[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]

2 hours ago, Thebaker said:

Didn't realise you could manage u20 sides. 

An U20 side in 1 nation is the same as an U21 side in another nation, (I think). They still play in the same competitions. 

For example we play in the African U20's Nations Cup, (I'm sure the words are the wrong way round and U20 should be before African bet heh). 

There an African U23's Nations Cup.

There's an African Nations Cup.

But there is nothing for U21's, (which I think is what you were expecting based on Europe's preference for U21's.

There is a World Cup and an U20 World Cup and I'm pretty sure that there is an U19's World Cup, but there isn't actually an U21's World Cup. 

If I look at England for example, this is what we get. 

They still have all these squads, but I'm not sure what competitions they play in. 

Senior Squad. We know all about that. 
U21 Squad. They play in U21 Euro Qualifiers & U21 EURO's Finals, but that's it other than Friendlies. 
U20 Squad. They play in an U20 Elite League, (never heard of it), and they play in an U20 World Cup. 

So the EURO's are at U21 level and the World Cup is at U20 level. 

U19 Squad. They play in U19 Euro Qualifiers & U19 EURO's FInals, but that's it other than friendlies. 
U18 squad. They play in U18 Euro Qualifiers & U18 EURO's FInals, but that's it other than friendlies. 

I think the reason that England don't have an U23's squad is because that's what's used for the Olympics, (I think I remember than from back in the day with my San Marino save). England would have to perform as Team GB, (as they did before), and that would be an U23 competition, (with a set number of over-age players). 

So it's basically just down to the federation that the Nation is affiliated to, and ENgland is weird because of the Team GB thing at the Olympics? 

Glad I've cleared that up for everyone. (it's as clear as mud). 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Thebaker said:

For knowledge by clicking on scouting/scouting knowledge/scout assign/world knowledge/ nations and then clicking on a country it will then tell you the source of that knowledge if staff or an affliate.

I did know that but had forgotten. Thanks. 

It would seem like we need to do much better. 

[Jimbokav1971]

(CIV) U20's. Nov 2034. 

Games played 2. 
Games won 2. 
Games won 100%. 
Games drawn.
Games lost. 
Goals for 5.
Goals against 0. 
Goal difference +5.

Competitive games played.
Competitive games won.
Competitive won %.
Competitive games drawn. 
Competitive games lost. 
Competitive goals for. 
Competitive goals against. 
Competitive goal difference. 

2 assists and a goal mean that the MOM went to Ouattara (CIV)(FRA) but that says more about the tactic than it does him, (I think). 

The player that caught my eye with some lovely touches is Guèhi (CIV) *.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2034. 

LaLiga. I rotated all 10 outfield players for the Barca game. It's good to give the fringe players a run just as much as it is to give the 1st Team a rest. 

Goal-scoring GK's. They're astonishing numbers, but Al-Obaidi (LBY) 6'3" has now scored 5 goals in 13 games this season from just 8 shots, (6 shots on target). 

 

 

 

Finances. 

[Rikulec]

You know everything is starting to come together nicely when your goalkeeper starts scoring like that.

[Jimbokav1971]

AFCON 2035. Dec 2034. 

I'm surprised to have so few players called up for this. 

We had 9 players called up for Senior International duty the last time

(EQG) (LBY) (ZIM) & (REU) didn't qualify for the tournament and many of our players are so young that they're not even playing Senior International football yet. 

Madidilani (RSA) seems to have missed out and his place has been taken by the uncapped Van Vuuren (RSA) 6'1". To be honest, they are both good players and the biggest difference is the PA of 5.0 to 4.0 and the fact that Madidilani (RSA) is more attacking than hard-working Van Vuuren (RSA) 6'1".The 2 of them together would be a hell of a force and may still be in the coming years. 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

12 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

You know everything is starting to come together nicely when your goalkeeper starts scoring like that.

Yeah, that was my thoughts too. It does seem to be a good indicator. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2034. 

LaLiga. It took 9 games of the season for Shezi (RSA) or Ndlovu (RSA) to score, but Shezi (RSA) seems to have found his scoring boots again in the league and Ndlovu (RSA) has found some form in the Cup. We're 5 points off the playoffs, but I still think it's possible especially with how few players have been called up for AFCON 2035.

