[FM 23]Manchester Is Red - The Quest To Surpass Our Noisy Neighbours

[karanhsingh]

15 hours ago, Swaban said:

Thanks mate, I'm not sure which one im more proud of!

I was just gonna say the same 

Congratulations man - brilliant season! And I hope Garnacho turns this good IRL too

[mtb]

Really enjoying following along so far. How are you approaching offloading players, are you actively trying to sell players through offer to clubs or transfer listing, or are these just offers that happened to come in?

Edited May 30, 2023 by mtb

[Hootieleece]

5 hours ago, mtb said:

How are you approaching offloading players, are you actively trying to sell players through offer to clubs or transfer listing, or are these just offers that happened to come in?

Echoing mtb: I always have a hard time offloading players I don't want and keeping players I want due to AI transfers.

[Swaban]

6 hours ago, mtb said:

Really enjoying following along so far. How are you approaching offloading players, are you actively trying to sell players through offer to clubs or transfer listing, or are these just offers that happened to come in?

 

43 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

Echoing mtb: I always have a hard time offloading players I don't want and keeping players I want due to AI transfers.

It has been a combination of the two. Players that you'd consider to be "deadwood" e.g. Telles, Dean Henderson, Maguire, Brandon Williams etc were transfer listed & offered out to clubs, in some cases (Maguire) repeatedly until an offer came in. 

We have however received a decent few bids and enquiries from other teams unprompted e.g. Elanga, Van De Beek, Sanchez, Hansen-Aaroen which generally speaking I negotiated up slightly (unless it was a non-negotiable bid)  whilst ensuring we don't put them off by asking for to much

Thankfully, because we've been playing well it has meant that a lot of my players have been "wanted" meaning that they're relatively easy to get rid of once we offer them out to clubs. I have kept track of which player is wanted by other clubs & in situations where I felt that we can improve upon them, even if they're performing well (e.g. Martial) I have taken advantage of the interest and offered them out to other clubs.

I have upset players by offering them out, however they're either not playing in which case im not too worried about it, or if they are playing I've apologised &   we've performed well which has boosted their morale

[Swaban]

August 2024

The first game of the season see's us beat Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley (a feat im hoping we can pull off irl tomorrow), before going on an unbeaten run in our first 5 Premier League matches, picking up 13 from a possible 15 points.

 
 

Despite a great start, we find ourselves behind Manchester City in the table, who have had a perfect start to the season.

[Hootieleece]

You still have time to put the "Plastics" back in their place.

[Swaban]

September / October 2024

Another incredible couple of month see's us win 10 of our 11 games, including wins against Manchester City, Bayern Munich & Liverpool. As a result, we find ourselves sat top of the league, 1 point ahead of Chelsea & 2 points ahead of Manchester City as well as being top of the new look Champions League group stage, ahead of Napoli & Benfica on goal difference.

 

Tactics

Having read a couple of interesting articles recently regarding Pep Guardiola  & his tactical style, I have recently began trying to emulate this with the below tactic. The 4 2 3 1 is still very much my primary tactic as it fits my players far better having used the market to source players for those specific roles, however the 3 2 4 1 is having good results when used. It is unlikely that I will commit to using this as my primary tactic as I would have to look at moving on my fullbacks, as I have no place for them in this tactic unless I converted them to Wide Centre Backs.

[Hootieleece]

Fullbacks can make very good WCB's. I often find tall Fullbacks with heading skills playing BPD in the Championship with Preston and a WCB isn't much of a stretch from that role. 

You just need to train them for the role and plan on having at least a Full Preseason before implementing it full-time.

[karanhsingh]

On 03/06/2023 at 11:00, Swaban said:

September / October 2024

Another incredible couple of month see's us win 10 of our 11 games, including wins against Manchester City, Bayern Munich & Liverpool. As a result, we find ourselves sat top of the league, 1 point ahead of Chelsea & 2 points ahead of Manchester City as well as being top of the new look Champions League group stage, ahead of Napoli & Benfica on goal difference.

