[FM24] Chelsea - Youth Only - No Badges - Sunday League Experience - Real World start. Poch was treated unfairly, but I think I'm not even going to last as long as he did.

[Jimbokav1971]

I've always been interested in doing a Chelsea save, simply because of the huge number of players at their disposal. Under the Abramovic era they used to sign young players in the millions, (not quite), and loan them out and loan then out again and again and often they would never actually play for Chelsea.

With the added.... "pressure" of playing under Todd Boehly and the extreme demands of immediate success that he obviously expects, it probably makes this the most high-risk Youth Only save I have ever undertaken, (especially as I'm starting with no coaching badges and a Sunday League reputation). 

Success in this save will simply be getting to the end of the season still employed by Chelsea. (I expect to be sacked pretty quickly). 

I've used a "Real World" save for the 1st time to ensure that I have the same players available that Poch had, (and in case you didn't know), this just means that transfers will be done on the day that they were done in real life. Because the game is designed to come out at the end of the Summer transfer window, this effectively just means that the January window is included and replicates real life, and I can't remember off the top of my head if Chelsea even signed any players in January.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've won loads of trophies, we hate Millwall, We have £0 available for transfers, we have amazing facilities and we finished 8th last season. 

Well this could be a problem.  

I'm not going to be signing anyone. 
How can increasing commercial revenue be my responsibility? 
Expand the stadium. (That's easier said than done at this location isn't it?)

We're expected to qualify for the Champions League, (which is usually top 4), but if English clubs do well in Europe, (as I expect them to), then top 5 might be enough. 

Chelsea do at least have some decent rivalries. 

Players. We have 88 players at the club at the start, (so I should feel quite at home). 

Unfortunately 31 of these players have already had deals done for them to leave the club, and there are a few of them I would have loved to have kept. 

Lewis Hall is a utility player who is joining Newcastle initially on loan, (I think), but with a permanent deal attached to that. (It might have missed the transfer deadline or this might be a way to avoid FFP issues for Newcastle). 

Ethan Ampadu is a player I really like in real life. He will be joining leeds for a very modest £7M.

Callum Hudson-Odoi will be joining Forest for just £3M. That doesn't seem a particularly good deal for a 22 year old who has represented England. 

Mason Mount will be joining Man Utd for £55M, (and I expect him to be injured for most of the season). In all seriousness, while this is a lot of money, I would have liked to have kept him simply because he's obviously a high profile product of the Academy. 

Then there are the players who I will be happy to see the back of. 

Christian Pulisic is a player i've never warmed to, (despite his obvious talents). He will be moving to AC Milan in a £17.25M deal. 

Kepa Arrizabalaga is a little jumped-up mug who I actually despite. (Yes really).  As well as being a particularly rubbish GK, I remember him refusing to be substituted against Man City in the League Cup Final and he literally had me screaming at the TV at him. Thank God he will be joining Real Madrid, (even if it's just on loan). It pleases me enormously that in real life he lost his starting spot at Madrid to a Ukranian GK, (who's name escapes me). If I'm still here after 12 months, (highly unlikely). the highlight of my FM24 experience so far will be selling or releasing Kepa, (ideally to some footballing backwater where we will never here from him again). Can you tell I don't like Kepa? 

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is a spoilt brat and he wouldn't last 5 mins with me. good riddance, (even if it was on a free). I remember when he was a player. WHat has he become? 

César Azpilicueta is actually a player I like and he's had an amazing career, but he's 33 now and his best years are behind him. He's joining Atletico on a free!

Romelu Lukaku is a player who I'm not really a fan of, but the more I look at him in FM, the more I think it would have been fun to play with him as a proper TM. He's going to Roma, (on loan), so maybe I will get a chance to use him in the end season? (Although he is contracted until 2026, we will surely get sacked in the 1st season). I'm committing now to using him as a TM if i survive the 1st season, (but there is no way we're surviving the 1st season. 

Hakim Ziyech is a bit of a strange one. I've never really worked out what sort of player he is. I mean he's a good player, but it would have been a headache deciding where he would fit into the squad, so the fact that he's joining Galatasaray on a free...... gives me 1 less thing to think about.

[Jimbokav1971]

I should add that my Tullibody save isn't over and I will be 100% going back to it. This is just a brief dipping of my toe in the Chelsea sludge. 