Copa de Su Majestad el Rey.

Youth Intake preview. This seems really weird. It's a 5.0 intake, but there is only 1 A rating. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2035. 

LaLiga. Our league form isn't great this month, but it has to be balanced with our Cup form and the fact that in the Sevilla & Atletico league games I rotated and in the Celta Vigo & Huesda Cup games I went strong. This was largely down to home/away bias, but also due to how the games fell in the calendar. 

League Cadiz.
Cup Gijon Industrial, (not Sporting).
League Sevilla.
Cup Celta Vigo.
League Atletico.
Cup Huesca. 

Celta Vigo & Huesca are both in LaLiga and sit 3rd and 5th, (with Sevilla 4th), so they certainly weren't easy games, and the only way to approach this month was rotation and just decided that we were due a Cup run and it might be an easier route to Europe than the league at this stage of the save. 

Copa de Su Majestad el Rey. We've progressed to the Quarter Finals and if we avoid the Big 2 then anything is possible. I'm not positive, but I "think" that the lower ranked team always plays at home, but I don't know if this is related to reputation or real time league placing. It's probably league placing in real life so assume that until I find out otherwise. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 0 goals this month. 

Records.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Copa de Su Majestad el Rey Quarter Final draw. Feb 2035.

We've been drawn away, but I don't know if this is just showing like this because Sevilla are above us and Elche are below us, (top of LaLiga2), so whether we play home or away depends on who our opposition is, (I think). 

[Thebaker]

International football is mad with how players are selected, with much worse players often picked.

That is a very strange intake preview, not seen one like it before, usually there are a few B's and C's. The 2 AM's must be potentially something special to lift the intake past poor.

[Jimbokav1971]

Copa de Su Majestad el Rey Semi-Final draw. Feb 2035. 

Sevilla beat Elche, (as you would expect), and that should mean that we play at home in the Quarters, (which isn't shown here), and in fact if I check our fixture list it shows that we're away to Sevilla. 

So I was wrong. The lower ranked team doesn't play at home at all. Please ignore my earlier ramblings. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Thebaker said:

International football is mad with how players are selected, with much worse players often picked.

I suppose it depends what they want out of the 2 players in question. Although they are both central midfielders, they are very different players. Seems a strange decision to me though. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Thebaker said:

That is a very strange intake preview, not seen one like it before, usually there are a few B's and C's. The 2 AM's must be potentially something special to lift the intake past poor.

When it comes to the Youth Intake preview, I am of the belief that there is absolutely no resemblance to the intake itself, so I tend not to pay too much attention to it at all. #

Our intake could be great with 2 obvious wonderkids in attacking midfield positions. 

Equally it could be rubbish with little quality anywhere. 

Also wouldn't surprise me at all if our best position isn't attacking midfield at all. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Copa de Su Majestad el Rey Semi Final draw. (continued). Feb 2035. 

It's worth pointing out that if we can somehow squeeze past Sevilla, (which is a tough ask), then although we will be away, we will play Real Hispalis (4th) or Albacete (16th), so I really want Albacete to somehow turn Real Hispalis over and give us an easier potential route to the Final. Assuming either Barca or Real Madrid are in the Final from the other side of the draw, (and they will have already qualified for Europe via the league), this might just be our best opportunity to play in Europe next season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

AFCON 2035. 

(SEN) made it the 3rd different winner in the 7 competitions so far in this save after (CIV) started strongly with 3 wins on the bounce. (NGA) have finished Runners Up (twice) and 3rd (three times). (CMR) have also won it twice and then finished up as 3rd in an attempt to retain it for a 2nd time. I'm personally surprised that we haven't seen more of (RSA) and (ALG), and from a local point of view it would be good to get (MAR) improving. 

[Thebaker]

How did The Gambia manage to win it   they are real minnows, even Eq Guinea has more pedigree. Only qualified for the first time at the last AFCON irl and never for the world cup.

[_Ben_]

4 hours ago, Thebaker said:

How did The Gambia manage to win it   they are real minnows, even Eq Guinea has more pedigree. Only qualified for the first time at the last AFCON irl and never for the world cup.

My guess is that Nicolas Jackson had something to do with it! He'd be 31 at the time of that.

Still reading and enjoying your methods Jim! Keep it up.