 

Tactics

Having read a couple of interesting articles recently regarding Pep Guardiola  & his tactical style, I have recently began trying to emulate this with the below tactic. The 4 2 3 1 is still very much my primary tactic as it fits my players far better having used the market to source players for those specific roles, however the 3 2 4 1 is having good results when used. It is unlikely that I will commit to using this as my primary tactic as I would have to look at moving on my fullbacks, as I have no place for them in this tactic unless I converted them to Wide Centre Backs.

Love it! Even though I am definitely not brave enough to ever try this...

[Swaban]

Goal 50 - 2024

This year, we find ourselves with 5 players in the Goal 50, up from 3 last year! New signing Diogo Costa (16), Harry Kane (20, down from 12 last year) Bruno Fernandes (23, up from 39 last year), Teun Koopmeiners (25) & Josko Gvardiol (36)

 Manchester City have 10 players on the list, 4 of which are in the top 10!

 

 

[Swaban]

November / December 2024

our good run continues after a busy couple of months, where we played 14 games in November & December. We picked up 25 points from a possible 30 in the league during this period, unfortunately City have been in even better form. We now sit on top of the table purely on goal difference with 21 games played. We have however increased the gap to third place, where Chelsea find themselves 6 points behind.

We also draw Manchester City in the Carabao Cup Semi Final, a competition which we have won 2 years in a row, a run we are confident of extending should we beat City, as we would face either Southampton or West Ham in the final. 

 

Youth Intake Preview

The preview makes for disappointing reading, I'm hoping that come March, things are better than they look currently!

 

[Swaban]

World Player of the Year / Goalkeeper of the Year

We place in the top 3 from both player of the year & goalkeeper of the year. Harry Kane finishes as runner up to Haaland (Manchester City) & just ahead of Vinicius (Real Madrid). Diogo Costa finishes in third place, behind Mike Maignan (AC Milan) & Edouard Mendy (Chelsea)

[Swaban]

January 2025

Another great month, which saw us play 8 games across all 4 competitions. We go undefeated in the league, meaning that we  retain top spot but now have a game in hand over second place Manchester City after they were beaten by Leeds. Both ourselves & City now find ourselves 11 points clear of third place Chelsea.

Elsewhere, we beat City 1-0 over 2 legs in the Carabao Cup Semi Final, where we will face Chelsea in the final as we atempt the win the competition for the third year in a row. As the new look Champions League group stage is wrapped up, we finish in 12th place, meaning that we have to go through a play-off in order to qualify for the last 16.

 

Transfers

We opted not to bring anyone in during the window, however Casemiro signed a pre-contract agreement with Napoli meaning he will join them on a free in the summer. I've been through a number of contract negotiations with him this season trying to offer him an extra year on reduced wages, however he wouldn't accept anything less than the £240,000 he is on currently, so I opted to let him run his contract down.

Luke Shaw again came to me and said he wanted to consider his options at the end of the contract. The only way I could talk him into staying was to promise to win the Champions League this season, which ultimately I was unwilling to promise. Particularly after we had to promise him we would win the Premier League last year. He has 18 months left on his contract, so I will look to sell him in the summer in order to get a fee for him. With this in mind, I plan to give Gvardiol a few games at left back throughout the rest of the season, despite him doing a fantastic job at centre back as this will allow me to decide whether I sign a new centre back or left back once Shaw leaves in the summer.

 

Elsewhere, after being sacked by Chelsea last season, Graham Potter found himself back at Brighton this season & he has now been sacked there too as Brighton find themselves languishing in 19th place. Should they end up getting relegated, we may well find ourselves heading down to the south coast for a bit of shopping in the summer.

[Hootieleece]

Graham Potter is still with Chelsea in 2028 in my save only winning the 2026 FA Cup.LOL!

 

Did you rotate your squad in Champions League to finish in 12th place?

