return. I'm not even getting any near matches.

Hey mate, I got the same when I selected all positions. I think it acts as an inclusive filter, so you're actually asking your scouts to find someone who plays everywhere which is why theres no one and only maybe James Milner would ever appear in near matches.

When I chose instead to leave the position filter blank and tick the "Any position from tactic" box (top left) then I started to get recommendations come through.

[Jimbokav1971]

Scouting. Nov 2022. 

I commented recently that we keep getting nil returns on the Recruitment Focus, (any position, in Spain, of African Nationality, with 2.0 CA and 4.0 PA). 

Well after the last nil return message I went in and removed the "Further Details" that were the African Nationalities.

Then I get this. 

The Recruitment Focus still hasn't found anyone, (or any near misses), but they are suggesting relaxing the criteria a little, but seem to be more stringent on the age, but they already have 2 results in progress. 

They have kept with any position, (still kept to Spain because we can only scout in Spain), reduced the ages to 15-22, have increased the CA to 2.5, (I like it), and then reduced the PA to 3.5. 1 more thing they've done is they have added 1 Further Detail so let me see what that says...... 

A High statistical performance in..... and then it's either blank or invisible. 

I'm not completely sure what's going on here, (but I obviously like it), and these are the 2 player on which reports are in progress. 

They're both Africans, but I removed African Nationality from the criteria. Boy I'm confused. 

[Jimbokav1971]

34 minutes ago, Motlhen said:

Hey mate, I got the same when I selected all positions. I think it acts as an inclusive filter, so you're actually asking your scouts to find someone who plays everywhere which is why theres no one and only maybe James Milner would ever appear in near matches.

When I chose instead to leave the position filter blank and tick the "Any position from tactic" box (top left) then I started to get recommendations come through.

Thanks for that. That's not how it reads to me, but I will go back and have another check when I load up again. Thanks. 

[Thebaker]

I had the filter blank and the parameters as wide as possible but in 4 months my scouts found no-one in sweden. I think it may be bugged along with that Keita transfer you had which seems wrong.

Wait until you get promoted and then look at the registration rules where you have to pay players a certain wage to be able to register them if over 19.

Federation 2nd was the lowest level playable last year in spain so Melila should be playable.

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2022. 

Spanish Federation First Division A. A really good month where we played 12th, 19th, 8th and 17th. There is a real gap in class between the clubs at the top and those at the bottom so it's important that we do well against our fellow minnows. We've somehow scored the most goals in the league and sit just 1 place outside the Playoffs. I will honestly still be happy just to avoid relegation and stay in a job, (this is our 1st year at this level), but the problem is the finances, (we're already £360k in the red). I think I just have to accept that we will continue to haemorrhage money while we remain at this level. We're only spending £90k per week of a £136k budget, so there is still room for new players to come in, but because of the registration rules they either need to be a younger player replacing an older player, or a very young player who won't even be registered. These sorts of limited squad numbers are not something I usually enjoy, so weird as it sounds I'm enjoying the challenge of something different. It's making me think and plan, (things that I usually try to avoid if I can help it at all). 

Goal-scoring GK's. 2 shots, both on target resulting in 1 goal. 

 

Finances. 

Gonzalez (SUI). My backroom staff told me that he was the best striker at the club, but I saw Pablo García, (he of the 15 goals in 16 games), and knew that he was going to be my main man. We were however short on the right flank so I thought Gonzalez (SUI) could do a job there, (and he can). He started the season as 2nd choice but after some ropey performances by Luismi against strong opposition, Gonzalez (SUI) has come in and done well. He hasn't got many goals/assists to his name, but his all-round game has been good and he's played a part in our improved form. He was called up for the preliminary Swiss squad ahead of the World Cup, but still hasn't been capped and I expect him to miss out on the World Cup.

Oh, I didn't realise he had been at Man City.