[Thebaker]

8 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

My guess is that Nicolas Jackson had something to do with it! He'd be 31 at the time of that.

 

I had never heard of him and looked him up - he's been capped by Senegal now!

[Jimbokav1971]

4 hours ago, Thebaker said:

How did The Gambia manage to win it   they are real minnows, even Eq Guinea has more pedigree. Only qualified for the first time at the last AFCON irl and never for the world cup.

Luck I think is the most appropriate word. 

They were in a Group with Morocco, Algeria & Guinea-Bissau, and only managed to beat Morocco, but still progressed to the knockout stage. 

They then trounced Angola, beat both Burkina Faso & Tunisia on pens, and then beat Egypt in the Final. Only 2 of their squad are even on my radar. 

They're ranked 47th in the World but have been on an rising trajectory all the way. 

They reached the Quarter Finals this year and qualified for the 2034 World Cup Finals, (where they didn't get out of a group with S.Korea & France. They haven't got any real stars and seem like quite a balanced squad. 

Nicolas Jackson is the striker who has scored the bulk of their goals, but again, he's really not great and hasn't had a great club career with only 86 goals from 327 league appearances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

22 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

My guess is that Nicolas Jackson had something to do with it! He'd be 31 at the time of that.

Still reading and enjoying your methods Jim! Keep it up.

I hadn't seen your post when I went searching for info on the Gambian success. I've literally just posted a picture of his profile. (I have never heard of him). 

Methods? I just press continue a lot. 

[Jimbokav1971]

13 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

I had never heard of him and looked him up - he's been capped by Senegal now!

I hadn't heard of him either. If he doesn't play in the National League or the Premier League then I'm clueless. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan Transfer window. Jan 2035. 

Transfers In. 

Okafor (ESP)(NGA) was meant to be the next striker on the production line, but his PA dropped from 5.0 on his scout report to 4.0 on his coach report and he doesn't look as good as I had hoped. 

Limbombe (BEL)(COD) however did retain his 5.0 PA after arriving, and if I can just boost his pacce & acceleration a little he could develop into the real deal. 

Coulibaly (MLI)(ESP) * was never 5.0 in the 1st place, but I was getting a little desperate for a left back in the knowledge that Nyamsi (FRA)(CMR) is only hear until the end of next season so I really need to sell him at some point this season. (In actual fact I did a deal to sell him as soon as the window closed). I really don't like that Natural Fitness rating though. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2035. 

LaLiga. A great month in the league fires us up into the playoff positions. All 4 wins were by a single goal margin, but we just kept going and going and especially so in the Las Palmas game where we were 2 goals down after half an hour. There's a lot of football still to be played, but we're right bang in the mix. 

We beat Barca, (with an almost completely rotated squad).   

I'm really not 100% sure what to make of this result. To start off I rotated almost all outfield players because I assumed that we had next to no chance of winning. This was our lineup. 

GK. Al-Obaidi (LBY) 6'3" is our 1st choice GK and is never rotated. 
DR. Eze (ENG)(NGA) is the 2nd choice DR and he was replaced by 17 year old Academy product (33f) Tejera * on 69 mins.
DRC. Gherbi (FRA)(ALG) 6'3" is the 2nd choice DRC and he was replaced by 1st choice DRC Nyakossi (SUI)(TOG) 6'4" with 10 mins to go. 
DLC. Gumede (RSA) 6'3" is the 2nd choice DLC. 
DL. Lakhdar (MAR)(ESP) is the 2nd choice DL. 
MC. (30a) Álex isn't our best BWM, but he has been 1st choice this season because I want to play him. 
MRC. Van Vuuren (RSA) 6'1" had only started 3 league games for us before today. 
MLC. Madidilani (RSA) is usually the 1st choice CM(a), but he played DLP(s) today. 
SRC.  Mokoena (RSA) is 2nd choice SRC.
SC. Ndlovu (RSA) is 2nd choice AF. 
SLC. Lebese (RSA) is 2nd choice SLC. 

So we only played 2 regular starters in this game. 1 played out of position and the other only usually plays because I'm trying to kickstart his development. 

Maybe I should so this every week. 

