[FM24] Tulach Bòide [Scotland Tier 13]

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, jrobertgordon13 said:

I mean, I don’t know, but it seems very likely

I don't think it's likely at all. It's a purely cosmetic feature that was already implemented and that would take little work.

I'm hoping that it's a problem with the Beta/Early Access game and would have been fixed with a new save start of full release, and I'm only encountering this because this was my original Beta/Early Access save. 

[leobiazzi]

Mate, I've read this whole topic today. It's the greatest career in Football Manager that I've ever seen and I've been in contact with the game since the 00/01 days. Congratulations and thank you for sharing with us!

[Jimbokav1971]

48 minutes ago, leobiazzi said:

Mate, I've read this whole topic today. It's the greatest career in Football Manager that I've ever seen and I've been in contact with the game since the 00/01 days. Congratulations and thank you for sharing with us!

Thanks very much for the kind words. It's been my pleasure. I've been knocking around for quite a while myself. 

If you like the drivel I write, then some of my older saves might be of interest to you. This link is for my 1st FM24 save and in the 3rd post it provides links to as many of my saves as I could find. It might be worth looking at if you liked this one. 

 

[RoguPL]

47 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thanks very much for the kind words. It's been my pleasure. I've been knocking around for quite a while myself. 

If you like the drivel I write, then some of my older saves might be of interest to you. This link is for my 1st FM24 save and in the 3rd post it provides links to as many of my saves as I could find. It might be worth looking at if you liked this one. 

 

I would highly recommend Irchester save. Absolutely loved that one  
 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, RoguPL said:

I would highly recommend Irchester save. Absolutely loved that one  

Well here is your 1st recommendation @leobiazzi courtesy of @RoguPL

I personally loved the Iceland saves, (and the Gibraltar one's too). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2057. 

Scottish Premiership. I don't mind dropping points to Hibs, because we extended our advantage over Celtic. We're now 8 pts clear with 3 games to play and as the next game is against Celtic, we will be Champions if we avoid defeat.

Something I hadn't noticed was that Rangers were struggling again and are now bottom of table. Whoever is managing them should be ashamed of themselves.

Scottish Cup. (The Big one). A comfortable win over Celtic in the Semi-Final progresses us through to the Final where we will play Motherwell, (who are currently top of the Championship). 

Goal-scoring GK's.

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club).
(30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club).
(31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club).
(39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club).
(40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 81/103 from the spot at 79%.
(41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 7/12 from the spot at 58%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(46e) Hunter (Res) 6'0" * is 1/1 from the spot at 100%. (Is no longer at the club). 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2057. 

Scottish Premiership. We've retained the title with 2 games to spare. That means that we've won the league 3 times in the last 4 leagues now. 

Rangers only just escaped relegation, collecting 5 points from their last 4 games to avoid finishing bottom, and then winning both their Playoff legs against St Johnstone. 

Dundee on the other hand, finished bottom and were relegated because they collected just 1 point from their last 6 games. 

Scottish Cup. (The Big one). 

Debuts. After giving 4 players their debuts against Aberdeen last month, I gave another 4 their debuts against Kilmarnock and.... let's just say it didn't go quite as well. I think I may have weakened the squad too much. 

Records. 

Hall of Fame. 

Awards.

Players Player of the Year. 

Young Player of the Year. 

Football Writers Young Player of the Year.

Goal of the Season.

Team of the Year.

Facilities.

Goal-scoring GK's.

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club).
(30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club).
(31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club).
(39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club).
(40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 81/103 from the spot at 79%.
(41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 7/12 from the spot at 58%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(46e) Hunter (Res) 6'0" * is 1/1 from the spot at 100%. (Is no longer at the club). 
 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad by Stats. May 2057.

Squad by Appearances. 

Squad by Goals. 

Squad by Assists. 

Squad by Avg Rating. 

Squad by CA. We only have 8 players at the club with better than 2.5 CA.

Squad by PA. We have 34 players with better than 2.5 PA. 

3x 5.0 PA.

5x 4.5 PA. 

6x 4.0 PA.

6x 3.5 PA.

14 x 3.0 CA. 

Squad by National Team.

Squad by International Appearances. I was unsure about re-signing (38a) Arthurs (NIR)(F.Det) *, but actually it was an excellent decision and he played MUCH more than expected. 

Squad by U21 Appearances. 

Contracts expiring. I'm not interested in keeping any of these. 

Edited May 28 by Jimbokav1971

[leobiazzi]

12 horas atrás, Jimbokav1971 disse:

Well here is your 1st recommendation @leobiazzi courtesy of @RoguPL

I personally loved the Iceland saves, (and the Gibraltar one's too). 

Thanks guys, I'll check them out

Congratulations on winning the league and the cup!

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun 2057. 

Premiership TV Rights.

Reputation. 

European Competition Rankings. (Reputation).

European Club Rankings. 

Nation CLub Coefficients. We will probably lose this 7th European spot next season because France will probably jump above us again because we're losing a season that is more than 3 points higher than them, (so we need a good season in Europe this year). 

Job Interview.

1st Academy Product moves into management. 

Transfers.

Internationals. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

17 minutes ago, leobiazzi said:

Thanks guys, I'll check them out

Congratulations on winning the league and the cup!

Thanks. Next target has got to be European success, but we're on the verge of losing our 2 best players I think. 

[leobiazzi]

33 minutos atrás, Jimbokav1971 disse:

Thanks. Next target has got to be European success, but we're on the verge of losing our 2 best players I think. 

I really hate the new Champions League system. Previously, you'd be able to even "cheat" and purposely fall to the Europa League or even the Conference and try to win it as they're way more feasible. But, I truly believe you can win the UCL one day

By the way, your career in Colombia inspired me to do a Youth Only save in Uruguay. I'm from Brazil and I always loved Uruguayan football as they are a small country in comparison to us but somehow managed to produce top-tier talent such as Diego Forlán, Luisito Suárez, Cavani, and many more in recent years.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, leobiazzi said:

I really hate the new Champions League system. Previously, you'd be able to even "cheat" and purposely fall to the Europa League or even the Conference and try to win it as they're way more feasible. But, I truly believe you can win the UCL one day

By the way, your career in Colombia inspired me to do a Youth Only save in Uruguay. I'm from Brazil and I always loved Uruguayan football as they are a small country in comparison to us but somehow managed to produce top-tier talent such as Diego Forlán, Luisito Suárez, Cavani, and many more in recent years.

I completely agree about the Champions league system. I hate it too. I used to love dropping down and winning the lesser competitions. Especially when you are a dominant force in a small Nation, (a much smaller Nation than Scotland), it makes sense that if you don't need to the Champions League money then you go and try and win something. It's just another example of how World Football is being run for the benefit of the elite rather than the fans or the whole. 

I really enjoyed Colombia, (although I didn't enjoy being sacked). 

