Virtual Male

@DrJones Making some good progress there! Oriental Dragons are a really unique club, super interesting youth policy.

After thinking that I'd lost the save to it corrupting and having a sad afternoon I remembered why I backup my important saves externally. I lost a month or so but nothing that changes anything worth noting, still the same intake etc. I've no idea what caused the save file to die but after some googling I've seen that there's been people having some issues when adding playable leagues after the start of a save (which is something I'd done) so I assume that's what did it. Season 9 3032/33 Manager Profile - Competitions - Finances - Facilities Competitions Vanarama National League (Past Positions) - Going into the season I thought we might be able to do something but I wasn't expecting to finish the season sat at the top of the table! We moved into 1st early on and never went anywhere else, in the end it looked quite comfortable. The Emirates FA Cup - 1st round exit after an early red against Bromely. The Isuzu FA Trophy - The less said about this one the better, 3rd round exit against Gillingham. Squad - As a whole I'm very happy with the players I have at my disposal. Lots of players with potential, to a point that I'm actually having a bit a headache giving everyone the gametime that they need.... Will need to start making use of the loan market next season I think. Ryan Astley (2025YP9) - More goal contributions than games played for the 3rd consecutive season as an attacking midfielder, I really can't say enough positive things about this guy. I am a little worried he might not be able to make the step up into the Football League but we'll see. Alun Duckett (2030YP9) - By far the teams best player and he's been the main man this year with 33 league goals. Once I got the opportunity I got him tied down to a long-ish contract and massively overpaid with bonuses to get rid of the release clauses he was after. I can't imagine he'll want to renew further than he currently has with him being rated a 'leading' League 1 player currently with room to improve so I've started making plans for when he's off in a year or two already. Youth Intake (Preview) - Another decent intake with two stand out players. Nothing special with personalities. Robert Jones (2033YP1) - Straight in with first team quality, I'll have to move things around a little bit to get him some semi-regular gametime next season but he looks like he could be something special if we can keep other teams away. David Gregory (2033YP2) - Another that'll be in the first team next season, not sure he's the same quality as Jones but with full time training I'm hoping he'll be one of the best at the club by the times he's 18. Transfers & Finances - Nothing notable with transfers, just a couple that were never going to make the grade leaving for frees. The bank balance is looking quite healthy and we made a small profit even after the infrastructure spend was taken into account, the wage bill has ballooned with the club turning professional though so I'm going into the season expecting to be losing money, I'm just not sure how much. Other - As a result of the promotion into the Football League we turn professional and spent the profit made over the season on some stadium work to being the seating capacity up to meet the League rules. We also convinced the board to send us to complete the Continental B Licence despite their protests that it might make us too attractive to other teams. Bingo Card - Managed to get a fair few marked off this season with the back to back promotions, 16/100 I'm not really sure what to expect going into the first season in the Football League, we'll be favourites to come straight back down I'd imagine but it's only the bottom 2 that go down and I'm backing the team to do better than that... Only time will tell.

Well that's not ideal....

@DazRTaylor You're flying through the leagues!! You'll be all wrapped up with the challenge by 2040 at this rate Congratulations mate, I've no idea how you're managing it. I can't say I've noticed the player development being any faster than usual to be honest, but that could just be because I'm still Semi-Pro so no-one trains anyway.