[RoguPL]

Will be also following this ! Good Luck ! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Incoming Transfers. 

While we might have 31 players leaving the club, (at least on a temporary basis), we also have deals done for 13 players to arrive at the club. 

GK's.

Sanchez (£20M) from Brighton.
Petrovic (£13.75M) from New England. 

Defenders. 

Disasi (£38.5M) from Monaco.
Samuels-Smith (£4M) from Everton.

Midfielders. 

Lavia (£53M) from Southampton.
Caicedo £100M) from Brighton.
Ugochukwu (£23M) from Rennes.
Ollie Harrison* (£Free) from Newcastle. 
Kendry Páez (£17.25M) from Independiente (Ecuador).
Ângelo (£13M) from Santos (Brazil). 
Cole Palmer (£40M) from Man City. (What a bargain he has been by the way!!!) 
Dujuan Richards (£Free) from Jamaica. 

*The Ollie Harrison deal is a strange one. He's only 15 and Newcastle didn't want to lose him and on top of everything else his Dad, (Steve), is a Coach at Newcastle Academy. I'm guessing that the fee would have been decided by tribunal. Newcastle were not happy about this sale and I wonder if the Lewis Hall deal was linked to it in any way? 

Deivid Washington (£13.75M) from Santos (Brazil). 

There's obviously some quality there, especially with Cole Palmer and the GK's, but I'm surprised by the numbers of youngsters they have signed, (particularly the Ollie Harrison tug-of-war, (which I had never heard of until now). 

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, RoguPL said:

Will be also following this ! Good Luck ! 

Thanks. I expect it to be quite short-lived. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Dynamics. Jul 2023. 

I've turned up with no coaching badges and my Sunday League reputation and you can just imagine how the players would react. Hell, they wouldn't even play for Graham Potter and he was a proper football manager! 

I think my usual style of "shut up, go away and win some games of football" is not going to go down well with this lot. 

On the plus side, almost all the senior players will be leaving the club, so maybe there is an opportunity here to build relationships with the few that are left. 

Azpilicueta is leaving. 
Lukaku is leaving. 
Reece James will always be injured, (so I can ignore him). 
Ben Chilwell is always going to be injured, (so I can ignore him). 
Mason Mount is leaving.
Pulisic is leaving. 
Ampadu is leaving. 

Thiago is going to be my Libero, (just because), and Sterling is going to start for me, (I think.... but not ahead of Cole Palmer), so hopefully that will keep them happy. 

I've popped my head into the changing room and then swerved the presser, so everything appears to be going fine at this stage....

ps. I've also delegated absolutely EVERYTHING. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1st Friendly. Jul 2023. 

I didn't pick the team, (but did set a tactic), and we romped home against what was a pretty weak 2nd Team. In hindsight I should have selected the team because there was no point in playing players who won't be here this season, so that's quite a few from this group. 

4 goals from Lukaku shows that he might fit into this tactic after all, but might have as much to do with the opposition as his prowess in front of goal. 

[Jimbokav1971]

An absence of centre-backs. Jul 2023.

Why don't we have any centre-backs? 

I know that Axel Disasi is joining us at some point, but we seem to be short of centre-backs who aren't leaving the club. 

Reece James is a WBR, (and will probably always be injured). 
Thiago will be my Libero. 
Fofana will actually always be injured. 
Cucarella is a WBL. 
Azpilicueta is leaving. 
Badiashile will miss the 1st 4 months of the season. 
Chalobah will miss the 1st 6 months of the season. 
Malang Sarr isn't very good, (so is transfer listed), but we actually might need him. 
Levi Colwill will definitely be playing. 
Lewis Hall is not a centre-half, (and is leaving anyway). 
Alfie Gilchrist is very raw and not ready at all for playing in the Premier League. 
Bashir Humphreys is leaving. 

Who has Poch been playing at centre-half? 

I may actually have to go and buy a centre-half, (despite me saying that this is a Youth Only save).  

I'm fairly confidant that the wages of players leaving exceeds the wages of the new players arriving, so our wage spend should drop considerably, but I don't know if any of our gtransfer dealings have already been factored in here. 

