Jimpanzee

Season 25/26 finished - Ingolstadt - 2.Bundesliga Final position 8th Following a strong finish to the previous season, the board requested another safe mid table finish. I felt we could do slightly better and perhaps challenge the top 6/7 spots, provided we made a few signings. Our DoF Felix Kruger had a busy summer with lots of ins/outs The 3 standout signings - Tommy Doyle signed on a free from Man City. Doyle contributed 9 assists and 2 goals from a Roaming playmaker position in CM. Noah Hay signed for £625K from Chelsea. Hay was a bit hit n miss, but he is young and showed plenty of promise as our first choice RB. One signing I begged the DoF to do a deal for was Mainz striker Marlon Mustapha. Marlon was identified as a A+ signing by our scouts and I immediately told the DoF to make him ours. Marlon's got bags of pace, aggression and works hard for the team. He's the perfect man for playing up top in my 4-1-4-1 formation. He was worth every penny of the £900k we paid for him, hitting 17 goals & 5 assists on the way to becoming our player of the season. In terms of our tactical approach. I've opted for a fairly defensive 4-1-4-1 formation. The aim is to soak up pressure, before hitting a fairly swift counter attack. I found the mid-block worked better than a low block, as it generally meant our attacks started further up the pitch and we created more chances as a result. our Next season I'll be looking to play a bit more expansively and more on the front foot, to align with the wishes of the clubs board. ## Final league standings A decent home record but we lacked a bit of consistency on the road. Next season - I'm hoping we can strengthen the squad, improve our attacking play & aim to get in and around the playoffs. The board seemed happy and offered me a new 2 year deal and the aim will be to get into the Bundesliga by the time the 2 years are up.

I'm enjoying this years FM - possibly more so than recent years. Yes, there are a few weird ME moments, but the game is very playable imo. I'm enjoying the new animations, scouting changes & tactics this year. I've enjoyed the challenge of trying to get a low block, low line tactic working.

No - I choose the highest National level badge and local Professional footballe.. I wasn't able to land some of the high rep jobs in 3.Liga initially but that is exactly what I wanted. I'm 3.5 seasons in and I've just begun to study for the Continental Pro badge, having studied for the Continental A & B badges over the past couple of seasons.

Season 24/25- Ingolstadt - 2.Bundesliga Final position 12th My first key signing for Ingolstadt was that of new DoF Felix Kruger. Felix was instrumental in the signings of 3 new players who all helped pull us away from the relegation zone. His 1st signing was that of Colombian Juan Perea who notched 5 goals in 15 games, winning some valuable points along the way. Juan has great pace, aggression & workrate. He is exactly the type of player I was hoping to bring into the club and was a snip at £375k Denis Huseinbasic was Felix's 2nd signing. Denis is a young well-rounded player who gives us extra attacking impetus from central mid. Singed for a platry £94k from Koln, he notched 3 goals and 1 assist in 12 games. And last but not least, a familiar face returns in Marvin Cuni. Signed for £375K from my old club Saarbrucken, he took a while to get settled but also ended up with 3 goals and 1 assist from the left hand side of midfield. Marvin has the potential to be a top Bundesliga 2 player, so I'll be keen to see how he grows over the next 1-2 seasons. 3 wins from the first 4 games set the tone for survival. Our form was a bit patchy for the remaining games, but we did more than enough to warrant our stay in 2. Bundesliga for another season. In the end we finished 12th after taking 28 points from the final 17 games played.

Great work Jim - Did anyone standout for you? I signed Oliver Batista Meier on a few older FMs and noticed he is now at Dresden. How is he doing for you?

Dresden seem to have a bit of money and a good rep, so always end up signing decent talent. Lino (German U21 Keeper) was excellent for me and can be signed on a free transfer. Fiete Arp had huge potential on previous FMs but is now plying his trade in the 2nd division. He dropped down to the 3rd division on mine after a couple of seasons and is doing really well. Marvin Cuni is available cheap after the first season. He's got lots of potential and can play on the left and up top. Good luck with the save and keep us posted, it is getting a bit lonely in here

I always read it as the number of tickets sold in advance. Any additions are sales on the day / gate.

Season 24/25- Ingolstadt - 2.Bundesliga It took longer than expected to land a new role but at the end of December, I landed the Head Coach role at Ingolstadt. Reasonable transfer & wage budget. Provided we survive we should be able to put together a decent team in a very competitive league. What appealed to me was the desired playing style from the board - direct counter attacking football. Not something I have tried in a fair few FM's... The supporters surprisingly wanting to go in a slightly different direction, preferring defensively solid direct football. The team who pipped me to promotion last year find themselves in relegation trouble with exactly half of the season gone. Avoiding relegation is a must from both the board & fans. At an initial glance the team looks to have a strong defensive spine, with good defenders & strong defensive minded Central Midfielders. We are lacking up top and don't appear to have any out and out wingers who can cross. My initial thoughts are to go with a narrow minded 4-3-3 / 4-1-4-1. Looking to keep things compact in the middle, whilst using Inverted wingers with overlapping full backs to break at pace. I am going to need a pacey strong striker up top to really take advantage of this style, so that will be my priority in the transfer window.