While this is a significant milestone in itself, (beating Barca with a team like this and the restrictions I have placed upon it), it also shows that we're obviously developing really well as a club. We already know that there is now depth at GK, (at least in terms of PA), and now it would seem that we have some depth throughout the squad. Realy really really happy with this surprise victory. 

Copa de Su Majestad el Rey. It turns out we didn't need to worry about whether we would be home or away in the Semi-Final. 

Yes, that is indeed our old friend (27a) Crespo * scoring a brace against us, (and the other 2 goals were a pen and a direct free-kick). I can't complain though. They were very worthy winners. 

(27a) Crespo * is currently 2nd top goal-scorer in LaLiga, (with 15 goals), but he's 5 goals behind 1st, (who's scoring at a goal a game at the moment). (27a) Crespo * has also scored 6 goals in the Copa del Rey and another 2 in the Champions League, so he's on 23 goals by early Feb, so he's doing ok. He's also picked up a Senior Cap for Spain. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 

 

FInances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

(CIV) U20's. Mar 2035. 

Games played 3. 
Games won 3. 
Games won 100%. 
Games drawn.
Games lost. 
Goals for 9.
Goals against 3. 
Goal difference +6.

Competitive games played.
Competitive games won.
Competitive won %.
Competitive games drawn. 
Competitive games lost. 
Competitive goals for. 
Competitive goals against. 
Competitive goal difference. 

We were really dominant and it would have been a travesty had we not won this. 

4 goals from Sangaré (CIV)(FRA) more than warrants an introduction. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2035. 

La Liga. We had 10 outfield players unavailable because of either injury, suspension or International duty, so it was no wonder that wes struggled towards the end of the month. The top 2, (and Celta Vigo), are away in the distance, but Real Hispalis, Sevilla and Huesca are all within touching distance. 

Goal-scoring GK's. We've now scored 23 (THIRTY TWO) consecutive penalties, (taken by 4 different GK's), but I've never gone so long without a failure before. 

 

 

 

 

Finances. 

Edited January 4, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[RoguPL]

CL spot up for grabs  2 points off 

[Jimbokav1971]

7 hours ago, RoguPL said:

CL spot up for grabs  2 points off 

Every time I think we're going to do it we go and blow it. Last month we weren;t great, (7 points from a possible 18), but when those around you don't match that then it's still progress. 

Sevilla 5 from a possible 15.
Heusca 2 from a possible 15.
Us 7 from a possible 18.
Atletico 8 from a possible 12.
Bilbao 7 from a possible 15. 
Espanyol 12 from a possible 15.
Valencia 7 from a possible 15. 

The top 3 I'm not even looking at.

[Sonic Youth]

So much has happened since last season!

Definitely a stronger team than last season. No GKer drama to mess up the first half of the season. A battle for European qualification looks more likely this season 

Didn’t see Liverpool selling Crespo for so cheap. Of course he’s the one to knock you out of later stages of the Copa del Ray.

U20 CIV international team? Was expecting a full international team! Curious to see where this goes. Another intriguing wrinkle. Good start.

Transfers. Some good, some now have left. I think you’ve got a big one coming  during this coming off/pre-season.

Looking forward to seeing how the season ends.

[Jimbokav1971]

24 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

So much has happened since last season!

Definitely a stronger team than last season. No GKer drama to mess up the first half of the season. A battle for European qualification looks more likely this season 

Didn’t see Liverpool selling Crespo for so cheap. Of course he’s the one to knock you out of later stages of the Copa del Ray.

U20 CIV international team? Was expecting a full international team! Curious to see where this goes. Another intriguing wrinkle. Good start.

Transfers. Some good, some now have left. I think you’ve got a big one coming  during this coming off/pre-season.

Looking forward to seeing how the season ends.

We are stronger. I made a clear conscious decision to hold off on signing expensive senior players on the basis that because of the min fee release clauses in Spain, anyone can be poached at a moments notice, (losing Fernando really hurt us), so I need to have depth in all positions on the basis that wherever I'm short is probably where we will be poached. 

Selling Crespo for just £1.5M (I think), was tough, but to then see Liverpool sell him, and sell him to another LaLiga team who aren't one of the Big 2 was particularly galling. Of course he's going to score against us at every opportunity.  I expect another transfer shortly, possibly to England. 

I took the U20's because I wanted to easy myself into it. There were 3x African U20 teams available. I applied for all 3 and (CIV) were the only one's who offered me the job, so here I am. 