[Swaban]

February 2025

A poor month all things considered, see's us drop 6 points in the league. Thankfully, City also dropped points meaning are find ourselves 1 point ahead however we no longer have a game in hand. This is compounded by the fact that we are knocked out of  the Champions League by Inter Milan. Injuries are catching up to us which meant that we were without Kane, Rashford & Varane for the tie & unfortunately we just didnt have the quality to beat them. Whilst this is disappointing, it will allow us to consistently field the strongest player that we have available for league games & we play Manchester City in the penultimate game of the season, which could well end up being the title decider.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Swaban

[Swaban]

18 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

Graham Potter is still with Chelsea in 2028 in my save only winning the 2026 FA Cup.LOL!

 

Did you rotate your squad in Champions League to finish in 12th place?

Yes, we rotated heavily for many of the games, with strong league form being imperative due to City breathing down our necks. We did play full strength sides against both Roma & Real Betis among others, however we went on to lose both of those matches.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Swaban

[karanhsingh]

Good going! Holding off Man City is not easy as I very well know 

[Swaban]

Youth Intake 2025

My HOYD has rated this intake as "below average" & said that it is a "disappointing group of players" which I feel may be slightly harsh. Whilst none of them look to be world beaters, there are a couple of decent players here. Our top rated prospects are:

Scottish goalkeeper Ally Lamie

Irish midfielder Dean O'Toole who is comfortable with both feet & could well be the pick of the bunch however we do already have a number of strong young players in Kobbie Mainoo, Luke Jackson, & Riccardo De Keyser, all of which are developing nicely (I'll post screenshots below)

English striker Rickie McPhillips, who unfortunately is unambitious 

Cypriot defender Colin Bedford who is good with both feet & can play anywhere across the backline. Unfortunately he has a mercenary personality. 

 

For anyone who is interested in seeing how some of our best players from previous intake are developing, Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho (both of whom were already at the club when I took over) are both developing nicely & receiving regular gametime in the first team.

Luke Jackson, Jake Hart, Ethan Walker & Riccardo De Keyser are all receiving gametime where possible & are developing well as a result of this. Simon Kyambadde has been loaned out to Championship side Reading & is also developing nicely. (unfortunately due to an issue with NewGan, the keen-eyed among you may notice that they have acquired new faces)

[Swaban]

March 2025

We make it 3 years in a row in the Carabao Cup. Manchester City managed to win the competition 4 years on the bounce between 2018-2021 & we put ourselves in a position to match this next season.

The draw against Villa was particularly annoying, given that we were 3-0 up at half time, thankfully City also dropped points once again with a 1-1 draw against Chelsea & having played an extra game this month, they find themselves 2 points clear of us at the top. We do however have a game in hand. 

[Swaban]

This year, we find ourselves with only 1 player on this list. Kobbie Mainoo is listed in 10th place. Assan Ouedraogo is this years winner, so far he has remained with Schalke however he is currently wanted by none other than Manchester City

 

[karanhsingh]

Wow Garnacho looks great! Are you rotating him with Rashford?

[Swaban]

April 2025

A draw away to Bournemouth thanks to an early sending off for Lisandro Martinez & a 1-0 loss to Arsenal looked disastrous, however City were beaten 1-0 by Newcastle & 2-1 by Spurs which has allowed us to regain our lead in the table. We now find ourselves 2 points clear with only 3 games left to play. One of which is against City the winners of which will surely go on to win the title. Our 2 point lead puts us in the driving seat & means that even a draw against them would be enough providing we can do a job against 6th place Newcastle (who did beat City this month) & 10th place Wolves.

 Anthony Martial who signed for Everton this season after a disappointing stint at Bayern scored the opening goal against us & went off injured, all within the first 15 minutes of the game. If that isnt peak Martial then I dont know what is. 

[Swaban]

7 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Wow Garnacho looks great! Are you rotating him with Rashford?