Season 8 2031/32 Manager Profile - Competitions - Finances - Facilities Competitions Vanarama National League South (Past Positions) - It's all coming together now. We had a dominant season and broke a number of records along the way, highest points total in a season, highest number of wins in a season and most goals scored all go to show just how much better than the rest we were this year. We hit the top of the league after 7 games and never looked back finishing the season on 118 points and 22 clear of 2nd place. The Emirates FA Cup - 1st round exit against League 1 Millwall, I felt hard done by since we'd had the better of the game only for Millwall to grab an 89th minute winner. The Isuzu FA Trophy - I think bringing this trophy home is more impressive than what we did in the league and leaves me quite hopeful for next season. From the 4th round onward we only faced clubs in the division above and the only game that was close was the 4th round against Southport in which we relied on penalties. Even Tamworth who ran away with the Vanarama National League was a fairly routine win in the Semi-Final and a 2-1 win against Stevenage at Wembley saw us lifting the FA Trophy for the 2nd time in the clubs history. Squad - The whole team played well this year with only 2 averaging less than a 7.0 (one of those being 6.99) and quite a lot of player growth has happened so I think we'll be fine next year. Ryan Astley (2025YP9) - Another great year from our main man, the season stat tracker is broken but he scored 32 league goals to become the top scorer in club history with 132 goals in 272 appearances. Overall he made 61 goal contributions in 52 games and really was the heartbeat of the team. Alun Duckett (2030YP9) - The young forward broke into the team last season and his form carried on into this year 47 G/A in 43 games at 17 years old is very impressive and I'm hoping he can carry the form into next year. Youth Intake (Preview) - A good preview, even if it is more strikers and wingers which the club has an abundance of at the moment, but I can't complain. Only 1 5* player this year but it looks like a fairly solid intake. Sam Haggett (2032YP3) - is the pick of the bunch and will get first team minutes next year, I'm hoping that his relatively low potential is an oversight from my staff but even if it isn't he should turn into a useful player with a good personality. Transfers & Finances - The board wouldn't approve any upgrades so there's still a little over £1m in the bank, I think the next thing the board will do is look towards turning professional given the youth recruitment and junior coaching are at their highest and the youth and training facilities are about adequate and average respectively. Again nothing of note in the transfers, just letting some deadwood go. Other - After a few years of saying they couldn't risk me being too good for the club the board have finally approved and sent me to get my Continental C Licence, I'm hoping to get them to send me for the B licence over the summer. Bingo Card - Thanks to the league win we're up to 11/100 Somewhat unrelated buy my U18 team haven't had a league invitation for a couple of years now, I'm assuming it'll just sort itself out but it's a pain having to arrange friendlies for all of my youth teams. Anyone had similar?

Make the most of it before you get promoted, you don't get the money awarded in the top division (at least not in fm23), so I was bringing in significantly less income in the Bundesliga than I was in the 2.Bundesliga with Wiener Sport-Club last year.

@DazRTaylor You're flying through the leagues! You look to have the firepower to be comfortable in League 1, good luck!

I'm fairly sure it goes from the 'nation trained at' part of the players profile, everyone coming through your club will count. The money isn't awarded in the A.Bundesliga though, or wasn't last year.

Season 7 2030/31 Manager Profile - Competitions - Finances - Facilities Competitions Vanarama National League South (Past Positions) - I was expecting it to be another tough season after last years relegation and it started abysmally, we were conceding almost twice as many goals as our xGA and couldn't put the ball in the net at the other end either. After a bad run of results and some tactical changes it started to come together and we ended up finishing in a respectable 9th place, something to build on next year. The Emirates FA Cup - The FA Cup has become a massive competition for us and has been a real money spinner over the years. We got some favourable draws and a massive result against a League 2 Crewe to make it into the third round again and we got what could be almost the perfect draw with an away game against Manchester City. Obviously that ended in a heavy defeat but it brought almost £1m into the club which we'll be sure to make good use of. The Isuzu FA Trophy - Knocked out in the third round by another Welsh club, Newport County. Squad - After last years end of season tantrum I released all the legacy players apart from one who'll be leaving in a month or two so that leaves the club entirely populated by youth products. maybe it's a little soon since our experienced guys are 21/22 years old but if not now when? Seems to have worked out this season and there has been loads of player development that I've just not seen in most players until this point. Ryan Astley (2025YP9) - Most goals, assists, Motm awards and highest average rating, there's nothing he can't do! He signed another long term contract early in the season so he'll be sticking around for a while to come. Youth Intake (Preview) - I forgot to grab a screenshot of the preview but it was very average. The actual intake wasn't like they have been but I'm going to say that's because the squad has got better so the 5* potential bar has been raised. Llion Davies (2031YP1) - Immediately our best left back and he came into the team for the last half dozen games of the season playing well and averaging over a 7.0. Transfers & Finance - Nothing to see with the transfers again, just players leaving of frees when it becomes apparent they'll never play a part for the first team. Massive boost to the bank balance this year thanks the the FA Cup run, were sat on over £1m now and looking to invest it back into the facilities when the board allow it. Other - Some other upgrades this season though, the Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment twice so they're now both at an 'exceptional' level, I think there's maybe one more until they're both maxed. Bingo Card - Thanks to Ryan Astley reaching 100 league goals I got a 10th square marked off.

I'm at a loss, we're creating chances but can't convert and at the other end we're letting in nearly twice the number of goals we should be. It's got to be a player quality thing right?