Good luck in your Uruguay save. If you do a thread, feel free to post it in here so I know to come and have a look. 

[leobiazzi]

I completely agree with your take, mate. Although smaller clubs will have more games to play, IMO they just made this to ensure the elite clubs never miss the knockout stage.

Regarding creating a topic, I'll give it a serious thought. I already write words for a living five times a week, but it could be fun nonetheless.

[BML]

Oof, that's quite a downgrade in likely attendance next year with that ground share - it's a good job you're not hurting for the money.

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Still no VGB cap for my favourite youth intake player, and now he's Scottish. Such a shame as I love seeing smaller nations get players come through and stick around the national team.

[Jimbokav1971]

50 minutes ago, leobiazzi said:

I completely agree with your take, mate. Although smaller clubs will have more games to play, IMO they just made this to ensure the elite clubs never miss the knockout stage.

Regarding creating a topic, I'll give it a serious thought. I already write words for a living five times a week, but it could be fun nonetheless.

Just a suggestion if you feel like you don't want to commit to writing really detailed updates....... Just post pictures.

I've got a sort of template that I copied from @Makoto Nakamuraand then adapted, and I have a page open in my browser that I update with anything interesting that happens as the month goes on, and then I just add in the fixtures at the end of the month and flesh it out from that. Often I don't actually write much in my updates at all. Anyway, whatever works for you. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, BML said:

Oof, that's quite a downgrade in likely attendance next year with that ground share - it's a good job you're not hurting for the money.

Still no VGB cap for my favourite youth intake player, and now he's Scottish. Such a shame as I love seeing smaller nations get players come through and stick around the national team.

Yeah the temp. move will hurt us, but weirdly I think we're still playing Champions League games at our own ground. (I don't think they've thought this through). We will see I guess. 

I hadn't noticed that (55c) Fahie (VGB) (Res) had been capped at U19 level by Scotland. He's actually been sold now though. 

Kilmarnock spent £525k cash on him, (with lots of add-ons), and then stuck him straight in their Reserves. 

You can see by my updates that I love foreign Internations too. It just adds depth to the game. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jun 2057. 

GK. 

1st Team. (43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" *
2nd Team. 
Loan. (44f) Gordon (F.Pro) 6'1"
Loan. (49h) Broughton (USA)(F.Det) *
Loan. (55e) McLean (Pro) 5'10" *
Loan. (54k) Weir (Unamb) 6'0"
U21's. (53l) King (F.Pro) 6'3" *
U18's. 56g) Archibald (LDet) 5'11"
U18's. (57d) McLean (Bal) 6'0"
Sell/Release. (45c) Paskowski(POL)(Bal)6'0 *

WBL. 

1st Team. (51b) Kirkwood (F.Det) *
2nd Team. (46d) Bentley (AUS)(F.Pro)
Loan.  (49f) Clark (Pro) PPM
Loan. (50f) Knudsen (FRO)(DEN) 5'5
Loan. (55g) Kingsley. (Bal)
U21's.
U18's. (57l) Bradley (L.Det) *
U18's. (56f) Darby (IRL)(ENG) (Bal)
U18's. (57k) Hilson (Spirit)

WBR. 

1st Team. (43a) Quinn (Pro)
2nd Team. (54b) Reid (Bal) WBR *
U21's. (55a) Heaver (Res) WBR  *
Loan. (51h) Smith (Sport) WBR PPM *
Loan. (50e) Taylor (Unamb)
Loan. (56i) O'Hara.(SCO)(IRL)(F.Det)
Loan. (54p) Costello. (Bal)
U18's. (57c) Hogarth (Bal) *
Sell/Release. (47i) Anthony (Unamb) 6'0" WBR

DC.

1st Team DLC. (54a) Hopkin (Temp) 5'11" *
1st Team DC. (53a) Brownlie (Res) 6.0" *
1st Team DRC. (50b) Wilson (Unamb) 6'4" *

2nd Team DLC. (44e) Henry (F.Pro) 6'0"
2nd Team DC. (44h) Lemetti (F.Pro) 6'3"
2nd Team DRC. (46p) Weir (Driven) 6'1" 

U21's. (53k) Dunne (F.Pro) 6'0"
U21's. (52f) Dorrans (Pro) 5'11"
U21's. (53e) Rossiter (Spirit) DC 6'1

Loan. (52e) Davidson (F.Sport)
Loan. (55m) Adams. (Bal) 6'3"
Loan. (57h) Balmer (F.Det) 6'1"
Loan. (54j) Hall. (F.Loyal) 6'0"

U18's. (56e) McCormack 5'8"
U18's. (56c) Ingram (L.Det) 5'9" *
U18's. (56l) Dow (F.Det) 5'7"
U18's. (57j) Breslin (F.Sport) 6'0"

MC. 

1st Team MLC. (51a) Maley (F.Det) (IRL) **
1st Team MRC. (52b) Hastings (Det) 5'9" *

2nd Team MLC. (48c) McKee (L-Heart) *
2nd Team MRC. (38a) Arthurs (NIR)(F.Det) *

U21's 
U21's. 

Loan. (54i) Herron. (Temp) 6'0"
Loan. (56n) McArthur. (Bal)
Loan. (56o) Heaver. (Unamb) 6'1"
Loan. (54l) Morrison. (Bal) PPM
Loan. (57p) McGonigal. (F.Sport)

U18's. (55d) Gordon (Pro) * PPM
U18's. (56a) McCluskey (Pro)
U18's. (55h) Erskine (Bal) * PPM
U18's. (57f) Shearer (IRL)(Fick) *

Sell/Release.  (44b) Harvey (Spirit)
Sell/Release. (49d) Sutherland (Merc)

SC.

1st Team SLC. (51c) Mackie (F.Pro) (IRL) *
1st Team SC. (50a) Donald (F.Det) 6'0" *
1st Team SRC. (52d) Porojan (ROU)(Spirit) *

2nd Team SLC. (48a) Edwards (F.Det) 5'5" *
2nd Team SC. (47d) Warnock (IRL) (Temp)
2nd Team SRC. (47a) Currie (Bal) 6'1" *

U21's. HG Lloyd (Driven)
U21's. 
U21's. (52i) Glass (F.Det)

Loan. (54d) Lochhead (Loyal) 5'8" *
Loan. (52o) Stapley (ENG) (Resil)
Loan. (53m) Koloušek (CZE)(Merc) PPM
Loan. (54f) Jones. (L.Det)
Loan. (56d) Bond. (ENG)(IRL)(F.Pro)
Loan. (56h) Connors. (IRL) (L.Heart)
Loan. (56k) Kemp. (F.Pro) 6'2"
Loan. (55o) Imrie. (L.Heart) PPM
Loan. (56j) Kazek.(POL)(SCO)(Spirit)
Loan. (56b) Dorrington. (Bal)
Loan. (55p) McCafferty. (F.Pro)
Loan. (57o) McLear (Bal) 5'11"

U18's. (57a) Bastos (SCO)(ANG) ***
U18's. (57b) Megaw (NIR) (L.Det)
U18's. (55b) Dunn (Unamb) * PPM
U18's. (56d) Bond. (ENG)(IRL)(F.Pro)
U18's. (57n) Marshall. (Spirit)
U18's. (57g) Donaldson. (IRL) (Unamb)

Sell/Release. (47b) Smith (Det)
Sell/Release. (54h) Evans. (F.Pro)
Sell/Release. 