Yeah, up to now he has been rotated with Rashford on the left, however he is becoming my first choice right winger recently. With Antony being his rotational option & Sancho being a rotational option for both Rashford on the left & Bruno Fernandes as a number 10. If this continues, Enzo Le Fee will likely be moved on if a good offer comes in for him 

[warlock]

3 hours ago, Swaban said:

If that isnt peak Martial then I dont know what is

Sad but true! If he was a horse they'd have shot him by now.

[karanhsingh]

3 hours ago, Swaban said:

April 2025

A draw away to Bournemouth thanks to an early sending off for Lisandro Martinez & a 1-0 loss to Arsenal looked disastrous, however City were beaten 1-0 by Newcastle & 2-1 by Spurs which has allowed us to regain our lead in the table. We now find ourselves 2 points clear with only 3 games left to play. One of which is against City the winners of which will surely go on to win the title. Our 2 point lead puts us in the driving seat & means that even a draw against them would be enough providing we can do a job against 6th place Newcastle (who did beat City this month) & 10th place Wolves.

 Anthony Martial who signed for Everton this season after a disappointing stint at Bayern scored the opening goal against us & went off injured, all within the first 15 minutes of the game. If that isnt peak Martial then I dont know what is. 

Is the derby home or away?

[Swaban]

3 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Is the derby home or away?

away at the etihad, it'll be a tough game for sure. I never want to go into a game without aiming to win, but a draw should be enough for us!

[Swaban]

34 minutes ago, warlock said:

Sad but true! If he was a horse they'd have shot him by now.

you're not wrong! I feel for him as he has flashes of brilliance but has never been able to stay fit 

[karanhsingh]

2 minutes ago, Swaban said:

you're not wrong! I feel for him as he has flashes of brilliance but has never been able to stay fit 

He's had more than enough chances, it's definitely a mentality issue as well. Would be happy to see him gone.

[Swaban]

4 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

He's had more than enough chances, it's definitely a mentality issue as well. Would be happy to see him gone.

fully agreed! this issue is, who's going to buy an injury prone striker thats on £250,000 per week? I honestly think he will stay until his contract runs down.

 

[Swaban]

May 2025 - The Title Race

The first of our final 3 games comes against 6th place Newcastle who beat City last month, so I wasn't expecting an easy game. I was worried when they went 1-0 up after 14 minutes, thanks to an unbelievable through ball by Anthony Gordon however we dominated the game & were able to come back thanks to goals from Rashford & Kane both of which were assisted by Sancho who has been in great form recently & has even seen Bruno be benched in recent matches. 

 

Next up, we are at home to title rivals & villains of the save, Manchester City. Going into the game, we find ourselves 5 points clear of City however they have a game in hand & I would expect them to win both of their remaining games against Crystal Palace who are sat in 9th & Southampton who are in 16th. We do however have the added advantage of an extra few days rest, the game comes exactly a week after the Newcastle match. Where as City had a mid-week Champions League Semi Final Second Leg against  RB Leipzig. A tie they managed to win, meaning they face Bayern Munich in the final. 

Hopefully Bayern can do us a favour and beat them, so that at least in this world the Champions League eludes City!

De Bruyne bagged a goal after 3 minutes & panic set in. As you can see from the stats, City were at their best & dominated the game in true Guardiola fashion. In a last ditch attempt to salvage a point from the game & with it, our chances of winning the title, we threw everyone forwards & substitute Gabriel Barbosa grabbed the equaliser in the 91st minute! I'm not exaggerating when I say that I reacted in a similar way to how I would have if this had happened in real life. I was however quickly brought back down to earth when I had to explain to my girlfriend that I was jumping around the room due to a goal in my spreadsheet game, where I don't control the players myself.

Spoiler

Going into the final game of the season against Wolves, who have climbed to 8th place we are 2 points clear at the top with a superior goal difference of 13 meaning that a draw would be enough to clinch the title. Typically I like to play my youth players in the final game of the season, however so far in this save the title race has gone right down to the final day meaning that this isn't possible.