Season 6 2029/30 Manager Profile - Competitions - Finances Competitions Vanarama National League - The less said the better, dead last and by some way too. We're just too soft, can't convert chances and may as well just be playing without a keeper. We conceded 35 more goals than the xG said we should and scored 22 less than we 'should' have too, I genuinely don't know what I'm meant to do about that. Anyway, back to the Vanarama South. Squad - Just very poor all round.. Got to a point that I knew the drop was inevitable so I dropped the legacy players in favour of youth to try and encourage some development, we still lost and I'm not sure anyone got better tbh. Youth Intake (Preview) - The only saving grace really, another good one but if no-one seems to develop there's not much to be done with them. Mike Cox-Davies (2030YP4) - Could probably do a job in some capacity, a good personality but massive holes in his attributes too. Transfers & Finance - We're profitable now, so I guess that's something. I'm releasing all the legacy players who's contracts are up over the summer, could be a terrible move but they're not setting the world on fire so I doubt they'll be missed and at least then the game time can go to someone who might actually make us better. Other - No upgrades and I'm frankly shocked I've still got a job after that stinker of a season. Going into next I'm hopeful we can just play some football and stabilize for a couple of seasons.... The media think we'll be the leagues run away losers though and are pricing us at 500-1 so we'll see what happens. An incredibly demotivating season.

Cheers! The following season isn't going well at all, relegation is very much on the cards I think.

Season 5 2028/29 Manager Profile - Competitions - Finances - Facilities Competitions Vanarama National League (Past Positions) - A rough season, we never found any consistency and the defence and keeper let us down a lot throughout the season. Spent the majority of the season hovering 5/6 points above the relegation zone but a tough run in at the end of the season left me thinking we were going down. Luckily the teams under us were just awful and we avoided the drop by 1 point. The Emirates FA Cup - Made it into the FA Cup proper again but no heroics this year with a 1t round exit. The Isuzu FA Trophy - My first trophy!!! (winning the play-offs doesn't count right?). Quite a fortunate run to be honest, the first team we faced that had anything about them was South Shields in the Semi-Final, a late winner saw us get the better of Julio Arca's team and would see us come up against Bath in the final, who had just lost the play-off Finals. The game ended up being rather dull, an early red for Bath saw them sit back and defend pretty much nullifying our attack with the only goal of the game coming from a direct free kick and handing Merthyr Town their first silverware of my reign... Hopefully plenty more to come. Squad - The lack of quality at the back really let us down again this year, especially our keeper who conceded 12 more than the xG showed and we had a league low of 5 clean sheets in the season. I'll have to try to figure that out over the summer. Zack Maher - My spotlight player should probably be Ryan Astley since he won both the league Top Scorer and Player of the Season but I can't talk about him every season so I'm spreading the love. Zack Maher is one of the legacy players that's still getting a good amount of game time and he came up big this season with 11 goals and 9 assists in the league from DM, since he's only 26 too he should have plenty of time left in him which is good given the youth players don't really develop much with part-time training. Youth Intake (Preview) - 5 A's in the preview left me rushing to March when I'd get the intake and it defiantly didn't disappoint. 11 5* players with one that'll walk straight into the first team and hopefully solve some of our defensive issues. Sam Jones (2029YP1) - Just turned 16 and already they best keeper at the club. He'll be rotating with Cogman next season just to avoid over playing him at such a young age because I've got it in my head that's in some way damaging to youth development but I'd happily be corrected by one of you guys who knows more. Transfers & Finances - One out this season, no-one important though. The finances aren't looking good with nearly a £500k loss over the season, I'm not sure there's much I can really do about that though so We'll just have to try to ride it out I suppose. Other - A couple of upgrades this year, the board decided to up the Youth Category of the club so were category 4 now, the yearly cost will be about £300k though and I'm not sure we can afford it really. I got my National A Licence too but I think that'll be it for a while now given the financial state of the club. Bingo Card - 9/100, when I started filling this in I was a little disappointed that the win the vanarama south box would be forever red but given how we played this season we might well end up back down there soon .

@the_hdk, @KingKCrush massive seasons for both of you and deserved promotions, hopefully top tier football will bring some more money in for both of your clubs.

I made a copy of the selection info from the tactics screen which has the little faces and then customised it in the squad view to get the columns I wanted. I feel like being able to see the players faces makes them a bit more 'real' and easier to get an attachment to them.

