Tivvy18

Just making a note to say that I've now reported my finances being listed as 'insecure' as a bug. I don't want to diminish the save at all but it feels like the board pumping in £120k and £70k consistently is due to us being rated as 'insecure' and now it's impacting my ability to ask for improvements. I'm still hoping I've just missed something and it all makes perfect sense. What that would be at this point I'm just guessing but I've had saves before FM24 where I've been deep in the negatives and still rated as 'okay.'

August 2026 League It seems to be a feature of this save that we tend to have a really strong August. Our second XI managed to get two wins against Aveley and Enfield, though it needed substitutions to kick them into life a bit. The Slough result was very pleasing as we came back from 3-1 down to dominate them at half time. I'm not going to say anything but recent experience suggests that this will be as good as it gets for the season. Transfers Parker has come in to replace Hall. Wood is now our second choice ARM and Patten comes in to offer some cover at DM. I'm still feeling a bit light at the back, though, so I will hopefully secure another back up DC if I can.

Preseason 26/27 At least the results improved as we went down the leagues. Though the Derby win, I think, shows that we haven't necessarily been playing badly. Transfers Biggest news is that our best defender has left and currently going into our first game of the season we are short at the back. Not ideal but hopefully a replacement is just days away from being confirmed. This is the current list of signings. From my wish list: Maciocia comes in at DM, Donelon our new DL, Covolan our new keeper, Stevens comes in at AMR and Purkis is now our main man up front (though not the physical striker I wanted). The bookies have us at 8th. We were initially 4th but we have clearly not impressed as much with our transfer dealings. The main takeaway is that we should be challenging for the play off spots and that is what I want to do as a minimum. Finances We continue to be rated as insecure even though we now have more money in the bank then at any point this save. No net debt so I continue to have no clue what is going on here. I know the board are investing heavily to keep us running but I don't get how the rating is worked out as the threshold seems to increase each season. I may report it as a bug at this point because something seems off to me but I could well be wrong here. We are potentially down to spend just under £450k on wages this year. It's getting to the point where I am spending more than I realistically would like to but I think it needs to be done to take us to the next level. This is our fourth season at this level and we have not even had a shot at the play offs yet. World Cup He's only gone and won it. On penalties too! I have no idea what would happen if Southgate did actually win the Euros and a World Cup IRL. Lord Southgate? Maybe he finally learnt and that's why he's had so much success?

National League South 26/27 Start of Preseason I didn't realise the Bristol Rovers match wouldn't be counted before the reset date so we have already played it. Some sloppy play led to some of their goals and I would say that we gave a good account of ourselves against now Championship opposition. I've gone for a new tactic of slowly reducing the strength of teams as we get to the end of preseason. Hopefully the morale hit won't be too bad! The Pride of the West Country update We welcome back Weymouth to the National League South and this is how the West Country shape up for representation this season. Attendance update I think this shows that playing back in Truro has made quite a big difference on our attendances. We've more than doubled our average from last season. Other news I did not realise that Bury could get promoted! They start their long climb up again in the National League North. Hopefully it won't be a short stay.