We get off to a strong start & a first half hattrick from Marcus Rashford & coast to victory. City beat Southampton, as to be expected however it wasn't enough & Manchester United are Premier League Champions for the second year in a row!

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Swaban

[TelcontarTargaryen]

1 hour ago, Swaban said:

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I reacted in a similar way to how I would have if this had happened in real life. I was however quickly brought back down to earth when I had to explain to my girlfriend that I was jumping around the room due to a goal in my spreadsheet game, where I don't control the players myself.

  Back in the CM 01/02 days, or maybe it was even 98/99, when I was a lot younger (I do still play CM01/02 from time to time) I had a similar experience where I had to explain to my mother that I was screaming (she already knew I was die hard United fan, and that I gave zero **** about domestic Serbian league and teams) because of the football game, but one that was on my computer. 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Swaban said:

Manchester United are Premier League Champions for the second year in a row!

Nothing more harrowing - or more enjoyable - than a final day title win! Congratulations

[karanhsingh]

Well done! And i totally understand your punching the air moment 

[Swaban]

End of Season 3

Competition Results

Premier League Winners: Manchester United! For the second year in a row

Champions League Winners: Manchester City who beat Bayern Munich in the final

Europa League Winners: Real Madrid who beat Aston Villa in the final

FA Cup Winners: Arsenal who beat Leeds in the final

Carabao Cup Winners: Manchester United! For the third year in a row

 

Team of the Year

5 of our players make the TOTY this year, compared to 4 last year. Shaw makes it 3 years in a row. A fantastic achievement that makes his imminent departure all the more disappointing , Rashford & Kane all both make it 2 years in a row, with both new man Gvardiol & Dalot making the grade this year.

Individual Stats

Unsurprisingly, Haaland tops the goalscoring list. Rashford finished in 3rd place on 22 goals, with Kane in 5th with 16 & Garnacho in 9th with 13 goals, despite only featuring in 20 league games this season.

Haaland finished the season with the highest average rating, however we dominate this list with 2 of the top 3 & 5 players in the top 7

Diogo Costa finishes in 2nd place in the clean sheet stats. A great first season all things considered

 

Team Stats

Once again, we top the goalscoring list, despite scoring 10 goals less than we did last season

We also had the most shots in the league, which was to be expected, given we scored the most goals

City conceded the fewest shots this season, slightly ahead of Arsenal, who topped the clean sheet list. Where as Chelsea conceded the fewest goals, only 2 less than both us & City 

 

Facilities

Once again, we manage to convince the board to upgrade both our training & youth facilities prior to the start of the new season.

 

 

[Swaban]

Transfers

Out

Casemiro leaves us on a free, having signed a pre-contract agreement with Napoli in January. I'd have liked to have kept him for 1 more year, however he was unwilling to accept less than £240,000 per week. A figure which I didnt want to shell out. As a result, we are looking for a first choice DM whether that will come from the market or be filled by a player we already have is currently has been a dilemma for me since January.

Luke Shaw unfortunately leaves us this summer. I really didnt want to see him leave, however I was left with no choice, as he wanted to consider his options next summer. I already had to promise him I'd win the league top get him to stay previously & he wanted me to promise we'd win the Champions League this season in order to stay. Atletico Madrid bid for him & we managed to get them up to £40,000,000. The fans were furious that we sold him & I'm not particularly happy with it myself.

Amad Diallo moves to Juventus for a fee of £42,000,000 (38+5) & Im over the moon with this piece of business. I didnt really have a place for him in the squad & was considering loaning him out when the bid came in.

Ethan Laird moves on to Bristol City for a fee of £10,000,000. Im pretty happy with this, as he was our 3rd choice left / right back & we have decent option in the U21's that can fill in if/when called upon.