Edited May 28 by Jimbokav1971

[Thebaker]

well done on the double, still no youth facility increase. I think its Turkey you have to worry about nicking your european spot.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, Thebaker said:

well done on the double, still no youth facility increase. I think its Turkey you have to worry about nicking your european spot.

Thanks. Good spot on Turkey. 

It's hard to work out what's what because any change is always 1 season behind and I lose track. The other thing to consider is that things are changed if a club from your Nation wins any of the European competitions, (and I think that has happened in the last few years and I either didn't notice or did notice but have forgotten).  

2050/51 2x UCL, 2x UEL, 1x UCL. (5 spots in total)
2051/52 3x UCL, 2x UEL, 1x UCL. (6 spots in total). 
2052/53 3x UCL, 3x UEL, 1x UCL. (7 spots in total). 
2053/54 3x UCL, 2x UEL, 1x UCL. (6 spots in total)
2054/55 4x UCL, 2x UEL, 1x UCL. (7 spots in total)
2055/56 3x UCL, 2x UEL, 1x UCL. (6 spots in total). 
2056/57 3x UCL, 2x UEL, 1x UCL. (6 spots in total). 
2057/58 4x UCL, 2x UEL, 1x UCL. (7 spots in total). This coming season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

10 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

well done on the double, still no youth facility increase. I think its Turkey you have to worry about nicking your european spot.

Thinking about this some more, I'm almost sure that someone has won a European trophy. 

I think it's probably Hibs because they had a higher coefficient than us last year. 

Tullibody. 

2050/51 Conference League Quarter Final
2051/52 Europa League Quarter Final
2052/53 Europa League Knockout Playoff Round. 
2053/54 Champions League Knockout Playoff Round.
2054/55 Champions League Knockout Playoff Round.
2055/56 Champions League Knockout Playoff Round.
2056/57 Champions League Round of 16.
2057/58 This season. 

Celtic. 

2050/51 Europa League Round of 16.
2051/52 Champions League Knockout Playoff Round. 
2052/53 Champions League Group phase. 
2053/54 Champions League Group phase. 
2054/55 Europa League Round of 16.
2055/56 Europa Conference Final. (Lost 3-0 to Liverpool). 
2056/57 Champions League Knockout Playoff Round. 
2057/58 This season. 

Hibs. 

2050/51 Champions League Knockout Playoff Round. 
2051/52 Champions League Group phase. 
2052/53 Champions League Knockout Playoff Round. 
2053/54 Champions League Round of 16.
2054/55 Champions League Group phase. 
2055/56 Champions League Round of 16.
2056/57 Champions League Knockout Playoff Round. 
2057/58 This season. 

Hearts. 

2050/51 No European football.
2051/52 No European football.
2052/53 Conference League Final. (Lost 1-0 to Ross County). 
2053/54 No European football. 
2054/55 Europa League Knockout Playoff Round. 
2055/56 Europa League Round of 16.
2056/57 No European football. 
2057/58 This season. 

Kilmarnock.

2050/51 Europa League Round of 16.
2051/52 No European football.
2052/53 No European football. 
2053/54 No European football. 
2054/55 No European football. 
2055/56 Europa League Knockout Playoff Round. 
2056/57 Conference League Round of 16.
2057/58 This season. 

Livingston. 

2050/51 No European football.
2051/52 No European football.
2052/53 No European football. 
2053/54 No European football. 
2054/55 No European football. 
2055/56 No European football.
2056/57 No European football.
2057/58 This season. 

Aberdeen. 

2050/51 Europa League Round of 16.
2051/52 Europa League Semi-Final.
2052/53 Europa League Semi-Final.
2053/54 Europa League Knockout Playoff Round.
2054/55 Europa League Round of 16.
2055/56 Europa League Round of 16.
2056/57 Europa League Knockout Playoff.
2057/58 This season. 

Airdrie. 

2050/51 No European football.
2051/52 No European football.
2052/53 No European football. 
2053/54 No European football. 
2054/55 No European football. 
2055/56 No European football.
2056/57 Europa League Third Qualifying Round.
2057/58 This season. 

Falkirk.

2050/51 No European football.
2051/52 No European football.
2052/53 No European football. 
2053/54 No European football. 
2054/55 No European football. 
2055/56 No European football.
2056/57 No European football.
2057/58 This season. 

Ross County. 

2050/51 No European football.
2051/52 Europa Conference Knockout Playoff Round.
2052/53 Europa Conference League Final. (Won 1-0 against Hearts).
2053/54 Europa League Knockout Playoff Round.
2054/55 No European football. 
2055/56 Champions League Group phase.
2056/57 No European football.
2057/58 This season. 

Rangers.

2050/51 No European football.
2051/52 No European football.
2052/53 No European football. 
2053/54 No European football. 
2054/55 Europa Conference League 4th Qualifying Round.
2055/56 No European football.
2056/57 No European football.
2057/58 This season. 

Motherwell. 

2050/51 No European football.
2051/52 No European football.
2052/53 No European football. 
2053/54 Europa Conference League Knockout Playoff Round.
2054/55 No European football. 
2055/56 No European football.
2056/57 No European football.
2057/58 This season. 

St Johnstone. 

2050/51 No European football.
2051/52 No European football.
2052/53 No European football. 
2053/54 Europa Conference League Round of 16.
2054/55 No European football. 
2055/56 No European football.
2056/57 No European football.
2057/58 This season. 

It was Ross County. Of course it was them. I remember posting about it! 

[DaneBramage]

11 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Debuts. After giving 4 players their debuts against Aberdeen last month, I gave another 4 their debuts against Kilmarnock and.... let's just say it didn't go quite as well. I think I may have weakened the squad too much. 

Sucks to be (44f) Gordon. Finally makes his league debut for you at the age of 29, concedes six and gets sold immediately. Hope he was fined too.

[Jimbokav1971]

6 minutes ago, DaneBramage said:

Sucks to be (44f) Gordon. Finally makes his league debut for you at the age of 29, concedes six and gets sold immediately. Hope he was fined too.

That's a brilliant summary.  

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2057. 