Yeah, we haven't hit the motherload yet in terms of player sales. 

This is our record sales over the years. You can see I've been trying to keep a lid on it. The £21.5M investment last season was aimed at strengthening our weakest areas, but we actually sold players for £21M that season, so there's no actual external money being invested. It's all cash that we generated ourselves. 

This is the money we have paid out. The one that jumps out here isn't Fernando (£20m) or Crespo (£1.5M), but Bermudez £5M. (I had forgotten about him).

Our intakes haven't been great in recent seasons, but it's worth remembering some of the quality that we've already produced. Bermudez needs to go and play regularly. 

I will be gutted if we miss out on Europe this season, but I'm also quite pleased that we've reached the level where that's a possibility and we're no longer being driven, (or dragged), by a single player who we will inevitably lose shortly. It's real sustainable progress even if many of my signings have turned out to be.... under-whelming. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Facilities. Apr 2035. 

We went on a bit of a good run in terms of updating facilities, but it seemed to dry up under the old El Presidente and he just kept on saying no to everything. We have a new El Presidente now so let's have a look and see what we can get him to agree to. 

This should max out the Training Facilities as well as the Junior Coaching, but it's the Youth Recruitment that I want improved and I just can't seem to get it done. I've never struggled with this so much in FM ever. I really thought the new board might be the key to unlocking it. 

By playing so many youth players I was hoping that it would become part of the club vision, but nothing so far. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Apr 2035. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this intake. 1st of all we got a really weird intake preview that showed excellent 5.0 stars but only had 2 single section rated as an A and then nothing until D's.  Anyway, I don't think the preview means much of anything at all at the moment so let's not worry too much about that right now. We haven't had great intakes recently, although have certainly generated some really good players earlier in the save, (especially GK's), but I'm not how much of an impact having a non-Spanish speaker with no knowledge of Spain as our HoYD will have. In any case, I expect him to be poached by an English club before too long. In actual fact he does speak fluent Spanish, but I'm not sure if he has learned this after joining or if he already spoke Spanish, (a possibility despite him never playing outside England). Going off on a language tangent, I always thought that Krio was Creole spelt differently. It appears I was wrong and thinking about it, it's a completely different part of the World.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that we're not producing great talents every intake. The bigger surprise should be the number of high PA players we've already produced, but i suppose you produce 1 and then 2 and so on and you just get greedy. 

(23a) Kodermac (SVN) MR *
(23b) Escalona (VEN) *
(27a) Crespo *
(28c) Bermúdez 5'10"
(29a) Gil
(30a) Álex (the jury is still out on him). 
(31a) Fernando
(33d) Pascual (ESP)(BAS) 6'4"

More recently it's hard to tell who's decent and who's not, (but they don't look amazing). 

Preview. 

Summary. 

Squad by PA. 

Best player. 

HoYD.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Thebaker]

19 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I hadn't heard of him either. If he doesn't play in the National League or the Premier League then I'm clueless. 

Only a day later and i'm seeing rumours of him joining my club IRL

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2035.

LaLiga. Under normal circumstances this would have been a really good month, (in fact under any circumstances this is a really good month), but we still dropped 1 place in the league after Atletico went and won all 4 of their LaLiga games this month, as well as progressing past Ajax in the Europa Conference Semi-Final and will play Young Boys in the Final where they will surely be overwhelming favourites. They are being led by recent signing Moukoko (GER)(CMR) who is now 30 years old and astonishingly has been used as a sub all the way through his career. 

Moukoko (GER)(CMR) has been managed appallingly by the AI. 1st at Dortmund and then at Napoli, (which is who Parthenope are and I have no idea why it's like that in the game other than an obvious licensing issue). I was sure I used a real name fix at the start.... 

I've put the info in a spoiler because I know not everyone wants to see stuff like this, and I also mention other real players who are at Atletico now.

Spoiler

At 1st glance it appears that he's not been very good, with just 77 goals from 300 appearances, and if we add in all games it's from 112 from 403 appearances but that also doesn't tell the full story because it's actually 112 goals from 189(214) appearances which is a LOT different. He got off to a slow start for Atletico, but scored 6 goals for them in April. It's interesting to see that Emile Smith-Rowe, Fati, Upamecano & Gnonto are also at Atletico and their wage bill must be astronomical. 