Fred told me he wanted to leave in order to win trophies, which doesn't make sense as we have won the league twice in a row. I'd have liked to keep him as he's a good back up option & doesn't complain about playing time however I dont tend to keep players that want to leave providing we get a decent bid for them. In order to win these trophies that he craves, Fred decided his best option would be a move to Everton?? We accepted their bid of £30,000,000

Mohammed Diomande also leaves us after a good loan spell at PSV, Spurs came in with an 18,500,000 bid (15.5+3) which we accepted

 

In

The big signing of the summer is Dayot Upamecano In all honesty, I wasn't really in the market for a new centre back however when I saw that City had a £30,000,000 bid accepted for him I decided to throw my hat into the ring, as I didnt want him to go to City & that price looks like an absolute bargain!

In order to replace Casemiro we bring in Maxence Caqueret for £40,000,000 off the back of a disappointing season at Real Madrid where he only played 13 games all season. He looks more than good enough to do a job for us & will compete with Lisandro Martinez for the DM spot, who moves into midfield due to the ridiculous amount of talent that we current have at centre back,

With Luke Shaw leaving, I toyed with the idea of moving Gvardiol to left back, however he was just too good at centre back to justify this. As a result, Tyrick Mitchell comes in from Crystal Palace for a fee of £35,000,000. He will compete with Tyrell Malacia at left back. Whilst he certainly isnt an upgrade on Shaw nobody is for the money I was willing to spend. 

 

Contracts

Victor Lindelof agrees to a new deal, on a reduce wage which im very happy about. He's a great backup option & has never complained about playing time

Luke Jackson, probably our best youth prospect signs a new long term deal having been promoted to the first team last season.

Simon Kyambadde another of our strongest youth prospects signs a long term deal, he will be loaned out this season. Ideally to a championship side.

Edited June 17, 2023 by Swaban

[Swaban]

The good news, is our stature has increased over the past year. The bad news is that City are currently considered to be the most reputable club in football. My disappointment is somewhat eased by the fact that Liverpool have taken a sharp decline having finished 8th last season

[Swaban]

The disappointed mentioned above quickly subsided after seeing the below pieces of news! please, Glazers. Do something good for once in your lives & sell!

[karanhsingh]

Interesting summer, didn't think it would be this active after winning the league. Also let's see which take-over happens first yours or IRL 

[Swaban]

6 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Interesting summer, didn't think it would be this active after winning the league. Also let's see which take-over happens first yours or IRL 

same here! I knew that I would need a DM to replace Casemiro & a LB to replace Shaw. However Upamecano was very much a spur of the moment transfer done out of spite to stop City from buying him haha

I honestly cant remember the last time I had a takeover in FM so I wont holds my breath. With that said, we may be into FM24 by the time the real takeover goes through

[Swaban]

Finances

Our net debt is now down to £193,000,000 from £754,000,000 when we took over 3 years ago! We are still paying the debt off at a rate of £11,000,000 per month however our position has improved drastically. The goal is to be debt free to the extent where I havent even taken on any additional transfer debt. All players that I've bought have been structured so that 100% of the fee is paid upfront meaning that our transfer debt, which started off at £183,000,000 3 years ago now sits at a mere £1,400,000

As a result of the above, our financial projections now make for enjoyable reading, as apposed to 3 years ago when a quick glance at them struck fear into my heart.

We are currently spending £3,500,000 per week on wages against a budget of almost £5,300,000. When we took over the club was spending £4,775,000 per week largely thanks to a number of ridiculous contracts  for players that were worse than those which we currently have. In clearing out the dead wood & replacing them with players that are not only superior, but also paid less we have managed to reduce our wage bill by around £1,300,000 per week!

A look at our player contracts shows that we are currently paying 6 players a wage of £200,000 + per week (down from 8 when we took over) perhaps more impressively, we have been able to reduce the number of players paid more than £100,000 per week from 21 when we took over, to just 12 going into this season. With our top 3 earners being Harry Kane, Bruno Fernandes & Marcus Rashford. Raphael Varane & Jadon Sancho are in joint 4th at £230,000 per week. Varane is no longer first choice due to the arrival of Upamecano & as a result, If we cant negotiate a substantially lower wage with him this year, he will be sold at the end of this season with 1 year left on his contract.