End of Season Competition Updates The Pride of the West Country Quite a bit of upward movement this year and again each tier has a representative from the South West. Plymouth lost out in the play off final to Leicester meaning Bournemouth continue to lead the table as the only team in the Premier League. Bristol Rovers join the Championship. Forest Green are back in the league on the second time of asking. Weston-super-Mare replace them in the National League. It's funny how that at the start of the save there were nine teams from the South West in the National League North/South and now, unless someone comes up, that has gone down to just Torquay and ourselves. In fact we are the the only team now that hasn't been promoted or relegated. Leagues Premier League Champions - Man Utd Champions League - Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham (Champions League winners), Aston Villa, Newcastle (Europa League winners) Europa League - Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham Europa Conference League - Crystal Palace Relegated - Brighton, Burnley, Birmingham I'm including the table here because the entire top half got a European place. I thought there were rules in place to limit the amount of teams a single nation could have in Europe? There's going to be six teams in the Champions League! Championship Champions - Fulham Promoted - Wolves Play Off Winners - Leicester Relegated - Portsmouth, Blackpool, Bolton League One Champions - West Brom Promoted - Wigan Play Off Winners - Bristol Rovers Relegated - Walsall, Stockport, Grimsby, Port Vale League Two Champions - Swindon Promoted - Bromley, Tranmere Play Off Winners - Wrexham Relegated - Morecambe, Stevenage National League Champions - Scunthorpe Play Off Winners - Forest Green Relegated - Spennymoor, Blyth, Boreham Wood, Ebbsfleet National League North Champions - South Shields Play Off Winners - Scarborough Relegated - Brackley, Banbury, Bradford (PA), Guiseley National League South Champions - Weston-super-Mare Play Off Winners - Worthing Relegated - Farnborough, Folkestone, Dover, Margate Domestic Cups FA Cup Man City 2 - 1 Tottenham League Cup Man Utd 2 - 1 Tottenham Community Shield Arsenal 2 - 1 Man Utd EFL Trophy Rotherham 1 - 2 West Brom FA Trophy Torquay 0 - 1 Weston-super-Mare Continental Cups Champions League Tottenham 1 - 0 PSG Europa League Lille 0 - 2 Newcastle Europa Conference League Real Sociedad p 0 - 0 Sassuolo Super Cup Tottenham 1 - 0 Barcelona (after extra time)

End of Season Analysis Squad How much can I take the ratings into account? We chopped and changed so much this season that I don't think it is entirely fair to put much consideration into the average ratings. I am pleased to see five of the players that I would deem the core of our squad are green though. The thing that does seem to be lacking are goals. Neal provided was clear top goal scorer and no one else broke the 10 goal mark. I like that the assists seem fairly spread about with the main number coming from Harvey and Beckett on the left. Finances We are once again insecure so the board won't consider any investment in facilities (not that they do anyway). Plan of attack for preseason The squad needs trimming. I am pretty set on playing a 4-2-3-1 next season so that gives some focus on where to recruit and which players can slip away once their contracts expire. Unfortunately our top goal scorer this season, Neal, is asking for a wage increase that I'm not happy to meet. He will be 33 next season and I feel that his time as first choice is coming to an end. I've already got someone at the club who I think should be a suitable replacement. The only thing that worries me about Edworthy is his work rate. He hasn't been the most prolific when he has played but then Neal hasn't been the most consistent scorer either. In terms of a like for like replacement, I think I'm set. However, one thing that I am finding is that I lack any kind of physicality up front and will be looking to sign a striker who has a bit of height to him. Priority targets are a new DL, AMR, DM and a physical ST. Secondary targets are GK and DC.

April 2026 League 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. A disappointing end to the season. If we had got the three wins we would have pipped Dartford to 7th on goal difference. We would likely not have made it anywhere in the play offs but still. The fans can go away dreaming of what could have been and I have to start the hard work of strengthening the squad. Youth Intake This was such a non-event that I completely missed the intake. The pick of the bunch is an AML who probably won't amount to much. In fact the more I look at him the less I see in him. The most I can say is he has physicals to do something but meh... The board are really reluctant to do anything youth related which annoys me. Despite asking plenty and having a decent bit in the bank the most I can get out of them so far is to improve the recruitment and even that was an argument.

March 2026 League We just don't have the consistency. The second XI went down to 10 men before they decided to start having a go at Wealdstone. Aveley were lucky given how many times we hit the woodwork and that should have been a win for us. Never got going against Welling and then we managed to snatch a draw at Dartford. With five matches left this is how it stands. We are still in touching distance of 7th. I think we would need at minimum three wins to be in the picture at the end of April but we have to play three teams currently sitting in the play off spots. I'd like to think we could pull off a shock but I'm not going to be disappointed if we don't. My plan is to finish as strongly as possible and then strengthen over the summer for the big push next season. Coming soon... Don't get too excited. I know I'm not...