Season Preview. We're favourites to retain the league, and that's not a surprise to me. We lost 6 league games last season and I would like to lose fewer than that this season. We also conceded 42 goals and I would like to concede fewer than that. We didn't score 100+ goals last season, (only 95), but we scored 103 in 2053/54 so these are decent targets to aim for. 

Scottish Premiership. I'm not happy at all about how the season has started.  The 1st Team have won their 3 games by a combined 14-4, (so they aren't the problem), but the 2nd Team have failed to win either of their 2 games, and haven't even scored a goal, with a loss to Falkirk and a drab draw with newly promoted Motherwell. 

I had decided to offload a few 2nd Team players, such as striker (47b) Smith (Det), but the performance of his replacement leaves me to believe that we can't cope without him in the short-term and I have had a re-think and removed him from the transfer list. He hasn't played a minute's football yet this season, but he will start against Hearts in our next mid-week game. I think I will even have to sort out a friendly between now and then to give him some minutes. I've made a bad mistake here. 

The good news is that the only unbeaten side in the league are Aberdeen, and I don't expect them to challenging for the title. Hibs, (who I would have thought were going to be our main challengers with Celtic), have lost 4 out of their opening 5 games , and Celtic have already dropped 7 points. Things could definitely be worse. 

UEFA Champions League. This seems like a pretty tough group, but aren't they all now? 

Expectations. 

Season Tickets. We've sold almost 15,000 season tickets, (which is great), but we're playing our games in a 5,000 capacity stadium this season, so....... how's that going to work? 

Transfers.

The clauses here are a little confusing, because of the loans and the loan fees involved. 

Tullibody sold him to Arminia Bielefeld who then sold him to Genoa  who have just sold him to Real Betis.

Let's ignore the 5% solidarity contributions for the moment. 

Genoa have made the sale so they get the £4M to start with, but they also have to pay out the following to....
Arminia Bielefeld had a 20% profit clause so they get £39,500 + £250,000 = £289,500.
Tullibody had a 25% sell-on clause so we get £40,000 + £325,000 = £365,000

I can't quite understand how we have a 25% sell-on clause with Arminia Bielefeld, yet we get more money than them,  Surely we only get 25% of whatever they get? 

Goal-scoring GK's.

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club).
(30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club).
(31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club).
(39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club).
(40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 83/105 from the spot at 79%.
(41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 7/12 from the spot at 58%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(46e) Hunter (Res) 6'0" * is 1/1 from the spot at 100%. (Is no longer at the club). 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2057. 

Scottish Premiership. The 1st Team played 4 league games this month, winning all for with a combined scoreline of 17-1. The 2nd Team played 1 game and drew 2-2. 

We're still 4 points clear at the top of the table, but I'm still frustrated that we're dropping points. 

UEFA Champions League. After 4 games without a win, the 2nd Team finally got up and running with a 4-1 victory over Dinamo Zagreb. Fingers crossed this will draw a line under their appalling start to the campaign, but I'm not completely convinced yet. 

Debuts. 

Internationals. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club).
(30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club).
(31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club).
(39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club).
(40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 84/106 from the spot at 79%.
(41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 7/12 from the spot at 58%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(46e) Hunter (Res) 6'0" * is 1/1 from the spot at 100%. (Is no longer at the club). 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

FIFA Best U21 Men's Player. Oct 2057.

(51c) Mackie (F.Pro) (IRL) * was 3rd last season, and has improved to win the award himself this season.

(52d) Porojan (ROU)(Spirit) * was ranked #1 by NxGn in 2055/56 but had to settle for 2nd place here. 

[leobiazzi]

Mate, I don't see you losing the league anymore unless you're hit with a bunch of injuries haha.

Are there any plans to bring on a player that you sold in the past? Even just one or two guys might massively improve your secondary team.

Also, who's dominating the top European leagues in your savegame? Did any dark horse manage to win one of these leagues?

Cheers!

[BML]

3 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I can't quite understand how we have a 25% sell-on clause with Arminia Bielefeld, yet we get more money than them,  Surely we only get 25% of whatever they get? 

This has confused me in the past also (and you, I seem to recall, sure you've raised this, or similar, with SI previously). The game seems to confuse itself on second and third sales of a player with % clauses.

[Jimbokav1971]

45 minutes ago, leobiazzi said:

Mate, I don't see you losing the league anymore unless you're hit with a bunch of injuries haha.

I think that's probably a fair comment. It would take some significant improvement for anyone else to beat our strength over the course of the season. 

That being said, our 2nd Team have been struggling a little and if our rotation strategy stops working then we could be in trouble. 

[Jimbokav1971]

47 minutes ago, leobiazzi said:

Are there any plans to bring on a player that you sold in the past? Even just one or two guys might massively improve your secondary team.

There are actually, (at least initial plans), because as mentioned in my previous post, (and earlier updates), the 2nd Team, (who play mid-week fixtures), have really been struggling at the start of this season. 

Partly this was down to injury, (particularly that of (38a) Arthurs (NIR)(F.Det) * who missed the opening weeks of the season and then struggled to get his ageing body up to speed), but also because I decided to move on a few players and replace them with younger talent. Well the players I wanted to move on didn't like being told they were moving on, and didn't move on, and the players I replaced them with didn't play well at all, so when I brought the original players back in they were both short of fitness and not best pleased with me which doesn't make for a good performance. On top of that, they're obviously not nearly as good as the 1st Team and I would expect the better domestic opponents and certainly decent European opposition to prove a problem for them. 

With that in mind I started sending out the scouts to the shortlist again. 

You will notice that this list just includes players who are interested in joining us. 

(42b) Potter (F.Pro) * is a MC and we really don't need him at the moment. 

(44c) Antonazi (AUS)(Res)6'0 * is a player I am absolutely 100% looking to sign. Our 1st choice Libero right now is teenager (53a) Brownlie (Res) 6.0" *, but he looks like he is destined for greater things and wants to leave. With his contract only having 18 months left, this is obviously a problem and this could be the perfect solution. 

(48b) Rodger (IRL) (Perfect) * isn't amazing, but he worked really well in our system and that's why Leverkusen signed him. I would happily bring him back, (even though I don't need him right now), but he's earning £100k pw which is about £5.5M per year, and that's too much for a player I don't really need. I could probably re-sign him and then re-sell him again, but wages are a problem. 

(45e) Brass6 (Fickle) MC * is on £160k pw at Stuttgart and that's just too much money. 

(41g) Thomson (F.Loyal) 6'1" * is a basic centre-half, and we just don't need to pay someone £20k pw to be that average. We have youngsters on a pittance who can be that average. 

(39a) Banner (Bal) * is 34 and his legs have gone. 

(40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * isn't going to be 1st choice and is just going to get in the way of our up and coming GK's if I sign him. There's just nothing in it for us. 

(41d) Dichev (BUL) (Bal) SELL is a reasonable right back, but his legs were starting to go when I sold him and have definitely gone now. We can't be having a WB with no legs. 