Their top 2 earners get paid a combined £2.378M per month. 
Our current wage budget for the whole club is £2,319M per month. 

Vincent Kompany was managing them but was sacked and an Dutch guy took over and after 4 wins and 1 draw from his 1st 5 games seems to have improved them. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Thebaker said:

Only a day later and i'm seeing rumours of him joining my club IRL

I hadn't noticed that irl he now represents Senegal rather than The Gambia. 

Southampton would seem to be a good fit for him to do well and then move on to a bigger club. 
Everton is where good players go to die isn't it? 

[Thebaker]

Good season so far, A Madrid european efforts won't affect the euro spots on offer but you can only hope they drop points in the league due to fixture congestion. Vigo are also in reach - is H2H a decider or GD

[Rikulec]

Do you think you could bring Bermudez back?

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, Thebaker said:

Good season so far, A Madrid european efforts won't affect the euro spots on offer but you can only hope they drop points in the league due to fixture congestion. Vigo are also in reach - is H2H a decider or GD

We need just 1 point from our last 2 games against Cadiz (19th) and Sevilla (4th), so we certainly have a chance. 

H2H is the 1st decider in Spain.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Rikulec said:

Do you think you could bring Bermudez back?

I've considered it, but when I looked at him his wages were astronomical, (£262,000 per month at PSG right now), but I think the reason he's staying is because Donnarumma is 36 years old now and I guess he's waiting for him to retire. 

In contrast, our top earner is on only £150,000 per month and we only have 4 others at £100,000+ per month, so that sort of wage just isn't realistic for us. The other impact on that is because we're running with a big squad so I can have cover/depth when someone's min fee release clause is met, it means that our wage spend is higher than it might otherwise be, (and we're actually slightly over our wage budget right now), and financially seems have just started to get a little tight for the 1st time in a few years. 

We've spent a lot on facilities and quite a bit on players and then there's the bank loan. With everything going out and no much coming in in terms of player sales recently, we're down to under £10M in the bank, (which is a little concerning). My usual ploy is to make sure we have loads of money in the bank so El Presidente doesn't feel the need to get involved in transfer offers. 

[Sonic Youth]

That’s some mismanagement of Moukoko. Ending up at Brescia is also odd, almost like you’ve another player-manager in the game 

Forgot to mention that Curtis Davis used to be one of the best fullbacks to sign around cm99 to cm 01/02 

He’s got great stats for a HoYD.

[Jimbokav1971]

I had Moukoko in that Barca save I did where I had to repay £2.4B in 4 years, (or something stupid like that). He was brilliant. Seeing him be a sub for all his career is just sad. 

I remember Curtis Davis as a centre-half. Not so much a full back. As for CM01/02 I don't think I ever got up to the levels he was playing in.  He does look good as a HoYD though and I fully expect a big English club to come calling for him soon. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Manager Timeline. May 2035.

I really like this feature, even if it's pretty buggy. 

What I learned most by looking through this was that perhaps I haven't done as well in the transfer market as I thought I had. I may have to go back and do some sort of summary at some point. I don't think it will make for good reading. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2035. 

LaLiga. Well chuffed to report that we qualified for Europe with a game to spare and better than that we're in the Europa League rather than the Europa Conference. 

Goal-scoring GK's. It was great to see Al-Obaidi (LBY) 6'3" hit double-figure goals for us in his 1st full season. I know this is ridiculous, but we have now scored from 33 consecutive penalties, (using 4 different GK's).

 

 

Finances. 

[Sonic Youth]

Congrats on qualifying for Europa League 

Good thing you did it with a game to spare considering Sevilla’s form.

[Sonic Youth]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Manager Timeline. May 2035.

I really like this feature, even if it's pretty buggy. 

What I learned most by looking through this was that perhaps I haven't done as well in the transfer market as I thought I had. I may have to go back and do some sort of summary at some point. I don't think it will make for good reading. 

Funny that youth intake signings are considered free signings instead of through the youth system of the club.

Edited January 6, 2023 by Sonic Youth
-ings

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Congrats on qualifying for Europa League 

Good thing you did it with a game to spare considering Sevilla’s form.