February 2026 A bit like Groundhog Day League and the tactical process I feel like all I've done this week is play Torquay, Maidenhead and Farnborough, trying to work out why things are going wrong. I don't mind not winning. I do mind not winning when things just stop working. We've not been doing well since the turn of the year - possession hasn't translated into goals and I could almost guarantee where a goal was going to come from. It's got to the point where I could carry on not playing well, tweaking every match in the hope of sorting things out and not have fun or I could just reload a few games and tweak each time to try to understand what's going wrong and fix it that way (and not have fun). I opted for the latter and I think I have found something that seems good enough to build on. I'm sure that isn't the first time I have said that in this thread... The 4-3-3 just wasn't cutting it and I've decided to change shape. The AP-s is set to roam and the DMCR is set to hold position. The DL has changed from a FB-a to an FB-s as I was finding the flank was getting too far forward too quickly. The IFB-D has changed to a WB-D as it finally clicked that the W-A was often isolated and had no choice but to go it alone (which he still often does but at least there's more of a choice now). It's been a week long process of deciding that I wasn't getting the penetration with the 4-3-3 and no matter what I tried nothing seemed to work. The good thing about these set of matches is that it covered the whole league - Torquay are fighting for play offs, Maidenhead are midtable, Farnborough are fighting relegation - it is just a shame that I had to play my weaker 2nd squad against Maidenhead. I don't think we deserved to lose the match and if we took a few more chances it would have been 3/3 wins. So where are we now? Performances have improved in these three matches and it's got to the point where I can say "we lost because we didn't take our chances" rather than "we lost because how I think they should play isn't how they are playing." I would love it if FM had the facility to do this sort of thing without replaying matches over and over again. As there isn't such a feature I felt like this was the best thing to do otherwise I could see this save coming to a premature end due to frustration. Thanks for the support. Hopefully this will be a turning point in the save where I can start thinking about tactical consistency to really push on.

January 2026 Confession time: I rage quit the game when I played Hampton & Richmond (first game in February) without saving since the Eastbourne match. I will leave the original set of results at the bottom of the post so that it will forever remain a source of shame for me. I hope you can forgive me League The lack of goals is concerning me and our efficiency up front needs addressing soon. I'm just not entirely sure how. I've swapped the side I play my AP-s in midfield over which seems to have made a big difference with how we are keeping the ball (I don't think I have actually shown my current 4-3-3 tactic) but something is just not clicking up front. The original January 2026 before rage quitting

December 2025 League Our best month in the league since August and all it took was to tell everyone to pass it shorter. It's been clear our passing has been all over the place for quite a while but it took a moment of inspiration to decide to actually tell them what to do rather than leave it up to them. Results and performances have improved markedly though I am still not happy about dropping our fun tactic from earlier on... Another thing clear is that our second XI is not strong and saw our only loss in the league this month. I'll have to be very careful when I rotate the squad going forward. We end the year sitting 5th and holding on to our play off spot. FA Trophy I think I would rather focus on the league then get distracted by cups this season but this was a bad loss. Finances Seems that £680k is the magic number that makes our finances okay. The board aren't considering any upgrades though but have let me start the next coaching course.

November 2025 League Fun is over. The Welling match was one were we got ahead and they pegged up back immediately. The Dartford game was essentially the final straw. I've dropped the fun tactic because we've decided defending is just too difficult and I've switched to a 4-3-3 that, though defending much better, is lacking much goal scoring currently. Admittedly Tonbridge and Braintree were difficult opponents and confidence is lacking at the moment, I am hoping that once the goals get flowing we might find ourselves in a better place. As it stands we are currently holding onto 7th. FA Cup As expected, Fleetwood battered us. FA Trophy We found our level in the FA Trophy. I think the stats speak for themselves and yet we only managed one goal from open play and the other came from a corner.

Is this a bug? Honestly I'm out of ideas now. We have over half a million in the bank. The board keeps giving us cash injections (not that I'm complaining). We have no net debt. Why are we still listed as insecure?