In fact..... when I rule out all the players who are leaving..... we don't seem to have many players at all. At least not senior players. This isn't what I was expecting at all. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mount Leaves. Jul 2023. 

It's fine. We all know what a disaster this will be right? 

Mount is immediately values at £118M-£181M. 

Despite us selling a player for £55M, we've actually lost almost £4M since yesterday.  And nothing has been added to our Transfer Budget. Oppsie.  I think our committed budget here might include all the future transfers, (although it's not as accurate as it should be). 

[Edit]

It's fine. We have loads of centre-backs right? 

Edited May 22 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Friendly 2. Jul 2023. 

We've scored 9 goals in pre-season so far and 0 of the goals we've scored have been scored by players who will actually be here come the start of the season. 

At least it wasn't another centre-half. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Common sense. Jul 2023. 

I bet he would fill his boots. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Friendly 3. Jul 2023. 

We've finally scored some goals with players who will actually be playing for us this season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Friendly 4. Jul 2023. 

We're still unbeaten. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Friendly 5. Jul 2023. 

You will see that Lukaku scored a pen rather than whoever was in goal. The reason for this is because Cole Palmer will be taking our pens rather than our GK, (but he hasn't arrived yet). It will be interesting to see how proficient he is after so long letting rubbish GK's take them. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Good idea? Jul 2023. 

I know he's had a rubbish season in real life, but this is also a deal I would do, (but not at that price). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Friendly 6. Jul 2023. 

For any of you with an interest in my GK's scoring pens, we have been awarded 3 pens in pre-season so far. 

Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 0/1 at 0%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.

We're still unbeaten. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Registration. Jul 2023. 

I have just been asked to submit the 25 man squad for the Premier League for this season, and even if I register the players who will miss the whole season through injury.... we have only been able to register 15 players, (although we do have some players not yet arrived). I should also add that 5 of the 15 players are injured. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Friendly 7. Jul 2023. 

We're no longer unbeaten. 

[Jimbokav1971]

The problem with delegation. Aug 2023. 

I like Colwill as a player, but 6 years? He will likely play for 25+ managers in his Chelsea career now! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Finally. Aug 2023. 

We've been desperate for another centre-half so the it's great for Disasi to finally arrive. At this point I don't really care how good he is. We've just got another body who can play centre-half. 

He's decent, without being amazing. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Friendly 8. Aug 2023. 

We played the 1st month of pre-season playing players who won't be here come the start of the season. When I refused to pick these players even on the bench..... the result wasn't great.

[Jimbokav1971]

Friendly 9. Aug 2023. 

In an attempt to boost morale before the start of the season I scheduled a game against lowly opposition and it worked a treat. 

Enzo scored 1 pen from 2 attempts this season, (so the sooner Cole Palmer arrives the better). 

Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 1/3 at 33%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.

Except for the fact that we picked up another injury and Gallagher will now miss the season opener at home to Burnley. As well as being short at centre-half, we also seem short of central midfielders, (because Caceido hasn't yet arrived). 

Edited May 22 by Jimbokav1971

[CameronFM]

23 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

The problem with delegation. Aug 2023. 

I like Colwill as a player, but 6 years? He will likely play for 25+ managers in his Chelsea career now! 

Statement of the month 

Excited to see this go one of two ways - hopefully not in the shape of a pear!

[Jimbokav1971]

Pre-season. Aug 2023. 

Things started ok when I let the Ass Man pick the squad, but as soon as I stopped picking the players who are leaving, things started to get a little tougher. 

We're still waiting for Lavia, (forgot about him), Caceido, Petrovic and Palmer to arrive, so that will help. 

How much money we're losing isn't really my concern, *as long as we stay within our wage budget), but I don't think there will be much of an opportunity to bring new players in, (I was hoping for a centre-half), unless we generate our own cash by selling. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Just now, CameronFM said:

Statement of the month 

Excited to see this go one of two ways - hopefully not in the shape of a pear!

Honestly, I will be well-chuffed if I get to Christmas. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 1. Aug 2023. 

It was good to get off to a wining start, but conceding 2 goals at home to Burnley isn't great and perhaps shows where our weaknesses are. 

We hit the woodwork 3 times before Sterling converted a rebound, and for the most part Enzo and Caceido, (who only arrived on the morning of the game), dominated midfield. Disasi scored on his debut, (and was very good). 