Season 23/24 complete - FC Saarbrucken - 3rd (lost 6-3 on agg in playoffs vs Heidenheim) We had an excellent Summer transfer Window with MVB & our scouts uncovering some gems. The return of lasts season top scorer Marvin Cuni was a big surprise, especially considering we paid peanuts for him. This was the only transfer initiated by me - The rest were players either recommended by our scouts or approached by Marco VB. The recruitment team tended to stick with the U23 philosophy desired by the club which included Schwermann, Sarpei, Schubert, Koster, Antovski, Bonrnemann & Pohlmann. I was really pleased with the signings made and it was definitely a stronger squad than what we finished with last season. Improvements were made all over the pitch and this transpired into our league form with the team collecting 7 wins in the first 8 games to leave us joint top. Sebastian Jacob led the way up top with 18 goals from 19 games. At Christmas we were top of the league with Hansa Rostock 1 point behind us in 2nd and Inglostadt 3 points behind in 3rd. Unfortunately for us, disaster struck with the club losing 300k a month and over £3.5 million in the red, our wage budget was slashed by 20%. This resulted in us offloading 5 players in the Jan transfer window, just so we would be within our wage budget. This included our best cb Bjane Thoelke, who was sold for peanuts to league rivals Sandhausen. This left us with 18 senior squad players, which would end up costing us in the league, with fatigue, injuries & suspensions, hurting us badly in the 2nd half of the season. Ingolstadt pipped us to promotion by 1 point with Hansa Rostock the runaway league leaders. I'm not even sure we would have kept pace with Hansa even with our original squad. They had an unbelievable run winning 9 of the last 10 games. Heidenheim proving too strong for our tired squad and ran out comfortable 5-2 winners in the Playoff first leg, which killed the tie. So another season in 3.Liga for the boys in Black and Blue...but what about for Tobias Schroder? With his contract due to expire at the end of the season and the board announcing further budget cuts for next season, Schroder has decided to walk away and look for a new challenge. I still want to continue in Germany, so I will see what comes up next.

I'm not playing as Bilbao myself as I always like to start at the bottom of the pyramid, but just wanted to say this is a great thread and I'm following all of your posts with interest!

Season 22/23 finished - FC Saarbrucken - we finished 7th in the league. We started well but lacked consistency during the final run of the season. This ended any chance of us finishing in the top 3. I did sign a footballing legend as our DoF - Welcome to the German 3rd Division Marco Marco is in charge of all incomings & outgoings and his 1st signing was an excellent one in former U21 keeper Lino on a free. I'm intrigued to see the players Marco will bring in this summer On loan Striker Marvin Cuni was our player of the year and top scorer with 15 goals..hopefully we can get him back in next season

You've made some excellent transfers over the years. Do you rely solely on your scouts? I'm managing in the 3.Liga, my scouts rarely put anyone forward that is of the required quality.

Great start so far 👍 The German leagues are one of my favourite to play on FM. Are you planning on taking Bayreuth all the way or do you think you could jump clubs at some point?

@FCArsenal Oh man!! How frustrating! Just let down by poor finishing or did the keeper have a blinder? Some of my most rewarding careers on FM are ones where it has taken my years to win anything. When you finally break that streak and deliver some sliverware, you will be so chuffed! Can you send a screenshot of your team? Where have you been finishing in the league? @tyro - Sounds like you are having a good season - any standout players for you?

I finally got round to starting my save this lunchtime. Starting as unemployed, Tobias Schroder was keen to get into management ASAP and was delighted when FC Saarbrucken offered him the chance to take his first step on the managerial ladder. In all honesty, I know very little about the club, but a quick glance suggests they've been decent top half finishers in 3.Liga in recent seasons. One of the original members of the Bundesliga. they didn't last long though and were relegated in the inaugural season. As the DoF will be responsible for all incoming transfers, it will be up to him to bring in a core squad of U23 players. Both the supporters & boards expectations seem realistic initial view of the squad - I will do an in-depth analysis this evening to work out the tactical direction of the squad for the immediate future.

I have a workaround for this - just keep clicking randomise accessories until the earring is removed. You can then update the watches/rings as needed.

Nice opening thread Tyro - love the graphics detailing where each club are based. I've been toying between starting unemployed in Spain, Germany or England but I'm going to go with Germany. I love the competition it offers throughout the 3 divisions. My save this year will with a head coach model. A DOF will be in charge of all contract renewals and incoming / outgoing transfers & staff signings. I will have a final say on the incomings, just to manage the balance of the squad. This will avoid the DoF signing 4 Left Backs for example. Otherwise, if I need a player in a position the DoF will be responsible for picking, choosing and sealing the deal. I will start my save on Tuesday with an unemployed fictional German manager. I've always been quite intrigued to manage Dortmund or Bayern's 2nd side and the Head Coach model would fit quite nicely with those sides. On the other hand, it is always good to get stuck into your own club and put your mark into the team. Either way, I will start off in the 3rd division and will have to see what jobs crop up.