Career The (Slightly) Impossible Challenge - Recession Edition

[MikeF]

We’ll I said I was going to wait until FMM22 to come out but I got looking through the challenges and thought I’d create one last FMM21 career. 
 

I remember seeing a version of It’s a Long Way to the Top without spending any money somewhere but can’t find it. Anyway, I’ve partly combined it with The Impossible challenge (https://fmmvibe.com/forums/topic/45563-the-impossible-challenge/) to try this…

 

Starting unemployed, with no reputation or badge and loading England, Spain, Italy and Germany, I want to win the top League and main Cup competition in each country and the CL in each country too. Without spending a penny on transfer fees. 
 

Sounds simple enough…

Once I’ve done it in one country I should have the reputation to crack on with the rest and I should really start in England as it’s more of a challenge but I’ll take any job I get offered most likely.

This might only last a week and be a total flop but let’s see what happens.

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by MikeF

[Rich]

Good luck Mike 😁

[MikeF]

Season 1

So to get this done I'll need to work my way to the top league asap to win the major trophies, and then with a solid rep it should be easy enough to get jobs elsewhere. Or that's the plan anyway. The challenge is winning Prem, CL and FA cup without spending a penny and then it's a matter of the right job at the right time in other countries so this may not be as tough as I thought it was going to be but let's see. One successful season in the VNN and it's gone to my head...

Starting stats:

 

After a couple of months of simming and applying for jobs, York decided to take a chance on a young unknown manager and offered me employment.

It was a great offer with them being 8th in the league and still early in the season (November) so we were in a good position to push for promotion right away. I raided the free transfer market replacing most of the original team and it was pretty all straightforward after that...

 

Transfers:

 

League:

Over 100 goals scored and 100 points. I only lost one game in the FA Trophy and we walked the rest.

  

Team:

Manneh, Piqueti, Helmke, Menga and Cole were all new signings and did a great job all round. It's going to be a challenge in itself just holding onto talent when they all have release clauses but whereas with "It's a Long Way To The Top" where you want to grind it out with the same team, for this i'm planning on hopping to teams with better squads when i can and climb that way. Not being able to spend money it going to slow the progress once we get into the tougher leagues and need to strengthen the squad a lot more than a couple of OP attackers.

 

My stats:

 

Reputation up to obscure but that's still not anywhere near enough to get a decent job so we'll have to grind it out through non-league. 

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by MikeF

[Rich]

Great Start there Mike, keep it up.

[MikeF]

Season 2

I’ll try and keep these updates short while I climb the lower leagues. 
 

Season 2 went to plan. I had a few job offers from L2 clubs but as I was flying in the league I didn’t see the point as they were mostly in relegation battles. 
 

Picked up the FA Trophy and won the league easy enough. 

My main guys doing what they do best again and goals coming from all over which always helps.

 

No transfers of note as I’m struggling to strengthen the squad with my current wage structure as the few good free transfers out there want more than I can offer so I’ll be looking to move on soon if a club with more money comes along. I could always sell someone I guess.

Until then let’s see what league football has to offer. 

 

 

 

[MikeF]

Season 3

Cracking on with climbing through the leagues…

 

Team:

Jonjo pulling the strings from midfield and generally being a set piece legend. Brought in my first loan signing in RJJ and he was class.

 

Transfers:

Jonjo is the only big name really and he was awesome for us.

 

Manager stats:

 

Regional rep now but still having no luck getting a bigger job. I’ve been applying for all jobs in higher leagues hence loyalty of 1 😂. 
 

Im finding it harder and harder to sign decent free transfers now with the tight wage budget York has. The most I can offer is 2k a week and I’m getting outbid by teams in the same league so I’m looking to move on to a bigger team asap. York have done me well but it’s time to jump ship when the opportunity arises.

[MikeF]

Season 4

The season started well with York topping the L1 table 11 games in. 
But all good things must come to an end.

Sheffield Wednesday offered me a job and whereas they’re in the same league as York (in 2nd place), they have more chance of going up and have a much higher wage budget which will help me with this challenge. 

With a couple of new signings we were on our way to The Championship leaving poor York behind who didn’t even make the top half of the table.

Despite only getting 3 points from my last 4 matches we managed to win the league.

 

Team:

Berghuis was a great free signing for me as well as a defender and GK.

 

Manager stats:

Still Regional rep. I’m hoping this will increase to National soon as that will help me make the next jump but until then let’s see how The Championship treats us.

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by MikeF

[MikeF]

Season 5

Had to dip into the loan market here but mission accomplished. Had a couple of shaky moments when the fixtures piled up and I had a bad run of form but we got lucky towards the end with Brentford losing their last 2 games.

 

Team:

Loan signings helped me here but Tulloch is still my MVP. 
 

Manager stats:

National rep now so I’m hoping to make the move to a bigger asap. 
Either way, we’re in the Prem now. 

[MikeF]

Season 6

Well this was a surprise. I should have made this challenge without loan signings as feel it was a little bit easy being able to pick up Real Madrid’s future midfield in one go. kinda feel like I cheated with loans but still haven’t spent a penny on transfers and we took the prem by storm coming second. 

this hurt though:

 

refining this challenge id stay at the same club in each nation and not use loans but that’s only as I got lucky. Plus the formation I’ve been using seems pretty OP in all leagues. Maybe it’s just that  . Que the difficult second season coming up though. 
 

Team:

Brewster was just awesome. Tete too. The three young midfielders from Real bossed. But I need a new GK, DC and a whole new midfield next year. I don’t want to rely on loans as much so will limit to one or two each year. 
I planned on moving on soon but now we’re in the CL I want to see how we do. I’m starting to like these underdogs. 
 

 

oh and this…

 

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by MikeF

[MikeF]

Here’s the formation I’ve been using since Vanarama North (I’ll share instructions later maybe). Based on my 1k formation with the 2 APs and IWB covering but bringing the rest of the team into the goals. It’s been pretty epic in every league if I’m honest. If anyone wants to test it further dm and I’ll share full tactics. It might just be one that works with teams OP for their division but that’s not always been the case with this challenge so think i it has legs. Nothing too revolutionary but I do like my IWB / AP combo based on Pep’s system at city to create space. 

Also a sneak peek at a few of my new free signings! Not bad for freebies. 

Edited October 9, 2021 by MikeF

[MikeF]

Season 7

No real news here other than a repeat of last season. 
No silverware but a good league performance. 

Squad needs strengthening still so let’s see what the next preseason has in store. 

 

[MikeF]

Calling an end to this challenge as the new version isn’t too far away and don’t want to burn out ahead of fmm22.