Building a Sustainable Football Club [FM24]

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Burton Albion

Burton Albion are my choice for this save, mainly because of a FIFA/EAFC YouTuber. Cutzy's series on FIFA 15 with Burton Albion is my favorite YouTube series ever, and was a key part of me getting into the sport of football. As an American, I grew up watching baseball as my main sport. I still consider baseball my favorite sport, and the stats aspect of the game is what I truly love. I won't be delving into statistic driven recruitment in this save, as quite frankly, I don't understand what stats are 'good' for what league. In the future, I definitely plan to do a save driven by statistics. But for now, I want to follow a mix of 2 sports organization's ideologies. The Tampa Bay Rays and Brighton and Hove Albion are very similar in many aspects. They buy low, and sell high through brilliant recruitment and scouting. The idea of having a club tactical and transfer ideology, rather than switching those ideologies when the team changes Manager/GM is groundbreaking in both sports. In the next post, I will try and outline what I aim to do to replicate the ideologies of both of these brilliantly run teams.

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The 'Rays-ian' Recruitment/Development Strategy:

The Rays certainly didn't invent player development in baseball. But damn, are they good at it. I've watched them turn many players from unknown or underperforming pitchers and hitters into key pieces many times. Most recently, the explosion of Yandy Diaz, as well as the emergence of Phil Maton, Ryan Pepiot, and Jason Adam, have been displays of recruiting cheap players and turning them into reliable pieces. Yandy Diaz was acquired for Jake Bauers and cash considerations, for gods sake. That's the baseball version of Brighton signing Kaoru Mitoma for around 3 million euros. The Rays are known for turning undervalued pitchers into stars, and it's kind of a running joke in baseball that if the Rays want one of your pitchers, they'll likely turn them into the next AL Cy Young. While I can't pin down exactly what they do to develop them, my best guess is a mix of 3 things. Biomechanics, usage rate of certain pitches, and trust. The final thing is the most important thing for me. They give a lot of these players a new start when they get to Tampa Bay. A lot of their pitchers are on their 2nd or 3rd team, and the Rays make them feel like they are a key part of the process. When you get confidence instilled in you by an organization like the Rays, it makes you a better player.

 

But how can I replicate this in FM?

1. Recruit undervalued/unproven players, mostly from leagues or nations that aren't typically scouted by major clubs.

2. Either change the way they play via traits, or change their position on the pitch.

3. Reap the benefits.

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So where do we start?

We start in Sky Bet League One, where we're predicted to finish 17th out of 24 clubs.

Who are our key players?

Who are our key youngsters to watch out for?

No one, as of right now. The youth setup at this club leaves a lot to be desired at this point.

How do we plan to play?

The club identity that I want to build is a counter attacking style. The 5 DNA attributes that I plan to use in my recruitment are Concentration, Decisions, Work Rate, Acceleration, and Pace. I want to build a fast paced, destructive counter attacking side that soaks up pressure and breaks fast.

How does this look in FM?

This is version 1 of our tactic.

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Building a Backroom Staff:

One of the most overlooked parts of FM, in my opinion, is the backroom staff. This is where you can truly set your club apart, with the coaches ability to train players at a much better rate. I wanted to build a staff with positive personalities, but not sacrificing ability to get those personalities.

HOYD:

Assistant Manager:

Coaches:

Director of Football:

Chief Scout:

Scouts:

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After realizing how poor our wingers truly are, I decided to go narrower. A narrow 4-4-2 will be how we set up for our first match of the League 1 season:

Just hoping for a draw, to be honest.

An own goal in the first half is the only thing that could separate the two sides.

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August - December 2023:

League Results:

Cup Results:

The Good Old 4-4-2

While messing around with tactics in another save, I figured I would try a 4-4-2 with DM's. It has worked a treat in the J.3 League for me in my journeyman, so I want to carry it over here. It is still a counter attacking tactic, so it fits with our team philosophy. It should help shore up the defense. It took until September 30th to make this switch, so every match before Reading (A) was with either the 4-4-2 narrow or the 4-2-3-1. Everyone will have PI's put on them and the roles vary in the WB/WM slots, depending on the type of player we have there.

The first match against Reading provided promising results:

Transfer Targets:

Left Back:

Both of our 1st team Left Backs are on loan this season, so we have absolutely no one to play there when they leave. I want to sign a long-term starter and a short-term backup.

Target: Freitas

He will have to learn the position, but looks like the perfect inverted wingback.

Advanced Forward:

We have 4/5 of our strikers on loan this season, so much like left back, I need at least 2 players that can play here. I'm confident in Mason Bennett to be our Complete Forward, and he's been a revelation in that role. But we need a true goal scorer, and we've been missing that this whole season.

Target: Kun Temenuzhkov

The former Leeds and Barcelona academy player is a really solid advanced forward. He's also capable of playing the Complete Forward role. The versatility and ability to play both of those roles was the main reason we signed him. He comes in from Gibraltarian side Lincoln Red Imps for $9.75k. He's on $2k p/w and his only bonus is a $275 goal bonus.

Left and Right Wingers:

With Mark Helm (Our Long Term Wide Playmaker at LM) out until around mid March, I want to improve our wing-play.

Target: Lepua

We're going to play him as our starting Inverted Winger on the left and our backup Segundo Volante/Complete Forward.

Giovanni will be our complete utility man.

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Tactical Evolution:

Around mid-February, we had started to struggle heavily. We couldn't create chances, we couldn't stop conceding chances, and we conceded from what felt like every set piece. Now that we've got a few signings under our belt, I wanted to create a new tactic to fit in our best players. Now, who are our best players, and how are they performing?

Here are the stats for this season. Goalkeeper Max Crocombe is having an absolutely awful season, and will be dropped. 4 mistakes leading to goal and 84% expected save ratio is awful. In terms of defenders, Sam Hughes is our best center back, with some really promising stats. He's averaging 12.63 possession wins per 90, and only losing the ball around half that amount per 90. He also has our highest pass completion ratio at 91%. His CB partner will be Toto Nsiala for the time being, as he has some promising metrics in around 5 full matches. Seddon and Hamer will be our left and right full backs, respectively. Seddon is our main progressive passer and chance creator from the defensive third, while Hamer is more of a defensive option. In midfield, our holding option should be Deji Oshilaja. He has the highest interceptions per 90, headers per 90, as well as header ratio. He's not afraid to make a progressive pass, but his key passes being .38 per 90 is extremely disappointing. He should be  strictly an anchor man. Our 8's will be Mark Helm, who's just about ready to come back from his injury, and Joe Powell. Powell and Helm are our best chance creators in the midfield. They are also our only midfielders with multiple key passes per 90. They will play ahead of Oshilaja. On the wings, it will be Giovanni on the left. He's been a revelation since coming in during the January window. He is more of a creator than an out and out winger. He will be a wide playmaker, of sorts. Mason Bennett will be our out and out winger on the right hand side. Up top, I know Kun Temenuzhkov has been horrible so far, and the stats back that up. However, he is our best long-term option. He will be roaming, coming deep and trying to free up space for our 8's to run into.

Best XI and how it looks:

Our first match against Carlisle was incredible!