Season 4 2027/28 Manager Profile - Competitions - Finances - Facilities Competitions Vanarama National League (Past Positions) - After the first 6 games I naively thought we'd be in the hunt for a play-off spot come the end of the season.... We promptly went 12 games without a win and dropped all the way down to 18th where we settled and finished the season in 17th. Overall a success but lots of work to be done. The Emirates FA Cup - They must be heating the balls at the draws, I've only ever come up against either non-league or Premier League opposition in the FA Cup. This year saw a ridiculously simple run all the way to the 4th round where we drew Man City away, obviously that didn't go well for us but brought in nearly £800k which has done the club very well. The Isuzu FA Trophy - used to get some players fitness and rotate for minutes, lost in the 4th round. Squad - It's all looking very average if I'm honest, our stand out player in terms of ability is rated 'Decent for Vanarama North/South' so that says it all really doesn't it. Ryan Astley (2025YP9) - Mr dependable again, 23 G/A in the league and has won us games on his own at times. He's been developing really nicely but was refusing to sign a contract so I had the bright idea of activating the 1 year extension he'd agreed to with his current contract. That was a mistake I guess because he immediately handed in a transfer request due to being 'forced' to stay at a club he doesn't want to play for. He's got 3 years on his current deal though so he won't be going anywhere unless he starts to tank the team morale. Youth Intake (Preview) - Another very good intake with lost of high potential players, how good they could actually be is anyone's guess though since it's a low bar they're being measured against. Some fairly decent personalities. Graham Thomas (2028YP6) - Professional, 5* potential, consistent and not awful ability (ignore the 1 strength), what is there not to like?!?! Hopefully there's no freak injuries and he should make a first team impact at some point in the next couple of years. Transfers & Finances - Nothing to see in transfers again. Made a whopping £17k profit over the season, nearly £200k in the bank Other - Lots of upgrades this season funded by the City game in the FA Cup, I decided it would be better to make sure the money was spend quickly so the ta man couldn't get his hands on it at the end of the season, the board agreed to Junior Coaching, Youth Recruitment, Youth Facilities & Training Facilities upgrades. They wouldn't let me start another coaching badge under any circumstances though in case other clubs become interested in me as a result. All I'm missing is a link to the bingo card to fill in @Neo_Geo

That's rough, it's the hope that kills you. Plenty of time to get another save going though.

Season 3 2026/27 Manager Profile - Competitions - Finances - Facilities Competitions - Vanarama National League North - Very much a season of 2 halves. I changed the tactics a little in an attempt to sure the defence up and at the start of the season it looked like it was working really well, going in to the new year we sat at the top of the table with a 7 point gap to 2nd and it looked like we actually knew how to play football. That all changed after a loss in the FA Cup, morale tanked and we plummeted down the table, I think we were as far down as 10th at one point. Everything I tried to get some form back just seemed to make things worse so we just stopped trying to defend at all really and too an approach of if you score 4 we'll score 5 and it seemed to do the job, a good run in the final 3rd of the season saw us creep back into the playoffs and on the back of that good form none of the playoff games were close really, even winning the final 5-2! So it's the Vanarama National League for Merthyr next season!!! From what I remember from previous saves in England the quality isn't a massive step up so I'm hoping for a fairly solid season and anything other than relegation will be a success. The Emirates FA Cup - We made it all the way to the 3rd round thanks to drawing exclusively non-league teams. I was hoping for a money spinner when the draw cam around and that's what we got, Arsenal away!! The game wasn't a fun one to manage, we 10-1 and the season sort of fell apart from there. Luckily we still managed to get promoted, otherwise the £300k we got from the fixture might not have been worth it. The Isuzu FA Trophy - No such heroics in this one, 3rd round exit. Squad - Not hugely different from the previous season, a handful of youths getting minutes again but no-one ground-breaking. I'm praying for a good keeper to come trough the academy because Cogman is a liability. Mathew Hughes (2025YP6) - The best we've produced so far an was the top scorer this season. I had big hopes of him carrying us to survival next season but he had no interest in renewing his contract which was a pain but that stuff is always going to happen in the lower levels isn't it. Having played a little of the next season he moved to Eastleigh, scored 2 in 2, mutually terminated his contract and has now retired so I'm not sure he made the right call with leaving. Oh, well. Youth Intake (Preview) - Another pretty good intake, all be it top heavy again. Not many decent personalities but one stand out player in my eyes. Travis Collins (2027YP4) - If it wasn't for already having Ryan Astley this guy would be straight into my starting XI. I'll make sure to get him plenty of playing time so he can step up when his time comes. Transfers & Finances - No transfers again. The bank balance is looking pretty goo off the back of both the FA Cup run and to board just popping an extra £100k in there at the start of the season, I'm hesitant to start spending too much on facilities until we're in a place to turn professional really. Other - I have made sure to use some of the money from this season though so the tax man doesn't get it all, we've upgraded our Youth recruitment, Junior coaching & Training facilities so hopefully we'll see some benefit in the coming season.

@XaW Great first season, how you managed that with so few players available is crazy! Looks like you've got a board that'll back you with upgrades too, looking like you're building a solid platform to build from.

@HanziZoloman Massive step there mate! Easy sailing now you're in the Football league. The earl will be channelling his inner Delia Smith on a Premier league pitch in no time.