(39d) Thijs (NED)(Bal) 5'11" * was a decent centre-half but his legs have gone. 

(41h) Cairney (M.Citizen)6'2"* is probably the GK I would sign if something happened to (43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" *. I will openly admit that I'm blinded by his personality rather than his ability. 

(41b) Gourley (NIR)(F.Sport)* could definitely do a job, but I'm not sure how long he could do it for. I suppose it all depends on the wages he's asking for. £40k-£50k pw is a lot of money for someone who will only be playing for the 2nd Team. Is he worth it? Possibly yes based on how things are going right now. 

(39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is a decent GK butu we don't rotate our GK's and we have some bright prospect so..... what's the point in signing him? 

(45j) Marshall (F.Pro) * always plays well against us and I've looked at him so many times, but he just doesn't even get in our 2nd Team. If I signed him I would end up loaning him out and that sounds fine but he's on proper money now. He's a central midfielder, (who plays as a MC for Airdrie), and he's twice hit double figures for league goals in a season, and hit 9 a couple of times when out on loan. This player looks pants but I promise you there is just something about him that means he performs well. I'm still not signing him though. 

(40o) Banner (F.Pro) * SELL is decent, but I don't think he gets anywhere near our 2nd Team. 

Scrolling down the list past the GK's and rubbish centre-backs, (45b) Dick (F.Pro) SELL catches my eye. he never really got a fair go with us, but I remember him being decent and indeed he still is. Why is he playing at Scottish League 1 level? He's decent and someone I would consider. 

I think that's about it. We will have to see what I manage to do. 

[leobiazzi]

Yeah, Antonazi does look like a great option and he has a few years in him still. Not sure about the rest either.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, leobiazzi said:

Also, who's dominating the top European leagues in your savegame? Did any dark horse manage to win one of these leagues?

A dominant Spurs is probably the big story in the English Premier League. 

In Germany, Schalke the regular under-achievers shocked the World by beating Bayern to a title and have been consistent throughout the save. 

In Italy the story is probably Fiorentina finishing Runners Up once and Juve only making the top 3 twice in the last 17 years. 

In Spain, someone outside the big 3 won the league for the 1st time last season. (Sevilla). In more good news, Barca have only managed 1 top 3 finish in the last 6 years. 

They are the only non-Scottish leagues I';ve got loaded at the moment. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, BML said:

This has confused me in the past also (and you, I seem to recall, sure you've raised this, or similar, with SI previously). The game seems to confuse itself on second and third sales of a player with % clauses.

Yep. It's way off isn't it. I try not to pay too much attention to ot most of the time, but when I post things in here it makes me think about them and i could just see from the outset that wasn't right. 

It should be pretty easy to get basic maths like this correct. It's a really pretty simple formula in comparison to some of the number crunching that goes on in the game. 

Annoying. 

[leobiazzi]

Thank you, Jim! It's great to see Schalke doing well, I've had lots of fun managing them in this FM. I'm honestly shocked to see Tottenham doing so well as they're relegated around 70% of the time in my long saves lol.

[Jimbokav1971]

11 minutes ago, leobiazzi said:

Thank you, Jim! It's great to see Schalke doing well, I've had lots of fun managing them in this FM. I'm honestly shocked to see Tottenham doing so well as they're relegated around 70% of the time in my long saves lol.

There could be a very good reason for that. 

When I started the save I had Scotalnd down to Level 13 loaded so I didn't need other nations loaded as nothing that happened beyond my little league made the slightest bit of difference. 

I didn't activate them until 2040/41 and although I'm not in the game now, that sounds like it could have been roughly when we were promoted from Lowland League to League 2. At that sort of stage, (or whenever it was), I then started to look up at the top leagues for the 1st time, and although I left the Highland/Lowland leagues active, (and the leagues directly below that), I removed all the regional lower leagues just to stop the save file becoming enormous. (It's still a fair size). 

Because of that there would have been some sort of reset in all the newly activated leagues and I think that explains the Schalke, Spurs and the Spanish side...... nope, can't remember. 

I don't know how the game creates squads at this stage, but it obviously does it pretty well if we can only 3 outliers across 4-5 leagues. I would hazard a guess that Spurs might also be under new ownership too, (but I will check on that later).

Many years ago, (and you might remember this), there was an option to untick real players, (or something similar), which removed real players names and attributes and replaced them with players of a similar ability/potential but randomized their Nationality and other aspects of their makeup, so you could have a Spanish Harry Kane at Spurs, (who wasn't called Harry Kane), and who might have been a bit quicker or bigger and more of a TM, but other aspects of the real Kane would be slightly diminished to balance it out.

We all know that sometimes in FM there are just "Cheat Players" who for 1 reason or another significantly out-perform their actual ability when used in the right way. It could be something as simple as that. 

I will check on Spurs ownership next time I'm in the game. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2057.

Scottish Premiership. The most pleasing aspect of our 4 wins in the league this month is that the 4th one was away to Celtic and was a mid-week so our 2nd Team played, (and won). They did benefit from Celtic getting a 1st half red card and needed an injury time pen to win, but a win's a win as they say. 

UEFA Champions League. The 2nd Team lost to Benfica, but Benfica are decent so perhaps I should be too harsh on them for this loss. 

League Cup. The 2nd Team crash us out of the League Cup and there will be no treble this season. 

[Edit]

The above League Cup fixtures are actually from last season, (where we got beaten by Hibs in the Semi).

This is this season's fixtures.  

So we're still in the League Cup and still have the chance of a treble. 

Records. This was our 8th home game of the season, and our 2nd home game of the Champions League, but for some reason it was the 1st time we played at our actual home ground of Tullibody Stadium, rather than the piddly 5,000 capacity ground that we're sharing with...... Sauchie, who play in the East of Scotland Premier Division, (which is Tier 6). During the game I noticed that we were having building works carried out on 3 sides of the stadium, but we still had our full capacity of tickets sold, (so assume this is a bug). Either way, it's another record. The old stadium will have a capacity of 24,231 when it's completed in April of next year

(53a) Brownlie (Res) 6.0" * is the only player of note who I've been unable to sign to a new deal. His contract expires in just over 18 months and I will probably have to sell him in the Summer, (but hopefully get a lone-back clause in there). 

Contracts. Quite a few of our better players have become unsettled recently with lots of big clubs sniffing around and me having to refuse offers for them. With the window closed and the interest in many of the players gone, I have wasted no time in extending contracts where able. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club).
(30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club).
(31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club).
(39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club).
(40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 87/109 from the spot at 80%.
(41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 7/12 from the spot at 58%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(46e) Hunter (Res) 6'0" * is 1/1 from the spot at 100%. (Is no longer at the club). 

Finances. 