I think we will both score and concede a lot of goals this season. 

An admission. Pre-game I registered both Lukaku and Hudson-Odoi and they both started the game on the bench, as we were just threadbare without them. They are both here until the end of August I think. 

When does Cole Palmer arrive? 

[Edit]

The Ass Man only used 2 subs in this game, (so poor were the options on the bench), and I think that's why we didn't win my more. The midfield 2 were knackered, (especially Caicedo who only joined us on on the morning of the game), and while Connor Gallagher wasn't fit enough to make the squad, Lavia doesn't arrive until for a couple of days. When you have the liked of Alfie Gilchrest (centre-half) on the bench, it's not really a surprise not to see him used. 

Edited May 22 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 2. Aug 2023. 

I was expecting a bit of a battering, and that's just about what we got. There was 1 hilarious moment though when with a 6v3 overload, Nunez still couldn't score, but that's a fair reflection on real life I suppose. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 3. Aug 2023. 

Spurs started really well and I thought we were in for a bit of a doing at 2-0 down at home after 29 mins, but this is Spurs and I knew we would get chances of our own. We took 2 of them and Sterling missed a big 3rd that might have given us all 3 points. 

When does Palmer join?

[Jimbokav1971]

Carabao Cup 2nd Round. Aug 2023. 

I rotated the whole squad, (except for Thiago), and even played a front 3, (who are all leaving), of Hudson-Odoi, Lukaku & Broja. 

I suppose all's well that ends well, but we shouldn't really be needing pens against Wycombe, even with a 2nd Team out. 

[Jimbokav1971]

More delegation. Aug 2023. 

I don't think there is too much "joined up thinking" going on at Chelsea right now, and this perfectly mirrors reality, (so I'm completely fine with it). 

He was out on loan last year. 
He's going out on loan this year. 
He's 30 years old. 

I think he was already contracted until 2025, so have we just offered him improved terms?  

ps. £10k for being an unused sub. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2023. 

This could easily have been much worse. We might have lost to Spurs and even Wycombe could have beaten us on pens. 

Premier League. 

Carabao Cup. 

Transfers. There are some really poor out-going deals on show here. 

Performance Review. 

Finances. I still can't work out how they got that improved deal for Lukaku through when we're already over budget! 

Edited May 22 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Delegation. Sep 2023. 

Delegating is all well and good, but I can't be having Lukaku offered improved terms, especially on the same length of contract. "Here Romelu, have some money!" 

Edited May 22 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 4. Sep 2023. 

At times it appeared we would tear man Utd apart, but too often we chose the wrong pass and the opportunity was lost. 

Of course Cole Palmer scored on his debut and of course it was a penalty! 

Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.
Cole Palmer (penalty taking 14) 1/1 at 100%. 
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 1/3 at 33%.

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Unhappy with me. Sep 2023. 

Most of the squad appear unhappy that I have been unable to offer Conor Gallagher a new contract. If truth be told I would like to offer him a new deal, (because he only has 2 years left on his contract), but we just can't afford it after someone offered Lukaku, (who isn't even at the club), a new deal on improved terms. 

The good news here though is that I have the support of Thiago and that might be key in keeping the dressing room onside. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Romelu Lukaku. Sep 2023. 

I've never managed Lukaku in FM, (I don't often manage big teams), but he's certainly interesting and I wonder what I would do with him were he still at the club. 

He has just scored a hat-trick on his debut for Roma against Frosinone in Serie A, and then went on International duty for belgium and scored 4 goals and 2 assists against Azerbaiijan. 

He then followed that up with another International goal against Austria to bring his tally to 80 goals for Belgium from 110 Caps. In cricketing terms he would be described as a "flat track bully", but there is nothing wrong with that at all, and I'm looking at all the non-number 9's at the club and thinking that I would quite like to have him at the moment. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 5. Sep 2023. 

West Ham, (who started the day 4th I think), took the lead, but then we absolutely battered them. We were really dangerous from set-pieces and caused them all sort of problems in the wide areas. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 6. Sep 2023. 

We were really good and their goals came from a deflection and a rebound. I thought we had thrown away 2 points when they equalised in injury time, but we went up the other end and grabbed "another" winner. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Carabao Cup 3rd Round. Sep 2023. 