Season 2 2025/26 Manager Profile - Competitions - Finances - Facilities Competitions Vanarama National League North - A 5th place finish which is a marked improvement on last year, yet I'm still quite disappointed with it really. I think the pressure got to the players at the business end of the season, we'd been top for the majority of the year and only dropped below 2nd place for the first time in game week 40. A lot of points were dropped from winning positions too so I can't blame anyone but myself for that really, I need to start managing games better and shutting up shop when the team has a solid lead (On more than one occasion we managed to draw games we'd been 3 or 4 goals up in). The Emirates FA Cup - Made it to the FA Cup proper, should have probably done better against Barnet given they've been relegated from the Vanarama National this season but the cup competitions aren't really a focus for me right now. The Isuzu FA Trophy - 4th round exit to Gateshead, I'd like to win this one at some point for the sake of saying I have. Might pay a little more attention to it in the coming years. Squad - Being able to make subs is pretty cools isn't it!! you don't know what you've got until its gone, I suppose . The team is looking much better than last season, mainly because it's a proper size now but most of the performance levels have carried over from last season and the half dozen or so 16 year olds that have got game time this season have given good showings of themselves, overall I'm pretty happy with it. Ryan Astley (2025YP9) - Talking of last years graduates doing themselves proud, Ryan, who I keep thinking is called Rick, was the top performer for the season. He doesn't look like anything super special but I'm not risking him going anywhere so he's been given a proper contract and will hopefully keep on developing. Youth Intake (Preview) - Another 'Excellent' intake and it does look like there's plenty of potential in there, with 2 looking like they could give me some more options for rotation. Again, not great personalities but there's a couple of decent ones in there that could end up doing something. Jamie Jones (2026YP4) - Probably just getting overexcited because the attributes are nothing special really but he's resolute so high professionality so hopefully even with out awful facilities and part time training he'll turn into a half decent footballer. Transfers & Finances - Nothing really going on here, I'm hoping for no outs this season and am in the process of tying up contract renewals currently. No-one is asking for massive wage increases so fingers crossed everyone plays ball, to be honest there's a few of the legacy players that I wouldn't be upset to see go, including last seasons star Oliver Mehew who's been nothing but a pain this year. We've a few quid in the bank now and I've been pushing for any upgrades but the board aren't keen and clearly don't understand this challenge! Other - Did manager to get the board to agree to a Junior Coaching upgrade, so that's up to average and I'll be fully expecting to be making that list of the worlds best academies next season on the back of it.

It came in at the start of April, I think there were still 6 or 7 games left in the season. Later than usual.

@XaW That's rough! It looks like the first season is just about holding on and wrapping everyone in cotton wool.

Season 1 2024/25 Manager Profile - Competitions - Finances Competitions Vanarama National League North - With a squad of 14 players and newly promoted my hopes weren't too high, fortunately we managed to avoid many injuries and my backup keeper only had to play outfield twice so it went pretty well really. A solid 13th place finish and in the play-off race for most of the season leaves me very positive for nest year when I can actually make subs, only missed the leagues goalscoring record by 3 goals but we conceded far too many, hopefully I can sort my defence out for next season. English FA Trophy - Knocked out in the 3rd round, didn't prioritise either of the cup competitions at all. English FA Cup - 3rd qualifying round, again didn't really pay much attention to the cups' Squad - Plenty of options for rotation as you can see . I think most of the defensive struggles were down to me messing with the tactics all season and we just stopped scoring in the last half dozen games or so but the players were on the beach by then and they deserved it to be fair, far too many minutes for some players. Oliver Mehew - 43 G/A in 46 league games as my CAM, he dug the team out of trouble in more than a couple of games this season. I'm not expecting the same output next year and he shouldn't have to be playing every minute of every game so he'll still have legs come the end of the year. Youth Intake - I forgot to grab a screenshot of the preview, it was 'excellent' but there wasn't any way to not be improving the first XI really. Lots of potential, a few half decent personalities and some players that could do a job in the first team and be at the right level all ready. Mathew Hughes (2025YP6) - Looks to be the star of the intake, has the ability to be in the team already. I don't know if they'll be much growth given we're part time and his personality is woeful but fingers crossed. Transfers & Finances - The outs were all arranged from before I came in at the start of the season. The money isn't looking great, lost about £100k over the season but should be able to put the club back in the black with an extensive pre-season. No worries so far. Other Managed to convince the board to send me for my first Coaching Badge, they wouldn't even consider anything else which given the club being in debt is fair enough I suppose.

I've started putting a GK on the bench for the first time in as long as I can remember. Never had to take one off before but there's been two broken fingers mid game already at Merthyr.