Edited May 29 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, leobiazzi said:

Thank you, Jim! It's great to see Schalke doing well, I've had lots of fun managing them in this FM. I'm honestly shocked to see Tottenham doing so well as they're relegated around 70% of the time in my long saves lol.

 

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

There could be a very good reason for that. 

When I started the save I had Scotalnd down to Level 13 loaded so I didn't need other nations loaded as nothing that happened beyond my little league made the slightest bit of difference. 

I didn't activate them until 2040/41 and although I'm not in the game now, that sounds like it could have been roughly when we were promoted from Lowland League to League 2. At that sort of stage, (or whenever it was), I then started to look up at the top leagues for the 1st time, and although I left the Highland/Lowland leagues active, (and the leagues directly below that), I removed all the regional lower leagues just to stop the save file becoming enormous. (It's still a fair size). 

Because of that there would have been some sort of reset in all the newly activated leagues and I think that explains the Schalke, Spurs and the Spanish side...... nope, can't remember. 

I don't know how the game creates squads at this stage, but it obviously does it pretty well if we can only 3 outliers across 4-5 leagues. I would hazard a guess that Spurs might also be under new ownership too, (but I will check on that later).

Many years ago, (and you might remember this), there was an option to untick real players, (or something similar), which removed real players names and attributes and replaced them with players of a similar ability/potential but randomized their Nationality and other aspects of their makeup, so you could have a Spanish Harry Kane at Spurs, (who wasn't called Harry Kane), and who might have been a bit quicker or bigger and more of a TM, but other aspects of the real Kane would be slightly diminished to balance it out.

We all know that sometimes in FM there are just "Cheat Players" who for 1 reason or another significantly out-perform their actual ability when used in the right way. It could be something as simple as that. 

I will check on Spurs ownership next time I'm in the game. 

Spurs Update. 

It's fair to say that it's not so easy to be "Spursy" when you are backed by a Tycoon. 

Spurs are not the biggest wage spenders though. 

Newcastle were taken over by a mexican Tycoon in 2048. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Goal50 2057. 

We still don't have any players on this list, but there are 2 Scottish players. 

[jrobertgordon13]

Did anyone notice the new forum design? I don't know how to feel about it but i'll probably get used to it.

[Vakama2619]

5 minutes ago, jrobertgordon13 said:

Did anyone notice the new forum design? I don't know how to feel about it but i'll probably get used to it.

same boat as you, bit like Discord mobile, it'll take some getting used to

[Jimbokav1971]

23 minutes ago, jrobertgordon13 said:

Did anyone notice the new forum design? I don't know how to feel about it but i'll probably get used to it.

I had a long post written and ready to go so it completely screwed me. 

I don't particularly like the font, but you're right I'm sure we will get used to it. 

[Jimbokav1971]

21 minutes ago, Vakama2619 said:

same boat as you, bit like Discord mobile, it'll take some getting used to

I don't like the font, but it is actually clearer and easier once you do get used to it. Maybe they actually know what they're doing. 

[TIR669]

Antonazi is obviously very worth any sizeable investment, same as Rodger imo. I'd always bring them back, look at how Arthurs helped. What's Brass6 looking like these days, and what's your wage structure currently?

Also I'd suggest you remove the transfer interest filter. First of all, from my experience it doesn't realistically depict the player's interest at all - unless its set to the lowest interest value.

And I've signed many uninterested players by scouting them, assigning them as top targets, asking similar media/personality styled/favorite players in my squad to pressure them into joining...

My biggest "disappointment" in this save is your incoming transfer policy, where I feel you're much more interested in wages and transfer balance. Why? Domestic success means at worst you don't lose any money during a season after prize money from UCL and Prem. And any continental success just boosts it further. You facilities are maxed out IIRC, stadium got expanded so..what's the point of the money except to avoid El Chieftain to accept bids over your head.

So on that note, I think you should maybe pay more attention (and on time) to key players' contracts, e.g. Porojan has 3yrs left - why not 5+? How's Brownlie looking like anyway? And why he's refusing your offers, is it reputation or?

 

And yeah new forum font is a disaster.

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2057.

Scottish Premiership. The loss at home to Hearts was a big blow because it was the 1st time this season that the 1st Team had failed to win, (11 from 11 before that). 

The big story in the Premiership however has nothing to do with us. Rangers sit bottom of the table and have just 2 points from 18 games. They trail 2nd bottom Ross County, (who are a very well run club now), by a whopping 14 points, and Ross County also have 4 (FOUR) games in hand. They are as good as down already as far as I'm concerned. They have already sold players to the value of £10.5M this season and £15 last season while spending almost nothing on players coming in. 

UEFA Champions League. We have some work to do just to get ourselves into the Playoffs. Hopefully the Steaua result will be the start of a change in fortunes. 

League Cup. We're into the Final and it should give us a good opportunity for more silverware as Airdrie are 8th in the league, although they have beaten us 3 out of the last 7 times we've met although 2 of them were against our 2nd Team and the Final won't be). 

Internationals.

Goal-scoring GK's.

(23) Brass (Bal) 6'2" is 5/8 from the spot at 63%. (Is no longer at the club).
(23) Ewing (Bal) 6'1" is 17/20 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(25c) Christie (F.Sport) 6'1" is 46/52 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(26p) Marsh (CAN)(SCO) 5'10" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%. (Is no longer at the club).
(30a) Ogilvie (Fickle) 6'2" * is 47/64 from the spot at 73%. (Is no longer at the club).
(31k) Lawrie (Unamb) * is 23/29 from the spot at 79%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(33a) Black (Fickle) 6'0" * is 2/3 from the spot at 67%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(37b) Niven (F.Loyal) 6'4" * is 24/41 from the spot at 59%. (Is no longer at the club).
(39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is 29/44 from the spot at 66%.(Is no longer at the club).
(40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is 0/2 from the spot at 0%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * is 87/109 from the spot at 80%.
(41h) Cairney (Unamb) 6'2" * is 7/12 from the spot at 58%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(46e) Hunter (Res) 6'0" * is 1/1 from the spot at 100%. (Is no longer at the club). 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

21 minutes ago, TIR669 said:

Antonazi is obviously very worth any sizeable investment, same as Rodger imo. I'd always bring them back, look at how Arthurs helped. What's Brass6 looking like these days, and what's your wage structure currently?

Also I'd suggest you remove the transfer interest filter. First of all, from my experience it doesn't realistically depict the player's interest at all - unless its set to the lowest interest value.

And I've signed many uninterested players by scouting them, assigning them as top targets, asking similar media/personality styled/favorite players in my squad to pressure them into joining...

My biggest "disappointment" in this save is your incoming transfer policy, where I feel you're much more interested in wages and transfer balance. Why? Domestic success means at worst you don't lose any money during a season after prize money from UCL and Prem. And any continental success just boosts it further. You facilities are maxed out IIRC, stadium got expanded so..what's the point of the money except to avoid El Chieftain to accept bids over your head.