 

Tactics

Our tactical shape has changed very little since last season, due to the success we've had with it. Below is how we will line up at full strength going into the season, along with our rotation options. However as always, this is subject to change!

     

 

[karanhsingh]

Nice, I like how you have deliberately worked on the financial situation. Does Garnacho perform well as an IW on his "wrong" side?

[Swaban]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Nice, I like how you have deliberately worked on the financial situation. Does Garnacho perform well as an IW on his "wrong" side?

He has been unreal on the right. I only played him there out of necessity due to a couple of games where both Antony & Sancho were injured. It resulted in him going from being out backup left winger to our first choice right winger. His left foot is considered "fairly strong" & we are still training him to develop it 

[Swaban]

August 2025

As the new season kicks off, the takeover rumours are still persisting. Usually the current owners of any club I manage tend to quash the rumours however that hasn't happened. There is no mention as to whether or not the new owner would be willing to spend money yet so fingers crossed! Steve Roberts is apparently the favourite to take over & the media have said he has the "daunting task of trying to clear the clubs debts" which currently sit at around £193,000,000. I feel that they should at least give me a bit of credit for reducing the debt by over £500,000,000 in 3 years!

We win our first trophy of the season in the Community Shield (if we win it, then its a trophy. If we don't, then its tinpot) beating  Arsenal 3-2 despite a 60th minute sending off for Gabriel Barbosa a mere 5 minutes after coming off the bench. In the league, we had 3 of the easier fixtures against Fulham, Leeds & Leicester where we were able to secure maximum points before welcoming rivals City to Old Trafford in the final game of the month & hope to stop Haaland from adding to his tally of 8 goals in the first 3 games of the season!

We were unable to stop Haaland from scoring as he got the opener, just before half time. However incredible performances from both Sancho & Bruno Fernandes ensured that his goal counted for nothing! As the first month of the season draws to a close, we top the league level on both points & goal difference with Spurs

     

 

 

[karanhsingh]

Wow total domination over City!

[Swaban]

5 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Wow total domination over City!

It was arguably the best performance we've put in so far, particularly when you look at the strength of their squad (below) & the fact that they went 1-0 up just before half time 

[TelcontarTargaryen]

The irony of guy named trafford playing for City (I know he is a real player)

[Swaban]

A look through the weekly wage spend of each club highlights not only how well we've done in reducing our spent, but also how much of a juggernaut City are. They are currently spending an eye watering £6.25mio per week on wages! with second place Liverpool spending a mere £5mio. We sit in 6th place, spending £3.5mio. 

Ideally I would like us to reduce our weekly spend to a level that is around the average in the league. £2.7mio in this case, however I dont see that being possible without weakening ourselves. I've managed to put us in a position where we have 2 strong players in each position, with the exception of goal keeper, where Matej Kovar is significantly weaker than Diogo Costa & is only played in cup games against weaker opposition & wont feature in the Champions League

 

City also find themselves topping the commercial income list, all of which is clearly above board!

Edited June 22, 2023 by Swaban

[Swaban]

Art imitates life!

[Swaban]

September 2025

The takeover has fallen through, due to differences in the valuation of the club, however our owner status is now "looking to leave" so im hopeful that they will still sell up, but wont hold my breath!

We drop our first points of the campaign, with a 2-0 loss to Arsenal which was fully deserved. Thankfully, city also dropped points this month with a 1-1 draw away to Fulham meaning we sit 2 points clear at the top with 7 games played. City also somehow lost to Milwall on penalties in the Carabao Cup which could be huge for us, in our quest to emulate City in winning it 4 years in a row.

 

[karanhsingh]

Wow, crazy how real life mimics FM and vice versa