I rotated the whole squad, (except for Thiago), again, and I'm not in the slightest bit bothered that we lost. This won't get me the sack, but poor performances and placing in the Premier league will. We have a number of players who have issues with injuries and our tiny squad, (yes it really is tiny), just can't afford to lose more players.

We should have won, but we didn't. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 7. Sep 2023. 

A really good performance and we probably should have won by more. 

Cole Palmer with a hat-trick stole the show, but Chilwell was excellent too.

Cole Palmer (penalty taking 14) 2/2 at 100%. 
Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 1/3 at 33%.

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2023. 

We obviously have an advantage over the other clubs near the top of the table because we're not playing in Europe, but the reality is that this squad is nowhere near capable of playing twice a week every week for the whole season. Not even close to it. As soon as we rotate the squad we lost to League 1 Charlton, and that's not a surprise. We have the makings of a decent squad, but far too many youngsters and not enough experience. 

Centre-half Benoît Badiashile is on the mend from a torn hamstring and he should make his return in the coming weeks, (and that will be huge for us). Not only will he improve our best XI, but his return just also provides more depth. 

Premier League. A pretty decent month all things considered. 

Carabao Cup. Not even a little but bothered. 

Performance Review. The squad aren't really feeling me at the moment, and I think it's this that is likely to prove my downfall. 

Records. 

Transfers. 

Finances. We're leaking money hand over fist. Being over our wage budget certainly doesn't help and I will see what I can do about that in the Jan window. 

[Jimbokav1971]

England National Team production. Oct 2023. 

I would happily re-sign Fikayo Tomori in a heart-beat given the chance. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 8. Oct 2023.

We tend to struggle against 2 different types of players. Quick players cause us a problem because we're playing quite high, but big strong players also cause us a problem when they manage to get crossing opportunities. It's really not a good mix. Luton were well worth their draw. 

Cole Palmer (penalty taking 14) 3/3 at 100%. 
Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 1/3 at 33%.

Edited May 22 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Error. Oct 2023.

I didn't realise that Armando Broja wasn't leaving until January. Had I known that I would have regsitered him. 

GK Jamie Cumming is also leaving in Jan, but I probably wouldn't have registered him anyway. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier league game 9. Oct 2023. 

A late Nicolas Jackson goal earned us a point that we probably didn't deserve. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 10. Oct 2023. 

Oof.  5-0 at HT is the type of 45 mins that gets the manager the sack. 

Edited May 22 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth setup. Sep 2023. 

I'd forgotten about Livramento. I would love to re-sign him. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier league game 11. Sep 2023. 

2 assists from Cole Palmer was enough to give is 3 points. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier league game 12. Sep 2033. 

Cole Palmer scored 1 goal, but hit the bar instead of adding a 2nd and it came back to cost us as Forest levelled late on. 

Cole Palmer (penalty taking 14) 4/4 at 100%. 
Lukaku (penalty taking 20) 2/2 at 100%.
Nicolas Jackson (penalty taking 13) 1/1 at 100%.
Enzo (penalty taking 14) 1/3 at 33%.

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier League game 13. Sep 2023. 

We played quite well and probably should have won more comfortably. 

It's our 2nd clean sheet this month after not keeping any before this month. Not a complete coincidence that Benoît Badiashile is fit and playing again and able to last the full 90 now. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct & Nov 2023. 

Apologies. I forgot to post the Oct update. 

Premier League. We've only lost 1 of our last 9 league games, (Man City away), and 2 of the 3 draws have been away. All in all I actually think we're doing pretty well and all we need is a tiny shift to convert the 3 draws into 3 more wins. Competing against Man City is a whole different ball-game. 

If I'm being honest, we're probably doing a little better than I was expecting. We're conceding too many goals, but we're looking decent going forward. 

Transfers. 

Performance Review. The lack of support is a problem, but it's also one that was to be expected with my lack of badges and Sunday League reputation. The only thing that will fix that is winning games. 

Finances. £51M is a decent amount of money, but I think i'm going to convert it into wages, (at least some of it), so that we're within wage budget just so that it's 1 less thing we're failing on. 

Adjusting the wage budget to just under £4,6M per week would still give us £28.8M to spend on new players.