So on that note, I think you should maybe pay more attention (and on time) to key players' contracts, e.g. Porojan has 3yrs left - why not 5+? How's Brownlie looking like anyway? And why he's refusing your offers, is it reputation or?

And yeah new forum font is a disaster.

Lots to unpick here. I will try to respond to all points. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Rangers. Dec 2057. 

I've saved the game, added a new Manager in charge of Rangers and had a look at what's going on there. 

The Board vision gives you an indication of what is to come. 

They're not keen on signing players aged 30+ and very keen to develop both their own players and also to sign teenagers for the future. 

They want to repair the financial damage, re-grow their reputation and work towards building the best Academy in the Country. (Well we know for a fact that's not going to happen). 

They don't have any money, (and that's to be expected). 

They do have a reasonable transfer budget considering the situation. They should be able to make really decent investments with that. 

A bigger problem is that they are significantly over their wage budget, and in defence of their manager/managers, (because I think they have had a few changes), I think that their overspend is as a result of the budget being cut below their existing level rather than them spending money over the budget. 

Now we get to the nitty gritty. They have to repay £1.8M per month in loan repayments, so when I tell you that they have sold players for £10M & £15 in the last couple of seasons, that doesn't even cover the loan repayments. 

They have some decent players, (and their best player is already on loan to Brentford before joining in a permanent deal for £3.7M. That's not going to touch the sides of the debt though and they should be selling him for more than £3.7M. That being said, they are paying him £22,000 pw and he just needs ton go regardless of the price I suppose.

They're paying way too much in wages though. Until last season we had a strict cap of £10k pw for any player. While I would keep Jamie Selfridge, (he's the big 6'5" TM), I would get rid of everyone else earning more than £5k pw. They're really not helping themselves. £11k pw is just over £500k per year. 

They've got 8 players at the club with 5.0 PA.

And 6 more with 4.5 PA. 

And then 14 more with 4.0 PA. 

It looks like they are even trying to introduce the younger players into the playing squad, but they really need to get rid of the higher wages as soon as possible, even if it means relegation. 

They've still got great facilities. 

There is hope, but they need to fully embrace the youngsters and get rid of anyone earning decent money. Accept that they are dropping into the Championship and give the youngsters an extra half season in preparation/development before they get there. They might as well because whatever they're doing now simply isn't working. 

They've only scored in 6 of their 18 league games this season, and that's ridiculous when they have such a good TM at the club in Selfrifge. 

If we had already won the Champions league or I thought I had taken Tullibody as we could then I would seriously consider taking them over and attempting a rebuild. As it is it's actually quite fun watching their demise. 

It's all well and good praising Farioli for his 17 trophies won in just over 8 years, but it was under his tenure that the damage was done. They over-paid and over-spent and now they're paying the price. I'm not sure the AI has the ability to get them out of this. 

[Jimbokav1971]

23 minutes ago, TIR669 said:

Antonazi is obviously very worth any sizeable investment, same as Rodger imo. I'd always bring them back, look at how Arthurs helped. What's Brass6 looking like these days, and what's your wage structure currently?

I've already agreed to sign (44c) Antonazi (AUS)(Res)6'0 *, and also (41b) Gourley (NIR)(F.Sport)*.

I seriously considered signing (48b) Rodger (IRL) (Perfect) *, but I just don't think that he warranted the investment when you consider he's earning £5M per year and it would cost another £5M to sign him. That wasn't the biggest barrier though, (because that's still doable). The biggest barrier is that I just couldn't see him playing very much, and if he did play then it would just block our pathway to the 1st Team. 

Where he would play is the left hand side of a front 3. 

(51c) Mackie (F.Pro) (IRL) * currently plays on the left for our 1st Team. 

(48a) Edwards (F.Det) 5'5" * plays on the left for the 2nd Team. 

(57a) Bastos (SCO)(ANG) *** isn't good enough to start yet, but obviously with his high PA I'm looking to introduce him when I can, and bringing in someone who's going to play ahead of him and block his pathway to the 1st Team doesn't make sense. 

HG Lloyd (Driven) is a player who was poached from our Academy by Aberdeen, and I spent £1.5M bringing him back. 

(52o) Stapley (ENG) (Resil) looks decent, even if his PA isn't amazing. 

(57b) Megaw (NIR) (L.Det) doesn't have amazing PA, (and I don't like his personality), but is another option on the left of a front 3. I find it's easier to blood players in the PF roles than it is the central AF role. 

(53m) Koloušek (CZE)(Merc) PPM probably doesn't have the PA to make the grade, but he's not awful. 

So in answer to the why don't we sign (48b) Rodger (IRL) (Perfect) *, that's why really. I just don't think he improves us even if we ignore the money. He just creates another problem. 

(38a) Arthurs (NIR)(F.Det) * was a slightly different case and his performances were brilliant last season. He was a top top top end player who was just coming to the end of his playing career, and it was a fantastic decision to sign him in hindsight. Even then though, he's already out-lived his usefulness and after an injury in pre-season his physicals fell off a cliff and he's injured again now. Even when he was fit though, he was part of the problem with the poor form of the 2nd Team. He just no longer had the physical ability ability to play in a 2 in the middle of the pitch and teams were taking advantage. Even when he returns to fitness now he's unlikely to ever start for us again. He could probably do a job in a 3, but no way can he do it in a 2. Perhaps he would have lasted longer were it not for the recent injuries. 

(45e) Brass6 (Fickle) MC * is indeed still decent, but as well as £37M-£47M fee, he's currently getting paid approx. £8.3M per year. We do have money in the bank, but only because our wages have been kept so low. It would soon vanish were we to start paying these sort of wages. We're playing in a 5,000 capacity stadium this season and we need to see how our finances improve after moving back to our new and improved stadium to see what sort of level of wage spend we can risk. 

We're currently spending £400k of a £1.7M weekly budget, but that;s going to increase to £527k pw after the 2 new players arrive. It's worth pointing out here that signing just 2 experienced players for the 2nd Team has increased our wage budget by approx. 32% instantly. We have to be careful that the wages don't snowball when signing these types of players. 

With regards to our wage structure, I was limiting it strictly to £10k pw per player until last season, but the signing of (38a) Arthurs (NIR)(F.Det) * blew that out of the water and I've since signed players to improved contracts in order to tie them down to longer term deals. 

For the time being at least, £20k will be my limit for players who have never left the club. Obviously player we're re-signing are a different matter. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, TIR669 said:

Also I'd suggest you remove the transfer interest filter. First of all, from my experience it doesn't realistically depict the player's interest at all - unless its set to the lowest interest value.

I did actually do that, but just didn't bother showing you the results because there was nobody there that I was interested in signing and who I could afford to sign. 