It was a close run thing because we only got the draw against Cadiz with this after being 1-0 down. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Funny that youth intake signings are considered free signings instead of through the youth system of the club.

Yeah, there;s lots of little things not quite right. 

There are some events who's descriptions have words missing, others that appear twice, some that don't seem to make sense and others which are shown at the wrong time. 

I really need to make a list and report it. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Scouting. May 2035. 

I don't understand how exactly, but we've managed to somehow spend £456,000 more on scouting than our wage budget allows. 

I could transfer money across from the Transfer Budget, but our overall financial position is starting to worry me just a little bit, so to lose £456k of transfer budget on a scouting budget that is about to be reset anyway seems like a waste of money. 

We've got £21M in the bank, but that's only because....... actually I have no idea how we have £21M in the bank. We've had about £8M for the last few months and now we have £21M. That doesn't compute but it's all I've got. 

Ahhhhh..... We haven't got £21M in the bank. We've got a transfer budget of £21M.

We have  in the bank. See! I told you we had £8M in the bank! 

That doesn't tell the full story though. 

We've already arranged some transfers. 

Transfers In. We've already agreed to spend £9,025,000 on 3 teenagers and have a 4th player arriving on a free. 

Transfers Out. We are least bringing in £10M from the sale of Nyamsi (FRA)(CMR) who had 1 year left in his contract and wasn't interested in re-signing. 

These are the players who's contracts expire this Summer. Only 3 of them have min fee release clauses because the others are all on Youth contracts. 

These are the players who's contracts expire in 12 months. That's a lot of players, (38 players to be exact), but 10 of them have +1/2/3 options and I'm going to trigger them all now so that's us down to 28. 

Actually, I haven't triggered the option on all 10 players. 

(33g) Santamaría. is not being triggered because I want to sell/release him.
(33d) Pascual (ESP)(BAS) 6'4" & (33b) Marcos * both have +3 options, but I'm unable to trigger either of them yet

So with 7 options triggered, 2 players who will be triggered in the future and 1 player who will be sold/released we're down to 28 players.
There are 15 players on youth contracts, (with no min fee release clause), and they will leave upon expiry of their contract, so we're now down to 13 players.

Now I have to work out what I'm doing with the remaining players on the list. 

Nyakossi. (SUI)(TOG) 6'4" sell
Traoré. (BFA)(FRA) sell.
Mokoena. (RSA) sell
Moloko (RSA) 6'4" won't sign a new contract so I have to sell him even though I don't want to. sell
Chimwemwe. (ZIM)(RSA) sell
Vilakazi (RSA) * new contract. 
Dlamini. (RSA) sell
Lebese. (RSA) sell
(32c) Lazić. (ESP)(SRB) sell
(32b) Intxaurraga (FRA)(BAS) new contract.

[Sonic Youth]

That’s sorting out a lot of contacts. Will you still have a bunch of youth players after this?

[Jimbokav1971]

(CIV) U20's. French Youth Invitational. Jun 2035. 

I'm really happy with that as a set of performances. We kept a clean sheet against France and topped thr Group, lost the Semi on penalties and then kept Spain scoreless for 90 mins before conceding 4 goals in ET. We may have lost both the Semi & the 3rd/4th Playoff, but I'm actually really happy with that. 

I had a crash at this stage before I saved. I already know that streaming from the laptop to my TV causes FM to crash so I know not to do it, but was watching the Barnet game yesterday and forgot for a split second and it was too late. 

I'm going to replay it again and show you the results, but as far as I'm concerned, the 1st set of the results are the important ones. (and I say that without yet having replayed the games). 

Things didn't go quite as well 2nd time around. We had 2 players shown straight reds in the opening 30 mins against France, so not only did we get a hiding in that game, but we had 2 players suspended for the Croatia game and everyone who was available was shattered.  

I'm going to include the 1st set of results for my stats, but in any case I class them as friendlies even though it's a competition. It's still a friendly competition. 

Games played 7. 
Games won 5. 
Games won 71%. 
Games drawn 1.
Games lost 2. 
Goals for 15.
Goals against 10. 
Goal difference +5.

Competitive games played.
Competitive games won.
Competitive won %.
Competitive games drawn. 
Competitive games lost. 
Competitive goals for. 
Competitive goals against. 
Competitive goal difference