October 2025 League This felt a little bit familiar. Fortunately we at least picked up 4 points but defending was practically non existent at times. The Farnborough result was particularly concerning as it bucked the trend that we usually dominate the weaker teams. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come. FA Cup Despite the media wanting to focus on our poor league form, normal service resumed for a brief while at Eastbourne as we ran wild. Up next is an away tie at League One Fleetwood where I fully expect our run to end this year. Finances Another £100k injection and we are still classed as insecure

September 2025 League I wouldn't say a convincing month in the league. Two wins and a draw but we've started to struggle up front. Torquay really hammered us when they attacked and I think the story of the season will be that we will beat the teams who are weaker and then struggle against stronger opposition. The loss sees us slip to 4th having enjoyed top spot for a few games. FA Cup Two wins so far and we are into the fourth qualifying round. With the right draws this could be a decent season for a cup run. I'm not holding my breath. Youth debuts An unattached youth that I signed in the first season. Enjoyed a goal scoring debut against Poole.

Don't jinx it now! This is how last season started and then just look where we ended up!

August 2025 So here we are at the end of August. Unbeaten somehow and more importantly still in the job. We started off the new season with the first league match at the Stadium for Cornwall which saw a record crowd that seems to have stuck around a bit. Being closer to home is clearly doing the trick. So what was the tactic that seems to have done the trick? Taking some inspiration from BusttheNet and SteinkelssonFM, given the situation I thought why not? This is probably the most unlikely me tactic I have ever played but I'm enjoying watching it work though I have questions about the defending. I wouldn't be surprised if we became a team that only win by outscoring the opposition. Early days but we sit at the top of the table. Will we manage to remain there? Contract Our finances are still insecure but I was offered a new 2 year deal which makes me think all the excuses were because they were waiting on the promise to come through.

August 2025 The Last Game Before Judgement We definitely did not deserve to win this. An 89th minute long range shot gave us the points but the 2nd team were not comfortable at all. We succeeded after three games so this lost a lot of its tension. 4 wins and 1 draw is our best run of form since this time last year. My main concern is that now I'm on a month to month contract that they will be able to sack me for the slightest thing. As soon as I see our finances are classed as okay I will be requesting a new one.

August 2025 It's all looking brighter with two games to go We did enough to win this. We did enough to lose it. A draw was probably a fair result. With 10 points the board should surely be satisfied at my performance?

August 2025 Three matches. One win needed. I could have done without their goal but that's the win to take us to 9 points and the board's target has been met with two games spare. I was trying to build a bit of tension but I'll take the wins over drama today! Not included is their offside goal that they scored in injury time... Now if I was paranoid I would think that the fact they listed it twice shows just how much they wanted rid of me. But given what game I'm playing it is just FM doing FM things... Finances Also FM things... I really don't get this at all. How are we still listed as insecure? If this is the reason than I don't get why it's an issue this season and not last season. We've never had more money in the balance and the net debt has decreased massively. Anyone got any ideas?

August 2025 Four matches remaining... The second team have done it though it took until the 91st minute to make me feel relaxed.

August 2025 Five games to save my job A team I've not beaten in three games to start with. In front of a bumper crowd as people get to see the Stadium for Cornwall host its first ever league match. Will the occasion get the better of us?

Preseason 25/26 A mixed bag as we try out a new formation but the way I see it is that if I'm going to lose my job I may as well do something a bit more fun. I'll save the big reveal for if and when I manage to get those magical 8 points needed to save myself. Stadium update We say goodbye to Plymouth... ...and we are back to make a glorious return to Truro. Finances Looks like the board are also happy to put in money. What I really don't get though is why we are being listed as insecure? It must be something to do with the loan but we've been listed as okay at £100k so I have no idea why we aren't now.

National League South 25/26 Start of Preseason This is preseason for us this year. We have four big matches to start and then play weaker opposition to get ready for the season. I'm hoping the four matches to start with will see us pull in a fair amount of money. The Bristol City match is particularly momentous as that is the first match to be played at our new stadium. Personal My contract is still due to expire and I take the chairman at his word when he says it's because of the finances and not because they just don't like me. I'm hoping that the money earned from the first four friendlies will be enough to get this through. On another note I am now a qualified coach which may help things if I need to look for another job. Club reputation I suppose being the subject of everyone's jokes has helped a bit with our reputation. At least they were talking about us!