£100M for a 32 year old short centre-half (41c) Hogarth (Res) 5'9" *? No thanks. (He's 5'11" now by the way). 

(52a) Fraher (IRL) (F.Det) * is amazing, but he would want to be for £127M-£154M.

(43e) Wills (F.Sport) * is great, but at £100M+ he would need to be. 

(42b) Potter (F.Pro) * is decent and might be an option in the future if he drops his wage demands and becomes available. 

(48b) Rodger (IRL) (Perfect) * we've discussed. He is decent, but doesn't represent value for money based on who we already have at the club. 

(45e) Brass6 (Fickle) MC * is decent, but both transfer fee and wage budget are significant and I just don't think it's worth the investment. 

(44c) Antonazi (AUS)(Res)6'0 * is joining on 1st Jan. 

(40e) Qurbonov (UZB) (Res) * is a GK and we don't rotate our GK so he's not good enough. 

(39c) Telfer (F.Pro) 6'2" * is decent and if something happened to (43n) Welsh (F.Pro) 6'4" * then he is 1 of 2 options I would have as a replacement. 

(41g) Thomson (F.Loyal) 6'1" * is decent and someone I might look to sign on a free in the Summer. 

(45a) Pobořil (CZE) (Spirit) * is decent, but he's on a long-term contract and not worth the £22M min fee release clause he has. 

If there was someone available who I thought would really improve us, then I would absolutely sign them and even possibly spend big to do so, but the player who are willing to sign for us are willing to sign for us for a reason. They have escaped Scotland and coming back would be a backwards step for them and we would have to pay "non-Scottish" wages to bring them back . It just doesn't make sense for most of them. 

[Rikulec]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Rangers. Dec 2057. 

I've saved the game, added a new Manager in charge of Rangers and had a look at what's going on there. 

The Board vision gives you an indication of what is to come. 

They're not keen on signing players aged 30+ and very keen to develop both their own players and also to sign teenagers for the future. 

They want to repair the financial damage, re-grow their reputation and work towards building the best Academy in the Country. (Well we know for a fact that's not going to happen). 

They don't have any money, (and that's to be expected). 

They do have a reasonable transfer budget considering the situation. They should be able to make really decent investments with that. 

A bigger problem is that they are significantly over their wage budget, and in defence of their manager/managers, (because I think they have had a few changes), I think that their overspend is as a result of the budget being cut below their existing level rather than them spending money over the budget. 

Now we get to the nitty gritty. They have to repay £1.8M per month in loan repayments, so when I tell you that they have sold players for £10M & £15 in the last couple of seasons, that doesn't even cover the loan repayments. 

They have some decent players, (and their best player is already on loan to Brentford before joining in a permanent deal for £3.7M. That's not going to touch the sides of the debt though and they should be selling him for more than £3.7M. That being said, they are paying him £22,000 pw and he just needs ton go regardless of the price I suppose.

They're paying way too much in wages though. Until last season we had a strict cap of £10k pw for any player. While I would keep Jamie Selfridge, (he's the big 6'5" TM), I would get rid of everyone else earning more than £5k pw. They're really not helping themselves. £11k pw is just over £500k per year. 

They've got 8 players at the club with 5.0 PA.

And 6 more with 4.5 PA. 

And then 14 more with 4.0 PA. 

It looks like they are even trying to introduce the younger players into the playing squad, but they really need to get rid of the higher wages as soon as possible, even if it means relegation. 

They've still got great facilities. 

There is hope, but they need to fully embrace the youngsters and get rid of anyone earning decent money. Accept that they are dropping into the Championship and give the youngsters an extra half season in preparation/development before they get there. They might as well because whatever they're doing now simply isn't working. 

They've only scored in 6 of their 18 league games this season, and that's ridiculous when they have such a good TM at the club in Selfrifge. 

If we had already won the Champions league or I thought I had taken Tullibody as we could then I would seriously consider taking them over and attempting a rebuild. As it is it's actually quite fun watching their demise. 

It's all well and good praising Farioli for his 17 trophies won in just over 8 years, but it was under his tenure that the damage was done. They over-paid and over-spent and now they're paying the price. I'm not sure the AI has the ability to get them out of this. 

I think that 72,670 capacity new stadium they're moving into may have something to do with the financial mess they're in. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, TIR669 said:

And I've signed many uninterested players by scouting them, assigning them as top targets, asking similar media/personality styled/favorite players in my squad to pressure them into joining...

My biggest "disappointment" in this save is your incoming transfer policy, where I feel you're much more interested in wages and transfer balance. Why? Domestic success means at worst you don't lose any money during a season after prize money from UCL and Prem. And any continental success just boosts it further. You facilities are maxed out IIRC, stadium got expanded so..what's the point of the money except to avoid El Chieftain to accept bids over your head.

Yeah, I understand the technique in making non-interested players interested, but if we take (52a) Fraher (IRL) (F.Det) * for example, (the 1 player on the list I would really want to re-sign), then no amount of encouraging or cajoling, or watching or commenting in the media or anything else is going to make a 21 year old regular starter at Atletico leave Spain and return to Scotland. His min fee release clause is £336M and while he's "only" earning £135k pw now, his next contract is going to be a huge one whether he stays in Spain or moves elsewhere. If he does move, it will be an elite Nation rather than to the likes of Scotland. A loan move might be doable, but we would pay through the nose for such a deal and all the while he would be blocking the path that we need in order to develop the next player in that position.

We've already lost approx £10M in the 1st 4 months of the season and I expect it to be closer to £30M come the end of the season. When we move back to our own stadium that will hopefully improve things so that we can start making a profit again. 

Just for the record though, our bank balance actually doesn't come from prize money in Europe and/or gate receipts. It comes from player sales. At our richest we had a bank balance of approx. £200M, but we've sold players in this save to the value of £250M, (so £50M more than our highest ever balance). There is probably only 1 of our current player that I'm going to be forced to sell in the short-term future because he won't sign a new deal, (53a) Brownlie (Res) 6.0" *. and I'm thinking that while we might only get £30M of that up front, I would love to squeeze it to £100M all in. The £250M in transfer fees doesn't include add-ons by the way, so the income we've received from player sales is much much much more than the £250M listed. Basically, it's the player sales that fund everything else. It's the player sales that developed the last stadium and this stadium and will probably fund the next one. We're not solvent without the player sales, (although it will be interesting to see what the situation is when we start playing in the bigger stadium). 

The facilities are maxed out in terms of what we can have right now, but actually we're only at L10 for Youth Facilities so lots of room for development there. 

With regards to the Youth Facility upgrades not yet being available, that's another reason for keeping the sizeable bank balance. It adds to our reputation and I think this will eventually play a part in future upgrades becoming available. The idea of spending it on transfer fees for ageing players and their wages who don't improve our 1st Team and hinder the development of our younger players just doesn't make sense to me. It's the very opposite of what I'm trying to do.