DumbGeraffe

Save Review One last update to the longest FM save that I have ever done. I stopped updating the forum on my progress a long time ago because I was struggling how to figure out how to post on the forum without constantly screwing up the formatting and I'm lazy. Here's a general overview of the history of the team in the Danish football divisions Before I was finally able to win the Superliga, FC Kobenhavn had won the league every year except 32/33. Most years they were well clear of second. My run at the top is almost entirely due to them falling off in recent years (point totals the last seven years: 88, 75, 74, 69, 66, 68, 55). They also had some success in continental tournaments, winning the Europa League and making it to a few CL quarter-finals. The league as a whole has overperformed, with Denmark going into the last season ranking above Italy at fifth in club coefficients (giving four CL spots). Slagelse Europa Conference League History Slagelse Europa League History 45/46 Season Overview We managed to finish first in the Superliga again, having our worst season in terms of points since a few years back. Thankfully the quality of the competition was the worst it had been since I'd made the top division, and I was able to start resting players towards the end of the season without having to worry too much about losing the title. In terms of the Champions League, this was the sixth consecutive season that Slagelse had qualified, each year previously we had made it through the group stage, but the furthest we had made it was the quarter-finals where we lost to Newcastle the year prior. This year we managed to walk through the group stage. Moving onto the round of 16, we had a favorable draw in which we were matched up against PSV which we won quite easily 3-0. In the quarter-final, we faced what is still Germany's strongest team, Bayern Munich. After falling behind 1-0 in the away leg, we came back and won 3-1 in extra time, led by a 10.0 rating and a hat trick from star striker Nicolai Pohl. Next, we faced Barcelona, still led by Xavi. In the away leg we were lucky enough to see their star DM get red carded at the start of the second half, and were lucky enough to come home tied 1-1. This one was a nail-biter from start to finish. The only changes I made to my main formation throughout the entire save was moving from 2cm to 1cm/1dm or 2dm. I settled with 2 defensive midfielders for every game since the quarter-finals and I think it paid off in this matchup. In a matchup we deserved to win, the boys were able to pull out the comeback. It all ended on May 26th, 2046, when headed to the Allianz Arena to face Pep Guardiola and now 6-time Champions League victors Manchester City. The first big moment of the game came in the 29th minute, when my star player Mattis Frach tackled a player in the box and gave Man City a penalty. However, Slagelse and Danish international Daniel Tingager came up with a massive save near the left post. In the fiftiest minute a similar penalty would occur, this time going against Man City. This time, Frach would get his shot at redemption, and wouldn't you believe it, he hit a shot to the exact same spot Man City went and it got saved in the exact same manner. However, the first successful conversion of the game came just 3 minutes later, with ever-underperforming central defender Kenneth Vinterberg taking a header from an indirect free kick from Frach from the edge of the box and putting it over the GK. 1-0 Slagelse! Afterwards Man City would get a couple shots on target, but thanks to arguably the best game of Tingager's career, the lead would hold and after the full time whistle blew Slagelse would go on to hold the trophy! Takeaways The big one: I got incredibly lucky this season. The hope was to make the quarter-finals again and even then I wasn't expecting that to happen this season. That being said, the finals were the only match that I didn't outperform my opponent in terms of xG, so I like to think that the milestone was deserved. Danish leagues were much more competitive in my save than they normally are. This made breaking into the top places more difficult, but the bump in reputation really enabled my team to make continual progress rather than stall as we've seen with other saves on this version. Make any attempt to win competitions and increase your rep as much as possible. I was a 4 star rep club going into the season with 3.5 star youth facilities. I'm a massive proponent of the 4-2-4 in this game. It feels much stronger in this version than it did in previous editions. I strongly believe that playing to score more goals is incentivized stronger in Football Manager than prioritizing defense. If you're not micromanaging you won't be successful. All that time that is normally spent scouting NEEDS to be spent signing the best coaches (I tried signing as many model citizens for my youth team, I think it paid off but I can't confirm) and assigning responsibilities, signing contracts that lock your players down as long as possible, finding affiliates, and abusing any potential morale boosts available to you. These are all necessities and dong something like screwing up and losing your best player could legitimately put you back several seasons. Also, there's a point decades into the save where money is a non-factor and you need to see if there's any additional costs that you could potentially add to your expenses that could help you. If you have $100 million in the bank and there's a coach who's marginally better than the one you have but you have to pay $2 million in compensation just to sign him, it's worth it. You're past the point where your going to run out of money. I tried prioritizing signing my best players to 8 year contracts (5 + optional 3) as soon as they turned 18. Earlier in the save, some players weren't willing to stay by the time they turned 18. It's a judgement call you have to make whether or not it's worth it to play the stud 16 yo newgen you got and potentially lose him or let him develop a bit more and ensure you get a long term deal when he's old enough that let's you maintain control while he's in his FM prime (probably somewhere around 21-25). Finally, I had a golden generation of newgens at the right time that propelled me forward. Around 2040, I was expecting to finish the challenge no earlier than at least a decade later. Thankfully, I had at least 1 or 2 quality players come through every year. If you can find a stable base to your squad, your team will get much better and it will become easier to retain players. Until then, unfortunately all you can do is wait and try to keep it together, and most importantly, be fairly lucky. It's unfortunate, but we're all aware going in that is what it comes down to. My Players

25/26 Season Review (NORDICBET LIGA) I have reached the first major roadblock of the save in the second division. The team finished with the lowest GD in the league and averaging just under 3 goals allowed per game, but we did just enough to survive. Also, we finally generated profit and I finally got a request accepted. Assuming we survive again next year I'd say the future is looking pretty bright! Newgen Review I've got a literal corpse (who might retire at any moment) playing GK, so I need one of my youngsters to improve quickly or things might get rough.

24/25 Season Review (2. Division) An ideal season in which no other team was completely dominant and my 4-2-4 averaged 2.5 goals per game. The team started off the season dominant and didn't let off the gas until there was about 5 games left. Overall, the quality of the third division was the same as the fourth division. MVP of the season goes to Tobias Hansen who was a monster at the near post on corners and went on to score 11 goals as a CB in his second straight season Financially the club didn't generate the additional revenue one would normally hope for after promoting, which probably explains why the level of competition in the league was so weak. In terms of newgens I had another good intake with a few youngsters that will likely make the senior squad once they're old enough to be promoted. The best is another high CA fickle 15 year old, he'll probably be my first team striker by the end of the season, but who knows how he'll end up progressing with his personality. The teams in the second division certainly look better in the last two, but I'm still unsure where to predict we will end up this season. We're predicted for a last place finish (200-1 with the next worse team at 33-1) but with the quality of competition I've been seeing so far I wouldn't be surprised if we somehow ended up in the promotion stage towards the end of the year.

Started a save with Slagelse in the fourth division of the Danish football league! Slagelse is a former first division club that went bankrupt in the mid-2010s and was relegated to the fifth division. They're an amateur club so the season consisted of renewing contracts with my players any time anybody else took a look at them. 23/24 SEASON REVIEW (3. DIVISION) I'm not too familiar with the quality of fourth tier Danish football but the players were pretty good compared to the rest of the league. Martin Ahlgren and Jakob Jensen were without a doubt our most valuable players, and were instrumental in getting us promoted. For newgen output, the quality so far has been pretty good, with prospects including a phenom with a fickle personality (just like ever other save I've ever had on fm) and a young center back who will likely find himself in the senior squad soon due to the poor quality and depth in that position. The big goal for season 2 is to go professional and make a push for the promotion stage in the third division. I don't anticipate having to deal with a relegation struggle at this point.

I started one last week. Not very far yet, I'm just under a year in