Lower League Clubs and You - Six Clubs to Look at Using
KennyMiller27 2 replies 3,065 Views
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Six Interesting Lower-League Clubs to Use in FMM17(and two to consider in FMM18)
Picking a club to use in the lower leagues in Football Manager is 80% of the experience in playing there – most people either pick a club recently relegated from the Championship or the quirkiest underdog promoted from the trio of feeder leagues into the Conference. What to do if you can't pick? I’m here to present some possibilities that are more story-driven to consider for you to use in your next lower-league save!
Note: This covers England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Scotland and France!
England – Stockport County F.C
Financial information:
Transfer budget range: 140,000£-150,000£
Wage budget range: 7,150£ - 7,860£
Wages offerable – 450£ – 600£ / week
Facilities –
10,500 seat stadium, Good training facilities, Basic youth facilities. Can hire 3 coaches, 2 scouts and 2 physios at first.
Why? – Stockport County suffered one of the most calamitous falls in English football during the mid-to-late 2000s, plummeting from League One to Conference North in 4 years and being stuck there ever since. With training facilities that rival most lower-tier Championship sides, and a robust squad of young players, you can spend time building a viable youth pipeline while moving up the ladder again. Squad-wise, the only thing Stockport really need out of the gate is a A-list striker which you can easily attract with their nice kitty for Conference North. Are you going to be the man who revives the spirit of Danny Bergara and take the Hatters back up the leagues?
Honorable mentions – Sheffield United/ Bolton Wanderers(can you take the big boys out of League One purgatory?), Poole Town(take the new boys of Conference football onwards and upwards!)
Scotland – Clyde
Financial information:
Negligible transfer budget
Wage budget at 3,680£/week.
Wage ranges between 300£ -575£
Facilities –
8,086 seat stadium, Adequate training facilities, Below Average youth facilities. Can hire 2 coaches, 1 scout and 1 physio at first.
Why? – This is the most sentimental pick of the article because they’re the Bully Wee! Being honest, Clyde has the passionate fanbase, and they are starved for success. Can you repay the loyalty of the fans who followed the Wee to Cumbernauld with pots and maybe even top-flight football?
Honorable mentions – Queen’s Park(Save the Spiders from financial trouble and utilize Hampden efficiently to support the amateurs!) and Edinburgh City(can you take them up from recent SFL electees to challenging the duopoly of Hearts and Hibs?)
Italy – Lupa Roma
Financial information:
Transfer budget ranges from 700k – 800k €
Wage budget ranges from 40,600€ - 46,690€
Wages ranges between 1,300€ - 3,700€/week.
Facilities –
4,000 seat stadium, Adequate training facilities, Adequate youth facilities. Can hire 2 coaches, 1 scout and 1 physio at first.
Why? – with 2 clubs based in the Greater Rome region in Lega Pro, you have an automatic derby matchup – and the possibility of rising up to challenge the duopoly of Roma and Lazio is tantalizing. Lupa Roma’s rivals Racing Roma are pretty much in the same boat story-wise as Lupa, only with worse facilities (and yellow kit as opposed to Lupa's Roma/Lazio color combi).
Honorable mention – Pro Piacenza(with their city rivals Piacenza also in Lega Pro, can you usurp their title as the premier club in the city?)
Germany – Hallescher F.C
Financial information:
Transfer budget between 1.1M€ – 1.2M€
Wage budget ranges from €43.41K – €47.75K.
Wages range between €2,700 or €3,600 – €4,600/week.
Facilities –
15,057 seat stadium, Adequate training facilities, Adequate youth facilities. Can hire 2 coaches, 1 scout and 1 physio at first.
Why? – With most of the former East German powerhouses seemingly in a slump, the time seems riper than ever to write your story as the best of the former. RB Leipzig may be rampaging in the Bundesliga but they’re a plastic club, so pick a club with a rich heritage in the former Oberliga, and challenge the rest of Germany with Halle!
Honorable mention – Hansa Rostock(being honest, they shouldn’t be in 3.Liga with facilities comparable to the other Bundesliga teams – can you raise the ship and reclaim the throne as the best of the East German clubs?)
France – Creteile
Financial information:
€263k transfer budget
€97.5k wage budget.
Wages up to €14,000/week can be offered.
Facilities –
12,150 seat stadium, Average training facilities, Adequate youth facilities. Can hire 2 coaches, 2 scouts and 2 physios at first.
Why? – It’s rare I’ll pick a side who just got relegated, but honestly Creteil look like the best challengers to PSG for the title of Roi d’Paris. Can you spur the supporters to come out and boost you up higher?
Honorable mention – Auxerre(rare I pick a second-tier side but TBH Auxerre deserve to be in the top-flight. Can you take them back there?)
Spain – Recreativo Huelva
Financial information:
€1.1M - €1.2M transfer budget
€52.1k - €59.81k wage budget.
Wages between €3100 - €4700/week can be offered.
Facilities –
19,860 seat stadium, Impressive training facilities, Adequate youth facilities. Can hire 3 coaches, 2 scouts and 2 physios at first.
Why? – Huelva are Spain’s oldest football club and they’ve had a torrid time since finishing 8th in La Liga a decade ago, having been relegated 2 years after and drifting steadily down to the middle of the third tier since. Can you stop the rot and push them back up to La Liga?
Honorable mention – Racing Santander(Can you resurrect them from being gutted by their previous ownership?)
SPECIAL PREVIEW SECTION FOR FMM18
Two clubs that’ll definitely play differently next year compared to now are Coventry City and Leyton Orient.
On Coventry – with SISU running the proud Sky Blues right into the ground, expect their facilities to degrade next season, dipping from the current Impressive(T)/Good(Y) to something worse as they go down to League Two. Making noise about moving out of the Ricoh and into Butts Park will impact your houses and overall fan dissatisfaction may impact your operational budgets. Play Coventry now if you can – they’ll become an entirely different proposition next year!
On Orient – What is it with Italian numpties destroying football clubs? Cellino did it with Leeds and Beccheti’s doing it with Conference-bound Orient. This may make for a fine redemption story – IF Orient survive this season and aren’t shuttered. Expect whoever takes over to focus on the relatively rich youth intake Orient had this year and push for a quick return to League football. Can you take them back up and reverse their misfortune of missing out on Championship football?
I hope you have fun and explore the lower leagues!
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